Raging Inferno (Open to heroes/Avengers)

[Deleted]

This was not how this day was supposed to go, it was not what he had wanted that day.

Dante had been taking a calming walk around Manhattan, trying to clear his mind of recent events after returning to the Big Apple and expecting to maybe avoid confrontation. Sure, most times he’d condone it, even starting trouble just because he could. But the Inhuman for now was trying to avoid trouble because he wasn’t in the mood for it. And things had been going quite well until he had stopped at a vendor with several others to get something to eat. But the plasmic energy emanating from his eyes had caught the attention of some hooligans loitering nearby, seeming to find some sick joy in deciding to pick a fight with a powered freak.

And boy had they let it rip. They called him names, cursed at him, even made insults about his family that he could initially ignore. But after sometime his patience was wearing thin and an insult of his sister finally snapped what little patience he had been hanging onto, especially for this insult. Pushing back his hoodie he turned on the teenagers who stumbled back with a cry of surprise as the flaming plasma energy began coming from his hands and other parts of his body, which began taking on a magma rocky look, “Now you’re going too far man, and you wanted to see a freak you’re getting one. I’ll make sure I roast all three of you to ash, very slowly and very painfully.” Dante emphasized with a low growl.

There were so many things he probably could have done right now, turned away, shrugged off their insults, punched them, probably anything less than this would have been better. But people stared in utter shock while others took off screaming, terrified of the young man before them. There was rage coming off him and an inferno literally roaring inside him as his eyes glowed with the same energy and he stepped forward in a threatening manner, glaring down the goons who fall back in shock, too frozen with terror to make a move against him.

Though they probably couldn’t do much anyhow with the heat literally rolling off the young man, even to the point it burned away some of his clothing and his skin showing more and more to be turning into a molten, rough rock with cracks forming. It was obvious Dante’s intent was murder, standing merely a few feet away from the men as he prepared to fire an energy blast. But that was until something sent him off his feet, stumbling and tumbling head over heels for a moment and it took longer before he could figure out which way was where and finally spotting the source of what had caught him.

[Deleted]

This week felt like it had gone by exceptionally slow, dragging on and on until she had grown restless for the day of the interview. Usually Corrine could be patient, maybe even try to keep herself distracted but with this possibly affecting her future she could barely find herself sleeping, much less being able to focus on relaxing. The first day had been a bit of distraction when she met Pietro, probably one of the few decent and nice New Yorkers there that she had met thus far, but most of this place wasn’t exactly full of accepting, nice people.

Two days had passed since then and Corrine had finally gone for her interview, feeling that same nervousness the entire time and feeling she had done alright, but the panel still was always the rough part. Having left the department she had been applying for though, Corrine now felt she could get some relaxation in at last, luckily only a few blocks away from the hotel she had been staying for the duration she was there. What was more everything seemed to be rather calm today, just the usual heavy traffic and hustle and bustle of New York, seemingly devoid of a crime in this area and people minding their own business as she went. Maybe the city wasn’t as bad as the rumors…

That thought immediately went down the drain as she heard screaming from across the block and around the corner, causing her to wonder what was going on. Luckily she was wearing flats with her nice outfit because this would have been rather difficult as she sprinted across the way with her ionic gases billowing behind, shifting around traffic until she reached where most had run from, eyes widening as she saw what was going on. Around the corner a molten rock man spewing flames from his form was looming over three young teenagers, seemingly frozen with terror among others by the vendor. And he didn’t exactly look friendly, his words making a chill run down her spine with realizing his intent just now.

Slipping to an alley, Corrine changed her clothes from her interview ready to that of Aegis, a makeshift costume she wore when such things arose. Placing her nice clothes within her pack and keeping it within a space among some boxes she quickly hurried out to face this unknown powered being, obviously furious about something the teenagers did. Trouble makers or not though she couldn’t let him kill them, or roast them alive as it were. Instead she returned to the corner, peering through her visor glasses, and slapping her hands together to trigger a discharge of her ionic energy, causing a strong enough wave to knock Dante back, stumbling over himself as she moved to try and get the civilians out of their frightened stupor. “Don’t just stand there! You have to move!” Corrine yelled to them, finally causing them to snap back to reality and some indeed getting away but not before Dante had gotten back on his feet, even more furious than he had been before.

“This isn’t your business hero! Now leave!” Dante snarled, not that he cared to wait for her to comply or respond, immediately firing streams of plasmic fire from his hands directly towards her and the remaining civilians. Fearing more for the civilians than herself, Corrine’s immediate reaction was manipulating her ionic gases to expand outward quickly before solidifying into a glass-like transparent “shell” around herself and the civilians that remained, and luckily the gases exuded enough to do so as she felt the heated energy strike the dome, forcing her to condense more to keep it strong. But she could feel the flames begin to wrap around the ionic dome, licking at it’s surface and heating up the inside, making Corrine already start to sweat from the heat.

“Where are the heroes when you need them?” Corrine uttered under her breathe.

[Pietro Maximoff]

Pietro had been bored, not much had gone on the the ways of the Avengers that week. So to say that they didn’t have anything going on was rare and he didn’t like that idea settling in that there was nothing to do. He found himself walking down one of the city blocks further down town. There were tons of people down town with the hustling and bustling that was going on. He couldn’t help but admire one woman as she was looking at the special necklaces and gems that were sitting in the display place. “Heay there beautiful, you come here often admiring gems? Maybe I can even help you out.” He asked as he sped over towards her side as she looked shocked at how quickly she appeared. But it was clear the flirting didn’t settle well with the other girl. “Will you get away?! I already have a boyfriend!” She said slapping Pietro in the face before he could get another word in and he looked stunned and disappointed as she walked down the road without looking at him.

“Well that was a waste of time.” Pietro said rubbing his face where the woman slapped him. She must’ve had a brick or something in her purse since it was certainly not light weight. As the speedster looked around he noticed that some of the other people were running in terror and scream like they had just seen a ghost. But it wasn’t a ghost that they were worried about. As Pietro looked down one of the city blocks he could see something like lava and flames coming out. “So now the bad guy decides to come and show himself.” He said with his quick talk. He quickly took off down the further blocks to see what was going on and as he got closer he began to take it all in on what was going on.

“Heay look out kid!” He called out grabbing one of the kids that happened to watch and was a nearby bystander. He grabbed the kid by the collar before some of the lava went in his direction and would’ve probably killed him without his quick reaction time. “Woah you went so fast! You’ve got super speed!” The kid said rather excitedly as Pietro sighed.

“As much as I’d love to brag you need to get home kid. This isn’t safe.” He said and the older speedster put him down before the boy went looking for his mom and to stay away from this area. As he looked back after making sure the kid got into a safe area Pietro couldn’t help but look up noticing that someone else was also protecting some of the humans. And she looked familiar. “Corrine is that you?” Pietro half asked, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure on who it was, well mostly because the flames that were there. Well if he remembered one thing from his time out in Germany flames couldn’t survive without oxygen for long, so maybe he could at least quench the flames for a bit on this inferno guy. “Heay big bad and ugly I doubt you can catch me!” He called out as he began to pick up some speed in hopes to not only get Dante’s attention but also to start a tornado, that was one of his favorite super powers.

[Deleted]

Dante was relentless in the plasmic flames, never letting up and even moved closer as the energy emanated from his form. There was a kind of pride in what he could do, knowing most could not stand against him for very long and even with a shield like this they surely would fade in strength. He just had to keep a steady stream and temperature and either they would cook inside or finally snap and be consumed in fire. “You can’t keep up that shield for long, sooner or later you’re going to have to give out.” Dante called, his voice taunting towards the woman, watching her visibly grit her teeth and strain against the obvious growing temperature inside.

They were beginning to sweat, even maybe become a be dehydrated thanks to the temperature he could create. The longer they kept this up though Dante knew he might eventually burn himself out, but he just had to last for a while longer until the powered woman lost all strength and collapsed before he did. But someone else calling to him caused Dante to temporarily lose power behind the flames, glancing back in time to see Pietro race past but not enough to see who it was entirely. Nor did he really care to know. All Dante wanted was to burn someone to a crisp and the new comer was more than willing to offer himself up, “You’re going to regret those words speedster, and your attempt to kill my flames aren’t going to help. I don’t need oxygen to keep my flames alive.” Dante sneered, seeming to further fuel his own ego that he didn’t have to try hard to gain an upper hand.

Being completely consumed in his flames and left in a burned, rocky state at last, it seemed quite clear that this battle may be one-sided, or so it appeared. With the plasmic fire come from the cracks forming in the rock and from the rest of his body, Dante let out a wave of flames from his body, trying to casting it outward to strike Pietro. But the flames didn’t get as far as he had expected, but rather most of it seemed blown back in his direction which surprised the Inhuman. Pietro was already running at speeds that was making it difficult for him to use his flames properly, even causing it to remain stationary of where he stood. Such a realization caused Dante to snarl in rage, trying to cast all his flames outwards in a large fireball.

But doing so was slowly causing his own body to be consumed, burning and crumbling in small areas, his flames literally starting to turn his body to a burnt husk.

[Deleted]

The heat was becoming too much too fast, almost unbearable to the point Corrine could feel herself becoming weak. Her and hear never mixed well, and from the corner of her eyes she could see the New Yorkers weren't fairing much better, especially not when the dome's inside was becoming almost blistering by now. The flames were continuous, unrelenting, and harsh, and the one behind it all seemed to take pleasure in the suffering he was causing which made Corrine wonder just what sort of sick person he truly was. He even got closer, the sneer being the only indication of how much he was enjoying this as only plasmic, fiery energy emanated from his eyes and most of his form, giving him a rather hellish look in her opinion.

She could even hear him mocking her, mentally probably trying to weaken her resolve while she physically struggled to maintain her ionic shielding. Her hands were up, arms burning from the strain and her knees were beginning to give way as dehydration was settling in as well as the heat reaching down to her very core, causing her to pant and feeling copious amounts of sweat beginning to form. Just how hot was this guy's flames? Much less how long could he keep this up? Probably longer than she could keep the shape of her ionic "shell", knowing eventually heat exhaustion and dizziness from the dehydration would settle in entirely. Maybe on a normal day it would take a few hours on an exceptionally heated day to reach that point or going for long periods of time without some form of liquid to drink. But this was just downright torture, with the intent to kick them alive either from inside or when she failed in her strength. It took all her focus right now not to do so, gritting her teeth and forcing herself to stand on shaky legs.

Finally, it seemed her question was answered as she heard a familiar voice. Though she heard the inquiry, Corrine couldn't let he concentration waver just yet. She only shook her head, unable to see if Pietro had seen it to show she couldn't answer, and probably couldn't anyway. Her throats and mouth felt drier than a dessert, as if she hadn't drank anything in days. But his timing couldn't have been more perfect and Dante's attention was aimed towards him, giving them much needed break they needed. The shield going down Corrine licked her lips and grabbed a water from the vendor's cart, gulping down half a water before she could speak, "Go while you can, come on!" Corrine said hoarsely, watching them scramble due to weakness but taking shelter in the nearest buildings nevertheless. She hoped with the civilians out of the way it could give them a chance to handle a threat like Inferno, but Corrine had to down more water to cool her body but could feel the drain on her reserves as it was.

"Pietro be careful! His flames, they aren't something to joke about!" She called, her voice a bit stronger and finally able to speak to confirm it was indeed her. But her entire body felt shaky, weak, and she could feel some nauseous settling in she had to try to keep down.

[Pietro Maximoff]

Pietro did his best to try and avoid the oncoming flames from Dante, but he knew that this guy wasn’t anything to joke about. As he ran he could feel the speeds pick up around him, his hair was growing a bit messy now (He really should consider thinking about bringing a comb with him more often) but even he could feel the sweat coming off of his face and his breathing was a bit harsher as he went. But he still didn’t give up as he went. “Looks like I made one mistake already, I’ll try not to do it again.” He said to himself as he kept running and he tried to keep in mind on what Corrine had said too.
He needed to be careful of the flames.

As he ran, he could feel the wind speeds picking up but was it enough for the flames? However as Pietro went he made one mistake of getting too close, one flame struck him in the shoulder which made him loose his footing as he skidded to a halt. The pain had been so bad to where he felt it, it was so awful that he had to stop.

“That is going to leave a mark.”He managed to say he lost his footing and his feet and fell to the ground; the wind pushed him a bit as he grasped the injured hand. He dared himself not to look at the fierce burn but he had felt worse than that but he knew he might as well have gotten some road rash from it as well. As Pietro looked up he could see that Corrine was doing to help the other civilians. If he couldn’t stop Dante at least he could try and get them out of harm’s way before things got too bad. Even worse, they’d have to evacuate some of New York City street blocks to make sure this guy didn’t hurt anyone.

“I don’t get it, Dante why are you so mad towards these people anyways? They are innocent. I mean look around you, the city is crumbling beneath your feet and there will be nothing to stand on.” Pietro said as he glanced at his skin seeing that he probably had two to third degree burns right there. Wanda probably would’ve yelled him for getting to be so reckless. And he wasn’t sure that the fire engine would be able to arrive enough time get the fire put out, but he did notice one thing in case he had to do it, he could see that there were fire hydrants put at every block. Maybe they could help?

[Deleted]

Watching as his flames did in fact meet their mark, Dante waited for a moment to allow the wind to settle down before he made any attempts to move. That took time though, and he could feel his body beginning to feel heavy, hot, and on the verge of breaking apart. His form could only take so much before he showed literal signs of burn out. The flames having been sent back on his own form and stationary had only accelerated the process which made his time all the more limiting at this rate.

Ignoring the heroes now, the young man instead turned his attentions back towards the antagonizers from before. Unfortunately, Pietro's distraction had allowed for the three hooligans to escape and the rest of the civilians as well, allowing them a chance for safety which infuriated Dante even more. These heroes had done nothing but become a bother and nuisance, stealing his chance for revenge or teaching those teenagers a lesson in what they were saying. His flames seemed to renew in strength then as he turned towards them, mainly Pietro who seemed to going about asking why he had done such a thing. "You weren't here to hear what those little bastards said! You wouldn't understand why regular people such as them need to know their place beneath people like us!" Dante yelled, his flames spewing from his eyes, mouth, and cracks in his form. But it was clear his rage and powers were getting out of control, the ground already beginning to crack and partly melt beneath him as he moved towards the speedster.

No,how would heroes like Pietro and the girl understand? They were helping the people that obviously cared little for them, calling them freaks of nature and several other insults, even going so far as to do such things towards their family as well. But Dante wouldn't have it! These humans, those who remained normal or were normal would never understand what it was like to have powers, to lack control, to have to decide what was best for those you loved; they assumed that they already had the answers and that they could bully the powered community into submission. It was time they started seeing now everyone bowed down towards such thinking.

"Seeming as I can't exact my real revenge though, suppose you will have to suffice hero." Dante said towards Pietro, charging a fireball in hand as he seemed to ignore Pietro's words. Quite frankly, he didn't care to listen as he prepared to throw the fireball right at the speedster. he had gotten him once, he could get him again. But before he could so much as throw the fireball he suddenly heard a rumbling before the ground gave out beneath him, sending Dante crying out in surprise to crash into the sewer waters below.

[Deleted]

Corrine didn't know what to do for the moment, seeming to be unable to do much except make sure there were no more civilians lurking around. Pietro's vortex prevented her from doing anything close range and using her discharges would only caused Pietro to be hurt before Dante was. All she could do now was wait, hoping that maybe somehow the flames would stop but they continued, making her crush the now empty water bottle in frustration with seeing there was more to Dante's flames then expected. If it was anyone else then there likely wouldn't have been an issue in extinguishing those flames at all.

But her eyes widened as she watched Pietro not only get struck by the hot flames but also go skidding along the ground from the speeds he ran at. This was starting to get out of hand from what the young woman could see, biting her lip subconsciously as she tried to think, there had to be something, anything to use to get this guy to calm down or to cool off. Her eyes looking towards the fire hydrants but feeling they might take too long to get going, much less actually hit Dante himself. But something Pietro said caused her to pause a moment, taking in the ground around Dante's feet which were literally cracked, melted, and worn down from the intense heat they had been feeling for the past several minutes. And not far from it was a sewer cover, giving her an idea then that maybe they could still use the water. "Thank you Quicksilver." Corrine muttered under her breathe as she had come to conclude who Pietro's hero alter ego was.

Moving closer to the cracks, Corrine brought her fists together above her head, letting her shell disappear despite knowing this was likely going to hurt. She then slammed the fists on the cracked ground, triggering a discharge and doing it a few more times, jumping up and dropping back down as is doing jumping squats and causing the cracked ground to rumble and break apart. Seeing Dante's concentrated plasmic flames though, Corrine gave a frustrated yell as she brought one final punch to the ground, which finally fell away and caused Dante to let out a surprised cry of his own as he disappeared beneath the broken road and into the waters below with an audible splash.

Hands aching and entire body still shaking slightly from weakness, Corrine skirted around the hole she had created and came over to Pietro with a concerned expression. "Pietro are you alright?" Corrine asked him, kneeling on one knee beside him, resting a hand on his good shoulder and cringing at the sight of the burns. "You need to get those looked at." She said with a frown, carefully grabbing his good arm and helping Pietro back to his feet as she stood up as well. But she glanced back at the opening in the ground, scooting forward to peer over and see a bunch of steam rising up from the opening.

[Pietro Maximoff]

And it was over before they knew it. With Corrine’s quick thinking she saved a lot of people from being burnt to a crisp. As Pietro looked up after his arms hurting so much, the next thing he knew was that Dante had been downed with a serious amount of water from the sewers below. That was good thinking and he was impressed too about how she managed to handle herself…maybe Corrine had it in her to become an Avenger?

“I’ll be alright, Corrine but thank you for the help.” Quicksilver assured her. “Not to mention my body’s built to withstand several poundings, especially the ones from the demanding amount of pressure from my super speed.” He said knowing the burn was probably bad but he really didn’t seem to feel it right now. Maybe it was because he was running on adrenaline; it’d wear off in a few hours at most with his metabolism but even that was still a shock.

But regardless, he knew Corrine wasn’t going to let him go without making sure that his hands were taken care of. Luckily for them some medical ambulances arrived and as well as police who were starting to secure the area off from bystanders so they wouldn’t get caught in the middle of things. “Your hand’s hurt pretty badly.” One of the female EMT’s said observing Pietro’s arm. She carefully took off his glove seeing the damage, “But don’t worry you need to keep it safe in the bandages and it should heal on its own.” She said with an assuring look as she went to her medical kit and began to pull out what looked like a healing poultice also.

“This’ll sting but it’ll help.” She said rubbing his hand carefully a bit and started to dress the wounds. He winced, his eyes a bit as it did sting, but he remained calm for the woman as she worked. And it was clear she knew what she was doing.

“You know you handled yourself out there pretty well, Corrine. Have you ever considered joining the Avengers?” Pietro asked wondering if that had ever crossed her mind. “I ask that since I joined them once Wanda and I came to the United States.” He pointed out wondering how she’d take that idea.

[Deleted]

"I don't care if your body was created to withstand a drop from the atmosphere, that was definitely not just a tumble from a regular run Pietro. And those flames were hot enough to start putting me and several civilians in the start of dehydration so I don't want to here it." Corrine said, her voice stern and showing her stubbornness. It almost felt like she was scolding her own brother who was back with her family in Atlanta, Georgia and making the young woman kick herself. Pietro was no family or her brother, but he did remind her of him in a lot of ways, especially the nonchalant attitude of hurting himself. She felt he was lucky not to have faced a much harsher burn or a wider range of burns than just his hand and arm.

But as the EMTs arrived, Corrine knew better than to get in the way, stepping back to allow the female EMT do what she needed to with handling Pietro's wound. Now that she thought about it, Corrine's own hands were extremely sore and she realized were even bleeding slightly, glancing down to find her knuckles were bruised and bloody, skin split open from the punches she had been doing. It made her cringe since the gloves she wore with the suit were fingerless and didn't offer padding around the finger areas, including the knuckles. But what choice did she have when it came to stopping a young man such as Dante?

"Hands please." A male voice snapped Corrine from her thoughts, realizing another EMT had come to examine her as well and found her hands the worst case of it though he did note her tired, weak looking state. "You need more fluids in you miss, when I get these dressed make sure to drink a few more bottles of water." The man instructed as Corrine held her hands out, wincing slightly as the man began to dab at the knuckle wounds, cleaning them of dirt and rocks from the cracked ground before applying some antibiotic to help prevent infection and help with healing. "That definitely stings." She grumbled, only earning an amused smile from the EMT as they carefully dressed the knuckles one by one so as to prevent further damage, bleeding, or irritation of the wounds. "There, just take it easy with those. They'll take time to heal fully." He said before moving to another patient.

Corrine gingerly touched the bandaged wounds, feeling the sharp sting once more and deciding to do as the man said as she came over to the down vendor cart and picked up some waters. Just as she was opening one though she about spit out the water in surprise at Pietro's suggestion of considering becoming an Avenger. It was not something she had considered at all, perhaps mused about it but never considering in actually being one. She even looked at Pietro for a long moment as she contemplated the suggestion but her serious consideration quickly turned into a quick shake of her head, "It's an offer I wouldn't mind taking up Pietro after all this." She told him, though there was an edge of uncertainty.

"But there are too many factors right now that say I wouldn't be able to. Until I know for sure I secured a position I wouldn't be able to live in the area without knowing I was securely sound." Corrine added finally after gulping down a bottle of water and tossing it into a nearby trash. "But I will accompany you back to Avengers Tower so to ensure you get there safe." She told him, faintly hearing the sound of someone pushing through the waters below, a sign that Dante was still aware but obviously in no shape to continue fighting.

[Pietro Maximoff]

“I suppose you’re right. It was kind of a bad injury. Wanda will probably kill me later for being so clumsy.” Pietro said with a soft groan, as he knew sometimes he tried to shrug off injuries. He could withstand quite a bit from his super powers, but when there was a time to draw the line, Corrine knew better now that it had already been a bad injury. He needed to stop and rest, and probably drink something while he got

It’s not every day someone got to be asked to become an Avenger. It was certainly a privilege only a select handful that were allowed to come and had special talents that would help out on the team. Pietro nodded, “I’m not lying when I asked you, Corrine. You proved yourself to be helpful here, and not to mention you saved lives.” Pietro said knowing the others probably wanted to meet Corrine or even see if she could be a part of the team. He smiled as she took off the offer, it looks like he was going to bring in a special guest, and maybe one of these days she could meet his sister. The two might have a lot of things in common, they were both independent and well spoken, he liked the both of them of course.

“Sounds like a good plan, come on then.” Pietro said as he was about ready to leave right then and there. But a voice stopped him before he moved-apparently he forgot that there was still an EMT working on his hands.

“Now I’m not done with you Mr. Quicksilver. You may be fast but an EMT needs all the time they can to patch everyone up.” The woman said with a harsh tone in her voice as Pietro stiffened. It almost sounded like she was criticizing a student or even a child. He nodded knowing he probably would have to wait just a little bit more. Finally, the woman finished dressing the wounds with the special juice, and then put on a bandage.

“Change the bandages every day to make sure they’re fresh, if you see any signs of swelling or inflammation I’d say I’d go right back to the medical area in the hospital for that.” The EMT said and she began to pack up her things. She really knew what she was doing, Pietro observed, and he nodded.

“Thanks ma’am. We should be going now. And I promise I won’t leave you in the dust with my powers. I figure walking back at a normal pace is the right way to go.” Pietro said with a soft nod. He was excited, and there was no hiding that. He began to head out of the way from the EMTs hoping that Corrine would be able to catch up with him. From the looks of things here, they’d take care of Dante and put him in jail along with any others that they could collect. As he thought about it, this whole scene seemed kind of…unnecessary but who knew except for Dante on what set the match spreading from a little fire to a gigantic inferno. That was his name after all right?