Match of the Millennium

Description: In the aftermath of the fight against the Miracle Rookies, K' finds himself the target of an organization from his past. The desert blazes as K' fights for his freedom.

[K']
It can be hard to locate K' and Maxima on any given day. The renegades live mostly off the grid, place to place, nook to cranny. They rarely use predictable cover IDs or standard patterns in each new city-- but King of Fighters is, let's say, somewhat high profile. And the show put on by the Beast of Flame and the cybernetic strongman are sure to draw a few eyes... even if it's an open question just how much Igniz actually //wants// the 'failure' re-captured.

Assessed and harried in the field, though? It's probably hard for the Cartel to let -that- means of harassment pass by untaken. From the battlefield at a half-forgotten comedy club to a seedy cheap motel on the outskirts of Houston, classy surrounds are hardly a primary consideration for the prototype.

Stepping out of one of several rented rooms, K' snaps shades over his eyes, and pulls the hood of his gunmetal hoodie up over his head before clamboring aboard his motorcycle and backing out. He splits from his compatriots with a growl from that suped-up chopper, roaring up a secondary highway rather than getting near the Interstate, seemingly cruising towards-- or perhaps seeking out-- an as yet unknown objective. Probably, he wants some god damn chips.

[UPSILON]
Hunting is a long and tedious process. Careful networks of spies and observers feed information to think-tanks and analysts who pass the information out to agents and field operatives. Each time, the information altered, obfuscated, and encrypted to cover the trails and the details of the purpose and plans from up on high. This can sometimes the secretive scientific machine of NESTS slower, but they will know and they will find. And when they find, they have people to send in for the hit.

"So that's him?" a spectacled man asks, pushing his frames up his nose. His target, the failed subject K', has been elusive, but has also just showcased himself for the world. That was enough to rouse some significance to NESTS, at least enough significance to dispatch an agent and a team to investigate.

The objective from above was unclear. It did not seem to care much for assassination, nor did they necessarily want recovery. All that was wanted was data. Information on how and what K' was doing and adapting. A further test of a supposedly failed subject. It was a strange request, but to the agent calling himself Upsilon, he didn't much care for the details.

"Go," the NESTS agent orders, and the pair of sleek and shining SUVs roll out onto the highway. Their upgraded engines humming as they pick up speed. Upsilon, sitting in the passenger seat of the rear vehicle, lifts a finger to his earpiece. He gives an order with a cold viciousness. "Ram him." The lead vehicle obliges, the engine roars to life and the SUV surges forward after K's motorcycle.

[K']
NESTS operations are strange and bullshit, there'd be no argument from K'. //Ram him.// The lead SUV revvs, roars, and bolts forward, and the motorcycle in front of it brakes hard and swerves at almost the same instant, ditched in a skid to the side of the road. The prototype, however, doesn't seem to have been laid down with his bike; there's no rider for the crashing motorcycle.

What there -is- however is a pronounced **THUMP** atop that lead car. It's swiftly followed by a resounding SLAM that crunches in the reinforced vehicle's roof rather profoundly, ablative plating not melting, but sublimating under the suddenly superheated pressure of the bioweapon's armored gauntlet, taut in a fist. It's a strike that's not repeated for a moment-- one might think it respite, if the Beast of Flame did not use his perch to hurl a plume of fire back at the trailing vehicle, threatening to drive -both- violently off the road in turn.

It's only fair, he just polished that damned bike. The eagerness, the intensity with which K' answers the sudden ambush might lend question to the nature of this mission: just who is the quarry, and what is the test? Or maybe K' just knows there's no other way out but //through//, and he'll see that trail well and thoroughly trodden.

[UPSILON]
First test, if the Beast of Flame is incapable of surviving a simple vehicular assault, then there's little reason for him to be a test subject at all. Failed or not, Upsilon feels this experiment should at least be held to a higher standard. The lead agent watches the ramming motion, his hand to his chin, eyes narrow behind his glasses.

But the slam doesn't come from where expected. Upsilon inclines his head with a curious glare to see this Beast hammer down on top of his lead vehicle. The roof crumples with the power present. But when the Beast sets his sights on roasting the Upsilon and the tailing vehicle, it brakes hard. Tires scream against the pavement, the rear of the vehicle bucks upward, the whole thing begins to fish tail and slide over the lonesome highway. It rocks and bucks and nearly rolls in its evasive desperation, running off the road and kicking up a plume of dirt and dust into a cloudy cover.

The lead vehicle, with its added K' weight, is not quite as luck. It jerks too and fro, sliding and skidding and when it hits the rough dirt of the Texas roadside, the whole thing simply lurches over and grinds along its side with the cracking of glass, denting of plastic siding, and grinding of metal on the tar and sand.

In the still, steady aftermath, Upsilon steps out of the cloud of dust. His coat, long and white, has its collar turned up high enough to cover his mouth from the choking sands. He looks around, trepidatious, considerate, and he yells behind him for his squad. Behind him, several men and women in suits step out. Most are dusty and battered from the near crash, but they're armed and they move in close formation when Upsilon orders them to secure the other vehicle, and to check that motorcycle.

COMBATSYS: Upsilon has started a fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: NESTS Squad has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
NESTS Squad      0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: K' has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0               K'
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

[K']
In the dust and cacophany, it's easy to lose track of K'... but a dangerous moment for the squad of ambushers. He comes from around the opposite side of the downed vehicle as Upsilon deploys the squad, flames already rushing from his fingertips as the oddly futuristic circuitry of the modulator enclosing his red right arm gleams brilliantly. The first gout of flame roars around him, swirls by a booted foot as the prototype grits his teeth and leaps, kicking that blast of fire directly into the path of the 'lucky' first soldier in line.

The eruption seems to propel K' in turn by force of will and fiery fury, twisting an inverted leap and landing heavily, steadily atop the car, glaring directly at Upsilon from behind his shades. "//Fuck off//." The 'failed' bioweapon intones authoritatively. "You dumbass puppets just aren't getting the message, are you? I'm no part of your //sick shit//." Tell us how you really feel, K'.

The stolen fire of the Kusanagi bloodline courses readily at the Beast of Flame's command, swiftly building near the limits of any measuring technology being utilized. In the wild, this predator has become something greater than he may have initially seemed; a finger in a dam holding back a vast, celestial reservoir that seems all too eager to consume according to his will. ... or, perhaps, devour K' himself should the pyrokinetic grow too zealous in his channeling. As it is, the modulator seems scarcely able to keep the power from burning him in turn, flesh reddening and fabric blackening with the gathering inferno.

COMBATSYS: NESTS Squad blocks K''s Second Shoot.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0               K'
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

[UPSILON]
A fiery blast, a spark blazes up into a roaring flame. A burning spray rains down upon the squad of NESTS operatives. The woman in line leaps back, hands raising in a desperate bid to protect her face from the burns. The squad, with their target making his presence known, begins to fall back to regroup and assess their situation.

The fires from K' shine and dance in the lenses of Upsilon's glasses. He witnesses that power up close. He feels the heat of the flames. He licks his lips in anticipation for the fight to come. This is worthwhile. This is interesting. This won't be a waste of his time and talent. "I think you've failed to 'get the message'," he says, watching the fire and fury from K' rage against Upsilon's own squad without a care, "All this power you have, everything you do right now is all because of them. Are you so ungrateful?"

His rhetorical question hangs in the air as the man raises his fists, orange light coursing just under the sleeves of his longcoat. "It's okay, I'll be here to teach you what you should be thankful for," he tells K'. His legs tense, he explodes from his position, shoes kicking up a fan of dust in his wake. Up close and personal to K', Upsilon skip-steps and angles himself sharply, both fists strike out one above the other, aiming square for K's chest; an explosive force of orange hued chi blazes outward like a battering ram.

And with the opening gambit, the squad follow their lead into the fray, One by one they charge inward. Fighting like a mob, a flurry of kicks and punches swing to take and drag K' down in a mob.

COMBATSYS: K' blocks Upsilon's Mass Driver.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0               K'
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: K' fails to interrupt Mob Tactics from NESTS Squad with Second Shell.
- Power fail! -

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0               K'
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

[K']
Worthwhile. K' and Upsilon have -very- different definitions of that word. Really, the Beast of Flame would be just as happy to be listened to. Get in their cars, drive on down the road, spare everyone the trouble. Disrupting NESTS operations, destroying NESTS property... sure, K' has done that. It's a sure bet he'll do it again, more and more //now//. Fighting with the various deluded operatives in their sway? It's not the most joyful violence the prototype has indulged in his existence... but a man takes what he can get.

In this case, K' gets a bit more than he can take. Shifting his guard to resiliently impact Upsilon's ascent with a flexed forearm aligned perfectly with his double-punch, K' blasts the energy wave aside with the gathered chi within his own armored limb. He twists in the same moment, looking to dismount the vehicle -through- one of the soldiers.

Rather than limiting approaches, however... the bioweapon's perch allows them ready access to him from various sides and angles, and before K' can leap, the youth is drug down, ribs then face bouncing off the armored SUV on his way to being drug to the ground. "Fuck... no... I'm not //grateful// you shitheel!" The rhetorical question gets the predictable answer. "People. Aren't. Property." Not experiments. Not biodroid or cybernetic assassins. //Individuals.//

[UPSILON]
Different experiences, different backgrounds. A need for power and strength and glory or a need for freedom and autonomous identity. Upsilon has no qualms in sacrificing the squad to the power that K' displays. They can drag the man down, hold him beat the tar out of him. All softening K' up so that the fail-state bioweapon can learn the reality of his situation. One summed up by a short laugh from Upsilon.

"It thinks it's people."

The gaggle of NESTS zealots grip and cling to K'. The young woman he nearly burned with his fiery opening takes her moment to shine. She rears back, drawing a pistol from a cross draw holster, and swings hard for K's face in vengeance for being the first target of the bioweapon's assault.

All while Upsilon watches, hand on his hip. He takes off his jacket, stripping down to the bodysuit he wears, the orange lines pulsing along with his heartbeat. With the longcoat off, Upsilon looks back to the mess of fighting going on by the crumpled SUV. With a short bounce on the balls of his feet, he snaps a nasty roundhouse kick that cleaves the very air. A wave, orange and thrumming with power, hurtles out like a hammer toward the van and K'. The weight of it slams and rolls the SUV over and over, scattering it along the sands of the Texas desert with it's purely energetic might.

COMBATSYS: K' blocks Upsilon's Flare Wave.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1               K'
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: K' interrupts Pistol Whip from NESTS Squad with Crow Bite EX.
! VENGEANCE !

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/-======|=======\==-----\1               K'
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

[K']
"I was my own before you shitheads got ahold of me." K' posits evenly, richly intoned Japanese quietly intense as he pushes to one knee, even as the zealous agent rushes him. "I'm my own now. You'd have to kill me." The flames in the pyrokinetic's grasp have scarcely ebbed with his abrupt trauma, and they're brought to bear as the firearm-wielding operative takes her shot. His armored right tears a ragged gout of heavenly fire up her form, a searing arc from the depths of a cosmic forge.

"Otherwise you're //wasting my fucking time//!!!" The armored right fist haymakers in and up with the flame, slamming the soldier skyward and away from the prototype, her flame-grilled frame hammering into the crashed SUV with a crumpling of paneling and a sickening crunch of bone.

The Beast of Flame scowls, snapping his shades back squarely in place as he lands, twisting to face Upsilon and keep his agents within the bioweapon's peripheral perceptions. K' spits, "Cocksucking amateurs." He judges after the exchange, smirking darkly towards the team commander. "They must really not give two shits about //you//." There's no chuckle, no mirth-- the amusement is dark and without pleasure. But still oh so very condescending.

[UPSILON]
Upsilon stands unperturbed when the girl goes slinging through the air, scorched and rent by K's flames. He gently pushes his glasses up his nose, shaking his head and resuming his head checking posture. "You would be a waste of resources dead, are you so thick-headed?" he asks looking careful and close.

Upsilon gives a series of points and gestures, hand going to his ear to trigger an earpieced. "Move in, overwhelm, do not buy his bravado," he orders the remaining mob. To call on them to avenge the fallen woman is beneath him, she was a spent resource to be reclaimed later. For now, it's time to hammer hard and break this broken toy.

The suits obey as only NESTS operatives can, their focused turned to a massed charge of knife slashes, strikes with electric batons, and simple fist and foot. But they're just the opening movement for Upsilon's plan. After all, he is the centerpiece of his own plan.

Upsilon fires forward, a thrumming shockwave of orange toned power ripples the sand in his wake. He hurls himself at K', trained fists piston for K's torso, hammering and bursting with vibrant chi force. His chaining combo snapping with a sharp roundhouse kick for K's head, a blast of chi off of Upsilon's leg rotates him with hurricane force to propel a spinning heel to crown off K' with forceful finality.

COMBATSYS: K' dodges Upsilon's Iteration Three.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1               K'
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: K' dodges NESTS Squad's Excessive Force.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1               K'
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

[K']
"Yes." There's no hint of shame or chagrin in the prototype's monosyllabic confirmation. Yes, K' is that thick-headed. Yes, K' is quite profoundly proud of that fact; he's quite willing to own it. It may be a dual-edged sword, but as certain vampires have realized, it also makes the youth infused with the sacred weapon of the Kusanagi one hell of a stubbornly formidadble force of nature. Case in point: the Beast of Flame proves as fluid and elusive as his elemental totem, slipping away from the encroaching Cartel operatives in a stutter-step of flickering motion, all but teleporting from point to point deceptively gracefully upon heavily booted feet.

Blades, batons, even that impressive eruption of fury and motion executed by the commander find only the afterimages of their quarry at best, as K' ends his evasion in a swift, arcing leap, skidding to a stop in the scrub a short span from the wrathful gathering. "Oh, buy my bravado. The 'armor' on your fucking vehicle is straight up -incinerated-." As K' spits straight truth, ample, roiling fire pours into his grasp, surges up his arms, burns behind the dark lenses of his shades with ochre, demonic intensity.

"I'm telling you I can burn you to ash, and I'm not lying. NESTS only cares about that, what /I/ can do, you're all just goddamn kindling. Run." More and more of the celestial flame surges into being at the bioweapon's bidding, his teeth gritted as his breath intensifies with the rush, with the pain, with the seeping blood and burning ache of his wounds from battling Demitri; it's all fuel for K'. This is the limited mercy he has for the glorified hitsquad.

COMBATSYS: K' builds up fiery energy in his gauntleted hand!

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1               K'
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

[UPSILON]
Skidding, shoes on the dirt. The target was fast. But the reminder that this isn't about killing rings in the back Upsilon's head. He taps the side of his glasses, remembering that all of this is to gather data. Every swing, every attack, every duck and dive and dodge is all to accomplish the needs of NESTS. To read and return what they can about just what the failure is capable of. The fight is no waste of time, the fight is all about making it continue onward.

The fight was beginning to chafe at Upsilon's nerve and ego.

"Fire at will," he orders. The cartel agents, who had been sticking to striking close in and dogpiling, draw side arms. Arraying, they open fire with a barrage. Popping, snapping, shots and shell cases litter the desert sands. This test, to see if the man known as K' can outrun a bullet, a lot of bullets.

Upsilon sticks to the plan, settling his seething rushes and focusing on the fiery bioweapons intensity and the potency building up in the gauntleted hand, eyes narrowing as he reads the field and his opponent for an advantage.

COMBATSYS: Upsilon calculates his next move.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1               K'
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: K' blocks NESTS Squad's Suppressive Fire.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/----===|=======\=====--\1               K'
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

[K']
All about data. K' tells them it's all about him, all about what his current capacity is wielding the Kusanagi birthright; it seems narcissistic as all hell. While the prototype hardly has all the details and briefings-- he's not exactly /wrong/, is he? It's a terrible waste, in the bioweapon's book. Not that that stays his hand. K' doesn't so much try to stay ahead of the hail of gunfire as he weaves into it, snapping a flaming fist in the path of one bullet, swatting another aside with his conventionally gloved left. It leaves a hole, a stinging, bloody wound... but the Beast of Flame is tougher than some say he looks.

"Alright." K' concedes-- darkly, ominously, conveying alarming menace in the deceptive concession. "Just remember--" the Beast of Flame utters the warning as he launches himself skyward, a high arc towards his organized, professional adversaries. A veritable inferno coalesces angrily about him in brilliant autumn relief, the glare of a second sun through the afternoon sky as K' ascends in a swirl of fire.

A booted foot whips around, and that substantial gout of Celestial fury rushes down his limb, kicks free in a raining bombardment of voluminous, ragged-edged chi. It supports K' in his aerial stance for some moments longer as the rocketing blast roars to Earth, explodes in the midst of the NESTS arrayed against him, pours outwards in a remarkable, superheated shockwave of roiling napalm. K' is, if nothing else, true to his word.

"-- //You fuckin' asked!!//"

COMBATSYS: Upsilon blocks K''s Empowered Air Trigger EX.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1               K'
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: K' successfully hits NESTS Squad with Empowered Air Trigger EX.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
NESTS Squad      1/------=/=======|=======\=======\1               K'
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-----==|

[UPSILON]
The subject isn't wrong in the least. It is all about him. He is the target. He is the subject. He is the example to be made. Upsilon is a man of ego, himself, but even he knows that sometimes the center of attention isn't the king or the one on top. Sometimes it's the jester, or the victim.

The bullets accomplish little but holding the man down for a short time. But it's enough to give Upsilon the time to put his arms up, crossed and palms out. A steady glow of light shining and breaking hard against the powerful blast from K'. The Cartel agents aren't so lucky. Several fall under the heat, dropping down, breaking ranks, leaving fewer left to stand against K's unrelenting force.

The ones remaining have little hope left, they fire wildly and blindly. Bullets filling the air with a deadly spray of lead and heat. It's at this point that Upsilon gives up on the usefulness of these remaining agents, their purpose being more than fulfilled so far, so for now he knows he has to handle things on her own initiative.

He snaps his hand out in front of him, a short sickle of energy whips from his hand, it rolls into a sharp and solid disc of energy that shimmers and flashes as it hammers toward K', flipping through the spray of bullets left in the air by the agents.

COMBATSYS: NESTS Squad successfully hits K' with Spray and Pray.
- Power hit! -

[                        \\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/------=|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2               K'
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: K' blocks Upsilon's Remix Wave.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/------=|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2               K'
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|

[K']
Sometimes, it's a real bitch being right. As K' descends, it's into a bath of bullets, and once the first in the flurry slips through his guard and bites painfully, bloodily into flesh now clad in progressively more shredded leather, it becomes considerably more damnable to evade the rest. K' is caught by a majority of the hail, or at least a substantial plurality, and it seems to have rather thoroughly pissed the prototype off (more) by the time he //slams// a braced elbow through that cutting disc of focused energy launched his way by the force commander.

Rather than the last, demoralized agents standing amidst their shattered comrades, it's that leader that K' focuses his ire upon, now. He surges through the space just crossed by that blade of power, snapping his conventionally gloved left hand in for Upsilon's throat.

Should the bioweapon find purchase, it would be a surprisingly, almost supernaturally powerful grip that vies around the operative's neck, seeking to pluck him off the ground and deliver a series of elbow, knee, and brutal, abrupt headbutt to the suspended Upsilon in the same moment he was raised aloft. Pained, pushed harder than he expected but perhaps nowhere near as much as he -should- fear, K' spares no witty repartee in his efforts to bleed the commander via primal violence, sparing the flame for just one moment. K' simply //snarls//.

COMBATSYS: Upsilon interrupts Spotpile from K' with Iteration One.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/------=|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2               K'
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/=======|

[UPSILON]
Slamming down, powering through, the sheer brutal strength of the failed experiment wading deep through the hail of gunfire and crashing through the radiant wave of Upsilon's chi manipulations. Moving swift and sure, hurling himself toward Upsilon. And the leader of the NESTS squad waits, holding his position and pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose.

Upsilon clenches his fists tight, the orange lines that run over his bodysuit course with renewed vigor, a haze of heated orange builds around his firsts and thrums with a heady buzz as K' closes in. The agent holds, and K' grips onto the man's neck. Purchase. . .

But only for a moment, Upsilon snaps a sharp jab at K's elbow. He grabs and with a show of his own strength, rips at K's arm to twist into a quick clinch. Up close, the power emanates off of Upsilon, the air shaking in the force he's pulling. Close in, he slams a fist up and into K's kidney, a pulsing burst of chi thunders upward, enough to put balance in Upsilon's favor and so that he can twist and hurl the prototype over his hip. A toss to the side, trained and focused, not the result of NESTs great science, but from a naturally trained and talented fighter.

And that's when Upsilon backs off, skipping back to recoup his position. And while he's doing that, the remaining burnt and battered Agents make their play. Each leaping for K' to simply dogpile him with their tired, broken bodies.

COMBATSYS: K' interrupts Divebombers from NESTS Squad with Knee Assault.

[                                < >  ///////                       ]
NESTS Squad      0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>-\1               K'
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Upsilon          0/-------/=======|

[K']
Hammered back as surely as his ferocious assault began, K' is flung clear, and charged by those determined (dumb?) field agents. They leap in, and K' //explodes// out of the pile, led by a warhead of a knee that reverberates with the shockwave of the sudden impact as K' cleaves through one flank oppressing him to land clear once more-- this time under his own, formidable control.

The prototype skids to a forceful stop on heavy boots, shaded eyes scanning from the haggard squad to their commander, at which point the bioweapon smirks coldly. "Alright, Cartel bitch..." It's probably not the most polite anyone's ever been to the officer, but that's the chosen quarry's nature; or at least so he likes to prove to people. "... we'll finish this bullshit your way." Acquiescence, it is not.

The assertion is as chilly as the mirthless quirk of K Prime's lips, resignedly menacing in its dissociative nature. The torch in the prototype's grasp burns only brighter, Celestial flame roaring through the breach at the conduit's call. Bloodied, harried himself... K' only seeks to step it up, as the situation demands. He will //not// go back. //Never again//.

[UPSILON]
Determined, dumb, mentally conditioned beyond self preservation instincts, there's much you can call the agents beaten and squashed by the violent force of K'. But it will be okay. It will be just fine. After all, each of those agents, as they lose their consciousness, have witnessed the unflappable nature of Upsilon. Their commanding officer hasn't lost his composure, he has pushed his body to tearing points, and yet he's still moving onward.

"Nothing finishes today," Upsilon tells K', reaching to tap on his earpiece. A signal is sent, a third truck, a retrieval unit, is on its way. There's a lot of wounded, and possibly worse, the pieces need to be picked up before it's time to leave. The study of K's capabilities is nearing its end, there are just a few things more to do before leaving the escaped experiment alone in the desert.

Upsilon limbers himself up. He starts forward, but then stops. Behind K', with one final breath, that same girl from earlier, barely clinging to her passion for NESTs, swipes at K' with a weak, faltering slash of a knife in her hand before she kisses the dusty Texas soil.

But it's enough of a moment, it's time, Upsilon fires forward like a shot. A snapping, chest compressing forward kick for K's torso. Simple, direct, and exploding with the force of a howitzer as the orange chi blasts outward.

COMBATSYS: NESTS Squad can no longer fight.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Upsilon          0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>-\1               K'

COMBATSYS: K' dodges NESTS Squad's Combat Knife.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Upsilon          0/-------/-------|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>-\1               K'

COMBATSYS: K' breaks through Regulator from Upsilon with Heaven Drive EX!

[                            \\  < >  /////                         ]
Upsilon          0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0               K'

COMBATSYS: K' keeps on fighting!

[                            \\  < >  /////                         ]
Upsilon          0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0               K'

[K']
K' isn't distracted or delusioned by the last-ditch feint-- he darts away from the agent, twisting to face Upsilon. The prototype's eyes narrow, his muscles tense. The profane conduit of the sacred Kusanagi fire may not be a serpent, but he certainly channels the totemic intent of a coiling snake, striking out with precision and alacrity as Upsilon hammers that kick upwards into K'... and the bioweapon blasts all its power and more right back into the NESTS commander.

Rather than being consumed by an explosion of orange, the zealot's force is cut short as K' reaves an uppercut heedlessly into the soldier's chest and skull, hammering Upsilon skyward amidst a rising crescent of ragged-edged, ravenous flame. The conflagration builds in vast, voluminously swirling waves that coalesce about K' as he rises in a violent spiral, driving his adversary higher and higher above the highway amidst that punishing circuit of gauntlet and inferno.

"Bull. Shit!!" //Something// finishes today. The Cartel will come again-- but conditioning comes at a price, and forgetting the force of nature unleashed by K' is no simple reset button. That, and there's a certain finality to the overhand hammer that drives Upsilon back towards the pavement. //This// fight is finished-- or as near as. The war never changes.

[UPSILON]
Blast meets blastback. Struck hard, sent through the air. The information has been collected. Upsilon slams against the ground, bounces and slides through the dirt. He coughs, rubs dirt across his face. The glasses he wears are only for fashion, but now they're cracked and left an arm's length away. The world thrums in his head, everything lay at a tilt in his perspective.

Somewhere in the distance, the retrieval team is already roaring onward. Their voices in the ear of the agent as he pushes himself to unstable footing. "All that power," he speaks slowly, "Your freedom. Your strength. You. All of it is owned by NESTS. We will always be studying you. There is much to be learned from failures."

With a final flurry, he powers forward. Fists fly, right and left and right again. Driving, moving, aggressive. A semi-Dempsey roll that Upsilon peppers with bruising kicks and wicked back strikes. Raw, trained striking not entirely in effort to put K' down, but to push past him, to move on and to remind the failed experiment that he is, and always will be, NESTS.

COMBATSYS: Upsilon can no longer fight.

                                  >  /////                         ]
                                  |======-\-------\0               K'

COMBATSYS: K' dodges Upsilon's Iteration Two.

                                  >  /////                         ]
                                  |======-\-------\0               K'

[K']
Driving, aggressive, confident-- it's both Upsilon's final assault against the rogue bioweapon, and the operative's attitudes regarding his nature and agency. K' prefers to have nothing to do with -either-. Instead, the prototype is a blur of black and a flicker of flame as he darts away from his assailant at the last possible moments, each time a breadth too far to be struck. And in the end, entirely unconvinced by the argument. "People. Aren't. //Property//!" Dash demands instead. It doesn't matter if they're artificial creations, have their powers amplified by science, or any other variable thereof... not to him.

"I am //mine// until I die, and if you fuckers can't grasp that, I'll use every breath I've got to tear down the demented house you've built, and turn every 'success' you've got back against you. "You can learn a lot from failure--" K' doesn't disagree. BUT! "-- Or it can goddamn //rip you apart!!" The bioweapon blasts a stream of swirling fire across the roadway, shearing a nigh-impassable wasteland of rubble and molten asphalt into the path as traffic immediately begins to screech to a halt, backing up down the road.

K' uses the rest of this moment to right his motorcycle, revv the engine back to life, and roar back down the highway at high velocity, quickly leaving a chaotic string of myriad turns and obstacles behind him. Freedom itself is hardly free-- but K' intends to make it costly if anyone means to try to steal it back. The broken and burnt agents and vehicles he leaves behind himself are ample added evidence to that equation.

COMBATSYS: K' has ended the fight here.

Log created on 23:30:27 06/15/2019 by Upsilon, and last modified on 00:23:33 06/27/2019.