Iron Man's public address system booms: "Steve Rogers, you are under arrest for violation of the Superhuman Registration Act." Less... boomingly, he adds, "Please, Steve, come quietly. There doesn't need to be any more bloodshed today. We can still make this right."

Captain America refuses. "Make this right? You opened a portal to Hell to lure us into a trap. People died, Tony, and you were too busy rounding up your murderous thugs to save them. How are they supposed to make this right?"

Behind him, the Thunderbolts bristle and posture. The Rhino crouches down into a nose-tackle's stance, pointing his horn directly at The Hulk, who clearly wishes he would. Kraven skulks behind a burned-out police car, while Bullseye... sticks close to Tony, positioning himself between his boss and the unregistered heroes, whispering something.

The Scorpion doesn't look very well. He's clutching at his head in agony, and clearly having some kind of argument. His klyntar symbiote is roiling around him, and cleary trying to pull him forward. "Two delicious spiders, pull their legs off, sacrifices for the goblin... follow orders, Mac, drink your milk..."

Nobody seems to be paying Gargan any nevermind.

Everyone is now present and may speak freely. This is not yet a combat scene.

Huh. The Scorpion had a symbiote, too? Of all the oddities of this world, that was practically the weirdest one. Who would give a knucklehead like the Scorpion a symbiote? And it seemed to like milk as much as Venom, for some odd reason.

With all the chaos that seemed about to break loose, this felt like an incredibly stupid thing to fixate on. So, of course, Funnybone fixated on it.

"We have chocolate milk," Funnybone said to the Scorpion, pulling up near him on his hell-cycle.

Mac Gargan looks pleadingly at Funnybone from behind the blank white eyes of the symbiote. "Yes, give us the chocolate milk, we need it! The king says bide our time, lure the spiders into our web. Squash them when the time is right... but the queen says... the queen says... the queen..."

He reaches his hand out to Wade.

Funnybone reflects the gesture back, taking the Scorpion's hand in his.

"Hop on," he said, "and I'll take you to it."

He wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, but at the very minimum he was taking a powerful opponent off the field of battle. If he was right, though, he might be finding the solution to his own team's problem.

The Scorpion takes Wade's hand and allows himself to be led away from the field of battle.

Where is Wade taking him?
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:11, Mon 30 Aug 2021.

"You know, she just paints herself green in my world."  Gwen tells Pete and Harry when the Hulk shows up.  "For her wrestling Persona.  The only one that size was Alexei.  He needs a suit here?". She lets out a small laugh at how ridiculous Rhino looks.  Then she sees the rest of the Thunderbolts.

Gwen can feel her symbiote reacting when it sees another symbiote on Scorpion.  Maybe they haven't noticed?  There's definitely a control issue going on.

If Wade can handle this, Gwen's going to let him.

Peter makes... some sort of quip about The Rhino's armor and his history. Gwen tries to pay attention, but something is pulling her mind... or Venom's toward the crowd of onlookers. It's a feeling almost entirely unlike the feeling she got from seeing the symbiote attached to Mac Gargan, but... familiar.

Iron Man speaks again. "Trap? Nobody lured you here, Steve. There's an emergency, we were handling it, and you broke the law."
This message was last updated by the GM at 16:30, Mon 30 Aug 2021.

This message was deleted by the player at 16:53, Mon 30 Aug 2021.

"Hey!" the Rhino yells back at Spider-Man. "Why don't you come down here and say that to my face, you wall-crawling coward!?"

Iron Fist staggers a little as the trio touches down. The sensation of flight was breathtaking, to be sure, but the warrior's mind was buzzing with possible threats. Were SHIELD agents using this street to stage an ambush? Was that Bullseye crouched in the streets below, or just his imagination? And could he and his team even trust that everyone in the Anti-Registration ranks were the real deal? After all, treachery tended to rear its ugly head only once it was already too late.

Fear and doubt coiled in the pit of Danny's stomach. PTSD from years of being hunted by your former masters' personal assassins would do this to a guy. Danny missed his old self that would have simply enjoyed the ride through the sky-- his old self who Polaris increasingly reminded him of-- but that Danny Rand was dead. Any anyway, that was neither here nor there, and the mission was all that mattered.

"Seems we've been set up," he says, leaning a little on Tigro as he catches his breath. A little more loudly and bravely, he adds, "Now is that idiot in the metal suit gonna hide in the principal's office all day, or is he man enough to show himself?"

When Polaris landed, the fight with the demons was ended. Unfortunately, an even worse battle brewed, as Iron Man demanded Captain America’s surrender. Sally watched the tensions simmering between the former friends, threatening to boil over into new violence. She’d seen similar conflicts over the War back home between the “Hawks” who supported America’s intervention in Vietnam, and the “Doves” who opposed the War.

The powers and abilities of these factions held a potential for even greater volatility than the Anti-War protests. Sally stepped toward Steve, hands raised halfway in a calming gesture. “Hey, Cap. Iron Man deals in technology, not Magic, remember? Like, why would he summon demons to get your attention?”

Sally then looked at Iron Man. “Hey, Iron Man. I’m new to New York, but I’ve learned what set all this off with the Registration and opposition. Stamford was awful, NOBODY disagrees with you about that. I’m with you, like, a hundred percent that we super-types should use our gifts responsibly. I get it, man.

But is this the way? Turning America into a Super-Police State? Employing hardened criminals to beat on your friends? You’re scared of the direction the world is going in, and you have every right to be! But is this really the way? Can’t we all just calm down and talk this out?”
This message was last edited by the player at 18:08, Mon 30 Aug 2021.

"My fault Alexei, just thought you'd be taller.  Maybe you and Scorpy need to work on how to greet your allies. 'Pull their legs off?'  Really?  I've never even met that dude."

Great group Pete is working with here.   At least Wade got the guy with the poorly controlled symbiote out of the way.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:13, Mon 30 Aug 2021.

"I don't know his problem today. We are on same side. I do not think alien goo monster is... good look for him." Alexei pauses. "I think we are on same side. Your friends come here with Captain America... it is our job to arrest Captain America."

Iron Man addresses Polaris: "Look, there has to be a better way, there has to be, but we can't sit down and talk like responsible adults while persons of mass destruction... good people, like Steve and Jen, are using their powers to declare themselves above the law. Every path to fixing this situation starts with Steve and his followers laying down arms and turning themselves in."

"Lorna... a lot's changed since you left. If you and Alex are back on Earth, you need to touch base with Scott before you get Utopia embroiled in a war he's put a lot of effort into keeping it out of."

He looks around. "Jen, Danny... what are you even doing here? You're trying to fight this the legal way, the right way... and you're going to throw that away right now?"

“I’m not Lorna,” Polaris said, getting exhausted with people confusing her for that other Polaris. “I thought the Black hair would have been your first clue. I’m also not part of Utopia, although it sounds groovy. I’m a Neutral party in your little Superhero Civil War, one who’s just trying to talk some sense into you people!” Sally looked pointedly at both Cap & Tony.

“You keep talking about ‘The Law’. Has the Law always gotten it right? I mean, once upon a time, the Law said people who looked like you could own Black people. There was a Civil War fought over THAT law! What about Jim Crow and Segregation, or women not being allowed to vote, or the laws that made it okay to slaughter the American Indians? Does the Law always get it right?”