Match of the Millennium

Description: In the dark of the night, sinister forces conspire a nation's downfall. Political conspirators within Zepp turn to Kano and the Black Dragon for support. Their price, in roads into Zepp's industrial capabilities and access to their chi-tek. The Defender of Zepp's Freedom, the might Potemkin, arrives on the scene to put a stop to all those that threaten Zepp's security. But will he succeed? Or with the claws of the Black Dragon threaten to pull Zepp itself into it's hoard.

[KANO]
Cristoph is a man who loves his country. He adores it. He believes in it. It once soared above everything. It's greatness and wondrous mystique could not be denied. But Zepp is not what it once was. It is not glorious. It is not ruled by the just and right rulers it once had. The people, once organized and peaceful were thrown into cultural upheaval. And all of it by one man. One man and a revolution of slaves and traitors.

Gabriel. . . "President" of Zepp.

Cristoph loves his country. He would do anything to see it rise once more - literally and figuratively. He is a man loathe to suffer the indignity of conspiring with foreigners, that sort of internationalistic thinking is what Gabriel is doing in connecting with the world. But desperate times call for desperate measures. "The Loyalists of Zepp do not deal lightly with outsiders. We have never needed you, you know," he speaks, halting in the way a man used to expecting things a 'certain way' has when confronting something beyond his limited grasp.

"And now you're lining my pockets," the man speaking opposite Cristoph has a distinctive accent. One eye, cybernetic, glows a violent red in the dark. The leader of the Black Dragon's criminal wing, Kano, smiles like a predator toward this man named Cristoph. He laughs quietly, scratching at his mutton chop while he takes heavily booted footsteps away from their poorly lit table in an industrial back room of a distant building on the far edges of Zepp itself. "You'll get what you want. Crates and bloody crates of the biggest guns money can buy. Enough psychopaths to make this Gabriel tear that moustache off. And all for the low low price of remembering my name."

Kano walks past a pair of rough looking goons, men with no necks lugging heavy crates labeled "coffee". He looks back over his shoulder, "And of course my personal choice of them chi-tek devices I been hearing about."

With a wave of his hand, Kano departs into the night air of this remote region of the formerly flying city. He lights up a cigar pulled from a shotgun shell sleeve on his bandolier. The red light on his chest and eye the only other light in the dark place. He walks away, toward a trio of heavy trucks that are being unloaded by his Black Dragon lifters. They're bringing in the means of revolution. They're bringing in his personal investment to the politics of some backwater Eastern Bloc nation. But a backwater with a hell of a tech supply that could do the Black Dragon a whole lot of good, and the world at large a whole lot of bad.

[POTEMKIN]
The President may prove a man to wily and crafty to bre easily mislead and deceived. He did manage to spur a revolution to transform the former slave state into a republic, after all..and despit Chritophs sense of loyalty and nationalism..his vision is warped and flawed by what the wiping away of corruption has cost him. Zepp and it's people thrive in the new found 'chaos' of freedom..and this is a freedom Gabriel will do much to ensure remains so.

As such, Cristoph has not been quite as clandestine as he'd like to believe and once his signal has been locked in a deployment is under way with very simple orders.. deal with these mercenaries and bring Cristoph back for questioning. Certainly not a major challenge for Zepp's growing tek-based militia and certainly no trouble for its elite praetorian guard. After all they're 'only' mercenaries. Right?

At least that's what's going through Potemkin's mind as the plane carrying his multi-tonnage superhuman body, bears down upon the drop zone, rapidly descending as it skirts over the landscape.

"Deploy." rumbles the behemoth from inside the depths of a masive custom crate designed to hold his immense frame.

An instant later and he's dropped like a bomb with added thrust power boosting the crate across the night sky as he lurches in as the vanguard ahead of the strike force intending on taking apart this meeting and bringing these men in.

An instant later and the crate explodes. Out of this explosion comes Potemkin. A-huuuuge- figure, thundering earth wards with massive fists outstretched only to right himself at the last instant and descend in a trademarked 'superhero pose' towards the ground itself. The impact shakes the area, and the green clad newcomer slides along the ground, digging up a trench in the rocky earth as he comes to a stop.

"Code 4595605381, Potemkin, deployed. Preparing to engage the hostiles."

[KANO]
A nice night for a smoke. Kano's approach to the second truck in the convoy is slow and not particularly rushed. "Scudder," he croaks to the man behind the wheel, "I want you to get out and let someone else drive. Go pick up my ride." A simple deception, Kano hasn't survived by being obvious all the time. He has a secondary, discrete way of hightailing it while his obvious convoy lumbers it's collective fat frog's ass out of Zepp.

And it should take his driver just long enough to let Kano enjoy his smoke and the idea of money and tech pleasure his mind. Up above, his red eye focuses on a strange overhead plane.

"Fucking hell!" Kano's cry is sharp and his cigar dropped when something craters not far away. He snarls, looking toward the location of his meet up with the wannabe royal revolutionary. Kano make a note to cut the man's nose off if this was some sort of setup. "Quick, the lot of you, get moving you drongos!" he shouts to his crew.

Chest and eye glowing with furious red light, the Australian merc starts his tromping storming pace toward the site of the crash. "You two!" he calls out to two Black Dragons climbing into the back of a truck, "Grab some heat and go round that way. I ain't playing fair with whatever this is!"

He isn't far off, stepping from the darkened night, seeing with his one eye the sight of the giant that's dropped from the sky. His lip curls with a greedy sneer as he sizes up this new arrival. "I take it you ain't a pressie," he says, "But I'll open you up anyway if you think you're ruining this for me."

[POTEMKIN]
The gigantic newcomer dusts himself off and then straightens up to his full height before beginning a slow earth rumbling plod in Kano's direction. . Glowing eyes sweep over the landscape, taking a quick count and assessment of the gear and equipment within easy sight and he nods his head idly before returning his attention to Kano.

"Surrender now and allow diplomacy and intelligence to have rule instead of violence. We are intersted in Cristoph and his men and will recover any items of ours he has traded to you."

A loud *KACHUNK* sound occurs as his gauntlets lock into place. Chi-Shells load in their inerior and the air around the behemoth seems to heat up. Any sort of read out will quickly reveal the technology the gargantua has on display. Chi-Tek weaponry on his arms and worked into the fabric of his military uniform, almost sewn in. Not like true armor per se but in various coolant systems that seem designed to surpress and regulate the giants own burning furnace of strength.

"If you resist, you will learn that Zepp does not treat well with terrorists. Comply."

[KANO]
A square of road in an industrial town. A quiet place dimly lit by what limited lights are needed when the workers are all at home sleeping. And lit, of course, by the cybernetic enhancements to Kano's heart and mind. The man standing before Potemkin, covered with knives but wearing a grin sharper than any of them.

"Terrorist?" he asks, feigning incredulity, "Nah mate, I'm just a humble arms merchant here to ply my wares." He laughs, arms held out at his sides. His red eye glowing, his dark mind calculating all sorts of value on the gear the giant is wearing. "My, ain't you a biggun," he whispers under his breath, impressed with this kind of potential windfall should the little weasel Cristoph get his way.

"Not for nothing," Kano states, calling out loud, "But I've got a big interest in Cristoph meself. Well, not him, but his wallet." Kano's hand drops and hovers over the knife at his side, just one of the visible weapons on his person. "But I'm guessing you ain't gonna let me walk off with that while you take the rest of him now, are ya?"

COMBATSYS: Kano has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Kano             0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Potemkin has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kano             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0         Potemkin

All the chatter comes with a purpose. Kano's hand snaps for his hip as he lunges across the open space to the giant soldier. His knife slashes, cuts for a sharp gutting tear at Potemkin's belly. A sharp kick is a follow up. With the punctuation on the wicked gutting being a small concealed bomblet lobbed like salt on a wound. This walking tank is getting in the way of his business, but at least he's offering up a perfect field test for his future investment on chi-tek.

COMBATSYS: Potemkin blocks Kano's Deadly Digger.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kano             0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0         Potemkin

[POTEMKIN]
"That was a mistake." rumbles Potemkin's voice, somehow cutting through the symphony of noise caused by the rapid rushing attack of Kano.

And just as the man surmised, it is indeed like fighting and attacking a tank. The knife scores along the belly of the bruiser, finding purchase on super durable flesh and failing to cut through enough to create lasting damage. The follow up strikes do contribute though as Potemkin grunts from the forceful impact and the bomblet itself - but holds his ground like some sort of mountain weathering a minor impact against its sides.

Instead, Kano finds his whole body covered in shadow as Potemkin opens his palm wide..and then lunges it down for the other man to try and smash it into him and then bear him down to the ground with the force of the behemoths weight and strength behind it.

"You are a fool if you think you can withstand me in my own country!"

Meanwhile his suit, he hopes, has captured some images of Kano, enough to send back to headquarters so he can find out just who this man is and why he's so brazenly holding his ground..

COMBATSYS: Kano blocks Potemkin's Hammer Smash.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Kano             0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0         Potemkin

[KANO]
"Life ain't worth living without a few mistakes," Kano says with a dark malice in the aftermath of seeing the big man take the brunt of the blast blast little worse for wear. This was already shaping up to be a hell of a test run if the bastard could hold his own against that. Maybe there was plenty in this chi-tek after all.

Potemkin's suit sends back information. Kano, no surname available, Kano likely not his real name. Australian, but limited information in family and history. Violent mercenary and arms dealer, currently one of the top most wanted by the Special Forces. Known affiliate of the Black Dragon, a fringe cult in operation in the United States out of Sunshine City. A man that has been beaten to what should have been death. A man who has a glowing eye and a metal plate over much of his face. And a heart much the same way.

A man that stands brazen against him with the reckless abandon of one much more assured of his survival than the situation might make apparent. When the giant crashes down, the reason for the brazen behavior is clear. Kano takes the brunt of the smashing palm. He pushes out, squeezing to the side, grinning viciously and spouting upward. A vaulting jump, Kano rotates overhead with a smashing heel of his boot, a skull crushing blow from a man strong enough to take Potemkin's palm as though it were a normal man's slap.

COMBATSYS: Potemkin endures Kano's Penal Colony.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Kano             0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0         Potemkin

[POTEMKIN]
Shwo, don't tell, as the storytelling mandate goes.. and Kano most certainly 'shows' well before his tech-assistants finish recounting just who he is back to Potemkin. The giant grimaces, frowning as his palm smash is resisted and then shoved back..and then Kano is airborn with an attack that would most certainly kill any ordinary man he deigned bothersome enough to afflict the assault upon.

In Potemkin's case, hoever, he is indeed akin to his namesake for though th blow lands home, sending a resounding crash resonating from his helm down through the soles of his armored boots - he remains upright and recoils rapidly from the blow to send a gigantic fist hurtling upward for kano before the man can deflect away and back down to the ground.

His massive hand reaches with graspin fingers and his gauntlets lock into position, loading shells to assist with Potemkin's assault. Should he grasp Kano, he unleashes an explosive blast of Chi that, along with his crushing grasp, is sure to send the man tumbling away violently.

"HEAT KNUCKLE!!"

COMBATSYS: Kano interrupts Heat Knuckle from Potemkin with Figjam EX.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Kano             0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0         Potemkin

[KANO]
My my, hard headed lad after all. Kano's feeling a bit of pain in his ankle after a kick like that. "Sonova," he's in the midst of cursing when the walking titanic just keeps on coming full steam ahead.

And with all that close in care, Kano proves himself to be deceitfully fast for his mass and shape. His knife is out in a moment, with a cut and his own force, chest light flaring up with power and drive, he plows through and past Potemkin's grip. The glow of his eye trails with him. He lunges in close. The knife carves for Potemkin's belly, and that carve turns to a thrust for good gutting measure. "Siddown!" Kano snarls, stepping back just enough to kick up off the knife and reach high enough to snap his leg down. Another crushing axe kick, enough force put in to throw himself upward.

But what goes up, must also come down. With two kicks to soften up, Kano plummets back down to earth with a sharp, smashing elbow aimed straight for the back of the goliath's neck and head. "You looking at me, ringing any bells!" he shouts out, laughing, scoffing at the fight that Potemkin is showing in her survivability.

[POTEMKIN]
"WHOULF!" grunts out the behemoth as the force of the attacks catches him completely off guard and sends his massive frmae into full on defensive, even sliding him backwards a few paces as Kano rebounds off of him. Damage warnings ring in his head from the places in his suit where Kano's attacks have compromised its integrity and his actual body suffers welts, cuts and bruises that cause the brute to stagger momentarily with earth shaking rumbles.

"Itw ould seem that the dossier is not over-estimating your abilities.." he grumbles, though he remains mostly calm in the face of Kano's bravado.

"You wil find that I am not don yet.."

With that he suddenly lunges fofrward, clearing the distance between himself and Kano with both of his massive fists joined together via his fingers lacing up. His body pivots as he hurtles steel girder dwarfing arms around and tries to literally slam them into kano like some sort of run away wrecking ball. "But you will yield before this is done!"

COMBATSYS: Potemkin successfully hits Kano with Hammerblow.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Kano             0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0         Potemkin

[KANO]
The blow comes fast. Fast enough to take Kano up off his feet. He flails in the air, righting himself enough to land down on bended knee and sliding along the industrial causeway. Bent, his hands are on the ground. He seethe, open mouthed. That was a hell of a hit, and he can feel it from the glowing core of his heart to the tingling in his fingers.

"So you ain't a bunch of show," Kano states, pushing up to his feet with a cruel grin about him. "Good, cause I was beginning to get nervous. See, your ol' pal Cristoph gave me a bit of tech and if you weren't putting screws to me then I'd be thinking I was getting the shaft."

Kano lunges forward, running full body. He takes a short hop in the air and torques himself around. His heel cuts outward, striking in an arcing rear kick that cuts square for the center of Potemkin's mighty mass.

COMBATSYS: Potemkin blocks Kano's Back Kick.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Kano             1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0         Potemkin

[POTEMKIN]
A resounding clang resplodes thorugh the area along with a rough shockwave as Potemkin's arm lifts up and the thunderous attack slams home into the armored gauntlets on the upraised limb. From here, Potemkin pushes back..shoving upwards and then reaching up for Kano's leg as his deep voice rumbles, "I must apologize then. You see, the tech I am using is largely not an armament with the exception of the added charge in my gloves."

Should he grasp th leg he twists and then swings, attempting to flail Kano around like a blade of grass caught in a storm, and then slam him violently earthwords with enough force to crater the ground upon impact.

"My name is Potemkin and the strength I widel is mine! YOu have only just begun to feel it!"

COMBATSYS: Kano fails to counter Grasp And Pound from Potemkin with Dirt Counter EX.
- Power fail! -

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Kano             1/----===/=======|=======\-------\0         Potemkin

[KANO]
Time to cut the big fella down. He shuffles, closing, ready to cut the big boy. But there's a misjudgment. Potemkin is a man far faster than his heft and mass suggest. He's more capable than Kano had thought. The Australian finds himself shortly at the mercy of the massive defender of Zepp.

The world goes topsy-turvy. Round and round and round goes Kano. A degree of helpless the ultimate survivor is not normally so party to. He can hear the proud boast from Potemkin, but even he isn't in the business of being able to respond to it with his usual sneering cavalier attitude. Not when he's feeling his insides crack and rock against the ground. Lines breaking in the pavement when his body smashes hard to earth, gripped in the end by the steel grip fist of Potemkin. Leaving him coughing and snarling like a cornered beast on the ground.

[POTEMKIN]
"It would seem that I have something of an advantage.." quips Potemkin as he adjusts his grip and maintains his hold on Kano. "You would be wise to not underestimate your foes..."

Famous last words, yes, yes, but he does feel the momentum of the battle attempting to tilt in his facor and he means to capitialize on it.

The very ground lurches and cracks under the pressure of his strength as ore of it surges through his monstrous body - straining his presure suit as his flesh engorges itself and sinew piles atop itself.

An instant later and kano is hauled upwards towards straddling Potemkin's shoulders and the giant is leaping - thundering skywards as both of his huge hands begin glowing with blazing chi energy. He clears the tops of buildings, the tops of the tree line and then twists, comingg back down until he aims to land feet first with Kano strapped across his body and gripped on both ends.

"Potemkin..BUSTER!!"

COMBATSYS: Kano blocks Potemkin's Potemkin Buster.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Kano             1/---====/=======|=======\-------\0         Potemkin

[KANO]
"Just getting started, mate," Kano growls, kicking hard against Potemkin's hand. A blade juts from his boot to help with the force of his blows. Kick and kick and kick. As the big man builds his own body, heaping muscle on muscle, bulging up and leaping.

Rocketing skyward, Kano finally kicks himself free. While he tumbles to the earth and bounces along the ground, he doesn't have to deal with the heavyweight crush of Potmkin slamming down atop him.

It's then he skitters away, off to buy him time. He slams his hand against his chest and inhales as the glowing red circle in his chest spins up with a steady whine and a flashing glow. A steady thrum of the material as Kano focusing his sharp, red, deep eye glowing balefully toward Potemkin when the soldier craters back down to earth.

COMBATSYS: Kano gains composure.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Kano             1/----===/=======|=======\-------\0         Potemkin

[POTEMKIN]
"You can -run- well, at least!" rumbles Potemkin after he touches down. He maybe hurtling a barb but ..there is a reality here as well. Kano is fast. Potemkin is not. Sure he has moments of short range dashing via a quick lunge .. but with Kano pulling away rapidly, Potemkin's dependance on short range and close combat manuevers leaves him unable to captialize on his new found ommentum.

Mostly.

"Even if you escape me now, we will ensure that the Zepp military will find you and drive your Black Dragon's out along with all insurgents.." As he declares this he drops down to one knee and raises a massive arm, bracing stretching it out towards Kano. His other arm braces it and his muscles agai bulge, straining the fabric of his garments to the ripping point as he flexes, summons his strength and...flicks his finger?

A sign of the sheer brute force in the behemoth is thus revealed as the single act is powerful enough to create a sudden air pressure blast that rockets across the distance towards Kano almost like a bullet made of air. "Stand down!"

COMBATSYS: Potemkin successfully hits Kano with F.D.B..

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Kano             1/-======/=======|=======\-------\0         Potemkin

[KANO]
Of course he can run. Kano is great at running. Running keeps you alive and free and there isn't a damn thing more that Kano loves in this world than being alive and free. Except for money, money is a very very close second to Kano. Sometimes it's higher than alive and free, at least, when he thinks he has an out. The metal plat over his eye and the glowing chest accessory is testament to that.

"What in the bloody hell are you. . .shit," he complains, then mutters. The ripple of air comes hurtling at him, into him, blasting him off his feet with a guttural "hup!" and knocks the Australian to his ass.

"I got something like that of my own," he coughs, knocked down but proving the ragged and the muttonchop'd is made of harder stuff than even the metal bits of him suggest. He's pushing to his feet and he falls back, stumbling. The action a feint, however, as hurtling with a silent whistle in the night is a knife whipped with startling precision.

COMBATSYS: Potemkin blocks Kano's Bloodthirsty.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Kano             1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1         Potemkin

[POTEMKIN]
"I am a guardian of Zepp's freedom." is Potemkin's response as he trundles forward in a slow jog that bounces the ground violently as if a semi truck was thundering nearby. He swats out as the knife comes hurtling his way, timing it just right to send the blade bouncing away though it does score along the side of his forearm before it is deflected into a tree. splintering the trunk upon impact.

For his part, Potemkin keeps on coming..and then he leaps - thundering into the sky, casting shadow over Kano and then descending downward like an incoming meteor with one fist plunging down towards the mercenary with a thunderous punch.

COMBATSYS: Kano counters Hammerblow from Potemkin with Rack Off.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kano             0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1         Potemkin

[KANO]
"Then where's your love of free trade?" Kano taunts Potemkin, arms out at his side, inviting the giant to bear down upon him with all the force that he may yet bring. Kano has a grin, a wide one, shit-eating and sly. His eye glows with a hungry malice as he invites the pain.

Life ain't fun if you win without a challenge.

The thundering flight into the sky gets a squinty-eyed look. The sneer curls Kano's moustache into something of disgust. "C'mon now, ain't we seen that trick before?" he asks before judging harshly, "No repeat performances.

He gives the might soldier of Zepp's freedom the bras d'honneur, waiting until Potemkin ranges himself in close enough so that he can flip a hidden knife his bicep to slam it hard into the tree trunk sized limb. With a dismissive anger he drags the knife downward and back out of Potemkin's arm, the force pulling Kano up and closer to the soldier. With reckless abandon, metal meets metal as Kano slams his cybernetic forehead with a clanging resolve against Zepp's mighteist helmet.

[POTEMKIN]
That..was not good. And truth be told, Kano is also pacing himself much better and Potemkin is feeling the wear and tear of the extended conflict. This, plus his recckless trait has lead to another mistake and he finds himself tumbling backwards to the ground and falling like a collapsing building from Kano's counter strike and his own blundering assault.

The earth shakes and the dust plumes up violently around him - parting as he rolls forward to his feet again to once more attempt to close the distance on Kano.

"It would seem I was celebrating to soon." he admits. "But you will find the determination of a soldier of Zepp is not so easily overcome.."

A gigantic backhand comes swinging around at Kano. Perhaps not as powerful as the last attacks but fast - and a quick attempt to adjust the momentum of this battle back into his favor.

COMBATSYS: Kano blocks Potemkin's Swift Backhand.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kano             0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1         Potemkin

[KANO]
Kano stalks toward Potemkin, he pumps his arms, raising them up as he gets closer in. "Everybody's got a price, big man," Kano says with dire seriousness on his approach. His head is low, checked by blocking hands. He's showing himself the fighter he is.

The big fist comes and it meets a grunting, sturdy resistance in Kano. The blow is still enough to push him aside a few inches. Boots scraping the ground as he rights himself. "Hit me harder," Kano taunts before lurching forward in a drunken gait that sees his forceful position grow moreso with a flurry of sharp, coordinated jabs meant to break on through Potemkin's sturdy frame and shatter that resolve of his.

COMBATSYS: Potemkin blocks Kano's Rapid Jabs.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kano             0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1         Potemkin

[POTEMKIN]
It..doesn't work. In fact it fails to work so badly and noticably that it seems that it's not just a defensive action or a block but full on change in the giant. His physique seems to harden, building up on that gargantuan scale once more and tightening and bulking so much so that his suit begins shredding visibly at the seams and buttons, revealing the browned skin beneath. He is indeed no cyborg and the knife finds purchase against hardened superhuman flesh..and fails to do any visible damage jab after jab after jab. It's as if it was a series of blinding furious jabs at the side of a mountain. Potemkin barely blinks and doesn't even bow backwards and one may get teh sense he was attempting to - and succesfully - set Kano up.

"I intend to." he rumbles, regarding Kano's taunt, "But you may regret your request..."

Attempting to not give Kano any time to react, the goliath twists at the waist and arcs back an arm. A bicep the size of a buick flexes, ripping through his pressure suit and shredding the gauntlet there to reveal a balled up fist gnarled with muscle and with knuckles cracking as loud as splintering boulders. Chi buids up in a roaring inferno. "MAGNUM..OPERA!!!"

Potemkin swings. A straight forward punch uninhibited by limiters or regulators and even if the direct blow doesn't land the pressure wave from the attack gouges out a trench of destruction in a straight line away from him.

COMBATSYS: Kano fails to counter Magnum Opera from Potemkin with Survivor's Kounter EX.
*KNOCKED AWAY*

[                         \\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Kano             0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0         Potemkin

[KANO]
A krushing blow. The mighty soldier of Zepp's freedom digs a trench with the sheer force of existence. The swing digs deep furrow. Street and earth crumbles and cracks and ripping upwards. The ground quakes and shakes and trembles. Kano hurtles through the air, cursing the whole way before he cracks against the ground with violent force.

The ground smolders, Kano's foot dangles over the edge of the crater where he's been left. There's a glow of light from the pit where lay. And with a grunting series of angry, Kano rolls himself from the pit to sit and ponder the situation he finds himself in. He looks out, toward Potemkin. Not looking right at the mountain of a man, but looking just beyond him. To where he sees his cronies approaching, and a vehicle not too far away.

"C'mon, big man, I ain't napping yet," he taunts, still sitting, self amused, waiting and biding the time. The Black Dragon don't fight fair, and there are always more Cristoph's in the world. Waiting for the incoming, Kano spits on the ground and sits and waits.

[POTEMKIN]
That actually cost Potemkin something as well. Fatigued, the giant bends momentarily at the knee and plants his exposed knuckles against the ground to support the great mass of his disproportioned upper body. "Are you a fool?" he rumbles, "I have much more to give and you are nearly spent. Save yourself some added pain and surrender!"

Straightens back up to his full height and begins a slow lumbering approach..opting to draw closer in versus expand energy more by attempting another ranged assault.

"You have erred greatly. Zepp is not like the nations you have undoubtly managed to bully into submission. You will find President Gabriel a most capricious foe!"

COMBATSYS: Potemkin gains composure.

[                         \\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Kano             0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0         Potemkin

[KANO]
Kano remains sitting on the pile of broken and battered street. He rests his forearms on his knees. He grins a salesman's grin. He looks right, toward where the deal was made with Cristoph. A few buildings away, where a dull-witted nationalist thinks himself a revolutionary. He looks left, where the dimmed lights of a bread delivery van helmed by his driver waits. And then he looks toward Potemkin himself, talking and going on while a pair of Black Dragon gunmen level their rifles.

And Kano shrugs. "I ain't even been a giving man, mate," he admits, shaking his head and clapping his knee with pained effort. "But good on you for all your flag wavings and huzzahs."

Straining, he hoists himself to his feet and takes a slow lope off the mound of road rubble left by Potemkin's pounding. "But when a man's right, a man's right." He holds his hands out, wrists up, walking toward Potemkin. "You got a lot more to give."

"And I wanna see it all. . ." the words dark, sharp, sharp as the desperate lunge Kano makes, a knife seeming to appear in his hand as he goes for Potemkin's heart.

COMBATSYS: Kano successfully hits Potemkin with Eat Your Heart Out.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Kano             0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0         Potemkin

The knife strikes hard. Kano's quick to step back, grinning like the vicious madman he is before he step up thrust kicks the hilt of the stuck knife. "C'mon big man, I know your type, you can't last forever!" he laughs, stepping up onto the hilt for height enough to reach Potemkin's head. There, he grabs onto the helmet and wrenches hard to the side. Trying to simply crack the giant's neck before finding the futility of the action and dropping back down.

"I'll be taking my knife back!" he snarls, ripping the serrated blade free before retaliating with one final, hammering blow square to the wound already made.

[POTEMKIN]
Contrary to his previous actions, Potemkin is -not- invulnerable and Kano is correct. It just takes a lot to crack his shell and he's merely delaying hte inevitable. HE does still hurt and that..really really hurt.

His suit blunts some of the attack but not enough as Kano's own superhuman strength scores damage and then a slashing wound across the giants expansive chest. The attempt at jerking his tree trunk of a neck around is less successful but it doesn't make Potemkin any less bothered and disorientated as Kano drops back down and reclaims his weapon in a brutal swipe of his hand.

But he's not done yet. As Kano falls back down, Potemkin is on him. ONce more close combat has occured and like a run away train, Potemkin barrels in, attempting to summon another round of his prodigious strength to turn briefly into an unstoppable battering ram. Both of his massive fists, the gauntleted one and the bare one, hurtle around to try and catch Kano between them both as Potemkin lunges forward into the charge. Arguably the one without the gauntlet is hitting impossibly harder given the lack of limiters on full. "Rarrgh!!"

COMBATSYS: Kano blocks Potemkin's Hammer Fall.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Kano             0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0         Potemkin

[KANO]
The hammer falls. Kano swings his arms, hammerfists of his own. They clash against Potemkin's titanic blows. Sour sharp grunts of emotion come from the merc. Sour curses under his breath as he looks past Potemkin, catching a peek under the bigger man's arm to see his own goon's struggling with the guns they brought. Kano has to wonder if the idiots grabbed the stuff meant for Cristoph, or the guns meant for their own ass-protection.

He'd gut them later for their ignorance, or make them gut each other to save some face in front of the Dragon. But that was later plans, and Kano still has the meat wall in front of him taking his laborious time picking Kano apart.

With a frustrated, angry groaning grunt of tired effort, Kano lumbers forward with a heavy uppercut. The blow isn't going for Potemkin's high up head. That's just pointless. He's aiming to knuckle into that wound he's already dug at Potemkin's chest. Keep worrying the blood, keep on swinging and keep on ticking.

COMBATSYS: Potemkin blocks Kano's Uppercut.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Kano             0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0         Potemkin

[POTEMKIN]
The giants fist is right there. That same massive gnarled hand that had been using just way to much power before. Growing anger and recklesness has driven itself to the forefront of the goliath and his glowing eyes eem to flash red as he intones frustratedly, "You -WILL- go down."

His hand squeezes, his arm bulges and he attempts to slam Kano back down to the ground thunderously. A multi-hued column of chi begis building up around them both before a sudden eruption of chi-born fire billows its way skywards like some sort of old testament pillar with Potemkin's bulging form in the middle of it and Kano at ground zero. The blast rips out away from them, tearing up more concrete in its process as the giant attempts to keep from being worn out.

COMBATSYS: Potemkin successfully hits Kano with Trishula.

[                         \\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Kano             0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1         Potemkin

[KANO]
Bright lights flash. A bulging mass of reckless power. The indomitable force that is Potemkin pushes onward. The chi blasts skyward. The energy burns and blasts. It lifts Kano skyward. It throws him backward. He crashes to the ground. A loud string of curses come from the Australian. But like the might cockroach, it proves very very hard to keep Kano down. He's already stirring by the time the concrete comes crashing back down to the earth.

"Think that burned a bit," Kano laughs, taunting through the pain and through the clear battering injuries that rack his body. He gets to a knee, looking up with head lowered. "I'll be feeling this in the morning."

Lurching, he gets to his feet once more. Taking a breather, Kano slaps at his chest and works a crick out of his neck. "Now will you piss off?" he snarls, rushing toward Potemkin and taking a flying leap. Head back, he hurls himself forward, throwing himself like a cannonball toward Potemkin.

COMBATSYS: Potemkin fails to interrupt Krushing Blow from Kano with Heat Knuckle Extended.

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

COMBATSYS: Potemkin can no longer fight.

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

[POTEMKIN]
He wasn't expecting that one. It's a sudden sharp turn of events. A twist of fate that has Potemkin reeling and utterly confused as to just how it happened..but it happened.

MOre so then the knife itself is Kano's cannonball like impact into his chest. The wound already there sears and burns and Kano's own brutal strength adds to it with a forceful blow that lifts Potemkin off his feet and sends the tonnage of the goliath crashing back down into the ground and through a wall into an abandoned building. A plume of dust billows up as part of the wall comes tumbling down, crashing atop of him in a spectacular failure of defense.

His chi-tek gauntlet fires off a few chi-shells in the process of this. Blasting holes across the street, just opposite of the building Cristoph waits in. A misfire that happened far later then it was supposed to.

[KANO]
Bonzer.

Kano bounces off Potemkin's hide, rolling backward and landing on his own two feet. Battered, bruised, parts of him broken in ways he can't afford to catalogue in the moment. He reaches for his chest and adjusts the glowing red implant. There's a heated hiss from the device and Kano sharply waves his hand after touching. The shells fire off, but the cold, calculating, greedy glare of Kano is too focused on the crashed ship Potemkin.

"You two!" he calls to the two Black Dragon waiting in the wings with their unfired rifles, pointing the tip of his knife over to them. "Go get the client and move him and the goods out of here, it's compromised."

The bread truck rumbles closer, it's lights off until close enough for Kano to climb on and take a heavy, weighted sit in the passenger seat. "Don't know what they're feeding them, of just how much of that gear they got," he tells the driver, watching Potemkin just in case the giant gets up again. "But I want me some of that." A dark, hungry laugh comes deep from Kano as he lights up a new cigar.

Not far away, Cristoph and his Loyalists are given a safe and secret escort to a new safe location with a slew of Black Dragon help. The show of force from Kano in the face of Zepp's defenders does what it needs to. The claws and coils of the Dark Wyrm have begun to dig in.

COMBATSYS: Kano has ended the fight here.

Log created on 23:51:08 06/01/2019 by Kano, and last modified on 10:17:09 06/05/2019.