Dinner with Maloker ((group thread))

[slayers_desire]

Some may consider that all the 'Big Guns' that April has called together is overkill … but not really, not when it comes to the fact that many great minds are needed to find a way to prevent The Three (Discord, Disharmony and Cacophony) from their evil plans.

And the Big Guns are needed... when they have no idea where to start looking for The Three.

When other Keys (such as Dawn Summers) are being drained of their existence.

When the clock is still ticking on Lorne... and his battle with his disease.

Invitations were extended to Clark Kent/Superman; Harry Dresden; Sheriff Bigby Wolf; Edward Elric; Cipher Nine; and of course Spike, Angel, Buffy, Willow and Wes.

April is waiting in the planning room, for each person to arrive, going through some books as she does. For many... this will be a familiar encounter, as they had to come to fight together before. But there will be some new faces. And new ideas.

((forgot a posting order. Since multiple characters, Kat/Ael/ me))

Comments

[slayers_desire]

Besides Maloker is perched in the middle of the cavern. The small ledge where they exited doesn't have any means of pathway to get closer to the Old One. And the ceiling is too high to reach, without the power of flight.

"Yes you really should. Use their fears to bind the others." Clotho tells them.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed swears and reforms the barrier of fire around them. Mustang would be able to do it much faster than he can. "Maloker's gonna consume those shadows to take their strength," he says. "If you've got any bright ideas on how to stop him from doing that, I'm all ears."

"I think she's already bound," Cipher Nine answers Harry. "Judging by the advice she just gave."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"I got nothin'," the Big Bad Wolf replies, yellow eyes glowing as he watches Maloker. "Unless you want me to bite him."

"Fine then," Clark says. "The faster we find Lachesis, the better. We need to find their fears, quick."

[slayers_desire]

While Maloker feeds off most of the shadows, a few are darting in (back and forth quickly) to try to bring April out of the quicksand.

Clotho disappears, fading into the Demontrap. The path clears slightly, leading them to the edge of the mushroom forest. To the north, where the oak tree is located on a hill, there is a swarm of bats.

There is no sign of Lachesis, who had been waiting here before for them.

[fmalchemist160]

"I doubt biting him will work," Ed remarks dryly as he transmutes an additional trough around April, connected to the one protecting the rest of the group to the fire can flow freely from the existing one and into the new one. He gives her enough of a buffer not to get burned by the fire, but it's still close enough to hopefully keep the shadows away from her. Once that's done, he also shines his flashlight on any of the shadows that try to get close to her.

Cipher Nine frowns at the swarm. "This could be problematic," he notes, not sure how to proceed.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Bigby blows at the shadows, but there isn't much else he can do at the moment. He paces inside their defensive line, watching for any sign of enemies approaching them.

Clark frowns too, but strides forward. "Lachesis! Come out where we can see you," he calls out. It's only a mindscape, but he figures his mind should make his powers as real as they need to be. So he punctuates his demand with a burst of heat vision towards the bats.

[slayers_desire]

"Hello boys. When did you get here?" The question behind Ed and Cipher Nine belongs to Buffy. She comes out onto the ledge, with Angel at her side.

"Don't hurt our tree!" The blast of heat vision at the bats is enough for Lachesis to come out of the woods.

[fmalchemist160]

((I'm going to assume you meant Ed and Bigby.))

Ed whirls, narrowing his eyes at Buffy and Angel. "A while ago," he responds. "Mind helping us with the big guy over there?" He jerks his chin at Maloker.

Cipher Nine glances aside at Clark. "I think we've found Lachesis' fear."

[big_bad_sheriff]

Bigby growls at the newcomers. "Now's not a great time, kids." He's a bit suspicious; the shadows are some kind of magic, and there's nothing to say they can't take other shapes, other faces. He sniffs the air, trying to catch their scents.

"Awesome," Harry says, a little gleefully, and he swipes his staff in a wide arc. "Pyrofuego!" he says, casting Hellfire at the bats and the tree.

[slayers_desire]

Bigby is not getting a scent. These are not the real Angel or Buffy. They are shadows, trying to get closer to April. To help her.

"Sure. Where do you need us?" The Buffy shadow is too eager to help Ed.

Lachesis screams again, rushing at Harry to try to knock the staff out of his hands. "Stop it! Stop it!"

((sigh. name mistake above. thks for clarifying))

[nonvillainouscipher]

Ed glances over at Bigby. He's not the only one who's a part of this fight. And yes, she's a bit over-eager.

Cipher Nine, meanwhile, lurches forward to catch Lachesis before she can deprive Harry of his staff, trying to loop his arms around her waist so he can restrain her. "I'm sorry, Lachesis," he says. "We have no choice."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Bigby's growl gets louder and he turns to face them fully. "Nice try. But you can't fool this nose."

Clark's eyes burn with restrained heat vision as he looks at Lachesis, and he funnels that sensation through the bond, hoping that it will affect her as profoundly as it did to Maloker-controlled April. All the times he's ever burned anything, any time he's been in fire himself, and he holds up the amulet.

[slayers_desire]

Lachesis resists for a moment, until Clark mentally gives her the sensation of the fire. "I'll go. Just don't burn our tree. It is the only thing that will bring us back."

The shadows hiss at Bigby, when he reveals that they are false. The Buffy-shadow darts forward to get to April. And the Angel-shadow move to try to tackle Ed to the ground.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed dodges to the side, too distracted by fake-Angel to be able to do anything to stop fake-Buffy. He shines his light on fake-Angel, hoping it'll be enough to keep him at bay.

Cipher Nine loosens his hold around Lachesis's waist, but doesn't entirely let go until she's bound inside the amulet.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Bigby leaps forward towards the Buffy-shadow, fangs bared. Wind rushes at his back, carrying him along swifter than an ordinary wolf.

Clark lowers the amulet, still feeling awful about doing this to April, but they have no choice and it's too late to stop. "Just Atropos left."

[slayers_desire]

Lachesis is now locked in the Demontrap along with Clotho. They move along the path, towards the cave. Atropos is not bothering to hide. She is clinging to the rock face, near the cave entrance.

The fake-Angel hisses at the light, but he tries to surround Ed completely, and tries to block out the light. Bigby easily tackled the Buffy-shadow. She screams, trying to fight against him.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed's response is to keep moving, employing his carefully honed dexterity and his very acrobatic fighting style to get away from Angel every time the shadow tries to surround him. Since Bigby is managing to keep the fake Buffy in check with physical attacks, he transmutes his automail arm into a blade and makes several slashing attacks in retaliation.

Cipher Nine lets out a long breath as they approach Atropos. "We just need to figure out her fear," he notes. "When we came here last, to get rid of Adam, she was afraid of losing Clark," he notes. "But I have a sneaking suspicion Edward managed to cure her of that fear in the process of helping to clear Adam out."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

The Buffy-shadow isn't really her, so Bigby has no problems whatsoever with mauling her with teeth and claws, biting hard and whipping his head back and forth, shaking her like a toy. It's been a long, long time since the Big Bad Wolf was let out to play, and although she doesn't taste like anything, it doesn't lessen that tiny bit of satisfaction deep in his chest.

"I'm open to ideas," Clark says under his breath as they approach the last of the Fates.

Harry makes a face. "Hate to say it, but we could try the fear of losing your kids."

[slayers_desire]

The Angel-shadow splits into two, to keep on Ed every time he tried to get out of the way. The blade does nothing to injure the shadow, as it just cuts through the darkness without injuring him.

The Buffy-shadow is pinned by Bigby's wind powers in order to disappear, or use its powers. He is able to literally tear it into nothing, until it is no longer a threat to them.

Atropos gives a sharp cry when Harry mentioned the fear of losing the children. She moves into the cave, trying to escape them before they can bind her.

[fmalchemist160]

"A little help here!" Ed calls to Bigby, now that he sees the Buffy-shadow has been torn to shreds. He resorts to trying dummy transmutations, scribing circles with Alchemy to keep Angel at bay with the flashes of light and static that go along with any transmutation.

"Blast it," Cipher Nine sighs as Atropos heads into the cave. He's hesitant to just tear in after her, though... the darkness when they were here earlier was so impenetrable that even his infrared vision didn't allow him to see. He doesn't like using April's maternal instincts against her any more than the others do, but if it gets the job done...

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Bigby whirls around, huffs and puffs, and blows a blast of northern wind at the Angel-shadow. He bounds back towards Ed, ready to do the same thing to this shadow as he did to the other.

"We can't let her get away," Clark says. He doesn't hesitate to run after her, despite the memory of the darkness.

[slayers_desire]

The wind knocks the Angel-shadow back. Bigby is able to capture one of the shadow duplicates in his mouth, and it weakens the original Angel-shadow as he does.

Ed might notice that meanwhile, April has stopped struggling.

The cave is unnaturally dark. But Harry should be able to 'enlighten' the situation.

[fmalchemist160]

With the support from the wind, Ed lunges to help Bigby tear the Angel-shadow apart, slashing multiple times with his blade-arm. Out of the corner of his eye, he does indeed notice that April isn't trying to get out of the quicksand anymore. He hopes it means Cipher Nine, Clark, and Harry are close to binding her Voices.

Cipher Nine heads in after them, not used to the complete darkness. He can't even see Clark and Harry by their body heat. There's nothing he can do to break it, either.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Bigby's too busy with the shadows to notice what April is doing, or not doing, as the case may be. He savages the shadow in his teeth, ripping it to shreds.

Harry channels his will into his staff, making the runes glow and smoke, giving them just enough light to see by. "Whaddya know, it worked this time."

"Hurry," Clark urges them. "We need to follow her."

[slayers_desire]

They are able to follow the footsteps that Atropos left behind, through the weaving caverns, until they come to the first door. Atropos can't go through it, without someone there to open it. And so she is kneeling by a rock, trying her best to be still and unnoticed.

The Angel-shadow is destroyed completely. But at least April is unable to be freed of her temporary cage. There are no more shadows trying to free her.