entrancelogs | + For Glory! For Death! +

+ For Glory! For Death! +

Who: EVERYONE & Unwanted Guests
Where: The Grounds & The Palace
When: August 27th to 29th
Rating: PG-13 to R for fighting, violence, and death
Summary: Attackers from other realms threaten the Asgardian palace and your very lives! This is where you fight or flee, the place for all your combat mingle needs.
The Story:

+ Day 3 : Rock Trolls and Ogres +

Rock Trolls and Ogres are strong, tough and surprisingly fast, with great muscular bulk. Their sight is keen, and they hunger for human flesh. Fortunately they are lacking in tactical skill, and few to none will manage to break through Asgard's protective barrier to enter the palace. ( x ) ( x )

+ Day 4 : Frost Giants +

The Forst Giants will scare off yesterday's attackers almost entirely, bringing a greater threat to the palace. They are faster and stronger still, and skilled in cryokinesis. One touch by their hand might freeze a warrior whole, if they don't stop the spread of cold on time. Several of their numbers will manage to break through Asgard's protective barrier to enter the palace. ( x )

+ Day 5 : Dark Elves +

The Dark Elves are the last and greatest threat to Asgard. They rely on stealth and deadly energy weapons, their strength and craftiness yet unparalleled. They are weak to iron, and any warrior would be lucky to discover this weakness on time. They infiltrate the palace from the caves, and nearly all of their numbers will attack from the inside. ( x )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Natasha is hardly the only one who feels out of her league here. Sure, Steve might be a super soldier, but this is still a lot to try and take on when he doesn't have a whole team to support him. Yes, they've fought aliens before, but the Chitauri at least bled.

It wasn't fair of Wonderland to dump Natasha right into the middle of an event like this, but Steve knows better than to expect that of it at this point. All he can do is try to explain as quickly as possible.

He follows after her until they can find some cover to duck behind, debris that's been knocked free from the impressive Asgardian structures by the invasion.

"Yesterday it was ogres and rock trolls. Today it's frost giants, all from Thor's side of the galaxy. It might look like we're in Asgard, but we're not really. Have you spoken to anyone else?" How much does he have to explain, in how short an amount of time?

Natasha puts her back to pile of debris, presenting the smallest profile possible. The giants haven't seemed particular bright or observant so far; that's an advantage Natasha has been exploiting to its fullest since she got here.

She takes a deep breath, glancing over Steve to assess his condition. Not seeing anything broken or gushing blood, she gives a short sigh of relief. She also gives him a nod. "Briefly. There wasn't time to go over everything, though. Mostly what we're facing."

Agent Fitz hadn't had too much to say other than that. The giants had been closing in and Natasha had chased him off.

"I figured we could work out the rest when there's not monsters trying to kill us."

That strikes Steve as perfectly fair. There's not much time to give her the whole rundown when they're being pinned down by frost giants, and he appreciates that Natasha is willing to leave the rest of the explanation until later.

They've been through this a few times by now, not that she would remember that. While he has no clue why Wonderland won't simply let her go, it's not something he has the time to contemplate right now.

"We need something that can actually do damage against these things." He pokes his head out over their cover, just for a moment. "Seems like a good idea to fight ice with fire, but..."

It's not like there are flamethrowers lying around, and he doesn't know if the closets would help in this case.

He looks Natasha over, also relieved to see that she doesn't seem too injured. He rubs his aching cold hands against his thighs to try and work circulation back into them. "Maybe we should try to build a barricade and see if we can keep them away from civilians." It's a last ditch effort, but he's certainly open to ideas.

He's seen her look worse, at least. A few bumps and bruises, signs of stress and fatigue, but she still has enough in her to keep this up. There's no sign when the last time she fought with him might have been—any time after the Triskelion. It's easy to fall into step beside him.

Natasha nods in acknowledgement as he speaks.

"I noticed we weren't doing much real damage." And here she left her napalm at home. Traditional flame throwers might be a problem, though. The apparatus were cumbersome, and these giants are faster than they look. Plus they'd need some. Natasha isn't sure just what resources they have on hand, but she trusts Steve does.

"Someone would have to lead them away for that. You won't get any work done if you're fighting those things off every few minutes. Even if we were fighting them off."

"There are probably people here who have the ability to conjure fire, but..."

Steve pauses, mind racing through the various people who had reached out to them when he and Darcy had made the initial announcement. Billy, maybe?

"Let's get inside, for now. We can regroup and get a plan together there."

He nods toward the Asgardian palace, it's front doors about twenty feet away from them, but that's a long distance when they're got frost giants to worry about it.

"You first, I'll back you up."

"You're not worried about me, are you?" It's a gentle push back, her eyes on the giants. There's not time to waste arguing, so she's only going to bring this up once. "You've been out here a lot longer than I have."

Natasha glances him over pointedly, eyes darting from his shoulder to his arm. It hasn't escaped her notice that he's not carrying his shield, and while now isn't the time to start prying into that detail, it does put him down his most recognizable weapon.

"Sure this is how you want to play it?"

There is always this push and pull between Steve and some of his less enhanced teammates. He views all of them as fully capable, but there are certain blows he can take that they can't, for instance. This isn't about that, though. If they're going to talk beyond the bare minimum or plan in any way, they can't be in the thick of it like this.

"You have a better idea right now?" Steve's never been against hearing other people out, even when he's the one giving the orders, and that's not really the dynamic between them right now anyway. He doesn't know what point in time Natasha comes from, but he's always viewed them as having more of a mutual partnership.

The frost giants are only moving closer. They need to make a choice, and quick.

It's not that Natasha doesn't trust him, doesn't know how to let him make the call. She just also knows Steve is more than happy to put himself in harms way to protect others—and who knows how long he's been out here doing this.

She considers making another suggestion. Natasha could lead the giants away and lose them before doubling back and sneaking in herself. That would mean splitting up, though, and she can't say her idea is better. Just that it's an alternative.

"We'll go with your play." She voice is professional as she says it, hesitating only a fraction of a second. "See you inside, Rogers."

Natasha takes off and Steve keeps a close eye on her, waiting to see if the frost giants are alerted by the streak of red hair as she darts toward the inner building. Plenty of them are busy fighting others, but one notices and starts after her. Natasha's quick for a regular human, though, and she isn't going to get caught so easily. Steve knows that.

All the same, a little help wouldn't go amiss. Steve finds a decently sized rock among all the debris and throws it at the distracted frost giant. It hits it square in the back, causing it to snarl in anger.

Natasha should be in the clear by now, so Steve races out from his cover to follow her. He'll need to try and dart around the giant to make it to safety, but he's got some tricks up his sleeve to maneuver around it.

Natasha makes the door without incident, though she hears the Giants moving behind and to one side, their heavy footfalls tracking their every movement. She can tell when they're distracted and guess the source, and she can't say Steve's estimation was wrong; she thinks she could have made the door without his help, but the extra room to breathe is appreciated.

When she makes it, she stays flattened in the doorway waiting for him. She holds her position as Steve makes his move, watching, waiting for him—making sure she's still where she can do something if things go south.

Edited 2017-09-16 18:31 (UTC)

Steve has speed and agility on his side, at the least. It's what allows him to dart around the giant even as it turns toward him. Somehow he can sense its bubbling rage, even though it's made of ice and should be nothing but cold.

While he does everything he can to run past it, twisting his body away from its grasp, he isn't quite able to manage it, and he feels the hot searing pain of cold claws raking down his arm.

It doesn't actually get a hold of him, though, and so Steve is able to run the rest of the way, stumbling in through the front door where Natasha's waiting. He slams the large doors behind him and then leans back against them as he catches his breath.

His arm is a bloody, frosted-over mess, but he knows it'll patch itself up soon enough.

Natasha frowns as she bites back a question about still thinking that was the best plan. She knows Steve well enough to have a pretty solid guess at the answer; he'd rather risk himself than someone else. One of the things that makes him Captain America.

That doesn't mean she has to like seeing him hurt.

"You okay?" she asks instead. "If there's someone around here who can have a look at that arm, then lead the way."

"I just need to wrap it up," Steve insists. There isn't time to go searching around for someone who can offer him medical attention or use their healing powers on him, not when they've got monsters at their doorstep.

That being said, he does need a moment to catch his breath, so he moves toward a large staircase in the main hall and settles down onto one of the steps. He presses his good hand to his injured arm, putting pressing on the worst part of the wound.

"Tell me what you know, so far," he says, not quite an order though the pain he's in makes his tone inch closer to it.

"Not a whole lot." Natasha shakes her head. "And less that makes sense."

She can forgive his brusque tone. Considering the situation, they can all be a little short. That isn't even digging into the last time they saw each other. She let him go, but leading up to that... well, the situation among the Avengers had got complicated.

There'd be a few things to sort out.

And she had a few things to ask on her own.

"They tell me I was here before." Seems like a good place to start answering both of their questions. "I don't remember it."

Edited 2017-09-25 22:42 (UTC)

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