Description: With the wreckage of the San Jose found by the Colombian authorities but the location of the shipwreck (and its estimated one billion British pounds' worth of gold cargo) unknown to the world at large, Agent Max Evory has been dispatched by MI6 on a diplomatic mission to insure that the treasure remains in the proper hands. However, one of Max's travelling companions on board a train to Cartegena finds herself the target of a Shadaloo operative intent on securing the location of the wreckage...
Shadaloo has seized control of the Mexican-American border, forcing drug lords in both Americas to play ball with them or risk having their supply of narcotics choked off. That has given Vega and his minions significant control of international crime in the Western Hemisphere, which MI6 finds quite concerning. After the Colombian government, a traditional enemy of the drug cartels as long as American finance supports them, discovered the wreck of the San Jose in the Atlantic, with at least a billion in British pounds in gold and silver aboard, local MI-6 in Colombia was scrambled to monitor the retrieval. If corrupt government officials, FARC slash cocaine cartel druglords, or right wing deathsquads supported by the Contras got their hands on the San Jose's vast sums of untraceable precious metals, it would be an international disaster. And MI-6 has reason to believe that Shadaloo is the most likely organization to seize such a bounty. After a British agent in Cartegena went missing, Max Evory was deployed to Colombia to reconnoiter the situation.
Having arrived by flight to Bogota, Colombia, the capital city located in the center of the country, Agent Evory is on a luxury train for Colombia's wealthiest, heading north to Bolivar province and the city of Cartegena, near where the San Jose was last seen centuries ago before it sank. Colombia is one of the most dangerous areas of the world for foreigners, so Max is on his toes. To assist him, he's been assigned a local Colombian Federal Intelligence agent, Sophia Marcos, to give him the lay of the land and make sure he does not cause an international incident. From there, things progressed quickly.
One day into being on the train, Max swaggers into the breakfast car at seven in the morning, having already managed to bed his advisor and break down any walls to proper diplomacy. Dressed in a fancy white and grey silk shirt with comfortable khaki pants and soft, cashmere shoes on his feet, he slides into an empty table, alone. Sophia was still asleep several cars behind them, in the passenger section. Max looks up to the waiter, speaking in heavily English accented Spanish, ordering sausage and scrambled eggs, and a tall glass of orange juice. Before the waiter can leave to get Max's food from the kitchen car ahead of the dining car, Max raises his finger. "<And tabasco, please.>" The waiter grins, and moves away with the order placed. Max reclines in the plush luxury seat, and stares out the window at the Colombia jungle the train lazily moves through.
Seated a couple of tables away from where Max is ordering his breakfast, dressed in an unassuming short-sleeved black button-down and shielding his eyes from the morning sunlight streaming through the window with a pair of sunglasses, the man known to some by the codename 'Lynx' quietly sips from a black coffee, a newspaper laid out on the table in front of him opened to a headline regarding the finding of the San Jose's wreckage. A few months in Mexico dealing with Shadaloo business have left the man's skin with a bronzed tone, making him look more a local than a tourist.
As the waiter walks past, Lynx's head turns slightly, the corner of his eye catching Max, before he turns to call after the waiter. There's little hint of an accent in his gravelly address.
"<Waiter? Another coffee, please.>"
"<Of course, Mr. Garcia. One moment.>"
Pushing his chair out, Lynx rises with a casual stretch, then makes his way idly over to the table Max is sitting at and gives the chair opposite the MI6 agent a tug, indicating his intent with a laid-back tone that somehow seems a little too cool: "<Good morning. Do you mind if I sit?>"
Max's eyes flick up to the man as he approaches him, his face deadpan although his haunted blue eyes dart over the man with interest. He does not know Spanish well enough to detect an accent. "<Please do,>" is all Max says as he gestures at the chair. Max finds this unusual, as Lynx does not look like the type to introduce himself to strangers for friendly conversation, even with the tan. Max rests his forearms on the small table, placing his loose left fingers over his slightly clenched right hand. Just in case he needs to torque his legs up for a kick below the table, while outwardly appearing peaceful. "<The name is Max,>" Max introduces himself with a quiet roll of subdued confidence, still probing this man. Garcia, was it? Max hasn't heard that name before, but it could be an alias. Max himself rarely uses aliases, since MI-6 demands that for the purposes of the diplomatic intelligence attache handling him abroad as an assassin, he identify himself openly. He does, however, use an alias when he's in enemy territory. Unless he wants to be spotted.
"Gracias."
Slipping into the chair, Lynx pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose before resting his arms on the table and leaning forward. A faint half-smile - or is it a smirk? - curls the corner of his lips, his expression otherwise unreadable behind his shades. "<I call myself Alejandro, but you can call me Lynx if you prefer. It's a pleasure to meet you, Max.>" A waiter stops by to refill the empty coffee mug, then leaves unacknowledged by the man in the sunglasses. Meanwhile, at another nearby table, a fairly tall, bald Hispanic man in a suit finishes his breakfast, wipes his face with a cloth, and rises, making his way toward the exit toward the passenger cars.
"<And welcome to Colombia, if you don't mind me saying so. It's an interesting time to be a traveler, here.>"
Sitting back, Lynx raises his mug to his lips, taking a sip from the black brew.
"<Of course, the coffee is excellent, as always. Will your travel companion be joining us?>"
"<I hear the coffee has been rather bitter as of late,>" Max murmurs musically, his eyes flicking from Lynx to the bald Hispanic man finishing his breakfast, watching him quietly. On it's own, not suspicious, but Lynx being aware of his traveling companion despite the duo having never met 'Alejandro' puts Max on edge. After the Hispanic man is past them and into the next car, Max not looking the least bit behind him but judging it by the sound of the door closing, Max's left palm slowly slides over the back of his right hand, stopping at the wrist. His right hand loosens, and he idly taps the clothed dining table. "<Presumably. You know how women are. Born to crush serpents.>" He stares at Lynx's sunglasses with his poker face, eyes never moving despite staring at his own reflection in Lynx's sunglasses. It could be judged as an intimidating look, if Max weren't already wearing it when Lynx sat down. "<So, Lynx. How does one earn such a name?>" he asks with a firm tone, not looking at his waiter even as the door slides open to his fore, his plate and glass being carried toward the table. He just stares, dead ahead, at a very accurate approximation of Lynx's eyes behind the tinted transparency of Mister 'Garcia's frames.
"<I find that the bitterness suits me,>" Lynx replies simply to Max's remark regarding the coffee, leaning back in his chair. "<Though I suppose that it's an acquired taste.>" Calmly and coolly, Lynx takes another long, slow sip from his beverage. Seemingly diverging from the questioning regarding the name that he's given, or perhaps just being indirect, he says with a conversational tone, slipping into English with an indistinct American accent, he continues in his gravelly baritone: "Have you ever been to Alaska, Max? It's cold in the winter, but I found that the Siberian winter seems colder."
He sets the mug down on the table in front of him, his speech returning to the Spanish from before. "<I only say as much because the lynx survives both. To answer your question, though - it is a hunter's name, once held by a patriotic killer. One who now finds himself in the treasure hunting business. I thought that you and Ms. Marcos might be able to assist me in my new enterprise.>"
Max's expression remains intransient as ever, even forcing the waiter to pause momentarily as the food arrives. Then, slowly, his look passes to the waiter, who is on edge, as he parts his arms and places his fingers on the edge of the table, allowing his food to be set down. The waiter receives the faintest of nods as thanks, a hint that he does not want to be disturbed for a while. "<I suppose it depends on what sort of prison you wish to live in,>" Max opines as he reaches to his orange juice, eyes back on Lynx, picking the glass up and lifting it to his lips. He takes a slow sip, needing the drink but never showing the slightest hint of thirst, tipping the glass back as he draws with his mouth in a long practiced manner, not making a sound. He calmly sets his glass back down, and releases it, although he keeps his hand near it, ready to palm it if he needs it.
"<You are in search of Spanish gold?>" he asks, his chin moving up a notch, appraising Lynx coolly. "<Ms. Marcos is very interested in keeping this gold the property of her nation. And as for myself, well...I am merely...>" He cocks an eyebrow, the first shift in his face. "<An insurance agent.>" A cocky smile comes across his lips, as he picks up his fork to eat his slightly orange looking eggs. Tabasco, mixed in before cooking. Just the way he likes it. His eyes shift downwards, watching Lynx's hand on his coffee for a moment as he spears some eggs, before looking back up as he takes a bite, slowly chewing and falling silently. A gentleman never speaks with his mouth open, after all.
"<An understandably patriotic sentiment," Lynx remarks of the federal agent's desire to keep the treasure spoken as national property. His hands fold on the tabletop in front of himself, his head turning slightly, though where he's looking isn't entirely clear behind his sunglasses. "<It's fortunate that others within her government are not so patriotic, or we might not have known where to find you. My interests, it seems, would conflict with your own.>"
Turning his head back to face Max, Lynx smiles again - that same expression from before, more smirk than smile in the current context. "<I suppose that I, too, am just an insurance agent, here. My associate should be meeting with your associate now to discuss relocation for proper negotiation.>"
The casual manner in which Lynx speaks contrasts the gravitas of his words as he stands from the table and pushes the chair in neatly. "<I won't insult you by offering a bribe - to be honest, I'd rather not pay you, anyway. My recommendation is that you finish your breakfast and think about the report you're going to need to file. No need to make a scene in front of the other passengers.>"
Max's eyebrow lowers, and his smile slowly fades, replacing by a soft smirk, as he gently lowers his fork to his plate and leaves it there. "Shame," he says with his slightly Scottish brogue, looking apparently bemused. "I was so looking forward to breakfast." Another MI-6, they might try to negotiate. To bribe Lynx. To reason with him. Or even to write the entire thing off out of personal fear. But Max was sent on this highly sensitive mission for one primary reason, all considerations about Sophia Marcos aside. Max Evory, despite having all the dapper charm of a business executive or corporate banker, is brave and decisive beyond all compare. And quite patriotic, even to the point of being a Royal Buckingham guard.
Max's hand darts to his glass as his gaze remains level on Lynx's face, before his arm jerks up to send the acidic citrus beverage flying at Lynx's face to momentarily distract him, glass still in his hand so Lynx gets pure liquid. Meanwhile, his right hand clenches into a fist and slams downward on the table, as he leans back in his chair and boots his leg forward at Lynx's shin to force them both apart, kicking the table up in the air between them and giving Max a moment to re-orient himself as he shifts backwards in his chair. Passengers, alarmed, all halt their conversation, one of them gasping as she sees a fight breaking out in the dining car. At seven in the morning, Colombian time, no less!
COMBATSYS: Max has started a fight here.
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Max 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Lynx has joined the fight here.
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Lynx 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Max
COMBATSYS: Lynx blocks Max's Light Kick.
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Lynx 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Max
It's likely that Lynx would not have made such a brazen challenge without giving all possible outcomes due consideration. Still, an outright assault was the least probable of the expected results - but still amongst them. The hand thrown up reflexively to cover his face does little to stop the orange juice from splashing him, but it does avert the potential issue of the liquid getting past his glasses and into his eyes. When the droplets fall from his arm to the floor, though, they do so not as liquid, but solid, tinkling as they hit the ground. The arm swings down to push the foot thrust at his shin away, and he staggers back a couple of steps toward the door to the next car.
"Interesting. 'Messy' it is, then, I suppose," Lynx says as he draws a hand back, then swipes it through the air toward the MI6 agent. As he does, an icy shard in the shape of a kunai flies through the air, aimed in Max's direction. Without further words or waiting to see the aftermath of his attack, Lynx makes for the door to the next car. As he walks, thin footprints of frost cover the floor in his wake, creating a hazard should Max attempt to give chase.
COMBATSYS: Max blocks Lynx's Thrown Shard.
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Lynx 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Max
Max's chair slams into the ground, tipped over, and the British assassin slaps his hands to the floor as he swings his feet up. He somersaults backwards smoothly out of the chair and to his feet, eyes narrowed at Lynx. His fast recovery indicates just how quick he is, despite his obviously muscular build. Not only toughness, but also flexibility. Max happens to be, among other things, an Olympic level swimmer. As the ice flies at him, summoned out of seemingly nowhere, Max's eyes open wide, before he slaps the kunai away with his right hand, leaving a jagged cut on his palm. When Lynx tries to go towards the passenger car, Max attempts to intercept with a spinning middle kick to Lynx's stomach, the knee brought to bare at the Shadaloo operative's navel to simultaneously block his path and keel him over. If the kick is successful, he brings his right fist down on Lynx's neck in a quick, decisive blow, before his other leg comes into play with a scooping kick at Lynx's ankle to take him off his feet.
"You have no idea."
COMBATSYS: Lynx counters Three of a Kind from Max with Lynx Claw Takedown.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Max
With the door not quite opening fast enough to let him through and the ice-knife failing to slow his pursuer sufficiently, Lynx whips back to face Max as the kick spins toward him. There's only a moment for him to react, but in that moment, Lynx's retaliation is swift. With a quick step in past the leg aimed at him, he thrusts his hand into the British agent's face with an open-handed claw grab, arresting Max's momentum as he applies pressure to his eye sockets and forehead. His fingers are icy cold as the frosty chi channels directly into the MI6 operative's head for a moment before Lynx's other hand presses to his shoulder and pushes him toward the floor.
"I'd love to stay and chill, but I'll leave that to you," he says as he takes in a deep breath, before turning back and pushing through the door to the next car. The Shadaloo agent picks up the pace, barreling past a woman in a staff uniform and pushing her to the ground in his wake as a human obstacle. The hall in the first passenger car is otherwise almost empty as Lynx makes his way past the doors to the various quarters.
As Lynx steps into the kick and stops the movement at Max's upper thigh, he's easy to catch by the grab to his face. Max grunts as he's grabbed by the eyes and forehead, then emits a low groan through clenched teeth as he feels the chi channel directly into his face, freezing cold and certainly hurting. His body slackens, and he's pushed to the floor, slamming drunkenly into a table that tips over behind him. He looks up at Lynx as the Shadaloo runner stands before him, squinting and baring his teeth in a grimace of anger, before Lynx goes running off into the next car towards Sophia. Max can't let this happen. He wipes his eyes with both hands, digging his palms into his face to clear his vision, a low shudder passing through his chattering jaw.
As people around him watch in horror, Max reaches to his right ankle, pulling up his khaki shorts and pulling out his Walther. He smoothly steps to his feet and swings around to point the gun at Lynx's back, the woman on the ground no impediment to Max's plan. As people in his car duck, he fires his compact pistol, aiming a single round at Lynx's back instead of chasing him.
Screams erupt from the dining car as the sound is nearly deafening in close quarters, and people cower in terror.
COMBATSYS: Lynx dodges Max's You Know My Name.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Max
Lynx doesn't look back over his shoulder as he's making his way toward the next car. It's not through visual confirmation that he's aware of the gun being drawn behind him; it's more a matter of instinct, coupled with the lack of footfalls in pursuit, that causes him to slip behind a bend in the wall just in time for the shot to ring out at the same moment the bullet whizzes past his shoulder and slams into the wall beside the doorframe ahead. Lynx raises a hand to his ear, speaking into the watch on his wrist.
"<Dammit. Where is my backup?>"
A moment later, a man in a train security uniform steps through the door, a gun held low. Exchanging a momentary look with the black-clad man in the sunglasses, the security officer nods, before stepping around the bend in the wall and leveling his weapon at Max. Wordlessly, the security officer opens fire on the secret agent, heedless of the terrified passengers behind him!
Meanwhile, Lynx slips on through the door, leaving the uniformed gunman to deal with Max as he heads deeper into the train...
COMBATSYS: Security Henchman has joined the fight here.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Max
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COMBATSYS: Lynx takes no action.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Max
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COMBATSYS: Security Henchman successfully hits Max with Covering Fire.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Max
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Max raises his pistol to point at the ceiling as Lynx ducks out of the way, frowning, before his eyes open wide at the security officer shooting at him. He is caught with a round straight to the stomach as he spins out of the way, other rounds ricocheting around the diner's car and miraculously only wounding one individual, a graze. Max assesses the car behind him quickly, grimacing in mute anger as he shows some of his real self. Taking a knee as another round flies past, he replaces his gun in its ankle holster. He turns about and runs straight down the passenger car at the security officer, jumping over the woman on the floor and then moving to a rapid, low sprint. He thrusts himself forward as he attempts to tackle the security officer to the ground with throttling speed, hoping to get the security officer around the stomach and to slam him to the ground, where he can no longer use his firearm.
COMBATSYS: Security Henchman blocks Max's Medium Throw.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Max
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Security Henchman0/-------/-----==|
The man in the security uniform attempts to pop another couple of rounds off at Max, but the gun turns out to have been emptied already. He starts to eject the clip and replace it, but before he can do so, Max is barreling down on him. The 'guard' braces himself for the impact; as a result, he ends up getting slammed into the wall rather than to the ground, but the firearm is knocked loose from his hand, clattering to the ground nearby.
TThe security officer grunts, wrenching an arm free as he breaks away, cocking back a fist. He throws his fist into a hard punch at Max's face with a fierce bellow.
Meanwhile, the line of sight to Lynx disappearing deeper into the passenger cabins is cut off as the door slides shut...
COMBATSYS: Lynx takes no action.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Max
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Security Henchman0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Max dodges Security Henchman's Fierce Punch.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Max
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Security Henchman0/-------/-----==|
Max pushes off the security officer as the tackle pins him to the wall, Max in a state of complete focus that makes him look trance-like, as if he wasn't paying attention. His left hand snaps up, catching the Lynx's henchman's fist as his head jerks to the right. Baring his teeth at the man in close quarters, Max's right arm swings up to grasp the arm he's already holding, and twist around the 'guard', before slamming his head directly into one of the passenger compartment door windows, hopefully slamming his head through it. He moves like a pouncing jungle tiger, working in pure, beautiful, mellifluous certainty.
COMBATSYS: Security Henchman blocks Max's Mind Your Surroundings.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Max
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The henchman's head is smashed through the glass, though the hat on his crown offers some protection from the sharp shards. Inside the cabin, the middle-aged couple occupying it scream in unison. The security hat tumbles from the man's shaven head to the cabin foor, and the man growls as he places his hands on either side of the doorframe and pushes back, extricating his cranium, before he tries to plow into Max and drive him into the wall with a shoulder check.
COMBATSYS: Lynx takes no action.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Max
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COMBATSYS: Max blocks Security Henchman's Shoulder Check.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Max
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Security Henchman0/-------/---====|
Max is driven backwards, but uses his grip on the security guard's punching arm to shift himself to the side, so he isn't completely sandwiched. Now at the man's right, Max releases the arm, before he raises both hands up and interlaces his fingers. He brings his hands slamming down at the guard, aiming at his previously wrenched shoulder. Hopefully, Max can dislocate it. The last thing Max needs is a potential Colombian national dead, intentionally attempting to avoid deadly force, even if it loses him precious seconds in his attempt to assist Sophia with Lynx and his friend. What is obvious to Max, in the back of his mind, that he's been lured into a carefully set trap.
COMBATSYS: Security Henchman blocks Max's Medium Punch.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Max
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Security Henchman0/-------/-======|
The shaven-headed man in the security uniform turns his body into the blow as Max attempts to dislocate his shoulder, and Max's hands slam into the meat of his arm - though he staggers back from the attack, it doesn't appear as if he's crippled by it. His course happens to bring him alongside the gun from before, and though the weapon is still unloaded, the security guard snatches it up by the barrel. Lunging for Max, he attempts to use his open hand to grab the agent by the wrist and smash the butt of the pistol across his elbow.
COMBATSYS: Max blocks Security Henchman's Snag and Beat.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Max
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Security Henchman0/-------/-======|
Max's eyes flick downwards for a split second, to see the guard snatch up his unloaded pistol. Max feels the wrist get grabbed, watching the mysterious guard's eyes, before he sees the intent of where the pistol is heading. His free hand flies over his elbow and meets the butt of the pistol with his forearm, before he throws both arms up and out, to push the henchman backwards and break the grapple. He then thrusts forward with a haymaker aimed at the guard's jaw, putting a substantial amount of his force and his footing into the shot.
COMBATSYS: Max successfully hits Security Henchman with Ace High.
- Power hit! -
~~ Alluring Hit! ~~
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1 Max
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The guard's jaw snaps shut as Max's fist slams into it, sending the man teetering back against the outer wall of the train. The dazed expression on the man's face as he slumps against the side of the train car suggests that an opening might be provided for Max to break away to continue the pursuit...
A few moments later, though, the security guard pushes himself up, a clip is freshly loaded into his sidearm, and he unloads a barrage of bullets from the pistol toward the British agent!
COMBATSYS: Max blocks Security Henchman's Precise Barrage.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1 Max
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Max adjusts his cufflinks as the man is floored, and steps over him, into the next passenger car. He pauses suddenly as he hears the 'click' of the clip being loaded into a pistol, and spins around to get behind cover, ducking into an empty passenger compartment. He glances down at a suddenly stinging wound, seeing a graze across his arm. He touches his stomach, thankful that the bullet to the gut apparently missed anything vital. He rolls out from cover, on a knee, then launches himself bodily at the security guard, attempting to catch him around the ribs and lift him into the air as Max's muscles surge, lifting Lynx's accomplice off his feet, before slamming him down into the ground, Max shaking with fury.
COMBATSYS: Security Henchman blocks Max's Quantum of Solace.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Max
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The man in the security uniform is caught up by Agent Evory and lifted up off of his feet, only scarcely able to brace himself for the impact of being thrown to the floor of the train car. The guard winces in pain, reaching for his boot while he still lays on the ground and pulling out a short-bladed combat knife that's clearly not standard issue from a hidden sheath. Holding the hilt in a reverse grip, the man slashes at Max's shin as he pushes up off of the ground.
COMBATSYS: Security Henchman successfully hits Max with Shank.
- Power hit! -
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1 Max
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"Ah!" Max shouts as he's slashed across the shin, feeling blood spurt out of the wound as the blade catches him right between the ankle and foot. His leg gives out and he falls to a sideways kneel, breathing heavily through his teeth at the shooting pain going up and down his leg. Seeing the bloody blade in the man's hand, Max now ruling him out as an actual train employee, Max's shaking hand reaches for a piece of glass that came out of the window the guard's head previously went through. He twists about on his good leg, surging forward in an attempt to drive it into the man's throat, right at the jugular.
COMBATSYS: Max successfully hits Security Henchman with Blinding Heights.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Max
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The jagged piece of glass finds its way into the uniformed assassin's throat, eliciting a gurgling sound as blood starts to flow from the wound. In a desperate and pained frenzy, the man claws at Max, trying to grab hold of him however he can manage, before attempting to ram Max back across to the opposite wall of the cabin and deliver a series of knee strikes to the midsection before headbutting the MI6 agent in the face in spite of his own wounds. The man, it would seem, has some degree of fanatical bent that drives him, even in the face of imminent death.
COMBATSYS: Max blocks Security Henchman's Savage Beating.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Max
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Max releases the glass after stabbing the henchman, shocked at how this man is fighting. He pushes the knees away, but is caught by the headbutt, his head snapping backwards. He's pushed backwards by the bleeding man, into the wall of the train. With the minion's blood all over him, from jaw to stomach, mingling with his own, Max puts his good leg on the wall behind him, and uses the slick crimson fluid to slide downwards, attempting to put his shoulder in the henchman's chest and thrust him backwards into a door.
COMBATSYS: Max successfully hits Security Henchman with British Tiger.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Max
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Security Henchman0/-------/----===|
Carried back by the force of Max's body slamming into his, the guard smashes through the door to one of the passenger cabins, currently unoccupied, before crashing into the window looking out to the Colombian countryside, causing the glass to shudder as the shaven-headed would-be killer slumps to the floor. The man's eyes roll back in his head as his form goes limp; it would seem unlikely that the henchman will be getting up anytime soon.
Within a few seconds, though, the sound of a woman screaming echoes faintly over the sound of the train from the direction of the passenger cabins near the caboose - a reminder of the urgency of the situation despite the agent's victory over his assailant!
COMBATSYS: Security Henchman takes no action.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Max
COMBATSYS: Security Henchman can no longer fight.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Max
Max pushes himself off the downed thug, and pulls his Walther off his ankle holster, adrenaline pounding through his head as he begins limping as fast as he can towards the rear of the train, pistol pointed at the floor and held to his side, with his left shoulder and good leg leading. Max leaves himself no time to recover from his multiple bleeding wounds, too task oriented at the moment to see to his own condition. He's literally covered in blood, making himself look quite ghastly, but that's not even on his mind at the moment. He stares down the hallway with the gun drawn, very much on the edge.
COMBATSYS: Max focuses on his next action.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Max
The passenger car is practically deserted; most of the guests were already toward the front of the train in the breakfast areas, while those still in their quarters have locked themselves behind the doors and are remaining quiet at this point, though the occasional sound of sobbing can be heard. It would seem that there are no would-be heroes amongst those in the rear passenger car, nor do any more security guards or other men intervene as Max makes his way toward the back of the train, though there is one guard slumped against a wall with an icicle protruding from his chest, dripping as it melts.
The door to the rearmost passenger cabin, recently inhabited by Sophia Marcos, is hanging off of its hinges, having clearly been smashed in, and its occupant is absent. Past it, the door to the back of the train hangs open...
Just as Max is arriving, the train rumbles ominously. The reason can be scene through the ajar door: the rear cars have been blown loose from the rest of the train. A frosty haze surrounds them as they decelerate with a grinding sound of metal on ice. Lynx is visible at the fore of the staff car, the nearest to the passenger cars, now clad in a trenchcoat that's whipping in the wind, while behind him - on the interior - the heavy in the suit from before is visible, with one Sophia Marcos carried over his shoulder.
"Hasta la vista," Lynx calls out from behind his sunglasses, his expression impassive.
Meanwhile, two black army-style trucks are pulling up alongside the dislodged back of the train. They appear to be filled with black-clad soldiers, armed with assault rifles.
COMBATSYS: Lynx focuses on his next action.
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Lynx 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Max
Max sees Lynx in the trenchcoat, with Sophia. Gritting his teeth, he whips his gun up, and fires a single shot...At the undercarriage of the car Lynx is on, directly below him. It's an attempt to take out Lynx's footing, and dump him onto the tracks. Max then slumps against the wall, feeling his leg give up and causing him to slide downwards, a large grimace on his face as he feels the bullet in his belly shift.
COMBATSYS: Max successfully hits Lynx with Mind Your Surroundings.
Glancing Blow
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Lynx 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Max
As Max aims the gun at him, Lynx swings a hand up, an icy sheet forming in the air to intercept the bullet - except that the bullet isn't aimed at Lynx's upper body, as anticipated, but at the train car beneath his feet. Attempting to twist himself away from the course of the bullet, Lynx loses his footing, dropping hard against the metal floor and threatening to fall onto the tracks, but he manages to grab hold of the railing, catching himself before he can take the perilous tumble. Pushing himself backward, he practically throws himself into the interior of the train car, slamming the door shut as the vehicle plows to a stop. Soldiers pile out of the trucks to one side of the car, rifles raised toward the front half of the passenger train, opening fire for a few bursts before the train turns in a bend along the tracks and disappears behind foliage.
COMBATSYS: Lynx takes no action.
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Lynx 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Max
COMBATSYS: Lynx has left the fight here.
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Max 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Max has ended the fight here.
Log created on 13:15:47 12/05/2015 by Lynx, and last modified on 20:14:18 12/08/2015.