World Tree MUSH

    It might not be an entirely common thing for calls for cross-world adventurers to bring them meeting up just at the outskirts of a certain city within the World Tree acting as a hub for travellers and tourists alike. But here we are, anyway.

    The density of buildings actually tapers enough here to allow people walking through a picturesque look over the rolling, open plains with the occasional hill that spreads out past the city limits proper, with only a few trees dotting the otherwise clean horizon. And it's here, right where the dark coating of asphalt ends on a stone curb as the last barrier between the urban landscape and untouched nature, where a certain red-haired, second-rate mage stands in waiting, with a small travelling backpack slung over one shoulder. Almost like he's ready to head off for a *picnic* for all things.

    It might be easy to mistake him for that if it wasn't for his stated intention to search for what he thinks might be a way back to his world.

    And while he waits for people who answered the call, he is otherwise scrolling through a map app on his phone, charting out the way to take from here.

    He has an awfully specific locale in mind for someone who has stated he is only following a *hunch*.

 
 Normally Cyber Frost was not one to answer random calls for help. While she could certainly qualify as an adventurer of sorts meeting the criteria of being powerful and outgoing, she was nowhere near selfless enough to go out of her way to help.. ugh.. people. Let those weaklings fend for themselves! If they are strong they would not need help so readily. Besides, she was far too busy anyway, teaching Suiren and Iona and getting them all prepared to take over Alola. Though the true irony there was that if her apprentice knew that she was purposely ignoring calls for help, Suiren would likely have a few things to say to her Sifu, Frost. 
 
 However, this call for help was very, -very- special. It was from a certain someone that had captured Frost's interest from her very first adventure in the Tree. Shirou Emiya. What a curious character, he seemed so very helpless, like a lamb to the slaughter, and yet Frost could tell that there was so much strength within the boy to where he could perhaps one day be a worthy rival. It paid to keep an eye on him, and she decided to help out. 
 
 Besides... it was so sooo terribly fun to tease him, it called to Frost's inner schoolyard bully. 
 
 The cyber ninja appeared closely behind Shirou, and oh look, he was distracted! How incredibly convenient. 
 
 Stifling a snicker, Frost quietly snuck behind Shirou and.. yepp.. 
 
 She pulled on the collar of his shirt to drop a few ice cubes down his back. 
 
 This had been a long time coming. 

  The call went out, but Agent Anneka Stojespal is not actually here for that. No, Agent Anneka Stojespal is here because she was told to pick a nearby Vine, throw herself through it, and report on what she found. This just happens to be where it spat her out.

  There is an aircraft approaching the area Shirou waits in, because out here in the middle of nowhere, he's kind of conspicuous.

  The quinjet eases down with eerie silence, its turbines displacing tiny pebbles and bending the grass flat below it. When it touches down, the ramp on the back whisks open smoothly, and out comes striding a red-headed woman in an olive flight suit. The roundel on one the shoulders is the Art Deco eagle of the Strategic Homeland, Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division -- S.H.I.E.L.D. Perched over the bridge of her nose are a pair of dark-tinted aviator sunglasses; but still visible is the eyepatch that covers her right eye. She has a sidearm holster at her waist and a headset at her ear; every so often a dim blue indicator light flashes on it. Around one wrist is a futuristic-looking wristband that also flashes the same light on it every so often.

  She slows to a halt as she approaches the others, studying each person in turn with a shrewd and wary gaze.

  Just in time to watch Cyber Frost drop a few ice cubes down the back of Shirou's collar.

  ...Oh, well-played.

    Some picnic this turned out to be.
    But Anna Primrose does in fact answer her phone when she recieves a call from one Shirou Emiya. And that is why she sets a course for the nearest vine once the conversation is over.
    Soon enough she's here. The berserker princess fits in well enough now with her modern clothes that Shirou helped her buy.
    "Hey, Shirou." The princess says as she arrives--
    Just in time to see a cybernetic bully plink a few cubes of ice down the back of the boy's shirt.
    Her axe is in her hands FAST.
    "Who are you and what is your relationship with Shirou?"

    BING! No, Dante didn't magically get a ping about this. It's just a text message from Enzo. "'Blah blah blah Dante you owe me for damages, blah blah blah, gimme my money blah blah blah.' Who's he think he's hustling?" He mutters under his breath, before scoffing and stuffing his phone in a pocket just as he rounds a corner into another vine.

    Right into a field with a...picnic going on? "Ice to see you." he greets the blue haired cyborg with the cheesiest Ahnuld voice possible when he sees Frost pranking Shirou, just as Anna pulls an axe. "Oh, whoa whoa whoa. Chill out!" He says as Anna draws the axe, trying to step in. Let nobody notice the .45s tucked under his coat and the big sword in a guitar case slung over his back.

    C'mon someone give him an opening so he can go three for three.

    "...Ah?" The quinjet might not make a great deal of noise (which in itself is worthy of roughly million questions, surely), but inevitably Shirou is brought to looking up from his phone to see the aircraft coming down. That's... unusual. He doesn't *think* he knows anyone who has a futuristic jet plane at their disposal. The young japanese mage finds himself simply staring with awe at the sight as a whole first, and then focusing on the opening ramp once the craft has landed proper.

    The red-headed woman emerging from within is given a good, long, curious look, Shirou himself looking a little helpless in the face of this.

    "Um," he lamely manages after a moment, with one hand rising up shortly after. "...Hello. Are you here for the--"

    Unfortunately for Shirou, his powers of perception aren't honed enough to notice an *actual ninja* sneaking about even under the best of circumstances. And even less so when he is, indeed, distracted in such a way. The first thing that even hints at anyone else being there is the feeling of his shirt's collar getting tugged...

    But then it is already too late.

    And just like that, his question to the woman stepping out of the jet is interrupted by a loud, shrill shriek that echoes through the plains and probably is heard by people inside the buildings up the street. The boy himself has jumped up from the surprise and unexpected sense of cold with such a snap reaction that he momentarily actually appears as though he's suspended in the air for a few seconds. After that initial shock, he's quickly reaching behind his back with one hand to try to catch that intruding source of cold and spinning around to facing... Cyber Frost.

    "YOU?! What are yo-- wait, are *you* here to--"

    And then he notices who is *behind* the blue-haired ninja.

    "--W-wait, Anna! It's not what it looks like!!" he calls out, with both hands held out in a bit of a defensive panic. ... There probably *must* have been a better way to word that. THough he *does* look to Frost questioningly afterwards. "...I... think? You're not planning to try anything, are you??"

    Aaaand there's Dante. An unfamiliar sight for Shirou, to be sure, but under the circumstances, he's unfortunately a bit too distracted to fully appreciate either the man's sense of fashion *or* his puns. How unfortunate. His brief on what he was planning to do after everyone was gathered might have to wait for this whole situation to be defused first, too!

 
 "AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!" Cyber Frost's reaction to Shirou jumping and screaming was pretty immediate. The blunette actually pulled back and first threw her head backwards in howling laughter, then forward, doubling over and clutching her stomach as she continued laughing at Shirou's expense. She actually looked like she could fall over due to air loss, but did cyborgs even need to breath? Perhaps pranking Shirou was just -that- hilarious to her. 
 
 "Oh man- you should have seen your face- WHOA!!" Cyber Frost's amusement was short lived, as a tiny girl with a HUGE axe came not soon after and immediately threatened her, implying that she should back off from torturing Shirou. However, rather than merely leaving it at simple bodyguarding, this kid wanted to specifically know what was Frost's 'relationship' with Shirou-- which implied certain things. 
 
 And then, Shirou himself went and used a very certain phrase that implied.. something else too.. 
 
 "SERIOUSLY DUDE!!?" Frost's blue eyebrows furrowed as she kept a distance away from Anna's threatening axe and glared at Shirou. "Another freaking girlfriend!? How many do ya got!?" It was.. not the first time Frost and Shirou had been in this kind of situation apparently, with another woman pretty much having the same reaction as Anna- except with a lot less axe involved. 
 
 Eventually, Frost just shrugged and placed her hands behind her back, giving a wary look at Dante and his obvious ice puns. "Relax, sheesh. I'm just here to help, and Shirou and I are just friends, good gods. Why does everyone get so tense when I pick on him?" Unfortunately Frost wasn't a great pun master like Dante so she couldn't quite think of how to give the demon hunter the opening he was looking for, but maybe someone else! 

  Blandly, Anneka watches the unfolding tableau, folding her arms. With a sigh she steps away from the others, reaching into a pocket and withdrawing a paper carton; the pilot taps out a cigarette as she waits, lighting it with a match and the fleeting scent of sulphur. The tobacco smells different, with strong hints of clove and mullein.

  As Anna, Cyber Frost, and Shirou become increasingly diplomatically entangled, the agent just smokes and waits.

  A hand raises to thumb her comm headset. "Val, this could take a while. Might as well wait somewhere inconspicuous."

  Acknowledged. Valkyrie Unit, standing by.

  The quinjet just sort of... shimmers out of view. Where'd it go?

  Her brow arches at the situation unfolding between Anna, Cyber Frost, and Shirou. Oh. We're going there. Sighing and spreading her arms in a half-shrug, she walks away, puffing and shaking her head. "Well, let me know when you've all reached a conclusion."

  "...Val, where is Agent Philip Coulson?"

    A security clearance of Level Eight or greater is required to access that information.

  "God damn it," the pilot growls around her cigarette.

    'It's not what it looks like!' Shirou Emiya says.
    Anna Primrose's eyes are already starting to turn a shade of bloodshot red. Frost does not help a beat later.
    'Another freaking girlfriend!? How many do ya got!?'
    "Yes, how many do you have, Shirou?" The axe-wielding princess nearly growls as Dante stands in her path.
    "Because I would like to know." Anna says.
    Because...
    The young princess pauses.
    HEr cheeks heat a warm red tone.
    That anger is extinguished. Not by the Son of Sparda, but by the girl's own embarrassment.
    "For um. Reasons."
    Yes. Very diplomatically entangled.

    Oh boy.

    Dante gets the feeling of an axe murderer from Anna, just looking at her. That glance she spares him is enough to make the Son of Sparda flinch for a second. Oooookay gonna have to be on edge around that one. He's had enough of hyper violent ladies trying to murder him with Lady.

    He does offer Anneka a big grin and wave. "Hey Flyg-Wait, no. That's not gonna work. Uhhh. Amelia? No...fuck it, Anneka right? Good to see ya again." No that wasn't an eyepatch joke. He'll need to think on a clever nickname for Anneka later. He does chuckle as Anneka's attempts at a question are stopped cold. "Oof, stonewalled by your Alexa, that sucks."

    In any case, Dante produces some strawberry flavored gum and gets to chewing. "So uh...what's the occassion here? We just havin' a picnic?"

    "Wha- whu--"

    Between Cyber Frost and Anna Primrose, Shirou is left helplessly flustered and embarrassed, trying to process this entire situation and the horrifyingly scandalous question he's been presented by *both* girls.

    This is not how he saw his day going.

    ".......NONE!" he eventually blurts out in flustered answer, with his arms thrown up into the air. "ANd I never have, if you must know! Okay? Happy? ALRIGHT MOVING ON."

    Utterly red-faced and embarrassed, Anna's own embarrassment and the possible reasons behind it clearly escape his notice, as he spins around to turn his back on both Frost *and* her, turning to step past the end of the road, for his original intended path away from the city. Though he does pause to look to Dante. "...You sound like you're here for the actual job, at least. Um..." Aaaand a questioning look to Anneka. "Are... you, ma'am? Oh, I'm sorry-- I am Emiya Shirou." This introduction even comes with the usual japanese half-bow out of respect. "I, uh... A couple kilometers out there's a spot where I *think* a Vine might have opened up? Don't... don't ask me why I think that." That's not suspicious at all, sure. "It's a bit of a hike, but I want to go check it out."

 
 Diplomatic entanglement was one way of putting it alright. Cyber Frost continued ever so slightly sliding sideways to put more and more distance away from her and Anna, perhaps putting Dante in between them in the process. Sheesh! This girl really had the Kombat Rage going strongly on her- blood shot eyes and everything. For a moment, Frost even broke her relaxed stance and took a more neutral position for the possibility of a fight. Shirou sure did attract all sorts of psychopaths, after all, she should know being one herself. 
 
 Fortunately, Anna ended up relaxing for whatever reason and so did she. Frost exhaled cold breath feeling a little glad that she didn't have to brawl with Anna. Mostly, because that'd make things even more difficult between her and Shirou- which in turn would make things difficult with her and Suiren, and so on and so forth. 
 
 "Ooof..." Frost winced a little as Shirou dropped -that- particularly embarrassing confession about himself and decided to just.. move along for now. The ice cubes prank was funny, but any more and she'd start looking like a real bully. 
 
 She gave a glance at Anna to make sure that she wasn't going ballistic anymore and then fell in line with the others. "Yeah, what's the deal anyway? Yer clearly not the type to call for help just cause yer lonely." Said the kunoichi and crossed her arms waiting for instructions, or a proper moment to make introductions. Things had gotten.. kind of entangled there at the beginning so maybe they should just get to it. They're be time to catch up later. 

    Anna relaxes, yes. Though her cheeks are still a bit pink. She, too, winces at Shirou's reveal but makes no comment upon it.
    But with possible crisis and Shirou dying before the adventure begins getting averted, Anna looks about as ready to go as anyone else when the boy explains that there's a vine to peek through.
    "Mmm, you hardly ever call for this kind of thing, Shirou." She muses in agreement with Frost, before she manages to pry her attention away for a moment as the quinjet goes invisible.
    "I didn't know technology could do that." She muses.
    The most technological thing she's ever had her hands on is between a smartphone and a chainsaw. "I think we're done?" Called out to Anneka who wanted to know when they finished... Whatever that was just now.

  The pilot glances over when Shirou's attention finally swings back around her way. She shifts her weight when the subject of introductions come up; the cigarette bobs lower, dangling from her lower lip, as she tilts her head down and eyes Shirou over the aviators. Yep. Definitely just one eye. Her hand raises to swipe red hair from her good eye.

  A hand drops to her pocket to produce a business card. It's crisp and simple, with the agency's Art Deco eagle roundel, title (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division), and 'AGENT ANNEKA STOJESPAL' stamped on it. All the appropriate contact information is listed. It all has the look of official government contact information, too.

  "Agent Anneka Stojespal. Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. SHIELD." A hand waves briskly. Her voice is scratchy and smoky; too many years of alcohol and cigarettes, and she looks closer to fifty than forty. Her words are accented by something that sounds Eastern European in a way that makes it hard to place specifically. "What we do would take too long to explain, but the Vines, they have only just opened up in our world. Right now our priority is exploration and study. Not to mention responding to all the @&*$ing incidents in our world now." She puffs a jet of smoke. "Though, if you have anything that you think should be investigated or may seem important in terms of this whole... World Tree thing--" Here she gestures nebulously, "the agency would consider looking into it."

  More introductions! "A pleasure," the woman offers. "I'm sure I'll be seeing some of you around." Tapping ash from the end of her cigarette, she eyes Shirou from over the rim of her aviators. Oh, they're all done? "Oh. Goody." So deadpan. "I'm here on agency business, except this wasn't where I planned on going. That seems to be a thing that keeps happening," she offers, blandly, on the nature of the Vines.

  Dante earns a long, flat look, as though she's considering what to make of it. At length she taps ash from the end of her cigarette, waiting precisely four seconds before gracing Dante with a response. "Good to see you. Dante Spardason, wasn't it?" Puff. "Her name is Val, not Alexa, and she's not really a 'she.' It's a military-grade AI. And I'm pretty sure its hobby is harassing me."

  I do not have a 'hobby.'

  Anneka thins her lips and gestures as though to say, see?

  Eventually her attention swings back to Shirou. "I guess I can come with you a little way in. I don't have anything better to do right at the moment until I can chart a course back to more familiar Vines."

    Once the situation seems a little descalated, especially as Anna seems to switch out axe murderer for jealous suitor, Dante just laughs. "Nothin' suspicious about this." He offers a wave at all the people he doesn't recognize, which is just everyone but Anneka. "Dante. I slay demons." He explains. He's more a doer than talker, really.

    "So what exactly are we lookin' at anyways? Just a spooky house? Sounds easy enough." Then again Shirou did ask for help on this one, it might be more than just a spooky ghost haunting the drapes.

    Shirou kind of... just stares with confusion at Anneka, over her introduction and explanation of the organization she is with. At least as much as she is willing to let anyone else here be privy to, now. He even takes the business card, out of some compulsive reflex, to eye over it. He stares at it for a good moment.

    "...Oh. So you're like... a secret agent?" He finally concludes, when he looks up from the card. "That's pretty cool."

    But,no, this certainly doesn't seem like the kind of thing Shirou would ask people to help him with, would it? That fact isn't lost on Shirou either. He pauses when pressed on the matter, and... frowns.

    "... I just.... have a feeling it might go back to my world," he offers, with his hand tightening onto the strap of his backpack. "And if it does, there's... no way for me to know what's on the other side at this point. Last time I was there, things were..." He pauses again, to consider just how exactly to describe it.

    "...Apocalyptic."

    With that mildly foreboding statement made, he makes the decisive step forward, to start walking for the plains. "We should get going while we still have daylight." He does afford a look back to Dante, and... well. He looks a bit helpless, as he admits, "I... honestly don't know."

    Shirou isn't exactly... talkative, on the way there. And like he'd mentioned before, it is indeed a bit of a hike. Nothing unbearable, but it does take roughly twenty minutes of walking off the beaten path, and past a hill that overlooks the city the group had just walked away from.

    Beyond that hill rests a formation of large rocks. It's not anything entirely unusual or unnatural, even if it *might* look like a clenched fist if one really squints at it when looking from above, but it is a distinct landmark, if nothing else. And one that Shirou comes honing in on now.

    "...This looks like what I sa-..." the young mage starts only to cut himself off rather pointedly. "Uh... Yeah, I think this is the place? Um." He looks around, very much cluelessly. Frowning in silence for a good moment before asking out loud, "... Now what?"

    There does not seem to be... anything else in here. Nothing at all of note. Nothing to suggest that there's a vine here either, that's for sure.

    For all Shirou Emiya himself tries to rack his brain around it, he can't come up with anything else, either. Frustration soon kicks in, and he kicks a loose pebble off one of the larger rocks. "... I'm sorry," he mutters, then, with a heavy sigh. "I think I might have wasted everyone's time. I really thought..."

    While he was delving into his own thoughts, however, something *did* change. Something appeared when no one else was looking.

    A black hole.

    It's probably not the actual astronomical entity known as a black hole, mind-- there's a distinct lack of gravitational wells and everyone present being turned into spaghetti. But a 'black hole' would certainly be the best way to describe it; a football-sized, circular mass where light simply no longer seems to exist. A tear in the fabric of space, perhaps?

    And it hovers there, right above Shirou, who is none the wiser.

    Not even when something *drips* from it. A dark, oozing, mud-like substance that hangs from the very bottom of it for a split second like a loose droplet of water hanging off the faucet of a sink, before falling down...

    To land on Shirou's arm.

    The boy doesn't even have time to fully realize what has happened. There's a worrying sizzle of a noise, like oil being burnt on a frying pan, as the 'mud' seems to burn through the sleeve of Shirou's jacket like acid, and--

    "--GHHAAAAAH?!"

    With a pained scream, he's fallen down to his knee, with his other hand instinctively clutching at his arm just above where the dark mass has torn a hole through his sleeve and presumably now eats away at his arm itself. And up above him, more of the mud has been dripping out of the 'hole', in larger quantity now-- hanging off of it like the Sword of Damocles waiting to be brought down upon the young man.

    Once they're at the spot, Dante produces a massive greatsword from his case. Rebellion sticks to his back through some kind of demonic fuckery, and he draws one of his .45s as they approach what looks like Stonehenge. "Huh." is all he can offer, as he begins to patrol the area for a bit. "Yo, demons or whatever nasty shit's here, come on out! We're here on a school trip and we're totally helpless schoolkids!"

    Silence.

    "Well, that didn't work." He stows Ebony just as he does a double-take, seeing the black hole above Shirou. "Whoa, hey, kid!" he points out, just as some kind of sludge drips onto his arm like a weird symbiote before he hears sizzling. Dante rushes over and begins to rip Shirou's jacket off, and he pulls the teenager well clear of the weird black hole.

    Anna follows along to the plains after slinging her axe to her backpack. To the princess' credit she does not complain about the hike, and gives the fist-shaped rock formation a curious glance.
    Before something appears in the sky.
    "Wha...?"
    It hovers... Above Shirou.
    And as it releases its dark payload of seemingly searing black mud, Anna watches on in horror as it lands on Shirou's arm.
    And then more hangs in the air ready to spill free over him.
    She reaches out, words forming on her lips, they die into a grunt as she goes to pull Shirou back with Dante.

 
 Up until now Cyber Frost had half been ignoring this Dante guy. Mostly because of her 'entanglement' with Shirou and Anna, but it was also because opening up with an infuriating ice pun just made her want to input her self-destruct sequence and blow herself up. This guy.. he just DRIPPED with Johnny Cage vibes- and that was not a good thing. 
 
 Then there was this Anneka character and Frost just... balked when she went and explained the name of her organization. Right, SHIELD, must be some kind of alternate dimension Special Forces or something. Incidentally, Anneka reminded Frost a lot of Sony Blade, and don't that beat all. Cage, Sonya and.. 
 
 She glanced at Anna. Well, if the little Princess just wasn't a ringer for a tiny, female version of Shao Kahn. 
 
 Yep, Shirou sure knew how to keep himself company. 
 
 "Frost." The cybernetic kunoichi pointed to herself with her thumb by way of introductions. "The name's Frost." And much like Dante, she too was a doer rather than a talker. 
 
 Frost listened to Shirou's explanation whilst Anneka and Dante made nice and Anna kept to herself. Social sort of settings tended to irritate her so she merely shook her head and shrug. "Alright, alright, apocalyptic. I get it. Let's see what's got you so worried." 
 
 After the long hike, Frost looked around and scanned the area using her own cybernetic sensors as well as trying to sense some spiritual chi. Nothing. Huh.. maybe Shirou really was too paranoid- which would be just like him. 
 
 The ninja was about to tease him about it when an actual freaking Black Hole opened up and dripped on Shirou who immediately started screaming in pain. 
 
 Delicious--eerr! I mean, that's bad! "Aw hell! SHIROU! YOU IDIOT! Get outta there!!" The ninja also rushed along with Dante to try and help drag Shirou away. Though Frost, deciding that she couldn't take any risks decided to rip Shirou's shirt off as well. Was she still trying to bully him or was she genuingly trying to help? It was anyone's guess really. 

  ...Oh. So you're like... a secret agent?

  "I..." Anneka starts to argue the point, going so far as to raise a forefinger and take a breath, and then she just sort of... deflates a little. "Well. I guess that's not wrong."

  Technically speaking, SHIELD is not a 'secret,' as the agency's existence was revealed after the Battle of New York. SHIELD is a division of the United States government, although its jurisdiction is flexible.

  Anneka sighs a long-suffering sigh. "...Thanks for that, Val."

  Her attention turns back to the others. Understanding dawns as he explains his motives. "Oh. You want to get back home?" She looks a little more sympathetic, at that; folding her arms and frowning around her cigarette. It's nearly down to the filter, but not quite. This woman can apparently smoke. "Mmn. Some of our agents have spoken with people displaced from their home worlds. I am sorry." It sounds genuine, at least. "Well. Depending on what we find on the other side... I can take some of you aboard the quinjet, as long as you promise not to touch anything. I cannot promise she will not shoot you. Yes. From inside the jet," she adds, sternly. "I am not bluffing. The bitch almost shot me once."

  Technically, you were wanted within the agency as an S1 target of inter--

  "That whole incident was a gross misunderstanding and you know it."

  Considering it ended in the suspension and subsequent imprisonment of--

  "Yes, yes." Anneka flicks her hand irritably. "Not important. Shut up."

  Apocalyptic, Shirou says. Oh. That's a bummer.

  He starts walking. With a frown and a shrug, Anneka starts after him; stride lanky and long-legged despite her average height. She doesn't seem to mind walking a lot. In fact, aside from her chimney-tier smoking habit, and aside from the massive burn scarring, oh, and also aside from her vocation as a pilot, she seems to be pretty athletic and healthy. When Shirou balks, she sticks her hands into her pockets. By now she's on a fresh cigarette. And she frowns as something dark materialises behind Shirou--

  Before she can point it out, it lands on his arm, an acrid sizzle, and Shirou is screaming. Anneka's expression goes numb and she's immediately patting at her pockets for something useful, like a first aid kit, but the first aid kit is...

  "Valkyrie! Get your ass over here, now!"

  Acknowledged, Captain Stojespal. Homing in on coordinates. Please do not leave your current location.

  In the meantime, she adopts a tense stance, smoothly drawing a pistol and backing away as the blackness ravages its way up Shirou's arm.

  "Holy fucking shit," Anneka breathes, single eye wide. She holds the pistol higher and trains it on what would be a headshot, but she can't squeeze the trigger, morbidly fascinated by what she's staring at. "Holy fucking shit. Valkyrie, what's your damned ETA? Get over here!"

  The quinjet doesn't answer. Anneka just stays where she's at, pistol trained not on Shirou, but on the ground beside him. Just in case that icky stuff turns, you know, unexpectedly autonomous. And violent. "Great God." She actually sounds a little shaken, even if her body language is steadier than that.

    It's a good thing Shirou was pulled away, too... even if, with three people doing it at once, it might very well result in it appearing as though he's getting group-tackled more than anything else. Hey, results, at least, right? Either way, he's out of the way of the black hole and the mud dripping from it, but...

    He doesn't seem much better off at the moment. As Dante tears of his jacket and, uh, Frost tears off his shirt, he doesn't really even seem to register this enough to be embarrassed over suddenly being made at least partially topless. The drip of sludge that fell on his arm is very clearly sticking into his skin, and burning into it. Already broken through skin and tearing at flesh -- it's altogether not pretty in any way or form, though thankfully the sludge also appears... mostly inert, now? Mostly in the sense that it isn't digging deeper into him, and is even sliding down along his arm now, brought by gravity towards the inevitably destination of the ground... even if it might burn through more of the unfortunate boy's skin on the way.

    The boy himself is writhing in place. Teeth grit down tight together, only barely keeping himself enough in control that he isn't trashing into anyone else. His breathing rapid and heavy, and his heartbeat's probably matching it. "Ghhh--...ghhuh-- stop-- shut up, shut up--stop it--" Who is he talking to? He's not looking at Anna, Dante or Frost. His eyes don't seem to be looking at *anything*, like he's not entirely all there right now.

    In the meantime, though? The dark mass that was poised to fall on him *next* falls down onto the ground, instead, forming a dark pool there. Like a bubbling puddle of pure darkness.

    And then, it changes shape. Or is it more accurate to say something comes out of it? It's hard to tell, with a shadow suddenly overtaking the puddle itself.

    What stands there now, between the black hole and the three people helping Shirou, is... a silhouette. A large, dark shadow standing a good eight feet in height, only vaguely humanoid in shape, with long, spindly arms that end in stumps. Like a shadow puppet created from shining a flashlight at a paper doll, brought to life.

    The form wobbles in place-- stretching out to the side, until a *second* one forms from it, replicating through a growth that seperates from within. The process repeats several times over, more of the shadowy forms stretching across the ground, steadily surrounding everyone.

 
 "Well shit.." Frost watched in slight horror as the sludge clearly began to do a number on Shirou. Even someone as used to horrendous violence like the kunoichi had to pause as Shirou began to be.. tortured.. almost by the sludge, clearly attacking him internally, either at a spiritual or mental level, or both. Cyber Frost couldn't be certain, she was no healer. 
 
 Blue eyes glanced down at Shirou's arm where the acidic black hole mud had touched him. She glanced at the others to see if they were thinking what she was thinking. "Do we like.. cut off his arm?" Hey, it was an idea! And as it was stated before, she was not a healer! Frost was trying to be pragmatic about this- and as sadistic and quite a horrible person that she could be, she didn't want Shirou to die! 
 
 Her attention was pulled away as the Black Hole in question began to drip inky darkness down to the ground, and this darkness began to start taking the shape of vaguely humanoid forms. Ah! Now this was more her style! 
 
 "Take care of Shirou! I got these guys!" She said to, well, whoever wanted to try and heal Shirou as she stepped forth to challenge the shadow creatures. 
 
 "Freeze, you bastards!" Yeah, yeah, ice pun. Frost's chest 'opened' revealing a cybernetic energy core, not unlike a certain rich guy that Anneka might know and she fired a beam of pure ice energy at the shadows to try and flash freeze them in place. "UNIBEAM!!" 

    'Do we like.. cut off his arm?' Frost asks...
    Anna is already unslinging the chainsaw off her back.
    "Hold his wrists, I'll do it...!" The girl declares, expression grim.
    Then the figures come- dark beasts as black as the night, one at first before it splits- and splits- and splits.
    "..."
    Shirou's arm is forgotten for the time being.
    "Excuse me, secret agent, ma'am..." She murmurs to Anneka.
    "Could you please take care of Shirou while your flying machine is on the way? I'm afraid..." She says, pulling the drawstring on her chainsaw.

    Vrr... chk chk... Vrr chk chk chk...! VRRRRRR!

    "I have a very limited set of skills..." Said chainsaw roars to life a moment later, the girl's eyes turning a bloodshot shade of red as she starts to swing her chainsaw in an attempt to cleave anything that might get to close.
    Or shatter anything that was turned to ice.

    "Those'll kill ya." was all Dante could offer as Anneka went from cigarette to cigarette. Judging by how the agent doesn't seem a bit winded by the hike, he lets it go. Anneka's death stare might've been enough too. She's even frostier than the cyber-snowcone and that's saying something.

    Back to the matter at hand...

    Dante spies the black figure as Shirou suffers, he's sadly not really experienced with curing this sort of thing beyond killing the monster causing it. "Do NOT tempt me, princess." he says to Frost as she suggests the obvious option.

    While Anna produces a fuckmothering chainsaw, Dante draws Rebellion from his back. "Now THIS is something I can do." He rushes towards one of the shadowy figures, and gets to chopping.

  Tensely, Anneka waits for the arrival of her quinjet, but there must be some kind of interference in the area. Her wristband emits occasional spates of static, and the aircraft doesn't seem to be any closer. The agent gestures impatiently at the viscous black sludge with her pistol. "What in the hell is that?"

  Cautiously, she circles closer, maintaining a distance from the others. She keeps her pistol in a state ready to raise and fire at a moment's notice.

  All she can do for the moment is stare in sick fascination as the sludge sears its way through Shirou's skin. Her frown cuts even deeper when he seems to talk to himself. That's never a good sign. Especially not in her line of work.

  Movement alerts Anneka; she spots the silhouette, too, swinging her pistol in the direction of the amorphous figure. Fortunately, the others notice, too. She takes a moment to stare at Cyber Frost's particular means of taking them out. Rather efficient, and potent. For her part, she fires on whichever figure is closest to breaching her personal space; shots measured and brisk, instead of the hasty staccato of panic-fire.

  Then Anna leans in.

  Secret Agent Ma'am.

  Anneka heaves a long-suffering sigh.

  "Yyyyup." She pops the 'P.' "Have fun, kid." She'll boggle and mentally process nice young ladies wielding CHAINSAWS later. Circling nearer to Shirou, she keeps her pistol at the ready. It's not a normal gun. It looks a little bit off. Oh, and Dante unloads on the figures, too, because of course he has a great big sword in addition to all the ludicrous firepower.

  Yeah she'll pretty much take potshots at the figures as she can, too, while watching Shirou's six.

    When it comes to physical strikes from sword, chainsaw and bullets? The hits seem to only disturb the giant shadows only temporarily -- their forms briefly dissipating only to reform again right after. At least that's what it looks like, at first--

    The freezeray from Frost does seem to take effect at least enough to slow the shadows affected in place. Not completely halt them, no-- like ghostly shades, they move through the ice itself...

    Until Anna's chainsaw strikes into the frozen mass.

    When the ice shatters, the shadow within it seems to disappear entirely, too. Perhaps a heavy enough shock is enough to rid one of those things from the world afterall-- even if the destruction of the ice statue comes with a splatter of sludge that flies into every direction and rains down on the ground, where each droplet burns away into nothing.

    "Don't--" Shirou gasps out meanwhile, as he rolls over on the ground -- growling out in pain as a sudden gout of blood splatters out from his arm, and the sludge on his arm gets ejected with it. What happened? The sludge at least is falling onto the ground now to burn away, much like that dispensed by the destroyed shadow, but his arm is bleeding *copiously* now. Had anyone paid close enough attention, though, they *might* have briefly made out a glint of metal amidst the blood, for just a brief second...?

    "Don't let them touch you--!!"

    The black hole itself dispenses more sludge from within itself-- but with every droplet that comes out and forms into a new shadow, the thing itself seems to lose shape. Vibrate and shift rapidly where it hovers, like it's losing integrity with every ounce of mud falling from it--

    Until it falls apart entirely, and disintegrates from view. Leaving behind only the remaining number of shadows to be cleaned up.

    If Anneka's not seen the likes of Thor about before, she's about to see a lot of wild stuff right this moment. Dante swiftly slams his sword against one of the shadowy demons, dodging out of the way of an attack as he lets out a hoot of delight.

    Once the enemy's airborne, Dante leaps up and begins to chop away at it with his sword until it's just chunks, then blows it away with his sawed-off. Where the hell WAS Coyote anyway? Everyone may wanna get out of the way, they're dangerously close to the splash zone, and Dante slams his sword upon another one of the shadowy figures. "BREAKDOWN!"

    Anna is a very nice young lady! ... She just has... Anger problems. Huge, big, terrible, anger issues.
    And just like fighting ghosts, she quickly learns you can't fight these shadows without a magical imbued weapon of some kind.
    Anna's chainsaw is not magical, for the record.
    Nor is her silver axe.
    And after her first swipes go clean through the shadowy masses, she learns quickly to attack the frozen shades, shattering them and causing them to disappear as they do... The raging royal sets to the task of working in tandem with Frost, letting the cyborg freeze, before she moves in for a kill, dodging now and again to avoid getting touched as she does her grim work.

 
 Resistant to physical attacks and to her ice, but not a kombination of attacks. Interesting. Cyber Frost's scans the shadows and targets them and locks down on them to make ready for an ice barrage. 
 
 Out of her corner of her eye, she glances at Shirou when the boy yells out and she sees him bleeding profusely from his arm. A hint of worry could be seen in Frost's otherwise sadistic eyes, perhaps not the total monster that she pretends to be, though for now she very much needs to be that monster if Shirou, herself and the others plan on making it alive out of this. 
 
 "That seems to be the ticket!" She focused back on the battle as she kept well away from the melee. That was one of the advantages of Frost's Kombat style, she could be a melee fighter but she could easily just hang back and provide support if she wanted to. 
 
 "Hit the ones I'm shooting at!" She called out to Dante and Anna as twin projectile launchers appeared from behind her back and she fired a barrage of ice shurikens at the shadows. The shurikens flying towards the creatures and freezing them in place to leave them easy targets for Anna and Dante's melee strikes. 
 
 "Shoulder Cannons!!" It was probably purely coincidence that Frost's moves sounded almost exactly like Iron Man. 

    As the battle against the shadow rages, something might eventually grow evident to the group. None of the shadows are actually trying to attack them.

    Instead, they all seem to be advancing on the same direction; where Shirou has been left laying. One of them even tries to reach out towards him, before it is brought down.

    Not that they are given the chance to get any closer to him, not with the sheer concentrated assault laid upon them. Shadows frozen in place and taken down by chainsaw - even bullet - and more of them taken down by Dante's enchanted blade. With the black hole gone, their numbers are no longer replenished, until...

    Until even the last one is brought to dissipating, reducecd to ineffectual sludge which might pose a bit of a threat on itself while it's raining down, but after? It merely burns itself away again, after being affected by the force that originally shattered it.

    And just like that, the charred grass on the ground is the only evidence left for any of them ever having even been there. ... Well, that, and the wound on Shirou's arm, which is also... bleeding much less now, in spite of not having gotten any real medical attention yet.

    "I don't..." The boy mutters, managing to turn himself up to sitting on the ground now. Whatever was affecting him while the sludge was stuck to him isn't trying to destroy his mind anymore, clearly, and the pain in his arm isn't overwhelming anymore either -- even if he does have to clutch his upper arm in an effort to apply some pressure to the veins and slow the blood flow.

    "...I don't understand. Why was I lead here...?" Oh. The boy must have left some details out about *why* he thought to come here. And now he just stares cluelessly at the space where the black hole previously hovered.

    "What was that...?"

    ... And eventually, he *does* look down.

    ". . . Where's my shirt?"

    Dante does in fact smash the ones Frost shoots. "Thanks, Ice Queen!" He calls out, before swinging Rebellion at a few of the frozen creatures like a baseball bat, smashing them to pieces, "WOO! HOME RUN KING, BABY!" He grins ferally, as he goes from one to another, until the fight dies down.

    "Phew...been a while since I got to get the bad jokes out. That felt good." He says with a grin, swiping...stuff off his sword. "Dunno, but they're dead now." He does approach Shirou and checks his arm, breathing a sigh of relief seeing that the redheaded teen's arm is just fine.

    "We uh...man, wish I had my mom's magic knowhow right now." He muses.

    What the hell were those?
    "What WERE those?" Anna demands of no on in particular as the... Hole in the sky vanishes and the last of the shadows encroaching on Shirou are handled. Anna loweres her chainsaw and huffs.
    "Is he... Is he going to be alright?" As he gets up.
    And then she pauses.
    "You don't even know why you were lead here in the first place? It all really WAS just a hunch?"
    And then Shirou wonders where his shirt is.
    Anna politely looks away.

 
 "Ice Queen.. tsk!" Frost muttered under her breath as she finished freezing the shadows and listened to Dante's latest comment. "Well, not the worst thing I've been called all things considered." 
 
 With the shadows destroyed, the cyborg woman dusted her hands and returned to Shirou's side. 
 
 Listening to her explanation, Frost merely shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. "Typical, yer as clueless and helpless as always, Shirou." And Frost, as usual, is mean as hell, even if she did go and helped Shirou, that hasn't made her any nicer. More importantly, she hated seeing Shirou being so weak. She knew the power that laid within the boy and it really annoyed her seeing him squander it. 
 
 "Honestly, what would you ever do without me?" She chuckled and gave a cocky smirk, unable to try inflate her own ego by reminding Shirou of his helplessness. 
 
 Although.. as he mentioned being shirtless. "Oh yeah.. about that.." Frost glanced to the side and saw the tattered remains of Shirou's shirt blowing in the wind. 
 
 "Uh.. I hope that wasn't an expensive shirt.."