Twenty-Eight Hours Later (Coldheart, Mockingbird, AU)

[BWS2K]

Kateri Deseronto awoke to an overcast morning. An autumn chill lay upon New York City which went a long way to covering up the smell, but it couldn't hide it completely. Nothing could. It wasn't just death - that was something a person could learn to steel themselves against. This was more.

This was the acrid lingering smell of decay.

If yesterday's encounter was any indication, something big had happened while Kateri had been unconscious in the hospital. It wasn't just a metaphor - as she made her way carefully through the deserted streets, noticing all the telltale signs of supers having battled haphazardly without care for collateral damage or innocents caught in the crossfire, she could begin to see the enormous skeletal remains of... someone. The name, like so many others, eluded her for the moment. A cosmic giant. World-eater. It's tattered purple garb swayed gently in the cool breeze.

Power was obviously out across the city and Kateri had no idea where to even start looking for survivors. Until the sound of nearby battle broke the eerie morning silence. Drawing her swords, she moved into a jog to investigate further...

[dreamer]

Bobbi woke up that morning, an eerie peace in the air which she knew wouldn't last. The world had gone crazy, seemingly overnight and Bobbi feared that she was the only one alive. Her days were very similar, she would leave her hideout and hunt for food, then cook and eat before setting out to do two things: search for survivors and fight those who have turned, or at least she assumed they had. She honestly didn't know for sure and had been toying with the idea of trying to capture one to study it, but she hadn't been able to as of yet.

She slipped out of her shelter and quietly made her way down the street, not getting far before being jumped by two undead, or zombies, whatever they were, and Bobbi quickly brought out her staff and started whacking her targets with it. She wanted to keep at arms distance, she did not want to get bitten by them or infected, but she also wanted to keep them from circling her, which was difficult as she was just one person. Just then, she heard the crunch of footsteps and was at once excited and terrified, if that was another person, then she hoped they knew how to fight. "Hello?" she called out, cursing as two more zombies emerged from a nearby alleyway.

[BWS2K]

Sound just seems to travel faster in the crisp morning air.

Kateri had heard the ex-supers speak before - low guttural snarls and raspy gnashing that approximated human speech - but this noise was different. This was actually another person calling for help. As she rounded the corner and took in the scene, it became clear that whoever it was was about to become breakfast.

Not on Coldheart's watch.

Leaping into action, she sprinted towards the fray and, spotting the pair of attackers emerging from the alley, slid across the asphalt and deftly sliced through four kneecaps. It wouldn't stop them, of course, but between the sudden loss of lower legs and the cryonic paralysis effect of Coldheart's swords it would slow them down for a bit. She used her remaining momentum to tuck into a roll and pop up next to the other woman: "Good morning," she said in the almost comically casual tone of one fighter greeting another in the middle of battle.

Her twin swords gave a low hum and cast a pale blue glow, ready for more work.

[dreamer]

Bobbi was shocked as another human approached, with two swords and casually said good morning! "Good morning" she replied, quickly being drawn back into the fight as the zombies launched right at her. Spinning her staff, she let it fly and it hit two zombies one right after the other in the face, "Yes!" she exclaimed, giving a final death kick to one of the shambling remains of what used to be a person before diving for her staff.

She then turned around to face the other person who had joined her to check to make sure she was okay and saw that this other person had sliced the legs off of the other two zombies, so she ran past her and used her staff like a golf club, even yelling out "Fore!" as the head went flying. Yes, she felt bad about having to kill what probably had been super powered heroes but at least up till now she hadn't had to fight anyone she'd known before. Then she turned back to see what her fellow fighter was up to and if she needed help.