revivalproject | One Step Closer to the Edge

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One Step Closer to the Edge

WHO: Raphael and yooou
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Just going a little crazy
WHEN: 1/15 Event start until someone stops that awful noise or does something about him
WARNINGS: Uhhh violence. Yes.

Daylight

It unfortunately doesn't take much to antagonize this turtle. However the sound that seems to burrow directly into his skull and through his brain just pushes everything beyond that. It's downright maddening, and there's been nothing he could do to shut it out.

Walls have become his main outlet, the already crumbling edifices sporting fresh cracks if not having been brought down completely, as though someone had thrown themselves bodily at them, and it might not be too far from the truth. A few of the small trees that have sprouted up within the abandoned confines of the city have been reduced to splinters, their thin trunks snapped or the bark broken off as the result of some vicious stabbing.

It won't take too much effort to find the culprit, and while Raphael may look worn near ragged, that sort of state doesn't help for the slippery hold he's had on his sanity, and it's clear by the look in his eyes should one meet them. His reaction upon being found isn't unlike cornering a feral beast, and if one hasn't seen the turtle in action before, they might be caught off guard by just how fast this one can actually move as he lunges.

Come Night
Perhaps you've been fortunate enough to avoid encountering him in the day, but then the night holds different problems. The many-legged creatures are everywhere, hostile and come in seemingly unending numbers.

There are no sides in this twisted game, however, and in your fight for survival or pest control you may come upon bodies of the spider-like creatures already dealt with, twisted, mangled corpses strewn here and there, and sounds just beyond in the darkness suggest that there's to be more where that comes from. Further investigation will reveal the teenage turtle engaged in a fight, largely outnumbered but somehow holding his own. There's no finesse to his movements, no thought behind his strikes as he lashes out with sai or vicious kicks. It's clear he only seeks to hit things and rip them apart, and the creatures respond in turn.

This will take some careful approach, just don't think too long, because while there's only one turtle, there's a lot of spiders and some might just take notice of another target in the area.

((OOC: Will match format if you'd rather not prose!))

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The turtle lands heavily on his supposed rescuer, shoving himself up with a growl before baring his teeth as he draws a fist back with full intent to punch that shiny face. Thankfully in his mad fury he's forgotten the weapons tucked into his belt behind his shell.

Feral turtles. That's probably a new one. Considering how much Raphael hates bugs this madness may be an odd sort of blessing, save that instead of losing his mind at being surrounded by giant spiders he's just lost it because of an intangible source that's pushed it beyond reason.

Ah, yes. Lauri-Ell looks back over her shoulder and frowns. That is not a good sign. Perhaps they need to re-prioritize their efforts here. First, handle Raphael's aggression. Then the swarm.

Lauri-Ell slams the base of the Universal Weapon into the ground, and a forcefield forms around their little gathering. Sure, there are a few spiders trapped in there with them, but the energy field keeps more from entering.

"I advise that you both cease your conflict and destroy the internal scurrying threats before you have your spat. I cannot move and maintain the barrier at the same time."

The ringing clang of a leathery fist against Iron Man's metal helmet, knocking his head solidly back against the ground, should have been proof enough that this wasn't going to be an easy spat to settle. Slightly woozily from the ringing in his ears, Tony shouted back to Lauri-Ell, "I don't think we're going to be talking this one out." He didn't really want to fight Raphael, either, after what happened with Catra; she had gone down way too easy, and didn't seem to be aware of those limitations. But he couldn't very well just take a beating.

With his hands still braced on Raphael, trying to keep him lifted away from his face, Iron Man shoved back with a short repulsor blast from both palms that spilled light from between them with a quick, sharp whine of power. It wasn't much of a relief, the new light sending the trapped spiders manic, unable to flee and leaping onto the threat to fight.

For better and for worse, Raphael's the sturdiest of his brothers. He's taken hits from charging alien triceratops and giant mutants. Unfortunately that just means it'd take a bit more effort to get him to stay down when he's taking on friendlies.

The blast is a sure way to send the turtle flying back, and he goes smacking into a few spiders in his rough landing. Unfortunate spiders that end up being kicked away as he struggles to get up again. At least he doesn't immediately go after Iron Man again as there are plenty of things closer to grab a hold of, and Lauri-Ell's words and her shield are ignored in favor of tearing into the frantic spiders.

"It seems peace has been made," Lauri-Ell told Tony, but she kept the shield up. "Deal with the combatants. Then, if needed, I shall ensure he does not struggle."

Granted her method of doing that would be applying energy chains to the turtle. Thank goodness for the hammer. They would figure this out.

"That's incredibly ominous, you know that, right?" Iron Man replied as he found his way back to his feet, shoulders drooping with less confidence than he had entered this situation with. It wasn't a proposal that he had any actual problem with, though, gladly surging after Raphael to grab at a spider's conveniently multitudinous limbs and wrench it back into the blast from Iron Man's waiting palm, shredding its spider-segments, whatever they were called. Easy seam lines, to Tony. The burst of light sent the collected spider assembly manic once more, but Tony was more prepared for that reaction this time and leapt above the bug lurching toward him to come crushing down onto his back, hitting the ground heavily in an explosive smear of its guts. "That's two for me," he claimed to Raphael, despite being sure this wasn't going to be much of a conversation. "Don't worry, I can catch up, I can't be that far behind. What are you at, five, six?"

The problem with being flashy is that it draws attention, effective as it is. Raphael would have loved to keep score, normally, but right now? He's just hitting things.

Stealing his kills might have ticked him off if he were able to think about it, but at the moment it only serves to lessen the amount of moving targets, which brings the turtle teen's attention back to the shiny metal guy gabbing oh-so-conversationally. So it really shouldn't come as a surprise when Raphael charges at Tony again, using a half-twitching spider as a makeshift battering ram.

Ominous isn't an issue Tony. Controlling Raphael long enough to get them all to safety matters. Mostly, Lauri-Ell wants out of here, though. And she frowns to see Raphael charging again.

"Stark, get airborne. I will deal with him!"

The ninja was easily faster than Iron Man's heavy armor, leaving him just enough time to throw his arms up to brace against the charge before Raphael slammed into him. His boots dug into the ground, tearing up earth and stone as he was shoved back but kept on his feet this time. "He doesn't know what he's doing," he ground out, as much to caution Lauri-Ell against hitting too hard as it was a warning to Raphael before he got himself blasted apart like a spider, because a logical turtle would not pick a fight with Iron Man. Up close again, where Iron Man could look into Raphael's wild eyes with only a goopy spider between them, he took the chance to twist the plates on his shoulders up, exposing the gold undersuit but also the repulsors in each armor piece that let Tony control their movement. They flashed, blindingly bright, directly into Raphael's face to disorient him.

Raphael being Raphael probably would try to throw down with Iron Man if there were good reason to. This however has nothing to do with reason, as Iron Man has taken note of.

"Agh!" the turtle shouts, recoiling at the glare. It sends him staggering back and for a moment there's something worse than the underlying sound that's been driving him up the wall. It keeps him from trying to launch back into any direct attacks, swiping at the air in blind frustration as he squeezes his eyes shut.

"Stark, prepare yourself for our crawling enemies," Lauri-Ell instructs.

She gives just a moment before she lifts her Universal Weapon from where she had struck it down for the shield. Instead she jabbed it at Raphael, and with the gesture heavy chains of green energy shot for Raphael to wrap around his chest, pinning arms to his sides. The chain led right back to the Universal Weapon, meaning he was effectively chained to Lauri-Ell.

"Roger wilco," Iron Man accepted this time, less prone to directly ignore such an indirect order; more of a suggestion to interpret as he found necessary. He had already taken a few skipping steps back from Raphael, out of range of his swinging arms, and satisfied with how effective the bright lights dazzle technique had been so far. As Lauri-Ell's shield dropped, the spiders fell upon them hungrily, tumbling in their fervor that had been pressed up against the wall, and Tony was ready with another bright flash to send them running. Blinded and panicked, some still rushed forward and bumped him easily to the ground, leaving the glowing pieces of the armor hovering where he had fallen still twinkling their lights in the vague shape of the man that had stood there.

Even without immediately being able to see, the turtle's reaction is out of reflex the moment he feels himself being bound. He tugs and strains against the chains, but they hold fast. In his failed attempts to pull away from Lauri-Ell, his footing slips and he crashes to the ground.

With nothing else he can do but cringe and writhe at the intangible torment, exhaustion sinks in all the more. He half-heartedly kicks at what spiders come within range, but otherwise left an easy target to overrun as the shield previously withholding the multi-legged creatures vanishes with a wave of spiders.

Well, it seemed the men around her could not care for themselves. Lauri-Ell does not approve. She moved forward and grabbed Raph and flung him onto her shoulder before reaching for Tony, even as she swung with her hammer.

"Stark! To your armor and the skies!"

Wincing at the spider detritus that he could now feel through the gaps in his armor, Tony gladly accepted a hand up and out of it, the fractal pieces of the Iron Man coalescing once more around him to seal any further gross shit back out onto the correct side of it, and the glare of the repulsors against his skin. As clumsy as the move had been, it hadn't been entirely ineffective, the pop of light sending the spiders scattered into the shadows long enough for Tony to reply, "What, and leave you here with your hands full? That kid can punch, hang on tight." This suit wasn't going to do a great job lifting their combined weight, but hopefully Lauri-Ell could follow the logic as Iron Man shifted his hold on her arm, grasping high around her elbow and giving a warning bounce where he stood before guiding her into an assisted leap. It was going to be some precarious parkour, but getting off of the ground and onto the rooftops was going to make spider rush hour much easier to navigate.

Raphael's still trying to blink away the afterimages of that reflected glare when he suddenly feels himself hoisted around and thrown over Lauri-Ell's shoulder. It's a sickening sensation, but with his arms still tightly bound to his sides he can't do very much else but bear with it, all the more so should they all
take to the high ground.

The spiders around them flounder and scrabble over each other in another burst of panic brought on by Iron Man's flashy display, others starting to close in again, even as others are knocked back by Lauri-Ell's hammer.

Lauri-Ell takes the hint and jumps when Tony tries to help. Her weight works against Tony. Her stronger legs help make up for that some.

It's a nice enough roof for right now, but the problem was that spiders could get up here. But they have a minute or two here. And Lauri-Ell sighs in relief.

"I miss my jetpack."

"Noted," Tony accepted, though a jetpack for the lady who could handle herself well with the hammer wasn't going to be very high on the to-do list until these spiders were under control. In their brief reprieve, Iron Man gave another pat to Lauri-Ell's arm, she was fine, before sidling around her to investigate the state of Raphael, hands up to telegraph clearly that he was going to try to touch the kid's face to assess any damage. In the meantime, he muttered, "What are we going to do with him? We can't leave him like this, and we can't just unleash him on the safehouse."

At least Raphael can't bite metal, not that it doesn't look like he won't try. More than anything he just looks to be tensed in pain, every so often trying his strength against the chains still around him, but not with much effort. He's been fighting near non-stop, so his weariness for the moment works in their favor.

He's not without injury, bruised here and there, spider-gnawed and certainly those claw marks scabbing over must have been from a close encounter of the Catra-kind.

"I do not know," Lauri-Ell admits to Tony, frowning as she lowered the turtle from her shoulder. "I was only able to bind him because he attacked you. The chains are a manifestation of the Universal Weapon holding him accused of wrongdoing. Which he has, by bringing us harm."

That said, she suspects it's not his fault. But until he is judged, he is subject to the Universal Weapon.

"Can you speak, Mister Raphael?"

Iron Man crouched down with them as Lauri-Ell put the kid down, grumbling with some frustration at what might have been under the chains or Raphael's squirming if he could judge accurately from the wounding that he could see. "Look, here," he said to Lauri-Ell, pointing to some of the scratches that he knew intimately well, "these are from Catra. Something's getting them all worked up--Raph, mean green, tell me you left her alive somewhere."

They didn't have much time to hit the key details up here, and at the very least, someone should have the chance treat these wounds before they got infected. Tony could hear the scrabbling of spider legs making their way up the building.

Uncomfortable as it is, it's one way to keep him grounded. It doesn't shut out the noise it seems only he can hear, but it forces him to have something else to focus on, and he's trying to cling to that. Raphael closes his eyes, taking in ragged breaths that sometimes hiss between clenched teeth.

"-can't you hear it?" he asks, unable to really get the edge off of his tone. When he opens his eyes to glare at the two of them, there's a strange mix of helplessness there. He knows what he's capable of when he's angry; being driven into a mindless rage scares him to some degree. He gives another tug against his restraints, biting down a renewed desire to hit the metal man in front of him, shuddering at the effort. "Don't know- ran off," is all he can manage, shaking his head. He can't remember the details, but he knows they'd been at each other's throats.

"Of course," Lauri-Ell answers Raphael's question, tilting her head to the side. Her senses were sharper than those of a human, after all. Granted for her it was just barely there at the edge of her hearing, a light annoyance, not maddening. "The sound provides you distress?"

That might be something they can deal with. And, she worried, young miss Catra would suffer from it too. That was no good. Lauri-Ell must find and help her.

At least Catra was still out there somewhere, making Iron Man's shoulders drop with some relief, but the search so far wasn't going well. The spider that waved a searching leg to haul itself up then peek over the edge of the building faced the full blast of Iron Man's frustration, both of his hands up for a repulsor attack that took a good bite out of the roof with it to send debris battering down onto the street below.

With that, he turned sharply on Lauri-Ell, but went watchfully still again, like he could expect her to suddenly lose control at any moment from that admission. That had to mean she was likely to soon, right? "I don't hear anything," he said quietly to her, then tilted his head inquisitively, asking if she was following the same logical path. Maybe it was only a matter of time for all of them. "We have to figure this out. Do you think you can keep him under control? Take him to the safehouse, see if there's anyone there who can at least treat him. I'll...try to get to the workshop, make him some..." he proposed, bringing his hands up over where his ears would be. Something like that.

Raphael gives in to another attempt at breaking away from the chains and Lauri-Ell.

"Rggh! It just... it won't stop- can't shut it out, like...like it's right in my brain," he grimaces. Tony's sudden blast at an unsuspecting spider only puts him on edge again, but he almost immediately sags upon the same results against his bindings, and just being forced to sit there hasn't really rested him up. It's hard to really rest when your nerves are cranked up for so long. Part of him had been hoping that if he just kept going he'd eventually just make himself collapse. The spiders kind of put a bit of a wrench in that plan.

"Human auditory ranges are highly limited," Lauri-Ell tells Tony. Of course he doesn't hear it. "Mine are more expanded than yours, and even eye can only barely hear it when I focus. Like the frequency of electronics that are still on when not being used."

A sound that a human would have known growing up most likely, and often lost the knack for as they grew older. Not enough to hurt or madden, just enough to be aware of if there was nothing else to focus on.

"I shall attempt to take him somewhere to keep him secure. However, while I have him bound by Kree law, I cannot use the Universal Weapon for its other purposes. I cannot support you in your work. Is this okay?"

Tony had to make the choice. As it was she moved to Raph and knelt by him, a hand on his shoulder.

"We shall help you. I give you this on my honor."

Lauri-Ell's logic wasn't terrible, and definitely reassuring--so far, none of the affected has been baseline human, as far as Tony could tell, so it could take a certain sensitivity to the frequency of the noise to see any results like Raphael's. Tony wasn't going to fully commit to the hypothesis, and 'baseline human' wasn't exactly the largest part of their population, but it wasn't a bad perspective. Even if it didn't really help Raphael right now. Iron Man tilted his head apologetically at the kid and promised, "I'm going to figure something out," though wasn't confident how permanent of a solution he could make under the circumstances.

To Lauri-Ell, he continued, "I'll be fine, as long as you are--keep high, keep quiet, we can pick up the fight again later. Let me know when you make it."

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One Step Closer to the Edge

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