Nightshift 55: Main Hallway, 1-West

[tightsofmight]

[From here.]

All righty. First one here. Surprise surprise.

Peter took a thin breath and took up a post across from the hall, where he could watch both entrances for the gang. His arms crossed and he leaned against the wall. The whole thing was rather broody-looking, to be honest. Not the kind of chipper attitude you expected from a guy dressed like a cast member of Cirque du Soleil.

He was allowed to have bad moods. They happened. He hadn't started the night in one, but he'd tripped into it easily enough on his own. That sort of thing happened when your life sucked this much, okay. There was no sanctuary from the suckage. He sighed yet again. It'd be easier to perk up once somebody else showed up. Then he could push his mind away from all of this garbage and pound some small talk out of it.

Not to mention that waiting out here alone in the big hallway was twice as creepy as it was moving alone through the little ones. His flashlight swung back and forth. Please don't let anything be creeping on me in the dark. Please please please...

He was so not in the mood for whatever monstrosities were lying in wait for him. And knowing Landel's, they were.

[For the Platonic Family!! Y'all know who you are.]

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[vstheworld]

[From here]

Everyone was super quick about getting to the meeting spot, it seemed. Scott was arriving at pretty much exactly the same time as S.T. (whom he realized he hadn't actually seen in person since the Doyleton trip) and a man who took the "You Gotta Have Blue Hair" rule to heart. Indiana Jones, Two-Face, and Spider-man were already there, too, and wow Scott had an unexpected brain aneurysm at the fact that mentioning those three names in the same sentence didn't faze him anymore.

He hefted the broadsword over his shoulder, partly to look impressive and partly because resting it there was easier than holding it suspended in his grip (no wonder it was such a common pose for knights and fantasy hero types - the lot of them were just too damn lazy to hold their swords properly). "I like the sound of muscle on our side," Scott remarked with a grin that betrayed his eagerness to get going and get something worthwhile done. "Is this all of us now?" he asked.

[dualistic]

Despite the fact that the kid felt the need to hide his appearance, he turned out to be amiable enough, offering a wave and a casual response. Harvey had to try very hard to not raise an eyebrow when he was given a title rather than a name: Spider-Man. Maybe it did make sense where the kid came from, if that was his own twisted mind, but Harvey didn't really have the time to dwell on it.

"Yeah, Dent's my last name," he confirmed with a nod. "First name's Harvey." It was at that point that Jones showed up and offered his own opinion on the matter, though it made Harvey wonder. Did he know who was hiding behind that outfit? Did he know what the kid had to hide?

Leaving Jones to fill "Spider-Man" in about what had gone on last night, Harvey watched as Sangamon showed up with a joking comment of his own. He nodded to the man, knowing that they needed him and that he was easy enough to get along with that he could let the odd statements pass. And then...

Then he saw the face of a guy who he hadn't seen in ages, who he really wouldn't have even remembered if he hadn't been faced with him again. He didn't know if he'd ever even gotten his name until now, though "Depth Charge" seemed like as much of an alias as "Spider-Man," even if this one was showing his face. He'd been at that used car shop with Scourge and had acted like he was off his rocker with hostility and... asking him if he was from Earth. He wondered if the guy had mellowed out or if he'd only been invited along for the muscle, as he said.

There wasn't a chance to address any of that, though, since Scott was on the guy's heels, carrying a sword with him. Harvey tilted his head -- did the kid really know how to use it, or was he just showing off? If he did, great. If not, then he was going to end up putting them all in danger.

It was his question that Harvey ended up replying to, however. "I hope so," he said with a glance around at the entire group. "Otherwise we're going to have a problem." He was already thinking that they should split in half the first chance they got, but he'd wait to voice that opinion. How were they going to use that ring with this many people, anyway?

[tightsofmight]

"Well it's nice to finally meet you proper, Har- hey." Peter turned to Indy. "You don't know that. It could have been passed down in my family for generations."

As it turned out, he was right. Once the other people started arriving he could feel his foul mood being pried away, one claw at a time. He smiled at Indy from under the mask, the expression bleeding into his posture, and quickly became preoccupied with examining the tiny shield in his hands.

"Um. I heard from Harvey there was a trophy on the board. And you guys found a labyrinth. And a Sphinx." He squinted at the thing, gripping it by the tip to tilt it upwards for inspection. "Okay, so...basically we're staring down Greek mythology and the mighty army of Lilliput. Wonderful."

Then Sangamon arrived and provided a much better explanation. Save for the part where he was now expecting a run in with Rick Moranis and a shrink ray. He jutted a thumb in the Sangamon's direction. "Or that."

Honestly? If it was in a movie, it could happen here.

That would have turned him sour again if not for the timely arrival of their last two stragglers. A totally unfamiliar man, with blue hair and the frame of a giant, and a much more chipper Scott Pilgrim than the one he had seen this morning. With a sword. A really big sword. Peter cocked his head at the sight (because no one would see it if he just raised an eyebrow). What, where, why, and how, Scott?

Then he remembered that the guy had had Special Counseling. Of course. Duh. He was probably using that to beat the crap out of people - scary thought, considering how with a sword it was more like dicing them up - and then somehow got to keep it. Like how Sangamon had mysteriously snagged him his webshooter.

Peter let the matter drop for now, waving yet again. This time it was for the new guy's sake. (Depth Charge? Really?) "Hey. Spider-Man. Welcome to the Doomed Crew, we're very happy to have you." He then addressed the rest of the group, silently counting them off with a red-clad finger. "By my count, it should be. And you-" he pointed to Sangamon, "-have the magic ring thing, right? You're going to have to show me how that works. I found mine a while ago and nobody bothered to give me a run down how to poof yourself into places with it. I just thought Landel liked me best."

He held up the hand with the ring on it. It was slipped tightly over the glove, wrinkling the spandex around his ring finger. Peter was suddenly thankful for the foresight to not put it on his left hand, or it really would look like he was getting hitched.

[its-the-mileage.livejournal.com]

The usual suspects gradually filtered in, one of them with a massive broadsword over his shoulder. Indy raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Better than nothing, at least.

He'd seen the guy with the blue hair before but couldn't remember ever speaking to him. Depth Charge. He thought wistfully of the halcyon days when people got their nicknames from their dogs rather than arachnids or (his best guess) underwater explosive devices. Indy missed those days.

This was no time to get misty-eyed, though. He replaced the shield in the bag, introduced himself with a nod to Depth Charge, and briefly studied the ring on Peter's costumed hand; it looked identical to Taylor's. They'd already learned that this group was too big to move quickly, but they could split up when they got farther on.

"Let's move, then," he said, turning to Taylor. Privately he wondered if the ring could transport this many of them at once, but there was no need to ask. They'd find out soon enough.

[toxicspiderman]

S.T. let the assembled groups get through names, and was about to cut things off when Indy did it for him. The anarchist bitch session could run all night if they let it, but these guys were cool. They had a job to do.

"O.K., watch and learn. Get closer, everyone, I don't know what the effective radius of this thing is." The last thing they wanted was to end up with half a compatriot on the other side. Except if it was Two-Face.

"You just smash the stone." He ran it down the untaped end of the pipe, where the threads were visible. Whatever the stone's metaphysical properties, it wasn't much harder than the dried blood that had created it, and it chipped and then crumbled like a rockslide.

[teleporting here]