Match of the Millennium

Description: Doing her best to fulfill the duties of her new position within Shadaloo, Jezebel oversees the unloading of some special cargo at one of the various docks used by the dark organization on their home turf of Thailand. However, she couldn't have foreseen that trouble would arise, not from their traditional opponents, but a far more insidous threat that lurks within.

[JEZEBEL]
Jezebel enjoyed the swinging singles cruise.

Certainly, she didn't get to do much swinging. Nobody wanted to even touch her, a washed up. Especially with her more beautiful, younger companions. Her friends. I mean, sure she cried herself into a black hole in the depths of the ships, wondering if she threw herself overboard, wondering if anybody would find her, or care. She wondered if the sharks would touch her, drag her down into the abyssal depths. She wondered, and wondered, and then she saw Honoka. And Honoka filled her with hope. Because if Honoka believed in Jezebel, if Honoka believed in Lightning Spangles, than anybody could. When Jezebel left the cruise, she may have been unsoiled, but she was so pure and clean by the hope.

It made unloading the girls so much easier.

Jezebel was down at the harbor in Bangkok on a steamy morning, overviewing the Shadaloo-affiliated crews unloading the cargo. Jezebel didn't have to travel with the girls this time, the new young ladies for Shadaloo-affiliated work. Jezebel thought herself like a mother to the young girls, the young ladies. They were watered, and given food, and not allowed out of the crates. Sure, Jezebel have accidentally destroyed some of their costumes in her fight with Hayley. But everything can be fixed. They can take it out of her pay! She can accept that loss! Anything to do the right thing. Jezebel had a clipboard and everything, dressed in her mesh top, black cowgirl hat, and black leather jeans. Her skull kerchief was around her neck, because she was a black hat! But everything was fine, as she inspects the crates! She just needed to stage the handoff as the teamsters move the crates from the cargo ship.

Nothing could darken her sunny day!

[JURI]
High above the bustling scene of the newly arrived ship, a lone figure sits. Well, reclines would be a better description. Juri lays sprawled onto her side, head propped up on the flat of her palm atop the loading arm of one of the dozen or so industrial cranes spread about the port. The metal beam that serves as her couch is no more than a couple of feet wide, barely thick enough to provide ample space for the slender girl's body, but she shows no signs of fear at the risk of falling off.

If anything, she looks bored. A foot bounces lazily up and down in the air in idle motion, her legs crossed over in order to fit onto the narrow crane. Her striking violet eyes are half-closed in the manner of those attempting to stave off the embrace of a nap brought on by the sheer dullness of their environment. She yawns loudly, not bothering to cover her mouth, and watches the little ants scurrying about below with their cargo, tiny little gears in the machine that is Shadaloo.

It's been only a few days since she'd woken up from her slumber, regaining consciousness inch by inch within the confines of one of those damnable tubes that Vega liked to stuff his prizes into when they manage to get roughed up. The idea alone that she had been in bad enough shape to allow herself to be put into stasis was infuriating, even though she couldn't actually remember very well what might have caused that. The medical staff who had been watching over her had suffered the brunt of her waking wrath. Hmph, let them spend some time in their precious tubes and see how they like it.

Since that day, her 'lord and master' had failed to manifest to bark commands at her in his usual fashion like she was some kind of dog to be ordered about. A shame, she'd been itching to take out some more frustration. Instead, basically everyone had stayed out of her way, leaving her to go about as she pleased. It was a refreshing change of pace, to be sure, but it also made her wary. What exactly is Vega up to that he'd simply ignore her? Was he trying to get under her skin? Make her paranoid? Pfft.

Without any real idea of what had been going on in the world for the past several months since her incapacitation, Juri found herself at something of a loss as to what to do. Naturally, she'd go and collect information eventually, which is part of the reason why she's here, spying on these worthless worms. But more importantly, she is /bored/. Now, how might she go about fixing that, hmm?

After several minutes of watching the crew work, Juri lets out a frustrated hiss. This isn't getting her anywhere. She needs to know what is in those crates. She never was one for subtley anyways. Twisting about with the grace of a cat, the girl spins on the narrow crane and kips up onto her feet. From there she casually leaps off the side, dropping nearly fifty feet to the top of a pile of metal cargo containers. The impact reverberates through the air but she suffers no difficulty in sticking the landing, falling into a slight crouch to arrest her momentum, and she immediately springs through the air again to land upon the ground.

Juri stalks over to the nearest of the large wooden crates, ignoring the gawking stares of the workers as scantily-clad form basically appears out of thin air. She scans the surface of the box on the off chance that there's a label of some use but naturally anything Shadaloo wants is going to be something the illegal, so the effort proves futile.

"Hey, you. Bimbo."

She whirls about, hands on her hips, and lifts one leg up high enough to wrap it around the neck of the leather-clad cowgirl in a flash of motion. She retains her balance on one foot with ease, even as she pivots and uses her leg to drag Jezebel's face towards the side of the crate in question.

"What's in this?"

[JEZEBEL]
Of course, it was boring.

But boring was just the mindset that sad people had! Happy people were never bored. They were always happy, and found great joy in performing inventories on shipping tracks! Jezebel just couldn't see someone like Juri finding this not fun. Of course, she didn't see someone like Juri, as she drops down on the docks, and appears beside the actress. She barely even realizes that she's there, until that leg wraps around her neck, slamming her to the crate. Stunned, her mouth gapes.

And Jezebel tries very, very, very hard to be very, very nice.

Buckled under the strength of the martial artist, her face is pressed roughly up against the wooden crate. Facing scratching, Jezebel starts gasping, writhing under the pure strength of the Tae Kwon Do expert. And yet, her smile didn't fade. She was breaking out into a sweat, as the workers standby, uncertain of... what they should do. If Jezebel was attacked, that was grounds of calling security, but... Jezebel was the security, in most regards. The girl stumbles, trying to stay on her feet. And finally, she answers.

"All while smiling.

"Ah, I think" Jezebel asides a glance to the clipboard. She was having a very hard time thinking of the story right now, so she really, really needed to check out the script. "It's just some high quality Lightning Spangles merchandise! I'm Lightning Spangles you know, please to meet you! I mean- Bimbo is not a very nice name to call someone" She pauses. "I'm Jezebel, um, but you can call me LIghtning Spangles! Though I guess I am not dressed as Lightning Spangles right now." She struggles a bit at the pin, face brightening more and more into a deep crimson. "Um, It's probably not a good idea to do what you're doing, miss, um,"

"What's your name again?"

[JURI]
Juri stares down at the captive woman clutched tightly in the vice-like grip of her crooked leg with an expression that borders on the edges of bewilderment and annoyance as she starts to spew a long tirade of random information that the fighter neither wanted or asked for. Fortunately for Jezebel, she managed to squeeze the actual tidbit of that was demanded of her into that string of words, though the answer she offered was clearly a lie.

"...for real? You expect people to buy that line?" Juri's face twists into a devilish grin, her lips pulling up into a broad sneer, her eyes widening with something that might be the faint tinge of madness. "Ahahahaha! Oh man, Vega's standards really are dropping if he's letting trash like you in. This is too good."

Lifting her leg off Jezebel's neck, Juri instead plants the elevated foot on the woman's face and pushes her away with a dismissive thrust. Maybe she's feeling generous today because the force of the kick is little more than a casual backhand rather than a spine-snapping piston. Or maybe she simply isn't worth the effort.

Turning her attention back to the dock crew, Juri gives them a dose of her wild-eyed grin. She slinks towards the nearest one, hips swaying back and forth in a slow and deliberate manner. Her posture and voice carry with them a very overt tone of alluring charm but there is an aura about ther that positively radiates menace.

"Be a dear and open this for me, would you?"

[JEZEBEL]
There is a growing realization amongst the teamsters, on what was happening.

Already, they were literally dropping what they are doing, as it dawns on -who- the surprise guest is. There were rumors, of course. Terrible rumors, of a certain young woman who Vega could barely control, who had a free reign to enjoy the members of Shadaloo as if they were her own personal playthings. And there were few worse fates than being her plaything. The teamster crew move to get out of line of sight as she turns towards them. One of them, failing to escape in time, is entranced by Juri like a mouse before a cobra. Knees knocked, his jaw was slack. He knew what this was. But he couldn't escape, helpless in her seductive approach. They knew. But Jezebel?

Jezebel didn't even register the danger.

As Juri mocks her, and worse, Vega, Jezebel is shoved backwards, stumbling with the blow with a growing indignation. The actress rubs her neck, her smile growing more and more strained by the second. And as the woman dares to sexually harass her crew, however, that seems to be the last straw. "Excuse me, that's -Lord Vega!-" Jezebel corrects, putting on a tone one would give correcting a child. "And I don't know who you are, but I expect a certain degree of respect for my posses!" And Jezebel narrows her mechanical eye at her, the iris constricting to let out a blue light. Shaking out her limbs, she lowers herself into place.

Falling into her Tae Kwon Do stance.

"Now I got authority to throw out any real trouble makers, and ma'am, you look like a heck of a real trouble maker! So you get on out of here, and put some clothes on, and I might forgive you! But you have a hankering to sticking around my neck of the woods!" Jezebel lets out a chain of quick kicks, before finishing with a roundhouse in mid air.

"Then you'll be looking at a real Showup Hoedown time, pardner!"

COMBATSYS: Jezebel has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Jezebel          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Juri has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Juri             0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0          Jezebel

[JURI]
The look of absolute terror in the faces of the men arrayed before her as recognition dawned upon them was absolutely delicious. All of them were fit and heavily muscled from daily hours of back-breaking work and sailors were often counted amonst the roughest customers to tangle with, yet these hard dangerous men fled from this young woman as if she were the Reaper himself.

Juri watches her prey scatter like cockroaches exposed to sunlight, all save for the figure she had singled out, the poor man caught like a deer in headlights. Ah, this feels good. Far too many of Vega's underlings have grown bold with him around to keep her in check. Now, with him off doing whatever it might be that has his attention, she's free to cut loose a little and put the fear back into them.

Or, she would be, if someone hadn't called her out.

Slowly, Juri twists her torso about to peer over her shoulder at the source of the noise. The look of growing sadistic amusement fades into an incredulous mask as she stares at the little mouse, its squeaks of empty bravado in defiance of the predator that looms before it giving her a moment of pause. After several silent seconds, she turns back to the dock worker and smiles poisonously at him, dragging her index finger along the contours of his jaw.

"Hold that thought, sweetie."

Her gaze lingers on the man's eyes for an agonizing instant, then she whirls and turns that deadly attention back to Jezebel. The distance between them vanishes in a handful of steps, Juri stalking forward without any hesistation despite the threats tossed her way.

"That noise you're making is all wrong, lady. All I hear is the buzzing of an annoying gnat, when what I want are some /screams/!"

Juri's leg snaps up at this final word, whipping sideways with speed and power that far belies her size. She levels the blow at Jezebel's head, aiming to catch her just behind the ear where one of the more sensitive spots rests.

COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Jezebel with Spin Kick.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Juri             0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0          Jezebel

[JEZEBEL]
Jezebel starts to realize she was in trouble.

The realization comes in a flicker, as in a split second, Juri was on her. Everything comes in slow motion, as Jezebel's sluggish reflexes rouse. Already, the dockworker was fleeing, running for his life as the attention was on Jezebel. Jezebel was moving to catch the leg... that was already inside her guard. And Jezebel, taking the hit to her face, chokes out loud. Slowly. Slowly. And then, everything returns back to normal speed.
And she gasp out a scream.

A scream so pure, as it hurts so much. A shriek of pain comes from Jezebel, as she feels her face breaking. She forces herself backwards, Smashing herself into the crate, splitting it open. Staggering around, she sells the pain so hard, her natural instincts of selling hits overtaking her. She stops, grabbing her head, as she rattles. She couldn't see. She couldn't see. And gradually, her vision returns as she gasps out loud.

"That's... not..."

"That's not-" She sputters, as she groans, spitting out some blood. And then, she laughs. Laughs out loud, so hard, as her face swells up, purple and red. "That's not the sound of a gnat, pardner! That's the sound of Shadaloo spirit, burning bright!" Jezebel pumps out her chest, wiping the blood from her lips. "That's the power of real American Spirit!" And

And she attacks.

Too slowly, but just as aggressively, she unleashes a chain of kicks. A roundhouse into a roundhouse into a roundhouse.... into a heel drop at as the finishing attack. The relentless chain comes hard, but the actress's almost clumsy speed barely carries her forward. It seemed that Jezebel could take abuse, and might even be able to deal it out with staggering blows. But her technique was... how to say.

So provincial.

COMBATSYS: Juri counters Quick and the Dead from Jezebel with Kasatushi.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Juri             0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1          Jezebel

[JURI]
Juri's foot lingers in the air after she clobbers the loud mouthed idiot, her weight rocking back onto one leg with practiced ease. Her eyes slide closed as the piercing wail of pain fills the air, her teeth scraping gently across her lower lip as she savors the taste of it. Oh but it has been too long since she indulged herself in this wonderful sensation. Granted, it isn't nearly as exhilarating as facing a strong opponent and seeing them broken at her feet, but for now, it is enough to whet her appetite. A little appetizer before she finds something meaty to sink her teeth into.

"Mmmm, yeah, baby, that's precisely what I'm talking about. I might be able to get a decent tune out of you yet."

The girl drops her leg back to the dock and turns to peer at the fallen woman, a viscious sneer spreading across her pretty features, distorting them into something dark and menacing. She doesn't pounce again, instead giving Jezebel the chance to push back to her feet or simply lie down and die. She takes the foolish option and rises, spouting words that make even less sense than her first attempt at communication.

Juri lets out another laugh at this. "Sorry, lady, but I'm never wrong when it comes these things. You're an insect and I'm gonna squash you!" Her grin widens as the has-been actress rushes at her. Juri leans forward, motioning with one finger in the universal 'come hither' gesture, and seems entirely happy to remain that way, her smug face presenting an obvious and easy target for the vengeful woman.

What happens when the first kick comes flying her way is difficult to perceive for those that lack the heightened senses provided by supernatural powers or advanced technology. For Jezebel, all she would experience is a blur of motion as her target simply vanishes, followed by an explosion of sheer trauma in the back of her spine.

Those vital few instants are much different from Juri's perspective. There is a familiar surge of power through her body as the Feng Shui Engine reacts to the oncoming threat, a flood of raw potential that even Vega himself holds in great respect. She moves, her body tilting sideways at the last possible instant, and the kick that would have smashed into her face instead whistles past mere fractions of an inch away. Her motion continues forward as she tumbles neatly into a controlled roll at a speed that defies explanation, shifting her position from infront of Jezebel to directly behind her in the blink of an eye.

With a manic cackle, she whirls and drives her foot square into the center of the older woman's back, a flare of neon violet power suffusing the strike. The raging psycho power explodes at point blank as the kick connects adding some extra spice to the already potent counter strike.

[JEZEBEL]
What was she doing?

Not Jezebel, she was defending herself and Shadaloo property. But the other girl. She looked like she was... enjoying this. Getting a sick and sinful pleasure out of it. That was wrong, she couldn't- she wouldn't. As Juri beckons Jezebel, the actress just turns a brighter shade of red. She wasn't comfortable with this. She was a good girl. She pretended she was a good girl. As the first kick comes, she feels the flicker, the flash. And pain, pure, burning pain as she feels the explosion consume her.

And another shriek comes from the woman.

Jezebel falls to the ground, writhing in pain, breathing seething gasps as she recoils around her chest. It shot right through. She couldn't breath, she couldn't see. Her eyes sparks alive, as she rolls over, moaning in pain as she forces herself into a stand. "You can't just..." She sputters. "you can't just use me..." She groans, as she gasps aloud. She fixes on her feet, swaying hard side to side. She couldn't help but suffer. She could tell that Juri wanted to see it. And she had to follow her opponent's lead, play the roll given to her. But what roll... but what roll was that?

"I won't let you do this!"

Thrusting a hand in the air, she lets red, white, and blue energy roll over her. "You can't tame this spirit! You can't tame the spirit of Lightning Spangles! You can't tame the spirit of Shadaloo!" Surging alive with energy, the pain numbs as she builds herself into a frevor. The teamsters watch from their corners, as their handler fights, struggles and fights against their own. "You won't ever squash me! I'm a lion! I'm number one! I believe in myself! ANd you can not win!" And she sweeps her arms around, as she yodels out.

"YEEEEEE HAW!"

COMBATSYS: Jezebel burns with the AMERICAN SPIRIT!

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Juri             0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1          Jezebel

[JURI]
"Mmm, music to my ears. Ahahaha!"

Juri once more takes her time in savoring the sound of pain that her efforts bring forth from her chosen plaything of the evening. Judging by how easily she's knocking this fool woman around, she isn't going to be able to extract much more out of the idiot, so she's enjoying what few moments of fun she can.

Her leg dangles in the air as she balances on one foot, slipping into her standard taekwondo fighting stance. It isn't so much that she feels the need to be prepared to deal with whatever this woman can throw at her as it is yet another facet of her game. She's menacing and dangerous like this. A monster ready to pounce. How will she come at you next? Scaaaaary.

Jezebel's sputtered protests make the Korean girl roll her eyes. "Can't? And who is gonna stop me? You? Hah! Look at you! A couple little love taps and you can barely stand."

As if her antics weren't ridiculous enough, the self-proclaimed guardian of the docks then launches into a tirade about her spirit and lions or something. Juri isn't honestly paying that much attention. All she knows is that this woman is getting more and more delusional by the second. Maybe that crack to the head knocked some screws loose.

"Uh huh. Look, I'm sure you're some kind of super hero in that addled mind of yours, but I'm not in the mood to roleplay. Don't worry though. I'll let you live long enough to have a little fun with you."

Shimmering waves of purple psycho power crackle to life as Juri snaps her foot out in a whirling kick, an act that would normally have no effect since the pair of them are several feet apart. However, this motion causes that energy to erupt from her leg in a crescent wave sending a careening blast of very hostile purple power crashing towards the stalwart actress.

COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Jezebel with Fuhajin.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Juri             0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2          Jezebel

[JEZEBEL]
It was the sadism.

The unyielding, barbaric sadism, the sheer, hungry cruelty that was hammering her again and again, smashing her again and again. She was beaten around, yes, she wasn't fighting hard enough for a plaything. But she already suffered two injuries that would crush a lesser fighter. Jezebel was well suited to injuries.

What's one more?

As the blast of psycho power comes, Jezebel's eyes widen. The mechanical eye dims. Her biological eye shifts to a pinprick. And Jezebel screams as she tries in vain to guard against the blast. The blowback smashes her through a crate, the scream joining a cacophony as she barrels through one of the cargo on impact. Crashing into a roll on the harbor ground, she fights to push herself up. She gazes up at Juri.

And the spirit was snuffed.

"Please don't." Jezebel says softly, trembling. She was afraid, broken and afraid. She sobs, backing herself up against a crate, recoiled in sheer terror. Gone was the burning spirit of Lightning Spangles. And in its place, was a shell of a woman, pleading for her life, shivering. "Please don't. I'll do- I'll do anything."

"Please don't kill me."

COMBATSYS: Jezebel gives y'all a free turn!

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Juri             0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2          Jezebel

[JURI]
This time Juri is hot on the heels of her prey. She chases after the wave of psycho power, flitting across the top of several crates and boxes strewn in her path with the ease of a professional parkour artist, grinning like a madwoman as she hops about. Jezebel's back hits the crate only moments before the slinky predator lands on the ground just a few short feet away. She turns to regard the sniveling wreck that used to be a woman with the same sort of look an average person might spare for a festering pile of refuse left haphazardly in the street.

"What, really? That's all you've got?"

Her bare feet pad delicately on the wooden docks as she closes the gap between herself and the groveling Jezebel, fists resting on her hips like a disappointed mother upon seeing her child's report card. Her expression wavers between sadistic amusement at the blubbering whimpers and disappointed annoyance that her plaything is already broken.

"Tch. Can't say that I'm not enjoying that pathetic look on your face," she says, planting the sole of her foot squarely against Jezebel's cheek. She grinds it back and forth, driving the woman's head into the wood of the crate cruelly. "But I was hoping you'd have a little more to offer than a bunch of hot air. So much for your 'American spirit', ahaha! What a joke!"

[JEZEBEL]
Jezebel was terrified.

She didn't like psychopaths. She did not like them. They terrified her. She wanted to wrap herself in a safe, wonderful fantasy world. With her Aussie Spangles, and Ainu Spangles, she wanted to be home. She wanted to be wrapped around her animal friends. That they could be holding her, in a great big cuddle puddle, comforting her. Hiding her and protecting her from this awful, awful young lady. She was almost there. She was almost safe. "We love you Lightning Spangles" is what Hayley and Honoka and the Hoedown Dillo tell her.

And she feels the foot on her cheek.

"Ha ha ha..." She laughs, not forced, but naturally, playing the role that Juri is giving her. "I guess- I guess I'm just a bunch of hot air. I'm just so awful." She mewls, as she is driven deeper into the crate. She tried to make herself look as unthreatening as possible. AS she mocks America though... Jezebel's mechanical eye darts around. She sniffles hard.

"Am-Am-America is a joke, sometimes, I guess." She sputters, uncertain.

[JURI]
The deeper that the worm under her heel tries to burrow into the ground the greater Juri's desire to step on it and squash it becomes. Even without a good fight to get her blood pumping, the sheer patheticness of this odious woman is enough to make it boil. She expected little from the rabble that filled out Vega's rank and file. They are little more than thugs with an over-inflated sense of self worth in all but a few cases. But this - this is a new low.

"You're a disgrace. Hahaha, look at you, squirming like a worm on a hook!"

She lifts her foot and slams it down on Jezebel's face again. Her strikes now are strong but her strength is carefully measured so that most of what she inflicts is pain rather than actual damage. It is something that she has grown rather exceedingly skilled at. She kicks the actress' head into the crate a couple of times and then shifts her aim to her midsection, driving the ball of her heel into the groveling woman's abdomen.

"Comon, keep going! Cry! Scream! Beg! Ahahaha!"

Juri kicks again and again with each demand, crushing the wind out of the broken woman's lungs. Eventually, she stops and leans down, bringing her face within a few inches of her victim, her manic expression shifting to that poisonously sweet smile.

"Show me just how pathetic you are and maybe I'll let you live."

[JEZEBEL]
She was a worm.

As Juri continues to abuse the older woman, Jezebel gasps. Every blow was staggering pain, bone crushing agony. And yet, she wasn't going unconscious. She was just too tough, too used to this kind of abuse. The torment comes, and Jezebel squirms and writhes. Juri was ordering her to do something, and Jezebel was struggling. She hated herself. She hated herself.

So she cries.

She cries, and she screams, and she tries so hard to beg. She struggles so hard to beg. "I'm garbage." She whispers, trying to get the air out. It isn't until Juri drags Jezebel up to her level, does Jezebel screams aloud. "I'm complete and total garbage! I fail in everything I do. Nobody loves me, nobody wants me, they just want what I pretend to be. I hate me. Everyone hates me, I'm a dirty, nasty, filthy woman that's getting older, just getting older every day! Everyone I love leaves me because I deserve to be left behind. I deserve this! I deserve all of this." face puffy, eye red, she opens wide as the snot and slime and tears flow from her.

"I even deserve to die!"

[JURI]
As Jezebel's damn finally breaks and she spills her heart out onto the floor, Juri listens. The girl says nothing while her captive wails and laments the course of her life. She stares into that pathetic face, her eyes of piercing violent gazing through the windows of tear-stained blue into the wretched tormented soul that lies behind them.

After several long moments of silence, Juri lets go and steps back. The cruel sneer on her face shifts to a look of disgust and she wipes her hand on the side of a nearby cargo container as if merely touching the woman had dirtied it somehow.

"Tch. You were broken long before I got my hands on you. How annoying."

Turning away from the blubbering actress, Juri stalks off towards the nearest of the wooden crates that had been unloaded from the ship. With the mood spoiled, all that leaves for her to do here is to find out what is in those boxes. She doesn't bother calling one of the workers over to pry the lid off this time. Instead, she simply spins in place and levels a kick at the front panel, blasting the entire thing into splintered chips with a burst of psycho power.

"Now then, what are you hiding?"

[JEZEBEL]
What are you hiding, Jezebel.

"I wish you killed me." Jezebel sighs, growing limp. The actress's emotions were fading. There wasn't even tears. Just a blank stare. "I wish I was dead every day." Oh, oh is that what she was hiding? "The only time I can really feel happy, is when I pretend I am someone happy. When I pretend I am normal. Everything else is pain. Everything else is suffering. And if I can't be happy... well, then maybe if I make other people happy, I can be happy too. Because I'm nothing. I'm less than nothing. I let my mother die, I let my father die, I let everyone I love fade away, because I wanted them to love me, and I didn't give anything back. I'm just nothing. I'm always going to be nothing. "

"I'm just a waste of human life."

Actually in the crates were new girls for Shadaloo!

As the crate explodes apart, some of the kidnapped girls scatter around like ragdolls, screaming and moaning louder than Jezebel could ever do. Looks like Juri has uncovered Shadaloo human trafficking!

She ought to do something about this.

[JURI]
Juri's eyebrows lift slightly at the discovery and her expression once more verges towards the sadistic. She grins as she steps into the crate, ignoring Jezebel's self-loathing monologue, and sweeps her gaze across the gaggle of woman.

"Well, well, what have we here. Some fresh dollies for the old pervert's collection?"

Human trafficking is hardly a new thing for Shadaloo. Its ranks were full of people who had been stolen away from their homes, robbed of their normal lives and thrust into the grip of a tyrannical madman; people like herself. There are also much more mundane reasons to deal in slavery. Whorehouses are an easy source of income, particularly in countries with seedy crime zones that they don't bother to properly control.

Honestly, it's actually sort of disappointing that all she finds in the box are a handful of terrified girls. She was hoping for some crazy experimental bio weapon or a piece of cutting-edge technology - something she could smash into little pieces and send Vega into conniptions. Then again, she doubts that he'd left a bumbling bimbo like that woman handle anything of that nature. For routine crap like this, even an idiot could manage it.

Juri eyes the helpless woman for a moment thoughtfully then reaches down and grabs one by the wrist. She yanks the woman to her feet, a girl of perhaps sixteen years old, who lets out a scream that is half terror and half pain. The fighter's hand snaps closed around her jaw, pinching it tightly with a hard squeeze, cutting the shriek off into a shrill gurgle.

"Shut up."

Twisting her face from one side to the other, Juri inspects the girl's features and then lets her eyes wander down over the teen's body, sizing her up for some unknown purpose. After a few moments, however, she casually turns and pushes the girl out of the box, sending her sprawling onto her backside.

"Not you. Get lost."

Juri turns to the next woman and repeats this process, sometimes spending a little longer and others practically dismissing them at a glance, tossing each rejected girl behind her as if discarding a wadded up piece of trash. It isn't until she has cleared out nearly the entire container that she is given pause by one of her finds.

The girl in question, a young woman in her late teens or perhaps early twenties, is of a particularly lovely sort. Soft features framed by long blonde hair and a shapely form make her stand out from the typical gutter trash scooped up in these flesh raids. Juri leans in close and wipes some of the grime accrued by the abysmal travel conditions off the woman's face.

"Oh yes, you'll make a fine meal," she says in a sultry voice, licking her lips slowly.

Dragging her prize out into the open by the arm, Juri frowns as she finds the majority of the girls still loitering just outside the crate, perhaps unsure what they should be doing.

"Hey, you got sand in your ears? I said beat it. Unless being the slave of some creepy crime boss is your thing."

Juri moves to the next crate, dragging along the blond woman behind her and opens it in the same fashion as the first. She pokes her head in and orders the women inside to make themselves scarce, moving down the line to each of the crates in turn to free the contents within and send them scurrying for the hills. Even if all that was planned for these girls was a life of slavery in a sex hotel, letting them go is one more fly in the ointment for Shadaloo. Maybe if she makes herself a big enough nuisance the big guy himself will come out and play.

[JEZEBEL]
Jezebel was regressing.

She was curling into a ball, shuddering, and shivering. And pretending. She imagines and pretends. She didn't even register as Juri was picking through the girls. That she was taking her girls, letting some go, taking the others as her own toys. She didn't even think about just how much trouble she would be in, once Shadaloo found out. What they would do to her. How they would make her pay. She doesn't think about any of that, as she stares ahead blankly.

She only dreams.

**********************

She catches the kick from Juri, seizing it. She grabs it, and seizes it, and throws Juri back. With a staggering chain of attacks, she unleashes kick after kick, barraging Juri with endless, powerful kicks. Juri falls back, blow after blow, unable to stand up to the fierce assault of Lightning Spangles. Juri begins to get tears in her eyes, as finally, she is knocked away, smashing into a crate, freeing the girls within.

Who cheers for Lightning Spangles.

"You saved us Lightning Spangles" They said, as Lightning Spangles gave them a salute. "Don't worry, girls! I won't let that woman hurt you!" She demands! And then, pulling out some handcuffs, she slaps them on Juri. "You're under arrest, by Shadaloo law!" And the teamsters and the girls cheer. Hayley cheers for her. Wendy Wombat cheers for her. Honoka cheers for her. And then, as a prize, they pull over a bag. Jezebel reaches in.

And pulls out a Baconator.

*********************

The girls scatter, screaming and panicking. The teamsters were on the run. It was bedlam. But Jezebel just lays there, staring. A smile now on her face. Mouth watering. "I deserve this..." She whispers to herself.

"I deserve all of this. "

Log created on 13:17:25 09/25/2017 by Juri, and last modified on 17:11:32 09/26/2017.