Intrusions Across Manhattan: Battle Report
Steve Rogers woke up amidst the rubble of a Daily Planet newspaper stand with a splitting headache. He never would have thought he would be thankful for a whole building coming down on his head, but that was the last thing he remembered from his last battle with Magneto, just before Magneto and Scarlet Witch entered the demonic portal. He was pretty sure things weren't going to go any better had he stayed awake.
"It had to be done." Captain America looked up to see Heimdall's disapproving downward stare. "The danger that the Brotherhood faced to this reality was too great. I can no longer gaze upon the mutants; they have successfully entered a new reality. This world is now safe again."
"You could have let me know. Although I can do this all day, it doesn't feel the best either. You'll need to come with me to Avenger's Mansion to explain yourself."
"As you wish," Heimdall replied, and the Bifrost arced down from the heavens, enveloping them both.
Back at the Mansion, Sam and Tony were glued to the computer monitors. They had noticed an anomaly in the data stream coming from the Peak, S.W.O.R.D.'s orbiting defense platform. Just as Steve and Heimdall arrived, a call came in on the emergency line. "Luke Cage here. I was doing some street patrols and noticed something strange happening. Could this be related to those portals that Scarlet Witch opened?"
"I knew her leaving us was too good to be true," Steve responded. "We're also dealing with something happening at the Peak. Luckily I have a new ride, stay put and we'll be there in no time!" Then, to Sam and Iron Man, "Deal with the situation at the Peak. I'll see what's going on here among our fine citizens." With a gesture to Heimdall, the Bifrost again surrounded them in rainbow light.
"We'll catch up to you after we repair contact with the Peak." Sam said, and he and Tony went to suit up.
"Thanos will be pleased. Let us destroy these Avengers once and for all." Corvus Glaive was also making preparations for battle.
"You can stop at the Avengers. I won't be stopping until everything dies." Yabbat Ummon Turru, better known as the Black Swan, emerged from the shadows with a grin. "Your plan to send the daughters of Thanos to the Peak was clever but cowardly. You should know better to trust Gamora."
"I don't trust Gamora," Corvus snapped, "but she doesn't know what she's getting into, either. You just leave all of the planning to me and do your job. Let the intrusion begin" With that, he fired up the ship's energy reserves and the portal generators hummed as the streets of Manhattan became visible within.
Steve Rogers and Heimdall arrived in Manhattan where they had received the transmission from Luke Cage. They found Luke guiding a very confused-looking citizen. "What's going on here?"
"People have been acting really weird ever since Scarlet Witch showed up," Luke answered. The man Luke was ushering suddenly started screaming and convulsing. As the heroes watched in horror, the poor man grew a third, hairy, spiderlike arm, and ran off with an unhuman speed. Luke chased after the man, leaving Steve and his Asgardian companion standing dumbfounded. Before they could do or say anything else, a rip in the fabric of reality opened in the middle of the street. Corvus Glaive, Black Swan, and Proxima Midnight stepped out into the sunlight, blinking from the sudden change of light.
Captain America and Heimdall leapt into action with a clash of weapons against the Black Order. "You're outnumbered," the Black Swan sneered, "Prepare to die!"
"Not by my count!" Heroes and villains alike were surprised by the flash of black in the corner of their eye, and then suddenly Black Swan was on the ground. Felicia Harding, the Black Cat, was standing on her throat! "Seems like a fair fight to me!" Enraged, Black Swan grabbed at Black Cat's ankles, but was too late. Black Cat flipped away effortlessly.
"We got this!" Steve yelled as the Glaive of Corvus rebounded off his shield with a loud crack. "You help Luke. I think he was headed downtown!" As Felicia retreated, Corvus winked at Proxima. She bounded after the Black Cat with equal speed.
Meanwhile, the Falcon and the Iron Man were racing towards the Peak station. "It's not just the Peak that's down," Iron Man said over his comms. "My whole sensor array is ja..." His words were cut off in a flash of downward motion, and suddenly the Falcon and Iron Man were falling like rocks toward the earth. Crashing back down to the streets of Manhattan, Falcon immediately was knocked unconscious by a one-two punch from the deadliest woman in the galaxy and her mostly robotic sister. "Wait! We're on the same side!" Tony yelled, but Gamora and Nebula did not heed his words. He gritted his teeth and charged his repulsor beams. "Fine, have it your way!" Gamora and Nebula were pushed away from the Falcon, but their determination seemed unwavered. Tony was starting to regret all of the bad jokes he'd told to Gamora after the years; today, she was in no mood for a joke as she began walking back to the unconscious Falcon.
The Black Cat easily shook her deadly tail, and kept to the shadows as she pressed on in the direction where Luke went. Proxima did not slow and reached Luke first. She impaled Luke with her stellar weapon; or thought she had. He caught the spear with his hand. "My skin is unbreakable, remember?" And with the other hand, he punched her so hard she went down the ground. Then, he picked up a car and slammed it into her body for good measure.
"Is she dead?" Felicia asked, emerging from the shadows behind Luke.
"What?! Oh, it's just you. No, I don't think so. This is a tough one. She'll be back fighting soon. Let's just hope her husband doesn't find out and I think we can take her when she wakes back up." Just then, they heard a sound where the car Luke threw previously was. It was two little children, one girl with spider-like faceted eyes, and a little boy with strange hairs growing all over their body. "We have to help these poor kids. Why don't we split up? I'll stay here and wait for Cap with this little boy, you take this little girl and meet me back at Avenger's Mansion." Black Cat nodded, picked up the little girl, and ran off into the night.
A giant BOOM echoed off the buildings of Manhattan as Steve slammed his shield into Corvus. The blow was so great, Corvus was thrown several blocks down the street. "That should take care of him!" Steve said with satisfaction, and turned to Black Swan, who was just recovering from Black Cat's surprise attack. Covus does not give up that easily, however, and just as Steve turned his back, Corvus's Glaive came lancing back, piercing straight through Heimdall's side. "NO!" Steve yelled, and turned to face Corvus, but Corvus already was running away, in the same direction of Luke and Black Cat.
"Forgetting something?" Black Swan's eye lasers were deflected of Cap's shield just in time, as he turned to face her. "Your friends are all dead. Just give it up already."
Steve cried out desperately into his communicator. "Sam! Tony! Report in! What's going on up there? The Black Order has attacked and we need your help!"
"Negative on the help, Steve." Tony's response through the comms was grim. "Sam's down. We have a situation here." Gamora and Nebula smiled as they stepped over the Falcon's motionless body. "I'm holding down this sector for now, I have a few civilians here that need my help, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to help much longer..."
Corvus Glaive leapt from the rooftops onto an unsuspecting Black Cat. Proxima Midnight was a step behind and grabbed the now nearly unrecognizable human child by the shoulder. The grotesque sight of the child was enough to distract Corvus for a moment, and Black Cat disappeared. "Find her! I think she went that way!" Both Corvus and Proxima ran off in the direction his spear pointed.
Black Cat was a bit slippier than they expected, though. "Come on, kid! We have to go, NOW!" She whispered from out of her hiding place nearby. They escaped into the night.
"Iron Man, en route to your position. I was able to save a New Yorker, but he doesn't seem too happy about it." No answer. "Steve, come in. Heimdall?" No answer. As he flew above the streets, he saw Proxima Midnight and Black Swan regroup. No sign of the others. He engaged his cloaking device, whispered a silent prayer and vectored upward.
"Later, Felicia and Luke met up at Avenger's Mansion. "We may have lost today, but at least we were able to rescue these civilians. Let's see if Peter knows anything about these, this is his specialty right?
Luke stared into the night. He would not take such a grim defeat so lightly. The Black Order had established a foothold in his city. No way he would stand for it. A crackle came in on the Mansion's comm link. "Steve here. I've rescued the Falcon, he had activated his homing beacon before he went down, and says for some reason Gamora stopped just short of the killing blow. Regroup at Avenger's Mansion! The Avengers are not yet defeated!"
Thanks for reading my first narrative battle report! Overall, a really fun game, with Black Order winning by just a few points. Highlight of the battle was a Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight activation on turn 3, she activated first, got into position for Steve, Corvus/Proxima used Execute on Steve to prevent him from rolling any defense dice, and then Corvus dazed Heimdall, KO'd Steve, and dazed Black Cat all in one activation. Black Cat was able to steal the objective back and run away, but ultimately the utter domination of the central objectives won the game for Black Order.
Comments
Post a Comment