Description: Here at one of the exhibits to demonstrate Ultratech's fighter analysis and safety technology are Zabel Zarock and Thunder - wait, there appears to have been a substitution. Replacing Thunder Hawk is a fighter calling themselves 'Snow.' There seem to also be some technical difficulties... but enjoy the show, and enjoy witnessing the future of combat scanning technology!
Ultratech, home of a lot of technology that Zabel Zarock doesn't really understand too well. Of course, you don't have to know how their stuff works to understand that having cyborg dinosaurs is pretty cool. Honestly, Zabel was hoping to get a chance to fight one of those, or, failing that, a killer robot. That would have been pretty metal. Still, the fight that has been provided for him doesn't look too bad, and he'll just have to do his best to make things as metal as possible.
There is, however, a bit of an issue. Zabel is, by most standards, crazy, but that doesn't mean he's stupid. He's aware that the truth about his nature is going to get out sooner or later, and he has plans for dealing with it... but he's also got no interest in rushing the process. Which makes walking into a room full of high tech scanners a bit of an issue. That being the case, before the fight starts he makes a point of checking out the outside of the room, nodding without really listening as the technician goes on about the various technologies involved. Or at least the ones Ultratech is willing to talk to the public about, at any rate. He leans in close to the main control panel, resting one gloved hand on it for a moment. "Ah, sir, please, don't touch that!" While Zabel stands there, his shadow ripples for a moment, then goes still. "Ah? Okay, okay." He shrugs his shoulders, shakes his head, then strolls over toward the door leading into the chamber set aside for the fight.
Slipping out of his coat, Zabel tosses it at a nearby Ultratech employee, then walks to the door. There's a field of light across it, which he pokes at with one finger. "Nothing to worry about, sir, the containment field hasn't been activated yet." Zabel shoots him a glance with a snort. "I'm not 'worried', I just don't plan on walking face first into a practical joke." And then he steps through into the chamber, with no apparent ill effects. He glances around at the interior. Plenty of room to move about, the walls all aglow with a similar field of light, with cameras and less identifiable monitoring equipment everywhere.
One of the technicians working the crowd suddenly pauses and taps the earbud as it feeds information from his superiors. Stepping forward, he clears his throat before activating the microphone on his headse and addressing the throng gathered around the combat containment area. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have an announcement! It seems that Thunder Hawk will not be able to join us for this exhibition match. Luckily, we have a substitute available. You may not know him, but we can assure you that he's one of the coolest customers in the business today! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the containment area, for your entertainment, 'Snow!'"
The crowd isn't entirely sure what to make of this development as the man calling himself 'Snow,' a somewhat tall figure in a black trenchcoat with short snow-white hair, reflective aviator sunglasses and a poker face brushes past the crowd like a ghost to slip into the containment chamber through the entrance opposite Zabel. As he does, the smash nineties hit 'Informer' by the Canadian artist also known as Snow starts to play over the sound system, confusing matters further.
Like the rocker, Lynx (the one posing as Snow) leaves his coat with an employee. With the outer garment discarded, the black bodysuit that the fighter is wearing is visible. To an outside observer, it may appear that the lightly armoured, high-tech looking jumpsuit is simply meant to look cool. In truth, the suit is actually highly insulated, coincidentally preventing any disparity in temperature between the wearer and the environment from registering on the sensors focused on the fighting chamber.
In short, the purpose of the suit is, in fact, to avoid looking cool.
"Zabel Zarock, huh? I heard you were dead," Lynx remarks, his gravelly voice conveyed to the outside by the microphones inside the chamber. He takes up a loose stance that almost resembles a boxing posture before nodding to his opponent. "Hope you're cool with a substitution," he adds, the corner of his lips twitching just slightly upward.
COMBATSYS: Lynx has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lynx 0/-------/-------|
Zabel tugs on his gloves, adjusting their fit as he watches the man being called 'Snow' makes his way into the area. He cocks his head slightly as music starts playing over the sound system, then mutters to himself. Missed opportunity there. He'll have to pay more attnetion next time. He stops shaking his head as Lynx walks into the chamber and speaks up. "Metal never dies, pal. And if you're here to give me a good fight, I don't mind if you're a substitution." Zabel stretches his arms over his head, fingers laced together and then making a loud popping noise as he puts stress on them.
The musician drops his arms, then raises an eyebrow as lights suddenly flick on from sensors around the room, and the fields of light become more opaque. Outside the announcers are doing their thing, but Zabel is only partially paying attention. One of the monitors flashes to life, showing a rotating three dimensional image of 'Snow', with various numbers and bars displaying. Height, weight, heartrate... all sorts of things. Then an imagine of Zabel appears, but most of the numbers are displaying flashing 'ERROR' messages for some reason. Zabel clenches his fists, electricity crackling over them, and then light flares over him as his skin appears to burn and flake away, exposing bone and muscle in many places, while his eyes are replaced with black pits with a red glow in the centers. "Now, don't go running away!"
While all of that is happening, there's a sudden banging noise from inside the main console for the sensors, followed by a shower of sparks. Then several more bangs, and a few parts actually fly off, as if something was inside the machine, smashing away. Smoke starts rising from the machine, and the monitors flicker off. Zabel may be underestimating Ultratech's equipment, but at least the feed to the public has been disrupted for the moment, although the basic cameras still seem to be rolling.
And while the techs outside start saying something about technical difficulties, Zabel's suddenly off, running toward Lynx. "Let's get this show started!" He leaps into the air with a laugh, doing a forward flip before swinging into a falling axe kick toward Lynx. Straightforward enough, except for the razor sharp bones which suddenly erupt from his leg and begin moving at high speed, forming a horrible buzzsaw.
COMBATSYS: Zabel has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Zabel 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Lynx
COMBATSYS: Lynx blocks Zabel's Skull Sting.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Zabel 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Lynx
Zabel's reaction to his words causes the smirk on Lynx's face to broaden slightly for a moment before disappearing, replaced by a stone-cold poker face. His expression continues to remain nearly emotionless, even as the man before him rapidly transmogrifies into something altogether different. The most obvious response given to that in terms of body language is a tilt of the white-haired fighter's head.
"Interesting," he comments as the consoles outside begin to practically explode in what is surely a nightmare for the crew responsible for maintaining the advanced technology. When Zabel comes at him, Lynx quickly raises an arm to block the anticipated kick - but gets more than he bargained for as the bony blades (blade-y bones?) slice into the sleeve of his suit, drawing forth a spray of red-tinged, icy mist as blood and frost escape the tears in flesh and fibre.
"Too bad about the sensors," Lynx states as he steps back and pulls a mask up over the lower half of his face from the top of his suit. An icy fog begins to gather around the hand of his injured limb. "That equipment was probably valuable. Still, when opportunity knocks - !!"
Whirling forward, Lynx swings his arm in a sidelong swipe, a fan of sharp icy shards flying forth toward Zabel's torso.
In the meanwhile, outside the containment area, the announcer who introduced Lynx seems remarkably calm regarding the sabotaged sensors. "We've got a total shutdown on Zarock's readings. Somebody else's doing. Keep it up for a minute and we should be able to use it as a cover to swipe the circuits," the Ultratech employee (?) says quietly into his headset.
COMBATSYS: Lynx successfully hits Zabel with Shard Hail.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Zabel 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Lynx
Shards of ice slam into Zabel's torso with dull 'thunk' sounds, although one flies right through the large gap that has opened up where the zombie's abdomen should be. The force of the impact is enough to push him back a short distance, and then he's left with several actually sticking out of his chest. Zabel doesn't bother to look down, though, simply ignoring them as he runs back toward Lynx, and letting them fall free as he moves. "Worse luck for them if they thought their science could measure Zabel Zarock!"
Zabel lunges at Lynx, throwing a haymaker punch toward his face. The skeletal fingers of his hand look like an unpleasant enough impact, but the bone spikes which suddenly erupt from his fist make things considerably worse. And following from that motion Zabel spins about, lashing out with a side-kick toward Lynx's stomach.
COMBATSYS: Lynx counters Blood and Bones from Zabel with Lynx Claw Takedown.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Zabel 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Lynx
Slipping a hand up to briefly adjust his shades as Zabel shrugs off the blades stabbing into his torso, Lynx purses his lips. The frosty mist from the cut in his sleeve continues to spew into the chamber, though the red tinge is no longer present as the cold has caused the flow of blood to congeal already. "It does appear that you're way beyond the dominion of science, here," Lynx remarks as the undead musician lunges toward him.
In the last moments before the bone spikes can slam into his face, a sidestep carries Lynx out of their course - not in time to avoid the his glasses being impaled through a lens by one of the bones and being torn from his face - before Lynx retaliates, slamming his own hand into the rocker's face, outstretched fingers aimed at the eye sockets in a claw shape. Immediately, icy chi bursts from his hand, channeled directly into Zabel's head before Lynx forces the rocker toward the ground with a shove.
"It has its place, but science also has its limits. Limits that can be transcended by things elder to it," Lynx says as he backs away, taking up a defensive posture. His breath hangs in the air as an icy mist as he speaks. "I'm sure you'd... agree."
Zabel seems remarkably unconcerned about having fingers jabbed into his eyes. In fact, as far as that goes, Lynx might be more unsettled by it, experiencing a sensation that even he might consider cold. The burst of ice does, however, present Zabel with some issues. He staggers back, head engulfed in ice until he smashes his own hand into the side of his face, shattering most of the ice. His jaw works for a moment than hinges open wide, expelling a large chunk of ice from inside his mouth as well. "Oh, I've got whole albums about that. But no time to give you a show right now."
The rocker spins his body about, right leg scything up for a high kick. It doesn't look like he should be able to reach, but then his leg actually extends. But unlike, say, Dhalsim, his skin and muscle don't stretch, they just seem to... unravel, allowing the limb to extend further. And then a curving blade of bone extends from Zabel's foot, making the word 'scything' even more appropriate.
COMBATSYS: Lynx blocks Zabel's Power Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Zabel 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Lynx
When the scythe-like limb slashes toward him, Lynx quickly focuses the icy energy around him into his injured left arm. A layer of ice rapidly coats the limb as he raises it again to intercept the attack. It is, perhaps, the only thing that saves the arm from being lopped off at the elbow outright - the ice shatters with the impact, the arm deflecting away as a fresh wisp of blood and frost trails after it.
"Maybe I'll give them a listen sometime," Lynx quips after a moment's wheezing inhalation at the shock. "I've never been much into death metal, personally. Only ever really had time for the Billboard stuff back in the nineties."
Switching back to the offensive, Lynx strikes forward, throwing out his right hand in a straight punch toward Zabel's throat. As the fist flies, ice gathers 'round it, ready to shatter upon impact should it hit home.
COMBATSYS: Zabel counters Strong Punch from Lynx with ES Death Phrase.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Zabel 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Lynx
The bone blade sinks back into Zabel's foot and his leg retracts to its normal length, looking unscathed despite the stretching it underwent. He shifts his leg back, starting to prepare for another assault when Lynx comes striking back. "Oh, you've been missing out." There's a flash of motion from the floor, and then suddenly Zabel is carrying a guitar. One hand falls to the strings, and what could aptly be described as an unholy racket rings out. A crushing wave of sound emerges from the instrument, blasting Lynx back and giving the containment fields a bit of a test. Given the lack of people outside clutching their ears in pain, Ultratechs defensive measures appear to be working as advertised.
The wave of sound from the guitar is unanticipated by the frosty fighter, who is flung back against the field surrounding the chamber, causing it to flash briefly as Lynx drops to the floor. Pulling himself up to one knee, Lynx places his hands over his ears, presumably a reflex triggered by the pain in them.
"Now's the time," he growls into the microphone in the wrist of his combat suit, his blue eyes flashing coldly.
Almost right away, readings on the functioning sensors monitoring the temperature in the chamber begin to dip rapidly. The employee in the Ultratech uniform from before immediately turns to the crowd. "Here we have another demonstration of the capabilities of Ultratech's sensor equipment and containment technology. As you can see, the temperature is rapidly dropping inside the test chamber, yet here on the outside, we're still enjoying a comfortable room temperature. If the mist inside is making visibility difficult and the 3D modelling of the action isn't enough for you, feel free to step forward for a closer look - it's perfectly safe!" As the crowd presses in to look, two Ultratech technicians are busying themselves with an open panel on one side of the machine. A couple of circuit boards are removed and stowed away in an Ultratech bag while eyes are turned to the action, replaced with substitutes.
Meanwhile, in the ring, visibility is indeed reduced as the energy gathered by Lynx creates a billowing mist akin to that generated by dry ice when warmed. "I think I may stick to the Top One Hundred," Lynx's voice comes from his silhouette in the fog. "Although I'll admit, that was definitely less painful than most country music I've heard."
COMBATSYS: Lynx is surrounded by an arctic breeze as he gathers icy energy.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Zabel 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Lynx
Zabel cackles, apparently appreciating the joke. "Now that stuff is just evil!" Despite the fact that frost appears to be forming in a number of places on his skin, Zabel doesn't seem to be bothered by it. And although the visibility is reduced, the pinpricks of red light in Zabel's eyes shine through the mist. "Hope you're not planning on using this to try to sneak up on me, that wouldn't be much fun!" Zabel's long tongue lolls out of his mouth for a moment. "Not that I've ever really cared about precise aim, anyway!"
As he speaks, eletrcitiy crackles over Zabel's body, and his muscles suddenly begin bulging outwards, while a golden light shines from within him. The guitar in his hands twists and changes, forming into a massive chainsaw welded to the end of his right arm. The chainsaw shrieks into motion and Zabel lunges forward, mist flying away as he zooms toward Lynx, swinging the chainsaw in wide, fast sweeps like it weighs nothing at all.
COMBATSYS: Zabel successfully hits Lynx with Ultimate Undead.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Zabel 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 Lynx
It's perhaps best for some of those in the viewing audience that the action in the chamber is obscured. The sight of the undead master of metal charging Lynx with a chainsaw - and the carnage that follows - is probably not for the faint of heart. The mist billows red as the teeth of the chainsaw find purchase, carving gashes across Lynx's side and chest. The operative staggers backward under the assault, finally managing to escape, but not before serious damage is inflicted.
Dropping again to one knee in the fog, Lynx presses a hand to his side. The chill flowing into the wound isn't enough to staunch the flow of blood, but it does help to numb the pain of the injury. The agent moves quickly to try and reposition with a roll, trying to get out of Zabel's line of sight.
"As you can see, according to the simulation's projections, Snow currently has a sixty - uh, make that forty - twenty percent chance of victory! It updates continuously by modelling possible outcomes of the fight in realtime based on existing data in the moment!" the Ultratech (?) announcer tells the audience before turning away for a moment. "Everything okay in there? ...Lynx?" he mutters in low tones.
Suddenly, a swirl of frost announces another burst of motion inside the chamber as the blade of a longsword formed of ice strikes through the mist behind Zabel, aimed for the rocker's heart as the silhouette of Lynx emerges!
COMBATSYS: Zabel blocks Lynx's Frozen Armament.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Zabel 0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1 Lynx
Zabel glances over his shoulder in time to catch a blur of motion. He's not able to get out of the way of the blade of ice, but a rib bursts out of his back, knocking the blade off course and sending it slicing through his side rather than piercing directly through his heart. Of course, even a blow right through the heart wouldn't be as effective as Lynx might hope, but it'd still be more troublesome to Zabel than wounds closer to the surface. And although the blow does cut into him, there's not very much blood getting sprayed about as a result.
And that's even after Zabel spins around to face Lynx again, tearing himself free of the blade. He looks like he's going for another wild punch again, probably with spikes involved... but this time a bone spear erupts from his wrist, extending out a good two feet in the blink of an eye.
COMBATSYS: Zabel successfully hits Lynx with Crushing Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Zabel 0/-------/----===|=======\======-\1 Lynx
The audience gasps in unison.
Inside the containment field, the mist fades, revealing the form of Snow, the bone spear stabbed through his shoulder. His body is stiff, as if in shock. Frost spews from the wound, and a layer of rime spiderwebs outward from it, creeping over Lynx's body, coating his face and hair as his eyes take on a glossy stare. He appears, for a moment, as a frozen corpse. The sensors reading his body temperature would seem to agree as the heartbeat monitor slows steadily.
A moment later, a puff of mist escaping from Lynx's lips proves the appearance to be deceptive.
The now frosted-over fighter throws both arms up to try and grab onto Zabel's striking arm, channeling an arctic cold into the limb before whirling and heaving in an attempt to wrench the rocker loose and throw him against the far side of the containment field.
COMBATSYS: Zabel dodges Lynx's Strong Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Zabel 0/-------/----===|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Lynx
Thanks to the length of the bone spear, Zabel already had some distance from Lynx and that gives him time to yank his arm back before Lynx can grab it. These ice attacks are actually a bit more of a pain for him to deal with than normal strikes, since for Zabel it's actually easier to heal than to thaw out. And from that motion of yanking his arm back, Zabel actually begins spinning around. Faster and faster and faster... Bone spikes erupt from his sides, turning him into a rather deadly top.
He doesn't actually shoot right at Lynx, though. Zabel swoops through the misty chamber, churning up the swirling mists as he goes, actually rising up off the ground and zooming about, sudenly changing direction, trying to loop around Lynx and generally being confusing... until he suddenly does shoot right in toward his opponent.
COMBATSYS: Lynx counters Death Hurricane from Zabel with Ithaqua's Grasp.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Zabel 0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>------\1 Lynx
Zabel's dance of death would likely be difficult to follow even if Lynx wasn't in the process of slowly bleeding out right now. The rime-covered fighter's ice-blue eyes follow the motion for a few moments as Zarock bounces wildly around the chamber, the containment fields stretched toward their limits as frozen chi energy steadily builds around Lynx's right hand. Finally, Lynx stops tracking the movements with his eyes, allowing Zabel a window of opportunity to fly at him from his blind spot -
But at the last second, Lynx whirls, an arm shooting out and narrowly slipping past the fan of bone spikes to latch onto Zarock's throat. Having his windpipe throttled in the agent's icy grip may be less of a problem for the death metal zombie, but the crushing force being applied is accompanied by a surge of cold fit for the Siberian winter, glacial frost flowing forth from Lynx's hand to coat the rocker as Lynx lifts up before pivoting and slamming him to the ground.
Lynx's gaze is impassive as he takes slow, weak breaths, blood dripping down to the floor beneath his feet.
Meanwhile, outside the chamber, someone's finally had the sense to make a call for security - there's something definitely strange about what's been happening both with the equipment and the fight itself. The men and women in Ultratech security uniforms are still some distance off in the crowd, but they prompt the 'technicians' to hurry with their efforts of replacing the circuits for the equipment.
Which does not seem to be helping the accuracy of the readouts, as the chamber is now reading as being at a pleasant seventy two degrees Fahrenheit...
Zabel hits the floor with the sound of shattering ice, largely engulfed in the ice from Lynx's attack. After a moment there are some cracking noises as Zabel pulls himself back to his feet, with ice clinging to him in varous places. Bits flake off and fall to the floor as the zombie moves, with one red eye glaring out from beneath a layer of ice. He hears some commotion going on outside, but it's not really of a concern to him at the moment. He might want to finish things before they can fix up all the systems, though.
The zombie leaps toward Lynx, and the remaining ice on his lower body shatters as his body below the waist twists and changes, forming into one massive bone spike surrounded with flesh, and with several smaller spikes splitting off from the sides. And this whole unsettling mass is on a collision course with Lynx, when suddenly even more bone spikes erupt from Zabel's flesh, pointing in a number of random directions.
COMBATSYS: Zabel successfully hits Lynx with Loudness Screw.
# Disabling hit! #
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > / ]
Zabel 1/------=/=======|>>>>>>>\>------\1 Lynx
One of the still-functioning readouts registers a spike of energy inside the chamber before flashing red as the associated board is removed from the maintenance panel of the unit. The registered surge of energy is coming from Lynx as the white-haired man gathers his power for one final assault - before he can unleash it, though, Zabel comes slamming into him, sending him hurtling backward. The suit encasing the fighter is penetrated in multiple places by the secondary spikes. Lynx is flying straight for the edge of the containment field when - abruptly - it fails.
Members of the crowd scatter and shout in fear as a wave of frozen mist spills out of the broken barrier, and security forces double time it toward the scene to try and contain the situation.
Lynx remains collapsed on his back outside of the container as two men in security uniforms approach him. As they near, though, a sudden shrieking rush of arctic wind swirls about the fallen fighter and causes them to stop short. A torrent of ice rushes back toward the zombie, carried on the gale as it whips toward Zarock.
In the confusion, the two Ultratech technicians make a retreat from the scene with their bags in tow. The two security officers grab for Lynx once the wind dies down, trying to pick him up to move him off the scene as well. Luckily they happened to bring insulated gloves for the occasion...
COMBATSYS: Lynx can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Zabel 1/------=/=======|
COMBATSYS: Lynx successfully hits Zabel with Howl of the Wendigo.
[ \\\\ <
Zabel 1/---====/=======|
Zabel is smirking, as much as one can with a face that is mostly skull, after Lynx goes flying out of the chamber. That expression drops as a mass of ice comes flying back in through the door, slamming him into the opposite wall. For a few moments, there's nothing to see but a pile of ice frozen to the wall, but then a pair of red lights can be seen from within. With all the cracks in the ice it's not very easy to see into it, but Zabel can see out enough to tell that his opponent isn't getting back up, so it's time for a little showmanship.
Electricity crackles over the ice for a moment, then there's a flare of light from within before it explodes, sending shards of ice raining down. And possibly hitting a few people standing too close by, now that the containment field is down. Standing where the ice was, Zabel Zarock is back in his human form, and looking almost completely unscathed. A nice aspect of his undead nature, which does wonders for his reputation. He was pushed much harder than he looks right now, though... and now he's very hungry. "I've got the flames of hell inside me, pal. A little ice is nothing." He strides out of the chamber, reaching out and snatching his coat from the Ultratech employee still holding it. He snaps it out behind him while walking, slipping his arms into it as it settles down. As he gets a little bit farther away, though, he shakes his head irritably for a moment, then spits out a shard of ice.
COMBATSYS: Zabel takes no action.
[ \\\\ <
Zabel 1/---====/=======|
COMBATSYS: Zabel has ended the fight here.
Log created on 15:42:19 03/14/2015 by Lynx, and last modified on 22:07:21 03/14/2015.