archer (wells) wrote in solitarycomm, @ 2013-03-25 20:00:00 |
|
|||
Teleporting was really the only way to travel in this place! At least with this many people and without making a lot of noise and getting the attention of every local person or creature that was running around. Andrew really didn't feel like expending energy on that sort of stuff right now, not after delving as deeply into his research as possible to make sure he had every angle of this spell covered. From every little possibility and every way to counter other magicks to how to ensure Tony and Steve came back okay... really, he researched everything he possible could until he was suddenly re-reading passages for the tenth or so time.
Now he was just a ball of energy. Having gone to great lengths to make sure there was enough magic in his system to power this for as long as possible, on top of making sure he had enough physical energy to work it all out... yeah, okay, maybe he drank like, a couple Red Bulls. Maybe three. Probably not. But maybe. He wasn't sure any more. All he knew was that he was ready! His eyes didn't show it though, thanks to a certain side effect of magic in his world: the more of it you had in your system, the more, uh, high you appeared. In other words, his eyes looked completely dilated and all the blue was out of them, all replaced with black. That was just how magic worked where he came from! But he totally wasn't high. On a caffeine high? Sure. Magic high? No. That was Darth Rosenberg's style—there was no inner Sith lord for Andrew Wells!
Besides, Anna would be there to make sure he and everyone else stayed safe too. Because he was going to be staying behind as an anchor, and Steve and Tony's bodies were going to be staying behind too. That was just how this stuff worked! They'd all be prone, but an angel would be watching over them. What better assurance did you need?
It was that thought that had Andrew feeling completely confident as he teleported the two Avengers just outside the palace in New Glory. He'd contacted Zudeh earlier, setting up and appointment with Ben and, consequentially, Glory as well. This part was taken care of, but the actual asking her to make a portal? Not yet. She was temperamental after all, almost every entity from another hell dimension had something wrong with their brains! Except Earth was a hell dimension too. Or a former one. He still never got that whole story...
Whatever. They were here, and Zudeh was escorting them. And she was so tall. Everyone was so tall. Or maybe he was just short. He didn't know, but his focus was kept by running through the processes in the books again, every minute detail burned perfectly to memory on the first read-through, but every following one made sure he thought about it in a different way, and every possibility seemed a little more within his grasp to deal with now. Famous last words, of course, but hey... optimism!
Said optimism remained strong, even when Ben disappeared to summon Glory, and even when Glory came out and seemed to make it her business to make him exceedingly uncomfortable, Andrew still stepped forward and (talking to a hell god, oh wow, okay, this was the thing that nearly killed Dawn, the thing that nearly merged all dimensions together forever to completely destroy everything, okay okay), asked her to make a portal for them. They needed to see it with their own eyes, see if it was safe, and then get out of her hair. Simple! Easy!
And way more of a disturbing process than he realised. At first Glory looked at him as if he weren't even there, annoyed, but perfectly cognizant and aware of her surroundings, despite her reputation as a madgod. Maybe that had something to do with... oh god, the rambling woman who'd been just outside the gates of the palace. Andrew remembered all of a sudden, what Glory did to remain sane in a dimension that wasn't her own! Oh jeez. Okay. Focus, Andrew, focus. Not the time or the place. Later. Maybe never. But not right now!
The process involved blood. Blood that made his stomach twist. As soon as Glory uttered the words, "Fine, you want a portal? You'll have a portal." She reached out to take Zudeh's hand, which the aureal offered willingly. Out of nowhere a nasty, almost Klingon-like blade manifested and sliced into the daedra's skin, cutting diamond-tough skin like it was butter. The blood that dripped from the wound glimmered blue, almost like a liquid form of lyrium. Normally it would fascinate him, but knowing it was blood made in suddenly queasy, but not so queasy as when Glory squeezed the cut to make it ooze more, the blood dripping on the ground in a small puddle.
As soon as Zudeh stepped away, Glory leaned down to begin drawing a pattern on the ground with the glowing blood. It was a simple symbol, something that was reminiscent of the boulders that gifted people those stones that kept cold at bay... Andrew recognised it just a moment too late, because as soon as it was finished it disappeared in a flash of light, a portal forming in the form of a hovering, iridescent ball of white light.
Balancing it in her hand, the madgod grinned, looking to everyone for praise. Praise she didn't get in droves, a fact that had her pouting and snarling as she tossed the portal into the middle of the chamber of her throne room. Tapping Andrew's forehead with a bloodied finger, she told him and the others to 'have at it' because she was done with this pest party. A statement that was followed by her slinking out of the room, leaving only Zudeh to watch over them.
Turning back to Tony and Steve, Andrew left the blood on his forehead on a hunch and asked if they were both ready. As soon as he got the all clear, he sat down on the ground and suggested the two of them do the same, as if they were going to meditate.
"Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and try not to think too much about how it feels at first, okay? It's probably gonna feel a lot like what being thrown out of an airlock in space might feel like... but only for a split second. You'll be okay though—as long as I'm alive and the ol' ticker's going, so will the two of you." At that Andrew closed his own eyes after one more look at the portal and one more look and smile to Anna. They'd be fine. Everything would be fine. Optimism. Yeah!
The shift was over in a heartbeat, one excruciating and perhaps terrifying, or maybe exhilarating, moment later, both Steve and Tony were opening their eyes again in a completely different environment. No longer were they in a palace that was split into two, no longer were they surrounded by insanity and gods and daedra—instead they were in a dim, dark place. Eyes taking a moment to adjust, it didn't take long for the area to become perfectly clear: they were underwater.
In fact, the both of them should be drowning, as they were literally in the water. But as astral projections, they needed no air. The physical world meant nothing to them. Instead, they had ample space and opportunity to look at the scene beneath them... an entire city, New York City, completely re-populated, filled with lights, activity, and a particularly familiar building not too far away from them.
Trolleys, covered walkways, and subway systems connected every building to one another, acting as means of transport between the areas. Whole sections of the city were dedicated to parks and arboretums, surrounded by massive domes of glass and shimmering with a force field of some kind. Every building had a force field, glinting against the tides, protecting everything from the pressure of the water around them. The whole area was lit up by the millions of people in the massive city, giving off an eerie glow that was made only less eerie by the massive words of STARK written out bright and clear as day to their right.
The Stark Tower stood where it should in Manhattan, seeming to be in a state of phase along with Tony himself. Another familiar tower within sight as well: the obsidian tower, replacing the Empire State building as it had for so very long... both were seemingly ready to be occupied by the transplants. Or perhaps the two would only arrive as soon as the transplants arrived, but there they were. And there the city was, ready to be looked at, explored, and seen.
Exterior 01
Exterior 02
Exterior 03
Exterior 04
Exterior 05
Interior 01
Interior 02
Interior 03