Description: Frederick and Kasumi go to Urien to get their next assignment after his untimely encounter with NESTS.
There wasn't a lot of notice given.
The time to meet was 'Now'.
The address pointed to the Aegean Legends in downtown Southtown.
Heading across town without a firm understanding of what it was she was being summoned for, the full time High School Student/Part Time Mercenary exited a cab outside of the large, flat structure occupying an entire square block in an area of town zoned for industrial complexes and warehouses. The unmarked building that matched the address looked like it was a bit of both of those concepts, but the rumbling felt even on the sidewalk outside suggested that what was going on fit neither.
Dressed to blend in more than stand out, the Mugen Tenshin exile is clothed in black jeans, a white sleeveless top, and a leather jacket with sleeves that reach to her mid forearms. As often, her hair is kept tied off into a ponytail worn high by a blue ribbon. And the expression on her face is a rare blend of uncertainty and curiosity. Growing up in a rural ninja village did not afford the young woman a lot of life experiences that might seem more common place to the denizens of Southtown. She waits, watching a couple chattering girls dressed in leather with an unhealthy amount of spikes come then descend down a flight of narrow concrete steps on the side of the structure. The door opens briefly, the reveberating beats from within echoing out even louder, then closes.
Sucking in her breath, Kasumi followed.
The strobe lights, ear splitting music, and gyrating, tightly packed people is unlike anything she had expected when picturing what a rave must be like. Elite ninja skills come in handy for navigating the crowd, however, making her way to the back to where she understood the exclusive section was to be found. She mustered a quick but not too inviting smile on occasion when her path was blocked before slipping around and between the constantly moving sea of patrons. She had to consciously avoid looking as bewildered by the whole scene as she actually felt. Making it to the door in the back is at once a relief but also a new source of consternation. She doesn't have a code.
With the crowd right at her back and no one in sight that looked like a source of information that would help with figuring out how to negotiate the lock, the mercenary can't help but look flummoxed, turning around a few times to look around in a state of mild confusion. Is this /really/ the place? Is this some kind of game? Her employer, severe man as he is, doesn't seem like the sort that is going to accept excuses like 'the door was locked.' But right now, she doesn't have any better ideas.
Aegean Legends - is one of the sweetest, most illegal, and most exclusive nightclubs in Southtown's downtown district. The feds know about it, sure, but they don't know WHERE it is - some warehouse, somewhere - and if they found it, it'd be a complete jackpot for the police. The paperwork involved in busting every *SINGLE* partygoer gives the Powers-That-Be (Ha! We ARE the Powers-That-Be) more than enough time to turn the keypad-locked elevator in the club's rear into something more like a... storage cabinet.
The point is, the warehouse is a front for a nightclub which is a front for a magical, sterile place, where men make "magic" into "fact" and industrial/goth beats are pumped fresh from the dance floor. It's an enormous complex intended to keep the Illuminati - those PTB we talked about earlier - ahead of the curve. Weapons training, specimen study, R&D, it's all here, right behind the keypad, a short elevator ride, and two gas-masked, armed security guards standing at the sleek-looking door beyond.
The code to that keypad is 80085, and Kasumi is pawing at the door to Satan's workshop. Pan the camera left some, over towards the back-end bar, its leather-vested bartender, the gaggle of ravers crowding its distal end, and the... three men nearer our rustic ninja. One's wearing a trenchcoat!
-----
"Alright, for FU- FUCK! Shut up! I'm tryin' to think! No, I don't fuckin' know why the boss is callin' me! Who the hell told you dumbasses I got a redline text, anyway? Shit's supposed to be a goddamn secret! Back before you dips came on I SWEAR I was like... ahh, man, those old Nokia phones, wear 'em over the heart, deflect fuckin' WEREWOLF fangs, buzz your girlfriend right afterwards..." Frederick is halfway through his third whiskey - coincidentally, his third line, too. Nobody's paying any attention to him here, in the back, and even if they WERE, the ravers to either side of him - sweet gasmasks on those ravers - seem like they're less 'friends' and more 'bodyguards'. Maybe 'associates'. One leans in to talk to Frederick, modulated voice pitched to a shout to be heard over the vibe of the sweet tunes.
"TIGTONE! FUNKY!" Frederick finishes his drink, sets an obsidian snuff box on the bartop, and pats its top. Both gasmasked men approach - he indicates the pair. "Tigtone, teach Funky how to get, uh..." Frederick runs a hand through his haphazardly gelled hair. "...funky, I guess. Kid can't hold alcohol, let alone anything harder. Gonna get his ass kicked by the boss if he's not floatin' when you dips get pass/failed." The man steps away from his stool, finally - finally! - approaching Kasumi, over there looking sexy and stupid. It's a bad look for the club.
As he shoves his way through the crowd, Kasumi might hear a muttered greeting, she'd *definitely* smell the homey aroma of cigarettes and alcohol. Keen ninja eyes would be able to catch the way grubby fingernails (how do you chip your fingernails??) punch exactly 80085 into the keypad. Door opens - Frederick waits for Kasumi to make her way in.
Elevator starts. The music is just the club music, and the descent is *long*. The American stares at the ceiling, hands clasped, expression *sort of* stoic - his eyebrow keeps twitching. Eventually, the elevator stops, but not at any identifiable floor.
A female voice: "Unidentified female detected on elevator. Should the power go out?"
"Nah. Thanks for askin', though." Frederick rubs at his nose, winks at Kasumi. He's got her back.
The ride continues, and the two are whisked through the magical, sterile magic of the Illuminati HQ, on their way to Urien.
Nobody pays any mind to the slow descent of the elevator. People come and go to it; it's simply part of the perks. This place will never be busted. As an endorsed G-Project facility, the preserved brains make sure that Aegean Legend's remains just that... a legend. The fact it is immune to the law is the very reason it has become so mythological, but that particular fact won't change despite how many hookers get strangled or people OD. It is a true shangrila where anything goes, a fact some regulars have discovered. Kasumi is lucky she's as powerful as she is, and that Frederick staggered over at that point, or she might have had more than a few things to worry about.
The elevator goes down for a good twenty seconds before the door slides open. Immediately, the power shuts out in the small building. "Override active." Apparently, there's not going to be any escape from this facility. That is probably the first clue that something bad is about to happen. There's a heavy aura that seems to be thrumming from ahead. The hallway is all metal, but there's no guards. Only dull vibrations leading to the door, opened with a keycard of which Frederick has... and normally whoever is watching to verify who is coming down.
Once it is opened to the main entryway, a wash of heat and the coppery smell of blood blows inwards. It's absolute carnage. Two dozen people appear to have been savagely beaten, a few clearly to death. Many wear white labcoats, others wear the uniformed outfit of G-CORP security guards. There's evidence that rifles were fired dented into the walls and ceiling, but to no apparent avail. Every other door is sealed, with a red spiraling light above it.
"Emergency Lockdown. Emergency Lockdown. Emergency Lockdown."
Sitting in the exact middle, upon a throne of unconscious and destroyed bodies, is Urien. He is wearing only his silver thong, transformed into his bronze Adonis. Crimson stains his hands and splatters across his chest, breath coming in deep, hissing heaves. Crackles of lightning go off him now and then, occasional pulses of energy reverberating into the ground and making the very earth entombing the complex rumble.
"More..." he growls, curling his fingers and pushing to his feet. There's a strange sucking noise and THUMP as his bloodied heels find the metal floor, as if he were extremely magnetic. "This trash... isn't enough..." When his eyes snap up, they are smouldering crimson, and a slow exhale billows a cloud of steam around him. "NOT ENOUGH... TO SATISFY ME!!"
With that he bolts into a run, roaring loudly as he charges the two of them. A series of bloodied footprints is pounded into steel, a sense of some horrific force of nature bearing down likely sensed. A flash of one's life ending. Everyone else in the facility was either devastated in his tyrant's rage, or sealed themselves in the facility. Whoever's in the security room damned the pair, as there's literally nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide.
But Kasumi's quick. No doubt she's going to flit off the moment there's danger. That leaves hapless Frederick as the man to bear the forefront of Urien's unjust rage, a brutal clothesline attempting to catch him in the throat and then hurtle him straight down into the floor adjacent.
"IF I RIP YOUR SPINES OUT... THEN THIS ANGER WILL FINALLY LEAVE!! HAHAHAHA!!"
Over the intercom, a timid voice hisses. "H,he went mad... you have to stop him!! ...or die trying...!!"
COMBATSYS: Urien has started a fight here as a boss!
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COMBATSYS: Frederick has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Frederick 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kasumi has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Frederick 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Frederick blocks Urien's Combo Grapple.
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Frederick 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Kasumi
Frederick's face is quite a few things, as he's putting that keycard away. Red-rimmed eyes widen in a sort of bored horror, while the man's hand sort of instinctively slides upwards, to come to an easy, 'resting-ready' state on the handle of the large hammer slung over his back. It's a special hammer, you know - really, just, very, very big. Blazer doesn't get much longer to survey the situation before-
"Uh, boss--"
Urien is CHARGING LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN. It leaves Blazer no time to react, really, and the man sort of brings both arms up in a high boxer's guard - it protects his face and head, which lets Urien's absolutely ridiculous clothesline catch Frederick's forearms in a blow that is STILL strong enough to lift the man ENTIRELY off of his feet, push him back six ADDITIONAL feet, and slam him into the ground, possibly onto his very burly back.
Frederick lands on his feet, because he's good at this sort of thing. Still, he's shaken by the attack, and shaken means he's not thinking, which means he is quick - pretty quick - to pull his hammer free. It's a big sort of hammer, the sort of big whose unlimbering means that an upended desk is just *SHATTERED* against a wall, the sort of big whose unlimbering means that Urien is unfortunately *VERY* in the way of Frederick even taking the thing out.
Look out for the hammerhead slamming down on your shoulder, Urien!
"AW, SHIT! GOD DAMMIT! WHY ARE ALL OF OUR BOSSES FUCKIN' PSYCHO! YOU -GOD-DAMN IDIOT-! I GOT THE FUCKIN' VACCINE! YOU'RE GONNA BREAK THE FUCKIN' THING!"
Adapting to life in Southtown has had its fair share of mishaps for the young woman who spent most of her life in the mountains. Not that she was usually as out of her element as she was in the Aegean Legend. Part of what passed as 'life skills' for someone with her upbringing was the ability to adapt and blend in. It's just... really hard to do when almost every detail about a place is utterly alien to her.
Frederick's rescue is well timed as now that Kasumi was no longer slipping through the crowd it was as if she had transformed into a magnet for attention in spite attempts to the contrary. The shinobi didn't want to break any arms and she hasn't leveled up enough in the Effective Brushoff stat to deter even a shy puppy. Which is probably why, for perhaps the first time in a long while, Blazer gets looked at like some kind of savior when he swoops in, takes control of getting the two through the door, and punches the appropriate elevator button.
He'd be given a sincere and maybe even slightly sheepish 'Thanks' on the way down.
Otherwise, the underground compound is beyond anything she had imagined. Either the elevator is excrutiatingly slow or they are delving through some serious layers of earth on the trip down. She toes idly with the zipper of her jacket, studying the look and feel of the garment. She'd seen some of the tough kids at Gedo wearing them and thought they looked cool, and now that she has disposable income for the first time in her life, the young adult is starting to branch out in styles!
When the lights go out and the emergency alerts fire up, Kasumi is immediately on guard, stepping forward just far enough to get a good look at Frederick's face, coppery brown eyes clearly looking for either an expression of 'No worries, this is always going on around here, let's not get too worked up over it.' or 'We're dead.' That he's reaching for that hammer already communicates that this is serious time though, and the mercenary pivots forward.
There is only one way to go.
And the way leads to hell.
Urien's voice is all the warning she needs, her last encounter with the man enough to leave a lasting impression of fear. When the pain train comes hauling into Blazer Station, she's already sprung off to the side, landing in a readied, guarded posture some feet away. Hadn't she already passed his initiation test? But Frederick is swinging that huge hammer of his around and Kasumi isn't going to leave him hanging. "Is this normal around here?!"
The voice from the intercom makes it clear that unlike last time, this is beyond just a simple evaluation trial.
A bolt of speed from Urien's left, a grip sought for the Tyrant of Iron's powerful arm. She remembers how hard it was to strike him, how durable his armor-like flesh was... she'll stick to kicks at first, thank you very much. A secure grip would have her taking hold with both hands and using his limb as a lever to pull herself up into a stamped of rapid, swift kicks right up Urien's side, using his tall, muscular body like steep stairs, each heel stomp attempting to break through his metal-hard skin!
Success would end with a backflip, kicking away to come down meters away in a low stance, ready to evade as necessary.
COMBATSYS: Kasumi successfully hits Urien with Tenro Kyaku.
- Power hit! -
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Frederick 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Urien interrupts Soft Target from Frederick with Destroy Claw.
! VENGEANCE !
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Frederick 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
Oh, Urien might be absolutely raging and manic right now, but he's not unable to hear. After the brutal assault that nearly takes off Frederick's head even when properly defended, the rejoinder as he approaches with the hammer does cause pause. The ball of his foot thumps upon the ground, creating a litearl dent about the size of a baseball. Veins begin to bulge from the side of his head, lips peeling back in a crazed grin until each tooth is on display, like the manic grin of a faceless monster as opposed to anything human. "What... did you just say...?! You MAGGOT!!"
He begins to lunge forward, only for his left arm to be grasped by Kasumi. Attempting to simply power through, she unleashes a veritable bevie of kicks that slam home, each reverberating in his dense body as he simply braces his muscles. The kick away is helped by a backhand to likely make her land more roughly and much farther back than she anticipated, before Frederick's hammer thumps into a surging bicep, ricocheting off despite the massive weight. It was like trying to break through a steel door.
And then a huge hand grasps Frederick by the throat, and lifts him up into the air effortlessly, hammer and all. Blazer is far from a small individual, so to be handled like a child is probably new... especially when a crushing grip fueled by rage crushes his windpipe shut, again and again. "Psycho...?! So that's what you think of me, huh?! Your life is FORFEIT. I'm going to rip you to pieces!! I'm not your BOSS. I'm your EMPEROR!! I'm your GOD!! Do you hear me?!"
Kasumi might need to try and interject here, unless blood rushing to Blazer's head is an optional thing.
COMBATSYS: Frederick gains composure.
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Frederick 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
Frederick's eyes are bugging out of his head - but it hardly seems like it's a new experience for him. The man looks at Kasumi in a manner that is really heroically impressed - that's a damfine collection of kicks! - and then sort of rolls his eyes back to Urien, who is strangling him. While unique, the sensation of being lifted into the air by something--
---
WRECKAGE: "THE POLARIS" OCEAN FREIGHTER, CARGO BAY
BOSS BATTLE: SOME KIND OF MINIATURE CTHULU/SQUID HATE THING
Frederick's eyes are bugging out of his head - it's a completely new experience for him. Tentacles the size of biceps are wrapped solidly around his neck, his face has turned *BLACK*, and he's sort of flailing around at nothing in particular.
Ten feet away, below Blazer, Robo-Tran and Alan R.B. are preoccupied with locating the creature's penis on the grounds that Alan R.B. believes the weak point of all male creatures to be "the nuts", while Robo-Tran attempts to settle a bet that Alan and Frederick had made earlier regarding the size of the creature's penis, which overrides every single priority failsafe otherwise programmed into Robo-Tran. Bets are everything.
---
BACK HERE:
"Gluhr-"
Frederick really can't move at all. He's sort of dangling in the air here, and between the just HUGE hit earlier and now THIS one, it's almost like the man's taken near half of his endurance in Surprise Damage, and needs a second to appropriately screw his head back on. He becomes, effectively, a very ugly sort of unwanted marionette there, hanging in the air - even his hammer falls to the ground. But what might be seen as a failure to react is in fact a marshalling of resources...
While his brain fails in its basic requirement for oxygenated blood and consciousness leaves Blazer's body, the man reaches into his jacket with a shaky hand, withdraws a vial, and holds it to the side, in a hand that is absolutely quavering to the point of uselessness. Why, if Urien continues his chokehold, the hand might DROP whatever Blazer is holding!
"Fuh-- fuhhh...." Pink-tinged spittle leaves Fred's lips, his eyes are half-lidded.
"Psycho."
The kunoichi for hire hasn't forgotten her last encounter with Urien. Even a mild taunting provoked retaliation for which she was still feeling the toll for several days after, and she hadn't gone nearly as far as to imply that he was anything other than a person of sound mind and principled judgement. 'Psycho' and 'Idiot' would be two terms that would have never escaped her lips verbally about her savage employer no matter how much she might be thinking the first word.
That the marauding Spartan seems not to even bother actively defending against her attacks is cause for concern. Only Kasumi's incredible alacrity allows her to use his sudden, violent backhand as a spring board that sends her flying instead of getting clocked with dizzying force.
Feet slide along the ground, the girl spinning to a stop some meters away, immediately identfying the dire predictament Frederick's mouth seems to have goten him into. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she can't help but suspect /that/ detail isn't so unusual. One thing is absolutely for certain.
This organization is insane.
The broken and unconscious bodies strewn about the room suggests Urien is not in a mood for desperate pleas.
Undoubtedly, he had heard a chorus of those in the carnage that preceded their arrival.
Not a single one seemed to have stayed his crushing fist.
Another approach must be taken if Blazer is going to make it through the night. He had been helpful to her, even if impatient back at Taiyo. And maybe he had been keeping a look out for her at the door tonight. She felt like maybe she owed him one. Besides. If he died right now, she'd be alone with Urien. Saving Frederick is suddenly her highest priority.
Bolting forward, the girl is circling around the deadly man in a spring nearly impossible to sustain without losing traction against the floor. With his arm extended, gripping Frederick by the throat, Urien's ribcage would be exposed and if there is one thing Kasumi seems to have a penchant for, it's driving elbows into rib cages.
"Emperor-"
It was the title that seemed most dear to him from what she had observed.
"Do you really feel such a quick death-"
The shinobi has found her angle and in that instant, her trajectory shifts - a direct blitz straight for his exposed side with speeds that place her among the fastest living people in the world.
He'd seen this technique before, but it had struck him that time, as the young woman explodes past him like a lightning bolt.
"Will give you satisfaction?"
The technique of instant movement with an accompanying precision elbow strike to his gut is almost impossible to defend against. And unless prevented, Kasumi will slide to a controlled stop meters beyond the cruel leader, arms out at her sides, a soft exhale escaping her lips as she regathers her own strength to continue.
Sure, maybe at best, she just made it so that he won't kill Frederick TOO fast. He can thank her for that later.
COMBATSYS: Urien endures Kasumi's Oboro Gake.
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Frederick 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Kasumi
"Hahahaha!! You... are you fearless, or do you WISH for DEATH that much?! Because I'll only rip your throat out for one of them!!" Urien states. But... some of him's returned, by that simple and scathing statement by Frederick. He must be used to scampering cowards, clawing away. No resistance in the slightest is never going to satiate the demon inside him, set rampaging after the humiliating week within NESTS, and the horrific gouge to the ego that Gill's release of him instilled. When Kasumi suddenly rushes up to him with intent to strike, the word causes him to glance in her direction. And indeed, he knows what is going to take place...
Which is why he twists, and then slams his foot to the ground. Before hurling Frederick head over heels right at Kasumi, aiming for her back where she's going to appear after slamming her elbow into the man. He's a remarkably good throwing device, given his tendency to refuse letting go of that oversized hammer.
"YOU ARE THE ONES WHO ARE GOING TO DIE... If I feel like it, every last person in here is dust in the wind!! I'll get new scientists, new hookers, I could rip the walls off and burn the wreckage and it'll just be replaced... Hahah... Hah..." Urien grips his face, muscles twitching as he no longer immediately rushes forward in his onslaught.
"Damnit... I need to... get this aggression out. I need a fight... or..." Suddenly his wild eyes look at Kasumi, and the need for her not to be alone with him just increased tenfold. "...A /good/ woman...!!" But in their own way, progress is being made. He's downgraded from mindless monster to sadistic violent lecher. One more step down and he might stop trying to hurl them around like little toys!
COMBATSYS: Frederick interrupts Strong Throw from Urien with Blindsided.
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Frederick 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Kasumi
Frederick's tendency to refuse letting go of that oversized hammer is a problem, because it dramatically limits his options. In this case, it means he has substantially less weight to deal with once Urien finally eases up on his damn neck - options become available more readily when you have less mass to move. So pay close attention in the split seconds after Frederick's hammer falls to the floor at Urien's feet with a massive impact...
Urien surges forward, shifting his weight, releasing his grip on Frederick's throat to get a better grip of the man's shoulder--
The hammer tilts forward, shaft teetering from side to side, but finally veering towards Urien--
Urien THROWS Frederick, who is attempting a measly punch at the Illuminati boss' head--
Urien's thigh strikes two buttons on that hammershaft.
"O/~ HERE COMES A HUGE DIPSHIT O/~" plays from a speaker built within the hammer's head, and two enormous bladed chainsaws rip out of either side of its head, one shearing through the superficial muscle of Urien's thigh.
Frederick goes *FLYING* across the room, where he slams into-- a wall? Kasumi? Kasumi's awesome chest? A desk? Something even worse? He's still pretty out of it, people. His neck is going to make him look like a suicide survivor for the next two weeks.
COMBATSYS: Urien successfully hits Kasumi with Large Thrown Object.
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Frederick 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Kasumi
Urien's timing is perfect. The downside of going from pretty damn fast to so fast she almost seems to teleport is the recovery time afterward. The gifted shinobi has refined the technique to the point of being able to reduce the window of vulnerability to almost nonexistence. But only 'almost'.
With the distance between herself and Urien, she had expected it to be impossible for him to reach her without the thunder of his footsteps or the crackle of that chi she had experienced first hand last time. Instead, to the heralding tone of 'HERE COMES A HUGE DIP-' *CRASH*
The ninja had only just started to spin, pushing off with her leading foot to piroutte and prepare to defend herself when all two hundred pounds of blazed Blazer smashes into her her, the two becoming a tumbling whirlwind of disaster before coming to rest another few meters away. At least his landing was cushioned?
"H-hey-" Kasumi pushes at Frederick, finding herself stuck beneath him, expression somewhere between irritated and concerned. Urien seems to have given them a reprieve from further violence, but even in the calamity that was the man's landing she heard that shift in the Tyrant of Iron's voice. She'll take Option A, thank you very much.
"Show him what you've got!" A pause before she adds, taking into consideration everything she'd seen so far. "I don't think he's thinking about the vaccine a whole lot right now." Whatever set him off is anyone's guess, but if continued violence is a possible ticket to not ending up like the rest of the broken heaps in the Destruction Zone, then violence it will be.
COMBATSYS: Kasumi takes no action.
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Frederick 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Kasumi
"Wurg," agrees Frederick, who is already concentrating every fiber in his considerably muscled form to breathing.
"Wurg."
The hammer deploys to an unexpected sound effect, a spray of sparks and a dull thump to the face coming loose as it's war cry echoes out into the sky. This almost causes some kind of smirk, although slowly and surely he begins to advance once more upon the writhing pair. "Vaccine... right. You got that stupid vaccine. But what use is it now... I can't attack NESTS any more. I've given everything to..." Suddenly he stops, and then his eyes flash open. "Hahaha... Of course!! /I/ cannot do anything..." A finger points at the pair, almost accusingly. "But YOU can! Nobody has to know it's me behind you. I'll make it look like Justice. Yes...! Excellent... I've already read the reports on what they seem to be doing. Normally I wouldn't care, but right now it's personal. You."
A finger points to Kasumi. "Are going to Taiyo. Find something on the principal. Proof he's not mundane. I don't care how. Seduce him and determine he's ungodly good in the goddamn sack for all I care. Then show it to any students who will listen!! Hahaha. And you..."
Suddenly Urien crosses his arms, lightning crackling through the air as his eyes go manic. "YOU SON OF A BITCH, GET YOUR ASS BEATEN NEARLY TO DEATH FOR WHAT YOU SAID TO ME!! AEGIS REFLECTOR!!"
Hopefully Kasumi manages to wriggle away in time, because a sudden wall of brutal crackling square chi rockets at Frederick. Urien literally leaps through the air after it, aiming to grasp Frederick by a leg and swing him with both arms to slam into it; only to proceed into a violently excessive onslaught of blows, each of which would crackle the barrier heavily. Shoulder charges, headbutts, a blast of metallic chi, all ending with a crackling dissipation and a leaping sitting powerbomb, as Urien roars!!
COMBATSYS: Urien successfully hits Frederick with Aegis Onslaught.
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Frederick 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Frederick takes no action.
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Frederick 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Frederick has reached second wind!
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0|---------------|-------<<<<<<<<
[ \ < > ////////////////////// ]
Frederick 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Kasumi
Frederick is still just sort of hanging out on top of Kasumi, which is an OK Time so far as hangouts are concerned, but the fact remains that he's still very much overwhelmed by his boss - Kasumi, being not a "made man" within the Illuminati, gets spared most of Urien's wrath. It also goes against the man's tastes to spoil dessert, or so logic dictates. Either way, the point is that Frederick can't move, and that his breathing is labored, his eyes are dangerously - worryingly - rolled upwards, and the man sort of barely manages to roll OFF of Kasumi by the time Urien gets super-duper mad.
What follows is gruesome. Kasumi will probably rethink her intern position.
So Urien slams Frederick into the Aegis Reflector wall - a crackle of energy denotes the moment his back impacts that plasma, and the fabric of his trenchcoat abruptly disintegrates. The pungent smell of boiling flesh is the next assault on the senses, punctuated by the disgustingly *WET* sound of Urien's knuckles rupturing flesh, tissue and bone while he absolutely murders Frederick. Blood spatters five, ten, fifteen feet from the sites of impact, decorates the walls of the very corridor Frederick and Urien inhabit - Kasumi, if she's exceedingly lucky, will get splashed by the occasional gout of red, but not much more. With Urien's final, primal shout and that barrier's destruction, Frederick slams into a steel wall with enough force to shatter it, ragged features bruised beyond recognition, clothing entirely disintegrated. Naked as the day he was born, covered in his own blood, the man lies motionless on the floor. His chest is *not* moving.
With enough pushing, grunting, and wiggling, the shinobi finds herself free, Frederick flopped on the floor at her side, not making one damn bit of sense. Usually he at least makes a little bit of sense. Alarmed eyes glance from his barely moving form toward the advancing Illuminati despot. He's barking out orders in the middle of an exercise in testing the tensile strength of their spines. Is this just how things work around here?!
That she is able to take note of what her objective is to be is really just a byproduct of her training in paying attention to details even when under extreme duress. It comes in handy here. "I will." she replies, before feeling a need to clarify a potentially awkward ambiguity. "Find something on him, that-"
She doesn't finish her statement before the violent rage of Urien's temper is unleashed on the halpless, barely mobile man at her side. Well, at least he said /nearly/ to death. That's got to be some kind of promotion to 'having their spines ripped out', which was their job description when they first got here!
Scrambling backward on hands and feet as the self-proclaimed Emperor declares his fearsome technique, invoking something she remembers quite well from her own evaluation battle against the Steel Goliath. Rising up to her feet, all she can do is cringe, wince, and really just avoid watching the annihilation of Frederick's everything taking place a mere meter to her side. She isn't getting into the middle of that.
When the fearsome reflector shatters at last and Blazer demonstrates how NOT to Kool-Aid man through a steel wall, the shinobi in jeans finally hazards a reluctant look in the direction of the bloody mess. "Emperor, I- I hope he might be permitted to live... he has been very helpful in supporting the missions you have given me." Her highest priority is getting out of this steel cage match with the living cuisinart as quickly as possible with as little harm as she can manage.
Her second priority is trying to keep Frederick from dying. Unfortunately, her first aid skills only go so far and the tall but smushed operative looks like he is far beyond anything she can do for him.
Urien is breathing heavily, looking over to where Frederick is slumped down. Before he slowly inhales, and lets it loose. At the same time, he has a somewhat satisfied expression. If nothing else, the ruthless nature they stumbled upon is in the wayside.
One.
Two.
Three.
"I never gave him permission to die. Alright. I'm good. Get back up!!" he yells at Frederick, as if his scathing tone could somehow rouse a corpse. Rolling his shoulder where Kasumi managed a good yank and numerous kicks, another somewhat lecherous glance is spared the ninja's way. "I've put in an inquiry for your own little 'problem' to the people upstairs. It'll take a few weeks to hear anything. Those damn brains love bureaucracy. ...So you better stick around if you want to hear some good news." And then he's suddenly looming before her, expression almost oppressively intense.
"Fifty thousand for a night. How's that? ...Eh? ...Heh. You're no fun." The alarms finally cut off, and the doors slide open. Cautiously, armed guards and medics begin to slip in, combing through the piles of people to find out those that are still alive, and those that got the wrong end. Of course, the stronger his opponents were, the worse off they ended... at least the scientists are mostly just concussed, unlike the corpses of senior guards.
"Frederick. I want you to find that escaped nurse. Capture her. She might know something. Use whatever resources you need... I've confirmed she never left the country. She's got nowhere to hide. We need to find her before NESTS erases her...!"
By the time Kasumi's done pleading for his life, and Urien's done screaming at Frederick, the man's head lolls to the side to face either party, and his chest is moving -- subtly. "Mugha fuhh," he curses, blood just sort of oozing from his lips in that hypercoagulable fashion that is frankly *gross*. It's like pudding slopping onto the floor, really, just gross pudding mingled with shards of tooth and the occasional chunky glop of clotted blood that must've sat in his mouth for the whole time he'd been bleeding out.
"Mother FUCKER," comes the words, clearer, prouder, louder, stronger. "Fuckin' can't even DIE to get outta this." Frederick's eyes open - a fraction of their normal width, sure, but more than enough for the man to level another wink at Kasumi in a hideous callback to the elevator. "Thanks." He looks up to Urien, and comes to a sitting position.
"You're fuckin' crazy. How the hell did you get ou-" He pauses, because really, referencing Urien's Great Big Fuckup in front of the cute hired help was probably a great way to another ass-kicking, and Fred can *feel* his bones sort of pulling back together, and it sucks to the point that he doesn't want to deal with it again. "But, yeah. I can find her dumb ass. NESTS probably cut her off, besides, so it's just an issue of where the skills work without a license." A roll of the shoulders, and Blazer stands, unconcerned about his berserker levels of nudity *and* blood-stainedness.
He points at Urien's leg, where the chainsaw sliced straight through flesh, and beyond, where that goddamn hammer is just buzzing away, merrily.
"---Haaaaaaaaawww~~"
Only when addressed directly by Urien does Kasumi look up at the towering Adonis, meeting his gaze with the same quiet intensity she has always regarded him. That he is extremely dangerous was clear to her within moments of meeting him. But he is also a means to a necessary end for her. Just from what little she's seen so far and gathered from having an attentive ear, this organization really does have the contacts necessary to help further her own agenda against the megacorp responsible for ruining her life.
A sharp nod is given regarding sticking around to hear good news. The money is essential, though she's been living on a tight budget in spite the paychecks... she doesn't expect this arrangement to last forever. Every exchange is dealing with a predator who, someday, might very well turn on her.
The request for spending a night to further pad her payments however provokes no response just like the first time it came up. Inwardly, the trepidation that he might stop just asking eventually remains a very conscious concern on her part.
The moment passes, however, and slowly some kind of semblence or order begins to take place around her. People slip into the room looking like they know what they're doing. She's not dead. But Frederick...?
The big man starts coughing up a lung. And then... he starts talking. The look she gives the wounded man is nothing shy of incredulous. Just how tough ARE these people? Frederick offers her a thanks and starts moving to a sitting position and while she catches the wink which is answered with a quick if fleeting smile of acknowledgement, the young woman has taken to looking anxiously toward the exit shortly after. One last glance is risked in Frederick's direction once he's on his feet, just to make sure he's, like, not dying of shock or something. And then she looks immediately away, a faint blush at her cheeks.
"Well then, I'd better... get started right away!"
That sounds like a good excuse to leave, which she proceeds to do. Seeing as how it's in the middle of the night.
Oh, Frederick. Sometimes, you don't know when to shut up. Urien wanders over to his hammer, picking it up. Before revving up the internal engine to full blast, steam and smoke billowing out of the sides. "DON'T FORGET YOUR HAMMER!!" he then roars, twisting to hurl it as hard as he can in the general direction of Frederick's groin, spinning head over heels with brutal-sounding billows through the air. "You both have your missions. I need to get this place up to snuff. Haaaa." He finally feels somewhat better after his humiliation with NESTS... but his revenge is only just beginning. Grumbling something to himself, he then marches towards one of the open doors, people parting like water before Moses the moment they risk getting within arm's reach. "I need more booze. And women. Both!!" It's not clear who he's giving this order to, but there's no doubt it's going to happen. Hopefully, Frederick manages to survive the night without an irrevocable evisceration. But even so, at least the medics are here. There's little a good bit of medical tube idling won't fix...
COMBATSYS: Urien successfully hits Frederick with Huge Thrown Object.
- Power hit! -
URIEN
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0|---------------|----===========
[ < > ////////////////////// ]
Frederick 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Frederick takes no action.
URIEN
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0|---------------|----===========
> ////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Frederick can no longer fight.
URIEN
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0|---------------|----===========
> ////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Kasumi
Log created on 21:34:47 12/28/2014 by Urien, and last modified on 02:23:59 12/29/2014.