Reality Crisis

After Hulk's appearance fighting dinosaurs made of snow, Kate thought would be safer to put some distance between herself and Hulk's mild mannered half. The hierarchy of leadership in this new settlement still wasn't clear to Kate, and until assurances could be made that Bruce and Hulk would be accepted, it was better not to give away Bruce's secret.

Talia might suspect, Kate thought. Kate mentioned a scientist and might have come off as a touch too protective. There was also Selina. Maybe no one would suspect. The young Hawkeye would just have to wait things out.

And pick out a different house.

Kate spotted a two story with a balcony, which she liked the idea of. It was impossible for her to tell, just by looking, if the wood was still good and would hold her weight, but she decided to check it out. Also, it was starting to become a pain lugging all her stuff. Pizza Dog, also known as Lucky, followed happily behind Kate, sniffing at her heels.

"Hello?" Kate called. It looked like someone might have come in before her. "There room for one more?"

Before Captain America gave her the name Hawkeye, one of her teammates joked that she should be called Weapon Woman. Judging by the quivers, the sword, the bo staff, fancy tactical belt and her very nice superhero grade bow, the moniker wasn't far off.

Also apparent: Kate really liked the color purple.

[Edit: Originally this was going to be a 'Kate and Bruce weren't in the original thread because they were hiding' post, but that changed. Haha. So anyone can join in if you were in the first Snow Dino plot or not.]

Kate sat huddled in a large truck with over half a dozen other survivors. The top of it was boxy, covered in canvas and the archer thought it looked like the kind of vehicle seen only in movies. In Mother Russia, you don't drive truck. Truck drive you!

She thought about sharing the joke with Bruce, seated across from her, but her smile faded as soon as she looked up at him. Kate thought better of it.

It wasn't that she didn't like Bruce, it was that Kate still planned on getting back home. It would have been just fine if she didn't like Bruce. At least not in that way. But, in Kate's estimation, in a group this full of heroes meant someone was going to figure out how to send everyone back home any time now. Honestly, she was a little surprised it had taken this long.

She offered the very attractive and approachable scientist a smile and that was it.

Then the caravan came to a stop.

Kate frowned and stood up, opening the canvas flap to peek outside and get a good look.

Snow dinosaurs. There were dinosaurs made of snow. It wasn't the dinosaurs that worried Hawkeye. There seemed to be plenty of capable people to take care of dinosaurs made of snow. Nope. What worried Kate was the scientist.

Because snow dinosaurs were destructible. The Hulk, however, was not.

Kate cleared her throat and forced a smile. "Just sit tight, folks. Everything's going to be just fine."

She readied her bow and pulled an arrow from her quiver just in case.

Being without a proper medical facility was quite difficult. Bacteria could run rampant if left untreated and this miserable excuse for a world wasn't very promising in the realm of antibiotics or antiseptics for wounds. How there were even any people left waking this planet Bruce wasn't exactly sure. It puzzled him, the lack of proper medication and what seemed to be the leftover, surviving communities. These people needed proper medical attention when something went wrong or awry, and despite all of the want he had, Bruce wasn't very hopeful for them. Of course he didn't let that show in his demeanor, and these people were very low on the totem pole of his priorities.

Kate mattered most.

And of course she was gone from where he had left her.

He knew it wasn't easy to just lay around and heal, but being in the unknown didn't leave them with a lot of options. To Bruce, Kate held a lot of the same qualities that Tony Stark did. With less ego and more pretty, but the quality was essentially the same. She was head-strong, stubborn and determined. Also she wasn't the type to display obvious weakness and wouldn't accept help unless she really had to out of pride. Bruce could respect that. But there was a line in the sand that needed to be drawn between utter stupidity and being proud of oneself. If survival meant resting and taking it easy, then that's what had to be done. To move, shift and be out in and unsterile world meant unforeseen infection, and normally treatable minor conditions could be fatal.

She was far too precious for that.

And yet she was gone.

With a sigh Bruce walked around in the Sanctuary, trying to see if he could find the archer. He didn't like that she had gone, and that was obvious by his expression, but there wasn't much he could do. Selina offered to tie her down but (despite really embarrassing thoughts that he wasn't ever going to have again) Bruce had declined. Kate was a person and she would do what she felt was best.

All he could do for her was try to keep her safe.

The world was a wreck and it hadn't exactly been pleasant before Kate arrived, either. Less than a week into being here and she was already hurt. Bruce managed to keep her on bed rest for about a day before Kate got up and began hobbling around. That meant they were probably getting kicked out of their temporary hut, but they'd find something new. Kate wasn't exactly sold on this place anyway.

She hadn't seen Magneto. Or at least, she hadn't seen an elderly man with white hair floating around looking menacing. Everyone was busy, deciding what to do, how to handle the missing buildings and people.

Kate went to one of the prehistoric trees and hung a target from one of the branches. She had her bow and one of the quivers with her to practice. The pain sucked and the young Avenger did her best to dismiss it. Though she felt it as she notched the first arrow and pulled back on her bow, she was using mostly muscles in her back, shoulders and arms. The pain gave her a slight tremble, however, as if cold.

She exhaled and released, hitting the target, barely missing the bullseye.

"Futz."

It wasn't really the car or the weapons that were valuable. There wasn't any gas for the car, only about three-fourths of a tank left, and the luxury vehicle wasn't made to work in broken world on terribly maintained roads. The weapons? They were okay if you had the skill or training to use them. Most people were really well armed.

No, the valuable stuff was her shampoo, her road snacks -- luxuries that were few and far in between. They were also things she could part with for trade. Until she met with Erik she was sleeping in her car. The leather seating was probably more comfortable than whatever they cobbled together in the "huts" anyway.

"Looks like we're camping," she said to the dog. As long as Bruce was safe, and by extension, the Hulk was asleep, then all was right with the world. She'd get some sleep, get a feel for the place and then...

Then there was an earthquake.

Scratch that. No good news. Everything sucks.

It wasn't just an earthquake. It was so much more than an earthquake. Where her car had been strategically parked was now a pile of rubble. The bumper of her blue car just visible. Lucky had made it out, living up to his name once again. Kate thought she heard barking, she couldn't be sure. Only that she was unable to move, would be lucky if she hadn't broken something and was probably about to loose consciousness.

Hopefully everyone else was alright.

Her side hurt. Thankfully, Kate Barton was unable to see why.

"Hulk Smash!"

With a mighty roar, Hulk slammed a gigantic green fist against the backside of the slithering alien, determined to punch a hole completely through the thing. That was impossible, of course, due to the mass of the thing itself but Hulk wasn't ever one to give up that easily.

All around him the world seemed to be in panic. Below the streets were flooded with fire, aliens and overturned vehicles. Humans scurried about like ants.

The air around them buzzed with pulsating blasts, bullets and a mixture of screams from mankind and triumphant roars from the invaders.

The God of Thunder landed not far from the heavy green monster, but Hulk paid the puny God no attention at present. Their quarrel could be finished later.

Instead Hulk pried a piece of bone-like fin from the serpent and drove it deep into the scaly, exposed skin. Blood poured from the wound and the beast cried out in pain.

A roar of triumph erupted from the lips of the green monster and then suddenly it was falling.

The sounds around Hulk buzzed in his ears and he flailed as he was pulled toward the ground by Gravity.

The next thing he knew he was hitting Earth, dirt and grass. Not the concrete or civilians he had originally expected. Nonetheless Hulk had made a crater upon impact which seemed to stir some of the local creatures to the sight.

An ear-splitting, blood curdling sound soared across the sky. It cracked the very serenity of the settling dust and without another moment the Hulk had pulled itself to its feet and looked around.

From its seven foot tall stature it was able to spot a herd of strange looking zombie creatures that were heading towards it.

Lips pulling back from his teeth Hulk balled its giant hands into fists, pulled itself to its full height and shot the approaching creatures a warning glare. It was all the notice they would get.

"Hulk smash!"

With that, Hulk was sprinting across the forest, knocking down trees without a second thought as he ran. Unearthing the lumber, Hulk hurled it at the beasts that had scattered upon impact.
Not far from where the fight was taking place stood the wall of a city. It was within throwing distance of Hulk should it catch his eye. At present he was making a large amount of ruckus, launching the zombie creatures into each other, but his attention could divert at any moment. And God be with anyone that got in its way when it was angry.

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

( Read more... )

Back home, taking a walk was a good way to clear her head. It was the same in this world but instead of possibly finding a bank robber to stop, taking a walk almost always meant running into a pack of Netvors or some other threat. That was good for keeping her mind off things, even if there were some things that she really needed to start figuring out. Like that future glimpse and how she'd gotten from who she was now to someone who would take a life with her bare hands.

Then again, Bruce had a point that trying to prevent that future might just push her closer to it or might make things much worse. The possibilities were endless and Dinah didn't like it. Hence the need for distraction. Not to mention trying not to think about the fact that women with romantic ties to Bruce-sort of-kept showing up here.

Tonight's distraction arrived almost on schedule. Just as her thoughts had reached that point where they were just chasing each around in circles, she heard the sound of a car. There weren't many cars driving out in the wilds of the mostly destroyed city with its decaying roads an buildings. And there definitely weren't many blue convertibles that looked that well kept up. Which meant a new arrival, most likely.

Dinah took off running toward the car, prepared to run headlong into the group of Netvors that were almost keeping pace with it if she had to.

( Not that archer... )