elseworldexiles | The Downward Spiral

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The Downward Spiral

This place is horrible. Even without the insanity taking place with the others, Sarah has passed dozens of horrorshows. Monsters made from people she knew, or heard stories of. Mockeries of everything she was brought up to revere.
The further she goes, the more grateful she is that she ended the life of the Panther. And the fact she can be grateful for killing something sentient, even if it was a twisted monster, sickens her to her core, getting worse the further she goes. With every foot she flies into this place, the more sure she is its going to consume her utterly.

And the more determined she is that it will end.

And then maybe someday she'll stop hearing the screams, the pleas for death or life or freedom and the insane ramblings. Maybe someday she'll stop hearing babies crying somewhere in the distance within this terrible place. And maybe she'll stop hearing the sound of bones breaking, and a living form going still under her fists.

For now, it has to end. That thought drives her through the torment, and through walls, through doors, through every soulless thing that gets in her way. Emplate should be glad he can teleport... Sarah is. One more life she doesn't have to be the one to take. The Storm Queen... that may be something else, because in as straight a line as the teenage juggernaut can manage, the throne room is her destination.

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Powering up shouldn't be too hard. Sarah is bashing through anything in her way, making enough noise to wake the dead, as it were.
Sure, she /can/ be stealthy. Her mother and father were no slouches there, but right now, she's in no mood, and is quite sure they'll know she's coming anyway. Besides, it buys the others more time.

Alison glances over to be sure Sunspot is still well. As well as can be expected in the circumstances. This will be his chance to get even for the loss of his wife. That isn't lost on her and she sends a few additional pulses of light his way, adding to the charge he likely already has built. Otherwise, she's silent as she focuses on the task at hand.

Dead -comes the surprisingly blank thought.

The Panther is dead, apparently defeated by vermin. The Queen watches the leathery mutant prostrating at her feet, gray body shaking with mute fear. Emplate appeared minutes ago, telling her all that's happened between himself and their new guests. But it's not the loss of Wakanda's allegiance that concerns her. No, it's Strange's new-found freedom within her fortress. This news is what has her own body quaking with suppressed rage.

Rage... and a kernal of fear.

The barons assembled before her are temporarily fallen silent. They know a hunt is just around the corner. They do not yet know that is they who are prey.

No voice comes from Storm. The howling of wind circling around the vampire stronghold suffices as her roar of challenge to all who care to meet it now.

Sarah walks in a straight line towards the throne room. She could fly, but that'd get too far ahead of the others. Besides, not only is kicking in walls and knocking down doors somewhat cathartic, but she's not in a hurry to have to kill anyone else. She talked tough with Emplate, and she was angry, but even if they're vampires, having become a killer is still hitting her hard.
And not far ahead lies the mother of her best friend. The Panther was one thing. Hard enough. She's not sure she can kill Storm, if it comes to it, much as she knows hesitation could cost lives. Right now, hitting something like fortress walls that she doesn't have to feel bad about helps.

At her current pace, the throne room will come all too soon.

Morph's bringing up the rear - in case of ambush, he's the one the vampires probably can't hurt.

Vampire canines bare ever so slightly as she senses the air shifting, announcement of the momentum driving toward the Queen. An idle thought results in the drop of temperature. Drastically so, laying an invisible framework in the atmosphere to possibly exploit later.

Arctic winds thrust open the doors to the throne room, an arrogant welcome for those about to die.

Sarah steps forward, about to smash the doors aside when they open on their own. Her first reaction is to charge ahead with a wide sweep of the hammer, and shield coming up to her side, the first to catch anyone initially coming at them or to the side of the doorway, figuring an ambush is just the style of these creatures, and to ensure her allies have some space to enter the room.

"Your rule ends tonight."

That only earns a serene look.

"A boastful claim for one so young, child. It would serve you well to obey the rules of court etiquette. Pay homage to your Queen and she may be lenient."

She makes no move from her throne yet, though her eyes deliberately shift upward from the posturing of the heroes to three iron cages positioned high above the room. Pale trembling bodies are visible, undoubtedly live hostages from the sound of their whimpers increasing as the room becomes colder still, moisture glistening maliciously.

Morph's slipped into the form of Queen Elizabeth II. "Pay homage? Hwee are not hamused."

He's back to normal, then. Well, what passes for it, anyway. "C'mon, 'Ro. This whole vampire thing? It's not you. You're outdoorsy. A nature gal!" There's a shift to a slightly exaggerated naked Ororo with that statement - with large black censor bars to avoid offending Sarah.

"So let's talk this over, you give up, and we'll go out for a nice stake." In his normal form again, holding a pointed stick.

He is going to take some getting used to. At least, if they make it through this. Alison finds herself distracted from the Storm Queen by the show Morph just put on, black bars and all. She shakes her head at herself, forcing her attention to the threat in the room.

"Consider homage paid since no one attacked you on sight. This can be done the easy way or the hard way. I'm pretty sure I know which one you're going to pick," she adds. The lights around her increase in intensity, continuing to charge Sunspot.

Not that Sarah is paying Morph much mind. Hard to say if naked Ororo would offend her or not. Right now, her focus is totally on the vampire queen.

"You're not my queen. And after today, you won't be anyone's queen. You want manners... make me. Or let the prisoners go, and maybe we'll be lenient."

"You seem to be of an age where emotion overrides your intellect- Foolish. Like rats." Or a young untried challenger attempting to invade the territory of another. Thus, there are lessons to impart.

She's increased the dampness in the room for a reason. It's revealed when iron chains creak violently above one particular cage. It swings and rotates, jerking in morbid time with slapping arms and flailing legs contacting within a cage transformed to electrical chair fed with her own power. A human throat gurgles in desperate struggle for air behind clenched jaws as the smell of burnt flesh, blood, and urine rapidly sicken the air and soil the floors beneath. Satisfaction gleams naked within her expression. Superheating internal organs never DID allow for much subtlety.

Sarah snarls and lunges for the Queen, hoping to give her something else to focus on. "Morph, get those people. She's bound to have more barons in her too, watch yourselves!" she calls as she launches herself, leading with the shield as she rockets at Storm.

"On it!"

Morph stretches to the cage of one of the still-alive prisoners, taking hold of the bars and striving to bend them open, while his body forms a rescue slide.

"We'll have you out of there in a jiff!"

Alison curses silently about how they already lost control. She should've just tried to shoot the Queen in the forehead with a laser. It wouldn't have killed her but they would be the ones in charge.

As Morph heads for a cage, she hesitates. They need to concentrate on the Queen, not on the hostages. That tactic never works and puts them at a disadvantage. But Sarah is heading for the woman so hopefully she won't be in over her head. Dazzler heads for a cage, using a laser beam to slice a hole in the bottom to let the person out. Sure, they might be falling a little but she'll try to catch them on a solid-light mattress of sorts. All the while, her eyes are more focused on Sarah and Storm, worried the younger girl may be in over her head.

The Queen is confident in the protection provided by her barons, but the absence of her Consort can no longer be excused. Not unless he's hunting the sorcerer- and that thought causes her senses to prickle with anger warring with unease. The Panther's dead. Possibly, the fledglings in the catacombs as well. Strange walks free, seeking... he must not find.

A feral hiss escapes Storm, rising from the throne to bring one imperious hand up and a clipped deadly voice.

"Goddesses know no fear, child. But for you... I will show you what it means to incur the wrath of the gods."

Eyes glow white and it suddenly gets harder to breathe in the throne room. Cold air becomes heavy, condensing, transforming as her powers defile the very molecules of nature. Searing vulnerable flesh to steel or the burn of deadened nerves.

She fully intends to kill every living being in this room every way she can.

There's a moment of near panic, and, just as her father taught her, she pushes it down, and maintains the charge. She can hold her breath for a couple hours if need be, and the cold just doesn't bother her.
She knows others may not be so lucky, which is why she's engaging the queen, hoping they can keep her back free and rescue the hostages.
Her focus narrows, putting everything she has into driving the red, white and blue shield into the face of the mother of her best friend.

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The Downward Spiral

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