12283/Burning Tiger Burns

Burning Tiger Burns
Date of Scene:	04 August 2022
Location:	Hell's Kitchen
Synopsis:	Quake and Daredevil respond to another case of arson committed by Burning Tiger. They get the people out of the building but are not able to chase him down.
Cast of Characters:	Matthew Murdock, Daisy Johnson

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Matthew Murdock has posed:
After Daredevil and another vigilante had found and tangled with the perpetrator, there had been a lull in the fires plaguing Hell's Kitchen. Burning Tiger as the press had dubbed him, after hearing him segments of the famous William Blake poem, had gone to ground for awhile.

But the man's obsession with flames was too much to keep him away. Two new fires had broken out in the last week. These fires, the circumstances were a little different. The carefully crafted incendiary devices had been used, but without the meticulous placement that controlled how the fires spread.

Daredevil stands on the rooftop corner of a Hell's Kitchen roof. Drawing in a slow, deep breaths to scent the air for smoke or other alarming scents, the vigilante is more focused on his sense of hearing. Listening to the sounds of the city. Traffic in the surrounding blocks. Conversations happening within nearby buildings. The thud of fists hitting flesh would normally draw his attention. But tonight he's listening for other sounds. Ones that might portend the activity of Burning Tiger tonight.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
It was one of those nights that Daisy was supposed to stay back on base. Yet the mission she was supposed to go in had turned up to be a false alarm so ..., here she was coming home earlier than expected.

"Honey, I am home...!"

Her usual playful greeting joking around the fact they were anything but a normal couple. Of course that instead of a Matt she gets a Boxer instead, running between her legs and purring. She focuses again and ..., yea, he isn't home. "Well, hello there Boxer.." she scoops up the cat, bringing it with her to the living room. "Matt not home yet? I don't think he was supposed to be out so late." she looks towards the kitchen. Water and food left for the cat to last the evening. Yes, she knows where he is.

Or at least how he's dressed.

And so she gets into her own costume. Dark blue and black and in the same lines as Daredevil's own. One of Marvin's design too! And off she goes onto the rooftop to look for Matt. She focuses her own senses, looking for that particular vibration she knows intimately and could probably find anywhere. Looking for Matt.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Daredevil tilts his head slightly, focusing on a sound from a particular direction. Behind his mask, his face takes on a look of concentration as he tries to compare a sound to one he heard two days before, right before the last fire broke out.

One of the things that can break his well-developed sense of concentration, is the particular footfalls and stride of one Daisy "Quake" Johnson. As he hears those footfalls emerge onto the roof behind him, the other faint sound he was focusing on is forgotten.

"Hallo, Lucy," he says in his best Desi Arnaz voice, apparently having heard her greeting in the apartment down below. Ok it wasn't quite I Love Lucy but it made him think of it.

Daredevil turns from the city towards her, pulling off his mask as he moves over to slip his arms around her. "Thought you were going to be out most of the evening?" he asks.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Oh gosh, are we turning into a sitcom couple..?" Daisy jests when she gets up on that roof, a soft chuckle coming out her lips. "Cue audience laughter.." she adds. But then Daisy feels those arms around her and relaxes against her man, her own arms up and about his waist. She lets out a slow breath.

"Seems like I will still be out most of it." She points out in a teasing manner, "It was thankfully a false alarm, so the mission was called off." she looks out into the night and then up to Matt. "You are looking for him, aren't you?" she asks, "The firestarter, the one they call burning tiger. I have seen it in the news.."

"Think it's time we get that man to justice." She leans over to brush lips over Matt's before her hands go up and she gets Matt's mask back on, adjusting it to his face.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
No matter where they are, just feeling Daisy in his arms calms Matt. And smelling her hair and that soap she likes (with the subtle scent that she might not even notice but it's perfect for Matt's strong sense of scent). He nuzzles her cheek with his lips and nose gently before letting her go.

"Yes," he answers of what brings him out tonight. "The guy is not all there, Daisy. To hear the way he talked about flames was like... I don't know. Listening to Gollum. Just short of calling it his precious," Matt tells her.

He leaves his hand on her hip but turns back towards the city, listening. "I wasn't around for his first fire after we encountered him. The latter, I didn't really notice anything, and he was gone by the time I got there. For all the 'devil' motif I'm afraid I'm not the best dealing with-" he says, before cutting off and going more alert.

"Explosion. One of his. Incendiary," he says, and when Daisy looks the direction he's focused on, she'll be able to see a wisp of smoke starting to rise into the night sky. "Darn it," Matt says, turning and running and leaping off the building, across to the next roof, heading towards the fire.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"That's the story of many arsonists." Daisy says with a small nod, finishing to adjust the mask on Matt's face, "They are not right in the head. They need therapy, help. But many just don't know how to get it." she lets out a sigh, "We have been having some similar cases in the Inhuman communities. It's making me more aware of these problems.."

Or maybe she's just starting to get a touch more mature.

"It doesn't excuse the violence. And they need to be stopped so..." and she also turns to look over the city, hip remaining against Matt's, comfortable with the proximity, her hand resting atop his gloved hand that's around her hip.

"I am seeing smoke. We need to go.." And she starts running after Matt, lagging a bit behind as she isn't as versed in acrobatics as Matt can be. Though she begins to compensate it with some 'boost' from her vibrational powers, making her hover or propel her forward for longer jumps across buildings.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
What Daredevil lacks in superhuman physical ability he makes up for with his uncanny sense of balance. Leaping and landing on a sign, vaulting onto the next roof. Running along narrow ledges with the confidence one would have on wide open ground. Even tightrope walking at a near sprint to cross a wider street.

"Can you tell what kind of building it is?" he calls out to Quake as the draw nearer. It's an apartment building. Burning Tiger has varied what buildings he has gone after, without any particular motive yet that Matt has been able to deduce. But this is the third apartment fire out of the 7 the man has set total, including the one that Daredevil previously encountered him.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy has had a lot of training in SHIELD for sure but she is no Daredevil. Which means that while she can vault like a trained Agent, or even move through those narrow ledges in a manner that would make the envy of trained athletes it's still not enough for Daredevil's natural manner in which he simply evades the obstacles. But cheating with flying is always a good thing so it's with a 'vibrational' thunder that Daisy comes to land next to Matt, looking across to the burning building.

"Apartment building.." A worried frown on her expression, "There are people inside. And at this hour? We can even have people that were just sleeping and were caught unaware. We have to move fast."

It was also quite dangerous, she knew it, but there was no hesitation on her voice.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
There is fire that has blossomed from three spots on the outside of the building. The rush of heat from them tells Daredevil where they are. "Three different devices at least," he murmurs angrily.

The costumed figure pauses a moment, listening. "Three floors, people on each floor," he says. "And-"

He stops and his head turns in that way that Daisy knows means he's focusing on some specific sound. "I can hear him. He's watching from a distance. Talking about the fire," he says. Matt frowns. "There's too many people for just one of us to get them out though. Going to have to save them first and hope he's still around after," he says.

Matt touches Daisy on the back of the shoulder. "Be safe," he tells her, and then runs and jumps across, diving and shattering a third floor window to enter one of the apartments with people inside.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy focuses her own senses and even with the fire interfering she can pick some of those apartments with people inside. The vibrational screams of children caught by the fire in their homes. A place they were supposed to be safe. Unforgivable.

"Let's work together." Quake suggests, "Bring them to the window and have them jump. I got them." she follows Matt over, at least to the burning building but instead of going in she remains on the outside, propelling herself to the street outside and then focusing. Matt will be able to feel the vibrations outside shifting, molding to Daisy's will as she creates a vibrational 'net' of sorts for the people to come to the ground safely.

Or at least that would be the plan. It also means that the arsonist is still scott free from repercussions. But her anger only fuels her powers further to keep the 'net' tight. "Ready." she murmurs, knowing she doesn't have to talk loud for Matt to hear her.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
It doesn't take much convincing to get the family to the window. It does take a little more to get them to agree to trust to jumping out of the window and having a superhero catch them. "I wouldn't ask you to do this if I wasn't sure of her. There are other people I need to get out," he tells the father in the end. "The stairs are already full of flames, so it's this, or not getting out," he says. And then Daredevil turns and runs, aiming for a section of wall between apartments where he'll miss the studs, breaking through into the next apartment with people home.

The man swallows apprehensively as he looks down at Quake below. "Oh for Christ's sake," his wife says. "I'll show it's safe and then you send the kids," she says. And she jumps out of the window. Though not without a flash of terror as she's falling towards Quake below.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
It's what Daisy is counting on. That Matt can convince them with his silver tongue and that after the first it should be a lot easier to get them to jump out. So when the man comes out? Daisy focuses, *pushing* up with her hands as the woman's fall turns from uncontrollable and deadly to as if she was being gently carried down to the ground. She isn't 'seeing' anymore but instead feeling all vibrations around her, one with the world, focused..

She knows she can't fail this after all. It would mean death. And she won't give that arsonist the safisfaction.

"You are safe now.." She whispers to the woman when she is finally on the street outside. And then she looks up again to focus on the father and gestures him down along with the kids. "Come on!"

As for the apartment building itself? It's becoming a blazing inferno.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
After seeing his wife's safe trip to the street below, the man is more willing. Which is good, as Daredevil is bringing the family next door back through the hole in the wall already.

The man's first child emerges from the window and jumps, relying on Quake to safely bring the lad to the ground. Then a daughter.

To the father's credit, rather than go next himself, he gets the neighbors kids and wife down safely, before he finally goes himself.

"Floor is clear, heading for the second!" Daredevil calls. He moves over to another window, opening it up and hooking one of his baton's grapples on the windowsill. Then he jumps out, letting the line grow tight and swing him back to the building to smash into the window a floor down.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
With the families on the third floor now safe Daisy lets out a breath. She's used to not having to do such delicate use of her powers for so long. Sending power blasts at someone? 'I can do this all day' or someone wiser than her once said. But this? It moves with 'muscles' that she has yet to train to an extent.. Yet with lives at stake she soldiers on.

"Keep sending them, I am ready." she does spot someone on the lower floor looking out the window and opening it and she shouts. "Hey! Bring the people you can find and jump! I got you!", she then murmuring in a lower tone that Matt will know it's for him, "The first floor people are organizing to jump. They should be out soon."

Which means it will be the second floor left. "Careful with extra bombs that guy may have left. Could be a trap.." it's also her more paranoid Agent experience talking now.

Spies and their traps!

Matthew Murdock has posed:
The bombs were placed where not only the building would catch quickly, but it would block the normal escape routes. And this particular building relied on internal stairwells, not fire escapes outside.

Thanks to Quake, the residents are able to get out, one after another floating down to the ground to land lightly. Finally it's just Daredevil who emerges. At some point he's tied a wet rag over his mouth and nose, and once he gets out he collapses to his knees beside Quake, coughing. His suit is singed in a few places, and he's likely going to need some of that burn ointment tonight.

"That's everyone," he says when he's coughed as much smoke clear of his lungs as they are able. "I'm afraid he's got away with it again tonight," he says. "Maybe you can," he says, before breaking out in more coughing. When he can speak again, he finishes, "Get some video feeds, see if we can spot him planting the devices or anything?" he suggests.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Matt is the last man 'off the ship' but it doesn't mean that Quake doesn't bring him down to the ground in some gentle manner as the others. Her breathing is heard coming out hard too, exhausted but she drops to a knee next to Matt when she sees the burnings in his suit, hand resting soothingly on his back, a gentle vibration sent through his body in an attempt to ease the coughing.

"I will. There should be footage from CCtv cameras on the adjacent buildings, maybe we will catch something." hopefully so, if the Tiger slipped up.

"Good job, Daredevil. It was quite the teamwork but ..., I think it's time we get you home to recover." some worry in her voice.