2016-07-10 - Vampire Bashing

The thing about big cities is that day is woefully short. When night descends, it is deep and this is something the costumed defenders are all too familiar with. So too are the despondent and impoverished. The tall buildings do much to shield the creatures of darkness when they come, and a man in armor with a cross and matching swords is looking for them.

The Narrows is the lurking location for this man, his metal face plate with a six pronged crimson sign like wings is faced down into the dark alleys beneath the hood of his cloak as he watches the shadows stir. He is waiting for something atop his rooftop where he watches figures coming and going in the gloom.

Kara Zor-El had spent the day hanging out with Tim. She did that maybe once a month. Just normal people stuff. Pizza. Go to the zoo. Not like dates oranything. Just friends hanging out. Totally not using powers also. It was sort of relaxing, really. She probably should get going home but first she wanted to stop off at this all night ices place Tim told her about. He had to go. Bruce needed him for SOMETHING. She didn't ask what. She decided to keep doing the 'no powers' thing for now, heading down the alleys to the ices place.

Azrael continued to lurk overhead. He'd been investigating the bloodbank robberies and had discovered the ugly truth of the situation. Fangfaces lurked in the slums. He'd discovered with assistance from the Black Bat that they were using the Narrows as their staging area into Gotham, preying on the less fortunate as scum of any sort are wont to do. He watches the pretty blonde proceed into the seedy alleyway below, hating that she might prove to be the bait that he'd been waiting for but indeed she was.

He sits crouched, looking like a vulture with his hands rested on the pommels of his twin scimitars as his cloak flutters lightly in the night breeze. At the end of the alley, figures begin to make themselves known in the deepest gloom. Shadows within shadows seemingly appearing from the aether. As if in response to them, people begin to step into the doorways of a few of those buildings at the end of the alleyway where they stare at the attractive stranger coming their way.

The first thing Kara will be greeted with is dark leers and a chill that seems to grow as she advances into the alley. This cold isn't the normal sort, it has little to do with ordinary breeze that occasionally finds its way into the winding streets of the downtrod ghetto. It's a cold transcending the ordinary, the sort that accompanies the negative otherworldly.

Azrael shifts his posture as the catcalls begin from the doorway standers,"Little closer sweetie, you a part of the night shift? We'll introduce ya." A handful of chuckles follow that as they step out behind her, as if corralling her from turning back. Another voice says,"It only hurts at first..."

Kara Zor-El raises an eyebrow curiously as she walks along. "No idea what you're talking about." she says idly, ignoring the catcalls. If she's learned one thing from the internet, it's that apparently a lot of guys are going to have a much different opinions about her than her cousin, and none of them had anything to do with her powers. Especially when not in the uniform. "I'm pretty sure it wouldnt hurt at all, and you probably shouldn't even think of doing anything." she says, stopping walking at the last thing said. The shadows in the gloom move with an inhuman speed as they surround her. Perhaps not as fast as herself, but blindingly fast to the ordinary. The shadowy creatures are pale, their leering grins revealing extraordinary canines beneath bloodshot eyes,"Then it will never hurt again."

Azrael leans forward, blades slipping from their sheathes to illuminate the gloom as if by torchlight. One blade burns bluish white, the other scarlet red as he flips to the ground thumping against the asphalt with blades slashing forth at the bloodsuckers,"Run, they will kill you or worse. I'll deal with them..."

Kara Zor-El looks around at the creatures that surround her, then the armored sword-wielding man who jumps down with his glowing swords. "Um... does Batman know you're doing his on his turf?" she asks confusedly, instead of doing something that should be expected. Like running away. Which Kara doesn't seem to be doing. Two of the creatures grab hold of Kara, the fire intimidating them as they try to drag her back to use as a human shield. They're confused when they can't budge her, but they're not weak by any stretch. In fact they're inhumanly powerful to match their speed.

Azrael doesn't speak at first, his blade flashing out once, then twice before the Sword of Sin sets one of the creatures on fire. One of the thugs opens fire on him, his expression turning saucer eyed when the bullets pancake against his cross emblazoned armor. Azrael replies as he vaguely recognizes her voice,"I've made my agreements. Does he know you're touring Gotham's alleys?"

Kara Zor-El pauses. "Oh it's you..." she says, ignoring the creatures that are trying to budge her. "Maybe you could tell me who these people are? And I know you're not going to be KILLING anyone with those things, RIGHT?"

They didn't have vampires, or even the myths about vampires, on her planet. And the one time she actually dealt with vampires before was with Pete Wisdom in England, when one of them bit her and promptly exploded. She still had the surviving vampire in stasis at the fortress, thinking they had some sort of illness that might be curable. She felt bad enough about the other one dying. But they also didn't look like THESE vampires (Marvel verse vampires vs DC vampires).

Azrael groans at her, muttering as he crosses his blades before him to keep them at bay,"You can't kill something that's dead." The creatures seem to dancce within the shadows outside of the glow of his blades, though likely Kara could see them moving just fine with her heightened perceptions. One of them whispers,"What is she, we can't budge her..." Another mutters,"Let's take her blood and kill the other with it."

Kara Zor-El pauses as Azrael says that. "Wait.. what do you mean dead? I've fought zombies once and zombie don't talk."

Come on Kara, put two and two together... then she realizes what Azrael means. "You mean vampires?" Then blinks when she heard them whispering about her blood, widening her eyes. "You don't want to do that! Seriously! Don't!" she says quickly.

Azrael flips his blades upside down when one of the vampires gestures towards him. The thugs in their employ close on him with knives and pistols bared, clearly more afraid of their masters than of the knight with burning blades. He parries with his upside down swords, striking out with the pommels targetting the sides of their knees, chins, and solar plexes.

The vampires flash up behind her, whispering as they approach,"Oh yes we do, strong lady...you'll be stronger in the night!" One of them makes to bite her in the neck as the others make to restrain her.

Kara Zor-El grabs a couple of the vampires that tries to restrain her, sending them flying across the alley with a push of her arm like they were rag dolls, causing one to smack HARD into a pile of crates over 50 feet away, and another to hit a wall hard enough to crack the wall. But then the other vampire bites her. And like that time in London, she was at first caught by surprise - the whole idea of anything ever being able to pierce her invulnerable skin was always so alarming. But moreso when she realized what was probably going to follow. "No!" she cries out when it bites her and drinks her blood, pushing him off, but not fast enough. She runs to grab Azrael to shield him from what she expected was going to happen next, since vampires and Kryptonian blood did NOT mix well together.

Sure enough these vampires don't handle it any better than than any other. At first, the vampire exhults in the power in his veins, he literally roars at the rush. Then, he clutches at his throat as the burning begin. In one moment, it's a simple burning. The next, his eyes burn bright like little suns followed by his veins before he erupts in a literal fireball.

Azrael goes along with her, having that sinking feeling like something really bad was about to happen by her reaction. Sure enough, it does and he's immediately grateful."That was...dramatic."

Kara Zor-El makes sure to shield Azrael with her body from the resulting explosion. The resulting firestorm takes out a few of the vampires around the one that drank from her too. Kara bites her lip, a mixture of upset and annoyed. She almost swears! "DANGIT!" Well that was close to swearing, anyway. She sighs. "I said not to" she says, feeling her neck, the wound from the bite mark already healing. "Kryptonians are ... sorta solar batteries. Even at night. Solar radiation. Doesn't mix well with vampires" she explains with lament as she looks around to see how many vampires are still attacking, rather than being incinerated or out from her hitting them.

The vampires have given up apparently. They know they are no match for a kryptonian as well as a master swordsman with magical weapons and armor. They don't leave their fallen behind, part of how they keep up the illusion of their nonexistance. Their lackies are another matter, however. Azrael had dropped a few of them before the explosion, but the rest were taken out by it and one of them is presently rolling on the ground to put out his burning clothes.

Azrael points at him to direct Kara's attention,"I understand you Supers have a cold breath that he may appreciate..."

Kara Zor-El nods a bit, realizing what Azrael was suggesting. She purses her lips and blows out a freezing arctic breath at the remaining lackey, putting out the flame... and also encasing him in ice. She looks back at Azrael, wanting to admonish him for killing the vampires. She was still pretty convinced that they were people with a disease that could be cured. The Science Guild in Kara. But it was sort of hard to chastise him after she just caused a bunch of vampires to EXPLODE and incinerate.

Azrael slips his blades away, pulling out a sheaf of zipties to begin restraining the injured lackies. He'd killed a few of the bloodsuckers, but notably he'd spared their wouldbe spawn. "Those creatures are cursed, whether you believe it or not. They exist to kill, they feed on us as we feed on cattle. That's what we are to them. But their servants may yet be saved."

Kara Zor-El looks back at Azrael. "Please don't tell me they're 'cursed.' I'm sure whatever disease is doing this to them can eventually be cured." She pauses. "Their servants can be saved?" she asks.

Azrael's features are entirely concealed unlike those of the Bats, so unless she can see past the shadows behind his faceplate she won't see the quizzical expression on his features as he asks,"You would have me lie to you about the possibilities and realities that exist in the Nightworld ruled by magic and demons?" He scoffs softly then emphasizes,"I speak only the truth as I know it. Destroy the masters, and the servants are saved. The mortals need only be separated until their wits return to them."

Kara Zor-El looks at him. "Oh don't give me that look." she says, rolling her eyes. "I'm not that comfortable about killing people to save others. I don't do that." She crosses her arms. Michael Lane shakes his head at her as he replies,"You can't kill the dead, merely destroy them. It isn't so terrible when you realize it is a release from their torment. They haven't been people in some time." He adjusts his gauntlets and turns to step down the alleyway and be on his way.

Kara Zor-El crosses her arms, looking at the frozen lackey. "You know, a lot of people on your planet have used the excuse of 'they're not people' when killing others!" she calls to him as he leaves. Meh. Felt hollow, especially since he was probably right. She picked up the lackey-sicle though, and flew off to see if anything else could be done. Put him in suspended animation like the vampire at the Fortress.