10-03-2004, 01:40 PM
In Westchester, Blade stood with sword in one hand and pistol in the other, ready for the onslaught. Rogue stood patiently, waiting to see the face of the man that filled her with so much hatred. But Norrin did not stand on ceremony. He unleashed a sudden burst of power that surprised even Blade, and gave pause to the unseen vampires that were still clinging to the shadows. The chrome covered alien seemed to have more power than he knew, and that could only help their cause. With a moment to spare, Blade sent Barry back for the others, hoping to get word to Castle and his team that they had finally engaged the Master. Not waiting to be told twice, Barry was gone in a flash. Looking back at Norrin and the attack he had unleashed, Blade hoped for the best. The cosmically charged energy was something the dark lord had never faced before and the Punisher did not know how effective it would be. But he soon found out. Stepping from the shadows, Logan laughed at the display. Not that it didnât hurt him, but the sick and twisted little man paid no attention to the gaping holes in his chest that the Surferâs blasts had caused, for they were already beginning to heal themselves. In a matter of seconds the only evidence that remained of the attack was the smoldering rings of burnt fabric in the black shirt that he wore. As the wounds closed over he craned his neck to one side, loudly realigning the bones of his spine with a pop that rung out in the now anxiously quiet night air. Turning to the shadows all around him, Logan prompted, âBoys, letâs have some fun!â And with that, the shadows came alive as countless more vampires descended upon the heroes.
Miles away, with a vicious ferocity that neither Paige nor Victoria had seen from him before, Hank tore through the majority of the oncoming vampires like they were not but paper dolls. He flung them every which way in an attempt to gain his friends a few precious seconds. He was not the only one trying to give the heroes some breathing room. The ones that Beast could not reach soon found their attack impeded by a TK shove from Dr. Essex. Taking full advantage of the assist, Frank Castle shot arrow after arrow through the villains chests, disintegrating them on contact. Below Victoriaâs levitating form, Paige and Vance backed up against each other as the young man fired mercilessly into the hell spawnâs midst. Realizing the young girl needed a bit of assistance, Vance wheeled around and fired one shot clean through the approaching vampireâs heart. Taking half a moment to smile at the pistol wielding blonde, Vance remarked, âKeep shooting kid, this ainât the last of âem.â As the young man quipped, four more of the blood sucking brood leaped toward Beast, hoping to exact some kind of brutal vengeance for the loss of their leader. But once the four pairs of supernaturally enabled fangs sunk into the steel hard skin of Hank, they found a dinner not at all to their liking. The gamma irradiated blood that now flowed freely through his veins found its way quickly across their pallets, instantly poisoning them, causing an explosive reaction that found the demonic attackers reduced to ash, and leaving Beast none the worse for wear. But just as it seemed that they were dispatching their enemies fairly easily, an awful sound formed on the horizon. As they looked towards it they saw Barry coming towards them, and behind him was the unmistakable sound of hundreds of leathery wings beating against the cold night air.
At the Sanctum Sanctorum, an unwavering determination helped Tessa to quickly back away from McCoy, narrowly avoiding the first slash that he had aimed for her torso. It was only her quick reflexes and her amazing analyzation of his movements that kept her from being cut in two right then and there. The miss did not make McCoy happy, and his eyes filled with rage and a bloodlust that chilled Tessa to her core. If it had been any other member of the Watch, they may have froze up. But Tessa knew how to push that kind of fear out of her mind, and she wasnât about to fail now. She recited the incantation louder now, hoping that it would work. But the earplugs that the one time PHD, now turned vampire, wore blocked the magical words from his ears. As a vicious grin curled McCoyâs face, Wong knew they were in trouble. Doing as his partner asked, he erected the barrier once more. Just in time too, for as the barrier went up, McCoy lunged forward with all his might, soon finding himself slamming into the mystical field between him and his prey. He stood snarling at the wall, calculating a way to get around it so that he could feast on the scrumptious morsel that lay beyond. But as luck would have it, that would have to wait. Behind the grey furred vampire, propelling himself like a cannonball, Spider-man bore down on the monster that was closing in on his friend. He bounded fearlessly off of the nearest wall and let his fists come down like a hammer against the base of Mad McCoyâs skull. With the creatureâs back turned it was no problem connecting with the preoccupied McCoy, but the blow only served to distract him and turn his focus. Spider-man now found himself eye to eye with what was probably the nastiest possible version of Dr. Henry McCoy anywhere in all of reality.
Back at the roadside battlefield, realizing it was now or never, Victoria implored the Phoenix to rise from the shadowy recesses of her mind and come to her aid. It taxed her to summon the Phoenix force even on her best day, but whatever it was that Dr. Strange had done to the cosmic entity was holding it firmly in check. The primal force that resided within Victoria had never been held at bay in that manner before, and it had sent the thing into some kind of shock that it was not going to be roused from easily. But Victoria Essex was persuasive, and that determination finally manifested itself in a fiery glow around her as the Phoenix came to bear. And she would need it too as she and her teammates now faced a swarm of vampire bats that were approaching over the tops of the nearby trees led by a vampire with pale blue skin and razor-sharp wings that most of them would eventually recognize as Warren Worthington III.
Miles away, with a vicious ferocity that neither Paige nor Victoria had seen from him before, Hank tore through the majority of the oncoming vampires like they were not but paper dolls. He flung them every which way in an attempt to gain his friends a few precious seconds. He was not the only one trying to give the heroes some breathing room. The ones that Beast could not reach soon found their attack impeded by a TK shove from Dr. Essex. Taking full advantage of the assist, Frank Castle shot arrow after arrow through the villains chests, disintegrating them on contact. Below Victoriaâs levitating form, Paige and Vance backed up against each other as the young man fired mercilessly into the hell spawnâs midst. Realizing the young girl needed a bit of assistance, Vance wheeled around and fired one shot clean through the approaching vampireâs heart. Taking half a moment to smile at the pistol wielding blonde, Vance remarked, âKeep shooting kid, this ainât the last of âem.â As the young man quipped, four more of the blood sucking brood leaped toward Beast, hoping to exact some kind of brutal vengeance for the loss of their leader. But once the four pairs of supernaturally enabled fangs sunk into the steel hard skin of Hank, they found a dinner not at all to their liking. The gamma irradiated blood that now flowed freely through his veins found its way quickly across their pallets, instantly poisoning them, causing an explosive reaction that found the demonic attackers reduced to ash, and leaving Beast none the worse for wear. But just as it seemed that they were dispatching their enemies fairly easily, an awful sound formed on the horizon. As they looked towards it they saw Barry coming towards them, and behind him was the unmistakable sound of hundreds of leathery wings beating against the cold night air.
At the Sanctum Sanctorum, an unwavering determination helped Tessa to quickly back away from McCoy, narrowly avoiding the first slash that he had aimed for her torso. It was only her quick reflexes and her amazing analyzation of his movements that kept her from being cut in two right then and there. The miss did not make McCoy happy, and his eyes filled with rage and a bloodlust that chilled Tessa to her core. If it had been any other member of the Watch, they may have froze up. But Tessa knew how to push that kind of fear out of her mind, and she wasnât about to fail now. She recited the incantation louder now, hoping that it would work. But the earplugs that the one time PHD, now turned vampire, wore blocked the magical words from his ears. As a vicious grin curled McCoyâs face, Wong knew they were in trouble. Doing as his partner asked, he erected the barrier once more. Just in time too, for as the barrier went up, McCoy lunged forward with all his might, soon finding himself slamming into the mystical field between him and his prey. He stood snarling at the wall, calculating a way to get around it so that he could feast on the scrumptious morsel that lay beyond. But as luck would have it, that would have to wait. Behind the grey furred vampire, propelling himself like a cannonball, Spider-man bore down on the monster that was closing in on his friend. He bounded fearlessly off of the nearest wall and let his fists come down like a hammer against the base of Mad McCoyâs skull. With the creatureâs back turned it was no problem connecting with the preoccupied McCoy, but the blow only served to distract him and turn his focus. Spider-man now found himself eye to eye with what was probably the nastiest possible version of Dr. Henry McCoy anywhere in all of reality.
Back at the roadside battlefield, realizing it was now or never, Victoria implored the Phoenix to rise from the shadowy recesses of her mind and come to her aid. It taxed her to summon the Phoenix force even on her best day, but whatever it was that Dr. Strange had done to the cosmic entity was holding it firmly in check. The primal force that resided within Victoria had never been held at bay in that manner before, and it had sent the thing into some kind of shock that it was not going to be roused from easily. But Victoria Essex was persuasive, and that determination finally manifested itself in a fiery glow around her as the Phoenix came to bear. And she would need it too as she and her teammates now faced a swarm of vampire bats that were approaching over the tops of the nearby trees led by a vampire with pale blue skin and razor-sharp wings that most of them would eventually recognize as Warren Worthington III.