#vengeancedemons

It was amusing to watch the mortals' reactions to the animated pumpkins and skeletons and other assorted decorations. Their reactions to the talking animals were equally amusing, if not moreso, and Loki was quite eager to capitalize on that. So eventually he changed himself into a black cat, and started going up to people and spouting all sorts of nonsense and insults. (Though naturally he made a point to comment a few times about how that wonderfully benevolent god Loki would be an excellent ruler of Midgard. Just some subtle hints.) It was terribly fun, especially when none of them had any idea that he was not one of the "normal" animals that had suddenly gained a voice. 

After he came up to one person, however, his dour response made Loki give a purr which was akin to a disappointed "ohh". "Why? Do you have a problem with felines being able to speak? The nerve of you people, to think you are our masters. You will soon find out how wrong you are."

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“This is the worst thing about working with men,” Natasha commented vaguely, only glancing in his direction before offering him her full thoughts. “Everything you do is so messy.” Steve was always throwing his shield around, Tony blasted anything that went past, Bruce? Well, he had leveled an entire neighborhood before. And Thor didn’t know the meaning of the word subtlety. There was a satisfaction that came with destroying things. Natasha understood that, too. Tearing apart the organization that had created her and leaving it as rubble that was crashing back down to the surface — it was liberating.

After a quiet moment, Natasha nodded her head. They were at a private dock. The man they had come after was dead. (A pile of ash on the East side of the building.) And the people who had been working for him had already fled. The Ghost Rider and the Black Widow would be another story in the wind. Something intangible to the listeners, and feared all the same. "They already know we were here. They won't be back to reclaim it." And if they did make the poor choice to come back, they'd greet them the same way they were greeted tonight.

"Light it up, Reyes." Natasha turned towards him and then looked up at the building behind them. "Might as well send a clear message not to come back. People never seem to take the obvious hint."

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Daisy wrinkled her nose. Robbie was good at playing dumb, he had enough years perfecting that look on his face—probably for when he was trying to pull one over on Eli or Gabe. But Daisy, in her mind at least, wasn’t that easy to fool. She had let it slide for weeks now. Robbie had vanished one night and came back smelling like brimstone and fire like he often did, but it was different. Daisy figured that he’d tell her with time but… weeks had turned into months and she had tried to be okay with not knowing.

But Daisy hated feeling like she was on the outside. She always found out when she was a moment too late—finding herself wounded in the blast of the aftermath. She sat on the counter, watched him for about twenty minutes before he realized she was letting up and then he finally spoke. Daisy shrugged, swinging her legs off the side. “You tell me,” she said, still watching him, waiting for a tell—for something. “You’re all about—you told me that I can talk about… you know, whatever,” Daisy said, internally chastising herself. “You know that goes both ways, right?”

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Rachel wasn’t expecting to run into him again so soon—no that she had run into him before, but she remembered his face, it bled through when the Hound returned to her place in the back of Rachel’s mind. Memories of people she didn’t know, of interactions she wasn’t there for all blending with her own. (The benefit, she supposed, of being a telepath. Pulling the Hound back in was no small feat, but sorting out her memories and adding them to her own? That had taken some effort.)

His face was one that had spurred something in the Hound. It might have been fear if the Hound had understood feelings beyond anger. There was something in that mind of his that was ancient—with terrible power. She reached out to his mind in a fit of fear, trying to get a read on him, trying to figure out if he was going to kill her or not—trying to figure out if what she had felt was like the Hound. If it was something that happened in passing, unleashed by Malice.

“You’re not—” alone anymore. That is where she stopped. But the threat didn’t go unnoticed, Rachel, instead of backing down, locked her jaw for a moment, preparing herself in case this did turn into something. “You’re welcome to try, but you didn’t have much luck last time.”

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@vengeancedemons​

The bar tonight was fairly slow. A good thing, Jessica preferred the slow nights — there was more money to make on the weekends, but she didn't care so much about that as just... getting out of her apartment and doing something that involved face time with people. But this man was... he was interesting. And she was sure she recognized him from some place. Maybe it was that food truck down the street — or maybe the repair shop she had interviewed at. (That had to be it. She remembered how gruff he had looked there.)

"I don't take criticism from guys," she said, almost leaving it at that, "that claim to have made a deal with the devil. I mean, who are you to judge me on nicknames when you're out here making bad choices left, right, and center?" This was fine, she told herself. People talked like this all the time in bars. It was friendly banter. "But in this case you might be right... JC seems hip, but it's also... I can't put my finger on it. But it feels wrong."

@vengeancedemons

Zatanna, this time, had opted for dropping by Robbie's work instead of inviting herself into his apartment without his permission. Boundaries, she told herself. He deserved them. (And each time she dropped into his apartment without knocking, she always got a weird feeling like his roommate was going to burst through the door — and whatever drama was happening there, Zatanna wanted no part of it.)

It was nearly closing time and Zatanna was sure that Robbie was alone, but even so, she kept her voice low as she approached him. "I figured a third date at your place would be a little weird," she quipped, leaning on the wall. She had brought one of Tony's cars, just in case there were people here, so she could at least pretend that this wasn't what it was. "Things have changed," Zatanna finally said. "Supernaturally, I mean. More than the blackout — something happened." She was seeing more and more people in robes — the kind that reminded her of a cult that was stomped out a long time ago. "Or happening..." She corrected, shifting in her spot. "Has the other guy been wanting out more often?"

@vengeancedemons

Even when things got bad in Madripoor, they were never at this level. Never this bad. People came at each other all the time in Madripoor, had to be pulled apart by other criminals, boundaries and laws and rules — everything run by people who were several shades too tainted to pretend to be someone worthy of being a leader. (Sharon included.) But it had worked there.

But this? This was a city that had been stressed over and over again, fracturing a little more each time. It was a miracle that New York was even standing every everything that it had been through. In every shadow, there was a monster. Every flicker, there was a reason behind it. Nothing was ever as it seemed, and that was hard to deal with when you hadn't signed up for this kind of life.

(Civilians, she figured, had the worst of it. They were so used to being safe that all these horrors piling on them had to be taking a toll. And bitterly, she wondered where SHIELD was, this was right up their alley.)

"One way of putting it," Sharon commented. Too on the nose — too real. People were running in all directions, glowing things were the street, and Sharon found herself wondering what her aunt would do. Other than stand her ground — other than hold herself steady — other than not flinch. Sharon felt out of her depth here. (His face looked familiar though, a footnote in a file she had read years ago.)

A car swerved and Sharon managed to push the man out of the way, shoving him into a building as the car ended up crashing into the windows next to them. "Damn it — we need to get these people off the street." Sharon gritted her teeth, looking at the state off the street — and this was just one. "C'mon, get off your ass and help."