lucetilogs | Do we compare battle scars or....?

Do we compare battle scars or....?

Who: Derek (

widows_kiss)
What: Playing with Vampires
When: Today, until they got bored or something
Where: The battledome
Summary: Derek is doing his usual daily vampire hunting exercises. Natasha joins in
Rating: Shouldn't be more than PG-13, and that mostly for violence.

.

It's morning, he's had his coffee, and he's eaten something and taken a jog. It's become routine, and in some way, echoes the one he had at home when he wasn't on a job. It gave him focus, a sense of purpose, even though he's been mostly courting uneasiness and restlessness since he's arrived.

His leg has gotten better as he's slipped back into an exercise regime. It feels good, especially after two months more or less in bed. He's not sure how long it'll take for the feeling to wear off. But for right now, it's great and worth relishing.

The program he puts in is a little more complicated; with strength coming back, he's up to something a little more vigorous than a 'safe' daytime hunt. When the scenario comes up, it's early morning, before the sun is ready to rise. It's a small town, the streets abandoned as the residents huddle in their homes. Not too far from the outskirts is a mineshaft--the most likely source of the vampires for this little game.

And occasionally there's movement in the shadows.

Once the scene is loaded, Derek will start down the center of the main street, waiting to see if the simulation had programmed to attack...or make him flush out his quarry.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Natasha had been coming out of her own training regime in time to spot Derek slipping into his. She hesitates in heading out, debating for a moment before wandering in to glance at his console settings out of idle curiosity. He was hunting vampires.

She took this in with a faint curve of her lips, her gaze flitting to the screen once more in consideration before she tapped in a tiny alteration and moved to follow him, stepping into his simulation and hoping he wouldn't mind company.

She steps out in the darkened doorway of a closed shop, dressed in dark jeans and a leather jacket. She could feel her typical array of weapons hidden on her person and that was comforting as she stepped out into the main street, spotting Derek striding up towards her. She waits for him, a crooked smile on her lips and her hands propped on her hips as she waits for him to notice her.

It doesn't take long for him to spot her; in fact, the hint of movement, even though he couldn't quite make it out, was enough for him to turn his attention to the darkened enclosure and draw his gun. His expression remained wary as she stepped out into the street.

He'll stay where he is at first, carefully scanning her, noting what he can of her stance, build, visible weapons, where weapons may be hiding, from this distance. It isn't until he finally reaches her face (A second or so later), that he realizes that she isn't part of the simulation and recognition sets in.

He puts his gun back in it's underarm holster.

"What's a fine lady like you doing in a dump like this?"

"Curiosity," Natasha answers as she saunters towards him with a smirk. She doesn't draw any weapons, but she's definitely got more than a few on her for whatever need arises. And she approves of the care he takes in approaching her before he recognizes her, ready for an attack.

"I hope you don't mind me crashing your party."

Derek grins a little, shaking his head.

"Most sane people wouldn't want to to crash this party, but I won't object to the company. Need practice sharing the room, anyway."

He'll motion for her to come over after giving the area a quick assessment to make sure the programmed vamps hadn't started to move in yet.

"You know the rules of this game?"

"Why don't you give me a refresher? Just so I know we're on the same page here," she counters as she approaches, coming to stop directly in front of him and giving him an expectant look. Her attention appears to be on him, but her she's also keeping a close eye on their surroundings, watching for anything out of the ordinary.

Derek is no less wary than her, although he doesn't make any effort to hide it.

"All right. Everything you know? Go ahead and toss it out. Clean slate this, even though some of it will sound familiar."

Another glance around; no movement, but that uneasy feeling is starting up. He'll have to be quick with the information.

"Only things that work are wood and silver to slow them down. Wood will stop them cold, but can be worked out of the body over time. Silver leaves permanent wounds, but it's rare. If you don't have any stakes on you, we need to give you some. Any wood will do, though."

Pause, listen. Not yet.

"Shooting them with lead only pisses them off, although some of them will play along until you get too close. Nail them down with the wood, get their head off and separate from the body. We have to keep them that way until the sun comes up and we can burn them right. Blades are a good temporary defense, but they regenerate quickly. Limbs even come back over time."

He can see very faint movement, out past the town, the lights.

"It's a simulation, but you never want to get tagged by these guys. One bite wound or scratch and you're infected. No turning back. No cure. They have all the speed and strength Hollywood ever gave them, so keep that in mind, too. And, I don't know if the simulator can pull it off, but vamps can get in your head, and either make you hallucinate, or want them to fuck you, with no resistance. Sorry about the language, but that's what it is. And they'll use both if they're able to keep you still until they've got you."

More movement, and the feeling that they needed to get out of the street.

"This is also a no-win situation, so expect it to be hell. Don't hunt vampires at night. Got all that?"

She still has most of her typical blades on her, but she exchanged some of them for stakes for this simulation and she tugs one out of a sheath inside her jacket that normally hides a stiletto, holding it up for inspection. It's sharp, smooth on one edge and jagged on the other.

"I came prepared. At least the stakes still work on yours. Next time I'll have to steal Clint's crossbbow, it might be a little more useful. So pin them, behead them, keep them separate. Don't get bitten or scratched, and don't let them in your head. That the basic gist of it?"

It was a challenge - the last part especially. But she was willing to try. "How will this being a simulation affect their infecting?"

"Yeah, you got it. Leave the stake in, even after you behead them."

Yeah, definite movement going on now. He catches a shadow out of the corner of his eye, scurrying under a house.

"Honestly don't know. I know water gives resistance but no other sensation when you try to simulate it, so I don't know how'd that translate to an infection. You usually won't get much of an effect other than the bite itself the first several hours anyway. So you'll just be tagged."

"Noted." She'd been tracking the motion around them too, counting, calculating. She'd picked out four along the street behind him and she suspected there were more. She tensed slightly with anticipation, feeling a rush of adrenaline, ready to move.

"I'll follow your lead." She didn't ask whether he'd seen them; she could tell by his posture that he had.

Derek nods, motioning for her to follow. He takes a quick second to ask her to watch their back and then he's slowly, carefully, making his way down the center of the street, which may or may not seem completely suicidal to Natasha. And if they were up against humans with guns and other ranged weapons, it would be.

But these were vampires, and in the time Derek had taken to lay out the rules, he knew that they would have invaded several of the buildings around them. They were perfect ambushers. Getting close to their cover would be the actual suicidal move in this situation.

"I might have to draw the first ones," he says quietly, "You stay out in the open, away from stuff. Keep an eye on the roof tops."

"I'll keep an eye out," she agrees. She'd been staying close, her eyes scanning for any sign of movement. She'd catch flashes here and there as they moved. His opponents were fast. His order to stay in the open makes her feel a little uneasy, but she understands it. She doesn't like being the one not in the shadows but at least she has a good line of sight for anything coming at her. One hand clutches a dagger, the other holds one of the modified wooden ones as she waits, her stance defensive.

"Be careful," she calls after him softly. She figures he's got to have enough skill to have fought and survived these things before, but she's never actually seen him in action yet. She's curious what he's capable of.

There's a slight nod to show that he heard her. Careful was the name of the game, but so was risk. He'd intentionally programmed this to be something he couldn't get out of, so he had no illusions they'd get much past the first wave.

But she might surprise him; after all, he didn't really know what she was capable of doing.

He hears the movement more than sees it as several of the vampires follow him down either side of the road. A quick blur here, a suddenly disturbed patch of dried leaves there--these are the only signs they're their. Otherwise, they're unseen, silent.

There was a snap of twigs, to his left. He knows it's a distraction, but he allows himself to look that way anyway. And as soon as he did, the vampire that had been waiting, that was now out of his field of vision, launched itself from the roof.

Derek lets himself fall when it lends on him. Fall, roll, kick into its ribs. It's a quick blur of motion that ends with him on his knees and the vampire crouching nearby, hissing. Somewhere in that tumble, he'd managed to draw his gun, and before the first deadly hiss is finished, Derek shoots it right in the mouth.

This was the cue the others had been waiting for, and suddenly, the night is alive with blur and shadows.

They all come at once.

She'd been expecting it, but that didn't mean she didn't feel a rush of adrenaline and fascination for the speed they were capable of as they burst from the darkness. The echo of Derek's shot had apparently worked as a signal because suddenly there was movement everywhere and Natasha herself sprung into action.

She let the first one dive past her, a victim to its own momentum as she kicked it off course, already spinning to meet the next one. Her fist brings down the wooden dagger into its chest and it staggers but its still moving. Not dead. Undead. Whatever. She remembered Derek's warnings and leaves the stake in place, Putting her force behind a second blow to its throat, she yanks her wrist sideways. The vampire's head lurches off with a sickening sound and she kicks it aside.

The kill happens in the span of a heartbeat or two and there's already two more rushing for her. She turns her body, angling the headless form she now holds as a shield between her and the nearest one. She lifts a foot and pushes the body off her stake, kicking backwards and to the side. She drops and rolls with the momentum, coming up a distance away from where she'd been standing and already turning to find the next one.

They're not giving him time to finish the job--as soon as one is down and he has the head off, the next is already at him and he's forced into a dance of near-misses and using the bodies of his opponents to skirt away. It becomes a dance of rotations and circles, punctuated by gun shots and circular swipes of his sword.

It wasn't something he'd be able to keep up for long, but for now, there was a respectable number of bodies littering the ground where he fought.

There was a sudden lull in the action, and he took advantage of it to back away, closer to Natasha. On some sort of unknown signal, the nest members suddenly backed off, fading into shadows again.

Breathing hard, he glances back to Natasha.

"You okay?"

She backs up against him, keeping him solid at her back, because that was safest. She was breathing a little harder herself and was down a wooden stake, but she had another in her hand, and had traded her dagger for something a little sturdier with a longer blade. There's bodies scattered in a headless mess along the path of her own circles, but her eyes are on their surroundings, watching for the next wave.

"Just peachy. You?"

"Doing just fine,"

The street is completely silent now, no sign other than the bodies on the ground that they were ever there.

"They're regrouping. They didn't expect that much resistance. We're going to want to get these guys behind us staked down, or they'll just join in once they wake up."

And yes, creepy as it sounds, it does seem like severed heads are getting close to their bodies, severed limbs starting to reform.

"I hate it when dead things don't stay dead."

The head by her foot twitched and she gave it a kick that sent it rolling down the street away from them. Now she really wished she'd borrowed Clint's crossbow. Maybe next time. She eyed the bodies they'd left strewn around them, mentally counting.

"I'm not sure I brought that many stakes. If we just... toss their heads where they can't get to them right away, would that work?"

"We can, but that won't buy too much time. Here," he reaches into his jacket, bringing out a handful of thinner, but just as serviceable, stakes from a couple of inner packets.

"Get these staked down. We can use other wood in the area if needed. Fortunately, the type doesn't matter."

She accepts them from him with a crooked smile and a tilt of her head in acknowledgement.

"Through the heart? Or doesn't it matter?"

"Through the heart. Seems to be the one place that they have trouble working it out, and it's necessary for the kill anyway. Put it in deep."

He'll glance around, noticing that the vampire haven't regrouped out. At least, not where he and Natasha could see.

"Need a hammer?"

"No, I'll make do."

The hilt of her dagger is blunt enough and she'd rather not relinquish her handhold on it, in case they were rushed again. Her eyes give one more sweep of her surroundings before she bends and starts to work on the bodies strewn around them.

"How much of a breather do you think they'll give us?"

"Hard to say; it depends on the nest, really."

Derek kneels next to one of his kills, already lining up stake and hammer. It takes one steady, swift 'thock', and the stake is through the chest and into the ground under the vampire.

"Usually one this big would have swarmed us. Judging by the lack of activity though--" pause, kneel, place, hit,"--looks like they're going to make us go after them and try to wear us down that way. Wait until we're tired and start making mistakes."

"Sounds like we surprised them, then. Although that's faulty thinking on their part." She bends down, mirroring his actions, driving the stake through the heart of the nearest body, double-checking her work before moving on to the next. "Making us the hunters also means we might be able to whittle away at their numbers easier."

"If they were still human at all, they'd worry about that. Nest this big? A few members down to make sure they get the prey? No big deal to them. They can always make more."

He smiles a little, "That, and the master hasn't shown yet. These are just the goons."

"So how's the master different?" Because that seems like important information to have.

The fact that he faced things like this back home on a regular basis was impressive.

"More powerful, a lot more patient. They're usually the ones that pull all the mind control crap on you. And they have good strategic capabilities; they can hold off the hunger for a good plan."

She makes a face at the mind control part, because if there's anything that makes her uneasy about them, it's that. "And the best way around them fucking with your head?"

"Just remember; if it feels too good, or it's too horrible to take, it's probably them in your head. And if you think you want to go to bed with whatever it is, you're definitely being messed with. Just hold onto what you're doing here, no matter what."

He stands up straight, done with the last of his own kills.

"...that'll all be easier said than done, but you get the idea. Hold onto who you are and what you're doing."

"They're not really my type," she drawls wryly, straightening up once more and tucking the rest of the thin stakes away in her jacket for later. She had a feeling she'd need them. Dusting her hands off on her jeans, she lets her gaze skim the darkness once more, trying to figure out if there was movement there or if it was only the wind.

"You may not care if they give you an invite," that's said with a tone that's both teasing and yet quietly serious.

The area still seems quiet, abandoned.

"Looks like we'll have to dig."

"Want me to scout?" She's eyeing the rooftops, gauging their distance and vantage points available. From Derek's tone of voice they'd need every advantage they could manage. But he knew their prey better than she did; she was content to follow the expert.

"Yeah. They'll probably try at least a few sneak attacks."

Derek will re-pocket his own weapons for the moment, starting forward.

"We'll start at the perimeter, work in. Watch for disturbed ground, too."

That draws a curious look from her as she falls into step with him, keeping her dagger in her hand. She doesn't believe being 'too cautious' is a thing.

"Tracks, you mean?"

Derek shakes his head.

"Disturbed dirt. Like flat graves."

Natasha looks momentarily surprised by that. "They... bury themselves?"

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Do we compare battle scars or....?

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