Snow Serpent Showdown

As a piece of rubble sent Verdant Gale falling over, Taz gave a shocked gasp, and he started over, eyes watching the green clad hero's form in worry as he began approaching. Giving a growl as one of the Steves poked at the green clad hero with a stick, he readied himself to rush over and shoo them away, but Verdant Gale's sudden recovery caused Taz to come up short. The young halfling blinked, then gave a sigh of relief. As the other hero confronted the Steves, he nodded at him, then turned his attention back to the giant snake, brows furrowing as he considered on how to help. Should he help mess with the more...obvious threat, or assist in dealing with the Steves?

As a voice blared out from a nearby rooftop, however, he couldn't help but look up. Seeing the odd figure, Taz's head tilted to the side curiously, and he spared a second to wonder why exactly the man was hanging around. This area was dangerous, after all! As the lady went to confront him, the boy gave a mental shrug and looked back. Eyes widening as their icy foe looked to be readying up a attack, Taz started forward. As CAP and Kawari went to work on it, he bent forward and increased his speed before leaping up and rolled up into a spinning, crackling ball before cannon balling towards the same eye that Kawari had kicked out at. Unfurling, the young speedster would twist through the air, lightning claws forming again. Using the momentum he'd built up, Taz would try to unleash as nasty a blow as he could, his hand and arm lashing out towards the Serpent's brow.

Verdant Gale had risen from the ashes like a phoenix and sprung back to life from his uncertain fate following him getting clocked by a piece of rubble. However, with the exception of a lone Halfling no one seemed to even care, Simon told himself that it was because they were more focused on the snow serpent, and not just because they didn't care about him. Ever the showman Simon posed for Taz, the only one who had seen his dramatic revival "Justice never dies! And neither will I, Verdant Gale!!!" he said, with a voice filled with more ham than a butchers store.

With that out of the way Simon turned his attention back to the Steve's, who all piled on top of each other to form a totem pole of Steve like some kind of pillarmen. As the tiny troublemakers flung fire at Simon the hero would avoid the attacks altogether by flying around them and moving upwards in a spiral pattern so that he would eventually end up at the top, facing the fire-breathing Steve's back.

Not giving the tricksters a chance to get their bearings Simon would throw out a super-fast punch, sending the top Steve flying off of the totem pole and landing in the snow metres away. He then descended down the pile of Steve's, knocking the Steve on top away with a swift attack as he descended. He repeated that until he was back on the ground again and there was only one Steve left. Cocking his foot back, he swung out one last kick which launched the final Steve away.

Simon struck a pose with his hands on his hips and his cape billowing in the wind in the aftermath of his battle, his heart swelling with a feeling of immense satisfaction "I, Verdant Gale, am victorious!" he declared, while the battle against the snake he had somehow forgotten about raged in the background.

CAP after shooting his Zeus Cannon down the Serpent's throat would quickly and suddenly discover something- this creature had no nervous system. Infact, if what the nanoprobes were actually picking up was true, this thing was basically a reinforced ice tube. That was why it could take so much damage, and also why his nanoprobes had no effect. Which mean he had no choice but go back to close-range combat, and so CAP kicked his thrusters on and flew in to assist Kawari and Taz in attacking it's face. Hopefully if they could do enough damage to the head, it'd stop. But since there was no nervous system, that remained to be seen as he joined in on hammering the snake's face with his metal fists.

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The Scorching Steve Stack was utterly smackledorfed at Simon's Speedy flight! And one by one were toppled, each literally exploding into confetti- even there was nothing for them to crash into, as soon as Simon's kick had made contact and sent them flying they would explode into confetti and party blower sounds. That was probably quite jarring to witness- and may or may not bother his ego that they were THAT easy to disperse physically. Or the opposite, maybe he'd feel OVERWHELMED WITH POWER. Or not. Not gonna ask.

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Meanwhile back up with Fasilli, someone was approaching him- causing japanese kanji for "menacing" to float around him as he struck an overly dramatic pose as Rapture flew up to him. And then she said something totally, utterly, and hopelessly... silli. But before that, something special for Rapture. On the surface, Fasilli's body LOOKED human in all the correct places. The only notable strange and actual "menacing" thing about him was that he appeared to have a thick, black outline ebbing off of him. The outline would ebb as if someone was taking their fingers and pinching off pieces of it. "Ohohoho- that's rich coming from you Spike. This isn't even a giant skeleton- and yer STILL having trouble?" Fasilli waggled his finger scoldingly as he pulled out whatever weapon was listed on his sheet- think it was a cane or something. "But pray tell me before I decide to blow the whistle. What are you gonna do if I DON'T? You gonna punch me into the underground ocean? Bop me into last week? Or are you gonna let that serpent destroy more of the city because you decided to come up here?" Fasilli continued with an obviously mocking tone as he took a step back and had, a very shiny whistle. What did it do? Well, he mentioned something about blowing the whistle. But what did that entail? Tune in next time for the next exciting-

The Snow Serpent, now also being blinded, was REALLY getting angry with it's face constantly getting punched. It's flame breath getting caught up and resulting in a terrible hacking cough. Part's of it's face was STARTING to crack- who knew constantly hammering away at something would eventually lead to damage. But it wanted them off and so, violently thrashed about and slammed it's head into the side of a building to try and rid them, causing Fasilli and Rapture's footing to crumble beneath them as rubble showered over the serpent's head.

To Rapture's eyes, that black outline around Fasilli would suddenly sprout a pair of giant hands attached to long black arms. Whcih he would use to keep from falling by grabbing ahold of the side of the building and scaling back up to another rooftop. To everyone without such special eyes, it would just look like Fasilli was now levitating through the air. "Enough CHAOS you say? PISHPOSH! HERE'S YER HELP KIDDIES!" Fasilli would declare, eyes gleaming through the eyes of his mask as he blew the whistle. A piercing, shrill and unnaturally loud whistle being released from it in virtually all directions. At first this would seem to do next to nothing, but ominous sounding music was starting to play from somewhere. Something was coming...

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Also, since it appeared like several Metahumans got smashed into a building, some MRO at the barricade at that end would start opening fire on the serpent. This did little but just irritate the serpent as it tried to manuever it's body around to face their way...

Rapture had known this guy all of two minutes, and she already hated his guts. Something about his theatricality reminded her of what she didn’t like about Facade, only amplified to the tenth degree. A million questions. Why was the kanji for ‘menacing’ literally appearing around this guy as if a reference to some internet meme for a bizarre anime? How did he know about the giant skeleton? Who the fuck did he think he was, questioning her like that? Some sick person resided behind all that promenade, signaling all her instincts to pack a wallop, but that would be playing into his hand. Not much could be done for a short moment, however, because the serpent had a mind of its own. As it crashed into the building, she took to the air, narrowly dodging debris before landing on the adjacent building safely. Rapture gave herself one more minute to deal with this freak before returning to the matter at hand. Sixty seconds to go. The petite powerhouse assessed the situation. While the individual did not appear to be directly influencing the situation, he certainly was not helping it. There were plenty of other heroes at the scene, although their fight against the serpent seemed rather one-sided. For all their collective effort, they only seemed to be pissing the thing off even more. Then there was something going on with those god-forsaken things called Steves, something that Verdant Gale seemed to be involved in. ’Let the kid live and let learn,’ she figured, glancing over at the green-clad hero before returning her attention to the mask-wearing weirdo. Thirty seconds. During twenty of those seconds, he spouted something off about chaos then blew a whistle. Ten seconds were spent abandoning all caution and allowing her emotions to take control of the driver's seat. Instinct took over, leading her to embody the spirit of the Golden Scorpion. A golden bolt of lightning seemed to appear out of nowhere and electrify the girl in an explosion of sparks. Wings disappeared, replaced with a new getup as well as a set of chakram in hand. Electricity crackled from the electric blades, giving their already sinister appearance and edge of deadliness. With her remaining three seconds out of the minute she had allotted, the unique electric weapons were released and aimed at the literal whistleblower. Fuck caution. This creep had it coming.

"For chaos to exist, one must have order. Allow me to introduce myself." Rapture's eyes burned with righteous fury. Wait... was that music?

As Rapture said to Fasilli that chaos needed order, there was a sneeze heard around Jump City. It wasn't incredibly audible, but it was just a normal volume sneeze heard by...well, pretty much everyone in the thread. Cain put down her arm from her face as she watched the events on television. "Why is she talking about me?"

---

Kawari put up his guard just in time to block the brunt of the blow that sent him sailing into the building under Fasilli and Rapture. He sustained some damage, but that was alright. He coiled up, and then sprung off of the wall, and as parts of the building collapsed, he kicked and punched them with enough force to send them right at the creature, enhanced by his kicks and punches to strike it. Even with the assistance of the machine thing and the lightning kid, it was becoming a tough fight. But parts of the creature had begun to crack, and perhaps Kawari's impromptu projectiles would leave a lasting mark on the creature. Or soften it up enough to crack further.

As he began to make his next move, he heard music coming from somewhere. And someone had sneezed! He hoped they had covered their mouth. "What now...?" he said begrudgingly in Japanese. Well, that was the only language he spoke.

As the showy wind ranger posed and exclaimed that like justice he would never die, Taz gave a relieved grin and small cheer, his eyes shining in awe. Despite the ham, the youngest hero was definitely buying into Verdant Gale's performance. Giving Gale a salute and determined nod, Taz launched his attack upon the Serpent. He can be a hero for justice too!

As he scored deep lines into the icy beast's brow, Taz snorted in satisfaction. 'Take that, ratchaser!' Landing upon the top of the Serpent's snout, the young speedster joined the others in attacking it's head. His arms blurred as he carved more lines into it with a series of rapid blows. Noticing the forming cracks, Taz gave a quick whoop in excitement. They were doing it! Unfortunately, their foe didn't take kindly to being damaged, and slammed it's head into the side of a building, sending the young speedster flying.

As bricks and rumble fell, he landed on the remnants of the broken roof, giving a pained groan. That hurt...Hopefully he wouldn't worry anyone to badly if he came home with bruises. Sitting up, Taz raised himself back up into a crouch, wincing, and got ready to help continue attacking their main threat. However, the strange masked man's floating caught his attention, and he gazed up at Fasilli with wide eyes. So he did have powers! Taz had to admit, he was a little relieved upon realizing that. This wasn't the place for someone who couldn't defend themselves, after all. Was he a hero? However, as Fasilli let out a shreiking whistle, Taz yelped, clutching at his ears.

Ow... Why?! And what did he mean by help? As ominous music answered that particular question, the boy couldn't help but give a gulp. Hopefully it was friendly... Giving a awed look at Rapture's transformation, Taz nonetheless turned his attention back to the serpent. Walking over to the roof edge, the young hero started helping once again. Though, this time he'd keep his distance and sling lightning bolts towards the cracks in it's hide as the heavier hitters went to work.Granted, they didn't have nearly as much kick as his Claws, but it should hopefully keep it distracted. However, the sound of a sneeze distracted him, and Taz glanced around and peeked into the ruined floor(s) below, brows furrowed. Where'd that come from? There weren't any civilians around here still, were there?

As Simon stood surrounded by the confetti that had come from his defeated foes it did not bother his ego at all that the enemies were so easily defeated! It just meant he was really strong! Holding the pose for a few more moments he started to wonder if there was something he was forgetting. All of a sudden he heard a loud crash as the snow serpent smashed it's head against the side of the building to get rid of the heroes fighting it "Oh shit! How did I forget that thing!"

Verdant Gale took the skies following his ephiphany, slightly worried that the rubble hitting his head might have knocked a few brain cells loose. He couldn't afford to lose them as it stood. As he flew he saw Rapture facing off against a silly looking man in a top hat, ignoring the real threat entirely. Simon flew over into the vicinity of the two "Ry- Uh, I mean Rapture! What're you getting distracted for? I don't know who this guy is but he can wait!" The irony of him telling her off for getting distracted was lost on the young hero. Whether Rapture heeded his warning or not he would fly off towards the snow serpent, seeing that CAP, Kawari and Taz were wailing on it.

Underneath his mask Simon smirked at the sight, they had this thing on the ropes! Their victory was almost assured at this point, but Simon was happy to speed things along! As Simon went to rejoin the battle he suddenly noticed a very big change in the atmosphere "Why do I hear boss music?"

CAP was for the most part not worse for wear as The Serpent slammed it's head into a building to rid itself of attackers. He casually sat up to send rubble and debris falling off of him, and he stood up with his cannon locked on again. They were finally making some progress though by the looks of it, not nearly as quickly as he'd like and also it was a harder to hit area compare to part of it's long body. No matter! CAP took to the air again, his cannon charging up and while Taz and some of the puny MRO pelted it with attacks. The Serpent seemed to whip around to Taz attacking it, giving CAP a perfect shot of it's face which he took full advantage of with a full power blast from his cannon. The serpent's head actually whipped back, losing it's balance and crashing onto the pavement for just a moment before it's tail shot up and managed to bat CAP through a window.  

Rising back up, it's face was looking really brittle now as it panic shot a breath of flames in a wide sweep to try and hit literally anything coming after it.
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Stepping in with the main attraction, the things which Rapture threw would become intercepted. She and Hans would see the blackish outline of his body suddenly envelope his body with a pair of blackened arms, The arms would then morph into hands, grabbing onto them and pulling them away at his sides. Did someone actually try to attack him? Was he finally getting attention? IMPOSSIBLE! And then she said something EXTRA SILLI again, prompting him to cackle with glee. Oh, he was going to have SOOOOOO MUCH FUN NOW! "AAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FOOOOOOOOL! Order is a man made construct to try and impose control over the forces of nature through power- AND YOU DON'T HAVE NEARLY ENOUGH TO MAKE ME BOW, TYRANT! For I am Fasilli The Luminary Of The Solaren, First Son Of The Grand Arch Mage, Invoker Of Imagination And Master Evoker Of Entertainment! Basically what I'm trying to say is, YOU'RE ABOUT TO MEET A TERRIBLE FATE!" Fasilli's monologue went on with it's own theme song, making the previous one quiet for a moment until he was finished. Speaking of, Fasilli would (assuming they didn't magically vanish) hurl Rapture's Chakrams back at her before taking to the air again. Honestly, he actually had been enjoying the slobberknocker going on- it was so entertaining watching several people vying for the role of main character and getting no where.

But someone had attacked him! That means it was his turn to throw his hat into the ring! Fasilli would start to move back toward Rapture, the "invisible to everyone but Hans and Rapture" black arms stretching and latching onto the side of a building to pull him in as he pointed toward her. Two gowing pentacles would appear; one around Rapture's feet, and another one was in the air above her at an angle. After glowing brightly for a moment, they would release a concussive beam of rainbows, one after the other in sequence as Fasilli found himself a place to land. It had been forever since his fight against Atlas which may or may not have happened now. His arm wasn't in a sling any more so it probably never happened.
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Back to the ominous boss music... while all of this chaos ensued, the winds would pick up and give off a faint howl as the clouds above seemed to darken until the sun was completely blocked out. They would converge onto the intersection, bringing waves of snow in their wake before spiraling around at the intersection. The air became VERY VERY COLD, like so cold Fasilli would need to put on an extra coat kind of cold. With a single flash of light, the snow dispersed in all directions to reveal... even more party crashers. Actually they were responding to the whistle. It was a currently humanoid Supreme Chief Officer Steve and several Steve Troupers- and more importantly, Sergeant Steve and his Steve Squad was here.

Also also more importantly, another humanoid shape clad from head to toe in animal hides that covered their entire body. This figure was based on their shape, female- yes, you read that right, she be a gril. And she and Supreme Chief Officer Steve were actually people sized and shaped. Also of note was that her mask was more alike to Fasilli's mask apart from being all white, and the femmine design to the eyeholes. Supreme Chief Officer Steve Steved something to his men, drawing his police batons as they Steved into action. The Sub-Zero- let's call her Stephanie, would then take to the air with the winds at her beck and call. She would join the others in bombarding the serpent, summoning ice blocks to drop on top of it. HER target was simply the fire breathing serpent. The Steves had... a very specific target in mind.

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"Sir! It's those masked things again! What are they doing here?" Some MRO would question, the ones by Hans turning to him for answers. Hans' first instinct was to jump into the fray and gun it for that Frost Spirit that appeared with reinforcements. She had to be the one behind the never ending winter, she was giving off too much power not to. But she was... helping against the serpent? Well, that made sense with it breathing fire. The two elements probably didn't get on to well. The "Steves" seemed to be heading toward it too until he saw some of the gas masked troupers firing black pellets at the masked weirdo fighting Rapture. What in the various levels of hell was going on? "When that serpent goes down, concentrate ALL firepower at the Cryomancer flying around. She may be the one behind the never ending winter. And if her friends get in the way, same thing," Hans finally answered them. Whether or not he needed to just banish her remained to be seen, but Rose wasn't around to help him communicate- so he was hoping either she'd be weakened after fighting with the serpent or they'd kill eachother.

Rapture barely listened to what Verdant Gale had to say but noted that her suspicions of this creep were not unwarranted. After monologuing in true cliché fashion to his own theme music, her opinion of the weirdo did not improve. Her chakram had, for some unknown and certainly fourth-wall-related reason, momentarily ceased being electrocuted as the bizarre man caught them. Thankfully he didn’t seem to partial to them, sending them back as quickly as he had captured them. Having the circular blades returned was nice, but being attacked by rainbows––yes, that sentence just transpired––was not. A lifetime of training allowed the girl to dodge the strange attack, but not without becoming royally pissed off. Oh, if that were the only problem she was to have that day.

A hail of Steves and an additional masked individual rained down from freezing clouds as the literal atmosphere chilled, sending an uncharacteristic shiver down Rapture’s spine. Who the hell were all these people? Did it matter? The petite powerhouse suddenly realized that the bevy of superheroes might not be enough. Seconds flew by as she procured a black compact mirror and spoke into the communication device. She would definitely rue the day where she asked him for help, but all the weirdness warranted a, well… weirdo. “Facade. Big snake at my coordinates. Come immediately as something bigger.”

••••

The masked shapeshifter had been on top of the commotion, utilizing social media as his eyes and ears. He had already come up with a plan, preparing a new mask in record speed. The snow serpent was literally only a block away, so it did not take him long to arrive. When Facade donned the mask, a gold, glittery surrounded him as he transformed into a quite literal opposite of the offending beast: a giant flaming mongoose. Roaring at nearly six stories high, the fiery furry creature made his point to everyone to get out of the fucking way. Grabbing the serpent by the neck, Liev crushed its windpipe in his powerful claws, putting an end to its fire breathing once and for all. The beast thrashed but could do nothing in such a powerful grip. Truly, it would not have been so easy if it weren’t already in such a bad shape thanks to the other heroes. Facade slammed its head into the ground, effectively ending the offending monster’s reign. It twitched momentarily before going limp, now just a rope of ice and defunct magic… or whatever it was made out of. Returning to his human form, the German couldn't help but be proud of himself. Looking around himself, he shivered in the cold. "Lovely turnout," he remarked unremarkably, smiling.

•••• 

Rapture would have cheered were she not already preoccupied with premeditated murder. Still, the snow serpent showdown had ended. Now, onto all the masked creeps.

Exactly how many ridiculous things were going to happen today? Jump City was turning out to be quite exciting. Kawari was sure that he would be able to find many fun challenges here. A few more of the whacky goons in masks made an appearance, along with a female one that seemed to be leading them. Then a giant, flaming... creature made its way around the corner, and tried to take down the serpent. At first, it seemed to have worked, with the flaming creature eventually shrinking and taking the form of a man with a mask. Kawari sighed, frowning at the seemingly dead serpent. "Nē! (Hey!)" He pointed at Facade. "Ōkina aidea wa nanidesu ka? (What's the big idea?)"

But apparently, the serpent was not done. Kawari noticed the giant coil of ice twitching. Death throes? Kawari gathered his chakra just in case. Perhaps the man's attack had not been enough to put it down. He grunted, and the chakra around his arms and legs began to change into a neon green. "Michi o hazureru! Shi-banme no Fūin: Kai! (Get out of my way! Fourth Seal of Pain: Release!)"

As the serpent suddenly reared its gigantic head for a surprise strike, it would suddenly be met with a large concussive kick right in between its nostrils, and a bolstering roar from Kawari. He couldn't stay in this form for long. He would have to finish this fight as quickly as possible; his leg was already ablaze with pain from such a powerful kick. Such was the cost of removing the limits of the human body.

Not noticing any citizens nearby, Taz sighed in relief. He must have imagined the sneeze. Getting back to work, the young shockslinger continued fired out lightbolts towards the Serpent's cracked hide. However,  his attempts at distracting it worked perhaps a little too well. As their icy foe whipped it's head towards him, gazing down at him, Taz yelped and took a step back, shoulders hunching. Giving a growl, he recovers from his moment of fright and raises hands crackling in electricity. Thankfully, Cap interferred in whatever it might have had planned, blasting it with his cannon. As the Serpent collasped onto the pavement, Taz gave a sigh of relief, then called out to the robotic blaster. "Thank you!"

Yelping in surprise as CAP was smacked through a window, Taz tried to get eyes on him, concerned for their ally, but the frosty beast followed up with a panicked blast of fire. Eyes widening, the boy had no choice but to dart behind a nearby barrier. "Aaah!" Getting behind a pile of rubble just as flames licked the spot he'd been standing,  Taz ducked back out, slinging a few more bolts towards the cracks in it's head. It was time to take this thing down! Thankfully, harder hitting allys were coming to do just that. Blinking as icy blocks started hammering it, he gazed up at the Cryomancer. Giving her a wave in greeting, Taz continued flinging lightning bolts at the threat.

Suddenly, a giant flaming creature appeared to rescue it. Eyes widening, Taz decided that being so close to two oversized beings was risking it, and raced down the side of the building, putting some distance between himself and the impromptu wrestling match. As the creature seemed to finish the snake off, Taz sighed in relief, blurring back over. He poked hesitantly at the icy hide of the beast, then relaxed. Turning his attention back to the newest faces, the boy gave a shy smile and a small, grateful bow. "Thank you for helping!"  

Gazing at the masked creatures, his brows furrowed slightly. Hopefully they didn't have to fight them too...And where was the masked man? Hadn't he seen the spiky woman battling him while trying to help against the serpent? Taz glanced around, only to jump with a yelp at the sound of a might smash behind him. Whipping around, he raised crackling hands, only to blink. Kawari had attacked the Serpent? Had it not been dead after all?! Blurring over, he roller-cannonballed into the cracks on it's head, hopping to help inflict some actual damage. After he bounced off, Taz turned his attention back to the older boy for a few seconds, brows furrowed in concern. "Are you well?"

Simon Camden, aka Verdant Gale, is very fast.

This is not a brag on his part or praise directed at him. It is just a simple statement of fact. This is why Simon was very shocked at how much the situation changed in the VERY short time between him checking up on Rapture and him returning to the scene of the battle with the serpent. First the weather changed and marked the arrival of a whole bunch of new enemies, including a humanoid version of the strange masked creatures he had been facing and a feminine humanoid figure who seemed to be hostile against the serpent. As if things weren't already bizarre enough a GIANT FIRE MONGOOSE came from seemingly nowhere and slew the serpent "...huh?"

I take it back. Simon Camden is not fast.

Simon watched as the Japanese man and the lightning-slinging boy decided that the snake was not dead enough for their liking and took matters into their own hands, kicking the serpent while it was down "Uhh... I think it's done." he said, too quiet to be heard. Simon tilted his head to the side and stared into space for a second, as if he was a TV show character looking at the viewers through their screen with a 'can you believe this?' expression on his face.

Logically speaking Simon knew that there was probably something productive he could be doing right now, but he just needed a moment to himself to recover from the absolute information overload he was dealing with right now. From an outside perspective he would just be seen floating in midair while all this going on, his body language undecipherable.

For brevity, the following happened: Fasilli pulled out a mask while everyone started finishing off the snake. He then threw said mask at it's body, and there was now a Subzero Scorching Serpent Steve. Snaky Steve then laid waste to the Troupers pathetically trying to shoot at Fasilli. Much wow. Now back to our regular scheduled madness.

Point of clarification, Snaky Steve was now more Boa Constrictor size, and not "omg, it's snakezilla!"

"Finally! Someone OF ACTUAL TALENT. Good job spikes! Would've saved everyone a lot of time if you had just done that in the first place instead of risking property damage and iinjury huh?" Fasilli declared, clearing mocking Rapture as he pulled out a piece of paper from nowhere. Inbetween posts he had been busy trying to keep himself entertained. The paper would comically unfold into a larger roll of paper. "Now I have a captive audience; what say we actually have some fun and don't keep treating the city like it's Tokyo or something? STEVE! Music!" Fasilli exclaimed as Supre Chief Officer Steve was busy dodging the Snaky Steve trying to get closer to Fasilli.... to beat the confetti out of him.

A Steve would suddenly exist with what would appear to be an electric keyboard and sound system. Best not to question it. More totally unnecessary music started up.
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Meanwhile...

Sniper Steve of The Steve Squad would be riding an elevator. He had orders to find a high vantage point to shoot Fasilli, and instead of trying to climb a building, he smartly used the elevator. There was only one other person in it with him over the sound of jazzy elevator music for a moment before they got off. Sniper Steve looked up at how many floors he had left to go. This could take awhile...

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Hans and the MRO would just be... at a loss for words at what had just happened and what was going on in general. Did... a giant flaming mongoose just appear out of thin air? Furthermore... was that Facae? IT WAS HIM? He always had a suspicion that there was something odd about Facade but until now could never put his finger on it. Unfortunately his arrival and more or less downing the giant snake complicated things for him and the MRO. He had been hoping that the serpent and th frost spirit would've duked it out and the latter would be in a weaker state so that they could apprehend her at the very least.

Oh, the masked maniac brought the snake back as a RED ICE parody of itself. Fantastic. Well, that solved the issue of the Steves for the most part. Oh, great... now he was about to start singing or something. He had been the one to summon the Steves in the first place so this was probably nothing good. "Uh... permission to shoot at the clown?" An MRO asked the chief.

"Uh... wasn't the plan to shoot at the one that's currently flying around? Morte! Are we still doing that?" The Chief replied.

"Unless someone wants to try and bring her in for questioning or arrest as a suspect for the eternel winter..." Hans replied flatly.
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CAP casually stood up and dusted himself off, silently reflecting on the annoyance of dealing with unconventional opponents. But it he was no more worse for wear, confirming that the creature was more durable than it was strong. That and glass was hardly a substance that would bother him crashing through it as he stood out the edge of the now open window to survey the scene. Serpent now smaller, and masked... taking care of the gas mask wearing Steves and was fighting the apparent leader. Masked female was just floating overhead and watching everything below. CAP had missed the giant flaming mongoose but did note that there was someone else here he didn't recognize. There seriously needed to be fewer meatbags.

Oh, the clown was making music again. This by proxy made him made as he trained his cannon on him... for safety reasons he assures you.
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And then Fasilli started... rapping? Oh gods no...

"Here's my first issue- I barely even know enough about you to diss you. But did anyone here think that I would standby and let Spikes do whatever she likes? THAT SMELLS! I amaze while casting my spells! Girl I'll blast you and vanish while wearing rainbow pajamas! I'm an amalgamate of clowns, you're wannabe edgy and make people frown. I'm a main attraction, you're A SHORT distraction, only good for fist interactions! If I ever go on a fishing tour, I'll use your head for a lure~" Fasilli signalled Rapture out specifically, spinning his cane in one hand while posing after each "zinger." Fasilli didn't like much of what this "modern society" was. It made things far too easy for people, and there wasn't very much magical about anything. About the only thing even remotely entertaining from an outsider's perspective was that this country was run by clowns- who weren't even trying to be funny.

That and the amazing things known as memes.

Rapture wasn’t sure what to expect when she called Facade, but it wasn’t a giant flaming mongoose. ‘A little on the nose, don’t you think?’ she thought as the monster supposedly killed the serpent with relative ease. Supposedly, and her incredulity proved to be warranted. After he had made his grand entrance, the actor reverted to his natural state and said something quippy. Shame on him for taking things so matter-of-factly. The fight wouldn’t be over that easily, and he should have decapitated the thing. There were plenty of others to have their go at it, though, as was evident by her fellow countryman’s next actions. Amongst all the chaos, hearing her native tongue spoken was a welcome familiarity. She briefly wondered if he would recognize the infamous Red Dragon of Japan, but turned her mind to other things. She would leave the serpent to the others. As much as she hated it, her attention was quite fixed on the other masked man. He appeared to be the master of ceremonies and wouldn’t easily be dealt with. In fact, she wanted nothing but to utterly destroy him by eviscerating his very soul. A foul thing indeed, one that needs to be snuffed out. Time to get serious, unlike the offending person who apparently thought is was cool to rap, of all royally stupid things.

Exhaling slowly, Rapture centered her mind and called forth her namesake spirit, Ryuuzaki, the Red Dragon. A cloud of black smoke engulfed her body, obscuring her transformation as eyes turned pure blood red. Her skin turned stark white, alabaster horns protruded from her head, and her attire changed. As the smoke subsided, one could witness her draw an enchanted blade made from blood from her chest as if it were a sheath for a sword. Her already pointed canines grew longer, and her hair became a cascade of black and red ombre. A pressure exuded from the girl as she made her way to her target, brandishing the scorching weapon. She wasted no time on words, instead going for a direct hit as she struck from in front of him.

••••

Meanwhile, Facade rolled his eyes at the situation, putting the fiery mongoose mask back on before turning back into the creature, slamming two flame-filled fists into the beast’s skull. A sickening crack could be heard as the serpent’s entire head caved in, ending its life once and for all. If the thing got back up again––which it certainly was not going to––he would just leave. Not really, but nonetheless. The serpent was dead.

Taz's arms blurred as he lashed against the icy threat the air crackling and humming as his Claws dug deeper and deeper into beast's frostridden hide. This snake had caused so much trouble, and put so many people in danger. They couldn't let it get up. It was...! It was... It was not fighting back? His strikes slowed slightly, then stopped, as he realized that it wasn't trying to bite his or anyone else's faces off, and, as a matter of fact, it was unusually still for something that had returned from the dead. Perhaps Kawari's strike had finished it the rest of the way off? Hearing the whoosh of flame, he jumped back, letting the giant mongoose land it's strike. As Facade helped made certain that their erstwhile foe was iced, the young shock slinger sheepishly climbed off of it and gave Facade a grateful nod. Feeling rather embarrassed about attacking something that hadn't even been a threat, Taz pulled up his coat's hood and tried to hide in it as he watched the others. 'Wind and spark, that was embarrassing...So much for being a cool hero like everyone else.'

As Fasilli started chanting out a challenge towards Rapture, the boy tilted his head curiously. Was that...rap? Huh...cool! He kinda wished he could join in...But their spiky ally decided that she would rather get straight to the point, and launched a attack. He hesitated slightly, then started running after her. If she was fighting this guy, he must be bad! After she struck out, he'd leap, cannonballing towards Fasilli. Unlike when he'd attacked the serpent, however, this time around he unleashed a rolling axekick instead.