Phoenix Under Attack!

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

That's the headline people are trying to avoid.

The Hulk doesn't care. His gait brings him ever closer to the populated city, and so far, nothing seems to stop it.

There's hope that the sandstorm that just kicked up might buy them more time. A sandstorm that's the doing of Crusader, the new girl carrying Thor's hammer and Captain America's shield, who's crazy enough to try to face the Hulk without the help of her team, who have been held up by dealing with some other U.S. agent.

The storm doesn't stop him. It only slows him.

Slightly.

Comments

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

Sarah sits down next to Spider Man. She doesn't necessarily like his antagonism towards some of the rest of the team... not that she's a lot better where Morph is concerned, but she still doesn't trust him with teenage girls... herself included. But at least she trusts Spider-Man some... and Nocturne.

"Oh? We were supposed to save the Hulk? Great."

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

What. The. Hell.

"I wish I could say the same about you."

[bub-snikt.livejournal.com]

The glare is fixed.

"I ain't got time for cryptic."

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

He doesn't respond for a long moment. Listening to the thing repeat its mantra. Trying to discern what it means.

Finally, he repeats it.

"Stop the monster you've created."

He really doesn't like how that sounds.

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

"Go away before I punch through your chest and staple a grenade to your spine just to watch your head explode."

[bub-snikt.livejournal.com]

That gets a smirk out of the stoicism.

"Ya know me well enough to know I don't scare easy. I'm here tryin' ta get rid of a big green thing that wants to kill cities. What's your angle, Raven? This ain't your usual scene."

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

Oh, God. It talks. The last one was all animal, barely more than instinct. This one wants to reason with her.

Don't. Just walk away.

"There's fifty fifty odds killing the Jolly Green Giant will nuke the whole planet. If I'm wrong, well, Phoenix is full of 'sapes anyway. If I'm right, I'd rather not spend the next hundred years with nothing but cockroaches for company."

Shit.

[uneasy-rider.livejournal.com]

The rider comes up to Spiderman and Crusader. Her whole bearing one of "now what?"

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

Speaking of monsters...

"So where the shock did you come from?"

[bub-snikt.livejournal.com]

A squint of one eye.

"You mind explainin' just how the hell that makes any flamin' sense?"

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

She crosses her arms.

"Yup."

[uneasy-rider.livejournal.com]

She looks around and then slowly shrugs.

[bub-snikt.livejournal.com]

"Then there's no way I'm listenin' to anything you got to say."

There's a small sniff.

"You smell different."

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

He squints. Her head is bright.

"Then who the shock are you? Buckeroo over there said... what was it? Ghost Rider?"

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

You don't. You smell familiar. You smell like sweaty afternoons spent after an assignment, waiting for the Hellicarier to pick them up.

She forces an indifferent shrug. "Yes, yes. I forgot. I'm a terrorist. Noted unreliable source of information. I'm also supposed to be dead." She smiles slightly, and lets herself stroke the back of her fingers over one stubbly cheek. "Good information is so hard to find."

[bub-snikt.livejournal.com]

Somethin' entirely weird about this.

But he doesn't recoil from the touch.

And the claws withdraw back into his hand.

Her eyes are sayin' things her lips ain't.

"Sounds about right."

[uneasy-rider.livejournal.com]

Again, she only shrugs.

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

His jaw tightens.

"Are you going to be any help whatsoever?"

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

Sarah looks kind of dazed, her voice a little more distant, as adrenaline dies down. "She's the Ghost Rider. Mephisto's bounty hunter, or that was the idea. In my world, Johnny Blaze turned it on him, and used the ability to find and punish evil as a hero... no idea who this one is. Johnny... in my world... died fighting the Sentinels."

[uneasy-rider.livejournal.com]

She seems to perk up at the idea of the words Johnny Blaze. She picks up a stick and writes "Roxanne," and then points to herself.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

Sarah glances at her through blurry eyes. "I'm sorry. I should know you, but by the time I got to Earth, Johnny Blaze had been dead for fifteen years. But if you're allied with Johnny, then you're probably ok... I'm Sarah."

[uneasy-rider.livejournal.com]

She hears that news and sinks to her knees with grief in front of the other woman.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

Sarah reaches out for the Ghost Rider, trying to be comforting, even if she's seeing a couple of her at the moment. At least she's seemingly unworried about the flames.
"In my world, most of the heroes are dead. And the villains even... superhumans... killed by the sentinels. Just a few left." she shakes her head, trying to stay coherent and focused.

[uneasy-rider.livejournal.com]

She gets up and nods. then, she does a power arm shake with Crusader.

She has a new friend.

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

There's a tilt of his head.

"Waaaait a minute," he starts, to the skullface. "Did the Timebroker send you here?"