Orientation: In the dark spaces in between [Closed]

[legendary_hands]

Who:Tony Stark, Leonard McCoy, Alec Lightwood, Jace... Whatever he's going by at this point.[closed]
What: Keep the monsters out from the world of Pitch Black
When: Orientation Event
Where: Just through the portal into the evil planet where the bioraptors live.
Warnings: Dark, Scary, Lots of yelling and unhappy country doctors, probably mentally scarred half-angels, and a suit of armor with a user with a god-coplex. (What? I speak truth.)
Notes: There will be multiple threads more than likely.

When The Librarian and the others told them to find a book and not to go alone, he really wanted to just stay back there and offer to be a doctor. Didn't everyone need a doctor? Instead he did the wrong thing, as always, and followed along with the man that had the bravado and drive that reminded him a little too much of James T. Kirk along with the half-angel he'd met while first arriving. At least the kid had a nice head on his shoulders.

All those delusions of doing the right thing faded, however, the moment Tony touched that damn book. The fall of dark smoke and soot that fell at their feet caused him to take a step back in surprise. God damn it. Damn it all. Damn these 'books' and whatever mess they were about to get into. And where he wanted to say (more like yell) that Stark picked the wrong book, the world was already long changing. And before any of them knew it, before he could even place that soft British accent in his ears with the Head Librarian... everything went dark.

When the world finally came into focus, Leonard realized two things. This was not the Library, and these were not the clothes he'd been wearing before. Both fleeting thoughts that disappeared with the first shrill scream that echoed off walls ran straight down his spine. It reminded him vaguely of howler monkeys, but somehow shriller and more malicious. The walls rose around them, craggy rocks and dripping with moisture. Darkness. Save for the lights attached to his brand new black gear and flashlights strewn on the floor. Light.

Light is your only ally.

Reaching out, he grabbed the light off the ground and started to look around. He felt the weight of something around his shoulder. A rather large rifle of some sort. All he knew was it meant business. His phaser still hung at his hip as he spun slowly to take in the caverns around them. The sounds of movement, hisses of scratching against rock wafted through the stale cool air and he felt a dread pool in his stomach. Yeah. They picked the wrong god damn book.

A flashing in a chest pocket of the light armored vest caught his attention and he pulled it out. The silver medical emblem on his bookmark flashed with light then expanded instantly. The information scrolled on the screen instantly.

Bioraptors

Light sensitive to the point of injury. Completely blind from living in the dark, but can see accurately from ultrasonic location. Nasty little (big rather) fuckers. Breathing in slowly, he closed his eyes.

"Hey guys, guess we're not in Kansas anymore.. and these flying monkey bastards got more teeth than a great white."

Comments

[angelic_archer]

"It's no different than the portals back home." Okay, using a book as a portal was unexpected but living with a warlock made Alec's scale for weird significantly different than most beings. Portals. Darkness. Normal for him. Tony's armor and the weapons that suddenly appeared... that was weird even after months of getting used to Magnus snapping whatever he wanted into the apartment.

If he had time, he'd stare at the armor and try figure out what it was since it obviously wasn't the type he was used to. His bookmark shimmered blue, lighting up the runes along the back before an image showed up on the screen. It looked like a few things that he'd seen in the Codex. "Looks almost like a Greater Demon.

"We're fine. Typical Saturday night for us." He kept his tone confident before glancing over at Jace. His wounds were supposed to be healed, but there was still something odd about his parabatai and it'd been months since they'd fought together... No, they'd be fine. No reason to think anything else. "Right, Jace?"

[wayfaring_stranger]

Jace slid his bookmark back into whatever pocket he'd pulled it from and was busy examining the cool gear they were wearing. "Portals back home don't change your clothes when you step through them. Black for hunting through the night."

He wasn't smiling despite his usual fun sarcastic sense of humor. He'll be ignoring the blondie comment for now and was slowly turning in a circle the way the good Doctor had, trying to get a feel for where they were. Wet cave like place. Annoying, but manageable.

"Looks like a greater demon. Doesn't really sound like one. No gut wrenching scent either. I'd say this is more like a Friday night out at Taki's." He pulled out a longer version of the blade he'd used when he first arrived, the light illuminating more of the cave. Not cave. A cavern. Much bigger than a cave. "Don't worry about me Tin Man. I can see in the dark."

[legendary_hands]

He rolled his eyes instantly at Tony and the feeling of the clap on the shoulder. It's too reminiscent of something Jim would say and do, and that pangs a little. "Yeah, well aren't you just a damn ray of sunshine." Inevitable death didn't ring too far from the truth to be honest and well, he wasn't liking this at all. But he did turn his head to look at the two teenagers looking not even the least bit unsettled by the scenery change.

"And no offense, but it sounds like your Saturday nights need a real overhaul." The idea of teenagers gallivanting off to fight things like this like it was going to a corner diner just... got under his skin.

He threw his hands up in a well pronounced 'why me' way when the blonde said he could see in the dark. Right. He got stuck with the biggest group of thrill seeking monster killing people in the multi-verse. It felt a helluva lot like a blessing and a curse. "Let's just focus on avoiding that inevitable death crap, if you don't mind."

Flicking through the screens, he let his gaze roll over the 'mission' requirements. "Seems the nasty buggers are trying to get through the portal and it's not stable enough to close just yet. So, guess we gotta clear 'em out and push 'em back. Problem is, the cavern seems to vee off just little ways off. Means we're gonna have to sweep 'em at the same time." Or more might flood in. Damn it, but he didn't like the sounds of this one bit.

He searched through the pouches on his gear and found multiple clips, and then he found the grenades. Just two. And their noises were growing shriller and closer than he'd like right about now. "We might have to collapse both caverns once we clear 'em. Unless one of you boys has got a better idea."

[amelioraate]

"Awww, grumpy cat, you don't have to call me sunshine to get me to like you. Your astounding wit will to that for you." And maybe Tony recalls part of the faceplate to wink at McCoy, all amusement and carefree demeanour, but there was a tenseness around his eyes that, should the doctor see it, makes it obvious just how serious he knew this was. Even if he didn't act like it. There were very few things that would get Tony to act responsible, and even fewer things that would make him shut the fuck up.

However, McCoy is saved from any more teasing by another screech from the dark and Tony winces a little, rubbing the side of the helmet. Ow. Those things sounded like fucking Nazgul.

There might be a tiny, teensy, little scoff from Tony at the mention of portals because, of course magic. Magic and alternate realities and fucking monsters in the dark that wanted to eat them. Nothing new then.

"Oooh, blondie has some claws, how quaint." Tony laughs, letting the faceplate close over his face again, tries not to let the name ring in his ears with someone else's voice. Not not. "Right, so now that we are all on the same page that we have shitty lives full of danger, shitty Saturday nights and fucking magic, which I am totally gonna want to ask questions about that later okay, because you have a glow stick knife there and my suit is picking up some weird as fuck readings from the two of you, we need to get those beautiful blind babies into those cavern to keep 'em away from the portal."

Tony hums a few bars of Enter the Sandman, laughing a little as he took engaged the flight system, shooting up to the top of the cavern, getting a better reading of the layout. It was as McCoy said, but there were a few well hidden opening, smaller caverns by thelook of it, half way up the rock face. Narrow though, funnel the enemy through, pick 'em off. He dropped back to the ground pretty damned quietly for being a tone of metal armour and assessed his weapons. Well, the usual assortment, plus what the doctor had, and the two kids and their obvious ease with weapons and fighting. Good, at least no one was useless.

"Take it that you two prefer fighting together?" The moved in sync, even if they didn't notice. "If we can clean out the adjoining caverns and cave them in, we're forcing them to funnel through the narrow cracks up there, way easier to pick off." He turns his head to McCoy. "I take it you would prefer it if I played bait?"

[angelic_archer]

"There's nothing wrong with magic," Alec said automatically, while trying to gauge how well his arrows would work on the things. "Wouldn't mind red to call enchantment down." He didn't really want Magnus in this type of situation. His boyfriend might be a High Warlock, but Alec wouldn't want him in danger. Scanning the area, he tried to gauge how well his arrows would work on the things. The runed ones might, but if he found a spot to be effective, that would leave Jace without someone at his back.

The weird noise the creatures made caused him to wince. Kind of like Greater Demons, but hopefully not poisonous. "Glad we didn't use any hearing runes." As Alec spoke, he caught Jace's arm, pulling up his sleeve enough to bare a small patch of skin. Without taking his eyes off their surroundings, he drew an unfinished iratze that would be easy to complete if it was needed, then handed his stele to Jace so he could do the same for Alec.

"Jace is the one that needs better Saturday night plans. He's the one that prefers hunting to the opera." Swiping his thumb over the nearly completed rune, he told himself that they'd be fine fighting together even if they hadn't practiced in months. They were parabatai, not an ordinary Shadowhunter pair. "We trained together most of our lives. If you two can deal with the tech, we can drive them back."

[wayfaring_stranger]

Jace is just going to quietly stare at Tony the entire time, raising a casual eyebrow at the 'blondie has claws' comment, before glancing at Alec and asking, "What is it with Mundanes and running their mouths under pressure?"

He smiled a little at Alec's comment about red and didn't even flinch when Alec drew the iratze. Yes. It hurt, but after years of drawing runes the pain was tolerable now.

"Tin Man can be bait. In that armor he can move and catch the attention of the little demons while we pick them off. The problem with cleaning out the other caverns is numbers. They have more than we do and separating isn't a good idea. I say destroy all the entrances to this section except the one we want them to come at us from. We protect the portal and stand our ground here."

He spoke as he took the stele and drew the same rune for Alec, an incomplete iratze.

"If we didn't need his intelligence on this mission we could draw a silencing rune on the Mundane's armor." It wouldn't work, but the Mundane didn't know that.

[legendary_hands]

Children. The lot of them. Even Tony was on that level of maturity in his mind in that moment. All this talk and no one was actually usin' their brains. Typical. Go in guns blazin' and get them all killed. "Didn't anyone ever tell any of you boys not to go in half cocked?" Rolling his eyes, he kept his gaze on the lit up screen as he scanned the way the passages mapped out. From the looks of it, the planet was on a stint of darkness due to the alignment of the planets. Collapsing the caves could be well... detrimental if done wrong.

"Damn it, I'm a doctor, not a damn strategist." He mumbled it under his breath as he turned the image on the screen looking for the widths of passages and the density of the surface above. Last thing they needed was open sky to deal with. Finally noting good spots to cave in, he looked up at Tony with an arched brow. "By all means. Go let them eat you first. But we need to consider these things are like insects when it comes to numbers. If we draw too much attention, we could be overrun."

Shutting down the bookmark, he slid it into one of the pockets on the vest then started to unsnap and check clips on the rifle before sighing and pushing them back in. Least Starfleet made him learn weapons even if he found them useless as a doctor. "Damn flame thrower woulda been better." Whatever.

Looking at the boys next, he pointed at the cavern ceiling. "If we collapse the caves too close to the top, we'll be askin' for a whole nest a trouble when the sky opens up. We need to keep things closed up." God, why was he havin' to think like this? "If you travel up the two larger tunnels, not far up, they narrow off. From the looks of it, the cavern is dense enough if we collapse it, we won't be opening up a giant hole. And whatever little openings we got left we can pick 'em off as they come. Then it's down to how fast we can do this so they don't overwhelm us."

Running a hand through his hair, he felt a little like he might pass out. "But unless any of you kids got somethin' to say that's useful, cut the chatter. These things see by sound and movement so don't forget it."

[amelioraate]

Tony was childish at best, so he really wouldn't argue with McCoy about that note at all. As it stands, he is a bit busy scanning the area and snorting at the notion that someone might be able to silence him.

"You could try, Blondie, but I've had gods try to shut me up and fail, so I think you might have your work cut out for you on that front." Tony hums a little, stores the readings he gets from the glow sticks that are also sharpies, and tries to figure out what the fuck they were going to do.

Well, not really. The plan McCoy comes up with is fairly solid.

"You say you're not a strategies, but I gotta say, the plan is solid. I mean, minus me being eaten, I've gone through that and let me just say, no." There is a flash of a smile. "Also, you want a flame thrower? I am sure I can make one if you give me like... fifteen minutes that rifle, a grenade and one of my missiles in here. Or maybe Blondie's magic sharpie. That looks like it might make fire."

Times like this, perhaps, it was an almost good thing that he had so many years developing and testing weapons. Maybe.

[angelic_archer]

"It works for us and no one is getting eaten." Elbowing Jace for the comment about the silencing mark, Alec took his stele back and traced another rune on his parabatai so that Jace would move silently. Then he traced the same one on his arm, followed by another mark to help augment his vision before putting the stele away. "We'll close off one of the tunnels. Herd them in the direction we want."

Fighting back a grin at the nickname for Jace, his expression turned stern ready to say no to the flamethrower in case his parabatai thought it'd be a good idea. They didn't have the time, but maybe later, if they were allowed to keep the weapons...

Looking over at Leonard, Alec gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. We've been in worse situations. Well, I have." He nodded toward Jace. "He hasn't yet but he will." It probably didn't make sense to anyone else, but Alec knew what Jace could handle, what they both would go against later.

Drawing a seraph blade, he named the weapon, then pointed toward the tunnel that was their best option without Mundane explosives. "That one's ours."

[wayfaring_stranger]

"Half-cocked sounds like a Mundie problem, not a Shadowhunter problem." Jace murmured, moving towards one of the tunnels. He was thinking about the fire rune and using it on the stone as a way to weaken it. "We're trained to hunt monsters far scarier than our little pests here."

He whispered a name and his sword grew brighter, the light of the angel, and tried not to think about what Alec had said. He couldn't imagine anything worse than what he'd recently survived, but he knew it could definitely get worse. That was their life from birth.

"I do love a challenge, Tin Man." He smirked and moved towards the tunnel Alec had claimed. "Alec." He'd go in first, Alec always had his back. "I'm thinking heat rune."