#starrphantom

[hereshawkguy]

continued from here with @starrphantom​:

Ava’s curiousity was a little piqued but she wasn’t about to put much vested interest in meeting another new person. She was trying to take this slowly, venturing beyond her borders, but it seemed these “powered” people were all connected somehow. “Depends on what you consider powers. Scott. And Steve. And… someone called Vision? Plus his girlfriend.” Okay, that was more people than she realized she knew. “Though I wouldn’t say I know the last two, exactly. I met them in passing, I don’t know know them. Like friends, or anything.” Ava realized she was rambling and buttoned up. She hated talking about herself.

Clint didn’t think of Ava as necessary a nervous person, but she was clearly not very big on a lot of social interactions. As it was, he took her quirks gave her nothing beyond an amused smile. She was trying and he wasn’t going to fault her for that.

“Scott Lang? His ‘power’ is mostly his suit, like Tony. I’m not poking fun at him. I normally don’t have powers or a suit,” Clint clarified. If he was going to make fun of Scott and Tony, it would be to their faces. “I know Vision and Wanda,” he said helpfully. “Good people. I’m sure you’d like them if you had time to spend with them,” he offered, wanting her to be welcomed, but not forced.

Feeling that Ava would prefer another subject, he turned back to the task at hand. “Alright. Super jump attempt one. Tell me how it goes,” he told her.

[hellsguardiandevil]

continued from here with @starrphantom:

“Food sounds lovely, thank you.” Ava wasn’t going to turn away an invitation to remain inside, especially when her powers were on the fritz. She didn’t want to risk going back out there and being set on fire just trying to get home. “Ava, by the way. My name.” She fell into step behind him, trying not to dwell too much on her earlier mistake despite the voices screaming inside her head. “What kind of lawyer are you… exactly?” Might as well try to get to know him, right? 

Relieved that he didn’t have to try and convince her to stay inside for a little bit for her own safety, Matt nodded and her acceptance and started to lead the way upstairs. Moving over familiar territory was much easier now, especially when someone wasn’t chasing them to light him on fire.  “Matt Murdock,” he told Ava. “I’m glad I met you when I did, Ava. Not a lot of people would have helped me like that. Thank you,” he told her. “I’m a defense lawyer,” Matt told Ava proudly. “Most of my clients are poor and innocent, so I don’t have much to offer as a thank you, but you’re welcome to what I have,” he told her, his voice dropping to a whisper as he opened the door to his loft. Elektra was probably sleeping or worse and he didn’t want to interrupt her. “My girlfriend is in the backroom. I’ll go look after her really quick. Have a seat and I’ll be right back with food,” he offered, putting his cane against the wall before he disappeared behind the sliding door.  Matt tried not to ask too many questions of Ava while she stayed, but he did make sure she had plenty to eat and that enough time had passed that whoever was after him was sure to get bored of the chase before she left.  

[hereshawkguy]

Et Tu, Brute?

continued from here with @starrphantom:

The doppleganger almost had the bow in its grasp when the heavy tree branch pierced it right through the shoulder, knocking it off balance. Its grip instantly relented as the limb twisted the creature and seemingly pinned it to the ground. An exhausted groan escaped it as it tried to come to terms with the pain until it started to slowly coalesce around it, the wound growing bigger and bigger until the doppleganger had freed itself. Like a living puddle, it slowly sludged across the ground, away from its target, as it tried to ignore the pain and think up some other form to turn into. This meal was proving to be more difficult than it realized!

 Hawkeye could feel the bones in his hand start to fracture as the creature’s grip increased. He gave a gasp of relief when he was freed. He shoved the bow on his back and held his injured hand to his chest before another limb swung down and carried him into the safety of the canopy. He watched the creature ooze away from the tree and he laid on the branches, panting as he watched it escape. He wanted to gave chase, but this wasn’t his first fight of the night and he needed to be ready in case it wasn’t his last.

[hellsguardiandevil]

continued from here with @starrphantom​:

Ava did as he asked, not discovering her own flaw until she saw him on his feet again with his cane. Her only saving grace was that he couldn’t see the embarrassment on her face. While he checked, she kept a lookout behind them to ensure they still weren’t being followed. There was no more roar of fire or screams of anger, so maybe they’d gotten lucky. “… sorry for not asking first. The carrying. Politeness was the last thing on my mind at the moment.” She was trying more and more of this apologizing thing when overstepping people’s boundaries, even in the most dire situations.

Matt made his way to the wall and felt the plaque for his building. He nodded reassuringly and moved to pull them both into the apartment and off the streets as quickly as possible. Neither of them needed to be found again.

While waving her inside, he shook his head at her apology. “You could have left me there to fend for myself,” he pointed out. “I’m not going to argue your methods when the only reason I can is because you decided to help me,” he told her, offering her an easy smile so that she knew there were no hard feelings.

“Do you want to go up to my loft? I have a bit of food for you, if you need it. Give the woman time to give up the hunt for us,” Matt offered.

[hereshawkguy]

continued from here with @starrphantom​:

Similar hobbies. Ava never thought there would be assassin-y type people in the Avengers, but that was an assumption on her part. Maybe there could be a place here for her after all, with the right amount of patience… “Never believed in chivalry. Having someone else open the door for you makes it easier for them to sink the knife between your ribs.” Despite that, she pulled the bathroom door open anyway and gestured for his exit, hoping that anyone who chanced upon the destroyed bathroom wouldn’t blame either of them for the mess.

Clint paused to watch Ava open the door for him after she said something he only usually heard from a red-headed Russian. “When all this is over, remind me to introduce you to Natasha. I’m thinking the pair of you will have a lot in common,” he realized. Walking by her, he muttered, “and so help whoever pisses off the pair of you,” under his breath.

Once outside, Clint looked around and up at the building. “Super jump,” he reminded himself, wondering if he could actually do it. “Just for my own personal curiosity, how many people with powers do you know?” He bent his knees and started to swing his arms as if he was getting ready to do box jumps. 

[hellsguardiandevil]

continued from here with @starrphantom​:

At least this guy was going along with her sudden change in plans instead of arguing about being carried this way. Again another glitch, but he phased with her this time, becoming immaterial for a few seconds as she sprinted through garbage cans and light poles to the end of the street and around another corner. She squinted at street signs to find her bearing before dashing across the street - another attempt to elude their pursuer - and ducked down another alleyway. A few more minutes passed before Ava was comfortable enough to slow down. There was no longer the roar of chasing fire or the yell of an angry woman. For the time being, she would assume that meant they were safe. “I think we’re here.” She stopped in front of a building, the man still in her arms. “This looks familiar, right?” Yes, she forgot he was blind in their escape.

Matt never wanted to have to go through this again. It wasn’t that she was carrying him like a child so much as the overwhelming helplessness he felt in the situation. If the woman caught up to them, there were be very little he could do to assist the Good Samaritan who had stopped to help him. He wasn’t sure what happened as they ran, but he felt something painful ripple through him as they fled. He did his best not to move very much in response, not wanting to make it more difficult for her to get them both to safety. It could have been his own senses returning for a brief moment, but the pain felt different somehow. He didn’t have time to dwell on it as they made their way through the streets.

Even though Matt had heightened senses, that didn’t mean he couldn’t fully navigate without them. He’d had plenty of practice dealing with severe weather or illnesses that diminished his ability to use what he had left. When she stopped, he was fairly confident it was the correct building. At her questioned, he choked back a laugh that would have been completely inappropriate for the hazardous situation they’d just escaped. “Put me down and I can check,” he told her gently, not wanting her to feel bad that, in the middle of all the chaos, she’d clearly forgotten he was blind.

[hereshawkguy]

Et Tu, Brute?

Continued from here with @starrphantom​

The arrow rang true, but the centre of its mass had shifted downward somewhat, its vital organs shifted out of the way to prevent injury. It continued to lumber forward. A piercing scream came from the creature as the arrow punctured gooey flesh, protruding through the other side of its hand. A clenched fist broke the arrow in half, curled around his target’s, and squeezed. He couldn’t shoot with only one hand, it was convinced. Another reached for that dreadful bow he had, ready to crush that into smithereens too.

Hawkeye watched the creature congeal out of the way of his first arrow and he hissed between his teeth before backing up to ready himself for another strike. If the creature could do that, he needed to change his tactics.

It was good to know he could still make the creature bleed. As it screamed, Hawkeye did his best to twist the arrow and damage the creature as much as he could before it snapped his arrow. He wasn’t able to move before it grabbed his hand and he felt it squeezing him, clearly attempting to break bones. He bit back a scream of pain before he struck at it with his bow, trying to stab its arm if possible.

“Help me!” Hawkeye called out to seemingly no one. His back to the tree, the ancient oak groaned and twisted, a heavy branch aimed at the creature.