Black Widow struck first.
One moment she was standing across the vault. The next she was gone, a ghost dissolving into motion, and then she was right in front of him.
Veyric's vision blurred. Before his brain caught up, her knee was already buried in his stomach.
He folded around the blow, launched backward, and crashed into a shelf rack hard enough to scatter its contents.
"Veyric!" Peter tried to break toward him, but Beast and Colossus converged at the same time.
"Damn it!" Peter fired webbing to create distance, but the two zombie heroes moved in perfect coordination. Colossus tanked the pull of the webs with sheer mass while Beast flanked from the side, forcing Peter into a constant retreat.
Veyric staggered upright only to find Black Widow already on top of him again. Two razor-edged knives had materialized in her hands, and the Widow's Bite units on her wrists crackled with blue light.
"Venom! Shield!"
"Got it!"
The shield had barely formed when she spun like a dancer and whipped a roundhouse kick into it.
The shield shattered.
"What the... that kind of power?!" Veyric yelped.
She was already airborne, legs scissoring around his neck in a takedown hold.
"Wait, I've seen this move on certain websites!"
"What websites?" Venom asked, confused.
"Forget it, just save me!"
He hit the floor.
Black Widow crossed her knives and slashed down. Venom's armor caught the blades, barely, but the Widow's Bite discharged straight through the contact.
"Veyric!" Venom lashed out a tendril and swatted the electroshock device away. "You know the rule in New York? Never pick a fight with an Avenger!"
She came again. A knife edge cut across his chest, opening a bright red line in its wake.
Black Widow tilted her head and ran her tongue across her lips. "Blood... smells so good..."
Then those powerful legs coiled around his waist like a python, squeezing until his ribs creaked.
"This move again!" Veyric wheezed. "Lady, did you used to teach yoga?"
"Going to... eat you now..." Her fangs drifted toward his carotid artery.
He thrashed. It was useless.
"Let the kid go."
A low, cold voice cut through the vault.
"Blade!" Veyric's eyes lit up.
A dark figure dropped from above, silver sword carving a gleaming arc.
Black Widow twisted clear by a hair, but the blade caught her suit across the chest, slicing the fabric wide open and exposing the withered, sagging flesh beneath.
Veyric slapped a hand over his eyes on reflex. "Sorry, I've never seen a fun-size Black Widow before..."
Blade looked at him without expression. "Shut up. Find an opening to heal her."
"Copy!" Veyric scrambled behind a shelf rack. "You two go ahead. I'm strictly audience."
Black Widow glanced down at her torn suit, unbothered. If anything, the hunger in her eyes burned hotter.
"There's... even more... meat!"
She drew two more Widow's Bite daggers from a concealed pouch, wrist units sparking.
They clashed.
Steel rang against steel, blow after blow. Blade's sword fell heavy and hard. Black Widow flowed like water around every strike, alternating between daggers and electroshock in seamless rotation. Neither could gain the edge.
Veyric crouched behind the shelving, catching his breath and watching.
"Venom, when do we go in?"
"When she slips up..." Venom's voice came out thin. "I'm in bad shape..."
"You said you could take on ten guys. She dropped us in three moves."
"That woman is too strong! And she's a professional!" Venom sounded genuinely wounded. "My old host Eddie never ran into anyone this tough..."
"Alright, alright. I'm not blaming you." Veyric sighed. "She's Marvel's number-one female operative. A mainline universe hero. You were out of your league."
Across the vault, Peter was locked in a brutal three-way fight.
"Screw your X-Men!" he snarled, firing webs as he wove between the two zombies.
Beast was fast and savage, Colossus overwhelmingly powerful, but Spider-Sense kept Peter one heartbeat ahead of every strike.
"Hang in there, Peter!" Veyric shouted from cover. "I can't help you right now!"
"Focus on healing Black Widow!" Peter yelled back, rolling under a swipe from Beast.
Then it happened.
Blade brought his sword down in a crushing overhead slash. Black Widow crossed both daggers to block, but the force drove her to one knee.
Now!
Venom's tendrils fired like pistons, launching Veyric across the vault like a cannonball.
"Natasha! Incoming!"
She was pinned under Blade's sword. No time to react.
Veyric tackled her square on. They tumbled across the floor in a tangle of limbs.
Her fangs snapped toward his throat. He jammed his palm into her mouth before they could close.
"Don't be shy. Free drinks! Drink up!"
Blood poured into her mouth.
Her pupils contracted to pinpoints.
Instinct took over. She sucked at the wound in his palm, but her whole body began to convulse. She wrenched her head sideways and vomited a pool of black blood onto the concrete. The clouded film over her eyes dissolved, clarity flooding back in...
A dozen seconds later, her body went rigid.
Her eyes snapped open. She shoved Veyric away on pure reflex, springing to her feet and retreating two steps in a single motion, arms crossed over her chest, back turned, every line of her body radiating alarm.
"Don't move!" Her voice was weak but sharp with wariness.
"Easy! Easy!" Veyric held both hands up. "You're back to normal. I'm here to help."
She scanned the room, breathing hard. Stark Tower's storage vault... Blade... Spider-Man fighting in the distance.
Memory crashed over her like a wave.
The zombie virus. Losing control. The hunger. And just now, this man's blood in her mouth...
"I..." One hand pressed against her forehead. The other stayed firmly across her chest. She looked down at the ruins of her tactical suit.
Her upper body was almost completely exposed.
Color flooded her face. For the first time, something close to panic crept into the legendary spy's composure.
"Damn..." she hissed through clenched teeth, voice unsteady in a way it almost never was.
"Here, uh..." Veyric yanked off his shirt and held it out. "Put this on. You'll have to wear it backward though. You slashed the front open earlier."
She took the jacket and pulled it on, her movements stiff.
"...Thanks." Barely a whisper.
Her gaze drifted to him, involuntary.
The young man who had saved her stood bare-chested, the lines of his torso clearly defined. Not the exaggerated bulk of someone who lived in a gym. Lean and solid, the kind of build that looked forged rather than trained. Shoulders and chest sculpted with a precision that seemed almost... unnatural. As though shaped by some force beyond ordinary exercise.
Her eyes lingered for less than a second before she looked away.
She'd seen plenty of fit men in her career as a spy. But there was something different about this one. Something she couldn't quite name.
"What's your name?" she asked, forcing her voice level.
"Veyric."
"Veyric..." She repeated it once and locked it away somewhere deep.
[Ding!]
[You have successfully healed Black Widow.]
[Experience gained: +1]
[Black Widow's affinity toward you +10. Current value: 60.]
"Wow, what a scene." Venom's voice dripped with glee inside his head. "You tackled Black Widow. You're going to be bragging about this for the rest of your life."