Description: Dear Diary, there was a wonderful development today. One of my father's most talented and loyal retainers arrived to assist me against the villainous Earthrealm warriors known as the Metro City Punishment Division. Their underhanded techniques, destructive weapons and dishonourable weight of numbers were as nothing to our combined might - but I wonder, are we allowing ourselves to be drawn too deeply into this realm? Truly, those who dwell here are scarce as civilized as we. They provide not even the condiments with which to dine most properly upon their facemeats. At least I made a new friend.
Ah, Earthrealm! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!
"--10-10 on 37th and 5th, repeat, got a 10-10 on 37th and 5th. Shots have been fired and two units are already on site. We're gonna need some backup on this one."
Like much of the densely-populated surface, Metro City is rife with criminal activity, the twin veneer of arduous industry and content consumerism yielding to an underbelly too large to really bear the name. Drive-bys, grievous assaults, and petty burglary and muggings are all too common. People, on the whole, are a pretty despicable bunch - worse the more of them there are, mob rule dictating the ebb and flow of modern society. To a 'citizen' of Outworld, it's joyous how foolish and self-destructive the race of man truly is; it's almost like their work is being done -for- them...
All it needs, here and there, is a little, tiny, push.
As the police radio lights up with that strange kind of reserved, businesslike panic, Princess Mileena is dancing - literally, dancing - through the abandoned corridors of a large office block not far from Metro's central square. Here and there, her heel-clad feet skid through a slick of blood and bile, but her step is undiminished, her laughter a sickening yet enthrallingly-melodic titter of sheer, animal pleasure. Her impossibly-beautiful, perfect body is spattered with fluids not her own, her long limbs languidly curling to a silent song until they culminate in pain-smeared spikes. Talons rend the air with delight, and specks of crimson froth spatter from her feet.
She's blissfully careless that she's not entirely alone in the building. Oh, there's plenty of dead people; corpses pack the skyscraper's eighteenth and seventeenth floors wherein she made her fabulous entrance, entrails smeared across otherwise clean carpets and torn, ravaged faces screaming eternally at the air-conditioned ceiling.
But there are living ones, too, some cowering in cupboards having been unable to evacuate the building with those now pouring from the ground floor in droves. The mentioned shots were fired by a couple of would-be vigilantes, one of whom Mileena is currently wearing as a hat. Her mask been slipped back in place, and she's accessorized it very pleasantly by perching the top of her desperately-ineffective aggressor's skull over her own, stringy hair. His greasy blonde locks fall beside her feral, catlike eyes, gleaming with an alien ecstasy beyond the ken of any silly manling.
"Er, 10-4, Unit 15, but are you sure you're not underselling this? We've got a civilian stampede over here and someone's put in a request for a sniper team. What's the situation, over?"
"Sorry to interrupt, kids. This is Sniper Team 4. We've got a straight shot on the entrance, but there are civilians blocking us. Requesting identification of target."
"This is Unit 15. I'm approaching the target from the rear. We've got a lot of casualties here. Target is about... six foot two in stiletto heels. Nice ass."
"I'm sorry, Unit 15, I think we're getting some interference. Repeat?"
"I said 'nice ass', over. Making a move now."
Outside, federally-employed sniper Tom 'The Bang' Kennedy waves his spotter forward and hunkers down on the third floor balcony of a kosher deli, working the bolt on his M24 as he sights through the scope past the screaming, flailing businessmen making their exit from the bowels of Mileena's new private playground. She has had... a few, over the previous handful of months. But Tom 'The Bang' Kennedy doesn't know that.
"Unit 15, we're getting some interference. Did you leave your radio on?"
"gurklasdasfgkwqnzlohgodsavemeasdklsgl"
"Sniper Team 4, this is Unit 16. Man down, repeat, man down. We have a visual lock on the target. Can probably manuever her toward the entrance. Can you take the shot?"
Something crawls in Kennedy's gut, a memory of a similar situation fed along the grapevine from a podunk town a few hundred miles south of Mayor Haggar's spectacularly crime-rife modern metropolis.
"I'll do what I can, Unit 16. But I'd advise you call for backup. NOW. Over."
By the time Outworld's inimitable royal presence has taken her (literal) fill of the ill-fated office block and those unfortunate enough to attempt stopping her, the MCPD is on full alert. She's dancing once more as she steps out of the elevator leading to the front lobby, her crazed laughter fluttering in the wake of a rapid tango for which she has an appropriate partner, given the company she's about to receive...
It's the attacking police officer, his head removed from the spine, his arms clasped about Mileena in a state of rigor mortis. Ichor spurts intermittently from the severed stump, drenching the dancers in a delicate downfall of scarlet mist. It's stunningly beautiful, if you're a murderous freak from another dimension who finds carnage and foulness to be worthy of aesthetic praise. But surely, Mileena is alone here! Taking solace in her headless lover, she dances her way across the lobby and through the revolving doors, now free of screaming citizenry. Which is good, for them...
"Alright, taking the shot."
But terrible for the princess. She's certainly alone as the M24 reports like a fucking hellhound and a 7.62x51mm round is screaming through the air toward her. But is she really? Is one ever alone when dancing with an agreeable partner? With a hideous snap, she breaks the arms encircling her and hisses with the savage delight of a predatory survivor as she whips the body around into the incoming sniper round. The poor bastard's spine erupts into a fine goo, and then he's dropped like a broken toy.
Squelch.
Leaving the princess open for a second attempt, and also facing down the dozen or so handguns that are suddenly levelled upon her from behind the doors and roofs of various police vehicles. A chump with a loudspeaker stands in their midst, shouting obvious things like, "You are surrounded!" and blah blah extreme force. Mileena hunkers down, her taloned fingers gleaming with residual, sickly chi energy as she prepares for yet another tooth-and-nail fight against the denizens of Earthrealm. Alone.
They say that blood magic is very old magic. What more primal force could there be to the sons and daughters of mankind than that of their very own life force? Yet, the blood of this world is sweeter than that of Outworld. There, though the blood flows more freely, it is a ghostly remnant; a shadowy flicker of what once was. The blood of this world is fresh and vibrant. It is filled with high-fructose corn syrup and other strange additives, it is also laden with hopes and dreams, with the desire to live a life more free, more purposeful, than one of pure mayhem and destruction.
There are people in this world whose blood sings a song which is not one of Konquest. Their hearts are not filled with a desire for Karnage. It does not quicken with the promise of Kombat. It is strange... and it is filled with more potential than anything Outworld has tasted in generations.
How strange it is that so ancient a power could taste unfamiliar to one formed from those ancient principles.
The first that Mileena knows about it is when the loudspeaker is silenced. There's a gurgling noise, and the microphone hits the ground with a squeal of feedback. The heavy item hits the earth, and the holder slumps to the floor. Blood flows freely from his split neck, and then that sprayed crimson mist solidifies into a second, crimson-clad ninja.
Skarlet's brilliantly red eyes scan across the police officers, and the streams of spilled gore begin to move inexorably towards her boot-clad feet. Stepping carefully forward, Skarlet's daggers hang easily in her hands, and she stares into Mileena's eyes. There is a pressure in the air; a sense of palpable menace which sweeps across the gathered police officers, and for a few seconds, they are forced into silence.
The knowledge must surely be sinking in by now: None of them will be leaving here alive.
And yet, Skarlet does not care about the effect she is having on the men whose officer she just slew in cold blood. She only has eyes for Mileena. The Monster-Princess of Shao Kahn. The woman whose blood-soaked footsteps she has lapped up on every pace across this strange, small, dizzying, enormous, peaceful, familiar, warlike world...
And when she is merely two paces away, she sinks in a smooth motion to one knee, bowing her head as her legs are coated in the heady blood of the latest slaughter. How much sweeter it is to take it before it dries!
By dire contrast to the esoteric magicks wielded by Skarlet, the twistedly-gleeful apparition of Shao Kahn's favoured daughter is young... startingly young, whether by the standards of Earthrealm -or- Outworld. The artistry in her design is rather older, however, her being laced together by ornate - if savage - sorceries, her genetic cocktail forged into living, breathing violence by heavy application of chi. This very planet howls at her presence, heralding the abomination like the call of royal trumpets. Though without, it must be said, the respect of the blood ninja.
A hiss of pure, pleasurable desire leaves Mileena's throat as the irritating manling is beheaded before her eyes, her body curling in a sinuous expression of bloodlust. When her gaze is caught by her fellow, catlike eyes gleam with a darkness that would be unreadable to any other - truly, the eyes of a monster, wild and alien, as inhuman as anything could possibly be whilst retaining such a shell as she. To Skarlet, it's all too obvious that the princess is well pleased. Her favour is perhaps easily earned, if one has the ability and the fervour to wield it; but this creature of sorcerous blood... could there be anyone more suited to paying black homage to Kahn's progeny?
As Skarlet makes her approach, takes her knee, Tom Kennedy is again working the bolt, another round chambered in his mighty cannon, the 'finger of death' drawn to bear again. He finds his shot blocked, spitting a curse and lining up a new.
To either side of them, Metro's finest hesitate. The man giving the orders is dead; do they open fire? Do they wait? Too used to others taking the lead, none of them react beyond the trembling of their hands, the rattling of clips in their guns audible. Only one seems further led to determination by the display, calmly holstering her M1911A and reaching instead for the baton at her hip. The plain, indistinct and overlooked Lt. Sarah Irons crouches behind a patrol car for now, fingering her weapon of choice.
"yyYoUuu..."
Mileena's warbling, sibilant word is emitted in an intrigued growl, the princess taking her own sweet time in savouring the calm before the storm. She's unintimidated by the men and women arrayed around them; she's learned too well to sense the dangerous amongst Earthrealm's supposed elite, and not a one present triggers that instinct. Bar, perhaps, the somewhat-distant man whose bullet she deflected moments before. Perhaps over-confident, too certain of her abilities, she deigns to ignore Kennedy now.
Maybe she's just easily distracted, like an eager child.
Straightening her back with an inward, sloping curve that straightens in the laziest, most languid fashion, Mileena raises an arm in a sympathetic, yet equally-chaotic slant. Like the arm of a mantis unfolding, it culminates in dirty, blood-soaked talons drawing across the form of Skarlet before beckoning her-- not to approach, but to continue what she's doing, the gesture strangely imperious from the childlike royal, a dominant and appreciative motion that might better suit her regal mother.
"iI -LiKe- yyouuu," she draws the word out, her lipless mouth curling beneath the mask, fangs pressing hungrily against yielding material. Her innermost hand idly caresses a breast, gripping harshly through what little 'clothing' she exhibits, tearing at her own flesh. "Yyou sMell llike Dinner, but aLsso of the hHunt!"
Suddenly, the extended arm whips back and casts the mask away, Mileena's hissed howl one of a predator not just born - but made, fashioned, to be the conceptual culmination of a beast made purely for killing. She doesn't know what else to be - wouldn't choose to be anything else - and that makes her somehow magnificent, in the eyes of a murderer. A refinement of purpose only rarely seen in nature, in old and terrible things. Nothing so young was ever so perfect as Princess Mileena.
"HaaaAaaAAAaaa! Let uss =HUNT= ttoGetheRrr!"
And then, she's striking. From excitement to action, from zero to a hundred, in an instant, the bat of an eyelid sending her from the declaration of her intent to the sealing slash. Her nails rend through thick material, stripping kevlar and cloth to dig deep into a cop who was - a blink before - a dozen feet away and certainly able to react before this inevitable union of claw and gut. He can do nothing except scream as he's torn almost in half, flopping backward with a useless, explosive discharge of ammunition. With a wild, lustful glance at the kneeling Skarlet, Mileena rips her hand through a cloud of disembodied entrails, seizing up and hurling a handful of blood.
It sprays between them, a thickly globular expulsion. A tribute. An acceptance. This, it seems, is how the denizens of Outworld make friends and influence people.
Clenching his teeth, 'The Bang' finds his target and squeezes the trigger of his M24.
COMBATSYS: Kennedy has started a fight here on the right meter side.
COMBATSYS: Irons has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
COMBATSYS: Mileena has joined the fight here on the top side.
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Stu has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Riggs has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
COMBATSYS: Skarlet has joined the fight here in the center.
COMBATSYS: Skarlet dodges Kennedy's Long Shot.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Irons
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kennedy
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|-------
Blood and violence; death and kombat. It is enough to remind Skarlet of home. Simply being in the Princess' presence is enough to do that, really. She's a powerful creature. It seems absurd that it took her so long to track her down, when she rails so undeniably against all that is this reality. The Outworld Princess is many things, but subtle is not one of them... perhaps, deep down, Skarlet simply hadn't wished to find the woman. Because this was the inevitable result. Where Mileena takes karnal pleasure in the pain and violence she causes... Skarlet's presence is somewhat more difficult to read.
Oh, she was sworn to assist Mileena in her mission on this plane, but unlike the cackling Princess, she takes no particular enjoyment in the act.
She stands, smoothly, and the redhead's gaze turns. The sniper can see her for a moment, her eye directly in his crosshairs. Wait... is she actually, looking him in the eye, across the battlefield? Surely there's no way...!
The shot rings out, and Skarlet explodes into a fine cloud of bloody mist.
In the very same instant, she reappears above the sniper, both blades drawn and sinking down to try and stab into his shoulders, ripping across with the bloody, brutal intent of removing his ability to use that terribly large weapon of his.
"C-C'mon Riggs, we gotta stop this!" A young white officer with the world's most ridiculous blonde afro and long moustache exclaims, "You were with me at that fightin' seminar, lets show this bitch our moves!"
His partner- an overweight, balding african-american picks up his sidearm, and cracks his neck. "I don't know, Stu. I'm gettin' too old for this shit. But you're right. Unless the Mayor shows up, I guess its down to us."
Riggs raises his trusty service revolver, and sights carefully down the barrel. Just like he was taught at the academy, he does his best to put Mileena dead center, and squeeze the trigger with a loud BANG! Which echoes through the streets.
-- in that instant, he is back, twenty years. The last time he pulled his gun. A little kid, a plastic revolver, a terrible mistake, a scream -- but this isn't like that, Riggs! This isn't some little kid messing around, this is one of them crazzy psycho fighter-terrorists, pull it together!
Stu, meanwhile, has rolled around to the side of Mileena, and is now bobbing, swaying, hands raised in front of him. "Hey, chica!" He declares, suddenly stabbing his finger up into the sky, "You have the right..."
"... To STOP, put your hands above your head..."
"AND GET DOWN!~"
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Stu focuses on his next action.
COMBATSYS: Mileena overcomes Service Revolver from Cpt. Riggs with Rancor.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Irons
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Kennedy blocks Skarlet's Blood Drop.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Irons
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|--=====
This is every Christmas at once, to Mileena. While a rather directionless rampage across Earthrealm has been ceaselessly enjoyable to this creature of carnal sin, she has undoubtedly also been missing something - companionship, subordination, even the oft-humbling presence of an equal within her life. If the princess were to stop and consider - were she capable of that, at this stage - she'd realize the same homesickness that blights Skarlet, that enthuses her actions now. They are aliens here, on this plane, and as much fun as might be had with that...
...they do not belong. Their mission is to change that. The wayward princess has only ever managed to keep one task at the forefront of her mind, beyond the necessity of the hunt to feed and gather strength. And that task is easily accomplished. She can't out-think Kitana, can't hope to discover her location with guile, any more than she can strategically mastermind an invasion of this realm. Chaos is her guide. Her rock.
It's in complete, gibbering /in/stability that the madwoman of the Flesh Pits finds her stable platform.
Even as she's eviscerating one man with abandoned glee, Mileena is dissonantly focused, the feral orange-yellow glow of those bloody-souled cat's eyes fixating beyond the explosion of ichor onto all that she beholds. She's wary, and possesses an awareness far beyond even her keenly predatory gaze. Earthrealm has a resonance, a pulsation of life, perhaps even more apparent than that found beyond the leylines. Manlings are so restrained with their passions, striving so hard to be more than their make-up suggests that their every action calls to her. Their purpose is slowed, their assaults are weak, because they think it all through; where is their instinct, where is their ambition?
Mileena's gaze snaps to the bullet spinning toward her. She could reach out and touch it with bloody fingertips, if she desired. She has the time. She could snatch it from the air, or weave around it. She could walk through it with barely a scratch; she would, doubtless, not even notice the wound in a few short moments.
Or she could prove how much better she is, show this cattle-thing it's place.
"OlD?!" She snaps, her intonation as bizarre and otherworldly as everything else about her, whipping her arms through the air - suddenly baring, pulled from nowhere, two blades formed from sickly purple energy. They spit and crackle in the same instant in which they're hurled, one of them barely brushing the bullet, spinning it off at an angle where it explodes against the patrol car shielding Lt. Irons. The woman gasps as a tiny piece of metal, torn from the vehicle's chassis, cuts her cheek.
Mileena's twin weapons continue ton, leaving a foul trail as they leech more and more power from the earthly environs, only gaining power and ferocity. They're fashioned from spite and hate, from rage and the singular will for murder.
"yYou arrre yOung and -WeAK- like your wwoRLD!"
Just like Mileena.
Across the battlefield tipped so strongly in Outworld's favour, Skarlet finds her own opponent - for the moment - more resilient than his fleshy shell suggests. With the shot fired and evaded, Tom Kennedy reacts fast; rolling onto his back, his cap tumbling away as he furiously thrusts his M24 upward. The sniper rifle is caught and severed by the blades descending toward either shoulder, hurled useless to either side as Kennedy scrambles to escape; he is torn anyway, spun about to subject his upper back to brutal savagery that almost leaves him crippled. He screams.
And then he rips himself free, tendons flapping about and blood spattering the ground at his feet as he hits the rail at the edge of the balcony and turns, barely able to raise even one arm to ward off this savage, crimson creature.
"Bang, bitch," spits 'The Bang', his hand bearing a small .22 pistol yanked from the holster rig about his waist. It's not a large gun, but he pulls the trigger until the magazine is empty, bullets streaming without particular accuracy but with plenty of opportunities to 'plink' Skarlet to what he prays is a shock-driven death. He fires until the gun clicks, and then fires twice more on impulse, terrified, but determined.
Mileena, meanwhile, cocks her head like a curious catbird, hissing, her needlelike fangs dripping saliva as her tongue flickers over them. Stu is subjected to a long, hard stare burning with animal savagery. And then, she smiles.
It's... it's the worst smile ever.
The princess extends a hand, bestowing a great boon upon Disco Stu.
"llLet usss ~DaNce~!"
COMBATSYS: Irons focuses on her next action.
COMBATSYS: Kennedy successfully hits Skarlet with Suppression Fire.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|-------
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Irons
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Kennedy
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|-======
Skarlet raises an eyebrow at the words, recognizing them as a kind of snarl of defiance... but she hasn't said anything. What is this man defying? It is this sort of behavior which confuses her. He'd tried to shoot her first. Yes, she'd killed that other man, but surely he must realize that if he didn't wish to take part in the kombat he could simply have fled? No longer.
The ninja twirls on her toe, flourishing her blades as bullets whirl about her. One catches her cheek, another her shoulder, and the last her knee. For a few brief moments there are wounds; splashes of crimson and scarlet against the ground.
Then, the tiny holes close, and so does she.
Skarlet rolls forwards, her malicious daggers surging in her hands. What follows is a masterclass in savagery. The left aims to open up his stomach, and the right follows to carve a path across his chest. The natural response is to try and bring one's arms down to - literally - hold oneself together... and Skarlet anticipates this, too, a sharply-pointed heel (the hallmark of all true ninja warriors) comes whirling up after to slam into the police officer's chin and - hopefully - send him sprawling backwards.
After his spirited display, she'll be faintly disappointed if that is the end of him... but every move is made with lethal intent. She can hardly fault him if his body gives up before his mind acknowledges the inevitable outcome of their conflict.
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Riggs slows Rancor from Mileena with Service Revolver.
Glancing Hit
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Mileena 0|-------|------=
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Irons
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|-======
Riggs' eyes widen when the energy dagger comes flinging out. The words? Psht, crazy bitch doesn't know what she's talking about, but that dagger? That's universally a disturbing thing to see. "What the hell?!" He exclaims, and two more sharp bullets follow. Squeezing the trigger - the most basic move there is in the police academy.
The twin shots hit the dagger, and rather than spearing him between the eyes, it catches him in the shoulder instead. The older man still cries out and slumps to one knee, his hand grasping briefly against the sickly purple pain and yanking it out of his protesting body.
"RIGGS!!"
Stu's desperate cry attracts the old man's attention, and he gives a solemn nod of his head. "Give her hell, partner!" A weak thumbsup.
Captain Stu returns the thumbsup with one of his own. "Alright lady, lets /dance!/"
Diving forwards, Stu bobs his head this way and that, raising his hand with it to try and capture Mileena's attention - not something that is wise under most circumstances. With his body between her and his partner, though, he leans forwards, clearly about ready to to punch her in the face...
Only what he actually does is try and sweep the leg! If he can manage that, hooking his ankle behind her and twisting as hard as he can, he'll grab the crazed fighter's wrist and try to yank THAT behind her back in a classic cop control grapple, his free hand trying to find his cuffs. Because those will work.
COMBATSYS: Mileena parries Cpt. Stu's Takedown Sweep!
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|-----==
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|-======
COMBATSYS: Kennedy interrupts Coagulation from Skarlet with Break The Rules.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|-----==
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 1|-----==|=======
Ferocious, and yet not entirely possessed of the singular focus that defines so many predators, Mileena shifts her attentions around with the abandon of a mere babe - but adapts, controlling every angle of the situation in a way that simply shouldn't be. There's no line between one thought and another, her actions blurring, as if every aspect of her were engaged and reacting simultaneously. It's hard to watch - precisely because she leaps about so much - but fascinating, too.
Her attention is indeed diverted by Stu's actions, catlike slits flickering back and forth, her neck shifting in a manner that's... almost, honestly, cute... to mirror his own motions. Somewhere between a monkey and snake, she even rolls backward from the punch that never comes, without endangering her pinpoint-accurate reaction to what follows. His ankle touches hers, and she smiles, maw splitting and dripping with more salacious dribble, waiting until the instant he grabs her wrist--
--and then with forceful grace, switching the position of her foot so that she has the upper hand in the sweep. Her gorgeous, perfect body follows the motion perfectly, ending up just where it wants and needs to be. Instinctive. In every sense; she doesn't -need- to think about it, she just does it. When he goes to spin her around and seize control, probably not even realizing she's adapted flawlessly...
Mileena spins out, flexible enough not to risk dislocating her shoulder as she extends to the full, letting out a merry, natively-devilish giggle and pulling -him- toward her. She leaps, her form contracting and expanding like a spider, her arms thrown out wide to then descend upon his back, around his neck. Her legs cinch around his waist, wrapping her spectacular frame around Stu and then leaning in with a seductively alien, lustful expression upon her hideous face. Her tongue lashes out, following the contour of a cheek and then lasciviously entering his mouth just for an instant.
"Mmmmmm..."
There's no warble to the moan; it's straight out of a porno, a mature woman completely unabandoned in her sexuality. A shame it's nothing of the sort. Mileena doesn't want to have sex with this quirky, retro male; she wants to eat his face.
A beat later, she attempts to, shark-like maw splitting wide and clamping down.
With the princess nomming away, Lt. Sarah Irons has already decided to make her move, spinning out from her hiding place with a scathing look at the men and women around her apparently refusing to take action - through a mixture of terror and curious rapture - taking off at a sprint to cover the ground between her and the imminently face-mauled Stu.
"Captain!!"
Her cry is passionate, a warning that may come a bit too late - or may, mercifully, not - and then she's lunging forward, unable to cover the distance in time but her baton released from thrust-out fingertips. It snaps in mid-air, the extension causing it to spin upon its axis. Irons is incredibly dextrous, if nothing else, a dead shot with a thrown blade or a grenade, and it's aimed to perfectly whip into her funky superior's grasp; giving him -something- to use against the horrific woman-thing.
Meanwhile, Tom 'The Bang' Kennedy is horrified to see his salvo of shots doing little to stop his own nightmare. Skarlet's beauty is no less, really, but she's so businesslike and pure in her offensive fury that he hasn't even stopped to consider what she looks like - she's just an aggressor, another soldier that he NEEDS to take down. If pushed, he'd struggle to even note her as a woman. She's a target.
Those daggers plunge in again, but he's gritting his teeth and pushing from the balcony, dropping his pistol only to snatch it from the air in a white-knuckled grasp. "GRAAHH!" Yelling hoarse defiance as his stomach is torn open and his life's blood spills forth from both sides now, he launches his hand up to pistol-whip first the woman's rising ankle - and then her face, a snicker-snack of police brutality.
Only then does he sink down, gasping, clutching at his midsection.
He knows he can still fight, but he almost wants to yield-- can he even HOPE to stop this bloody angel of war?
COMBATSYS: Irons assists Cpt. Riggs.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|-----==
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 1|-----==|=======
Skarlet's ankle snaps, and her skull splits. It does not last much longer than the other visible damage to her, but it is... noted, in the same way a sommelier might appreciate the finer notes in a particularly rich and tasty new offering. The officer has an impressive amount of pep to him; she has no doubt that she will see him again in the fighting arenas of Shao Kahn. What he simply fails to appreciate is that she is unlike any target he has ever faced before. Truly, she is not a woman. She is not even human. She is blood, and death. Such mediocre techniques - delivered with passion though they may be - could not really hope to stop her in the long run.
Her ankle snaps back into place as she wills herself to stand strong, and she turns as she enters his personal space. The back of her hand comes snapping up, aiming to smash into his nose. If that connects, she'll snare his shoulder, and guide him towards the floor - not so much a throw as a gentle sweep down into a more comfortable position.
And it is only when he is there, that she'll bring the heel of her boot down hard into the opening she had made with her knives, aiming to drive in deep and spear whatever tender organs she may. The more horrifying element of all this is the fact that the wound WON'T bleed. If she can get her heel in there, the supernatural monster will not only cause terrible damage from the fact she's mutilating him with her footwear...
Her very nature will exsanguinate him at the same time. She has his taste already; unless he does something so disappointing as cry and beg for his life, there's really only one outcome from here on out for him.
COMBATSYS: Mileena successfully hits Cpt. Stu with Friendly Kiss EX.
~~ Alluring Hit! ~~
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|--=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 1|-----==|=======
COMBATSYS: Kennedy Toughs Out Skarlet's Kombo!
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|--=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 1|----===|=======
Poor, poor Stu.
The officer screams when he sees the monster's face. Unlike his more hard-bitten partner, he hasn't been on the force long enough to be prepared for this kind of horror. The man is in no position to do anything about it when she goes to eat his face. He manages to get his hands in the way, but that just means the soft flesh of his palms is gnawed on as much as his cheek. It is not a pretty picture.
Thankfully, Riggs saw what Irons was going for, and he's on the move in an instant. With a speed he barely knew his body could muster, he is there to snatch the flung baton on of the air, and now it is the old man's turn to try and lay into the terrifying Princess. Unlike his squealing, sobbing mess of a partner, Riggs has been on the force for much of his life. He's seen Mad Gear and more. He also knows it ain't his job to /die/ doing this, so much as it is to buy time for backup to arrive, footage for the eggheads to analyze later, and maybe knock a few clues out of this freak's mouth that the Mayor and his buddies might use to track her down later.
"You get the hell offa him." Riggs snarls, battering at Mileena's head and shoulders with the baton, "And you, Irons! Help me out here, take out the perp's knees!!"
Stu is a bit busy bawling his eyes out and trying to crawl back up to his feet to actually... help, right now. Give him a few, he'll bounce back. Probably.
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Stu gains composure.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|--=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 1|----===|=======
COMBATSYS: Mileena blocks Cpt. Riggs' Nightstick Combination.
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|-======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 1|----===|=======
Once upon a time, Tom 'The Bang' Kennedy was just another scrawny recruit, starting his professional life as a mere beat cop who used to get pushed around by older, tougher guys on the force. His ascension to federal ranks came when he stepped it up one summer, took down a big-time perp - figuratively and literally, giving the bastard the fight of his life. It was then he realized he had the focus to be more. Training up as a sharpshooter, using his eagle eye and calculating brain, he also doubled his time in the gym. It's why he's a card-carrying badass now, and why--
When Skarlet's kick strikes him, when her heel rams cruelly past his clasping hand and penetrates the folds of flesh shielding his organs from the elements, he just clenches his jaw all the tighter and suffers through it. He can feel his life energy draining, feel his head swimming, but he refuses to go down; he's worked too hard for this shit, and he's too young not to be looking at another three, four promotions.
"Just because I couldn't put a bullet in your head," he grates, suddenly grasping onto Skarlet's leg with weakened arms that are still, somehow, steel-like. "Doesn't mean I won't take you out. Do you know who I am?!" Snarling, he drags on the leg, forcing her heel -deeper through him-, jamming it against his organs, until he can feel it press against his back. It's sickening. He lifts an elbow, drives it downward. "BANG!!"
With the bark, he drives his elbow again, seeking that snap of bone and sinew that heralds a clean break. His other arm reaches back, seeking the nape of his spine - not far from where Skarlet's heel will now rest, if he's made it this far - and tugging at the tactical knife sheathed there. Switching to a double-handed grip upon the blade, he brings it down furiously, over and over, seeking to just amputate this evil monster.
"THEY CALL ME!" He screams between stabs, "THAT! BECAUSE! I! ALWAYS! TAKE! MY! TARGET! OUT!!"
At any cost, he plunges on. She can't fight with one leg. She can't resist with one leg. If he can bring her down now, he knows, they can make this arrest-- and all he has to rely on is his allies on the ground taking out one, single woman between them.
The rest will be easy. Just get through this, Kennedy. Just maim and survive.
COMBATSYS: Skarlet blocks Kennedy's Dogs Of War.
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|-======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 1|---====|=======
Delicious~!
Mileena continues moaning through mouthfuls of flesh as she rips and tears, sucks and dribbles, spatters of blood and torn bits of skin falling in a messy, chaotic rain as she drinks deep of Stu's meaty goodness. There's nothing pretty about it, nothing sexy about it, and yet her pure delight in sating her hunger is somehow deeply, irrationally compelling - she's simply enjoying herself so much that it's hard to be nothing but repulsed. Riggs is thankfully - for his partner - more prepossessed than most of the others looking on, though at least one more seems to have rallied to the cause.
A shot goes off as Riggs approaches, and it brings Mileena's attention snapping around, her mouth still open and tongue lashing out to flick across her pointed teeth. Catlike eyes are gleaming, slitted pupils dilated, the stomach-churning yellow now dominated by darkness. Her body trembles below, as if in the throes of incredible passion, as if the world's greatest lover were bestowing his most tender ministrations.
Again her preternatural senses come to the fore, and when the baton descends, she is already uncoiling an arm from about Stu's neck, even finding time and focus to brush her talon-like nails backhanded across his ravaged cheek, before the weapon is caught upon her tense forearm. She whips her arm in a blur, catching each blow above as below she unentangles her other limbs, sliding sinuously down from her prey and allowing him to fall - or perhaps, if he's strong enough, even run - away, now turning fully to Riggs. "HhhMmmmm," she murmurs wordlessly, more with curiosity than abject lust now. The older officer is skilled, and unrelenting, but not... quite... enough...
She drives under a swipe of the baton, brushing it aside with a surprisingly graceful and controlled sweep of her arm, driving the other under and through. Through what? Through /Riggs/, the blow astonishingly quick and yet possessed of hellacious force. Her fingers pull back to expose the palm, which plunges in with enough casual power to rupture organs and sandwich what's left against the spine.
Almost in synergy with the actions of Skarlet, not too far hence.
She retracts the blow quickly, and then strikes again; a scathing backhanded slice as she straightens with a mewling hiss, seeking to toss Riggs away by just slapping him roughly across the face. She's a monster.
Irons is determined to fight back against monsters, it seems; obeying Riggs' order, she strives to use this moment of over-extension on Mileena's part to dive in under, similar to the princess' own manuever a moment before, and take her down with a fairly standard double-leg. It's got speed and it's got technique.
Perhaps that will be enough to buy the three a stronger retaliation.
Skarlet only really understands pain as an abstract concept herself. Being a creature made entirely of blood, it is only those rare occassions when some force brings equally dangerous magic to hit the spells which bind her together that she has even felt pain. That shaman, Nightwolf, was one of them. This man, as he grinds himself into her boot, is just considered on the basis of how impressive the technique is. She has no way to appreciate the awesome act of willpower on display.
His stabbing? It is clumsy, like a child hacking at a tree with an axe. Perhaps she has misjudged this one after all.
Her heel is drawn out, and smoothly the point of it snaps this way and that, deflecting the bulk of the knife at every turn, taking the momentum out of it and refusing to allow a clean stab against her leg, let alone allow him to take it off.
The woman's motion finally ends as she aims to catch his wrist with that heel, and skewer it once more to the ground. Successful or not, her hand draws forth the blade at her back, and her movement is impeccably graceful. He is on the ground, already suffering, bleeding, dying.
It is similar to the motion a hunter would make to finish a wounded animal. One clean stroke across the throat, intending to sever the jugular artery and windpipe, before she steps towards the edge of the roof and looks down on the battle below. She's gratified to see that Mileena is enjoying herself, but this is quite an unseemly situation. It really ought to be finished sooner rather than later.
COMBATSYS: Skarlet successfully hits Kennedy with Blood Bath.
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|--=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Riggs blocks Mileena's Back Punch.
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|-======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|---====
Riggs' experience is really paying off. Where his partner had gone in all bravado and brash actions, Riggs keeps his eyes on the prize. When the woman turns his attack aside, he sees what she's doing; he's just not fast enough to use the weapon to stop it. She's good, and it is only through guts and determination that he is able to bring his other arm around to catch the blow, rather than his stomach.
The force of it is still enough to send him skidding across the concrete, and he grunts, shaking his numbed arm. He opens and closes his fingers several times, trying to work feeling back into them as he faces down the crazed killer. He'd never seen a monster like this before, but he knows that attitude. Someone who lived to enjoy the pain of others. If he was twenty years younger, god help him, he might even have admitted that - aesthetically - there is something attractive about her. In the same way that a coiled viper or a tiger might be mesmerizing.
But he ain't gonna fall for that, no sir.
He knows his duty, and after a quick glance to his torn partner - "You okay there Stu?" "Ghurrrrrkkk...bluh blub bluh..." "Alright then." He's back in the game.
Irons is taking the bottom, so he goes in for the top. Twirling his nightstick around several times as he closes up the distance between them again, his eyes meet Mileena's.
And he pulls out the service revolver again, pointing it between her eyes before he pulls the trigger. Ain't no point messin' around.
Stu, despite his blubbering, though, isn't entirely out of the fight, and he doesn't want to watch his partner get mauled too. So, rather than stay back and let the other two handle it, he comes in once more, aiming to swing his leg around to catch the side of Mileena's head from behind - preferably after she's been shot in it, but he wouldn't be surprised if she chose to ate the bullet, either!
COMBATSYS: Irons successfully hits Mileena with Quick Throw.
- Power hit! -
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 0|-------|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Mileena dodges Cpt. Riggs' Point Blank Shot.
COMBATSYS: Mileena parries Cpt. Stu's Dance Feint!
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 1|-------|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|---====
There's little answer, for Tom Kennedy; and 'The Bang' is thoroughly banged, the deflections of his brutal assault, his attempted destruction of this terrible target - no doubt, the greatest and most fearsome he has ever faced - being thwarted at the apex. It's rare he would find another opening like that if he tried, and Skarlet makes it clear she will punish him severely no matter his efforts...
He gurgles, already choking on his own blood, barely clinging on to the knife. It's all he can do to thrust it clumsily toward her, but he's already pitching forward and - quite obviously, bleeding out to a messy death if left to do so. The stab turns into a loose, wide swipe, only Kennedy's powerful muscles making it anything but truly, completely pathetic. It's so slow. He's depending on luck, now.
Luck, and the grace of God. Yes, he believes, and he's praying when he hits the ground.
For himself, and for his comrades below.
COMBATSYS: Skarlet dodges Kennedy's Random Weapon.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 1|-------|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|---====
Wisdom is an asset learned only through time and effort; and Captain Riggs demonstrates it now, staving off the worst of the maniac princess' assault by abandoning desperation, failing to play the hero to instead play the pragmatist. Mileena would pause to be impressed, herself, perhaps they'd even share a moment as his flabbergasted gaze meets hers and those wild, feline eyes fixated upon him in turn. Alas.
Mileena may have been exceptional at -gettin'- down, but when it comes to being taken down she's prime to be victimized. Irons finds her feet in this confrontation and more, driving the statuesque mass-murderess down onto the concrete hard enough that a gurgling, spitting gasp leaves that many-fanged maw. It's an indignity rarely seen in Kahn's delirious daughter, as she simply falls with a hard crash, her body yielding like that of any other. It's encouraging, to those looking on, no doubt; she is at least mortal, at least capable of receiving harm. Let them -all- play hero now!
She welcomes it!
Indeed, no time has passed before Mileena is giggling, pausing briefly to - of all things, of all actions she could take - stroke the woman's hair, caressing the pale blonde strands of plain little Sarah Irons's bob, as if she were a child who'd won at a particularly frivolous game. Deserving of praise, but only in the most passing, careless way. It's condescending and gleeful all at once. She's pinned and distracted both, then, when Riggs brings up his revolver and sights down the barrel.
The bullet leaves the chamber, and suddenly Irons is faceplanting into concrete. Mileena slithers free in an instant, spinning to her feet - leaving the bullet to tear a chunk from the street inches from Irons' brow. She extends to her full height like some kind of awful, sexy Transformer, her tongue protruding as she roars like a fucking dinosaur and turns to meet Captain Stu's incoming leg. Aimed at her head, is it?
Good. The princess practically gleams with giddy, hedonistic pleasure as she retracts her tongue and bites down on his feet. It's almost tender, because she's -playing-, the myriad penetrating fangs like daggers - and yet she refuses to penetrate his shoe, merely shaking her head to brush him aside before she opens her mouth--
--and descends upon the grounded Irons in a tight leap, like a snow fox hunting for sleeping rodents beneath the ice. A short, vertical hop, she seeks to bring both heels down upon the woman's skull. And then she arches backward, extending into a handstand that thrusts her weight into the spine. Acrobatic, gymnastic, showing Olympic-level form with seemingly carefree nonchalance, the savagely-perfect clone flips from this unlikely position, her fingers twisting up double-handfuls of Irons' shirt.
...and this brings the smaller woman with her. Flipping end over end like she were dragging nothing more than a newborn babe in her wake, Mileena coils her implausibly-beautiful body to land in a crouch as she releases the Lieutenant.
Flinging her right at the body of the very patrol car she was lurking behind earlier.
COMBATSYS: Mileena successfully hits Irons with Brutality EX.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 1|-----==|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|---====
And Irons flies, rebounding off the car with a sickening crack and then lying still.
Is... is she dead?!
COMBATSYS: Irons takes no action.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 1|-----==|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Kennedy takes no action.
No, she is not.
Other people might be fooled by Irons' attempt at playing dead, but the ninja atop the nearby building is not so easily confused. She knows that 'Bang' is dying. If he survives, it will be because he got attention for his injuries. She can sense his heartbeat growing weaker by the moment. She can feel, in her blood, that his part in this is over.
Irons, though. She was brutalized. She is disoriented. But her heart still beats fast; she continues to breathe. Blood flows with vigor through her veins. Skarlet doesn't actually particularly care about killing these people. They do not oppose Shao Kahn - they don't know who Shao Kahn IS, so they cannot. But Mileena is under attack, which means simply that Skarlet must take the necessary measures to rectify this situation.
She doesn't even look back at Kennedy as the man stabs at her. Instead, she leaps from the roof in a graceful swandive...
Stu and Riggs had already looked shocked, horrified, when Irons' skull bounced from the patrol car. When Skarlet suddenly descends from above, both knees coming down with perfect precision to shatter Irons' spine, they scream in unison. Stu, in fear and terror, Riggs, a bellow of insane defiance; as though by shouting loud enough he could undo the reality of what just happened.
Skarlet is quite casual by contrast as she aims to pick the Officer up, and finish her off by driving her stiletto through her eye socket and pin her to the car behind.
More out of desperation than anything else, Stu throws himself at Mileena again, trying to get his arms around her neck so he can choke the life out of her, hold on for dear life and finally keep the horribly-wriggly woman in one place. Riggs, though, is seized by determination to get Skarlet off Irons before she's definitively gone for good, and aims to just snare the red-headed ninja by the shoulders and hurl her backwards - gun and nightstick both dropped in his moment of mad panic.
COMBATSYS: Skarlet successfully hits Irons with Blood Bank.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 1|-----==|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/---====|=======\======-\1 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Mileena interrupts Combo Grapple from Cpt. Stu with Uppercut.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 1|-----==|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/---====|=======\======-\1 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Cpt. Stu 1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|-------
Kennedy's in a bad way, alright, trying furiously - in his heart, in his soul - to drag himself across the balcony toward the battle. Even getting over the bars is going to be a nigh-impossible proposition however, the man's life rushing before his eyes with every gasping, pawing, frantic motion he makes. Does it end like this...? His knife is forgotten immediately with the final, desperate stab, because it's tumbled away with a clatter. All he needs to do is keep pursuing, keep praying, keep hoping...
Keep dying. His body shudders. His eyes close. It might very well end like this...
Down below, Irons is still for a moment too long to do anything about the incoming blood-witch; she's certainly NOT dead, but lying stunned makes her as near as dammit in the here and now. Skarlet descends like a Fury of legend, and her spine shatters into tiny fragments, piercing, digging deeper into her organs. What Sarah Irons is being punished for she may never learn - she's scooped up, held aloft, and forced to stare her aggressor in the face even as the life leaves her body. If left alone now, she'd die a slow, agonizing death. In a way, this is a mercy. In a sense, she couldn't have met a more honourable end here - at least dying as a warrior.
But it's a cold comfort, indeed. Just before the stiletto pierces her and pins her as a message to the men and women still standing; those not already running after the past few moments of chilling, murdersome display by the two Outworlders. Just before, she hawks and spits, a gobbet of phlegm flung at the ice-cold face of the blood ninja.
It's an insult only, it surely won't harm her. But perhaps it will embolden Riggs once more. If she believes in nothing else, as she dies alone and doomed to the void, she believes in the embittered Captain. He's too old to deserve anything less.
Mileena isn't privy to any of this, the actions or the raw emotion. Lost in her own savage rhythm, she lands from tossing the Lieutenant with a bright - if decidedly monstrous - titter, arching her back and stretching her body, her arms upward before they drop into a seductive, entirely-inappropriate caress of her quivering form, a hand smoothing with rough tenderness over a hard nipple, the other finding her navel and then creeping down, down against the fabric of her underwear. Teasing. She's entirely lost in the moment, ecstatic and burning, the mind of a child and the lust of a grown woman conspiring to turn her into something far worse than a mere murderer--
--she's a fetishist, absorbed in the kill until it overcomes her. Drives her to--
The climax is lost before it can begin, and the interruption is effective in every sense; not just because it prevents the abomination from becoming so thorough in her self-absorption, but because it brings her around with a singular, savage drop and rotation of the form. With an instinct borne of genetic-tampering and magickal infusion, if not the equal in the latter of Skarlet herself, Mileena comes up with a rising palm, striking poor Stu in the jaw and thrusting to her full height and more.
Her stilettoes creak a protest, but it's lost beneath the shattering crunch of bone splintering. Her palm passes through where the unfortunate man's face was, and then remains stretched above, fingers opening and curling in pleasure.
Releasing a harsh, throaty sigh, Mileena lowers herself and turns blissful, half-lidded catlike eyes on Captain Riggs. Languidly, she extends her hand and beckons him onward.
She tires so quickly of one little mouse. Bring her another.
COMBATSYS: Irons assists Cpt. Riggs.
COMBATSYS: Irons has reached second wind!
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 1|-----==|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Cpt. Riggs 0/-------/---====|=======\======-\1 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Cpt. Stu 1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0 Kennedy
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Skarlet interrupts Power Throw from Cpt. Riggs with Random Weapon.
- Power hit! -
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 1|-----==|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Cpt. Riggs 1/-------/=======|=======\======-\1 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Cpt. Stu 1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0 Kennedy
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Skarlet 0|-------|-----==
Skarlet is holding Irons up high. The irony is, here, that she may be the only person in the world who truly does not understand what it means to be spat upon. The phlegm hits her in the face, and one elegantly-sculpted brow arches. Is this... meant to be a sign of respect? Sharing the moisture within one's mouth with another? She is obviously too far injured for words to be useful. That much is immediately obvious.
Then the roaring Captain seizes her shoulders, and as she's turned around, the man trying to lift her off her feet... she SMASHES Iron's skull directly into the Captain's face, sending the older police officer sprawling to the ground with Irons on top of him. How the police officer could even think about moving in her current state is a mystery for the ages.
But the difference between Skarlet and Mileena could not be more clear. Where Mileena is practically engaging in an erotic dance, Skarlet - even though her body is every bit as curvaceous as Mileena's - holds herself as though she doesn't know how /human beings/ move. It is entirely eerie and graceful, actually sliding across the ground more than she walks atop it. The two police officers are faced with two entirely different kinds of dangerous killer here - the one filled with childlike glee behind them...
And the silent, emotionless assassin in front of them.
Poor Stu's face has received the brunt of his punishment so far, and the uppercut hits home hard enough to actually shatter his jaw. The afro-wearing Officer can't let Mileena get back in the fight to finish off his comrades, though. He finally has his cuffs in hand, and hopefully, Mileena has forgotten about him for a second so he can snap the first one closed around her wrist, and fasten it to the other.
If he can bind her up just for a second, he starts to lay down the beats. Even in this situation, there's an attempt at rhythm in his motions. Slamming his fist into Mileena's stomach again and again and again, beating out some frantic disco beat only audible at the extreme range of bloodloss.
Riggs manages to put himself between Skarlet and Irons - and now he's trying to just keep her back. The older man is breathing hard, waving his nightstick more wildly than before as he tries to jab and feint and buy them time... that's all he has to do, play for time. Right?
... Right?
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Stu successfully hit Mileena with Dance Takedown.
[ ||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mileena 1|---====|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Cpt. Riggs 1/-------/=======|=======\======-\1 Irons
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Kennedy
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Skarlet 0|-------|----===
COMBATSYS: Skarlet successfully hits Irons with Back Punch.
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Mileena 1|---====|=======
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Cpt. Riggs 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Irons
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Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Kennedy
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Skarlet 0|-------|---====
Decisions are hard. Fortunately, the Princess of Outworld doesn't have to make them often; she just allows her boiling, highly-modified blood to flip every coin, roll every die, dictate every minutiae of her existence. So it is here. Stu's approach catches her somewhat off-guard, truth be told, for the first time today. Mileena is rather put out, her lipless mouth attempting to phrase a pout that would look fantastic on her sister - whose bodily motions and gestures she's entirely stolen and repurposed - but looks just horrible and nightmarish on her. Aww! Pity the Gelf!
She turns quickly when she feels cold steel upon her wrists, catlike eyes wide once more and blazing with the fervour of a zealot to the service of violence. Which makes it all the stranger that she's actually intending to dance with the man, twisting with his first blow and sticking out her leg to cross his own-- which goes about as well as might be imagined, given the situation. It's a noble effort, Milly.
But nobody wants to dance with you unless they're dead and you make them.
She's wailed on subsequently, twitching this way and that, but never quite losing her composure - it simply doesn't hurt as much as it would another, lesser being, and Mileena looks around and cocks her head with a 'are you done?' expression made alien and unpleasant by that dripping maw and that predator's stare. Her wrists clatter within the cuffs, and then she breaks free from his grasp with a surge of her powerful, beautiful body. Kitana's assets serve her well-- but what happens next is all Mileena.
She goes to slide her hands up and over the Disco Cop, the cuffs forming a snare she can use to pull him toward her, pressing her body up against his, her ample breasts crushed against his chest, her legs curling around his and pressing-- well, pressing other things against him. She doesn't need an -excuse- to do this, it just happens. She moans in his ear, lets her tongue flicker out, teasing, and then--
--then she tightens her grasp, slams him against her with intent to wind, grabs the back of his head and bucks her body in the opposite direction. As he flies back, she maintains her iron-clad grip but allows the handcuffs to do half the work of severing his head at the neck. With inhuman strength, she's no longer playing in the least - now she's just bored and hungry, and it's time to feast on her favourite snack.
If Stu doesn't do something pretty miraculous, he'll no longer be dancing. As blood sprays from yet another stump, courtesy of Outworld High's glorious Prom (and makeout) Queen, she holds his face toward her and dives in to finish what she started earlier, quite literally devouring all that remains in a slavering, slobbering frenzy.
"C-Captain..."
Meanwhile, as one cop looks to be EATEN and another chokes his last on the balcony above, Lieutenant Sarah Irons wobbles to her feet, dripping blood and not even sure herself what the hell is happening. What she's certain of, as she reaches back for something - anything - and finds the best tool of them all, is that she's got a little thread of hope left in her soul, and the remaining life to use it.
Her spine is broken, it's agony to remain where she is even for a second.
But Irons, discovering way too late that she's a gorram superhero, manages to unhook the stumpy, robust model 10B riot shotgun from the sling on her back and aim it at the back of her superior. "Hit the deck."
Assuming he complies - if he doesn't, the report is going to be even more awkward assuming anyone survives to -file it- - Sarah pulls the trigger and lets loose a gout of boiling buckshot, right for the centre mass of the blood ninja.
"This... is my boomstick!!"
COMBATSYS: Kennedy takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Kennedy can no longer fight.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
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Cpt. Riggs 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Irons
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Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|
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Skarlet 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Skarlet blocks Irons' Riot Shotgun.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
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Cpt. Riggs 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Irons
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Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|
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Skarlet 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Skarlet fails to interrupt Fend Off from Cpt. Riggs with Uppercut.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
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Cpt. Riggs 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Irons
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Cpt. Stu 0/-------/-----==|
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Skarlet 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Stu fails to interrupt Be Mine from Mileena with Butterfly Twist.
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Stu can no longer fight.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
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Cpt. Riggs 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Irons
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Skarlet 0|-------|---====
FATALITY
Poor Stu's final moments are spent trying to get his legs up between himself and Mileena. He fails, utterly, and as he is decapitated in the attempt, perhaps it is about as merciful an end as he could have hoped for from the Outworld Princess. He never knows what happens to his body; though given everything else he has seen, and felt, the monstrous woman do, he could probably have made an educated guess.
Well, that's it, Mileena killed the comic relief. Now things are going to get DARK.
The remaining Captain goes to one side, giving Irons the opening she needs to let loose a burst from her shotgun. Could this be it? Could this be the moment where the implaccable, impassive woman's head explodes and she is no more?
In a word, no.
Skarlet's blades are drawn neatly into her hands, and Irons discovers that bullets are no more effective for her than they were for her friend. The blades slash through the air, and the majority of the buckshot is dispersed - a few tiny scrapes open on Skarlet's skin, but not enough to truly inconvenience her, and the wounds soon close up again anyway.
Twisting forwards, she aims to bring her knuckles up sharply to slam into Riggs' chin... and the result is a momentary cracking, crunching noise as his nightstick breaks her fingers. Since she doesn't really have bones, though, fixing this issue is as simple as flexing the brutalized digits.
Once more, Skarlet's eyes meet Mileena's across the battlefield, this time as she finishes up her snack. She raises one eyebrow slowly, and then nods, meaningfully, towards the two remaining Kombatants. Just the faintest hint of a question in those blood red eyes.
Riggs even looks wary, trying to figure out how best he can keep the two women from killing the downed Lieutenant - even if she is giving a good showing. Now, he's the one surrounded.
"Better, get the hell out of here." He bluffs, snarling. "Every damn cop in the city will be on your ass in the next five seconds." ... How many more cops were even left?!
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Riggs focuses on his next action.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
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Cpt. Riggs 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Irons
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Skarlet 0|-------|---====
Yes, poor, sad little Stu is dead. At least he won the dance-off.
Mileena's not a complete monster, however; at the least, she's civilized enough to know that one doesn't eat an animal and then crunch upon the bones. She is a gourmand at heart, and stops once she's had her fill of skin, sinew and a couple of teeth that just sort of fall out into her many-fanged maw when she chews away Stu's gums. After crunching these, she particularly savours sucking out the eyeballs - they're the best part, oozing like the molten yolk of a good fried egg, some of the goo dribbling down her chin to become lost amidst plunging cleavage. She shivers in pleasure.
But she does, indeed, stop when there's little face left. The morsel is turned over and examined as if to ensure she hasn't missed out any particularly tasty parts, her long, pointed tongue thoughtfully running about the outer edge of her maw.
The favoured daughter of Shao Kahn is nothing if not thorough, but she finds little else to excite her on the policeman's ravaged head. Feral eyes snap up to stare at the last man not to run, who is standing in a puddle of his own urine and shaking head-to-toe as he levels his own Colt M1911A upon the Princess of Outworld. Mileena slowly smiles, blood and saliva frothing at the limits of that nightmarish mouth, and then she lifts the head in a sudden threat, like a playground bully about to throw a stone.
He passes out instantly, and she giggles, girlishly thrilled at this development.
Wait, somebody else is looking at her~!
Momentarily looking like a surprised rabbit - it's honestly adorable, if one can discount the ichor coating her body, and the... body itself, which just shouldn't belong to any who's 'cute' in any sense not also attributable to a filthy porn star, BAM! TAKE THAT KITANA, *ahem* - Mileena looks at Skarlet looking at her. Her free hand lifts, phrasing a small, twinkling-fingered wave. She hisses, meaningfully.
Then she unceremoniously turns toward Captain Riggs, hefts the remaining facemeats of his former ally like a baseball, and chucks it at the back of the living man's skull. Really, -really- hard.
See, she's great at making choices.
Lieutenant Sarah Irons isn't good at one thing, at this point: remaining on her feet. With exhaustion threatening to overcome her even in -spite- of the hideous pain wracking her broken, dying body, she staggers and gasps, the shotgun tumbling from her fingers almost by virtue of the recoil alone. She struggles to catch it and then falls to a knee, the pain exploding through her spine. She has about a second to act...
Which she uses in grasping at her belt, fingers trembling as they clasp at and - with instinctive deftness - pull the pin from a fragmentation grenade that certainly isn't standard-issue. Irons is - perhaps was - a good cop, but she's also a rebellious soul, and she's been saving this for a rainy day. With the skies opening and hell breaking loose with one of the worst storms even the Metro police department has ever faced, she figures it's time. The small, clattery little pineapple is tossed at Skarlet's feet.
This isn't her boomstick. This is just a BOOM. In 5, 4...
COMBATSYS: Skarlet overcomes Huge Thrown Object from Irons with Blood and Tears.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
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Cpt. Riggs 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Irons
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Skarlet 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Riggs fails to slow Thrown Object from Mileena with Service Revolver.
-@- Dazing Hit! -@-
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
[ \\\\\ < > / ]
Cpt. Riggs 1/----===/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Irons
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Skarlet 0|-------|---====
Skarlet's hand is on her tanto, and truth be told she is looking to Mileena for guidance here. If it were up to her, she'd leave these two. They are no longer a threat. The spirit has gone out of them; they don't wish to fight, and they are not enemies of Shao Kahn. But it is important, in these moments, that she continue to make a good impression on Mileena. She is to serve Shao Kahn's plan, and Mileena was the vanguard of that - she can't say she understands it, but understanding is not necessary. Obedience is necessary.
When the grenade is pulled, Skarlet nods her head. It is an honorable course of action the Lieutenant has chosen. Unsurprisingly, given Outworld's love of all things violent, whilst Skarlet doesn't know what a vending machine is, she knows exactly what a fragmentation grenade is, and so she decides to give back one in kind.
Her sword slashes across her own bare stomach, and the fingers of her other hand draw the blood into a tight, swirling ball before the wound closes. There's the faintest of grunts from her as she does this - the first noise she has made at all since she stepped into the kombat - and she turns, pitching the ball forwards.
The searing life-blood of a thousand dead warriors consumes the man-made explosive without even slowing, and carries on. IF it connects with Irons, she will be gifted with a relatively painless end. The ball of energy seeks to draw the blood from her broken body, wrap it up, consume it, and then dissipate. The sensation is cold and numbing; but mercifully quite painless, like a sedative...
Riggs is, less dignified. As the desecrated body of his partner is thrown right at him, he growls and opens fire, "Sorry Stu!" He spits, unloading the full clip of his trusty service revolver right into the corpse. He'd hoped that a few big holes would be enough to get a clean shot at the lunatic...
Instead, he is hit dead on, his head spinning as he struggles to maintain consciousnes and awareness of what the hell just happened to him.
COMBATSYS: Irons fails to interrupt Blood and Tears from Skarlet with To Protect and Serve.
COMBATSYS: Irons can no longer fight.
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Mileena 0|-------|-------
[ \\\\\ <
Cpt. Riggs 1/----===/=======|
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Skarlet 0|-------|-======
A -squeak-.
There's no other word for the sound that Mileena makes as she watches her improvised missile connect with Riggs' skull, the squelch-clonk of the impact touching a very special place in her heart. She even claps her hands together, taloned fingers smacking together with a spray of half-dried ichor. This afternoon alone she's slaughtered her way through a moderately-successful insurance firm (proving she is, perhaps, secretly a hero to Earthrealm), been able to wear a man's scalp like a particularly jaunty hat, dance with a headless corpse, eat a dancing fool's face, and now this!
It's been a long and interesting day for Mileena, whose seemingly-bottomless appetite for violence and destruction is actually nearly sated. With the maturity of the two-year old she quite literally is, the Princess of Outworld is becoming mentally tired and is in danger of becoming grouchy. Her reflexes are trained even to recognize this, however, and so she lowers her hands to her side and slinks her way toward Riggs...
She takes her time. He's not going anywhere.
Which can't be said of battered, broken but still defiant and stalwart Lieutenant Irons. Blonde bobcut dishevelled and sole remaining eye bloodshot - which is surprising, given the copious river of fluid running from the other, empty socket - she lifts her chin with all the pride she can muster. Watching her last-resort consumed, watching her life cut into pieces by the spiteful talent of a killer not born, but created. By two, though she knows not the truth of either.
It's a shame she doesn't believe in God like the long-perished Tom Kennedy, because all she needs now is a good prayer. The attempt to surge through the blood that consumes her, silences her own wailing soul by utterly absorbing and assimilating it, is misguided and brave. In her heart and mind she's plunging through it, fierce like an avenging angel, but in reality she's just dominated by Skarlet. At least she dies as she lived - unrepentant, giving her all. When the assault is over, she has truly given it. Her skin is cracked, drawn, her features no more recognisable than a peat-bog mummy as her husk of a body collapses. Her bones remain heavy, but the skin is like dried parchment, the resultant flapping against concrete a lame, pathetic death knell.
Mileena watches this from the sleepy corner of catlike eyes, another alien and unpleasant smile curling her lipless mouth. She won't hide her approval of her fellow Outworlder - her father has indeed chosen well in sending this one to her! He is benevolent and wise, and these manlings are learning that. But there's one more lesson to teach, and she reaches Captain Riggs only to look him over with a gently lilting 'hmmmm~' emitted past the fangs of her re-widening maw. What horrible things she could do, were she inclined-- he's hers, the prey ready to strike down and devour.
But she's just eaten. Right now, she wants a nice lie down. Maybe a story.
Lifting an arm languidly, nonchalant, careless, Mileena considers Riggs. Considers him as she would a particularly buzzy fly in need of swatting. They're not worth eating - hardly any meat - unless they land in your mouth all by themselves. No, thinks Mileena. Bored now. Without any further hesitation, she extends her arm bearing a simple, calloused fist. To crack against his jaw with the most damning ease.
And then she turns to Skarlet, her arm still extended, and beckons with a curved finger.
This is the start of a beautiful friendship.
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Riggs fails to interrupt High Punch from Mileena with To Protect and Serve.
COMBATSYS: Cpt. Riggs can no longer fight.
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Mileena 0|-------|------=
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Skarlet 0|-------|-======
Riggs doesn't know what to make of the manner of Irons' death. The blatant and horrifying supernatural nature of it is a terror to behold, in a way quite different to the bloody and brutal physical injuries he has seen doled out with such... unrelenting fervor. It is as though the red-colored ninja literally sucked out the poor woman's soul, as though everything else weren't bad enough.
For her part, Skarlet considers it a great honor to bestow upon Irons what she does. In the end, the others had proven unworthy of anything other than their blood. She takes that for her nutrition; because she can no more choose NOT to take blood when it is offered than Mileena could choose NOT to eat a delicious face slathered in honey BBQ sauce.
But it isn't just Irons' blood she takes. In her case, it goes deeper. Tom Kennedy might be met again in Outworld. Not so, Ms. Irons. She has found a greater calling. All she is, all she was, all she will ever be - consumed utterly into the mass that is Skarlet. All personality and memory carefully eradicated, of course, but her power, that iron will...
It might just make an appearance.
Throwing himself forward for the last time, Riggs - one day before retirement - does his best to finish what his friends gave their lives for. But of course, it is pointless. As wasteful as the bloodshed which suffuses this place. His head snaps to the side with the impact of Mileena's fist, and he crumples to the floor.
Skarlet considers it for just a moment... and then neatly embeds her knife in the dying man's skull, right between his eyes, just in case. Then, stepping over his body, she moves to follow the Princess.
A couple of paces behind, of course. Respectful. She knows her place, and it is good.
COMBATSYS: Skarlet has left the fight here.
COMBATSYS: Mileena has ended the fight here.
Log created on 13:07:29 02/20/2015 by Mileena, and last modified on 22:23:48 02/20/2015.