6542/Once Upon a Time In Russia

Once Upon a Time In Russia
Date of Scene:	13 June 2021
Location:	Moscow, Russia
Synopsis:	Sharon calls Blade after a short nights sleep. We see how the two unlikely friends met in Russia.
Cast of Characters:	Sharon Carter, Eric Brooks

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Sharon Carter has posed:
It was like a cycle; three days on and one day off. Three days of constantly working and talking to whomever she could, one day of sleep. And sleep didn't last too long. Three hours at the most; then a sudden jolt awake in her bed at The Playground. Then it was food, back to work again. Much like any other time when she was about to hit the fan.

She had learned to notice and to feel her surroundings, in a metaphysical sense. It was almost like a danger sense that came with some weird ass foreboding that she could not even name. Someone had the name for it...

It was in that cold sweat of a nightmare when Sharon woke up, feet soon planting upon the cold floor, picking up her cell phone to dial a number..

..hearing the dial tone..

..then silence..

"Hey Eric, can we talk?"

THREE YEARS PRIOR:
MOSCOW

It was the first night that Sharon touched down in Moscow. Agent 51 already had her Legend set; her entire history mapped out with a few lines of code and sideways pictures. Family was created as well, stock pictures from the internet manipulated, deep fakes created and slapped upon various social media sites to give Sharon a living breathing thing to move around in.

Luggage in her mediocre apartment unpacked; pictures hung up, clothing put away that was purchased not too far from the airport when she had gotten in. She hadn't realized how chilly the night could be. And hot, all at the same time..

Speaking of; Sharon (Anna) dressed in the best tight-skinned white night dress she could find, stilletos and did her makeup well enough that it could kill. The first thing she was instructed to do was get out into the town. Have some fun. Meet some people.

But go to Night Flight. And only Night Flight.

What Sharon didn't know, that on certain days, much like the day that she was arriving and -going- to Night Flight, the club owner catered to a certain crowd.

A crowd of young looking twenty somethings that had a penchant for the alphabet letters A, O and B. RH, if they're positively lucky. Lets not forget that there were drugs that were spread around to the cattle that were actually invited. All of them had a certain look. Some had to be tall, some short, some blonde, some brunette. But they all were gorgeous and quite possibly may be candidates for the new walking and breathing dead.

Sharon was walking right into a vampire feeding frenzy. Quite possibly a joke from Fury.

And she didn't even know it.

Eric Brooks has posed:
Presently, Blade is looking down the scope of a sniper rifle.  Not his favorite toy, but it has its uses.  Also, it has a silencer. 

When the phone rings, he reaches up to tap an earpiece without taking his eyes off his mark.  "Sharon?" he queries.  "Sure, I've got a little time.  What's up?"

*     *      *

On a Russian rooftop back in 2018, Blade snaps the final piece of his collapsible sniper rifle into place and loads a silver-tipped bullet. One by one, he acquires targets and mentally marks their positions.  Two vampires are far enough from their friends' line of sight that he's able to down them with precise headshots.  His oversized silencer is so effective that the metal-on-metal of the weapon's bolt cycling is louder than the report from the rounds themselves.

Having cleared some of the playing field, he pauses when he sights across a woman in white.  A few heartbeats pass while he studies her.  "Don't go in there," he mutters to himself.  "Girl, don't you go in there.  You're gonna get-- damnit."

Sharon Carter has posed:
The door closes behind Sharon.

The loudness of it doesn't even phase her, but the music does. It almost seems like most of the north eastern contries and continents favor the techno sort of music when it comes to dance halls. The thrumming bass, the snappy snares and often times random words that Sharon could barely decipher due to how fast their going.

Sharon's linguistics are perfection, but the bass makes it hard to hear.

Clutch tucked underneath her arm she moves down the long cooridor, turning towards the second door which opens up the entire club; there was dancing below, bodies in a cluster, all jumping, some gyrating, others leaning against the wall with red wine in their glasses and sipping happily.

Sharon doesn't look suspicious at all, in fact, her eyes were wide with a false sense of wonder. Staring, smiling, even laughing as someone dances up the stairs past her as her heels click loud as she goes down. Her shoulders were moving, her head soon bobbing as she hits the dance floor, one arm raised to the ceiling as she sways her hips in a dance/walk towards the bar.

As soon as she reaches the bar, she calls out: "I need vodka."

Everything spoken is Russian. Even the demand carried that Russian tone.

Eric Brooks has posed:
This woman showing up has forced Blade to accelerate his timeline.  Rather than spend the evening picking off bad guys every time one wanders too far away from his buddies, the vampire hunter starts sending rounds downrange as fast as he can line up his crosshairs.  He manages to take three more down in quick succession, reducing them to piles of dust.  It clears just enough space for his next move. 

He backs up a few steps, then hits the edge of the building at a run and leaps down to the street.  He lands in a crouch, then sprints toward the door and lets himself in. 

Once he's inside he moves as discreetly as possible.  For now he manages to remain unseen, or to only be spotted briefly in passing.  Unfortunately, during this time he loses sight of the woman in white who may or may not be about to have a very bad evening.

Sharon Carter has posed:
The bartender says nothing. There was only that look of sorrow that Sharon could not decipher. She takes it for what it was; it was almost midnight, he was possibly burning the candles at both ends and needed to rest. The bartender gets a glass, his hand lingering upon the top of it as he searches for the top shelf vodka, soon poured with drops of ice into and pushed towards Sharon.

"From the man by the wall."

He gestures as Sharon turns, lifting up her glass and a nod in thanks. While she didn't drink right away, she does take it to mingle towards the middle of the floor, still in full dance, all by her lonesome.

..All just so she could dip her finger into the liquid to smear across the inner surface of the glass..

"It's not poison." Sharon thinks to herself, but she felt that if she had taken a drink.. she would have been lost in the sauce.

So she dances, not exactly flinging the drink everywhere, but ignoring it in favor of the music. While there were other bonafide humans there who danced without abandon like Sharon, those who carried that hunger watched them all.. and slowly manuvered their way into the crowds to begin their attacks.

Eric Brooks has posed:
"Oh shit," Blade utters.  He's just crossed the threshold into the main dance area.  Immediately, his enhanced senses single out the vampires amongst the crowd.  It looks like there's a lot of them. More than he'd like, anyway. 

As tempting as it is to start firing a high-caliber weapon and trust his own skill, Blade passes on that option in favor of two short, katar-style punch daggers.  It's a more suitable close-quarters option, as is evidenced by him sneaking up behind a bad guy and thrusting a blade through her back and out her chest.  As soon as it's happened, he ducks his head and melts into a tightly-packed throng of dancing bodies.

Sharon Carter has posed:
The one vampire that was dusted had his hands on a woman, who.. stares in shock as he melts into the floor in a plume of dust. Her eyes remain wide, nearly about to faint.. but unstead she wakes herself up with a very, loud scream.

That's when all hell breaks loose! Vampires were moving in on their victims, some already dragging them off while others begin to scream and fight back as well. Others were dragged off by the willing, as they thought that they were going to safety.

Sharon? There was already a hand grasping her shoulder so tight that she lets out a squeak and a twist.

"Don't.. TOUCH me!"

The drink she had in her hand was tossed hard into the face of the vampire who grabbed her, Sharon soon pushing him back with both hands that cause him to stumble. He laughs now, fangs dipping low from his mouth, all which Sharon 'sees', but not believes.

"What the fuck.." She manages to get out.. all before someone tackles her from behind!

Eric Brooks has posed:
"Get down!" Blade shouts as he pulls Sharon to the floor. 

What little light there is reflects off of his silver blade just as he stabs his second foe.  He's not going to be able to keep this up for long.  Not long enough to clear this entire nest, anyway. 

One of his knives is thrown, leaving a hand free for him to draw a pistol.  He lets out a slow, easy breath as he plugs a suckhead from behind, saving a redheaded young man from certain doom. 

Then, grinning fiercely, he stands and wades into battle.  Anyone who gets too close receives a slash or a poke from Blade's blade.  Whenever he has a moment to breathe, he uses his pistol to force vampires away from their prey, or put them down altogether.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Sharon was in disbelief. She didn't have time to marvel at what she sees or express her disbelief by a slew of swear words. Right now, everything was going to hell in a handbasket and it was time for her to react.

The clutch that she carried into the club was discarded; as she was on the floor, she managed to retrieve two brass knuckles which were slipped onto her fingers. It wouldn't do any good, as they weren't made of silver, but Sharon was confident it would get the job done.

Maybe.

For as Blade stalks off and begins to take down what was in his line of sight; Sharon was at the back. One vampire rushed towards her which she strafed left, punching once in the ribs to hear the crack and another upon the temple. Another grips her arm, and with a sideways kick, the heel of her stilleto penetrates the vampire who disappears into a pile of burnt ash.

Getting the picture.. the one that was just downed gets the same treatment. All from the heel of her jimmy choos.

Eric Brooks has posed:
"Oh, fuck me.  You're gonna get yourself...  Oh.  Oh, okay."  Surprised by the vigor and force of Sharon's attack, Blade raises an appreciative eyebrow for a half-moment, then shakes his head and bounds back over to her. 

He flips his punch dagger around and holds it by the blade, offering her the T-shaped handle.  "Trust me, you're gonna want this.  Head or heart.  Remember, head or heart."

It's a good time for him to have his hand free.  He needs to reload.  He thumbs the release and clears the empty clip with a flick of his wrist, then slams a fresh one home.  He's fast, but not quite fast enough.  Before he can bring his weapon to bear, an enormously large vampire charges him from behind with a shoulder check. The hockey-style slam sends the (marginally) smaller hunter flying, with his fall broken none-too-softly by a trio of bar stools.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Nope. Sharon wasn't going to die, not tonight. And once he bounds back towards her, she reaches out to take the punch knife, then flips it in a way where she could actually do some damage. Perpendicular to her forearm. "What the fuck are they?" But there was no time. Head or heart. She got the message.

She only had time to remove one shoe, which was kicked up and armed with her other hand, the last shoe that remained upon her foot kicked to the side as she dashes into the fray. It was a combination; like the odds were stacked, and vampires.. in her favor.

One hit to the ear with the punch knife, the other to the forehead with her shoe. A spin to dislodge the shoe and down to the ground to clip the leg with her arm and a plant of the blade into the heart. Roll back, sweep, plant. Up, two punch, stab up underneath the jaw. It was automatic.

Hearing the thud causes her to turn and run, feet slipping on blood that has spilled that causes her to fall at a speed that takes out the legs of the heavy vampire.

Bodies against bodies hurt, her falling and clipping the vampire on accident was no exception.

Eric Brooks has posed:
Even as he's picking himself up off the ground, Blade lets out a low whistle at the brutal efficiency of Sharon's attacks.  "Jesus, lady." 

Rather than a rebuke, it comes out as a compliment.  One that's punctuated by a happy noise when his assailant gets knocked to the ground.  Blade pounces on him, shoves his gun under the larger man's chin, and fires a round up into his head. 

Once the dust has cleared, he offers a hand to pull Sharon back to her feet.  When she's standing, he hands her his pistol as well.  "Go ahead, I get the feeling you know your way around one of these." 

He never gets tired of the ringing sound his sword makes as it clears its scabbard.  With his teeth bared, he charges back into the fray and lops a diminutive young woman in half.  Vertically.

Sharon Carter has posed:
It -hurt-. It felt like getting hit by a tire with the wind knocking right out of the lungs. Sharon wheezes on the ground as Blade takes care of the larger vampire, her hand striking out to clasp against his and to take the pistol that was offered. "Like a mutherfucking chef." Before he leaves, she spies an extra clip which was snatched as he moves, tucked into her top as she begins to go.

True to her word, she performs just like a chef. Sharpening the knife by putting a single bullet through two vampires who happened to stand in line for such. In the front of the forehead, out the back, into the back and out the front.

Gun lowered as she crouches, hand reaching out for one cowering lady to snatch and shove her off; dicing away at a fallen vampire who was inching its way towards the scared girl. She lifts the borrowed pistol and peels the onion of two others, then shreds the steak of two others upon opposite sides.

Rinse. Repeat.

Time to fry.

Two more blasts go into the bloodsuckers with precision, clip dropped, extra slapped in, and without missing a beat, the most Dangerous Spy in the World mows down her side of the dance floor with only a blink to clear away their dust.

Eric Brooks has posed:
In the time it takes for Sharon to clear most of the room, Blade kills... two more vampires.  He has to run up to them and swing his sword, which takes a lot more time.  It's awfully satisfying, though.  He seems to be enjoying his final decapitation just a little too much. 

Once the dust has settled, he narrows his eyes and swivels around in search of more wood to chop, but nothing is immediately forthcoming.  A groaning, writhing individual on the floor is pierced through the heart, putting a stop to his protests.  Unlike the others, he doesn't disintegrate. 

"Familiar," Blade explains, wiping blood on the fallen man's clothes.  "Probably set all this up.  Who the hell are you, anyway?  You fight like a hunter, but you don't sound like one."

Sharon Carter has posed:
The last shot rings out. Clip was empty. So was the rest of the club. Those who were actually alive to hide and cower, they escaped the club with a few screams and sobs as they would. Leaving Sharon and Blade in the aftermath. Quite possibly, the owner as well, who managed to get away with his life as soon as the smoke cleared by posing as one of the customers..

It was now that Sharon begins to breathe, the flat end of the gun pressing to her head to thump not once, but twice just to make sure that she was -there-. It was surreal, and she asked questions. But.. yeah. Vampires. They were real.

Okay.

As Blade speaks, Sharon snaps out of her trance and approaches, the punch blade held out as well as the pistol, hung by the brace that houses the trigger and turned away from him, yet pointed at herself. "Anna." She says. Which was a lie...

"Grew up in northern Russia. KGB father."

It -was- apart of her legend after all.

Eric Brooks has posed:
"Eric.  Those ones call me Blade, which seems fitting.  Most people call me Blade, come to think of it."  The half-vampire shrugs.  "Glad you made it out alive, Anna.  I had you pegged for dead the second you walked through the door."

It's not an insult.  Not really.  Most people who walk into these places don't walk out again, as is evidenced by the leftover blood and bodies.  When someone does, it's a pleasant surprise. 

He accepts the weapons back with a nod and tucks them under his voluminous jacket.  "Don't forget, head or heart.  And silver's the only guaranteed way to kill them.  Silver and sunlight, and they hate garlic.  Wood, holy water, crosses, that stuff is dodgy.  I've seen it work, mostly the stakes.  I've also seen 'em not do dick, so use at your own risk."

Sharon Carter has posed:
"Pleasure." No it wasn't, but it seems as if Sharon wasn't phased by what she had witnessed tonight. Both of her hands were looked at, and soon rubbed against her dress. It was no longer white, there was red, black, and a dark grey that painted it. "You should have stopped me." She wasn't accusing him, but this was all very interesting.

It was on her dossier for tonight. And she happened to run into Blade... it was..

CURRENT NIGHT:

"Remember what I said to you that night when we first met? How this was all kismet?" Sharon takes a little huff, which Blade could hear through the phone. "I don't know. I come back to SHIELD being in the shit and half of everyone I know is stuck in some virtual reality trap by Hydra. I'm not doubting myself but.. something is about to happen. I can feel it. And I just wanted to let you know that you were a good friend, even if you were a little bit mean. Yeah?"

Eric Brooks has posed:
THEN:

"Stop you? After what I just saw, I'm not stopping you from doing shit." Blade lets out a low, dry chuckle. "Lets get out of here."

NOW:

"Carter, you're scaring me."  That's definitely the first time he's used that word in front of another person.  This millenia, anyway.  "I'm mean to everyone, but you were special, so I was even meaner." 

Something's not right.  It's wrong enough that Blade has already forgotten about his shot.  More than that, he's in the process of breaking his sniper rifle down and storing it away in a silver briefcase.  "You're not about to do something stupid, are you?  What's your location?" 

Virtual reality might be outside his area of expertise, but he has yet to find a problem he can't solve with copious amounts of explosives.

Sharon Carter has posed:
"I couldn't tell." That actually made Sharon laugh.

It takes a moment for Sharon to realize what was happening on the other end, which causes her to stand from her bunk to pace the room. "Are you doing what I think you're doing? You better not..." He was putting away his weapon! She could -hear- him!

"I'm not going to do something stupid but I can tell you're itching to. Look, I'm fine. Off the grid, can't really tell you where. But listen. I'm going to float you an address. If something -does- happen to me, you keep a watch out on my folks, will you?"

She pauses, taking in a beat. "Finish what you were doing. I'll call you in the morning." And then she hangs up. Because saying goodbye was for vaginas.

Eric Brooks has posed:
"Of course I'll look out for them."  Blade pulls in a breath, holds it for three seconds, then lets it out slowly.  "You better call me back. Good hunting." 

When she hangs up, he taps his earpiece to disconnect his end of the call.  A growl builds low in his throat.  Then he draws his pistol, and rather than a precision sniper round, he snaps off a volley of three shots at his target's chest.  He doesn't wait to confirm the kill, he already knows the vampire is down.