[Heroes Assembled] Groot Fan Fiction - Beware of Schmeeps

 

4453/Beware of Schmeeps

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Beware of Schmeeps
Date of Scene:	21 December 2020
Location:	NYC
Synopsis:	The Schmeeps were stopped. The world was saved. More or less.
Cast of Characters:	Groot, Gamora, Nebula, Drax, Rocket, Doris Zuel, Conner Kent, Simon Lasker, Wanda Maximoff

---

Groot has posed:
Ever wonder what a Flerkin eats in its natural habitat? No one has ever proven it, but Schmeeps are blights on the galaxy, able to apart their form to harmless heribovers in the natural environment but with very very specific fur coverings that anyone who knew what one would look like would understand one instantly. It was considered a war crime in many ways to drop them off a world, but the truth was, they were mostly harmless unless certain celestial conjunctions occured in just the right order to activate their more deadly natures...say two gas giants in proximity...

Twas the night of the Winter Solstice, and lots of creatures were stirring buying last minute gifts, this way and that. Groot, covered in christmas lights had figured out that he could hide as a street performer or some kind of odd christmas decoration without people freaking out. He was enjoying this immensely, even if he did feel badly for the Christmas Trees. He slowly enjoyed people moving about but then he noticed someone had brought their pet rabbit to see the sights and rubbed his eyes. No, it COULDN'T be, but ...it was....as the sun set the thing BURST out of its cage and headed straight across the street to the local butcher.

Almost panicked, Groot immediately set after it and contacted the rest of the Guardians letting them know that there was a SCHMEEP on Earth of all things....

Gamora has posed:
    A short time later, Gamora strides onto the scene, heels clicking on the pavement, cloak billowing behind her as she approaches Groot with a sour look on her face. "I apologise for my late arrival. Natives kept trying to take... 'selfies' with me." Gamora's nose wrinkles. "Where shall my blade be pointed?"

Nebula has posed:
    Stepping out of the shadows Nebula scowls at the butchers shop chosen by Groot. "We should get the Milano in the sky and blow the building up," she says darkly but also being practical, "Or just leave this world to its fate." With arms folded she stares a moment at the various ways she could simply end her sister and be done with it. No, best to be done with it when not stuck on a backwater planet.

Drax has posed:
No one has managed to get a shirt on Drax yet.  Someone has managed to get him to wear a scarf though.  Right now it is just hanging from his neck without even looping around.  "What are 'selfies?'"  He's been strolling around with Groot, passing off as a street performer without even knowing it.  "People keep giving me small papers to hold and walk off," as if this were sufficient weirdness to share back.  "The ones with the heads on them."

"These schmeeps.  MEAT!"  Yes Drax has learned of butcher shops...or he just saw all of the meat in the window.  "Schmeeep!" he notices second, pointing with a thick, meaty finger.

Rocket has posed:
"Schmeeps? You're fucking kidding me. Schmeeps on this suckass planet? We should just leave them to it. Maybe they'll just stay here for the rest of eternity and...I'm over here on the ship. I'll bring the heavy artillery for this one," Rocket says over their comms, locking on to Groot's location so he can quickly get over there thanks to his personal jet propulsion system.

To be clear, 'heavy artillery' is usually his first and last line of defense when it comes to most things, which they've been finding out for most of their missions so far. Soon, he is..rocketing..into the neighborhood from above, with a weapon in both hands that looks far too big for him. "Schmeep Extermination Squad, on the scene!" Goggles cover his eyes, for this...could get messy.

Groot has posed:
Groot says, "I am Groot." (Groot has his problems with the way humans treat earth but he wouldnt leave his worst enemy to deal with Scheeps) and he rushes with Drax into the Butcher's shop, ready to tear it limb from limb. The damn thing has already eaten 3 large slabs of meet and spawned off at least ten rapidly growing clones as Groot stomps two with his foot."

Groot has posed:
Groot waves to the others as they approach and points vigerously to where the things are in the butcher shop. The public is curious at the guardians but dont stop and stare ...TOO much....the public in the butcher shop start to panic as the rabbits begin to get more teeth and tentacles and look at them as food.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora regards Drax thoughtfully. "Do they say anything useful?" She asks, before Rocket appears with heavy artillery. "... Hm." She ponders. "Do well not to inspire law enforcement's wrath with collateral damage. Their powers are unpredictable." Gamora tilts her head back slightly. "... Although this planet doesn't seem to have diplomatic relations with the greater Galaxy, so it may not affect us if we leave quickly." Gamora ponders this. "... Hm."
    Gamora's head is tilted to the side in thought as she begins to say "So what is our strate-" when Groot charges in. "... Very well. We shall 'wing it' once more." she concludes as she begins to pace towards the meat shop, drawing a medium length blade from the scabbard behind her back.

Drax has posed:
"They tell me how wonderful I am!  And they want to touch my chest!"  Drax shouts out in reply to Gamora while the schmeeps make a racket and he punts one into the wall so hard it breaks the tile.

"We are saving their planet.  We do not have time to care about authorities," Drax determines, at least for himself.

Doris Zuel has posed:
A blink and Dr. Doris Zuel watches what is happening with some fascination. She stares at the tree thing stomping on...rabbits? Multiplying rabbits? And then she looks over at the oddly colored people with what appears to be ill intent and then a raccoon with artillery and she pulls out her phone. She dials a particular number and then puts it on speaker and aims the camera.

"I want to study one but I also think I shouldn't stand by. Want one?" She follows the rabbits with the phone and then aims at the people, "And I don't know who they are but they could be dangerous as well." She then pulls the phone back and takes it off speaker.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll try not to crush any buildings but you gotta ok this." She states and nods her head and then she smiles slowly, "Excellent." And then a moment later she grows to over ten feet in height and casually snatches up one of those rabbit things and eyes it, "I can't wait to get a better look at you..."

Nebula has posed:
    "Great, we're helping now. This 'guardians' thing is a foolish idea and will end badly." From her sides she draws out two staves and they crackle with the immense energies of a space fairing assassin. She picks up speed as she charges in and yells, "Prepare for your death Shmeeps!"

    The first little one she comes across gets skewered by the crackling stave and it explodes its tiny guts every where. Another to her second also goes 'pop' as more and more seem to be spawning, the veritable plague of tribbles. "I have dealt with the local authorities. They are harmless. But these 'heroes' are another thing entirely." *pop splat, pop splat* go two more shmeeps, "This is futile.

    Her eyes glance at a stove top in the back of the store and she makes her way in there. Turning on the gas she strikes it with her electrified stave and then picks up the stove and turns it toward the growing hoard in the doorway like a flame thrower.

Gamora has posed:
    "Hmm." Gamora grunts thoughtfully while spinning on her heel and cutting three leaping creatures into assymetrical halves as she guides her blade up and down appropriately. She comes to a stop and stabs one on the floor as she notes, "They've said the same of me." She thinks back on the color of the papers and wonders, "Does green hold some significance for the primitives?"
    She is snapped out of her thoughts by Nebula's grousing, and calls out "Nebula!" While slicing another Schmeep for emphasis. "You will not denigrate our branding before our business is even off the ground!"

Rocket has posed:
Rocket scoffs as he swoops in closer to his shipmates. "Since when did I care about the authorities? Ask yourself that." They haven't spent a ton of time together yet as a crew, many of them still learning about each other, but Groot would know best of them all.

As Doris points her cameraphone at him, he does what any space raccoon (who isn't a raccoon) would do: he flips it off. Must've picked that up from Quill somewhere along the way.

"Just let 'em out and I'll blast 'em." The gun begins to glow, crackling with some sort of energy signature as it charges up. Just imagine what a thing like that may be capable of. "Humies of Earth! These things will ruin your day! Don't let them get a nibble! Not even a fingertip! We'll..heh heh..save you!"

A few, already multiplying rapidly, scamper out of the shop, Rocket takes aim, fires, and an arc of plasma or electricity or something darts zig-zag at them. Where the schmeeps were, now there's just a few body parts, fur, and a splatter of blood. "Boom!"

Conner Kent has posed:
The sounds of the 'battle' draw the attention of a flying kid that was patrolling but mostly thinking in New Year's Eve parties. Well, more than the sounds of battle the sounds of people screaming at the rabbit(-ish) massacre. So, Superboy flies down to see the... butcher shop thing. Mostly the walking tree and the ten-foot-tall woman. The rabbits, pardon, scheeps, are less eye-catching.

So, he stalls, hovering about ten feet over the street and blinks slowly. "What...?" Oh look, they also have green people and blue people and a heavily armed raccoon. This is not the party he had in mind.

Simon Lasker has posed:
being able to set things on fire has far fewer aplications than Pyro thought it might when he started out. --

Technicolor people and a walking tree? This has gotta be good. He runs through the crowd towards the butcher's shop. He is initially horrified at the deaths of all those adorable rabbits -- until one shows its tentacles. These rabbits can die.

he tentatively flames one of the rabbits to see if they are vulnerable to roasting.

"Does fire work on these things?"

Drax has posed:
Drax doesn't try to convince Nebula of any value of the 'guardians thing.'  He's spent enough time with her to know...to just know, but the sound and sight of her charge gets a small grin.  They've been cooped up, in a way, having to play by all these rules like pet guests.

"Yes.  The caped ones are especially formidable," Drax agrees with Nebula.  "But they cannot hurt me," and together, he is sure they could take on this entire world...any world, which is one of the advantages of traveling with the group.

"They put green heads on their papers.  I think they revere green people."

Drax looks up from trying to whack-a-mole one of the schmeeps unsuccessfully.  Stomp, stomp, stomp.  "Look!  A Cape!"  He points to Conner while a few schmeeps latch onto his leg.

Groot has posed:
The Schmeeps are destroyed relatively easily but the meat is packed enough at this point that there number is easily a hundred and spreading faster though still inside of the butcher's shop. They havent managed to eat any humans but a few try to eat the heroes before killed. The meat in the store is about 50% consumed at this point.

Groot tries to warn the other heroes of the danger while also cleverly explaining the cultural significance of the color green AND the importance of brand, but it comes out, "I am Groot."

Groot nods to Simon's question, "I am Groot." So, probably yes?

Nebula has posed:
    "The branding is stupid and you should feel stupid. This is a low point even for you sister," she says avoiding the point that she's here helping too. The stove cooker flame thrower is on a gas cable though, so she finds she cannot pull it any further before it suddenly snaps off, pumping gas in to the kitchen. She drops the stove and dives back in to the meated area where they're multiplying from so fast.

    "See, now we've attracted the 'heroes' I was warning you about. A giant person and someone who can fly. Like that Supergirl who eats plasma fire for breakfast. Do I need to remind you how problematic that would be for our swift retreat from this dump?," she says actually having a conversation with her sister for the first time in weeks. Close quarters? less talking. Middle of a fight? perfect time to resolve issues.

Conner Kent has posed:
A cape? Never! Conner wears a stylish leather jacket instead of a cape. (Or 'allegedly' stylish leather jacket).

He got the tail end of Rocket's explanation about the rabbit menace. Which sounds mildly crazy even for his standards. On the other hand, seeing a rabbit sprouting tentacles and devouring a whole stuffed turkey to split in two... maybe the raccoon is onto something.

"Totally not a cape," he replies Drax, flying to land close the big green alien. "But whatever, what is going on? Are those rabbits or some kind of, eh, hungry tentacle things?"

Drax has posed:
"That was impressive," Drax comments of eating plasma, even if he really should /not/ be talking while Nebula and Gamora are working out their 'differences' of the day.  "No obstacles will keep us from swiftly leaving.  We are already fast."  Drax grabs two handfuls of Schmeeps and bashes them together and tosses them aside like someone doing a magical rainbow motion after clapping some glitter, sending them sailing.

But the MEAT is disappearing quickly.  "We must be quicker or all of the meat will be gone!"  Travesty.

Look, Conner flies.  That's enough similarity for Drax to, "Oh I see.  He is not a Cape," he informs the Guardians.  "He will not be a problem Nebula....You have eyes do you not?  They are eating the meat!"

Doris Zuel has posed:
A squint at Rocket's reaction and she shrugs. Doris has seen and had worse given to her than some middle finger of a raccoon. She instead stares at the supposed Schmeep before looking over to Groot and stating, "I'm known as Giganta." She states simply as she is, after all, playing the part at the moment. She then looks over at Drax, "And I don't think anyone would claim me as a cape." She chuckles before she considering the problem before saying, "So, if they finish eating the meat I assume they will want more, yes?" She asks before she considers and looks at the butcher shop, "I can solve this quickly but it will involve destroying that shop." She states simply, "And I doubt that will win me any brownie points." She smirks, "It'll be fun though." She casually stomps on a couple of the schmeeps and chuckles, "And they do make an enjoyable noise when crushed."

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora punt-kicks a Schmeep off of the ground, and backhands another out of the air, knocking them both into the path of Nebula's fire. Grumbling, Gamora replies while swiping at two Schmeeps, and catching another out of the air to snap its neck. "Freedom is not convenient, Sister!" She insists, and then grumbles, "Or terribly dignified, it turns out." Gamora raises her voice again, "The human assures me that 'marketable skills' are paramount!"
    It's good that they're talking again.
    The severely under-dressed Zen-Whoberian glances at the arriving heroes when Nebula points them out, and huffs. "Well. They will bear witness to our talents and spread the tale of our heroics to interested wealthy parties." Gamora averts her eyes, "... When the Galactic Community recognizes them." Gamora looks... briefly uncertain. Frustrated, she begins swinging her blade again and insists, "It's better than where we were!"

Groot has posed:
The Schmeeps are actually capable of acting as a hive mind when they reach sufficient velocity but aren't QUITE there. They keep ALMOST getting there and not quite making it. Their numbers are increasing and the meat in the shop vanishing and their attacks on the heroes NEARLY getting more coordinated but they also instinctively understand that to congregate here is to die, so they keep ALMOST scattering but the meat here is so EASY and close ....

Groot smashes half a dozen, "I am Groot!" (he wants to carpet bomb the place. He's seen what these things have done to other worlds. It isnt pretty)

Rocket has posed:
"Yeah, big guy?" Rocket calls over to Drax, sticking to his aerial efforts as long as his propulsion pack is in use. "You ever think of eating them, thereby eating the meat /they/ ate, too?" Listen to Rocket here, with his great ideas.

He zips back out of reach of a few of the not-rabbits, setting up for another shot. "And you're right, that ain't a cape. That's a flying kid who's flying." Drax isn't the only one who can take things literally.

The one calling herself Giganta draws some of his attention. "Yeah, lady, you're bigger than the other humies I've seen so far, but I've seen things bigger than you. Anyway, that's how it works with these things. Best to kill them with extreme prejudice. And I'm Rocket, the best pilot in at least seven systems if not more, but you can call me Rocket if you're short on time. Get it? Short? Hahahaha!"

More for his own crew, he yells, "What you're talkin' about, I think that's what they call money around here! I found some Quill had and made a fire with it!" True, false, does it really matter?

All he says to Simon is, "If you can light 'em up, I'll bring the gnorpsnaggles for dessert!" Whatever those are.

ZZZZAP!

Another Schmeep is scattered this way and that. With Rocket, it's just all chaos, all the time.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Yes... they are hungry?" Because everyone eat meat. Except maybe trees. Conner directs a dubious glance to Christmas Groot. Then grins, "this is the weirdest thing I have seen in the whole year." And of course, one of the schmeeps decides it is a good moment to try to eat his head, jumping from a side by surprise. Conner grabs it mid-jump. "Is there any way to hold them safely?" He asks Drax. Because Drax sounds like the responsible adult here.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Who let Wanda Maximoff out under such a celestial event? There are those that say that it's a repeat of the Christmas Star, and others? Regardless, it does draw her from the Avengers' Mansion without those who consider themselves her 'keepers', or rather, her rocks in a storm that she tends to both create and have to ride.

Hands are in pockets of a long red leather coat, her clothing dressed down for the season in a grey sweater and blue jeans. On her feet, boots, and on her head, a blue baseball cap with her red hair pulled back off her shoulders.

It's her penchant for walking merchants' streets that bring her to the noise and tumult of all those.. goings on. Rabbits? People stomping on rabbits? Wh-- and there is a decidedly confused expression on the witch's face. It's clearly changing, however, as she watches the scamperings, and the added 'excitement' that they seem to bring. The creatures, as she begins to quickly determine, aren't ... natural. There isn't a magical taint on them either, not that she can tell, anyway. But they aren't -not- tainted either.

There's a low, subtle glow of red as the witch turns the corner, softly enveloping her hands before a bright red ball is thrown by the woman, just as a small 'crowd' of them look to line up another offensive. In the next second, the Shmeeps that had been there are disintigrated, dust blowing in the breeze of the city.

"What are they?"

Nebula has posed:
    "This idiotic planet will destroy itself before the galactic community even bats an eyelash this way," she insists and then glares at the pile of meat that Drax has pointed to. These Shmeeps have consumed more than enough meat to be a serious problem. More will just compound the problem.

    She holds out her cybernetic arm and winces in pain a moment as it twists and transforms, hand and fore-arm, in to a canon capable of firing concentrated high energy blasts. The weapon powers up and she fires an intense blast at the stockpile of uneaten meat. This isn't 'charring' level of damage, but 'disintegration' level of damage.

    Her face twists in to disgust and annoyance that these _people_ saw her door that. That anyone at all saw her do that. Her hand and arm twist and transform back in to a working hand once more and she wiggles her fingers, then grips her wrist as it sends aching pain in to her head despite it all being metal and synthetic bits. "The meat is dealt with, now finish the Schmeeps. I agree with the plant, we should obliterate the entire neighborhood to be sure."

Simon Lasker has posed:
It occurs to Pyro that rabbits are often eaten and should smell delicious when cooked. They actually don't smell anything like any meat he has eaten. More proof that they are not rabbits.

He runs around to the back side of the shop and torches all of the Schmeeps that exit that way with a wall (more of a stout hedge really) of fire. He hears something about oblitterating the neighborhood and worries that he might be blamed for it.

"Give me a warning before you blow the place. I need to establish my alibi."

He slowly advances the fire towards the door.

Doris Zuel has posed:
Listening to the situation, Doris blinks at all the options and then she shakes her head, "Sounds like these things are too dangerous to let out." She states simply and then it is Rocket who gets her attention. She blinks and then is suddenly twenty feet tall, "No one..." And then she is forty feet tall, "...and nothing!" She is now eight feet tall, "Is bigger..." She then is one hundred and sixty feet tall, "...than Giganta!" And she's now just over three hundred feet tall and glaring down at the Raccoon.

She then turns her attention to a particularly large pile of schmeeps she can see through the window of the butcher shop, and with a growl she sends one helluva a massive palm straight through the side of the building and right into that big pile with a horrifying squish before she pulls her hand back and glares at the very small (comparitively) raccoon.

Groot has posed:
Groot looks Giganta up and down and decides that he isn't going to consume all the trees in Central Park to argue the point, "I am Groot." He shouts loudly, to those that can understand him, "I am Groot!" (We should really coordinate this...or else) and at that momemt, precisley that moment, they reach enough critical mass for a hivemind and start to get much more clever about how they attack the heroes, suddenly understanding the threat they are and trying to use pack tactics on them.

Drax has posed:
How Drax did not notice Doris yet must only be because he saw Doris as a backdrop or it could be all the Schmeeps that try to keep latching onto his bare skin before dropping, frustrated, and darting for more available meat.

"Oh.  No, you are not a Cape.  You are strong," even if Drax was not speaking of Doris before, well the obvious is obvious.  He cannot help but stare in admiration and awe for a split second before he has to slap a Schmeep away that thinks it's a good idea to go for his chest.

Back to whack-a-Schmeep.  "These are vermin.  They will destroy you, as I can destroy, but in little nibbles and not big bites of a warrior.  They are cowards and should be exterminated," he reports to Conner before tossing two handfuls of Schmeeps into the air.

"Rocket!"  But then...Giganta.  "Lovely," he whispers to himself as a rain of blood splatters around him.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora grimaces and calls out to Nebula, "We can't know that for certain! Living absurdities have weathered the tests of time! Furthermore-" Gamora stops. "... That woman is a wizard." She notes blankly. She tilts her head back... back... baaaack. Very very softly she adds, "That woman is..." she squints, "... three hundred feet tall."
    Gamora is painted red in a shower of blood. She sniffs once. "... Perhaps this planet's status should be updated."

Rocket has posed:
Rocket whistles, which might be impressive for someone with the muzzle of a raccoon. In comparison to Giganta, he's no more than about three feet tall, and as she goes about demonstrating just how tall she can get, he's forced to fly higher just to maintain contact at eye level with her. While that /is/ quite a feat, he'll be damned if he lets more than an initial show of surprise out before he's goading her on further. "Yeah, neat trick. Still seen bigger, but I gotta say, you must have a strong back."

He darts back down just before her exploding palm strike on the side of the building. "I want everyone here to know I did not do that! I had nothing to do with it! That was all her!" He points at the three hundred foot tall woman.

"Yeah, Groot, it's a little tough to coordinate when we got these weird people showin' up and slapping buildings!" Meanwhile, Nebula is blasting the hell out of the meat, Gamora is more red than green for the time being, and there's Drax lobbing a herd of schmeeps aloft. It's like shooting clay pigeons, if only Rocket knew what those were. "In my sights...BOOM!" It rains more schmeeps after another charged blast follows, strong enough that Rocket somersaults back through the air a few feet before righting himself again. "Oh YEAH!"

By now, Wanda, Simon, and Conner hopefully get the picture of what they're dealing with.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wait.. wait.. what?

Wanda approaches what is appearing to be 'ground zero', where there is .. quite a few personnages assembled, none of whom she knows. And as conversation picked up, something, something.. obliterate the neighborhood? And now there's.. fire to the left of her.

As Wanda approaches, there is a determination in her step, and should anyone bother to notice her, they'd see the red of her hands and a light glow of that red of her eyes. Assuming they're close. With each step, then, there's a push of force towards the butcher shop, though what it does, it's not readily apparent. She's cast a spell, pulling the butcher shop partially from the reality. It won't be a source of food for the vermin anymore, nor can it be physically damaged. It's the rest of her actions, and her words that are more evident, and with a raise of her other hand, a small handful of the creatures explode to dust.

"No one will destroy neighborhood." Threat or promise? Hard to tell, but the words are heavy, worn with concentration.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Lets not obliterate the neighborhood, okay?" And look, an Avenger is here too. Which is a good thing, since if he remembers correctly Giganta is usually bad news. On the other hand, the weird carnivorous rabbits might be a bigger problem. The one he grabbed is trying to eat his hand. Without much success, tentacles and all. But he figures a normal human would have already lost the hand.

Uh, okay. He was trying not to kill anything. But they are multiplying and very clearly hostile. He flicks the not-rabbit against a close lamppost. Splat. The takes the air again and scans the area for all the little evil critters. "Damn, they are moving coordinately now. You sure they aren't sentient?"

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula scoops up two of them in a hand and squeeeezes them like they were made of plasticine. "I hate these things," she says and kicks another against the wall. "Now you're staying to pay attention? these people were on our ship," she says remembering Donna Troy and Supergirl and Caitlin and the even more strange wizard Vorpal.

    "And our pilot is a racoon. So weird is normal," she says thinking of the variety and interest in all the different worlds she helped crush with father. "And somehow we end up with Quill, the least interesting terran ever created. I don't see what you see him in him, he's disgusting."

    The staves shoot back out to her hands and she begins to spin and stab the schmeeps like anger management therapy is a thing. Which it is, and this is how it is done. "Why couldn't you run off and hide on a nice planet instead of that stupid ship with that stupid terran?"

    Her eyes briefly stares at Wanda and she lets out a huff of annoyance at... everything. To Conner she says, "Foolish Terran. This only way to be sure your world won't be consumed by these vermon is to obliterate the neighborhood. That you don't think we should do it immediately tells me your world is not ready for the galaxy and you are weak."

Doris Zuel has posed:
Doris smirks at Rocket and shakes her head, "Doubtful, I can even get bigger." She states simply enough and then looks down at the situation and blinks at the sight of what is happening to the butcher shop before looking over to Wanda and staring at her, "What?" She asks and then looks back at teh shop and then she bliks in surprise as a small horde of the little critters start trying to work their way up her leg. She drops to a knee quickly and crushes a chunk of them in the process before simply slapping at her own leg to remove the rest.

"What the hell are these things!? Where'd they come from?" When she speaks, every word is an exclamation really. Not really because she intends to be loud but because she is huge, and loud. She then points at Wanda, "And I don't intend to destroy the whole neighborhood but these things are multiplying at an exponential rate."

Simon Lasker has posed:
Seeing a 300-foot tall woman crushing things is terrifying in person. Theoretically the things magneto and superman do are more impressive, but he had only seen those things on tv. Doris's steps were shaking his teeth. He had been planning to cook the alien rabbit things, but now it seemed like a good idea to back off a bit. He could still move his fire up to the wall from waaaay back here.

"If it is all the same to you guys I am going to help from over here."

Discretion was the better part of valor Simon thought.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Connor, the unidentified young man who echoed Wanda's sentiment, gets a brief glance and a nod of acknowledgment. One on 'her' side for the moment. Always count allies, be aware of surroundings. That's what she's been taught, and in the absence of her own teammates, find allies where one will.

As a small band of the bunnie-creatures go after Connor, Wanda's hands move in an arc, and the trio that were planning that second rush at him are thrown violently backwards and disintigrated, raining ash onto the ground.

*pfft*

"No one will destroy neighborhood. You will go through me first."

It's kind of hard to ignore Giganta.. and the others that get a grimace as well. She'll give the large lady a hand the moment she can. It's she, however, that gives her the first heads up, the clue, that they're multiplying, and quickly. A flicker of doubt, she's unsure of what can be done, what needs to be done, but she's here.. and what she's doing //is// working. In the next moment, the doubt and indecision fade to the light of an idea.

Gamora has posed:
    Swiping blood off of her arm and idly stabbing a fleeing Schmeep, Gamora replies, "... No. 'Weird' is localized. 'Weird' congregates in interplanetary hubs. You go to a planet, and you find out what's 'normal' *there*. But nothing's normal here. There's no consistency on this planet. Not even a set of 'races' with their own capabilities. Some peopel can fly, and others can't. Some can make fire, and some can grow. This planet..." Gamora frowns, "... This planet is insane."
    Asked about Quill, Gamora lowers her eyes briefly. What did she see in him? "I saw... a functioning spaceship and a viable business venture to fund my new existance. That's good enough for now. Who knows, Sister. You may even find satisfaction in violent work with proper rewards." Gamora sighs, "... If we can get started properly."
    A few moments of fighting later, Gamora looks between Nebula and Wanda with concern, and frowns. "Nebula. What have we told you about antagonizing locals without an exit plan?"

Nebula has posed:
    As the building itself become wibbly wobbly, she steps through the wall and out the other side on to the street. She scowls and then stares at its shimmering state of being. "That one," she says of Wanda, "is ready for the galaxy. The rest are detritus." She stares at Gamora as she suggests they might enjoy the quiet life of living on a tiny ship visiting backwater planets where no one knows who they are.

    And then she looks back over at Drax. Now that's a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. He makes her laugh too, on the inside where laughter should be, so it'll be a real shame when he finds out he not only lives with, but works with, the daughters of Thanos... she's going to have to figure out how to direct his anger at Ronan and not them.

    "I have an exit plan." A pocket in her thigh opens up and she takes out two jetpack pads and tosses one to Gamora, then places the other on her back. Even though sometimes she really doesn't have an exit plan when her emotions are running hot enough.

Drax has posed:
"Hahahaha.  Yes.  He is pathetic," Drax lets out in agreement with Nebula.  "I have seen much better ones too, but he is a useful shield for the softer ones."  He doesn't try to parse through all the logic being thrown between Nebula and Gamora.  "Gamora does not need to hide!  She is a fierce warrior.  I have seen it."

Drax looks a little confused when a piece of falling butcher shop passes right through him.  He is so single-mindedly focused he has not put two and two together concerning the glowy red-handed Wanda.  "What is this magic?"  about 30-40 Schmeeps latch onto his pants as he walks around, looking for the source.

Rocket has posed:
"Yeah, Flying Kid." That's who Conner is to Rocket, now. Flying Kid. "Those things are already coming up with ways to distribute every last cell in your body if they get enough of 'em on ya, so unless you're a lot tougher than you look, I'd be real careful right about now."

He can see Simon as he zips along, leading to him yelling toward him, "Good move. Let the pros handle this. Watch and learn."

Briefly, he overhears Nebula. This leads to him shouting, "I ain't a raccoon!" But that's the extent of the dispute right now. Whatever exchanges Nebula and Gamora are having over the fate of the neighborhood, or even the world, are between them. He squeezes off another blast, then a second one, and a third, firing off shorter, quicker bursts at different intervals as the number of schmeeps grows, and the ways they move become more in sync.

The ground may even shake as Giganta knees a pile of them, making a very satisfying sound in the process. Wanda, however, is drawing more of his attention. It's the red eyes and effects, the way the schmeeps just seem to..cease to be after she's focused on them, and whatever she's doing with the butcher shop building itself. "Not bad. You're kinda good at this, whatever you're doing. Keep it up!"

He only stops flying long enough to land at Groot's shoulder, whispering something into whatever passes for an ear as he wraps a tiny hand around a branch, perched there until he's finished speaking and pointing here and there, at which time he takes to the air once more.

"Drax! Can I shoot those?" Before waiting for an answer, seeing all of those schmeeps on him is too much to pass up, and he sends another blast right at the Kylosian. He can handle the charge...right?

BRRRZZAAAAP!

Groot has posed:
The disconnection from the meat source has seriously put a damper in the small but cute but deadly things plans. They are VERY upset and while not scattered to the four winds, the sheer number of heroes at this point is holding the line but they are about to scatter to the winds. Groot smashes several himself since he is about the ONLY person here they dont consider a source of food. It looks like the tide of the battle is turning...for now.

Conner Kent has posed:
"That is not the only way to be sure, that is the easy, cheap and lazy way to be mostly sure," points out Conner with a smirk. "Nuke them from orbit, bah. He glances aside and uses his heat vision to fry a sneaky not-rabbit that was heading towards the sweets store around the corner. "They are out of meat except for us, so they will have to come to us or find some other place. Lets make sure they can't do the second. How high can they jump anyway?"

Then he looks at Rocket and shrugs. "I am half-kryptonian, most people think I am pretty tough."

Drax has posed:
"You have good enough aim," Drax shouts back to Rocket.  Enough.  He lets out a belly laugh as Simon decides to redirect his fighting away from Giganta and also as Rocket begins to shoot all the vermin off his legs.

"It tickles," Drax declares as if people should know this.  "No one is as tough as me.  I am like a great mountain crashing down.  I crush everything before me.  Though I cannot crush as many things at once as her."  He points up to Giganta as he picks the last Schmeep off and twists its head sharply.

Some people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Some people fear structural damage more than heroes or villains themselves.  There's a group of civilians having a party who looked out the window of their apartment above a shop and determined that a bunch of bunnies is really no big deal and these superheroes are insane.

So they flee...on the street, and a platoon of Schmeeps takes off after them.  "Puny humans in trouble!"  He points as Rocket gets the last non-bunny trying to crawl up his chest.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora catches the jetpack pad in her off hand and regards it with an arched eyebrow. "That's..." she starts to say. Too high profile? Inefficient? Noisy? Not guaranteed success on a world where people can randomly fly and teleport?
    A lifetime of Nebula's efforts never quite being good enough for a certain someone briefly flashes through Gamora's head, and she concludes, "... sufficient."
    She looks to Drax and says "It is... magic, Drax. Best avoided if you can not guarantee the source's death."

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula seeths a moment as she sees that look on Gamora's face, "The jetpack is for the schmeeps!" She says angrily as the device morphs from small pad to jetpack and she lifts up off the air, "So when they get all tentacly at you you're not on the ground."

    There's baleful fire in her eyes as Gamora _judges_ her and she draws out a gun and grips its handle tightly, almost pointing at her sister. Almost. The arm twitched. "Arrgh!," she says with annoyance and turns the pew pew weapon upon the schmeeps and starts blasting them in frustrations. "I'm going to kill you," she yells at the schmeeps.. but perhaps didn't mean it for them.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
"I do not care for galaxy."

Yes, Wanda heard what was supposed to be praise, and she tilts her head in a sort of 'cracking her neck' gesture, very much like her twin before he is about to do -something-. Her concentration remains partially on the 'being' of that shop, and her idea pretty much requires her full attention. Green eyes flicker back and forth between the spot she's going to use and that shop.

"Shop is returning!" is called, and in the next moment, that brick and mortar shop re-emerges, very, very real and in the present. Now, Wanda has to concentrate, and her hands begin a weaving, the pulse of red exuding from her hands to form.. a hole. It's a portal, but it looks very, very much like a hole in 'reality'. There's nothing to be seen on the other side other than inky blackness. Now, to keep it open, the Scarlet Witch has to concentrate a little more.

"Push them through if you cannot kill!"

Glancing back, now, Wanda sees the problem. A //real// problem, and looks back at Connor, green eyes wide. She calls to him, her accented, lilted tones urgent, "Get them!"

Gamora has posed:
    Oh right, Gamora remembers. Nothing's ever good enough for Nebula, either.
    They really are their father's daughters, aren't they.
    Gamora, acclimated to far too cold a world to understand how to accomplish what she'd like to, merely dismisses it as a lesson learned before attaching the jetpack pad and lifting into the air and out of reach of their mutating opponents, as well as out of the blast radius of Nebula's ranged assault. She draws a smaller pistol - having long relied on silence, precision, and discretion despite her... eccentricities - and opens fire on the Schmeeps until she's distracted by the slight impossibility of the ravaged building returning to one piece. She is... mistrustful of the portal, to say the least, but as long as no one's trying to convince her to go through it, she'll suffer it as she rains single precise blasts on scattered creatures, lacking the firepower Nebula possesses.

Groot has posed:
Groot seems to enjoy the alternative to smashing the Schmeeps and assumes that Wanda is not just opening it to some place like...I dunno...New Jersey...and begins throwing arm fulls of the nasty beasts into it while slowly moving to save the witless humans that Drax has pointed out but there are so MANY of the damn things that he is not moving super fast as he keeps tossing the squealing rabbit things into the portal.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket turns away from Drax after seeing the result of the blast on the schmeeps. "I sure hope those pants are as tough as you are, big guy," he says, deciding not to look any further.

The number of schmeeps appears to be lessening, not that the threat is over with. Too much going on for him to have much of an opinion about the state of the neighborhood, but as some of the dumb civilians take off, making themselves prime targets, Rocket mutters, "Fucking morons," before he lays down some cover fire behind the runners, helping redirect their targets toward Wanda's portal. "Whatever that is, lady, I hope you know what you're doin'!"

It's chaos in general, and that's where Rocket thrives.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner saw them, of course. Enhanced senses are useful. He flies quickly to land between the fleeing civilians and the not-rabbit platoon. Uh oh, they can jump really high. So, first he claps his hands, causing a shockwave to throw back the evil critters, even those mid-jump. Particularly those mid-jump. Then crouches, placing his palm on the ground and letting his telekinesis spread over the street.

By the time the schmeeps recover, a couple seconds later, he has enough reach to make the pavement explode under them. There is a lot of shrapnel, and many bits of rabbit-like meat flying up. Messy. "Ugh, we need a plan to get rid of these things," beat, "/without/ blowing up the neighborhood!"

Doris Zuel has posed:
Looking in the direction of the civilians, Giganta grumbles and slams a hand down between the Schmeeps and the civilians as Rocket opens fire. She gets hit by a stray bullet and frowns, "That sorta stung, ya little fur ball." Of course, then Conner handles the rest. She then simply turns to see another group of Schmeeps trying to slowly sneak away. They are even creeping rather slowly and staring back at the group as if watching for any sign of someone spotting them. Then they see the giantess looking at them, let out a little squeak and start to scramble only for Giganta to stand up suddenly and slam a foot down with enough force to shake the area.

"Damnable little things. I don't even want to study you anymore!" She then looks back to Drax briefly and she tilts her head, "What are you made of?" She asks of Drax only to then be distracted by yet another group of the little furry things and she simply slams her fingers into the pavement and rips it up with the schmeeps on board before she simply slaps the whole thing right through the portal.

Groot has posed:
The Schmeeps would retreat but there are too few in number to have a hive mind any more. A few instinctively flee to the portal to New Jersey (or wherever) and a few STUPIDLY go back for the meat in the store but the rest are going aroudn in circles or just dodging but not really with any sort of intelligence whatsoever.

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula narrows her eyes and considers ignoring these efforts in case one or two of them escaped somehow.. but better to not blow up the neighborhood while there's Wanda here capable of making mysterious portals. Their training is straight forward, kill those who are danger while they sleep, never let them see you coming.

    But the schmeeps want meat and the meat shop is back. And some of the schmeeps seem to have realised that. Her arm transforms again in to the energy canon and she turns up the yield just a bit more and fires.

    "This is what we should have done to start with," she says as the bolt hits the butchers shop and explodes.. then explodes again as the gas lines ignite, well and truly levelling the building and damaging the neighboring buildings ..and starting little spot fires.

Drax has posed:
Drax looks down when Rocket asks how tough is pants are.  "Why?  My body is immaculate."  /Duh/.  No body shame.  "You are just jealous!"  He might have heard someone saying that to someone else in a cafe or something on his many Drax in the City adventures.

"That woman has opened up a hole!  Throw them in the hole!"  Drax tries to scoop up armfuls and go dump them in, just stepping on any that get in his way.  If he could hold them all, he'd probably be jumping in himself.

"I am made of skin and bone and muscles!  Many many muscles!"  Drax calls out to Doris as loud as he can while he bends over and starts flinging all non-bunnies within reach back between his legs like he's snapping a football.  "I will never destroy people's homes," he roars suddenly, finally figuring out what the word 'neighborhood' means.  There's a fury in those red ringed irises.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket watches Conner. He cradles his big gun against his side after pressing a button, which causes parts of it to retract into a smaller form, and he tries to imitate whatever Conner did by slapping his hands together. No shockwave, no pulse, no nothing. A second time yields the same non-result. "Whatever.." he mutters, petting his gun a couple times before it extends back to full size as he checks to see what kind of charge the fuel cells have left.

"So I'm good with collateral damage, but for the sake of anyone recording this, the Guardians of the Galaxy are not responsible for this. I repeat: the Guardians of the Galaxy are not responsible for this. We're helping save your pathetic little planet full of Quills. You should give us all of your paper money with people's faces on them as tribute," he calls out to anyone paying attention.

Then Nebula renders him a liar. "Yeah, everything I just said? Ignore it, except the last part." He's also ignoring Drax right now.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
The portal seems to be working, pushing the things in that can't (or refuses) to stand still in order to be shot or smushed. Wanda looks around, watching the efforts of the others, and as the body count grows, and the number of Shmeeps seem to be lessening if only for the moment, she allows herself to actually study the gathered.

Blue. Green. A tree.. a tree? A raccoon with a gun.. and a large man with rabbits hanging off his pants. That earns a wince from the witch.

Wanda had noticed Giganta, had noticed Simon and, of course, Connor.

It's in the next moment, however, that Nebula takes the aim, and Wanda simply can't stop it. She'd said what she'd meant, and meant what she'd said. This neighborhood.. and the memories of her childhood, of city blocks ripped apart and taken. There is pain on the woman's face, the anguish and anger that rides in and settles where determination had been.

In the blink of an eye, the portal closes, and she turns on the one who had blown up the butcher shop, and the gas lines.. all a backdrop now for her anger. Her hand whips out, angry red and glowing as a small cadre of bunnies explode bloodily; not even dusting anymore. In the next swipe?

It's a blast from the witch, a shove in anger as she pulls Nebula from her place, and whips her into the air as if riding a cyclone, and throws her with no little gentleness towards the wall of a building in the next block, yelling, "I said no!"

Groot has posed:
The good news is that all but about 5 of the Schmeeps are dead after Nebula incinerates the shop or Wanda close the portal. Make that 3 as Groot stops two more. He looks from Wanda to Nebula and points out the remaining three Scheeps, "I am groot!" He says fully understanding most will not understand but the vocal tone is there. "Can we please kill the genocidal carnage machines before we slaughter each other?" Or....he could also be selling timeshares but that is unlikely.

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula hovering just a little bit of the ground is suddenly flung impossibly in to the side of a building and crashes against it hard. Joints disconnect and seemingly break as she crumples to the ground and twitches. Rage fills her eyes as her joints begin to pop back in to place and she cries out in pain from it.

    Rising back up like The Terminator she basically is, she glares deep at Wanda and lifts up her arm canon and fires to give Wanda something to worry about, but also rises up in to the air with the jetpack and her canon transforms back in to a hand. Both hands take an electrified baton on each as she tries to rapidly close that gap for some extreme violence.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Ah, crap," that is not a proper Superman expression, but that is what Conner says when the gas main is hit and the city block catches fire. It tends to happen in this kind of situations, so he is not going to blame Nebula right away.

In fact, he used to cause this kind of disaster. He is smarter now, and does check for gas and electrical lines before breaking the streets and walls. "On the good side, the cthulhurabbits there are fried. I'll take care of the fire." And he flies directly into the burning shop, to find the gas main and close it.

Drax has posed:
It's a good thing Drax did /not/ see that Nebula was the one who just reined down destruction, for who?  Well they won't know that till the two powers combine...in all the wrong ways.  Instead, Drax runs to try and keep up the building, because he's absolutely nuts.

He's engulfed in flames along with Conner while the other takes care of the real business.  "There is no one here?!" he calls out to the non-Cape.

Rocket has posed:
Nebula happens, then Wanda happens, and suddenly the schmeeps aren't problem number one for at least two of those here today. Rocket palms his face with a hand, groaning to himself. "Well, I ain't gettin' in the middle of that," he says aloud, literally rising above it courtesy of the pack across his back. And to think he mostly behaved this time.

"Guys, I'm thinkin' if we're done with the schmeeps, maybe it's time we got outta here. Nebula, quit playin' with the locals, will ya? Drax? Little help here?" He forgets himself for a moment and only looks back long enough to turn away quickly. Good thing the pants are covering things for now, but with the fires around the Kylosian it may only be a matter of time. "I can't go anywhere with all of you. Groot! You ready to go, pal? Gamora?"

Gamora has posed:
    As Nebula rushes towards Wanda, Gamora darts into view between them; putting all of her momentum into a quick pivot as she SWINGS her sword up into the arch both of Nebula's batons, blocking them both. Gamora puts her free hand on the dull back of her blade, pushing against Nebula's batons. "*No!*" Gamora growls sharply. "Your body will heal, and buildings are of no consequence. You will not endanger our place here over *Schmeeps!*" Truth be told, Gamora's not thrilled at Wanda's actions either, but Wanda's not on their planet.

Groot has posed:
Groot says, "I am GROOT?" (Hello, what about the other two?) he says as he crushes the third of the remaining Schmeeps) he moves towards Rocket and is glad the fire is being put out. Fortunately, the humans had, in fact, gotten out of the butcher shop so there is no one to be rescued. However, there is some very delicious meet for Drax to grab that the rabbits didnt get."

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda is deep in her anger and anguish, the fires that have started as a result of the gasmain break holding her fast, and the spell isn't easily broken. The witch has learned self control, has practiced it, but in this a weakened state due to the supernatural forces that have been tugging at her psyche for the last few weeks, she's finding it difficult to hold back.

She should have stayed at the Mansion. Should have stayed in, but even there, there is something. Can't stay home, can't stay out.. and the moment she tries to help, she can't keep things safe.

The bolt thrown at her is easily shielded, a quick forcefield is set up so it doesn't pass. The approach of Nebula, then, with her batons has the witch dropping the shield as quickly as it was lifted, and bringing up her hands, there, between them, is a softly hued red ball that seems to grow darker with each second that it is 'held'.

"Leave," is growled. Wanda's not sending the ball, but it's a matter of intense self-control on her part. "Leave now.."

Doris Zuel has posed:
And then there were two. Nebula is trying to kill Wanda. Wanda is angry at Nebula. Groot is noting everyone is distracted. Rocket is trying to leave. Conner is trying to stop a burning building with Drax and his burning pants. And two Schmeeps make a Schmeep pact to escape and live to multiply another day. The tree isn't fast enough, they can escape! Truly, they are but mentally rabbits but they are elated that the large beings are going to ignore them for each other. They happily hop away, into the night and will one day make more o-

And a giant foot lands right on two schmeeps. Giganta glares down at the two things she just stepped on before looking over toward the others. She casually shifts her weight, grinding the last of the schmeeps into goo before she casually leans down and leans down and casually blows out the fire, "Honestly, I don't know how you 'heroes' get anything done..." And with that, she casually reduces down to nearly seven foot tall.

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula's sneer twitches, her scowl intensifies as Gamora injects herself between her and her pray.. not for the first time in their lives either. "I will rip her apart limb by limb...," she says darkly, her black eyes wide with intense focus. She pushes against Gamora but slowly stops.

    "This isn't over Terran Mage," she says in a very threatening way. Kill you in your sleep kind of way. It may be over soon though when the Guardians finally leave this planet. Nebula backs away and turns, pushing the pack propulsion up to full right near Gamora just to drive the point home.

    She sets her direction and flies with she seeths, letting the cool air of this big blue planet calm her. The pain in her body a sharp reminder of the many times she has been pulled apart and put back together. She sets course for the Milano.

Groot has posed:
The heroes prevent the fire from spreading. The people cheer as the fire is put out and the rabbits are no more. Except the ones teleported to...New Jersey? But those are someone else's problem. Groot joins the other Guardians as Rocket is clearly trying to get everyone the hell out of dodge.

Groot has posed:
Apparently, the regular New Jersey is safe. Microverse New Jersey....not so much.

Groot has posed:
Later, after everyone has gone home, Groot quietly shows up at the owner of the Butcher shops house, shocked at the giant tree wrapped in lights who drops a small bag of space gems with a note that says, "Sorry about the shop, Merry Y Mass from the Guardians."

Drax has posed:
Drax rolls out of the burning building with meats under his arms, in his hands, and they seem to always swing just so for all these poor little Earthlings with their hangups over their insecurities.

Busting up laughing, he holds two hams up.  Oops (for all you others).  "LOOK!  DINNER!...AND BREAKFAST!"