When Plans Fall Apart

"Ted, right now we mostly need it slowed down. Those arms are dangerous, and if we can get it slowed down a bit to keep from doing so much damage, we'll be better off. Jay, you stay on its right side, and Evie, Mr. Woodhead stays on its left. Try to pin its arms down as best you can, or do damage if it's open. Sasha, as soon as you're up for it, run interference with the Force Shield, but also get in close with Teleport and use the Venomtouch skill."

The plan was a simple and sound one. Rather than have everyone going all out, without keeping in mind what the others were doing, they were kept focused to their own specific areas. "You can use the puppet menagerie of animals to attack it from behind too, just to add to its confusion," he spoke, adding on to Evie's role, and the girl saluted.

"What...about you?" Ted asked, glancing back at Wes. "No offense intended...but it seems you are...keeping out of the danger."

Sasha cursed loudly here, the girl struggling to keep standing. "The hell...he is," the girl panted, casting a golden-eyed glare directly at Wesley. "You'd better...use your Skill," she hissed.

He nodded, his hand beginning to glow softly with that strange, grey coloration. "As soon as there's a clear path, Evie will Teleport me in, and I'll see if I can shut it down, or at least limit what it can do," he added, nodding at the group. "I can't do anything without getting right up on it, and I can't Accelerate like Jay."

"So the whole plan hinges on you getting up close and personal with it it. That's my style, man. I'm in," Jay spoke, grinning as he looked to the others. Theodore nodded, and Sasha just merely grunted her assent, still keeping the creature away through virtue of bending space to impossible distances. "All right, drop it Sasha. C'mon Wood-dude, let's go beat ass," Jay called, lifting a hand for a high five with Mister Woodhead.

The puppet looked down at him for a moment before it mirrored his movement, lifting its hand and responding in kind. As they did so, Sasha gave another grunting sound, and fell to her knees, panting in exertion. The distance between them and the Beast began to rapidly come back to normal and the creature was still a little Slowed from the effects of Ted's Skill, but nonetheless it began to undulate its body forward, the overly long arms slamming forward into the ground, breaking up the concrete as it pulled itself forward, now seeming to be quite ticked off at having been forced away from them for so long.

"Ted!" Wesley called out, and the pale blonde boy gave his assent, once more imposing the willpower of his Skill into the Beast. As he did so, the movement of its arms and body visibly slowed, which made it all the easier for the next phases of the plan to come into effect.

Wes moved, kneeling down near Sasha, the girl still panting. "You had the most integral part, you know," he spoke to her, earning a small, forced laugh in response from the girl. "Without you, we couldn't have made the plan at all. Just take a rest," he spoke, setting a hand on her shoulder. As he did so, a numbing cold bit at his hand, like he had plunged it into a freshly opened ice fishing hole. Numbness spread up his hand up to his elbow, and actually stopped him from pulling back for a moment.

Eventually, he jerked his hand away from her, shaking out his arm, and it was her turn to look back with some confusion. "What did you just do to me?" she asked, no longer breathing as heavily as she had been. "It felt like being directly in the sunlight," she spoke, frowning as she set her right hand up on his left shoulder, where he'd touched. It still felt warm to her, as if she'd been sitting next to a heater.

"I...I don't know," he spoke after a moment, as he really didn't. "I..." he paused then, thinking over the Skills that had gone across the screen when he'd first gotten his power. "Maybe it was-" he began, when suddenly Evie had darted over toward him, the short girl grinning like mad.

"Plan time!" she called out, and as Wes looked out toward where the Beast was, he realized that his ideas had already come to fruition. With the Beast being slowed down as it was, it was much easier than expected for Jay and Mr. Woodhead in order to pin down the two arms of the vile creature, even as it struggled within their grasp. Before Wes could begin to think otherwise, he felt Evie slap him on the back, and suddenly, rather than being right next to Sasha, he was next to his brother.

Disoriented as he was, none the less Wesley extended his hands outward, placing each of them on the creature's body. It felt like a gallon of slime being held in a bag- it was disgusting, but he couldn't be choosey about this, and with but a thought, activated his Skill. As soon as he did so, he could feel that same comfortable, blazing heat that he had felt when he'd touched Sasha's hand before... the exact opposite of what had just happened. The Beast writhed, and with a sudden burst of strength borne of desperation, its right arm- the one that Jay had pinned- lashed forward, slamming the two boys together and sending them both sprawling onto the ground.

Wes hit the ground hard, and he felt his right elbow strike the concrete painfully, sending shocks of pain down to his wrist and up to his shoulder simultaneously. He cursed, holding his damaged elbow with his good hand as the Beast brought up a hand and slammed it down into the ground, sending large chunks of the concrete flooring flying all over the room. Hands grabbed him and started to pull him back toward where the rest of them were, and he realized that it was his brother, starting to bring him back. Mr. Woodhead too had been sent flying, and was in the process of getting back to his feet, the blank expression on its face almost comical to see given that it had been tossed aside like a sack of potatoes.

As Wes was getting back up to his feet, he heard Evie speaking, but not at him. "Are you okay, Mr. Gustave?" the girl was saying, and Wesley glanced over, seeing the man looking a bit out of sorts at the moment. He'd lifted a hand up to his head, as if he had a headache or something. "You can Restore yourself, right?" she asked. He was their insurance- it was a good idea for her to check up on him.

"Just a piece of the shrapnel struck me. I was watching your teamwork... and I do have to say I am impressed with what you were able to accomplish. But of course, then I wasn't paying attention to the Beast, and look what happened," he said with a small, kind laugh.

As Jay helped Wes to his feet, Ted came forward, setting a hand on Wes' arm, and the sharp pain in his elbow started to fade away. "Restoration," Wes murmured, remembering that Theodore had such a talent, and he exhaled slowly as he looked at the Beast as the five of them had gathered back up. "Well, it definitely didn't like what I did to it. We good to give it another go?" he asked, looking at his allies.

"I can help, this time. Whatever you did, Wes, it helped," Sasha spoke, the girl's eyes narrowed. "Open up a path and Wes and I can bring this thing down," she spoke, confidence in her tone as she stepped forward.

Wes could feel Ted's gaze on him, the pale blonde curious as to what he'd done, but neither of them could really explain it. After this fight, perhaps they'd have more time to do so. "Sasha. I have an idea. I think it'll help us get the win that we're looking for," the young man murmured, looking to the brunette woman, who glanced back at him, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear as Jay and Mr. Woodhead began to charge forward toward the creature once more.

"If it's what I'm already thinking then I'm two steps ahead of you," the girl spoke with a small smirk, the dark light of amusement in her gaze as she looked at Wes, then her gaze darted to Gustave for a moment, who had returned to standing and watching. "I saw."

Wes nodded then, his breathing starting to get back to normal. His arm still hurt a good bit, but it was useable. "All right then. Once they have it pinned down, we'll try that."