2013-09-13 - Wendigo Wash Out

The heavy floods in Colorado were still ongoing, as were rescue efforts. Some heroes were chipping in as available to help search for missing persons, or just serve on damage control. Others might be there to help save the Hard Rock Cafe, home fo the strongest legal drink available in the lower 48. For the moment, outside of Boulder, Colorado, a search and rescue team had gone missing several days ago when it had been trapped out in the wilderness.

Few things can motivate Grace to get her ass out of her home turf for too long. A debt is one of those things. She'd owed an old friend a debt, and that friend happened to live in Colorado. It just so happened that one of her friends was one of the people missing; grudgingly, but willingly, Grace had flown down (by plane, because she's not as cool as the Kryptonians) nearest to the area as she could, and drove up the rest of the way. Not that she's a wilderness person, in the least. But, there's little enough that's going to hurt her, and she starts out on foot, following her friends suggestion as to the last place they'd been called by said missing person.

Though not rocking the senses that make his relatives gods of search and rescue, the half-kryptonian teen has enough to make him pretty solid for helping out. The fact that the flooding has almost zero effect on someone that can fly makes him even bettersuited. He's depositing another family on dry, accessible ground, having just pulled them from a rooftop, using his Teke to lift some truly awkward loads, like when he rescued a woman and her 16 cats, returning to the ops center covered in felines.

Grace would be the first to track it, going through the torrential rains. A cave section, cut off over from the worst of the weather, but literally cut off - until recently having been apparently sealed shut for several days over wtih a boulder that was seemingly finally shifted down the side of the hill it was on as Kon flies up with another load of evacuees.

It's a good thing she has short hair; damn shit would be getting in her eyes, and plastering itself to her face, and be really annoying. Sopping and soaking through her clothes, having not even bothered to put on a jacket, Grace begins to head over to the cave section, either unaware that the Kryptonian might be (or is) near. She pushes the boulder a little to the side, or pulls it free if need-be, calls within, "Hey. Jeanine. You in there? Anyone in there?" And, quite loudly at that, uncertain how far the cavern might go back.



   Cable was no hero. He didn't work well with authorities and he always had an agenda. But this time it placed him on the side of angels. He teleport into an apartment complex in Boulder looking for someone or something. Though instead of the surgical strike he planned,he's ending up getting people freed from the complex.

Superboy unloads the most recent load, and then goes looking for more people, hearing someone calling out loudly below, flying closer towards Grace.

As Grace shoved the boulder the rest of the way down the hill, she would see flashes of white.. Fur coming from within the cave. Big poofs of fur. Flashing teeth. Big, hairy beasts tha tlooked like monsters from another realm.

And then a crushing howl. An echoing melancholy of howls sounding over the beatings of chest and shrieks. No sign of humans to be seen. Other than some bones far off in the darkness.

"WEN-DI-GO!"

Even from hundreds of yards away, that sounds bad. Superboy picks up the speed, not doing a simple scan anymore, going full hero mode as he tears through the area, impacting the ground by Grace with a lot softer of an impact than one'd expect with his rapid approach.

"Right." Grace wipes the rain off her brow, "Werewolves of Colorado. Little old ladies getting mutiltated. Guess I found Jeanine. Bastards." But, she's not dumb enough to go into the cave, after them. Unaware Kon's getting close -- hey, she has no super-hearing, and plus it's raining, she picks up a chunk of rock, and whips it, as hard as she can (which is pretty damn hard all things considered) towards the fur she can see in the background of the cave.

         "Hey. Harry. You and the Henderons get out here, so I can skin you alive and hang your head in my bar. Be a great conversation piece."

         As Kon lands near her, she glances towards him, instinct almost causing her to attack the sudden movement. Then, she smirks, "Welcome to the party. It's just about to start."

Cable gets the people from the apartment complex to the roof and lights a flare so the rescuers can find him. Tucked into one of his many many pouches is what he had came for a book on Ancient Egypt from medieval period stolen from a college professors apartment. It contained information on Apocolypse's clan. He teleports away and accidently teleports into the woods not far from the cave.

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<p class="MsoNormal">As there's a bright flash of Cable's arrival, that's neough to set the group fo Wendigo's over to a stampede. They go bum rushing out of the cave, charging en masse over towards Grace, only for the impact of Kon 'crashing' the party sending them flying. The limber, monstrous apes leap and twist back up to their feet, claws and teeth flashing then as they moved around to try and surround the group of heroes. Chanting out, roaring, then charging! Fangs and claws smashing, slashing, with surprising strength over and agility as they wentto charge in for hand to hand!

<p class="MsoNormal">"Oh geeze," Superboy says, and quickly glances to Grace, and then to Cable, sizing the folks that aren't cannibalistic forest spirits up quickly. He didn't expect them to be so fast, though, as the creatures are on him in an instant. "Holy!" he shouts, surprised by the tackle, tumbling back and off a small cliff nearby, managing to maneuver mid-air so that the creature takes the actual brunt of the fall, plus a little bit extra from the flier.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Cable looks up at the howl, "Stab my eyes." He mutters about the pack of horrors. He lifts his gun and opens fire on a wide spray pattern. He calls out, "Kid, there's nothing holy about these things." He hasn't noticed the s yet either.

<p class="MsoNormal">Grace gets tackled, hard, her face, racked by claws, and she thumps hard, onto the ground. She does -not- play nice. Never has. As the thing opens it's maw to swallow her head, she latches onto either side of it's jaws, and bends them. Backwards. Until there isa loud, and wince-worthy bone snap, followed by a painful howl. Grace rolls to her feet, hands still clamped around either side of the Wendigo's muzzle, and throws it towards other Wendigo's that are charging Cable. She snarls, "Kill the fuck outta 'em." Like that makes any sense, "Before they kill more people. Damn bastards." At least she's temproarily making it a bit easier for Cable and his shooting gallery.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tumbling out of the way, the WEndigo that Grace literally grabbed and threw through another pair makes them easy targets for Cable's high velocity plasma blasts. The bolts of energy sizzle through the pair as they screamed and collapsed, holes burnt through the cetner of thier torsos as they went still. Another pair went to leap through the air, screeching as they rushed towards Cable with acrobatic flips, trying to slash his weapon in half. As Kon manages to land 'atop' his adversary, there's a loud snapping sound, and the beast screams, trying to slash up at Kon over with a claw as it tried to grapple him, not quite as strong as he was. And meanwhile naother lunged for Grace, trying to engage her in hand to hand.

<p class="MsoNormal">Superboy flies up from over the cliff, still fighting with the Wendigo. Eventually, he manages to get a hold of the thing, and in a throw that shows some combat training beyond just 'hit them harder than they hit you' he throws the thing to the ground. "What /are/ these things?" he asks. His eyes glow red and a branch is cut from a nearby tree, smoldering but not burning after all the rain as it lands, heavily, on his sparring partner.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cable jumps back as Cable was faster than his age or size implied. The swipe of claws destroying his gun but not hurting him. "Hell if I know Big Foot and the Jersey Devil's kids?" He says reaching for a pair of pistols and diving out of claws and fangs.

<p class="MsoNormal">"They're targets," clips Grace towards Kon's questions, blithely. No. She's not happy that these creatures have killed people. The one charging her manages to clock her back, but while Grace is forced to stumble back a few paces, she grimaces hard. "I'm so going to go tac-nuke on your ass," she promises the howling Wendigo. It's that moment that buys her time, and she takes a few sprints forwards, and spears the Wendigo in half, driving it to the rocky ground below, slamming a fist to the right, and left, and right again, pounding it until she cracks it's skull with her bare hands. She doesn't seem to mind all the blood.

<p class="MsoNormal">GRAB! REND! TEAR! CRUSH! With a ferocious howl, Grace manages to snap the skull over of the beast as it goes down hard, laying still, the upper half of it's head caved over and in. At this point, the two earlier that Cable's plasma gun had sizzled through could be seentwitching. The holes in their torsos the energy gun had been blasted through starting to slowly close, inch by inch. The flaming branch Kon had dumped on another set it's fur on fire, and the beast let out a roar, fleenig over for one of the raging streams nearby to try and snuff out the flames, hands waving over it's face to try and put them out. The shots Cable had sent into the gut of the first one sending it tumblnig to the ground.

<p class="MsoNormal">"That's... not actually in your power set, right?" Superboy asks at Grace's threat, and glances to Cable and his one lightly glowing eye. "Or yours?" He dives in, grabbing one of Cable's wendigos by the tail, flying around and slamming it into the cliffside with a thud. It stops moving, collapsing limply as Superboy drops it. He looks around, and his face pales as he notices them starting to get up from injuries they really shouldn't have. "Oh, great, they heal." He sighs heavily. "So much for not killing any of them."

<p class="MsoNormal">Cable looks up at Superboy, "What? I'm a guy with a glowing eye. That's my power, House of El and I don't have any tactical nukes." Not in these pants. He says shooting another one of the Wendigo. The plasma pistol doing the same damage as the rifle. But there's two shots and Cable frowns, "Can't keep this up long. Professor, what the hell are these things and more importantly how do I put them down."

<p class="MsoNormal">       Grace climbs back up, "Guess that means we behead them. Or, shoot them with silver bullets. In the eye. Or, whatever the fuck that legend is," she mutters. She looks at Cable, who is clearly The Gun Guy. "Don't suppose you got any silver ammunition?" She curb-stomps the Wendigo's head whose currently underfoot. Once. Twice. Three times. Just to make sure it stays down, and it's face looks like it's been run over by a mack truck.

<p class="MsoNormal">         A glance to Kon, "Try laser-beam-eyeing their heads off?" Hey, it works in the movies.

<p class="MsoNormal">As Grace goes back to crushing one of the Wendigos, setting back it's recovery by quite some time, Cable's 'Professor' chimes over along his commlink, broadcasting loud enough for all to hear then as the bodies of them lightly stirred.

<p class="MsoNormal">         "The Wendigo is a magical creature formed from a curse. In the frozen north, when desperate humans consumed the flesh of one another, they risked having the curse fall upon them and be made into monstrous creatures that had an eternal craving for human flesh. Given they were magical in nature, and otherwise nearly immortal due to thier great power and healing factors, they could only be dealt with by containment or incapacitation, keeping them from human settlements or capturing them for a sorceror to remove thecurse from them." They were once human..

<p class="MsoNormal">Superboy looks to Cable at the mention of 'House of El' and hesitates as he listens to the report, landing to try and keep a few of the Wendigos back as the computerized voice explains. "Containment, got it," he says, before judo throwing one of the Wendigo straight back into the cave they were released from. "That boulder, think they can move it on their own?"

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<p class="MsoNormal">   The professor says, "Highly likely, Young Man." Cable shakes his head, "I like the decapitation method, end this for once and all. But I guess we could incompacitate the them long enough to return them to their cave and seal them back in tell a Wackado... I mean wizard can be contacted." Cable turning to let his metal arm take the brunt of an attack.

<p class="MsoNormal">"We could just rip their spines out," points out Grace, but, begrudingly, she picks up the flattened corpse of a Wendigo and pitches it into the cave, following Kon's toss. "Let's wrangle them in. Let 'em starve to death. But we better sure as hell make sure this cave doesn't have another exit, or way out. Your little invisible Professor able to tell that too?" She wonders of Cable, "Or, you and your X-Ray vision?" Toward Kon.

<p class="MsoNormal">They were able to toss the boulder down hill in the first place, but if they were mashed up badly enough they could likely be stuffed back in it in such a way that they would tkae their time healing, sealed in, and then hopefully held in long enough for someone magicalto come out to remove the curse, like Raven or Zatanna. The bodies twitched as they were grabbed and hauled, tossed in one by one.

<p class="MsoNormal">Superboy looks at the cave, staring intently, only to get blindsided by a Wendigo. "Can't tell," Superboy grunts out, wrestling with the beast that, quite honestly, is every bit as strong as he is in a purely muscle sense. "I'm... not that good with thatpower yet, or the heat vision." He eventually flies up, spins, and telekinetically flings the monster into the cave mouth, hitting one attempting an escape. "I know someone who is, though," he says, and--well, he looks like he's whistling, and the wet air starts to frost slightly in front of him, but, unless enhanced senses is in someone's power set, nobody is hearing a sound. Probably drives the Wendigos nuts, though, loud as a foghorn. He turns to the others. "We need to get them back in that cave, and get the boulder in front. Yougot anything going for you other than the weird metal arms and the guns?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Cable shakes his head as he starts going for heart shots on the Weindigos attacking him. He knows they will survive and he doesn't care. "No. Though I see with my glowing eye. There's no other exits." Cable can see into various spectrums with theeye including low light locations. He says moving to help throw the Weindigos in with one arms. He looks to Superboy, "I got a glowing eye."

<p class="MsoNormal">"I just break things. Usually people that piss me off. Or, their toys." Grace donkey-kicks a regenerating Wendigo, and pitches it in with it's wounded brethern, in the meantime. "Grace. Grace Choi," she tells Kon. "Hit your sister with a streetlamp, once."

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<p class="MsoNormal">The Wendigos are tossed over in the hole, and then the boulder is tossed up against it. A few more power blasts causes a miniature avalanche to deposit more debris over it to seal it more effecitvely. Even if the Wendigos did heal, it would tkae them time to dig out from it, giving at least some time to summon help to permanently deal with them.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Cousin," Superboy corrects. He frowns. "What is taking them so long?" he asks, zipping around and throwing the Wendigo (Wendigos? Wendgi? Wendipeople?) Cable's temporarily dropping into the cave. That's when the reinforcements arrive, in the form of a white streak that resolves into a white dog in a red half-cape, it's tail wagging vigorously, not seeing immediate threats to it's boy, though Superboy is looking a bit worse for wear. It growls briefly at the smell and looks around. "Superboy, by the way, and this is Krypto." The teen looks to his dog, points at his eyes, and then points at the boulder and rubble. That's enough signal, and the dog starts to superheat the rocks into molten lava, one big rock and a bunch of smaller rocks slowly becoming one big mass.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cable makes sure he's clear of the Krypto and the cave. He eyes the dog for a moment, "That's handy." He says as he polices up the ar4ea and collects his damage rifle. "I'm Cable. You haven't heard of me."

<p class="MsoNormal">   "I have," Grace tells Cable. "You're the guy who let my motorcycle get blown up." Yep. She hasn't forgotten. But, as she isn't punching him in the face, she might be slightly joking at the glowing-eye guy. Still, she folds her arm over her chest, noting wryly, "Yeah. Too bad I don't have any neat tricks, like that. That's alright." She lifts her fists up to her mouth, kisses each, like a prize fighter would. "These do me just fine. Guess I can go back, and tell Amy what happened to her friend, though." She grimaces, some. "Least nobody else will get hurt."

<p class="MsoNormal">"We sure that was your friend in there?" Superboy asks, and looks to the others. "Nope, never heard of you," he admits, but finds himself looking at the man's guns for a moment before turning his attention back to Grace with a look of concern.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cable head shakes, "Lady that was the Joker not me." He grins, "But I'll agree your built just right and I would say you do more than alright." He actually smirks for a moment. He stows his weapon. He eyes Superboy eyeing his gun but doesn't say a word.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Friend of a friend, came down from Metropolis to pay a debt. Girl gave me a place to stay, when I needed one. Owed her," Grace explains to Superboy. She shrugs, "Her jacket was in there. Some bones. Might not have your sight, or your cousin's, but I see well enough." She nods to Cable, "Stop by my bar. I'll buy you a drink."

<p class="MsoNormal">Superboy frowns, and looks into the cave, the cooling rock crackling lightly. He sighs, and pets Krypto for a job well done. "I'm gonna get going, put out a call for some sorcerers. If Raven can't handle it, someone on the Justice League probably can." He considers the cave for a moment. "I'd call these an agent of chaos, wouldn't you?" he asks, and starts to take off. "Sorry about your friend," he says, genuinely, to Grace.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cable grins, "Might take you up on that offer." He then shrugs, "Well ain't sure if better or not, but one them could be your friend. Probably better the other way. Body Slide by one." With that Cable disappears.