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Fire moves so fast, and the flames climbing up the side of a fancy night club, from a window on the second floor, are only just beginning to break out. The first hint of the chaos which is quickly breaking through the scene. Out of flames from inside the building, however, comes a far more concerning visual. The first person to burst out a side door is a stumbling woman in a night gown, bare foot, various patches of blood across more than one part of her body. She's got her hand around something bloody and pointed, something she's holding onto for dear life. She nearly hits her knees, but stumbles back up off the ground and forward, trying to break into a run.
Just behind her, by no more than a few seconds, a ghastly figure *covered* in flames breaks out the door. Hissing in fury and pain, the figure was probably a beautiful woman, but now she seems a monster. Sharp teeth, grasping fingernails, she's trying to reach for the redhead that is stumbling down the path. A moment later another woman comes out the door, also chasing after. She is not on fire but her chest is covered in blood. Distantly, some sirens can be heard. Probably too distant to save the building from the flames.
*
Karmic rebalancing. Not always an opportunistic thing. After being reminded of a few things recently, Ava geared up with a pair of collapsible sabers tucked under her hand-me-down jacket and ventured into the city. Lord knows there are enough horrible, ugly things haunting the street right now.
She wasn't expecting this, though.
It's enough of a surprise that even she's taken aback for a moment, stopping across the street to stare. After a second, she shakes her head, cursing under her breath in Russian before she breaks into a run toward the first grasping monster. "Hey!" she calls, pulling out on of the sabers. "Back off!"
*
He really should have taken Foggy's advice.
There's no hiding anything from your best friend. Matt Murdock was a different man, after spending two weeks in the hellmouth. Two years had passed for him; he was malnourished, his body having produced muscle from starvation. It was bad. He was pale, and quieter than ever. And yes, he should rest, see his doctor. Something.
Instead, he's out fighting, taking out his frustration on a winged hellbat fleeing south from Hell's Kitchen.
Not far from the burning nightclub, there comes a horrendous screech. The hellbat lands in the middle of the street, prompting a cab to swerve out of the way. Daredevil is not far behind; he plummets from the sky and lands on the creature, burying a large knife right into the hellspawn's temple.
Black ooze splatters everywhere.
*
Fairly high above the chaos suddenly erupting below, a tall fiery-haired woman in strange mix of beatnik black slacks and shirt with a flowing white over coat styled like something out of another era, ankle-length silken fabric with draping cuffs falling to points around her knees. Eisa was just out enjoying the evening, a beer in hand, leaning looking out over the street her jewelry shop sits upon, and so it was she had a perfect view of the burst of fire, her element and nature, as well as the soon to follow fleeing. A brow arched up delicately at that sight, interest piqued, and a quiet laughing "Well then…" murmured out into the night.
When following after the woman in the night gown is a being covered in flame, but with magic tasting of something else than fire, Eisa can't help but add "Curiouser and curiouser.", her eyes suddenly taking on a lambent golden glow as she reaches a hand out to make just an idle little twitch of fingers with one hand, the other bringing the beer bottle up to her smirking lips. Down on the street, the flame-clad monster reaching for the fleeing woman suddenly finds that flame around her solidifying just a tiny bit around the feet, tangling, yanking a foot out of step, intent on leaving the creature to faceplant and miss her reaching. Maybe it's a 'redheads stick together' thing. Or maybe Eisa just wants the amusing spectacle to go on a little longer and her getting caught in the first few seconds is boring.
*
Ava has reconnected.
*
Creatures from the Hellmouth haven't just stayed near it. They've spread into the city, they've worked on making lives for themselves. Or, unlives, as it were, in the case of vampires. Not that it's easy to tell that the few others spilling out after the bloodied red head and flaming woman are vampires. They look like mostly normal, if too beautiful and slightly oddly dressed, people. Pale, yes, but it's New York and most anything goes here. It might be hard to tell who is the good guy and who is the badguy here, especially since Pepper looks like she's holding some sort of weapon and is clearly running from people more established in the building.
The screaming from the Russian woman across the street gets almost no reaction. The flaming woman is so close to Pepper that the fleeing bride-to-be is the ONLY thing on her mind. That and vengence. But the woman behind her hisses fanged teeth in Ava's direction, "NOT YOUR BUSINESS." She growls out, hunger and anger making her words far less than elegant, especially with how much blood she's used to heal the damage Pepper did to her. It seems whatever chest wound was inflicted didn't quite get to her heart.
Pepper continues to scramble, but her own feet are operating on adrenaline alone and that's not going to last much longer. She's just on the edge of being too slow when the flame covered woman trips, hitting HARD on the asphault before trying to roll over and put the flames out on her body. If she's going to be down, she might as well use it. Pepper stops short, breathing hard, staring at the creature and looking for one last opportunity to use that stake. Stopping was a poor choice, however, as it means the other bride slams HARD into her, blonde shoving redhead back to the street, pinning her there.
*
Ava has partially disconnected.
*
Daredevil looks up from his kill, a snarl upon his face; a face splattered in ichor and gore. He's momentarily taken aback by what he hears and feels; vibrations running along the asphalt, through his prey, and into his bloodied hands.
The hellmouth didn't just teach him how to kill; it taught him to be brutal. What he perceives isn't what he expects, not at first. The fleeing woman's heartbeat, the manner in which she breathes, it reminds him of something he hasn't witnessed in years.
A victim. Fighting back, trying to flee. Innocence.
Following the hesitation, malice drains from his face and Daredevil's snarl becomes a frown. With a heavy pull and the squelching of demon flesh, the knife comes free. Beneath the mask, he narrows his eyes, adjusts his aim, then flings the knife in perfect trajectory toward the creature now pinning Pepper.
*
Ava doesn't even bother to respond to the hissing woman. Anyone whose response to this sort of thing is that it's none of her business? is definitely the bad guy. The good guys usually at least tack on a ma'am and say it more nicely. Instead, when the flaming woman tackles the redhead, she goes in for the rest of the tackle.
"I said back off!" she growls herself. At first glance, it might look like she's just a girl, hitting the attacker any way she can. But a more practiced eye can see that there's tactics to it. As she rolls over the attacker, she's reaching for an arm, twisting with one hand to pull her into the path of Daredevil's knife as the other strikes at the throat.
*
The casually beer-drinking glowing-eyed watcher above winces a little as Pepper takes that decision to stop and suffers for it, getting smashed to the ground. For a moment, Eisa contemplates leaping down there to join the fray properly, even if she doesn't like mussing about this close to her mortal identity's neighborhood. Still, it'd be terrible to see the girl get eaten in front of her. Luckily, as this city is prone to having, there are others out willing to do good, one dramatically coming out of the sky to kill another demonic being, earning an approving sort of glance for style.
And so it is that Eisa holds her position atop the building, leaving the one atop the poor night gown girl to be taken by the other two heros and instead focusing on the one trying to put out the flames rolling around. Another little smirk, another sip of beer, and the free hand reaching out to flick upwards, eyes blazing brighter as her magic takes hold of the dwindling flames nearly put out, suddenly igniting them even hotter and spreading them back over the vampire's body as the half-demon sorceress controlling them murmurs out. "Stop, drop, and roll _that_ out, bitch."
*
Some might call it 'patroling'; until a few seconds ago, the masked woman making grapple-assisted laps around the less nakedly hellstorm-y sections of the city - just try navigating an infernal lightning storm with a metal wire and hook - would have gone with 'an obnoxious chore'.A chase scene with people on fire - doing the chasing, no less - kind of changes things, though, so aside from a brief, bemused glance about for the source of that Russian cry, she keeps her eyes locked onto the three women while swinging around a flagpole to make an approach on them.
Since she's up in the air, she isn't privy to the sight of fangs in either pursuer's mouth until she's coming around low enough to unholster a handgun and squeeze off a shot at the thigh of the one Ava's grappling with.
"DOWN ON THE GROUND!" the fishnet and cape-clad brunette demands over the sound of gunfire, "Or the Widow's gonna pop you again— after these two are done with you!"
*
The sound that the flaming vampire makes is not human. It's barely demonic. It's a death shriek from the very depths of hell as she screeches her last moments while the flames burn hotter around her, engulfing that unholy flesh to a complete crisp. The shriek dies away after about five seconds into a crackle of final breath and then the frantic rolling stops. It seems whatever Eisa did was effective. Now it's barely a blacked, charred skeleton on the ground, leaving a weird, greasy residue beneath it.
But the building still flames, even more than before. Frantic mortal patrons are fleeing from the front exit, but two more of those vampiric creatures come out the side, hunting the prey they have just lost for their master. It makes it four standing vampires to our few heroes, and these ones aren't as wounded as the first two.
Pepper's about to cry out when luck and saviors have her back. Just as the vicious bride's teeth are reaching for her throat, Ava knocks into her and the whole pile of them half roll, leaving the hit open for Daredevil's knife. Sickly, black red blood pours forth from the vampire woman's throat and, as she is pinned by Ava and shocked by the thrown knife, Pepper takes her chance to finish what she starte with the stake. She shoves the thing into the woman's ribs and suddenly all fighting ceases. The woman slumps back against Ava, but there is no time for celebration. Another vampire, this one dressed in a ragged blue dress, is trying to pull Ava off to get at the prey.
One of the others turns, tracking where that dagger was thrown, and is suddenly running in Daredevil's direction. The run is like gliding, almost flying on feet, a preternatural grace speeding it in Daredevil's direction.
Lastly, those final two both lock eyes on Natasha as the woman shoots and then DARES to order them around. A young boy and girl, they seem too young to be undead, but that skin has the tell tale pallor that means they probably are. They both laugh and turn to jointly reach for the Widow, strong hands going for throat and arms.
*
Ava rolls with the pull of the vampire in the blue dress, but that's not really a good thing for her. The hilt in her hand, with a flick of her wrist, suddenly extends into a saber. What's more, a blue crackle of electricity snakes up the length of the blade.
Ava lunges then, a textbook fencing move altered just a bit by the fact that she's executing it from the pavement, as she aims the blade at the vampire's heart.
*
Yeah. That's a familiar sound. These demonspawn always carry blood thicker than normal.
With a quick motion, Daredevil withdraws his billy clubs and adopts a fighting stance. He bounces in place for a moment, readying himself for the attack, but he does not strike.
Instead, when the vampire is almost upon him, he thrusts one club down. Something falls and hits the pavement. A spark precludes the explosion of a black cloud, one that envelops both Daredevil and his attacker, making both invisible to each other.
Well, sort of.
The man without fear they called him.
Daredevil spins around within the darkness, then makes a move to pummel the creature with both billy clubs.
*
From her perch, the glowing-eyed Eisa can't help but grin a wicked little grin as she watches the vampire on flames turn to charred bones. Sure, she's tried to redeem her past and play the hero for nine centuries, but there's still a part of her that comes from her father that can't help but love to watch living things (or unliving as the case may be) burn. Seeing the fishnet-clad hero then swinging in, she's left laughing again, offering up to herself without any sarcasm. "All-Father but I love this city. Such _style_ and boldness!"
Seeing the night gown-clad Pepper safer, and the heros now set to face down the other vampires, Eisa very nearly decided to leave things be and let the others handle this matter NOthing to see here, just an innocent bystander enjoying her beer. Ah, but then there's those mortals screaming across the street. The flames growing higher, people in danger from more than just monsters. A sigh escapes her and back is tipped the beer, finishing off the drink even as she's letting her illusion fade and her true form show.
Pale flesh fades to red-black, the blaze of the eyes turns to full glowing ember, her fiery red hair ignites strand by strand to dance about her as literal fire and then spreads to dance around her, burning away her clothing as she lifts off the ground. The huge black horns and the whipping reptilian tail behind are the last to show from the illusion, likely to make her as much a target as the vampires, if not more, but there she is. The Firestorm.
And through the air she jets, flying straight across into the blazing building, worrying not the least for the flames obviously, but focusing instead on starting a weaving magic that's been her strongest for millennia. Pyromancy on massive scale, seeking to draw all the fire in that building to her, seeking out sign of the living in trouble first to draw it away from, but otherwise just forming it into a swirling vortex centered on her as she strides through as casually as she drank her beer before. What she plans to do with that gigantic ball of growing flame isn't yet revealed, but it will most likely be dramatic.
*
With the body of a dead vampire on top of her, Pepper's second actual kill of the night, the redhead gives a little whimper of disgust and fear. She tries to drag the stake free with the most disgusting squelch ever. If she had food in her stomach, she might lose it. Instead, she just drags herself out from beneath the body, away from the women fighting just to the side. She half crawls to the curb, wanting to get out of the bloodied street, still clutching that mess of a stake like it was her lifeline. Getting back up to her feet isn't going to happen. There's a lot of the dark, sticky vampire blood on her, but there's a lot of crimson mortal blood too. Most likely her own.
The vampire fighting Ava is not nearly as skilled as the woman in fencing. In fact, the fight might be said to be sloppy. Young. Probably someone recently turned, an innocent that got caught up with all of this and now was under Dracula's blood and thrall. She hisses, trying to claw for Ava's eyes just as that blade lands in her heart. It's not quite as immediately effective as a stake, but at the young age of undeath, after a few gurgling squirms, the woman stops her clawing and slumps onto her supposed victim.
Daredevil's foe is a bit more complicated simply because billy clubs, while violent, are still only bruising damage. He'd have to be willing to cave the skull of his attacker in to actually get the creature to death or at least so near destruction it is no longer fighting. Meanwhile, though slower than Daredevil and also not as skilled, the vampire throws a few punches to Daredevil's face and then just tries to reach closer. Hands to shoulders, desperately trying to get Daredevil close enough to drink from the man's throat. If the vampire could drink, it could heal… But it's grasp is growing weaker.
The crowd cries out as, suddenly there is something flapping through the air. Another creature, a demon perhaps? Who knew? But the sight of the Firestorm is enough to cause more panic, screams in the street, people trying to shove past each other just to get AWAY from the building, even as Eisa makes it safer. Her senses will realize there was nothing else alive on the second floor, where the fire is gutting right now. It had only just reached the first level which is quickly emptying. She can pull flames easily up and out of the building, but it doesn't stop the chaos below.
*
Mutant weirdos all over the place: Check.
Tartarean weather patterns: Check.
Random Chinese robot attacks: Check.
Vampires: Check.
CONCLUSION: FUCK AMERICA.
The Black Widow's trajectory pulls her back above street level after her demand is made— and swinging directly towards a building. Fortunately, half-capes and fishnets apparently don't do much to impair acrobatic ability, because she plants boots against bricks, lets the hook retract into her chunky black bracers, and back-flips into a safe landing a few feet from Pepper as if it's how she gets out of bed every morning.
Less fortunately, she promptly finds herself face to— look down— face with the worst thing she's seen in New York this week afterwards.
Undead or not, these little monsters are coming for her, and they mean business: she's able to twist away from the first round of grasping hands and wriggle free - barely, with the assistance of a well-timed face-kick - when their next attempt sees them coming at her far quicker than expected, and the fleeting touch of their cold little fingers leaves ugly bruises along her arms.
"Give— me— " she shouts while still stumbling back from the girl eager to grapple her, "— something—"
The pistol swivels towards a boy and a bullet goes whizzing towards his knee in the hopes of slowing him down. It's then dropped so that both hands are free when the Widow lunges after the girl, sparks beginning to dance along the edges of her bracers.
"— to burn these terrible little things!"
To punctuate her demand, she swings her clenched fists towards either side of the little dead girl's head as sparks blossom into a man-made maelstrom of electricity.
*
The siblings on Natasha laugh, manic, cold, careless. They laugh as the fishnet clad woman struggles against them. The girl is the most hungry, lunging closer and closer to Natasha as her head tilts, teeth out, going straight for that pretty little throat. "Mine…I'll bring you to him…he will need more brides…" She hisses to the lovely Russian, hunger and madness in her eyes as she tries to sink her teeth in deep even as sparks blossom into eletricity. She jerks, body not able to process it any better than a human, even if she has no heart to stop. It's buying time, if nothing else.
The boy's kneecap spurts at the shot lands home, making him hiss and stumble, but pain doesn't seem to be a THING for these creatures and he continues prowling towards Natasha. Pepper's shocked and glassy eyes go a little bit wide as she sees the two on one. "…Stake…stake to the heart… Stops them…" And she tosses it. Her life line. Done with it now. Maybe Natasha can catch it, or the near by Ava, someone more aware and able than her to use it.
*
Ava rolls with a kick, standing up to pull her blade out of the vampire before she looks back toward Pepper. She's just a girl, really. But she's a girl who doesn't seem to be afraid of whatever's going on out here. Once the vampire's down, she collapses her blue, hanging the hilt at her belt as she moves toward Pepper to offer a hand. "Hi," she says, glancing over her shoulder at the continuing chaos. "We should probably get you out of here, yeah?"
*
Thats the thing about hell.
It changes you.
There are sounds of struggle, the striking of club against flesh, of fist to body. Then, the telltale crunch of broken bone. Then another. Then another. When to smoke has cleared enough for one to see, Daredevil is mid swing, sending the billy club into a spot on the vampire's head where his skull is caving in.
Same spot, every strike.
"I can smell you," he says, backing away with quick footwork. "And you smell bad."
One of his billy clubs comes free, making a beeline for the vampire's eye socket.
*
Chaos was going to happen regardless. At least now, it's chaos without people burning to death or dying of smoke inhalation. And so does the flaming demonic being that is Firestorm continuing to draw that flame upward and to her, looking about once more for any sign of life before again rising up in the flames surrounding her, and shooting towards the blown out window she came through, the vortex of flames following along behind her like a serpent of smoke and twisting flames in a long column. Once outside, she's left with a conundrum however. She could totally just lay waste to everything below her, but it would, of course, kill dozens of fleeing people and the bold heroes fighting the beasts. She could probably create individual strikes out of that mass of flame she now has control of in order to cut down the various remaining vampires. But that would likely harm the heroes they are locked in battle with.
Luckily she doesn't seem quite that rude. And so instead, the demonic being hovering overhead amidst that hellish display is choosing another tact. Glowing eyes close to focus, clawed hands moving before her in fluid, complicated patterns, lips murmuring words of power as massive vortex of fire splits off into four separate strands, flowing downward towards the heros and seeming to condense as it goes, tighter and tighter, until the flame is something solid, tangible, still blazingly hot, at least at the ends. Weapons forming mid air above them, batons above Daredevil, a sword of white hot flame above Ava, and twin daggers above Natasha.
"Finish them with these and watch for others in the crowd!" The sorceress calls out after the weaponry finishes forming and hovers just within reach of them all, warning and offer in one. Sure, just trust the flaming demon in the sky and grab the fiery weapons. What could go wrong?
*
Oh, and a flaming stake above Pepper, cause leaving her out would be mean.
*
There's no escaping the hungry hands around her throat this time— until, that is, the dead girl begins to violently convulse when it turns out that vampires don't do much better with large doses of electricity than humans do.
At which point the Widow is able to force herself free with nothing worse than several nail-inflicted gashes around her neck to show for the trouble.
"Y'know, I'm flattered," she breathlessly replies to the twitching vampire while flicking her eyes around for some sign of compliance from the other living beings in the area, "but this chick's got a little too much goin' on to be goin' steady with the kinda freak who'd pal around with the likes of you!"
At first, the only thing she sees is a boy doggedly dragging himself towards his next meal on a shattered kneecap, prompting a gusty sigh, rolling eyes, and contingency planning.
And then Pepper manages to collect herself enough for an assist.
"''ppreciate the tip, though, sweetie— " The girl gets a second of respite when the Widow thrusts a hand towards Pepper.
"— here's one for you!"
But only a second, unless she's able to dodge the wood plunging towards her heart.
Flaming daggers begin to form just then, drawing her eyes momentarily upwards before they drop back down to focus on the stubborn monster out for her blood.
*
The woman definitely looks younger than Pepper, though Pep isn't old by any means. She just looks ragged, like the weight of emotional years is on her now, along with way too much blood and a good dose of shock. Her skin is ashen beneath the fringe of red that forms her light bangs. She stares shakily at Ava, almost trying to comprehend words, to believe that she's actually out of there again. She gives a faint nod, reaching for that hand with a blood soaked palm in turn. "T-thank…thank you…" She breathes out before trying to get herself up. She half manages, but hits a knee a moment later. She's lost far too much blood and adrenaline is quickly wearing off. The flaming stake gets a bit of a wide eyed yelp.
The vampire beneath Daredevil's attack is getting weaker by the second. The sound of its skull cracking can be heard, and then some. The squelch of a poppying eyeball and billy club going into brain. Suddenly, those reaching hands and fangs lean in closer, but not with force. More so going limp as the brain finally begins to give out. The vampire's skull completely caves in beneath the repeated beating. It's done. Whether Daredevil keeps on, or moves away from his kill, is up to him. But the overkill of violence has been successful.
The fire manipulation is weirdly successful, even if a very STRANGE show to watch from the ground. No more vampires seem to be pouring out of the place, but maybe many were out hunting this evening. More of the mortals running are now gathering across the street, something in their little minds thinking a block is enough room to turn and stare at the heroes and the strange demon. Eisa is definitely getting a bit of a fascinated crowd. Oh, New Yorkers.
The twitching girl vampire is mostly out of commission for, basically, being tasted. It will take a moment for her to recover from that. And a moment is all Natasha really needs to take that stake and plunge it home. Her violent twitching almost immediately stops, body crumbling, all fight and un-life gone. The stake is remarkably effective. But it also drives the boy, a brother no doubt, to complete madness. if the knee cap bothered him, he doesn't show it as he VIOLENTLY flies in Natasha's direction, full body trying to tackle her as he goes for her throat. This wasn't even to feed. This was outright savagry. He plans to rip out her throat in vengeance and he's moving dangerously quick in the attempt. Inhuman quick.
*
The woman definitely looks younger than Pepper, though Pep isn't old by any means. She just looks ragged, like the weight of emotional years is on her now, along with way too much blood and a good dose of shock. Her skin is ashen beneath the fringe of red that forms her light bangs. She stares shakily at Ava, almost trying to comprehend words, to believe that she's actually out of there again. She gives a faint nod, reaching for that hand with a blood soaked palm in turn. "T-thank…thank you…" She breathes out before trying to get herself up. She half manages, but hits a knee a moment later. She's lost far too much blood and adrenaline is quickly wearing off. The flaming stake gets a bit of a wide eyed yelp.
The vampire beneath Daredevil's attack is getting weaker by the second. The sound of its skull cracking can be heard, and then some. The squelch of a poppying eyeball and billy club going into brain. Suddenly, those reaching hands and fangs lean in closer, but not with force. More so going limp as the brain finally begins to give out. The vampire's skull completely caves in beneath the repeated beating. It's done. Whether Daredevil keeps on, or moves away from his kill, is up to him. But the overkill of violence has been successful.
The fire manipulation is weirdly successful, even if a very STRANGE show to watch from the ground. No more vampires seem to be pouring out of the place, but maybe many were out hunting this evening. More of the mortals running are now gathering across the street, something in their little minds thinking a block is enough room to turn and stare at the heroes and the strange demon. Eisa is definitely getting a bit of a fascinated crowd. Oh, New Yorkers.
The twitching girl vampire is mostly out of commission for, basically, being tazed. It will take a moment for her to recover from that. And a moment is all Natasha really needs to take that stake and plunge it home. Her violent twitching almost immediately stops, body crumbling, all fight and un-life gone. The stake is remarkably effective. But it also drives the boy, a brother no doubt, to complete madness. if the knee cap bothered him, he doesn't show it as he VIOLENTLY flies in Natasha's direction, full body trying to tackle her as he goes for her throat. This wasn't even to feed. This was outright savagry. He plans to rip out her throat in vengeance and he's moving dangerously quick in the attempt. Inhuman quick.
*
"On second thought, you maybe stay there for a minute," Ava winces as Pepper goes down. The sword above her head gets a glance, suspicious, as she declines to take it. It's probably trustworthy, but…better safe than sorry. Instead, she takes a running start at the mad boy of a vampire, leaping for its shoulders in a twisting flip to bring it down to the ground and wide open for the Widow's killing strike.
*
The stake goes from the girl's heart into a trajectory towards the little boy's torso without the Widow missing a beat, and then green eyes return to the flaming weapons for a moment of contemplation. She isn't actually sure where they're from - the Firestorm's general, flamingly demonic presence wasn't missed, but given the state of the city of late, the Widow is mostly just wondering when it— she— will descend to make things worse.
What she does know is that they're in arm's reach, and that probably isn't— entirely— a coincidence. There's some initial hesitation in reaching for them, but upon discovering that the handles are in fact not excruciatingly hot, she takes a small hop to wrap her fingers around both handles, and the next thing she knows, she's staring into the blood-shot eyes of a nigh-feral vampire child as it tries to secure a post-tackle mount and bury its fangs into her throat.
She is going to have to practice hitting tiny hearts at range, clearly.
"Hnngh— offa—" Straining, she manages to rock the vampire vigorously back and forth, but can't quite manage to roll them into a position where she's not in immediate danger of being drained; she certainly can't nudge them any closer to the dagger that's now mocking her about five feet away, dislodged in the initial moment of impact, and the boy's wild flailing is making it difficult to do more than leave immediately cauterized wounds along his arms with the one blade left to her.
The lack of art, of intent beyond naked violence is about as clear to her as its overwhelming strength, so once she has confirmed that she can't wrestle her way out of this problem, she decides to focus on that instead.
Which means sucking in a deep breath, steeling herself, and—
"AAUGH!"
Blood gushes from her throat as inhumanly sharp teeth disappear into it. Shortly, the flailing stops, the boy grasping for his prey's shoulders to hold her steady for her last moments of life— and leaving the Widow a crucial moment in which to strike. Just as blood-caked nails bite into her shoulders, the knife sinks between the vampire's ribs, slices swiftly towards the spine, then moves upwards for as long as her reach - and bestial opponent - will allow
*
Eisa the Firestorm continued to float there in her swirling remnants of the building flame, wincing a little when her offered aid comes a little too late almost for the one who takes it up, but nodding solemnly when that fiery blade cuts into vampiric flesh like butter, igniting it from within and likely causing it to die every bit as rapidly as a stake, if not more so. After it's gone, the floating demoness is peering about at her floating weapons for the most part left untouched and thankfully largely unneeded. That last fact doesn't mitigate the former though, and she's left folding her arms across her chest, her flame-wreathed tail flicking in the air like an angry cat, and one vaguely reptilian eyebrow ridge arched above the ember of eye just like an eyebrow would as she glares down at the others with mock irritation. Her strange voice comes out into the night air drily, a demonic growl underpinning otherwise pleasant contralto. "Mortals!. Always so mistrustful! It's as though you've never been offered magical weapons by a demon in the sky before." There's a hint of laughter under the exasperation, and after saying it, she's making a pulling gesture with a clawed hand, the weapons all streaming towards her again as flame, sliding into the swirl around her, and then sinking deeper, absorbing into her red black flesh as she purrs out in amusement. "Well then, you seem to have this under control." Followed up with a comment directed at Natasha, in Russian most likely. "I'd suggest you get that bite looked at by a sorcerer. Love the leggings, by the way." And on that odd note, the strangest addition to all this chaos is suddenly shooting upwards like a star, trailing flame behind her that can be seen for miles through he sky until she's past the skyline of the building.
*
The boy is happily distracted, finally tasting blood, his fangs in Natasha's throat, that he's not ready for Ava hitting his body or the twist of his frame which does, indeed, give Natasha the exact angle to strike. The knife perferates the heart, enough that blood spills *everywhere*. It's not a wooden stake, so the boy is still flailing for a second, trying to drink, trying to survive. But then the stake catches flame and starts consuming him from the inside out. He twitches violently before collapsing, his body beginning to burn.
Pepper, for all her shock and exhaustion, has a single mind about everything now. That mind is to shove a stake into the chest of any vampire she can. Even half slipping to unconsciousness, the one thing her mind has remained dimly aware of is the location of that stake. It was her world, her salvation. She wasn't letting it go. So, she saw it drop from Natasha's grasp and, hurt or not, Pepper crawls back in its direction. She means to use it, but she doesn't need to. The boy is beginning to ash. "..I…I hate these fucking things." The redhead half sobs out. It's the last thing she says conscious, that final push taking what fight she had left. Her head finally hits the ground, passed dead out.
Eisa's rather dramatic exit, especially the words, is getting a fair amount of stunned murmuring from the crowd across the street, but no one is going to challenge her. She was, visibly, the most terrifying thing here right now. Even as she shooting star offs through the sky. There is lots of pointing and surprise. Rumors were going to be flying tomorrow.
*
Ava's head tilts slightly when Eisa speaks in Russian to the Widow, glancing between the pair without comment. Distrustful little mortal indeed. "If someone's been bitten, do they-" She's turning toward Pepper to direct her question to the other woman. Since she ran out from the things, maybe she'd know the answer. But instead, Pepper is on the ground.
"Oh." Brows furrowing, she steps toward the unconscious woman, crouching at her side. "Miss?" A careful nudge. "Miss, do you…" What should she even ask? Uncertain, she searches the crowd, the street, for anyone who seems to recognize the unconscious woman before she sighs.
"All right. I'm sure the police will be here soon. I'll just…stay here with you," she says quietly, settling in cross-legged on the pavement next to her.
*
The Widow shoves the twitching, burning, crumbling thing that was once a boy off of herself, rolls to her feet, and immediately staggers a couple steps before catching herself with a hand on her knee. "Thank— " she begins to say to Ava when Firestorm speaks to her.
"What?" her head snaps up with furrowed brow and a squint for the Communist demon. The expression lingers until Eisa takes off, tracking her until she's a shining dot in the sky.
"— you," she finally huffs, turning the glare towards Ava. It softens after a beat as she shakes her head. "What in blazes was that thing?" she hisses while heading over to look down at Pepper. A hand swabs towards, then clamps over the bite mark with a grimace.
"Is she alive?"
*
Pepper is probably alive. If someone bothers to check, she's still got a pulse, if a thready one. There's more than a few bite wounds on multiple parts of her body, one of which it looks like someone tried to dig fingers into and rip open, so the flesh and meat of her shoulder just hangs open. It's not pretty to look at, especially against what was probably once a very lovely night gown, very pretty pale flesh, and perky red hair. The woman, who has been on the news once or twice at Stark's press conferences, looks very much not herself. Like some sort of broken doll on the ground.
*
Ava shakes her head to the Widow. "I don't know," she answers. "But it didn't seem to be with the vampires, at least." She leans over to check on Pepper, frowning at the bite marks, the injuries. "I was hoping this one could say if you really do need to see a sorcerer of some sort. Although if you do, I think she's first in line. That is…"
Trailing off, she grimaces. "Monsters with pretty faces. always."
*
With that, the police do finally swoop in. Police, ambulances, and unneeded fire trucks. There is a swarm of black suited agents as well, some other government organization, asking questions specifically about the vampires. It's a new form of chaos. But a team of paramedics quickly get Pepper loaded up into the back of a bus, Ava is thanked and others offer to see to Natasha's injuries. If they stay around, that is. Much questioning will follow, but it seems most everyone on the heroes side has made it out of the evening.
*
"Oh," exhales the Widow with a glance towards Ava, "is that what it— hnnh."
She rubs her neck for a contemplative moment, staring at Pepper.
"Well. I'm definitely not sticking around for this, so—"
By the time the police arrive, Ava's on her own with Pepper, the Widow having found a nearby alley to slink into.