You're safe...? (Dire)

Phasing through brick walls wasn't the hardest thing Maura had ever done. She'd used her powers without wearing her disguise before, too. The young woman was also used to running ridiculously long distances over rough terrain and being under a lot of stress. And while the situation she was in didn't see totally desperate, doing all three at once  dodging bullets was wearing her down.

Currently she was through a dark alley, running with all her might in her shoulderless sweater and dark gray Kevlar pants in the chilly almost-winter of New York City. It was her favorite casual outfit to visit the nearby coffee shop near her monthly-leased apartment, but not the most ideal for running from shady guys with guns. Just ahead about one hundred yards was the entry of the alley. She could see the busy bystanders going about their business and cars rushing past on the streets. Maura knew she had to get to a less isolated place before-

B
A
N
G
!

The girl flinched and made sure to activate her powers to make her polyester as dense and impenetrable as steel armor. It was hard to keep running with the weight of such dense material suddenly weighing her down, but she only had to keep it up until the bullet ricocheted off of her back. Maura ducked behind a dumpster and peeked behind her. Two men dressed in completely black suites down to their dress shirts were quickly advancing upon her location. Their dark sunglasses seemed pointless other than to make them more intimidating since the sky was pretty overcast. Maura glanced at her escape route and was pretty aggravated to find a third man causally making his way off the streets towards her, dressed in identical garb. She had no idea where they had come from, why they wanted to kill her, or how many of them there were. Seriously! It was like just when she thought she had lost one, two more popped up!

"Incorrigible stalkers..." She near growled as she pressed her hands against the brick and mortar wall of the building which the dumpster rest next to and focused her energies into it. Soon the wall's density became so sparse that she was able to phase through it. Just in time, too, for the three men had been closing in on her quite quickly.

Maura fell through the wall and was grateful to have entered the building behind a large rack of old records, the cement on this side warbling like water rippling as its density returned to normal. Music was playing softly from above and the place smelled of cigars and dust. She stood upright and dusted herself off, looking to see if anyone saw her literally come through a solid wall into what seemed to be an old record store. At the same time her heart pounded as she wondered how she was going to get away from the mystery hit-men after her.

Seeing no one, the brunette walked out of the store with nary a glance cast her way from the old man behind the register. As she left bells tingled behind her and she looked left and right down the sidewalk. Through the people moving about to her left, three men in black stood out, walking briskly in her direction. Maura moved right at a pace too quick to seem casual. If she hadn't been so caught up in escaping these guys, she wouldn't be too lost to find her way back to her place. But she it was too late now. She had to find a way to get rid of these guys!

Dire was on one of his city "patrols" when he heard a gunshot.
He looked down off the rooftop he was on and said, "My violence sences are tingling!"
As he jumped to the next building.

When he got to the sight of the scene, he just BARELY caught Maura phasing through the wall.
"Oh! This got a whole lot more interesting..."
He looked to see three guys in all black suits standing and talking into their headsets.
The odds were almost in their favor.
Almost.
He dropped down and sliced one down the middle with his flaming katana, and the other two got a bullet in between their eyes.
He saw the direction Maura was going and he knew how to cut her off.
He teleported into a drug cartel "hideout" and cleaned house.
He punched the final living guy onto the street (where Maura was walking) and asked, "Do I kill you with a sleek but inpersonal pistol, or the cool factor of a flaming katana? Neither you say? Well..."
BANG!!!

Maura nearly literally stopped dead in her tracks when one of the suited men fell right on his arse in front of her, just before getting shot in a vital spot and lying dead on the street. The green eyed girl stared in shock at the man bleeding out before her. Without tilting her head up, she moved only her eyes to see the shooter. He was tall, caramel skinned, and dark haired. And obviously dangerous. Several bystanders cried out and moved quickly away at the sight of the murder. Of course, no one dared call the police. New York City was a wreck and crazed metahumans were hardly a rare sight. Many just believed it was a good thing to keep their heads low and move along without question.

"Why.... why did you do that?" Maura asked in her American accent while taking a step away, a guarded look in her eyes. She let her gaze flicker around her and looked to the roofs as well. She hesitated when a shadow flashed by on a rooftop. She was still being watched by the guys in black. Obviously the murderer in front of her wasn't one of them, if the way they dressed was any tell-tale of their mystery gang. With the crowds thinning, whatever men were left over chasing her might get an opportunity for attack, "Who are you?", this time, her question was more anxious and rushed. She needed to know if this guy was friend or foe, and fast!

Dire smiled at the success of his plan.
"Well, this guy was in a drug ring he's terrorized people for years. I killed him because he killed others..." He smiled "Actually, that's not why. I REALLY killed him to get your attention... Murder usually works... My question to you is-" He caught Maura's glance look up to the roof.
He popped a shot up to the man on the roof without looking.
That's probably why he missed.
"Listen, I'm not an enemy... Yet...Let's talk about this inside, why don't we?"

When they made it to the actual drug lord's room, it was impossible to ignore the gore.
There were dozens of dead men and women lying all on the floor.
In front of the chair was the boss himself lying dead on the floor.
He started dragging the bodies slightly to the side of his chair.
He propped his feet up on the sinister dogpile and said, "So, beautiful, start from the beginning... Why are these crazy dudes chasing you?"
He pulled an apple out of his pocket and began eating it.

She followed him because she thought it would be less dangerous to follow him than stay outside. Wrong.

Maura had seen death before, just never on such a grand scale as it was in this little room of previously living, supposed drug lords. In a word it was... Odious. The sight was awful, the coppery smell was disgusting, and she was pretty sure she had to step over a severed limb to get the place with the least about of bodies. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the young man as he literally threw together a pile of cut up, burnt, and shot bodies to use them as a footstool. It was grossly disrespectful, she thought, but since this guy was apparently a basket case she thought better of pointing that out. Instead she just looked for a wall not splattered in blood and decided to make that her escape route if the need should arise.

Her eyes narrowed at him boldly when he remarked on her physical appearance, but made sure to think before answering him. He was obviously dangerous. He popped out of nowhere, and he was crazy. Did she really want to let him know that much? No. Did she have a choice? Also no.

After roughly swallowing a few times, only the truth came out, "I don't know.... exactly." She started in her well practiced American accent, arms crossing defensively over her middle. Maura made sure to keep her chin tilted slightly up and her eyes only on the man and not the gore, "My best guess would be that I either have stolen something from them, or know too much about someone that now wants me dead."

Dire took note of the extreme discomfort Maura was showing to this scenario.
Sadly, it made him smile.
He looked around at the gore, half paying attention to Maura and half paying attention to her looks.
Then he had an idea.
"Mkay, toots... This is how this story goes... Dashing mercenary- that's me- helps damsel in distress- that's you- kill all the bad guys, then the damsel falls madly in love with the merc. Am I wrong?"
He walked over to the door and pulled oneof his flaming katanas.
"You'd better have a way to get out cuz' it aint through here."
He stabbed a katana through the door and a yell rung out.

Maura should have been expecting such crass statements, but she hadn't been around people of his sort too much, so she wasn't. Honestly she usually played the 'back off, or you might not wake up tomorrow' vibe pretty well when being so openly... hit on. But her situation really didn't allow for such an attitude.

His swift murder of a probable killer on the other side of the door quickly brought her back down to earth.

"A way out..." She echoed with a hint of suspicion.

 This guy obviously had some sort of Metahuman powers, what with his flaming swords and apparent instinct. So there was no doubt in her mind that he knew they were surrounded. Meaning her powers were the most viable option of escape. Meaning he knew about her powers. How he came to know about them was beyond Maura, and put Dire unknowingly under a very powerful microscope. She would take his offer for help. As long as he didn't try to pull any wool over her eyes, that is.

"Alright. I can get us out of here if you can keep these creeps off of us the rest of the way. We can talk about romantics afterwards." She said after doing some calculations on her head and deciding this was, unfortunately, her best option. Maura walked casually as she could, probably stepping on a disembodied hand along the way, to the wall she'd scoped out earlier. With her open palm pressed against it it began to shake and wobble under the strain of losing density. She gestured towards it with her free hand, "It's like walking through water. After you."

Dire grinned when she said romantics.
"So that's not NOT off the table!"

He began to use the flames of his katana to weld the door shut...
Until he realized the door was wood.
"Shiiiit...."
He mumbled as he stepped back a little bit.
He ran over to his dogpile and lit it with the magical flames.
A strange, crimson fire rose off the bodies.
"Man, that's gonna smell."He remarked whilst stepping through.

When he stepped out, he saw an alley.
Similar to the one behind the record store.
There were two groups of four men closing on them rapidly.
He knew where he was going, he just needed to know if he could make.
He hurredly took her hand and concentrated on his destination, causing both their vision to black out.

When their vision returned, they were on top of a different building about 1 mile away from where they were.
He swung down into the open window of a closed murder scene.
There was blood all over the floor and looked like it started on the bed.
He pulled the sheets off and found a bloody knife.
"That's kind of a turn-off in bed... How the hell'd they miss this?"
He launched it at the wall so it'd stick.
He then flipped the mattress over to the cleaner side and said, "Sue me..." before flopping onto the bed.

"So... About those romantics..." He joked.

Maura wasn't fond of being literally dragged around as soon as she followed Dire through the wall, plus the sudden use of teleportation wasn't pleasant either. It made her stomach flip. She watched Dire jump without thought off of the building and into a window below.  After the nausea wore off, she followed him easily, not daunted by the height or acrobatics.

The room itself almost made her groan in annoyance, but she pushed that down. "So I'm guessing blood and death are kind of your thing?" She deadpanned as he flung a knife at a wall and flipped the bloodied mattress over. Her green stare remained passive until she realized what he had said and was doing.

"Sorry, pal, but this whole room is a turn-off." Obviously this guy was a basket case, but he did just get her out of trouble... for the moment. So she decided to play nice as long as she could manage. She didn't want to be on Dire's bad side, after all. But she wasn't one to be played around with, either. How could she by this guy, anyways? He did try to solder a wooden door.

She walked over to where the knife he'd thrown was and yanked it from the wall. A lot of the dried blood on it had chipped off when it hit the wall, and she flipped the shiny blade over in her hand as she made her way back to the bed and sat on it, not looking at Dire.

"Thank you, for the help, but..." She started, taking the knife's blade between two of her fingers and making it as brittle as she could. With a flick of her wrist the stainless steel blade snapped in half as if it were made of styrofoam, "I need to get out of New York. I don't really have time for... this. As much as I wish I could go it alone, I'm a bit outmatched out there. What would it take for you to escort me over to my apartment? I can find a way out from there."

As she spoke, she made sure to glance towards the lounging man every once in a while, still breaking the knife into smaller and smaller bits.

Dire unclipped his cloak, and made a face.
"Uh, is that knife snapping supposed to be scary?"

He sat up next to Maura and smiled warmly, "I'll take you wherever the hell you'd like to go, but did you ever consider that those dudes prolly have your house locked up like a frog's butt. What I propose, is you and I go penetrate their defenses and give them a happy surprise..."
He winced "I mean... We'll get into wherever they came from and kill them all... I was mixing up what I wanted us to do too."
He nudged her playfully and got up.
The murder victim had a stereo system, and he wanted to take advantage of it.
He plugged his phone up and started playing Crazy by Patsy Cline.
He grabbed two glasses and poured some wine.
"Did you know, I can't get drunk?"

Maura frowned at the broken knife at Dire's comment. "Nervous habit, actually. She mumbled, not having meant to be scary, and kind of embarrassed that it hadn't been scary for some reason. She tossed the pieces onto the floor. Apparently Dire was ignoring her comment when she had said she didn't have time for this stuff. It was quite exasperating, and yet...

She didn't know if it was the stress, the music, or, more likely, how incomperhensible this guys was, but Maura found her lips twitching. Seriously. She shouldn't be feeling like she should laugh when she was sitting on the bed of  a murder victim, being chased down by random guys who were popping up like Tribbles, and stuck with an insane bodyguard. She was feeling stupidly giddy like she was on an adrenaline high and could only blame it on the guy in front of her. So, she assumed to get rid of that feeling, she had to give in first and let it run its course. Staying alert and ready to see what Dire's end-game was, Maura stood.

"Interesting. Did you know, I've never been drunk?" She asked quite sarcastically as she dropped her guarded act and elegantly came over to take one of the two glasses. She remembered something about the three 's' words when tasting wine, but decided sipping was the only one she could remember as she drank a bit of the red marlot, "It's not exactly the same, but it's similar. I've also never been chased through a city like this before, or seen anyone try to weld a wooden door shut, or been asked to dance."

The last one was a lie, but she glanced to Dire as she said it to emphazise her point. If she could guess two things about this man, it was that he didn't like things to be boring, and he liked people being dead. So, "I've also never been drunk while killing people and dancing in the place where they died. So if that's what you're offering, I'm all for it." With that, she took a swig of wine. "How were you planning on finding the nest?"

Dire was surprised, almost scared of the sudden change of demeanor.
He almost let it show, but being a world-class mercenary taught him one thing: Don't let all of your emotions show.

He forced down all the wine and pulled her into a slow dance. He knew he was phenomenal at every form of dance, so he was sure Maura would be surprised.
"Well, I don't pay attention to doors. I just put fire on them and see what happens." He grinned.

He made a face.
"I'm not sure how... Maybe interrogate the location out of one of the guys?"

He surveyed her for a moment, then before he could be called a creep for staring, he said: "Do you mind me asking where you're from? You're American is stellar, but it seems to not really fit you."
As he spun her around.

Maura went silent for a moment as she appreciated the fine dancing, which she could only reciprocate about half as well. She was no strange to dance, but she wasn't as practiced in the slow kind. She was almost as surprised to know of his dancing skill as she was to realize just how sharp his intuition was.

"Dios mío, you are clever." She breathe, just barely audible, in a light Latin accent as she let herself be spun. She managed to grab her half empty glass of wine and take another sip of it before she was pulled back in. She wasn't about to let this crazy, well practiced in dance, young man know everything about her in one evening of murder, dance, and wine. But, it did make the words come easier when she let them flow in her native accent, "I'm afraid I can't say. Maybe you can guess."

She put an arm over his shoulder lazily as they danced, making the distance between them nearly nonexistent, "Though, from what I have learned about American culture, the first personal question somebody asks is usually their name." She was fishing for information petty openly st this point and didn't really care. If she was going to trust this guy, for now, she needed to know something about him other than his antics and dancing prowess.

Dire's eyes widened as she spoke in her native language, he couldn't which accent was prettier.
"Oh well that just adds to the beauty."

Dire would have flinched if he wasn't so close to the woman.
His name became a touchy subject.
He had told pretty much every hero he's met, but he almost regretted it.
The only thing was, he didn't really have anyone to lose.
"Malik... The name's Malik. But I'm better known as Dire... Could your name be revealed, or are you just gonna stay as beautiful?"
He started to realize he was having a little too much fun.
He hadn't had a dance that he actually meant like this since freshman year.
That was probably his biggest weakness...
A pretty face and some skin contact.

"Malik, hmmm." She tasted the name on her lips for a moment before deciding it had an Arabic flavor to it. Maybe Egyptian? Or she could be completely wrong. Either way she stayed silent regarding her intuition and decided that it was only polite to answer him in full, "Maura, or lesser known as Void. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dire."

She felt a flicker of hesitation pass through her that didn't quite escape her gaze as she looked up to the taller man. She still wasn't completely sure that she should be trusting Dire with all that she had thus far, but it was pretty much set in stone already that he was going to be an ally. So as the song began winding down, she drew her arm down from his shoulder and let it lightly brush the side of his arm, looking away towards the window. That adrenaline high sure was wearing off quick, "Now about my apartment and this half baked  game plan of yours-"

It only took half a second for Maura to recognize the end of a gun pointing at her from the window in the building across from the one they currently danced in, and only half a second more for her to regain that adrenaline rush. "Down!" She hissed between her teeth as she grabbed onto Dire's shirt and did her best to yank him to the floor with her as she hit the deck herself. Hopefully the added weight of a sweater with the density of Platinum helped to that end. In a matter of moments bullets were raining through the open window.