2015-09-29 Flame Out!
This scene is rated Everybody
Warning: N/A
2015-09-29
Players: Clint Natasha
GMed by Triskelion (NPCs, Melinda (with permission))
Title: Flame Out!

Now that Clint and Natasha are back together again with a plus one, all that's left now is for the two of them to recover Melinda. The crack of a rifle announces that Melinda is at least still fighting down in the swampland area of the amusement park. From the fantasyland that they are in now, it's not that far to get to the swampland where the zombies have surrounded the snack shack that Melinda has holed herself up in.

Running is possibly out of the question, but Natasha is at least /stalking/ in the proper direction. Wherever she found the elf outfit, it apparently didn't come with shoes. She's towing little Nameless Russian Girl along with her — and carrying her if need be, given that the little slip of an adolescent is certainly more hurt than she. "She's down in a swamp," Natasha says, nodding toward the direction of the rifle shot. "Ah. That sounds like May."

For the first time since this all began, the little Russian girl's eyes light up. "<I can help!>" she says in sudden excitement to Natasha. She pulls away from her caretaker and heads to a bench that overlooks the pit where the zombies and May are. Taking out a small metal container, she pulls out a long matchstick. The container is full of them. Striking the match on the ground, she lights the flame. And then she closes her eyes and seems to just.. slump.

However, the flame on the match glows brighter and then flares - taking on the astral version of a young girl engulfed in flames. "<The Orphanage said I was special, called me Little Match Girl after the story..>" she says directly into Natasha's mind as the flames flicker around her. "<I can catch them on fire!>" It's an optimistic offer - and the mystery of the girl deepens a bit further.

When Little Match Russian slumps, Natasha rushes forward to catch her with a cry of surprise. She gathers her up, but when her eyes follow the flames into the astral form of the child, her eyes widen in actual astonishment. Take a picture, guys; that doesn't happen on Natasha's face very often. "<That… would… be very helpful, my dear. Just be careful not to catch Agent May on fire.>"

<I will try my best!> The girl offers, as the flames crackle around her. Natasha will notice that the matchstick in the girl's hands is not getting shorter, the flame control apparently there while she has control of the flame itself. <Just keep me safe. If I get hurt and my flame goes out…> she trails off, letting Natasha realize what will happen if her flame is snuffed - much like a Charmander.

The flames remain tied to the matchstick as she takes to the skies and then sweeps down into the back echelon of the zombies, catching them alight. There's roars and moans of complaint and anger as some of the zombies tries to snap down on the little astral flame and only get burned in the process. As the 'flesh and cloth' burn away from the zombies, it is revealed that they are only mechanical forms covered in synth flesh. No LMDs. No chance of catching zombie virus. The door is open for ass-kicking.

Ah. Excellent. Maybe more ass-punching than kicking, though, to be fair. The world will see what Natasha can do without her feet, which are already reddening the bandages a little. Looking back to Clint, she lays the girl back down: "Don't leave her! Keep an eye on her. I'll be two shakes." And then she's sprinting, gritting her teeth through the immense discomfort of this, and leaping out onto the first of the zombies. Down she goes, wrenching its neck between her folded legs, then reaching to the side as it falls to snap the neck of the next one.

Clint doesn't know how to interact with children. They're small, innocent and don't get his jokes. "Natasha Romanoff. The only person in the world who says 'two shakes' when going to pop the heads off zombies." Still, he takes up a position between littly flamey slumpkins and the zombie horde. He raises his bow and starts picking off any lurkers who get too close to the Red Fury down there.

The flames dance along the zombies, as Natasha adds her own punches and kicks to the mix, robo-zombies falling to the side. A couple of zombies start to come around from behind Natasha, closing in on her as she's facing forward, easy pickings for Clint. However, in the midsts of the battle, the shack finally falls, the horde starting to move forward to crash through the walls to get to the delicious Morsel May within.

Desperate times call for murderous measures. Or something. Isn't that what they say? Natasha starts leaping forward, actually hopping from zombie shoulder to zombie shoulder, avoiding the flames where she can. It's now less about breaking their necks and twisting off their heads than it is about getting in front of them to May. After all, they don't all HAVE to get killed. Though there's nothing wrong with that.

A falling beam smacks into Melinda, knocking her unconscious, as the zombies continue to shamble forward. With Natasha makes her way forward, the Russian Match Girl joins with Natasha, ready to defend her new caretaker to the last breath - or spark in her case.

The net ensnares several of the zombies, catching them and tangling them up. Closing her eyes, the little Russian Flame frowns. <I'm sorry I couldn't help more…> she says to Natasha, before she swoops forward, novaing herself into a bright and brilliant flame that washes over the zombies in a wave of heat, searing and melting through them. The flame flickers and smoulders, nearly dying on the matchstick as the astral form disappears.

Before the charred remains of the zombies could rally, there is sudden shut off of power to the whole area, and then the lights start to come back on. Just the light, as communications are restored.

"Widow? Hawkeye? This is Captain America, Arcade is secured. I repeat, Arcade is secured. Medevac is enroute, eta five mikes."

Music to her damn ears. Natasha curses when May is felled, but she stands over the woman and — oh. Her little friend made them go FWOOMPH. She stares at the melting and cracking metal and cinders, then calls out to Clint: "Is she all right?" She's here taking care of May, making sure the woman's still alive — unconscious but breathing — when Steve's voice comes soaring across.

"Good man, Comrade Rogers," Natasha groans. "It's been a long day."

"Steve, hey. Hope we're not keeping you from the Yankees game." Clint pauses long enough to dig for another match. If he can manage it, he'll light the new match and push it into the little girl's hand. "I think so, Nat. She's still kind of checked out." Once the match has been switched over, he raises his bow and aims an arrow just in case anything else is going to jump out of the woodwork.

"No. Agent Carter saw that you didn't go after the storefront, and she found the prize." Steve transmits with a small sigh before he passes the radio off to Peggy.

Overhead, the lights of SHIELD transports come to life as they approach the field, starting to lower down as troops disgorge to secure the area.

The former match smoulders, barely a flame before the new match"And we found Agent May. And this place, which we can shut down now." Natasha apparently does not want to hear any of these intimations that she has done anything less than the completely correct thing. "And a young civilian. About fourteen and…"

She breathes a sigh of relief when she hears the little voice piping up in the distance. "And alive," she adds. "Of all the things I expected, this was surprisingly not one of them." flares to life and is pushed into the cold hands of the orphan. They feel almost dead to the touch, however, as the flame is renewed, she starts to get some warmth back to her, and her eyes part barely. "We.. win?" she asks Clint with a heavy Eastern European accent.

"Something like that, kiddo," says Clint. He pats the girl on the shoulder. "Hey, Nat. You okay down there? How's May?" He's not going to relax until they've fully evaced. It's not in his nature to stand down til he's at home in his sweatpants with a beer.

Medical support personnel come to gather up the child and provide a stretcher for Natasha and her poor feet as other troops start to work along the ground to clear the rest of the park. "Load 'em up." the helo pilot calls out. "Agent Carter and Captain Rogers said they'd link up with you at Headquarters."

"May's alive. Knocked for a loop, but alive." Natasha does gratefully sink onto a stretcher, but only after May's carried off. She nods vaguely to the medic who announces Carter's and Rogers's intentions: "Suits me. Comb the site for other survivors. Mostly LMDs and bots, probably."

The relief at not being expected to care for the kid is obvious on Clint's face. He moves towards Natasha as she's loaded onto the stretcher. "Now you can add zombie slayer to your resume. Bet that's one box you never thought you'd tick off."

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