Match of the Millennium

Description: Even though brainwashing a true Darkstalker is a snap for Violet Systems, Lee Chaolan asks, "Who cares?" Mishima Zaibatsu's stance on the matter is far less dismissive. They're VERY interested. Not only will integrating Darkstalkers enable them to wield greater power, it would act as a buffer against G-Corporation's own incredible breakthroughs. Lotus is the perfect subject for capture and conversion, and Claire is under strict orders to bring her in for a fun time of psyche annihilation and unorthodox reprogramming. Understandably, Lotus isn't exactly cool with that, and being a Darkstalker whose favorite hobbies range from stabbings to variation of stabbings, Claire may be in for the fight of her life to contain this psychopath.

[LOTUS]
Egypt is such a lovely looking place. Dirt, sand, relentlessly baking sun, camels......

Ugh..... stupid bad-tempered camels..... how i loathe thee!

Iconic, however, are the pyramids! There are few on earth who don't know of them, and far fewer who don't want to climb up the side of them!

Except a few folks. They're weird.

It should be no suprise that even a psychopath like Black Lotus would make the trek all the way there for this simple purpose. Because she has nothing better to do, and is just that easily amused! Of course, this is not allowed by law, and one unlucky policeman manages to see her starting to climb up the side. Even MORE unfortunate for him, he isn't aware who she is, and moves to stop and apprehend her!

Long story short, this doesn't turn out well for him. While not DEAD, he IS slowly bleeding out in the street with multiple injuries of various seriousness.

The interloper dealt with, Lotus once more begins her climb up the slopes of Mount Egyptian Pyramid, in the hopes of reaching it's hallowed summit!

At least for a few minutes.... then she'll be bored again.

[CLAIRE]
Lotus isn't alone.

A shadow steps past the fallen police officer. Claire briefly debates treating him but decides it's almost better if she doesn't; he won't have seen her, after all. Maybe there'll be alerts of a monster or serial killer, but she's not either of those things. If she manages to pull off what she's about to attempt, she can call an alert on his behalf then. If she can't, well... she'll have other things on her mind.

Then she's off again. In the dimming evening light, she's nearly invisible as she moves toward the Great Pyramid herself. She's not supposed to be there any more than Lotus is, but what does she care? Lotus may get the feeling of being watched as the well-equipped paramilitary soldier approaches her, but Claire stays out of sight and is only visible once or twice as a silhouette.

So far, anyway.

COMBATSYS: Lotus has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Lotus            0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Claire has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Lotus            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Claire

[LOTUS]
As Claire ascends the structure after her target, as she peeks around a block she finds herself STAAAAAAAARING into a pair of wiiiiiiiide yellow cat-like eyes and a large maniacle grin. Seems she was made, and Lotus decided a change of plans was in order! "Looks like your it!".

With an indistinct giggle, the lunatic fighter bounds up and around on the side of the pyramid, finally leaping high into the air and coming down towards clair with her armored metal fingercovers, attempting to use gravity and bodyweight to drag down the womans back!

COMBATSYS: Lotus successfully hits Claire with Vicious Rake.
-*- DEVASTATING HIT! -*-

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

[CLAIRE]
The woman that steps around the corner toward Lotus doesn't look like Claire.

She looks like a member of the Egyptian Central Security Forces, a paramilitary group responsible for, among other things, the security of governmental sites... and SWAT operations. She's got the badge for it (somehow), and the right kind of body armour; instead of being black and red like the Tekken Force's, it's just black, vaguely military without quite being it. It has elbow guards, arm guards, and the reinforced gloves she prefers, and she is armed with a baton, though she hasn't drawn it. Her face is concealed by a tinted helmet.

Of course, Lotus would be happy to stab a member of the SWAT team coming to get her off the pyramid (didn't she show up awfully fast for a SWAT team?) and that's exactly what she does.

Lotus' nails dig in through the armour, catching flesh beneath it and tearing down the woman's back. It's almost enough to make her think she's just killed another non-fighter, though Claire recovers in a way that implies she really knows what she's doing. Her fingers also catch in something metallic under the body armour, though it's not clear what.

Claire snarls, whirling, and drives a fist at Lotus' head. This would be bad enough, but tiny flamethrower ports in the knuckles of the 'glove' open up, leaving her fist shrouded in flame while she does it, causing a brighter burst on impact. She can still feel the blood on her back, but she's not going to let that stop her yet, apparently.

Her voice is mechanically anonymized. It could be a man or a woman, the tone twisted out of it by the modulation. "Like the cheap shot, do you?"

COMBATSYS: Claire successfully hits Lotus with Coreiseuse.
- Power hit! -

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

[LOTUS]
BAM! The fiery fist impacts Lotuses head cleanly, making her head jerk to the side with a nasty crack from her neck. Twisting her head at an unnatural angle to peer at Claire, Lotus slowly smiiiiiiiiiles, one eye wide, the other narrowed slightly "OOHH! YOU have some BITE! How fun!"

With a leap, she twists in the air in a flip, and comes down hard at Claire with an overhead axe kick, heel first!

COMBATSYS: Claire fails to counter Crushing Strike from Lotus with Secace.

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

[CLAIRE]
"And you have too much bite," the anonymized voice returns, as Claire maneuvers for position. She expects Lotus to come at her pretty hard rather than holding back. It wouldn't match the profile, unless she decided she wanted to toy with Claire.

And indeed she does. As Lotus comes in, Claire raises her arms, preparing to catch her in some kind of unpleasant throw. Unfortunately, her back betrays her; the injuries she's already recieved slow her down more than she was expecting.

Lotus' descending heel smacks Claire, hard. She's wearing sufficient armour that it doesn't break her collarbone, but the ache spreads across her shoulder and back, which is already bleeding and pained. She lets out a hiss through her teeth, straightening up in pain, but not looking away from Lotus as she bounces back post-impact.

[LOTUS]
"You say that like it's a baaaaaaaaad thing!" comes Lotuses sing-song response. She IS toying with Claire, it's just that bleeding and bone-crushing bruising are how she shows affection!

Unfortunately, shes become very affectionate in her old age. WAIT! I'M NOT THAT OLD!

Pushing off with the leg she struck with, Lotus flips back, landing against the side of a massive brick that makes up part of the massive structure. Pushing off this, she zips around Claire with lightning speed, taking swipes with claw and knife as she goes with a shout of "SLASHY STABBY SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEE!" as she goes!

COMBATSYS: Claire blocks Lotus' Slice and Dice.

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

[CLAIRE]
Claire no longer expects Lotus to give up until she is dead (or unconconscious). A small fragment of her attention is on trying to figure out how she can escape if she actually has to; she thinks she has an idea but would rather not try it if she doesn't have to. "You're more insane than they told me," she says, more to herself than Lotus - though the vocal modulator picks it up anyway.

Using her armoured gauntlets, Claire manages to deflect the worst of the stabbing and slashing, though she's driven back as she is, against the next 'step' of the pyramid up. She aches, but she doesn't have any new bleeding wounds, which is a nice plus.

Breaking her guard, Claire reaches out for Lotus. If she grabs ahold of her, she swivels, putting her entire body in the rotation and simply trying to smash her face into the wall of the pyramid with great force. Unconscious is fine. It might actually be the only thing that convinces Lotus to shut up - not that Claire isn't chatty when she's having fun, but come on.

COMBATSYS: Claire successfully hits Lotus with Medium Throw.

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

[LOTUS]
As Lotus is on her stabby-spree, she is grabbed mid-zip ".... HEEHEEEEEEEEP!"

*SMASH!*

Lotus goes face-first into the stone! As she gets back up to look at Claire, her nose is at a 90 degree angle from her face!

Not that she seems to notice. With her, who nose! HA! I MADE A FUNNY!

"Don't throw me away already! We're just getting aquainted!". With a leap, she is at Claire again with her daggers drawn, attempting to grab her at the same time in a very uncomfortable mix of hugging and stabbing, using the knife to hold herself close should she succeed!

COMBATSYS: Lotus successfully hits Claire with Catch the Prey.

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

[CLAIRE]
Claire had expected that to slow down Lotus for a few moments, at least. Not for her to take a rock to the face and barely even flinch. Is she crazy? (Yes.) Does she feel pain? (Uncertain.)

Shit, Claire thinks to herself, as Lotus comes after her again. Lotus might be apparently immune to pain but Claire certainly isn't; she's slowed from her injuries, and she can't stop Lotus from coming in close, driving the knife into -

Well that felt weird. From Lotus' perspective, she hit metal, then flesh, then metal again, grating against something with a weirdly solid impact that's /inside/ Claire. From Claire's perspective, she just had one of her major limb control systems impaled, and her left arm goes completely stiff - not limp, it just locks in place. Even the fingers don't bend anymore, slightly curled and still.

This is a wash. Even if Claire manages to take her out, she's about to pass out from blood loss, and it's more important for her to stay secret than it is for her to actually get Lotus. Lotus has no idea who she is, she's sure; she was in disguise, her face was covered, she's not going to track her down. But if she passes out, someone sure will - assuming Lotus doesn't just kill her.

"Well, /I've/ seen enough," she says.

Claire fires what sounds like rockets on her boots. She launches straight up about thirty feet over Lotus' head, and swings her leg forward in a kick and fires the thrusters again, sending her flying wildly out away from the pyramid. That's just a more impressive way to die... except she deploys what appears to be a parachute from her armour gear, sending her falling more gently. She'll survive.

The landing will /suck/, but she'll survive.

COMBATSYS: Claire takes no action.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Lotus            1/-----==/=======|

COMBATSYS: Claire can no longer fight.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Lotus            1/-----==/=======|

[LOTUS]
Lotus doesnt have a problem with the strange feeling stabbing Claire.

Lotus stabs. Claire bleeds. NO PROBLEM! <3

Lotus IS impressed by the rocketing away Claire does. She stays there for a few seconds, watching her latest plaything rocket into the distance. She waits a moment, giggling, then full out laughs "Looks like Team Rockets BLASTING OFF AGAAAAAAAAAAIN! HAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!".

Her laughter continues for another full minute before stopping abruptly "OH YEA!". Slooooooowly Lotus turns to look up the pyramid "I haz plans!". Withat that, she blurs, zipping up the side of the pyramid at high speed!

Hours later, a picture on the internet begin to circulate. It shows a flag perched atop the pyramid, with Lotuses face sticking her tongue out on it!

Log created on 18:35:51 09/03/2017 by Claire, and last modified on 12:27:09 09/06/2017.