Abnormalities in Ukraine {OPEN! check note}

[npc]

{While you DO NOT have to sign up for this plot, please keep in mind that GODLY/GOD-TYPE characters are unable to participate in this thread at the moment C: This is to keep the difficulty curve average. Angels, demons, metahumans, creatures of the night on the other hand are fine to throw in here. If you are curious as to whether or not your character is allowed to partake in these events, please contact LEXIAS (dat's my chatango).}

Prypiat, Ukraine - long since abandoned by the world but not yet forgotten, a soft silence looms over the ghost city. A maze of mortar, brick, concrete and steel, the fresh layer of snow blanketing the city in a layer of white shows no sign of human inhabitance, lending a peaceful if eerily quiet atmosphere to the vast collection of buildings. The streets, most untravelled for the better part of thirty years save for scientific expeditions and guided tours into the irradiated zone, are largely overgrown with plantlife buried beneath the snow save for the occasional pine tree here or there that managed to find purchase in cracks in the streets or sidewalks, and to the north of the city looms the old Chernobyl power plant and the building serving as the reactor's sarcophagus, built around the collapsed facility to contain the spread of the hazardous materials - a goal that was only partway accomplished, made evident by the radioactive field to the west, once occupied by a pine forest made barren by radioactive fallout and buried to prevent it from spreading any further.

Despite the relatively peaceful scene, darkened slightly and painted a monochromatic gray by overcast weather, signs of recent activity can be seen - aside from the dozens of abandoned boats, cars, helicopters and other vehicles are several much newer military transports that stand in stark contrast to the much older equipment left behind in the city by the USSR decades before, covered in much shallower snow and depressions in the slush and powder behind them hinting at much more recent arrival. Besides many of the vehicles can be seen similar depressions of bootprints several days old, beginning to fade with the snow fall as well. Despite the signs of activity, however, there is only the silence of the wind - no voices, and no movement, not even that of the wildlife that had come to reclaim the city in the years since, and besides many of the vehicles are a handful of military uniforms, all but empty save for a curious ashlike residue left inside of them and staining the snow.

Only silence.

[deadlock]

Captain Ivan Antonov was a man who hated owing a favor. This was especially so now on the haunted waters near the site of the famous disaster, where few now dared to sail in the face of the recent troubles. His boat, the Son of David (russian boats are 'men') cut through the icyblack waters like a knife at twilight, and the men were grave and silent as they went about their tasks, bundled and masked against the claws of a death that was far more efficient than the chill.

When Eddie called in her favor, Ivan knew she was going to ask him for something extraordinary... because this slip of a girl, slightly younger than his youngest daughter, with her blue hair, intense glare, and black leather coat was Deadlock, and he owed her. He owed her big. The fare would have even been free for the depth of his debt - he would have gladly taken her around the world twice for what she did for him in Gotham. He'd have run guns for her anywhere in the world, anywhere she liked and gave them to anyone she asked him to. And he still would have considered himself in her debt. But...

...Here? He didn't like it. He had gotten to the tension point of asking her to reconsider, to let him take her somewhere else... but that look in her eye as she stood beside the crate he was sure contained her suit, the way she barely moved and never spoke, it was... well, it was spooky. It didn't brook questions, either - even the friendliest of invitations to come below were ignored, like the demons in her mind were preying upon her. After the second approach, he'd ordered his men to simply avoid her during the trip, and they did - only too gladly.

Now they had entered the Black Sea, and as they were nearing Ukrainian waters, he had to consider the topic again. He was the captain after all, right? And she was a friend. She would understand. He assured himself of this, and approached the woman.

"You see ah..." he began, and she turned her head to look at him. "Is not that I'm ungrateful... but this... is something we feel... strongly about, ah..." and her expression softened.

"No, that's alright, Captain. Thank you for taking me this far." she said, almost... warmly! It was an unexpected event - enough that he found himself very happy for the smile in her eyes - no girl her age should look so troubled and intense. They shook hands heartily, and she... hugged him.

"Ivan, consider us square - After the shit we went through together, I couldn't ask for more." she said earnestly, and he nodded. They shared a moment of recollection - a calm as icy as the waters around them, but... personal. This was the quiet of comrades - friends, in recollection of something... dark.

"... why did you want to come here?" he asked after that somewhat uncomfortable moment.

Deadlock gave him a long, thoughtful stare, before shutting her eyes. "... A lot of people have gone missing... and there's not much international traction." she said, and sighed, the gas mask billowing a cloud of heated breath from the two respirators. She opened them again, and looked into his.

"... but I don't have zoning laws and international politics. I'm... going to do something about this. I'm going to try and fix it, so more people don't die." she said, and the somber tone of her voice got through to him. A treacherous inner part of him, the bit that let him survive in Gotham's trade circles amidst mobsters and psychopaths, said better you than me, kid.... He hurriedly beat the dog fuck out of that thought.

Captain Antonov nodded, and clapped her shoulder. She was built like she was carved of wood and stone and even his massive hand barely shook her.

"You will make it back to Gotham again. I know you. You are the Inevitable - you fear no thing. You saved my family - if anyone can save this place, it is you... Deadlock." he said heartily - he felt it had to be said, and she responded with a nod, eyes distant again, intense in their focus on the barely visible motherland ahead.

Without another word, she turned, and undid the locks, drawing them back with Ivan's help to undo the heavy bolts in the cold. They slid back and, hunched in the darkness, was a massive figure, but not the same one Ivan had expected! This was Deadlock... the steel wings and fanged skull motif of the Deadgrims, the ones who fought at her side, was familiar to him... but this was a Deadlock he wasn't familiar with. It looked... well, less like it was made of junk and more like a refined... monster.

"Open." came Eddie's voice, and the machine responded, flooding the shipping container with blue light as it lit up along lines and in the visor. It did open on her command, metal sliding silkily along, plates spreading, pulling open in a complicated pattern with barely a noise over the sounds of his ship, and Eddie stepped into it, her hair whipping.

"Deadlock!" he called to her, and the lights reflected off her mask and face as she looked back at him. The image burned itself into his brain - he might never see this woman again, and the look in her eyes said she knew that as well, but was... going anyway. His son had eyes like that in the airport before he was shipped off to Iraq with the other soldiers to the sandbox.

"You come see Ivan when you get back. We will drink and you will tell me of your exploits!"

It was good to see the smile in her eyes.

"Yes, Captain." and with that, the machine sealed around her, and stood out of the container as he took steps backward to allow her space, and walked to the upper walkway to get out of her way.

Eddie removed her mask after starting the environmental systems, and flicked the power system switches, running a last-second diagnostic before takeoff.

Engine one... Green.

She thought about her brothers - she missed the easy days at their side. She gripped her controls tightly and grit her teeth.

Engine two... Green.

The depth of her hatred for the forces that took her brothers from her knew no bounds, but darkness wasn't the only thing she knew anymore.

Engine three... Green.

Ivan watched as the glow in the cracks of the Inevitable grew as it powered up steadily, and said a small prayer under his breath for a girl he knew, to any gods who might be listening.

Engine four... Green.

"Guide this child in her task, oh lord, see she comes to no harm..."

Engine five... Green.

"Give her the strength to do what must be done, and the wisdom to see the truest path..."

All systems... Ready.

"Amen."

Deadlock took one last look, then, tensing, gripped the control surfaces and broke into a run, her heavy footfalls shaking the deck as she rushed the shorewards edge. Fire left her hands and body and feet, and she roared from the deck into the blackening sky with a thunderous crash. The G-forces were familiar - made her heart race, her blood sing with exileration! She was doing what she wanted to do - this was her dream. This was everything she was brought to the head of a hammer - this was her chance to make a difference, to be more than human.

She punched it, and left the ship behind in seconds, howling in the sheer wild joy of it, of her task. She had no idea what the future held... but she would face it. This she chose to do.

[johnseever]

[/i][/color] he thinks as he yawns and pushes a button, setting the Batmobile onto Autopilot while activating the cloak. "I better get some sleep, as I am sure that I will get none while at Prypiat; specifically Chernobyl."

Never been to Chernobyl , but it is a nasty place. A lot of people died from the radiation, and the history books talk of a lot of odd things and how no one has ever returned to it since the incident; except for research and even then it was odd what was found or heard. Terry closes his eyes, "I'll figure out what is going on with the recent disappearances, but I do not think NATO will be happy with Batman arriving, plus whoever else may be on their way there or already there."

Thinking as he closes his eyes, Terry remembers an incident where he did fight someone who was mostly radiation, Blight or Derek Powers, the CEO of Wayne-Powers before Bruce Wayne returned to lead his company. That was something he remembers all to well, cause he was the one that caused Powers to become Blight. All the time he fought Blight, and yet was never able to capture him, just like how the Joker always eluded capture form Batman, Bruce Wayne. "Blight is my Joker," he says as he adjusts himself and gets ready for a few hours of rest. Wish Bruce was here... My Bruce at least, he thinks before he sleeps.[/ul][/size]

[Starfire]

{SORRY IF THIS POST IS A BIT BLUH! D: !!!}

Life was usually so very WHIMSICAL and WONDERFUL! Even though she missed her very dear friends, the alien of Tamaran was still bubbly and hopeful that they'd all come back and they could have pizza or something together! With a heart bubbling complete with happiness was also concern and worry. There were rumors and news reports about crazy happenings going on and it was worrisome to the ginger with tan skin. Taking the rest of the team to check it out would have been great to do....but the problem was they fell out of contact...she couldn't even get a hold of them through the communicators! What happened to them...? Dear, sweet Starfire hadn't the slightest clue.

Though she had enough happy thoughts to keep her ability of flight....besides they were probably busy helping Titans East or something! Yeah...that was probably it! Whilst flying, thinking about happy Earth animals and wondering what the commotion was all about. Robin would have had a lot of insight on this, if...well...he was here. Hmmm once the outskirts of town came into sight, she sped up just enough to make it there in a cluster of moments. Slowly and carefully, she began to lower herself and took a moment to look around. It really was like a ghost town...overgrown plant life....Robin would most likely start running around and collecting samples.

Thing is this orange skinned girl couldn't do all the tests he could...so it wouldn't really make sense to gather things like that. Clasping her hands together and gently biting at her lower lip...it was weird to do missions all alone. Normally, there was at least one other teammate with her....this time, that wasn't the case. Being graceful in her landing, she only let so much as a soft tap emit from her soles and cautiously looked around feeling all kinds of nervous. So nervous that she didn't even pipe out a greeting!

[corruption]

Silence might have been one thing, but movement was another - as the orange skinned alien landed within the city the wind would die, the snow flurries it had been shifting about the city slowly beginning to disappear with it. From the air new details that weren't previously visable would begin to reveal themselves - an army of what looked like floating, bobbing lights would become apparent over the large field adjacent to the start of it all, the defunct Chernobyl plant. The lights, however, were not merely limited to the field alone - slowly but surely more and more would become apparent throughout the city, clustered around radiation hotspots normally invisible to the naked eye save for the vehicle graveyards where cars, trucks and other modes of transportation long since tainted by the poison let loose all those years ago had been abandoned. Around those spots the lights danced, for the most part moving in circular patterns over those hotspots much as bees would a field of flowers - not all of them remained at only those places, however, with a much smaller number of them moving through the city streets and over the buildings, braving the cold to explore. One such creature, however, sensed the incoming teen, and began moving to greet her, keeping low to the streets to avoid the bitter cold bite of the wind above, lazily floating around one last corner to give the teen a good look at what it really was, resembling a translucent green jellyfish with four large teeth or talons evenly arrayed along the underside where common sense would have dictated stinger laden tentacles belonged. It lacked any immediately apparent means of flight, or of perceiving the world around it - just the same, however, as it rounded the corner and the other form of life came into view it immediately stopped short, bobbing upwards into the air with a short chittering screech before beginning to lazily make its way towards her.

[Tony Stark]

Crazy happenings in Ukraine weren't good for anyone, especially not with Loki around. Though Tony didn't really know that it was Loki, he pretty much expected to get there and have to fight some aliens and then go and enjoy a martini at Stark Tower. Really, Tony wondered why Loki was even continuing with his whole take over the world shtick. It wasn't like he suceeded the first time or would ever get lucky and succeed again, especially not since Thor apparently had access to Earth now. But, since Tony hadn't heard any reports of other people showing up to stop whatever was going on in Ukraine, he would just have to go. The armor was flying at a steady rate towards the area while Tony looked into the situation a bit more on his armor's built-in computer system.

It was somewhat difficult discerning fact from fiction. There were so many conspiracy theories and nutjobs thinking up crazy things that Tony just didn't know who to trust. So, instead of looking into the actual thing, Tony did a system check on the armor. If it was Loki he would probably need everything functioning perfectly. Last time he fought the Chitauri he'd had to fix up so many things on his armor it was just mind-numbing. "JARVIS, check all of the armor's systems for me." Tony said, noticing on the map display that he was nearing the city. "...And do it quickly as possible, if you could." After JARVIS informed Tony that all systems were running perfectly, Tony reached Prypiat. As he was trying to decide where to land, he saw someone standing in the city. And she was orange. Tony landed nearby her and took a cautious step forward... only to realize there was some strange jellyfish-like creature approaching her.

Tony raised his hands and prepared his repulsors in case it were to become hostile. For the most part it just seemed lazy, like it didn't really care. Using his suit's computer, Tony did a quick scan on it to find that there was no information he could access on the creature. It was apparently something entirely new, or so Tony gathered. "You might not want to get near that thing." Tony said to the girl as he took a step forward, repulsors still aimed at the creature.

[johnseever]

[/color] he said to himself as he had done research on the location known as Chernobyl .

Checking everything, Terry made sure his suit was ready and that everything was working as he entered the Ukraine and looked at the map as the Batmobile slowed down from the Mach 3 speed to about 80 mph. Thinking, he saw that the UN troops were a good distance away, and that there were already two people in Prypiat. Moving closer, he flew over them, still cloaked mind you and saw who they were. A girl who was orange and a man in armor who Terry recognizes as Iron Man. Thinking, Terry moved the control lever and turned the Batmobile around, and setting it to go to a safe distance, he reaches up and pulls a lever on the roof of the vehicle and the sit moves back as the bottom of it opens up and Terry drops from it.

As he drops, he flies down, the boots coming to life as he lands about eight feet from Iron Man, "Looks like I am not the only one who took interest in this," he says to the two as he looks and notices the ... jellyfish. "I thought jellyfish were in the ocean, not on land?" he asks as he watches it, "Starfire right?" he asks her. "You might want to look up at the jellyfish there," he says as he stands there, not pulling any weapons, but ready for whatever might happen.[/size][/ul]

[Alexander Anderson]

A shrill wind picked up, tossing the snow on the ground up in an agitated flurry. A sound as of many birds kicked up, and a single sheet of paper fluttered down from the skies to land lightly on the snowy ground. Another soon followed it, then several more, all of them bearing the same writing on them -- pages of holy scriptures. A great mass of them, as if guided by an unseen hand, swirled down from the skies and raged about in a chaotic circle for several seconds near the earth.

A sudden, mild glare of light from within the hurricane of paper heralded the arrival of their occupant, as they all at once dispersed, flaring out in all directions and fluttering to the ground, their purpose done and their use expended, for the moment. Standing there amidst the disturbed snow, glasses flaring with an unseen reflection of light, was a priest who was rumored as being known the world over. Slowly lifting a hand, he adjusted his glasses, the glare in them fading somewhat.

He casually folded his arms behind his back, lifting his head to stare at the scene before him. He had arrived further out than he had intended, still some distance from the location all of this mess had been said to be going on at. It would give him time to think of what exactly he hoped to do here. He had not given much thought after coming here and seeing what he could see.

And so, in no great hurry, he slowly started forward, heading toward the somewhat distant ruckus. "I hope whatever goes on here is able t'be dealt with quickly enough. It's all a huge mess."

[deadlock]

The sea was locked in frost and the land wasn't much better. Snow didn't care if it was radioactive, and froze, mostly untouched by human feet. Many people had fled their homes when the recent troubles had begun - the Ukrainian government had made certain that this was so, so for the past few weeks of snow and frost things were peaceful and quiet.

As the last of the port lights dwindled behind her, Deadlock again checked the map she used, the GPS locator of her phone hooked into the HUD system giving her a relative position. Her map wasn't the greatest... it didn't have a solid indication of topography, and in the dark she was having a slight bit of difficulty seeing through the snow, but the HUD was something she'd spent a lot of time on - she'd designed it to discern shapes and fill in the blanks a bit. The land was easy - the masses of trees and the abandoned buildings in darkness, no problem, but fine detail... no.

The groaning of the fast-moving wind over her armor was a familiar sound - she'd been practicing her mid-range flight for some time before, back in Gotham's underbelly. It had been a good place to train... for urban environments, with their support pillars and construction sites and tight spaces made high speed maneuvering nearly impossible. This was a different animal though - the air here wasn't still. It was blasting with seaboard winds and cross-breezes, and each time it tore at her, she cursed herself for not making Deadlock more aerodynamic. Each gust made her muscles strain not to lose control. It was like... strapping rockets on your arms and body and jumping off a cliff.

Amid her own world of private torment though, the hud picked up and magnified something that broke its tolerance of the smooth and bumpy environment. Something... jutting and sudden, untouched and distinct from the snow. It was... a long distance ahead by footman's standards, but from the air, she'd be passing over it in a few seconds, and she was coming up fast.

As she grew closer, the machine helped Deadlock pick out details and magnified the image on her instruction.

Now, Deadlock had seen some crazy things before, but the dry figure in a trenchcoat, with crosses on his clothing, short hair, and glasses... he was not what she'd have expected.

There was something in her that believed in angels, that knew god was real, that wanted him to be. This man, he cut himself out of his surroundings, and the cut of his collar marked him as a priest. He didn't even have a mask! Angels, she reminded herself from her catholic upbringing, didn't need to have wings. She didn't so much as think as react to a thought in the back of her mind she hadn't been aware she'd been having.

As she threw her tension in her body to her chest, brought her arms forward with some effort, and adducted her knees to her chest, the G-forces of the flight grabbed her body and squoze, the roar of the engine filling her ears and the black encroaching upon her vision as she almost blacked out.

In the Z war, one of the survivors had taught her to put up with G-forces the way airforce pilots did. Since he was a veteran, she believed him, too - the trick was to force her muscles to maximum tension - this didn't let blood pool anywhere to deprive her head of blood. The next was to force her lungs to take pressure, thus increasing her blood flow. She closed her glottis, mouth ajar slightly with the word "Hoooo--" flowing from her, ending with "--kah!" Her breath left her and she inhaled again, repeating this.

"Hooo-" she began, and felt the black starting to push back from her vision "-kah!" and she repeated it until the groaning died out. She'd not timed it perfectly, but as she descended, breathing heavily for a moment or two, she was about thirty some feet from the Shepard of Men when her feet touched the ground.

The Inevitable, a hulking shape riddled with blue glowing exhaust ports in the darkness, steaming with the heat of air resistance and her engine, approached Father Anderson even as she began strapping on the mask she'd had on earlier and fishing through her things to get her spare out. She held her breath, and took the air from inside her cabin back into the tanks to be processed before filling it with the frozen outside air, making her gasp through her filters. The canopy opened as she got within ten feet, showing the young woman with her body mostly held inside the metal behemoth the steel skull-and-wings monstrosity was. No sense scaring the man, was there? How was she to know he was Anderson? It wasn't like she'd ever heard of him. Sure... she knew something was up with this man, that he was heading for Chernobyl, and that he wasn't turning colors or puking from the rads, but it wasn't like he had a nametag or anything!

"Father!" she called, the capitol letters slotting respectfully into place. She was brought up to be respectful to priests.

"The air here is unsafe! We are near Prypiat - old Chernobyl town and it's very, very radioactive!" she called to him, and held out the mask. "Please put this on, Father."

After whatever he did, she gave him a bit of space - nobody liked to be too close to a machine Deadlock's size. It was like standing near heavy construction equipment - no telling when it might move.

"Call me Deadlock" she began, introducing herself with worry in her eyes as she continued "I'm not going to ask why you're here, Father - your coat is untouched by the snow and you're not gasping in a snowbank somewhere dying from radiation poisoning, so I think we can skip a few steps in this conversation Father, but it is a little ways to Prypiat yet, and I would gladly give you a lift the rest of the way." she said, and fiddled with her controls a bit.

Eddie did have a second seat in this thing, normally folded - again, a product of the Gotham Z-War, when she occasionally had to carry Trisha Waldgrave and god knows who else somewhere and she didn't relish the thought of them being nommed by a happy zombie. Plates slid across one another,opening a second space in the rear, expanding downward a bit like a backpack.

[corruption]

Where there had only been one other being a moment ago, now there were three, more than enough to give the awkward looking creature floating towards the orange person pause for a moment as it hesitated, stopping in place and hovering as it reassessed the situation. One was easy, but three might have been a bit more difficult and between the creature's increasing hunger and curiosity it wasn't quite able to decide what course of action to take. Feed, circle, poke, prod, go away..... so many options, so little time. After remaining in place for several moments and working its mandibles in a perplexed manner it eventually decided what to do next, beginning to move yet again but this time to circle the group to get a good metaphorical look at them before doing anything more. They were plenty different from its last meals, enough to warrant caution, but it wasn't quite the blind, animalistic intelligence that many expected it to be, either - it did get curious, and it was precisely because these beings were different that it was going to take things slow at first. Besides, causing a ruckus would only attract attention from the others, and while it was only a matter of time it had these ones all to itself for the time being.

[Starfire]

Weird...was she all by herself...? Continuing to walk along on her merry way, a slight frown crossed the orange skinned girl's lips as her eyebrows followed the lowering trend bringing about a look of worry and concern to her features. What could have happened here...? If only Robin was at her side, or Cyborg...they had this sort of thing figured out so much better than she did! Sure, she traveled around and about in space and was an alien...but even this was foreign to Starfire! Then...in the distance....there was something cute and squishy looking! Oh how it reminded her of a baby Silkie with the way it oddly carried itself about lazily making cute little noises!

Turning that frown upside down with a delightful grin, she levitated above the floor by a couple inches and giggled softly under her breath as the red head drifted forward. Being polite as can be, there was sweetness in the air of her very tone coating the words passing her lips, "Why hello squishy little friend! My name is Starfire!" Gesturing toward herself after those gleeful words with all the enthusiasm her heart could muster in seeing such a cutesy wootsy sight! THAT is when she stopped right in her floaty tracks before getting much too close to the squishy friend upon hearing a male voice talking to her. Something about how she shouldn't go near it....? Stiffening her lips to a straight line while blinking a couple of times, that's when the teen tilted her head ever so slightly to the left and looked absolutely perplexed with a small frown.

"Is it not right to approach the squishy, harmless looking creature?" Bringing a finger up to her chin...she glanced back and forth between the suited up man and the strange critter for a few seconds. Hmmm...figuring that maybe she should listen to him after taking a moment of quick debating in her head. After all...he seemed much like Cyborg with a tad bit of Robin...not much but the whole...seems to know what's being talked about thing. Floating over toward the yellow and red armored man's side, she noticed a newcomer that reminded her much of Batman...Robin's mentor...but without the cape. A little shorter too...could humans shrink? OH! He even knew who she was!

Perhaps this was Robin's infamous mentor he spoke so much of! Floating up a bit more as happiness flitter fluttered about in her heart and multiple stomachs like a bunch of butterflies, she let out a delightful squeal and zipped around the guy she knew nothing of and up to the man who could be her connection to finding Robin! "That is correct, I am indeed Starfire! You must have heard much about me from Robin! It is so very glorious to meet you!" ...oh wait he said something about the squishy jelly thing! Turning her attention back toward the strange critter.

All that confusion came back and...well...she wasn't even sure what to make of it. It's not like the kindly alien from Tamaran wanted to hurt something so cute and not trying to kill her or the others. So what did she do? Slowly wave at it with a friendly smile in the event it was trying to say hello, of course! Goodness, it didn't SEEM hostile so maybe it was providing them with greetings!

[johnseever]

[/color] he says as he thinks for a moment and heads over towards one of the cars, while keeping the green jellyfish thing within his line of site. Arriving at the car/vehicle, he looks around it, checking it out as he observes things with it. He looks inside and notices the cloths on the outside.

Looking at the jellyfish again, he kneels and looks at the cloths now, inspecting them as spots the powder and picks it up, in his fingers. Terry pulls out a small container out of the hidden belt and places some of the powder in it, before closing it and placing it back inside his belt. I wonder what that powder is, and why was it in the cloths of the UN people? he thinks to himself as he looks around the vehicle again, and notices more powder inside the cloths. "Interesting," he says as he looks at the ground. "Highly radioactive area, personal that just vanished without a trace or cloths, no tracks that can be seen, all equipment is left in place," he mentions as he looks at the small group of people, which is right now Starfire and Iron Man and than back to the jellyfish.

Partially closing his eyes, he looks in the vehicle again, looking for a map, radio or anything that might be helpful to the group and whoever else arrives. Additionally, he grabs an image of the jellyfish, using his suits visor and he pushes a button, changing from normal vision to infra-red and looks around. "I think that jellyfish might be either the cause or have an idea as to what happened to all the UN personal." he says to the two. "However, I would advise caution while we are here, as the radiation is pretty powerful, and not something my suit can figure out what it is nor give me very much protection," he adds as he looks at the vehicle again int he infra-red visual spectrum and around the cloths and items within and near it.[/size][/ul]

[Alexander Anderson]

His pace was slow and measured as he went across the snow, arms folded behind his back. He knew the air here was likely radioactive, even at this distance, and silently thanked the Lord for the divine gift he had given unto his Paladin. the powerful ability to not only regenerate from nearly any wound, but to heal as well. It had kept his body in perfect health for many years now, and even now served to keep it functioning just fine even in the midst of the swirling snow and radiation.

His mind drifted to just what, exactly, he hoped to do here. He had come mostly on a whim. A child he had once cared for, reunited with living family, had come to see him recently. The poor child's family had been among the UN personnel who had come here to investigate and gone missing. The look on the child's face ahd been enough to not just tug at Anderson's heart, but violently wrench on it to the point where it grieved him enough to nearly cause physical pain.

And knowing what little he did of the mess that was going on, he had made up his mind then and there to go investigate personally what the trouble was. There had to be someone -- or something may have been just as likely -- that was causing these disappearances. And if it was a physical threat, well.... The weight of the bayonets he carried under his coat assured him he could handle it well enough and at least prevent anyone else from going missing here.

A sudden feeling reached him, as of....something approaching him. And he came to an abrupt halt in his plodding pace. A quick scan to either side revealed nothing coming from ahead...or at least nothing in immediate sight. And from behind, a quick glance told him, there was likewise nothing. He was ready to dismiss the feeling entirely when he actually heard it. A distinct sound of rushing air, as of something inordinately large moving at a great speed....followed by the unmistakable sound of something -- likely the object he had just heard -- hitting the ground.

He whirled about, his coat swirling about him and what little snow had settled on it being flung off...and he could only stare at the sight before him. It was some kind of...machine. That was all he could place on his relatively cursory inspection. Its sudden appearance worried him, and he was on guard -- could this thing be responsible for the disappearances? Or be working with or for who or whatever was responsible?

As the thing approached, Anderson's gloved hands clenched tightly into fists behind his back, ready to go for his bayonets at any moment -- even if he suspected they would be of little use against such a thing. He was ready for anything....except, perhaps, for what actually happened. When what appeared to be some kind of hatch opened, he could only stare in mild surprise, the mysterious glare of his glasses doing much to hide the expression. So then...it was a piloted vehicle of some sort. Probably with weapons, if he was half as intelligent as he imagined himself to be.

He lifted his head to look more carefully at the pilot of the metal behemoth. She appeared fairly normal, by all accounts. Not exactly the type he would expect to be the pilot of such a thing. But then he supposed he himself didn't exactly look the part of what he was, either. And so he dismissed the matter entirely, and focused instead on what was being said to him.

......ah yes, warnings about the radiation in the air. It would be more trouble than it was worth at this point to explain why he needed no protection, and so instead he simply lifted one arm from behind his back and took the offered mask. "Thank ye, Child. Th' radiation in th'air slipped mae mind, I s'ppose." He pulled off his glasses as he spoke and stowed them away; he wouldn't need them for what he was now guessing would take place.

He pulled on the mask then, hiding the grimace on his features behind it as he did. It reminded him too much of a past he'd like to forget, and of his battle with the Last Battalion. But it was necessary, for the moment. After a handful of seconds he had it securely in place, and his mental discomfort at wearing it locked away.

"Deadlock, ye say?" It was an interesting name, and he could only assume it was a code name, or alias of some sort. Lord knew he had enough of those himself to know how they could grow on a person. "Call me Anderson." He purposefully left out his first name, not wanting his identity to be revealed just yet if he could avoid it. Though his last name was the one widely known anyway, it was his full name that was always immediately recognized.

Even the lenses in this gas mask seemed to be affected by the same mysterious glare that often reflected in his glasses, masking his expression near completely as he listened to the rest of what Deadlock had to say. "Aye, the less words an' time wasted, th' better. And th' explanation would take much too long, regardless." The offer of aid in progressing to his destnation more quickly was a much appreciated one. "That would be much appreciated, indeed."

He watched curiously as there was some sort of movement in the rear of the thing. By the look of it, it was a second seat. Taking a hint, Anderson bent his knees slightly, and with a swift leap, sailed up and with a quick half-spin in midair to right himself, landed in said seat with a surprising lightness for his size.

[Tony Stark]

Right, so... Orange girl seemed kinda out of it. As in, she seemed pretty drunk. Tony knew the feeling all too well. Anyway, it probably wasn't good to let her go up and touch the weird jellyfish thing, since what the armor was picking up on it wasn't good at all. "Yeah, definitely not good to touch the squishy harmless-looking thing. Because it's probably not actually harmless." Tony said, stepped forward and keeping all combat systems ready in case this thing had something to do with the disappearances, which it more than likely did. The only problem was that Tony just didn't know what weapon to use against the thing if it attacked. Normally he'd just use a repulsor, but with the readings he was getting from this thing? He wasn't sure if that would be enough.

Suddenly, someone else landed nearby him. Looked kinda like that Batman guy from Gotham, but without a cape and darker. Not that Tony really knew Batman or much about Gotham. Plus, this new guy had a suit somewhat similar to his own as far as his scanners showed. Could be dangerous, but hey, Tony worked with danger all the time. "I've heard the same things." Tony replied, bringing up a document on his suit's inner display. Everything checked out with what this guy was saying, so Tony decided to trust him for now. Allies were definitely good things. He'd learned that in the Avengers and when working with Rhodey.

Then the jellyfish started circling them. Tony kept his weapons systems prepared, but didn't make a move yet. Until it started attacking things, it wasn't hostile. It could even be an ally, who knew at this point? All Tony knew was that it was emitting lots of radiation. Tony nodded as Batman spoke again. Apparently his suit didn't protect against radiation much. Good thing Tony's did. In fact, he wouldn't have gone if he knew his suit wouldn't protect him from the radiation. Much too dangerous and not in the sense that there was much of a chance of him coming out somewhat okay, in the sense that he would probably die if his suit didn't protect from the radiation.

{THIS POST IS MEH but whatever :B}

[corruption]

As the creature kept circling the new arrivals it continued to perceive them through means unknown, vaguely noting the differences between them and those who came before them but for the most part merely observing their motions. Unlike most other creatures, it showed little fear or caution of those before it, giving off a slight feeling of something curious but for the most part enigmatic. As they began to communicate, though, a familiar urge began to grow within the creature, a basic, primal one that every living creature would be familiar with, but it resisted, much more curious as to why these things were so different from what it had known since its birth - at least until one of them suddenly began to approach it, disrupting any semblence of organized or intelligent thought as its instincts took over. As the biggest one moved closer, however, it also took note of something it hadn't before, an odd feeling from the large one that immediately grabbed the creature's attention as it chittered again with greater intensity than before before bobbing up into the air, tilting back to present its toothed underside to the being only a few meters away and rushing at it with speed not previously shown.


As things began to fall apart around the group, however, slight movement made itself known several blocks down the street as a figure carefully moved through the dilapidated storefronts, the being's grey and white clothing blending in almost perfectly with the steel, concrete and snow before moving to use one of the many vehicles in the street for cover in such a way that it would easily hide him from any aerial view. Still easily several hundred meters from the group, he slowly brought his rifle into line and peered down the scope from his position underneath the armored personell carrier.