Match of the Millennium

Description: With the HitBit information finally being processed, fighter data used to be able to log and process remotely. With the new sensors, however, fighter data has become something more than 1s and 0s. Special sites have been set up around the world to manage and compile the data, chi and otherwise, to properly record and store for further experimentation and development. Many have been opposed to HitBit data, however; some have pursued legal recourse. Others, like Noboru, have a more personal approach. Noboru will be infiltrating the HitBit Processing Site, with the intent to sabotage the data in order to protect the integrity of ninjas. But with secret agent Claire of the Tekken Force running the show, we can only see just how far he can get.

[CLAIRE]
Welcome to Hell! Or Australia; it's basically the same thing.

It's winter in Australia, which means it is a cloudy day in the upper teens (Celsius). Noboru's mission, should he choose to accept it, is to infiltrate a HitBit site, where the data from the nearby battle at the Sydney Opera House is presumably crunched.

The site looks like nothing so much as an unremarkable office building in Sydney. If Violet Systems owns the place, they're not advertising it; in fact it looks like nothing so much as an incredibly bland office building, the kind of place where a few dozen programmers try to make the Next Best Thing for an app-hungry world. No company banners here, just anonymous rented property.

Nobody seems to be going in and out much, so breaking in is probably in Noboru's favour; it's entirely a physical thing rather than having to deal with receptionists and who knows what else. Security on the inside is not expected to be light, but it /is/ expected to all be internal. The very blandness and unremarkability of the exterior is their first line of defense, but who knows what Violet Systems (and G-Corporation) have put inside the structure...?

[NOBORU]
As thick grey clouds hang drearily overhead, and the quiet sounds of active city life filter passed the towering buildings of downtown Sydney, a lone figure stands atop a neighboring property, mismatched eyes fixed upon the outwardly unremarkable facade of a very evil corporation.
The still air stirs just slightly, lifting Noboru's shaggy golden-brown hair and tossing it away from his scarred forehead, the majority of his features hidden behind his simple black mask. He has not yet had time to change into a disguise. In fact, at the speed he pushed his battered, bruised body to get here, it is unlikely that Marduk and Maki have even finished their bout. He is tired. His bones ache. But out of all of his brothers and sisters, only he is in a place to respond.
To normal sight, the building before him appears perfectly ordinary. But there is a reason his fellows refer to Noboru as the Iron Mystic. Through his damaged left eye, the world burns. Traceries of chi flow around negative spaces of psy, causing everything to shift and flicker, blazing with the light of the son. It is a strange way to view the world, but one he has adapted to. More than once this strange sight has saved his life. Competent fighters tend to have an abundance of either chi or psy, causing them to stick out to those who can see. it is one of those signatures that he currently scans fore, shrugging a large travel bag from his back and beginning to unpack it...
Fifteen minutes later, A tall, morbidly obese man in a brown delivery uniform makes his waddling way down the street, long black topknot swaying behind him. His skin is red and coppery, dark eyes squinted above pudgy cheeks. Over his shoulder, bumping against his hip with each step, is a canvas messenger bag.
Pausing outside of the G-Corp offices, the messenger glances up in search of the address, smiles beatifically, and attempts to waddle his way right inside. Sure this place might be riddled with scanners. They likely have a map of Noboru's muscle and bone density, both of which are far beyond what a human should sport. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[CLAIRE]
The whole building seems ordinary and uninteresting, even to Noboru's unusual sight. There's not a whole lot in there. He's come early enough that there's not even people.

No, the interesting stuff is /under/ the building.

There's a basement. There has to be, which is odd because most of the buildings around here don't have one, or at least don't have one that goes very far down. This one is a couple stories' worth of downward travel at least, and there's definitely somebody in there who has enough energy to be a fighter. Possibly multiple somebodies, or maybe somebody and an energized Combot. Or maybe it's a side effect of whatever analysis systems they use to study chi. Whatever the case, his target is definitely down there; he's found the right place.

The door Noboru tries is locked. This is not going to be a problem for very long if he's either capable of picking locks or willing to just smash through the door. Getting into the building is easy, though he's right; there's at least one camera looking at him right now. Getting into the basement, and out again, is going to be the hard part.

Once he's inside, Noboru is in an office, with the lights out. Nobody is here yet, but there are almost certainly security systems and he's probably triggered them. Better move fast to find the basement entrance...

[NOBORU]
Though the door is indeed locked, it is not much of a barrier for the happily smiling delivery man. As if by magic, when his large, pudgy hand closes on the knob, there is a grinding crunch and the door simply swings right open. Only once he has slid past, nimble for a big guy, can the camera clearly see the twisted remains of the knob, steel crumpled into scrap as easily as someone might wad up a piece of paper.
Still smiling, the brown-clad delivery guy waddles his way through the entry hall and around a corner. Fortunately, he has done his homework. The layout for this building, pre purchase by its current company, was not difficult to obtain. What modifications they may have made in the mean time is anyone's guess. The basement, for example. That is new.
Waddling his way toward the ground-floor elevator with ghostly stealth, the brown-clad intruder reaches up with both hands, and once again the steel before him parts like magic. Little dents appear in the metal where he forces his thick fingers into the crack between the doors, creating handholds with which to pry them open in a single, muscular surge. It's honestly a little frightening, and loud. But, with the doors out of the way, the shinobi is able to glance into the shaft, checking first up, to make sure the elevator isn't falling toward him. Then, he steps in and begins to drop, free-falling his way down, down, down, topknot streaming up in the wind of his descent.

[CLAIRE]
The elevator appears to be not in use right now. It's dark in the shaft and hard to determine exactly where it is, but it's not here and it's not moving.

Noboru is absolutely going the right way. He can feel it. Unfortunately he's also tripped several security alarms, which means as he descends there's a faint hum and then a reddish flicker of light as some of the alerts activate. Nothing immediately shoots him, which may be a plus... but the cameras are tracking him (or were; there aren't any in the elevator shaft itself). They know he's here.

He goes down three floors, and that's the bottom. On the far side of the floor's door is the fighter, perhaps fifteen feet away, and standing. Their chi is oddly core-focused, with less - almost none - in their arms and legs; it makes for a bright point of energy rather than the full silhouette of a person.

But that's all the time Noboru has to look for details, as the doors out into the basement suddenly open without Noboru doing anything.

They reveal a plainly appointed room. It's the size of the lobby upstairs, and at the back of the room is what appears to be a blast door, currently closed; that must be where the items of interest are. There are a few computers scattered around the room in side cubicles, but not enough to be the full processing system. Cameras dot the walls - yes, and Hitbit scanners, in a couple places. But between him and the door is that person, who is currently facing the elevator with hands on hips.

"I figured somebody was coming, but I didn't expect it to be this early," the person - a woman - says. It's hard to get more than that, because she's dressed in full combat armour, covering her from head to toe; red and black, with a helmet that covers her face. It's pretty lightweight for armour, with thin plates and shaped padding rather than a full bulky frame, but it still obscures who they are. She loosens up, lifting her hands off her hips and into a defensive stance.

"I'm afraid this is private property," she says, "and you're trespassing. Are you going to make this easy, or hard?"

COMBATSYS: Claire has started a fight here on the right meter side.

                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Claire

COMBATSYS: Noboru has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Noboru           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0           Claire

[NOBORU]
Falling, falling, falling...
'THUD.'
Noboru's impact with the basement floor is neither light nor gentle. He strikes the ground feet-first with all the gathered momentum of his descent, but he somehow does not shatter his legs. The cement floor vibrates beneath his heels as the sound of his impact echoes back up the shaft, knees flexing to bleed off force. So it is that when the doors swoosh open, they reveal the pleasantly smiling delivery man, topknot settled down over one shoulder and stance casual.
"Ooh," the cheerful intruder begins, voice oddly high and piping with an extremely thick Canadian accent, "A Power Ranger." He seems genuinely delighted by the idea, one of his squinty black eyes twinkling. Stepping forward into the room, he reaches into the bag under his arm, fishing for something dastardly. Something dangerous. Something--
A clipboard.
"Sign here please." chirps the delivery person, completely and 100 percent acting as if he didn't just tear his way into the secretive base of a multi-billion dollar company and free-fall down its empty elevator shaft.
The clipboard is offered out in one pudgy hand as he approaches the armor-clad woman, not even seeming to notice all of the high-tech electronics scattered around the room.

[CLAIRE]
Claire lets Noboru pull out what ends up being a clipboard and approach her. Any facial expression she has is completely hidden by the helmet.

She reaches for the clipboard, or that's what it looks like - but she actually seizes Noboru by the wrist, or tries to. "I'm not an idiot, dear," Claire says, with what sounds like a grin in her voice behind the helmet. "You show up on cameras. You broke the lock, pulled the elevator open; we know you're not a fat delivery boy."

Abruptly, Claire puts her entire body into an arm twist, sliding one of her feet forward to trip Noboru as she pulls him off-balance, following it up with a painful booted stomp. "So why don't you learn when you're not wanted?"

Claire is more loyal to Mishima than Lee, but that doesn't mean she's going to let some fighter waltz in here and start breaking things. That's company property!

COMBATSYS: Noboru just-defends Claire's Combo Grapple!

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Noboru           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0           Claire

[NOBORU]
Bumbling and innocent as a new-born lamb, the guileless delivery man steps right into the attack, Claire's gauntleted fingers closing roughly around his wrist. Or, trying to. Holy shit his wrists are thick! It's like grabbing a tree. Close as they are, the sheer bulk and mass of the man becomes crystal clear. Perhaps the fat, or fat suit, makes him look bigger then he is. That, or Claire is trying to throw a brick wall.
It's probably the latter.
As Claire heaves herself backwards into the unbalancing trip, there is a loud 'shrck' of splitting fabric, and the ninja does not move. His body doesn't sway. His arm doesn't even budge. It is as if he's become stone, rigid and immovable, every muscle locking up at once. And, if Claire were to take a moment to glance down, she would see that a pair of fair-skinned, blond-haired toes have torn their way through his comfortable walking shoes to grip the cement floor. But not only do they grip the surface, the ends of his toes have punched into the poured concrete, sending out thin, spidery cracks in all directions.
"Oh dear." Noboru states mildly in his high, Canadian-accented drawl. Though his tone is worried, there is something deadpan in the set of his dark eyes, face very still.
Unlocking without warning, the pretend Canadian jerks forward suddenly, attempting to haul Claire close by the grip still caught around his wrist. If he can bring her in, his left hand will sweep up and around to grip the side of her helmet. Only then will he bare down upon her, bringing the full, steel warping strength of one arm to bare as he attempts to drive her face-first into the floor, his right hand still holding idly onto that damn clipboard...

COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Claire with Embrace the Sky.
- Power hit! -

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Noboru           0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0           Claire

Dropping the clipboard beside Claire's head with a quiet clatter, Noboru stoops quickly over her, shoulders hunched, knees bent, every muscle in his body tensed. Grabbing her by the back of her armor with both big hands, he uncoils explosively, overly developed bulk flexing as he accelerates her up, up, away from the ground, hurling her straight up over head to impact the ceiling chest-first. And, as she is going up, he is going forward, walking casually beneath her on his way toward the sealed blast doors.

[CLAIRE]
This guy is big.

Claire has fought big men before. 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall' applies most of the time, but that only works if you can get them to fall, and Noboru is strangely resistant to that. Claire's armour withstands being grabbed, though not comfortably. She grunts when her helmet gets squeezed, jaw clenching, and then she finds herself going /up/ -

Claire hits the ceiling with enough force to dent it. But somehow she manages to hook her fingers and boots against it, preventing herself from falling; her boots slip, but she hangs on with her hands, dangling as Noboru moves toward the blast door.

"Salaud!" she spits at him, decidedly French-accented, as she swings her entire body backwards by her fingertips. Back once, then forward, and there's a /whump/ of impact as some system in her armour slams against the ceiling; Claire doesn't just drop in a flying kick toward Noboru's back, she practically rockets at him, the technological boost giving her extra speed and power. She doesn't intend to let him through!

COMBATSYS: Claire successfully hits Noboru with Flamberge.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Noboru           0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0           Claire

[NOBORU]
Noboru's footfalls are oddly silent as he stalks across the cement floor, the waddle having dropped from his gate. No longer does he look like a jovial, overweight delivery man. His shoulders have squared, posture firmed. he looks very much like a man in a disguise, walking purposefully toward the objective Claire was set to defend.
But he is not unaware of her.
Even as Claire begins to fall back toward the ground, Noboru is shifting forward, making as if to duck right beneath her flying tackle. And, if he were a smaller man, or she a slower opponent, perhaps she would have went zipping by overhead to smack into the doors ahead. Instead, the shinobi is only half out of the way when Claire catches him, impacting the center of his shoulders and driving him forward. His forehead meets the steel doors with a heavy 'CLONG!' that can be felt through his bones, but it doesn't seem to slow him down in the slightest.
"Hrrrrm." the ninja rumbles in a far deeper, far less friendly tone as he surges back upright, reaching over his shoulder with one hand in an attempt to snag Claire by an arm, leg, or whatever he can get ahold of. If his iron-like fingers can get a good grip on her, he will tear the unfortunate woman off of his back and whip her through the air as if she weighs nothing at all, slamming her into the steel door before him with a resounding boom. Then, he will follow it up with a single, brutal punch meant to either smash open the front of her breastplate, or cause the back of her armor to mold a woman-shaped dent in the steel. Unless she dodges. Then, well, he'll probably just punch a dent into the goddamn door.

COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Claire with Combo Grapple.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Noboru           0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1           Claire

[CLAIRE]
Noboru manages to get ahold of Claire's arm. It hurts but she's not going to show it; it hurts more when she slams into the door hard enough to dent it with her back. It'll take a few more impacts to get through it (this door is reinforced against fighters, which doesn't mean it's invincible but does at least mean it takes effort), but the mark is visible.

Nice.

Claire has to practically peel herself off the door to strike back, but strike back she does. Taking advantage of the proximity between the two fighters, she drives her fist at Noboru's face. This is bad enough, but tiny ports open on her knuckles as she does, and when she strikes her hand is surrounded by an aura of flame; on impact, the sudden surge from the flamethrowers is enough to billow out for a foot or so as she punches a fireball. And, of course, she's still in the way.

"You could at least give me your name," she says, almost teasing. "What's a dance when you don't know your partner?" It's likely she's already told whoever is watching the cameras to try to figure it out, of course.

COMBATSYS: Noboru interrupts Coreiseuse from Claire with Calm the Storm.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Noboru           1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1           Claire

[NOBORU]
"That you were not warned speaks ill of those who sent you." Noboru rumbles in reply, speaking in a voice as deep and calm as a mountain lake, with the faintest hint of what might be a Japanese accent. The fist coming at his face seems not to bother him at all, his expression blank and resolved, ready to accept the punch. The snicking open of the ports, however, forces a split-second decision.
Th'thud, th'thud, th'thud.
Time seems to slow as Noboru focuses on the core of the woman before him. The pulsing flow of energy concentrated toward the center of her body. In it he can see her fighting spirit. The play of chi as it is moved through the organic parts of her being. The pulse of her heart. Slower, slower, staring hard-eyed past the fist as the first flickers of orange begin to appear in the small openings of the flame thrower.
Th'thud, th, thud. Th. Thud. Th---
Noboru's bulk shifts through space with sudden speed. He does not have to move far. Barely a foot. But he does so with an explosive release of physical power. Taking a half step forward, he twists his shoulders, right fist powering forward in a single, precise strike aimed directly for the armor plating over Claire's heart. His knuckles are extended in a stiff half-fist, hardened from decades of training. If all goes right, the blow should land directly between heartbeats, causing Claire's heart to skip a beat, seizing dangerously. Not enough to kill, but just enough to cause all the chi in her body to briefly flicker, disrupting its natural flow.
The entire maneuver takes less than a blink. All at once time seems to speed up. A ferocious gust of air blasts through the room from the abrupt motion, and flames leap from the end of Claire's fist, blazing a scalding path across the back of Noboru's right shoulder. His coat ignites, small flames leaping up upon contact with the fire, but otherwise he seems to have made it through unscathed.

[CLAIRE]
Claire's chi is unusual. Not in type (it feels like many other fighters') or in scale (she is not outrageously strong nor ridiculously weak) but in how it flows. It is centered in her core, and Noboru might have figured out why; Claire's arms and legs are partially artificial rather than a fully organic part of her body. She's less wearing that part of the armour and more equipped with it. (The breastplate and helmet are different matters; those /are/ just armour.)

As long as he's not trying to null the flow with a point in her wrist, he's fine. Hitting her in the heart seems to do it.

Claire stalls momentarily as the impact strikes home. She lets out a sound somewhere between a grunt and a gasp, muffled because of her helmet, and starts to fold over Noboru's knuckles before she seems to recover enough to straighten, coming in fast. It wasn't because she faked the injury; she just recovers relatively quickly.

Claire goes for an underhook, sliding her arm in beneath Noboru's (relatively easy; he's a good half foot taller than she is) and trying to hook it over his back. If she manages it, she drives her shoulder forward, trying to take him to the ground and transition into a more solid lock, going for a painful grapple as she twists his arm. She's figured out his iron skin technique and is trying to deal with it by changing the rules.

"It's always best to hear it from your partner," she murmurs, just loud enough to carry to Noboru's ear.

COMBATSYS: Noboru endures Claire's Medium Throw.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Noboru           1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1           Claire

[NOBORU]
Noboru does not attempt to dodge back as Claire slithers past his fist, though she can see his left eye widen a fractional tic, perhaps impressed at the speed of her recovery. Regardless, he has a heavily armored, extremely dangerous woman attempting to slip beneath his guard and wrap her arms around him, and not in a good way.
Or, maybe in a good way, judging by the words whispered into his ear as Claire floors him, coming down on top as his broad back slams into the cement floor.
However, when the armored warrioreess goes for the arm lock, she meets resistance. Muscles flex and bunch beneath Noboru's disguise, abs tensing under the hard lumps of whatever is stuffed into his fake belly. Very abruptly Claire finds the hulking brute's arm pushing back against her grip, attempting to force her hand back to her side and lock her in a tight, bone-grinding bear hug. If he can secure the grip he will plant a foot and shove himself easily to his feet, dragging her up with him as he squeezes and squeezes.

COMBATSYS: Claire fails to counter Medium Throw from Noboru with Joyeuse.
- Power fail! -

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Noboru           1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1           Claire

[CLAIRE]
Claire is strong. Stronger than she looks, though admittedly it's hard to get a good sense of her muscle tone while she's covered in head-to-toe armour; stronger than people expect, sometimes. She's fully capable of a takedown against someone as big and strong as Noboru.

Under good circumstances, anyway.

Claire pushes against Noboru's strength, trying to twist and pull his arm out of position to avoid the bear hug. It looks, for a moment, like she's going to do it, in fact; like she's actually going to manage to lock his arm and crash down on top of him in response, there to do... something.

But he gets her off her feet, and then she lacks leverage. She has to struggle against the bear hug instead so that she can get her feet back on the ground, and until she /does/ manage it she's at Noboru's mercy, squeezed against his side. She can't stand up to that forever, armoured or not! Claire doesn't have enough air to get a witty comment out, even.

[NOBORU]
"Little warrior." Noboru rumbles, holding the woman trapped against his chest with first one, then both arms. "You have proven yourself tenacious. You have the true spirit of a fighter . This I can see." Tilting his chin down, the hulking man stares into the opaque visor of her mask, eyes dark and inscrutable. At some point during their tussle, likely when she bounced his face off of the door, the molded material of his left cheek was damaged. It now sags, hanging loose from his face in a rather grotesque display. Behind the drooping edge she can just make out a cheek of a much lighter skin tone, weathered by the elements and dusted with golden brown stubble. As she struggles and strains, she can feel joints popping along his shoulders and back, this not being his first fight today, but there is no give to him. She has seen his strength. Without augments or chi he has warped steel and cracked cement. Clearly a novice was not sent to face her.
"I am Noboru Miyama, the Iron Mystic, and bravery or not, you will not stand between me and my duty." And with those grumbled words, the huge shinobi tightens his grip on Claire's squirming form, crushing her tight against his chest as his forehead descends in a vicious, stunning blow. Though he is not wearing a helmet, he seems unworried that he might get the worse of the exchange, though that could turn out to be foolish on his part. Regardless, after the opening blow he turns and hurls both himself and Claire toward the steel blast door, his grip around her growing ever tighter as they accelerate toward the barrier.
Just before impact, when any sane person would flip away, leaving their opponent to smash into the steel-plated obstruction, Noboru tenses all of his muscles at once. Hardening his body in an explosive surge, he attempts to turn himself, and the unfortunate Claire, into a human missile, to crash through to the room beyond.

COMBATSYS: Claire dodges Noboru's Resolve of the Miyama.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Noboru           0/-------/---<<<<|=======\-------\1           Claire

[CLAIRE]
Claire is still pinned by Noboru's raw strength and cannot avoid the headbutt. It hits her helmet, and though the helmet doesn't crack she feels the impact right through it; she momentarily sees stars, and has to squeeze her eyes closed for a moment to make the world stop spinning.

But she's got a name. Confirmation is good, though she's heard of the man anyhow - he's a would-be tournament entrant, after all, same as her. Energized by a partial success, she manages to slip partially free of Noboru, but she doesn't drop down to the ground - she pulls herself upwards, hands on his shoulders.

When he throws himself at the door, Claire literally leapfrogs over Noboru. Hands planted on his shoulders, she lifts herself up and over; she tries to deliver a two-footed kick backwards to give herself more distance as he slams into the door, catching him between her boots and the blast door. "Oh, good! I like a man who's willing to talk about himself. Though 'little warrior' is a little insulting, you know."

Speaking of the blast door, it's not in great shape. One more solid blow ought to do it. It might be hard to do uninterrupted with Claire right there - because she's still ready for a fight - but if Noboru can get past her, it won't hold him out much longer...

COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks Claire's Medium Kick.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Noboru           0/-------/---<<<<|=======\-------\1           Claire

[NOBORU]
Not only the door, but the entire wall bucks and quakes when Noboru hits it, warping the portal inward with the ear-shattering screech of reinforced steel being made to bend in ways neither sexy nor appreciated. And, though the impact was head-first, it seems the door took the worst of that exchange. Reaching up, Noboru plants his right hand on a bent section of metal and pries himself free, beginning to stand just as Claire's feet come down on the floor behind him. It, felt like her boots made fairly solid impact as he was passing beneath her. She probably helped him get himself wedged in as tight as she did. But, somehow, he isn't showing much sign of damage. His outfit is. His coat, once partially on fire, now smolders and smokes, falling away from the bare shoulder beneath. As suspected, the ninja's true skin color is fair, and he is by no means fat. There are purple bruises blotching his skin from shoulder to elbow, vivid and gross, but nothing deep. Nothing permanent.
Bursting free of the confining door in a sudden surge of brute power, the shinobi reverses course and hurls himself backward toward Claire. it is not a butt bump. he is not the type. But it is certainly a shoulders bump. His entire mass sent hurtling in reverse toward Claire, attempting to smash right through her like a mobile wall.

COMBATSYS: Claire parries Noboru's Iron Sentinel!!

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Noboru           0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1           Claire

[CLAIRE]
On her feet again, Claire is more confident. People generally are when they're not having all the air squeezed out of them. She's going to be stiff as hell tomorrow; she's entirely sure she's already bruising underneath her armouring, and she's lucky if she doesn't have any cracked ribs.

She only has an instant to react before Noboru charges at her... backwards. She'd like to stop him, but there's no stopping a man with that much momentum. Her combat instincts suggest another option: deflecting him away from her. It helps that he probably can't see her real well; he's moving backwards, after all.

It's a light touch. Claire gets her hands on Noboru and his coat and reangles him, sending him toward a different wall. This one might dent, but if so it won't do much since the only thing behind it is stone; the basement was dug out and that's the edge of the basement. He might be able to stop his backwards rush before he hits it, though.

Which is why she simultaneously guides herself around to his front, using the rest of the momentum of her push to spin herself around properly. Claire delivers a mighty whirling kick toward Noboru... but the knee-plate and boot of her armour is sparking, and if she manages to hit it discharges in a single lightning-like spark, complete with popping /bang/ of thunder!

COMBATSYS: Noboru fails to interrupt Sauvagine EX from Claire with Fault Line.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Noboru           0/-------/-------|=======\====---\1           Claire

[NOBORU]
One moment, Noboru is moving backward. Claire is twisting around him, re-directing him. She can feel the momentum gathering in her favor. Feel the strike coming, know where it will land.
The next, Noboru's toes have dug into the cement, and his backward progress is halted. She can see it. The gathering of power along his arms and shoulders, the flexing of his core . His dark eyes lock on the front of her face plate, and it is as if he can see through it. See into her own. He begins to twist, to throw his right fist forward. The blow is aimed for her midsection, likely a quick, vicious strike meant to throw off the oncoming kick.
Hers is faster.
Just before his fist makes contact with her abdomen, Claire's shin catches Noboru in the chest. With a booming discharge of electricity, the big ninja is thrown backward to slam heavily into the wall, dust and bits of debris raining down from the ceiling above.
It seems that she has gained a bit of room to breath. Grunting from the impact, the big shinobi is still in the process of shoving free of the newly made crater, off balance and exposed.

[CLAIRE]
As Noboru is launched back into the wall, Claire finds herself with some breathing room. That was close - closer than she likes, if she's being honest, she was /this/ close to taking another gut-shot and she doesn't think she can stand up to that anymore. She sees that she - momentarily, at least - has the advantage, and her expression shifts into a pained grin. Not that Noboru can see it, but, well...

"Not so big and frightening when you're off your feet, non?" Claire keeps her distance for a few moments, raising both hands and holding them in front of her, pressing her palms together at arm's length. "Let's keep you there!"

Claire seperates her hands, just an inch or so. Energy dances between them like a Jacob's ladder, arcing from one lower arm to the other, the bolts working their way up from about halfway to her elbow to her fingertips. It's not quite electricity but something purer, whiter, brighter -

Claire fires the energy cannon. A beam of white-blue energy about three inches across rockets from between her hands with an audible howl as it tears through the air, aimed directly at Noboru - and if it hits, it's with kinetic force more than anything else, smashing him back into the wall for the few seconds that the beam lasts!

COMBATSYS: Claire successfully hits Noboru with Hauteclaire.

[                         \\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Noboru           0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0           Claire

[NOBORU]
Stone grinds and dust falls as Noboru pulls his shoulders free of the basement wall, his tattered jacket hanging from him in shreds, burnt away from his now scorched chest by Claire's most recent kick. There is no longer enough undamaged cloth to hide the large leather sack strapped to his middle, clearly the object that had been acting as his false gut.
"Hrrrm." the big man rumbles, calm and composed despite the sudden shift in momentum. She is too far away to strike. he is too slow to dodge. That weapon is primed, being pointed directly at him.
Only one option.
Spinning on the spot, Noboru throws his hands up and braces both against the wall. He is just in time to center himself for the enormous blast of energy that strikes him squarely in the back, threatening to send him right back into the crater. Muscles strain and flex, cloth tears. Skin tears. Blood begins to spray into the air...
And then the beam fades.
In the wake of the blast, Noboru stands, hunched forward and holding himself up by his grip on the wall. He no longer has a jacket. In fact, it's probably fortunate he has skin. Large splits show where the raw force has tugged his skin apart, revealing the pulsing muscles and glistening bones beneath. Blood is pouring from the wounds, the huge man's breaths coming slow and deep. But he does not fall.
Without a sound the hulking shinobi pushes himself upright, straightening to his full, impressive height. The leather sack continues to hang safe and undamaged against his stomach, straps crossing his shoulders and lower back.
Turning slowly about, Noboru fixes Claire with a set, neutral look, half of his fake face sagging into unrecognizable mush, both eyes dark and unreadable. His black topknot hangs over one muscular shoulder, hair clumping into messy knots stuck fast with sticky blood.
Lifting his right hand, Noboru slowly curls his thick fingers into a fist, the remains of the latex fat suit falling away as knuckles crack like breaking ice.
"Very well." the Miyama murmurs quietly.
Then, he strikes.
it is not a particularly fast blow. A long step forward, right hand coming back, then exploding forward with near gravitic force. it is, however, a clear knockout punch. One that if it were to land, would spell the end of this contest. Knuckles extended in a half fist, the big ninja attempts to plant them squarely between Claire's hidden eyes. Even with a helmet, the whiplash of the impact will probably be enough to decide things. This is a punch that can shatter the faces of mountains, and destroy men. A final blow, one way, or the other.

COMBATSYS: Claire fails to counter Crag Breaker from Noboru with Seure.

[                          \\\\  <
Noboru           0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Claire can no longer fight.

[                          \\\\  <
Noboru           0/-------/-----==|

[CLAIRE]
When the beam fades, Claire pulls her hands apart. Little dots of energy dance around her fingertips like will-o-the-wisps until she shakes her hands out, once and briskly.

She was hoping that would drop him. There's a reason she doesn't fire it often - she can't, it takes too much power. She already feels the sluggishness in her arms, though she can push against it to keep them moving. But it didn't, and he's still moving, right towards her. Not quickly, but unstoppably.

Claire attempts to catch the blow, pulling herself under it in an attempt to use her body-weight combined with Noboru's momentum to flip him and end up on top. She doesn't manage it.

The strike clips the side of Claire's head rather than connecting dead center. It doesn't matter, because that's enough; she's already taken blows to the head, and she drops like a puppet whose strings have been cut, collapsing to the ground, out cold.

Noboru can now pummel or pry the door open; it's already badly damaged, he just has to be able to put his back into it. Inside there are two technicians who are attempting to hide under their desks and a whole lot of computer equipment; it looks like some sort of data processing center, number-crunching and post-processing on the take rather than being the place fights are actively recorded from.

Which means, of course, that there's a lot of HitBit data here...

[NOBORU]
Noboru pauses once Claire drops, her gauntleted hands slipping from his arm as she crumples into a temporarily incapacitated heap. He has felt her strength. She will be up again soon. It would be best if his work were done by then.
Stepping passed, the hulking shinobi lumbers up to the mangled door, blood still streaming from his back wounds, and slams an open palm hard into the center of the warped portal. With a groan, and a deafening crash, the entire thing comes free of its hinges and falls into the room.
Giving the cowering technicians an inscrutable look, face half melted, body an odd mix of muscular fairness and flabby copper, the ninja clanks his way over the fallen door and up to the desk.
"Leave all data, and flee." Noboru instructs in a solemn rumble, unstrapping the leather sack from his stomach and tugging open the top. Inside is a mess of wires and....HOLY SHIT THAT'S A BIG BOMB! OH DEAR LORD! "Collect your guardian. Spirit her to safety. If she is not gone when I exit, I will take her with me, but you will remain. She fought bravely."
Orders given, the bleeding brute continues calmly wiring up his bomb, fully expecting the panicked workers to do as instructed. After all, if they don't, he's going to collapse a building on top of their heads. Incentive is a beautiful thing.

[CLAIRE]
Oh yeah no they're not sticking around.

The technicians immediately flee, just grateful to have not been killed, and grab Claire (who is groaning but not actually moving under her own power). Noboru can set up his bomb in peace.
%Collapsing the whole building might be risky, if only because it /is/ in Sydney and that might draw attention, but destroying the technician's workroom? Absolutely a good idea, and easy enough to do, now that Noboru is where he is. Either way, the technicians want no part of it.

COMBATSYS: Noboru takes no action.

[                          \\\\  <
Noboru           0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Noboru has ended the fight here.

Log created on 17:58:17 08/15/2017 by Claire, and last modified on 00:06:31 08/17/2017.