Seymour wasn't one who was prone to giving out his support or magic to people he barely knew, but the man was hysterical and muttering something about wanting someone to kill him. Of course, this intrigued the maester. Being someone who wanted to help end suffering, end life itself here on the island, Seymour had to admit he wanted to find out what would cause someone to choose death over life...

And so he ran.

Seymour never ran anywhere, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Rounding a corner, Seymour spotted someone already ahead of him and plastered on his most concerned expression. Now was not the time to go blowing his cover.

The man who had made the message board post was obvious. He looked just as Seymour had felt once not long ago. The blood dripped and he could barely stand. The maester paused, weighing his options before hurrying over and tearing a few strips of cloth from his clothes - thank goodness these weren't his normal ones.

"Allow me to at least bandage you," the blue-haired man requested, moving forward as he checked to be sure the man wasn't going to lash out at him over something so trivial. He would have no qualms with killing the man out of 'self-defense' after all.

Peter was really beginning to miss his webshooters.
Given the apparent urgency of the situation they would have been a godsend. Well, he still had his wallcrawling and roofhopping. He made it to the internet cafe as fast as he could, and he joined the small crowd was gathering.

Under his mask, Peter's eyes grew wide with horror, he wasn't usually the type to faint at the sight of blood and... general gross stuff. But this. This was like something out of a horror movie.

"Oh god" he muttered at he clapped his hand over his mouth, throwing up in his mask was the last thing Peter wanted to do. He tried to shake off the sudden sick feeling that had overcome him.

Maybe... maybe he shouldn't have come, this guy didn't need a superhero, he needed medical attention, which was something Peter couldn't really provide. And he knew that when he saw the message, the man in so much pain that they want to be killed!
But as long as he was here he may as well try to help.

"Um, Mr. Basil? I'm... I'm gonna try to help, okay?" said Spider-Man as he approached the sick man.

Andrew saw people approaching; barely-recognizable shapes swimming through the red haze. They might have been asking questions, but all the words were blurring together and he couldn't make out exactly what was being said. He couldn't think through more than one answer, anyway. "Make it...s-stop, make it-t stop, M-m-make it..."

He backed up a few paces, wretched and then coughed up blood all over his shirt. It wasn't all red, however...something bright blue-green was foaming out of his mouth.

Whatever was happening to him made his limbs begin shaking uncontrollably, and he collapsed onto the ground, twitching as if having a violent seizure.

The wheels were turning in Seymour's head and the longer they stood there, the less likely he would be able to do anything. A couple other voices joined them then, including one who claimed to be a healer, and Seymour muttered something barely audible that could have passed as a curse aimed at the man's condition rather than the new companions.

Keeping his thoughts off his face, Seymour moved forward again. Well, he could heal, not crab bites, certainly, but even just the slightest amount of normal healing magic would help slow down his deterioration.

Assuming he wanted to help. But they didn't need to know that. No one did. If he could make it appear as though he were trying and failing, no one would assume he hadn't done enough.

This man would be the first he would save.

Seymour seemed to be the calmest of the lot; even the medic woman didn't have the same calm aura he had around him. It was almost as though he... wasn't trying to help, though anyone who accused him of such would be hard-pressed to prove it. The maester reached for the body, kneeling down close but not too close.

"I may be able to slow his deterioration, but I can do nothing for the bite wound."

At least he sounded as though he were trying to help.

"I have never seen a wound this terrible." Which was true, though now his mind was turning over other ways to use Cloverfield and her spawn.

Oh yes, Seymour had always had ulterior motives.

Whatever was happening to this man was just seven levels of wrong. And Peter to freeze up in panic, what should he do? What could he do? This was literally like nothing he had ever seen before. It was a effort to try to and remain calm and composed, and even if the other people couldn't see his face, the nervousness was still readable in his body language.

"I'm not even sure what's happening to him is... is possible," he said mostly to the blond man, "Does anybody have any idea what to do?"

Unfortunately, by this point, any treatment whether magical or medical was about half a minute too late. He kept gagging on blood and the blue-green stuff. His spine made a noise like snapping celery, and the gargle turned into a scream. His eyes darkened over until they were completely black. Then his neck stretched.

Andrew's entire body began to contort and bubble. His stomach bloated out to an unnatural size, his spine snapped again, and his arms suddenly stretched an extra foot. Then another. An enormous lump appeared between his eyes and stretched them to the sides of his head, like a fish. His entire body bloated and bubbled again, expanding him to twice his normal height and shredding off all his clothes. Naked, it was obvious to see that his skin was turning a slate gray color.

The bite mark on his arm was suddenly gone.

The transformation happened at an unbelievable pace. He was ten feet, fifty feet, a hundred feet, three hundred feet tall in a series of violent spasms and twitches. His arms expanded to long, gray limbs, which went smashing through the nearby storefront walls like a wrecking ball as he flailed. His spine extended into an extra appendage: a tail, crushing trees and abandoned cars alike as it extended hundreds of feet in the space of a minute. His horrified, gargling scream echoed through a maw suddenly liked with six-foot teeth.

The street and buildings surrounding them caved in to the stomping and very sudden displacement of weight. The ground cracked, groaned, and then collapsed in a massive crater the length of the full street. All nearby windows splintered, and the internet cafe and three other nearby stores crumbled into rubble from the force of the quake. The entire block shuddered from the force of the newly-formed Cloverfield monster hitting the ground in unconsciousness.


[OOC: Your characters are going to have to RUN LIKE HELL when the transformation starts. If they're caught within the radius of the crater, they will get completely crushed. They can sustain injuries during their escape.

Seymour had just begun to reach for the arm closest to him in order to help the one person who appeared to be doing anything (not that he was remotely amused by this show of knowledge and leadership from someone who appeared to have this man’s best interests in mind) when the body shuddered one final time and something else began to happen. The maester’s eyes flitted to what was happening, though he didn’t move at first, preferring only to kneel there next to the body and watch. Purple-blue eyes flicked around in Seymour’s head as his gaze took in what was happening and it was a moment or two before he registered the cry to run.

He didn’t want to. Seymour wanted to stay and watch. This man was obviously suffering from something tremendous, something incredibly painful, and yet no one could do anything. Just by sight, the maester knew his own magic was no match for whatever was going on in there. In a way, it was horrifying… but it was horrifyingly beautiful. Regardless, Seymour knew better than to push his luck. He wasn’t the one who needed to die again; the ones around him should be the first to go. After all, they were trying to help someone. Such loyalty and courage was admirable and should have been, in Seymour’s eyes, rewarded. The only reward he knew of was death, a quick, painless death.

Of course, he wasn’t dumb enough to risk his own life to push others to their deaths. If they were dumb enough to get caught by whatever was going on, that was entirely their faults. A smirk crossed Seymour’s lips as he finally turned around about the time when the man screamed – it sounded like a wonderful start. The maester wasted no time after that, thrusting himself to his feet and striking out as quickly as his large Guado body would allow. His race, or at least those who were descended from the leaders, was not meant to run. They were meant to intimidate, to be the leaders that Spira needed. And Seymour had intended to be such to the people of Spira before Lady Yuna had come and tried to take away his goals, his dreams, aspirations, and desires.

She had failed in that regard. He was still here, not exactly alive by any means, but alive enough. And he had no intention of dying again anytime soon.

The sound of ground shifting and buildings creaking and cracking pulsed through the air, filling Seymour’s mind with a euphoric feeling. It was almost calming how horrified his companions must have been at that moment. He could hear the smashing of glass, feel the rumbling of the ground as it thrust him into one of the buildings he’d barely made it past. His large body crashed into the side, sending bruises up and down his side as he fell to the ground and rolled a bit. He could feel the glass embedded in his hands as he caught himself on the ground, but at this point he didn’t care.

When he turned back around and stared at the crater that had developed and what now lay in it… his heart soared. He closed his eyes for a moment and a soft chuckle rose through his throat, saturating the air around him. Whether he was laughing at their situation or laughing in a very ‘ohgodwhatjusthappened’ way was anyone’s guess.

Though his eyes, when they opened again, were full of a malicious glint. His dream had been realized. And now he knew what he had to do.

Things weren’t appearing as dismal as they had not long ago. No, they were beginning to look up.

The monster wasn’t moving and neither did Seymour as he stood there and laughed softly. Eventually, it died down. Then and only then would he move to see how the others had fared. With any luck, some of them would have been caught in that destruction.

The rest of his time here would be beautiful. With three Cloverfield monsters, no one would survive.

Their suffering would draw to a close very soon.

Peter did not need his Spider-Sense to kick in to know that this is wrong, this is bad and wrong and he needed to get the heck out of dodge as fast as humanly possible. He made an amazing leap to the nearest wall as the floor gave out from under his feet. Which unfortunatly was also starting to crumble. He wasn't quite sure how he was able to make the leap to the next, still standing building, in time but he did, by some miracle.

He stared at the... the thing the man had become in a state of shock. Peter couldn't fathom what he had seen, because it just couldn't be possible.

Yes, he has seen Dr. Connors become the Lizard. And that... he thought that was tramuatizing enough... It wasn't.
The Lizard was a walk in the freaking park compared to this. This... This Edrich Abomination or whatever it was. It must be the monster that had destroyed the city. This was like a horror movie gone horribly, horribly wrong.

And that was probably the understatement of the century.

Daniel limped his way over to Rebecca, the closest person to him. His body trembled uncontrollably from the shock and adrenaline, but he knew how to ignore it; he'd had years of practice, after all. The main thing he had to keep in mind was to focus on the person in front of him; Daniel was trying his very best to ignore the massive gray lump that was the new monster, because it would only distract him from his goal. There would be time to consider that in a moment. PLENTY of time.

Dropping carefully onto his good knee, he helped the medic get into a better sitting position. "Hey, you alright?" he asked, his voice thankfully steady. A quick examination of her right arm made the injury obvious. "Looks like you've got a broken arm. Keep your weight off of it, I'll try to help you set it." He mentally thanked whatever higher power might be responsible that this was the worst of her injuries, and his.

When he caught the look she was giving him, he remembered that there was a substantial amount of blood running down his face. Daniel grinned disarmingly and wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, managing to break a little of the aftershock tension. "Oh, don't worry about me, I've gotten shaving cuts worse than this. Hold tight for a minute, I'm going to try and spot the others that were here." She should be alright for a few minutes, and he wanted to make sure that no one was even more seriously injured.

Standing upright, Daniel turned slowly to survey the scene. There had been three other guys there with them, and he tried to search them out from among the wreckage and settling dust clouds.

Not too far away was the older teenager, the blonde one; he was staring at the monster and looked like he might be muttering something, but he looked unharmed. Dnaiel got the faint impression that he had seen him before, now that he looked; maybe they had talked on the journals. Farther away on his other side was the older man with bright blue hair; he was also standing and staring, but Daniel wasn't close enough to see what condition he was in, other than that he wasn't acting like he was favoring any damaged bones or limbs. That only left the shorter kid, the one who'd been standing next to the blonde guy...all Daniel had noticed about him was that he was wearing some sort of red and blue costume, but as the archeologist had been a little preoccupied with a wounded man at the time...

Daniel's thoughts trailed off as he spotted something red and blue standing out like a beacon on one of the still-standing buildings. He stared for a long moment. Blinked. Stared a little longer. Then shook his head.

Okaaay...I do not get observancy points for not noticing that flippin' SPIDER-MAN is with us today. Way to pay attention, Jackson. He mentally shook himself, knowing he needed to focus on the important issues right now. At least he doesnt' look hurt, either... "I think it's time we regrouped," he muttered, partly to Rebecca and partly to himself.

Turning to the blue-haired man first, he hollered over to him, "Hey! Are you okay over there?" He also waved to the boys, hoping the movement would snap them to attention enough for them to come over.

Whatever was going on with that giant unconscious monster, he'd feel better once everyone in the immediate area was together and wounds taken care of before they did the inevitable: get closer and try to check it out. After all, as bad as the idea probably was, you had to admit that this kind of chance did not come along every day.

Billy hurried over as soon as he spotted the others, doing his best to look at them rather than the massive creature that had just – had been a human being just minutes ago and now it – Oh, God.

"IwantitnottowakeupIwantitnottowakeup," he repeated determinedly, and he didn't care if it was working or not, if anything it was just to keep him distracted. He only stopped when he drew level with Daniel, Rebecca and Seymour. "Are – is everyone okay?" he asked, a little wild-eyed, only now daring to hazard a glance over his shoulder in search of Peter.

Edited at 2009-05-18 12:45 am (UTC)

Rebecca nodded at Daniel's diagnosis, already having determined as much. She looked around for her med kit, before finding it a couple feet away from where she'd crashed down and walked over, gathering it up with her good hand before following Daniel towards the others. Her eyes kept flickering towards the creature on the ground, and when they were finally all more or less together she started fumbling awkwardly with her med kit to reattach it to her belt, unable to use her right hand, which she still held close to her chest.

"We should get out of here," she murmured. As much of an opportunity as it might be to check out the newly transformed creature, she imagined there were people back at the bar who would not be exactly pleased if she got herself squished for science. "There's no telling when that thing will get back up and I don't think we want to be nearby when it does."

If anyone were even remotely paying attention, Seymour appeared to be the only one who was taking this whole series of events even remotely well. He was the only one who wasn't showing signs of fear. And he was the only one who appeared calm.

Something of a smirk crossed his face then, but it would be hard to discern its purpose or intention.

Unsure if the others had paid any sort of attention to his actions back when the monster was still a human, Seymour kept quiet for the moment about being able to heal Rebecca's arm. It wasn't his purpose for now to heal anyone and if anyone asked later, he would say he'd been in shock. The rest of the crew certainly seemed to be in enough of that.

Glancing at Daniel, Seymour began to follow. "I will watch him to be sure he does not come across any other trouble," he told the rest of them as he walked. He made sure that his steps weren't as quick or long as Daniel's so he was close, but not too close.

This was observation time... a chance to see how everyone reacted to this sort of thing... and a chance to see what the monsters were really like. He'd seen one up close and personal once, back when the first one had died, but now he was faced with a brand new one. How different were they?

How capable was this new creation?

Eventually coming to rest near Daniel, Seymour kept staring at the monster, watching with a sort of sick fascination as the monster lay there. The other man's retching didn't seem to phase him at all as he stood there watching... waiting...

Wake up.

"He... he's right" Peter agreed, "It could wake up at any minute, and I really don't think we wanna be here when that happens..."

You could almost cut the tension with a knife, and to Peter, at least, it felt like a ticking timebomb. He was starting to hyperventalate, and it felt like he couldn't breathe through his mask. He just wanted to leave, so he could start trying to forget what he saw here today.

"and we... we need to warn everyone" Peter continued, "They need to know what happened"

Seymour wasn't troubled by the sight at all, nor did he seem to notice Daniel watching him. No matter, really. He had what he wanted and the sooner he got everyone away from the new monster, the better its chances of living.

Everyone was screaming for a retreat and he couldn't say he blamed them. Nor could he really say what was truly on his mind, so he let them say what they liked, starting a plan... a new plan, in his mind. Things would end as they should, no matter how they had begun here.

Finally turning away from the sight of the monster on the ground, Seymour nodded to his companions, expression turned to one of grave acceptance. It was as though he hadn't just been staring hungrily at the creature before them. He didn't offer many other words on the subject, as almost everyone else had already voiced the opinion that they leave and one more wasn't going to do much good at this point, or harm.

"Let us leave here, then. Our safety depends on it."

What he meant by 'safety' would likely never be made known. At any rate, he turned and began to walk away, eyes and expression carefully neutral as he passed his companions, though if one were to look carefully, one would see a glint in his eyes... a glint of intelligence, secrecy, and planning.

Daniel was right to be wary.

Relieved that they were finally leaving, Peter took a moment to steady his breathing and try to calm down. He at least was able to keep himself from not passing out. Man, he was never gonna be able to unsee this.

He also noticed Seymour's unnatural calm, that... that just wasn't right. A normal person would understandably be at least a little visibally shaken by what happened here today, even if they were trying to stay calm. This guy, on the other hand, that didn't seem normal.

"I'm fine," Peter replied to Billy, "Uh.... mostly."

((ooc:Oh man, I am so so sorry this took so long, I would have replied a lot sooner, but I've been really sick this week))

Daniel glanced at Rebecca and shuddered slightly at her comment; the queasiness in his stomach protested the thought. "No, we definitely can't let that happen," he half muttered, half said aloud.

Noticing that his current state was causing Billy some concern, Daniel waved him off. Sure, he hurt everywhere, but from what he'd learned, healing took energy and he certainly wasn't injured enough to need it. "Don't worry about me. Nothing's broken and the bleeding's pretty much stopped." He glanced uneasily at Rebecca, but grudgingly agreed with her. "...I guess you're right, bite wounds will need it more. But you make sure you take care of that arm."

Taking one last glance at the monster, Daniel quickly walked with the others away from the disaster zone. His fear and nausea were subsiding, and finally the calm, focused exterior he had developed in the SGC began to take over. As they rounded the first corner that took the monster out of their line of sight, Daniel put a hand to the radio on his belt. "Guys, we need to let people know to clear out of here fast, so if any of you know anyone in the immediate area and can get to them, do it now. I'm going to put a call out on the radio frequency."

With that, he whipped the radio out of its pouch, pressed the button, and began giving a quick, urgent message that would go out to all of the radios in the city. Hopefully those who responded could get anyone nearby out of the danger zone - which, when that thing woke up, was probably going to be several miles wide.

(OOC: that's probably the last post for Daniel. When we get to this point in real time, his radio post will go out as a separate journal to warn people.)

"... Yeah," Billy conceded, wilting a little. He didn't think he'd be able to manage any more than one healing spell now, but it was better than nothing, and Rebecca was right – it was better to save that for a crab bite. He just hated having to ration his magic like this when he should have been able to heal her arm and a bunch of crab bites ... should have been able to stop what had happened to that guy ... should have been able to fix all of this, if he'd wanted it bad enough.

"Yeah, you're right ..." He pushed an uneasy hand through his hair and glanced at Peter. "I'm ... gonna head to the clubhouse to tell the others, you wanna come or does the Spider-lair need you?"

"With luck it'll go straight across the Village into the water," Rebecca pointed towards where the Hudson lay, invisible to them, but there all the same. Much of Greenwich Village had been evacuated, what hadn't been flattened at least. She was mentally going through her list of friends and affiliated people, mapping out where they all lived. If it veered north, ABC auto might be in trouble, and if it headed in the other direction...

"I'll be heading back to Pete's Tavern," she announced. It was fairly obvious, as she lived there, but she was also concerned. If the monster decided to go the other way, and up through the city, there was a possibility of it hitting the tavern, and that was the last thing she wanted.

Something told her that they were in for a long night.