Steve sat up with a jolt. A green haze hung thick in the air, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. That dream he’d had -- that nightmare. Was this what caused it?
He felt completely, instantly awake. His heart was pounding and his head felt heavy, but like it was slowly clearing. If this was some kind of toxin, his cells would regenerate, heal him from the effects. Steve swung his legs to the ground, and knelt by the chest at the foot of his bed. Inside was his suit. Still his.
Maybe he was just a relic. A memory. But tonight, at least, it seemed like there was one more fight. He changed quickly, and made his way out onto the streets. Something was wrong, that green smoke was curling up from every vent and sewer grate he could see far and wide. The screams were deafening. He had a replacement shield strapped to his back, a different shape and size from his original, but it would do the trick for tonight.
“Hey!” he called out, to a figure in the distance. “What’s going on? Do you know?”
It’s time for part two of our spooky event! The Scarecrow’s fear toxin did well to scare so many people, and practically the whole city was shaken to its very core. . . . literally. There was so much fear in one place, more than there had been in centuries, and that amount of fear managed to attract the attention of an ancient interdimensional parasite that feeds on fear. The veil between world was thin on Halloween night, and it was then that the parasite slipped through, drawn to all of the fear like a bee to a flower. For days, it watched the carnage that the fear toxin had brought, fueling itself on all of the terror that the people felt, at least until the effects of the toxin faded.
The parasite greedily wanted more, and since it was magical, it simply brought New York’s fears to life. Now, instead of just hallucinations, corporeal fears are being formed. Minds are being affected. Fear is running even higher since these fears are practically inescapable. Some of them can be defeated, but be warned that those fears may return again. Sadly, no one knows that this parasite exists or that it’s causing all of this, and although S.H.I.E.L.D. and A.R.G.U.S. are both working to stop the dangers that these fears are bringing everyone, they are only aware that something seemed to have entered this universe. They cannot, however, pinpoint where it is, and even if they did, they wouldn’t know how to stop it.
This event, like all events, is optional, and no one has to make their characters affected by the parasite if they’d rather not be a part of it. We recognize that this event will touch on not only the characters’ fears, but many fears for the muns as well, so we’d like to remind everyone to tag any and all triggers on the triggers list accordingly on all of their posts. Also, be sure to tag all event posts with #theaftermathscares along with any other tags as needed.
Threads from the first part of the event may continue for as long as you’d like, and this part of the event will last until the 12th of November.
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The clinic was still new to Hell’s Kitchen, but it already had a constant flux of patients. With a clipboard in hand, Lee walks into the makeshift waiting room she had set up in the hallway, looking at her clipboard she read the next name, “Angela -- ” but as she spoke the first name of the next person, a strange smoke started coming from the vents on the floor. It was filling the room quickly, hitting the people on the far side of the room first and after a strange pause the screaming started. “Shit.” Lee knew what this was, she knew Scarecrow. Running into the back room with a hand over her mouth, she grabbed the mask she had stolen from the GCPD -- a relic from another time in her life. Covering her mouth with it, Lee could only watch as the people within her clinic started falling into chaos.
summary: when the fear toxin hits, Steve is asleep. his darkest fears are revealed in a dream
Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. -- Douglas Macarthur
He was in a ballroom. Standing in full uniform, shining badges on his chest. Surrounded by pretty girls with curls falling over their shoulders, and his fellow soldiers. Red, white, and blue balloons decorated the ceiling, tissue-paper flowers adorned each table, and the dance floor was packed with men and woman wrapped in each other’s arms. The band on the stage was swinging, and everyone was smiling. Laughing. Cheers of congratulations! and welcome home! drifted towards him from every corner. No matter where he turned, he saw happy, peaceful faces.
But even though he stood in the center of the dance floor, not one of them met his eye. No one spoke to him, they didn’t even look at him. He was alone, completely, utterly. He moved towards a group of soldiers, to ask why they were celebrating -- but every step he took, they seemed to move further and further away. Steve stopped, frowning slightly.
“What’s the matter, sugar?” a voice called from behind him. Steve turned, and saw the blonde woman, the one who had kissed him standing there. Smiling at him. “Don’t tell me you’re upset we won.”
“Won?” Steve repeated, tilting his head.
She nodded slowly, her red lips parting in a smile. “The war, Cap. It’s over. Nazis, Hydra, they all went and scurried back to their hidey holes, thanks to you,” she said with a wink.
It didn’t feel surprising, but it didn’t feel quite right either. Steve wasn’t sure why. “But I... I thought...”
The woman arched a brow, and shook her head. “Typical soldier,” she sighed, walking up to him. She straightened his tie, brushed a delicate finger across his medals. “You ain’t happy without something to fight, are ya?” She leaned in close, her lips next to his ear. “Do you even know how to dance, Captain?”
Dance. Steve pulled away, took a step back. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “You’re -- a beautiful woman, but I... I promised --”
“To save someone a dance?” she asked, still smirking at him. He nodded, brows furrowed. “Well, I’m afraid you’re too late for that, darling,” the woman said, pointing over his shoulder.
Steve turned, and there she was. In that stunning red dress, her hair a cascade of honey-brown curls falling down her back. Peggy. Smiling like he had never seen her before, looking more beautiful than he’d ever even seen in his dreams -- and her arms were wrapped around someone else. A man who’s face he couldn’t see, wearing a uniform, dipping her low.
And Peggy laughed, laughed like she never had with him. She looked... happy.
He glanced back at the blonde woman, but she was in someone else’s arms too. Howard Stark’s, as a matter of fact. Howard shook his head when he saw Steve looking. “Sorry, pal,” he said. “Looks like everyone’s partnered off. You might wanna move,” he added, as he swung the blonde woman. Steve stepped back to avoid running into her. “There’s no place for soldiers here, son.”
Steve’s breath caught in his throat, but he stepped back. Back and back, until he was up against the wall. Everyone else seemed to be with someone, holding and being held, dancing, laughing, living. But he was all alone, in the one corner of the ballroom that seemed to be cast in shadow.
Ain’t so bad, Steve. We won! a voice whispered in his ear. But when Steve turned to look, he saw nothing. So why do you look like someone pissed in your canteen, huh?
“I -- I just thought...” Steve swallowed hard, shaking his head. “I didn’t think it would be like this.”
Yes you did, the voice hissed. You always knew it would be like this.
Steve saw a back door, and he moved towards it. But the voice followed. They don’t need you, Steve. You served your purpose. He pushed the door open, and behind it was a long, dark hallway. He didn’t hesitate -- he started to run down it. They’ll grow old without you, Steve. They’re happier without you. They needed you to fight -- but what good is a soldier without a war?
Steve ducked his head, closed his eyes, and kept running. He didn’t know where, but he just needed to run. You’re not like other men, Steve. You don’t know how to be happy. You’re not even supposed to be here. You were never supposed to come home.
A blinding light cut through his eyelids, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a wall of glass in front of him. Blocking his entire path. He tried to turn, but the hallway was gone. He was surrounded by glass now, trapped in it. A thousand lights shining down on him, freezing him in place. Like he was encased in a block of ice. He had the shield strapped to his arm, but it didn’t look right, it looked too perfect, and so did his Captain America suit. So did he. He didn’t look like a person at all.
You’re not a person, Steve.
He strained his eyes to see past the glass. Crowds of people were swarmed outside -- the flashing lights were cameras. Taking pictures of him, as he posed unwillingly. As he stood all alone inside this glass box.
You’re a soldier. The soldier. The world’s first superhero.
Little kids pressed their face to the glass. People tilted their heads at him curiously. Read aloud from a plaque sitting just in front of him. He was an exhibit. Not a dancing monkey in a zoo or on a stage -- but a relic, inside a museum.
The parasite that was plaguing New York gorged itself on everyone’s fears, giving off massive energy readings that S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to track, determining that it was the source of why everyone’s fears had come back to life. Due to its weakened state from being over-filled with fears, the parasite was easily contained by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, preventing it from keeping people’s fears in this reality and starving it until it perished. New York is now free of these fears come to life, but while everything has gone back to normal, how long will the damage caused by this live on?
Everyone should feel free to continue their threads if they’d like to, and people can still reply to starters made during the event. We hope everyone had fun with this! Please like this post once you’ve seen it.
His head was aching and his throat felt sore and dry. It’d been less than an hour since he woke up, and in that time he discovered that it had been two days since the incident. Two days that he had supposably been unconscious. What had happened? Why was he in the hospital? And why was he sharing this room with two other patients? Was the hospital that overrun? Why?
Ed’s memory was a little fuzzy, the only vivid recollection he had was some doctor uncomfortably removing a tube from down his throat. That’s why your throat feels to weird, you idiot. Ed sighed to himself when he heard a nurse speaking with someone and turned his head to look. Sure, you can see him now. She said quickly to the person at the door, ushering them in the room. Clearly she was too busy to deal with visitor’s questions. He glanced upwards at his visitor and tried to talk.
“Hel-” He attempted to get out. Trying to greet them. He sounded like a disaster and he could only imagine how much worse he looked if he’d been out for two days.
Barry didn’t know what was happening, one minute ago he was fine. And now he was seeing a million things in his head speeding a long. No it wasn’t his mother at this time. He was seeing his evil self again, how could Savitor be back. “No you can’t do this, please you have to go back. You got to go back. I thought I got rid of you” he screamed as he was scared of losing the person he loved the most. He loved his family, but here he was facing a demon himself. “You got to go back, “ he screamed as he looked at Savitor.
“I can’t lose them, please you got to go back. “I can’t lose her” he screamed as he looked closely “Go away, “ he was so scared . “NO” he screamed as he watched the scene over and over in front of him. “NOoooooooooooo”
Natasha’s breath was short and shallow as she walked down the street, her pace fast yet somehow controlled enough to not be running. There was a wild look in her eyes, somewhere between fear and anger, emotions she so often kept hidden. But how could she hide that look when the few people she cared about could be in danger?
They were here. They had come for her, just as she’d always known they would. She had been a fool to believe they’d forgotten her after the first few years had passed. How could she defect and not expect their retaliation?
Yet it wasn’t her they were going for, not directly. They weren’t stupid enough to think they could take her on in that way. No, they were going for the people she had dared to allow herself to get close to. Emotions were a weakness, they had taught her that, and now they were going to prove to her exactly why.
Hearing a voice seeming to address her, every muscle in her body prepared itself for a fight as she turned her head sharply in their direction to see who it was.
