A hero never has regrets., Avery x Cole

[Avery Simmons]

Avery snuggled deeper into her coat, trying her very hardest to seem small and insignificant. The zombies were coming, and she didn't have the firepower to hold them back. There was an intense hatred within her for these creatures, and her lip curled into a snarl.

Avery. Be careful.
Azrael, her daemon, was probably flying overhead. The eagle was rather overprotective of her, and she hoped he would stay away from the zombies who were chasing her. For Azrael's sake- she couldn't live without him.

They were coming closer, and she ducked into an alley, hoping that they'd lost her. With no gun. Avery lowered her hands to her sides, curling her hands. She had discovered a few days ago that when she did this, talons like Azrael's took the place of her hands.
"I'm as careful as you are, Az."

[Shutter]

Visio defeated thanks to the help of a friend, Cole had slowly started to regain what he once was. He'd slowly started to return his form to that of the marine that he'd once been. Back to his self from before Alex had died. It was a lot of eating, a lot of sleeping, a lot of exercise, a lot of killing Zombies. But the end result certainly justified the means. He was back to that status of what the NINE feared so much. The creature that they had come to hate and to hunt. And he was angry. Angry because of what had been taken from him, and angry because of what was being taken.

The great United States. His mother, his country, his people. Overrun by freaking zombies. No, he couldn't stand that. Guns. He'd raided an old military base and acquired all of the weapons an ammunition he could possibly need. And after that? He set to work on inventing something. The perfect weapon for Zombie's was anything that could put something through their head. So he created a weapon that would fire rods from long range to pierce the head of a zombie. With a large clip, he was perfectly ready.

The city was overrun but there were still people here. He teleported right into the alley that Avery was in, but walked forward away from her, his new weapon attached to each of his arm. At the mouth of the alley, he stopped and lifted his arms, aiming them both ways and starting to fire by squeezing the triggers in the palms of his hands. Rods flew out of the weapons and into zombie heads. It was time to kill zombies.

[Avery Simmons]

Her muscles were bunching, shifting to be ready to pounce, waiting to strike. Her muscle mass had shifted along with her bone structed. She was primed to fight. A man descended into her alley, striking out. Now, Avery had hope and help. A smirk slipped over her lips, and using speed and vision that she shouldn't have possessed, she lunged forward and around this newcomer, using her claws to slash at their skulls and necks.

Her breathing was heavy, hatred in every movement. Each kill was the one who had hurt her Zephyr. Each one she tried to justify. This wasn't right! Before this new order had ruined the world, she was a Criminalist. She put away the people who did things like this. She stopped this....

But times were different, and these weren't humans she was destroying.
"Thanks, by the way." She gasped out.

[Shutter]

They dropped like flies, especially when the strange girl he didn't know came out and started slashing insanely quick. He had a hard time keeping up with her movements. His eyes didn't know where to look and where not to look. So quickly did the two of them work that the fight lasted a mere few seconds. All of the dead zombie lay on the ground. They were either slashes to pieces or had metal rods sticking out of their foreheads.

"You're welcome. But it doesn't seem you need help, hero."

Reaching behind his back he pulled out new clips for the wrist weapons and discarded the old ones. This place was big and there were a LOT more zombies to be killed. He only had these last two clips, but then he could retrain his fighting skills in hand to hand combat and duke it out with the zombies. He just had to make sure that they didn't bite him or get any of their blood on him or into him. He didn't want to turn, after all.

"Are you on a side outside of this fight?"

[Avery Simmons]

It was a mess in the alleyway- though Avery had seen much, much worse. Her head tilted as her ears picked up the rough, and angry, call of Azrael. She was practically ignoring the man next to her for the time being, though she shouldn't be. Her eyes were scanning the skies, waiting for her daemon to appear. She very much hoped that he wouldn't take offense to this man. She owed him too much to let Azrael tear into him, and that would likely only irritate the eagle even more.

His voice, however, pulled her from her reverie, and Avery smiled absently as she shook out her hands.
"I couldn't have done it without you, after all. My name is Avery, I would say that it's a pleasure to meet you, but frankly, the circumstances prevent me from doing so."

She could hear Azrael coming, and she took off her coat, shivering in the cool night air as she clumsily wrapped the leather garment around her arm, holding it up in a perch. The enormous eagle, whose clawed legs were as thick around as a ten year old's wrist, briefly landed on her arm, before moving awkwardly to the ground.
Put that coat on, woman. It's too cold for that nonsense.

Avery refused to answer, but her brown eyes met Cole's.
"Not particularly. I'm not very fond of the Nine, but I wouldn't say I've chosen a side. I'm just a Criminalist."

Hardly.

[Shutter]

"Avery. I'm known as Shutter."

Too early to be giving out his real name. He didn't know this girl, he felt no real connection to her. That wasn't to say that he couldn't because you most certainly could come to feel connected to her. Right now she was just the girl that he'd fought a bunch of Zombie's with. And now she had this giant eagle winging down to land on her arm. A magnificent bird. Needless to say, he was interested in learning more of this girl.

"Nice eagle. If I'm not mistaken, his breed is endangered."

The new clips in place he lowered his hands back to his side. Cole was back to wearing his usual gear except that he'd gone with military fatigues rather than anything else. His mask covered his eye area and only there. It did what he needed to keep people from recognizing who he really was. Added that mystery factor as well. But it did the trick.

"Going hunting for more zombies or are you one of those just trying to escape? I can help either way."

[Avery Simmons]

Avery sank to her knees in front of Azrael, stroking the feathers of his chest. As usual when Azrael was around, she wanted to just curl up with him, and pretend that none of this was happening. For his part, Azrael butted his head against her chest.
Better talk to the man.

Sighing softly, Avery stood, again turning to face Cole as she shrugged into her coat.
"Shutter? That's a rather interesting callname." She rubbed at her arms, and smiled fondly at the eagle who had shifted closer to her body heat. "This is Azrael- he's a Crowned Eagle. A very, very endangered species. Azrael, however, is....different than the others of his kind."

Avery let the silence stretch out for a minute, as she pondered the possibilities. She was not looking for trouble- fighting was not something that was high on her list of things to do, unless it was in self-defense, yet she couldn't bring herself to return to the home she'd shared with Zephyr, to sleep in a bed that still smelled of him, and to wallow in the memories.
"You're more than kind for your offer, Shutter, but I'm afraid I really have no answer. I don't fight- not unless I have to. Yet....returning home is not an option."

[Shutter]

Cole nodded his head at what she had to say. Yes, he could very well understand not going home since he didn't have a home. He was alone aside from the other members of the Valor Guard. There was nothing here for him except for his friends. He had Divenera, Raven, Rush, and the others, but they were only family, nothing more. Ever since Alex had died he'd really been alone. But there was no way for her to know that and he wasn't going to tell her.

"I can understand that. And I would recommend sticking closer to me if you don't want to fight. I'll make it so you don't have to."

A clear and perfect offer to make sure that nothing would happen to her. Would she accept or say no? If she said no he couldn't make her stay with him, but he could keep an eye on her from a distance. She was a Hero, he was sure of it, but he didn't know what her ability was or which side she was really on. She seemed good, a criminalist and all, but appearances could be deceiving.

"Shutter is my call name, yes. I'm one of the Valor Guards Guardians."

[Avery Simmons]

Avery was on the verge of refusing, not wishing to be any more of a burden than she already had been. In a pinch, she could take care of herself, and if the situation called for it, then Azrael could come to her aid. But she was tired, so very tired, of being alone. Without Zephyr or her parents, Avery had no one. She hadn't seen or heard from Kevin in months, a fact that worried her far more than it probably should have.
You should take the offer. He can keep you safe.
And you can't? Az...I don't want to put myself in a position where this man can take advantage of me.
I like him.

This drew a startled glance from Avery. It had taken months for Azrael to warm up to Zephyr, and the notion of Avery and Zephyr being anything more than friends. Yet somehow, in the less that twenty minutes Avery had known this strange man, her daemon liked him. It threw her off of her stride, and she looked away, trying to calculate everything in her mind. Was this really such a good idea? Avery didn't even have anywhere to go, beyond the hope that at some point she could stumble into a tree, and that Azrael who didn't require sleep could watch over her.

But, she was getting lonely, and this might be the solution to that.
"A Valour Guard? Impressive." Her soft welsh accent drew the words out, and she smiled vaguely. "I appreciate the offer, although I should warn you, that I've nowhere to go. Nothing but myself and my overgrown bird."

Avery laughed softly as a disgruntled Azrael ruffled his feathers, and took to the air.

[Shutter]

Cole watches the bird as it flies away, appreciation hidden from sight behind the eyes of his mask, though the birds vision might be able to pick up on it. He knew this bird without knowing this bird. It was a part of her and it was her closest friend. He would look out for the bird as much as he did for her because he sensed the tie. But what would she think of the fact that he did? No, he wouldn't say it.

"He is magnificent. And he cares for you." He smiles at her. "Don't worry about it. We'll find somewhere to stay."

Motioning for her to walk with him, he started out at a slow pace, meandering between the bodies of the living dead, now just the dead. These creatures, spawned from a disease. They were unnatural and they all had to be eradicated. But could that be done? It would take years. Many, many years, but it could be done. They would do it because they had to. If they wanted to survive there was only one way.

"You are lucky to have him. There's nothing more important than friends."

[Avery Simmons]

Avery wished that she could correct Shutter's statement. Azrael was more than magnificent, and he was certainly more than her friend. He was her soul made tangible. He knew her in a more intimate way than anyone ever could. They shared their thoughts, their breath, their heartbeat. Their very existances were tangled up with one another.
"Friends are very important. I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Azrael." She flashed a grin to the masked man. "Or for you."

Stop flirting.
I am not flirting!
Mhmm.

[Shutter]

"You seemed quite capable of handling things without me. I'm sure you would have been fine."

There wasn't anything else to say about it. He killed Zombies to kill them. She was going to kill them for survival. Had he really been there to help her? No, but it had played out in his favor as that was what he did. It was what he lived to do. Helping people, protecting people. It was what Alex wanted him to do. What she would want him to keep doing. She would want him to move on as well, but that was slow in coming. He needed the right girl.

"How long have you been here running from the zombies? Or, rather, how long have you been without a home?"

[Avery Simmons]

"I would have been alright for awhile, but not for much longer than that. I would have been overwhelmed." It was the truth- she was fast and powerful, but only for short periods of time, and only if she could prevent her hollow bones from shattering.

"Well, the first.....attack came about two months back. They hit my lab, and I got away, thanks to Azrael. I guess they followed me home, because later that night they killed my boyfriend and our dog. I killed those zombies, and managed to live in that home for awhile, but...I couldn't stay anymore. I haven't had a place to sleep in three days now."

[Shutter]

He didn't wince when she mentioned the loss of her boyfriend. He knew her pain. But it wasn't something that was easy either. Would he put her off by mentioning his own struggles? Possibly, but to build a potential friendship one had to first offer up some sort of information, right? She couldn't hurt him with the truth of the matter. Not anymore than he had already been hurt. Either way, he was going to try his best to at least be a friend while he kept her safe. Let her make a move if she wanted more.

"There was an attack years ago in the southwest. The Valor Guard was assaulted by the NINE. I lost my wife and unborn child in the attack. I know what it's like to lose someone you're close to."

What he was saying was that he knew what it was like to lose someone that you loved. But he couldn't say that out loud. There was no desire to make her upset, no desire to make her cry. He didn't like to see beautiful women cry. It tore him apart.

[Avery Simmons]

Her hand slowly came to rest on his arm, a gentle but comforting touch. Her pain was great, but it seemed that his was much greater- despite the length of time since his wife's death, it would be a difficult matter. It also explained some of why he had jumped in to defend her as he had. Part of why he was a hero. Avery wouldn't cry- it was neither in her nature, nor did her cold and scientific mind acknowledge a need for the tears that wouldn't help.

But that didn't mean that the pain wasn't evident in her large brown eyes.

"That would have been very difficult for you. I'm sorry for your loss, but I think that she would be proud of you. Everyone knows that the Valor Guard is trying to set things to rights, and if she was as deserving of your love as she obviously was, then she would be proud of how well you've stayed together, and what you have done with your life." It was what she had always wanted to say to her father, what she had wished he could understand. It was the very concept that kept her moving, when all she wanted to do was lay down and give up.

Zephyr wouldn't want her to, and so she couldn't. After a moment, she moved her hand, trying to keep her senses alert and focused enough that she wouldn't be too much of a hindrance or a burden to the hero beside her.