enzo st john (faithrewarded) wrote in valloic, @ 2022-11-20 15:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, marvel: kate bishop, ₴ inactive: enzo st john |
Surprisingly, he didn’t mind being paired up with Kate for the day. She could talk enough to carry the conversation for both of them if needed, and for someone without any actual superpowers, she could be damn good in a fight.
The bitter cold outside didn’t affect him as heavily as some of the others, so he was wearing fewer layers for more ease of movement. He hadn’t come up against any of the creatures directly yet, but he knew that luck would only hold out so long. Especially as they pushed further from the edges of the city and deeper into the forest.
The past few days had been chaotic, as Vallo was wont to be. Kate had opted out of some of the crazy yesterday – she’d made plans to dote on Emily for her birthday and determinedly followed through – but she was back into the fray today. Things had only gotten worse; these monsters were new and seemed to have multiplied overnight. They were scary ugly and packed a hell of a punch. Realistically, logically, she was likely out of her league, but she’d never let that stop her before.
She usually went out in duos on patrol. It varied who, though Adam was most common, sometimes Carol. She’d been out with Enzo a few times, and she liked him. He had never struck her as a man of many words, but when she did get him chatting, he was a snark-master. As someone with two sisters who snarked all the time, she appreciated that about him, and could hold her own around it without any trouble or any truly hurt feelings.
Today the conversation wasn’t quite as ongoing, what with shooting arrows and fists at monsters and trying to keep her teeth from chattering. She was used to the New York cold and could plow through it without any trouble, but this had to be in the negatives. Even with a scarf, a hat pulled down over her ears, and fingerless gloves keeping most of her hands more, it was challenging.
But she didn’t have time to focus on that when with these big fuckers wandering around. “Are you ready for this?”
“Bit late in the game to be asking that particular question, Katie.” His tone was light, but his stance was still on guard, every muscle tensed. His face shifted from his regular visage to his vampiric one. Eyes turned black and small black veins grew beneath them. His fangs elongated as the Nullifier stepped into view.
It was astonishingly ugly with a snake’s head and far far too many mouths covering its torso. He could hear the damned things gnashing their teeth before it had even come into sight. “Please tell me you’ve got some trick arrow for dealing with all those teeth.”
He was probably right, and that was enough to keep her from protesting when he called her Katie. But passing into the forest from the city seemed to require one more ask. She’d been here long enough to know that when Vallo went through one of its moods and tossed man-eating monsters at them, it was pretty much always worse in the forest. The city had certain protections in place, but the forest only had them.
At the very least, she was experienced enough to keep from expressing the horror as openly. Well, mostly; her nose and upper lip still curled in disgust at the sight of the Nullifier. Why did it have so many mouths? Why?
“How about…” Her fingers combed deftly over the arrows in her quiver, searching for the identifying marks on the end to tell them apart until she came across what she was looking for. “A-ha!” She loaded the arrow up onto the quiver, set her sights, and let it fly. As soon as it made contact with skin, piercing through, acid released in a wave.
Enzo waited, poised to attack as she let her arrow fly. It landed directly in one of the mouths and bright green acid began bubbling out and around it. That stopped it in its tracks and gave Enzo the opening he was looking for. He was little more than a blur of movement as his speed kicked in. Before the creature could react to anything more than the arrow sticking out of its chest, Enzo was there. He ducked around the massive hands and went for the monster’s throat. Its skin was thicker than he’d bargained for and it slowed his attack. Just enough for those claws to come up and rake down his side. He let out a roar of pain followed by a stream of expletives.
Moving slower now thanks to his injuries, Enzo darted around behind the creature and jumped on its back.
While Enzo swooped in for the close-range attacks, Kate stayed further on the outskirts, unloading arrow after arrow into the beast’s skin. The anatomy of these things was beyond her understanding – she didn’t know where its heart or its lungs were or any puncturable organ. Before long, she had it looking like a pincushion, but it didn’t seem to have much effect outside of angering it, not if the way it sank its claws into Enzo was any indication.
“Shit,” she cursed under her breath. She checked to make sure Enzo, injured as he may be, was clear before she loaded up the next arrow. “Stay back and stay down!” she shouted in warning. The arrow zipped through the air, lodged itself in the monster’s neck, and immediately exploded, making her ears ring and the resulting impact knock her off her feet.
He wouldn’t say that being in melee range while arrows were flying about was the most comfortable feeling for him, but Enzo had learned to trust Kate. She didn’t often miss. Though he still preferred to keep the monster between them as often as he could. Still clinging to the Nullifier’s back, Enzo brought his teeth down against its neck. He had about as much luck there as he’d had attacking it from the front. Probably for the best, anyway. He had no idea what sort of blood this creature had and how it might affect him. He reached an arm around and with the flash of his wrist, the creature’s eye was in his fist.
It screamed and brought one of its too long arms up to swipe at him on its back. He dodged narrowly, then leapt free at Kate’s direction. He hit the ground and darted to the side as the explosion hit. Heat and shockwaves slammed into him and sent him crashing into a nearby tree.
Vampiric hearing and close range explosions were never a good mix and Enzo winced as he pushed himself back up to his feet.The ringing in his ears was painful and he could feel blood running down the side of his face. Ignoring both, he focused his gaze on the Nullifier and Kate. The former had dropped in the snow, blood pooling on the ground around it. Its head was in pieces and the mouths covering the torso were eerily silent. Seizing the opportunity, Enzo rushed over to where Kate had been thrown on her back.
“Kate.” He crouched down next to her to assess her injuries. “You all right?”
Kate was dazed and her back and head had slammed hard into a tree before hitting the ground. She’d gotten the wind knocked out of her, and if she wasn’t concussed, it would be a miracle. But she’d known what she was getting into grabbing that arrow, that this was likely to be the consequence; she’d done it during the battle with the jello Kraken over the summer. And with regular arrows having no effect and the acid arrow doing nothing but giving one of its mouths a thorough cleaning, it felt like the best choice to make.
“Fine, I’m fine,” she assured Enzo, the words a little slurred. She reached out with one hand to grab one of his and let him help her sit up, the other raising to rub the back of her head. She forced out a breath to collect herself and studied him. “You? You okay? Did it work?”
One of his hands took hers, while the other slipped around to her back to help guide her in sitting up. He didn’t like the sound of those slurred words and his brows knit together lightly in concern.
“Little banged up, but nothing I won’t heal from in a day or two.” Seeing that she was mostly fine and the threat had passed, his face shifted back to normal. He adjusted himself and sat down next to her on the ground, then gestured at the bloody mess a few yards away from them. “I’d say it worked.” He let out a small chuckle. “Well done you.”
“Yeah,” Kate replied with a breathless chuckle. What was left of the Nullifier was motionless and there pieces scattered everywhere when her eyes fell on it. “Pretty confident you could have torn it to pieces eventually yourself, but those fucking claws.” The whole thing was just gnarly looking, and she suspected Enzo would have the injuries to match.
She yanked off her hat and ran her hand over hair, sliding her fingers over the back of the head and hissing a little at how tender it felt. That wasn’t the best sign. “Nat’s never gonna let me live this down,” she sighed. “Can Bonnie heal you up or should we go to the clinic? You got it way worse than me.”
“Those fucking claws, indeed.” He groaned slightly and looked to where his jacket was shredded. Deep lacerations were torn into his side. With the adrenaline of the fight finally fading, the pain was starting to hit him. He moved gingerly to shrug out of the now ruined jacket. “Bonnie can get me fixed up.” By which he meant that he’d drink some blood bags while Bonnie would give him a Very Serious Talking To about getting injured.
“Come on, then.” He groaned again but managed to get himself back up to his feet. He held a hand out to help Kate up as well. “I’d say we’ve earned our pay for the day.”
She reached out to clasp his hand again, her eyes going wide when she stood up and felt a lightning bolt of pain zap through the middle of her back. Suddenly, her head didn’t hurt that much anymore. Her free hand clenched into a tight fist and the one in his hand held on tight. “Yeah, I think I’m good calling in there,” she agreed a little breathlessly. “Let’s get out of here before its brethren find us.”