Steve - The Breakout
[Toggle Names]Description: After several months of imprisonment for both Steve and Mitsuru, an opportunity in the guise of the enigmatic Moondyne Mouse. Steve makes it out in a hurry to find and rescue Mitsuru, but instead stumbles right into a nefarious scheme by Self-Proclaimed Queen Lyraelle Darkheart.
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[STEVE]
The same cushioned walls, the same chair, toilet, and bed. The same blinding light. It's all the same from last time. All in the same sterile, white color.
Steve had just finished his 'morning' training. Though it'd be more accurate to describe it as 'post-sleep'. Clocks are apparently in a sadly short supply in secret underground laboratories, and as such Steve has lost his sense of time. The british boxer, now sporting longer hair tied into a crappily-made ponytail as to not get in his way, and some unshaved stubble to boot, lazily walks over to the metal chair, and sits down into it with a waning sigh.
The Experiments have been slow as of late, and it seems like he's left mostly to his own devices every day. The only sign of other lives are the trays of 'food' slid through his door every day, and the man who power-washes his room every week or so while Steve gets to take a shower.
It's been boring. Oh-so boring. At this point he's almost waiting for an experiment to break up this monotony.
[MOONDYNE]
Unfortunately for Steve, his luck is about to change...
"Steeeeeve...."
There comes a voice whispered with a dryness of tombs, as he drifts in and out of sleep. The lights above blink off and on quickly, for just a few seconds. The wall closest to him, likely which his bed is right up against, begins to move. Bulges form against the ultra-dense, tough padded surface that keeps the prisoners from cracking their skulls against it. Indents appear at first, then the surface bulges outward, giving the suggestion of someone trying to push through the wall itself, as if it was made of latex--then a much larger shape appears between them, suggesting a face, complete with depressions for eyes.
There is the sound of some far off commotion, and then what sounds like... gunfire? Distant, muffled popping, followed by yelling--the door to the cell unlocks and slides open unceremoniously.
If he were to look, the wall was perfectly flat, smooth.
[STEVE]
Steve instinctively steps back from the weirdly, bulging out wall. Examining it with a disturbed look on his face. That voice, that voice seems familiar. Just to be save, Steve positions himself in the Orthodox Stance, looking around for any threats. Until, the door slides open behind him, but as Steve turns to face it, No-one seems to be behind it. He waits a few seconds more, before carefully walking over and peeking his head through the door, looking left and right.
[MOONDYNE]
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey~" there is the familiar voice of Moondyne in his head, and he might even smell the fabulous aroma of some delicious home cooked, frying food. Something he likely remmebers. Food quite unlike the heated MREs or cafeteria food that he's been served here so far.
As the Brit stumbles out into the hallway, he'll likely become aware that the place seems to be going into some kind of state of emergency--there's a siren somewhere in the distance, and a red light down the hall was flashing--though as he gets nearer to the doors in front of them, they'll unlock and open.
"You're the only one that can save her, Steve--I can help," he might hear again, or think he hears--in his head somewhere.
[STEVE]
He remembers this voice. "Moondyne? What's going on? Where are you?" Steve takes in the smells and Voice, confused about it's source.
"Save her, you mean Mitsuru? She's alright, isn't she?" Steve does catch on to Moondyne's intention, remembering their conversation from before, and starts following the red light. "And where Even are you? Why- Why am I hearing you in my head?"
[MOONDYNE]
"Watching you on the monitors," comes a reply to Steve ears. Does the weird insane robot mouse have some kind of transmitter implanted into Steve's ear, codec style? Or is she actually speaking into his mind, somehow? If it weren't for the commotion and din of the security breach around them, could anyone else hear what he was hearing? Had he gone crazy from sheer monotony?
"She is, for the moment," Moondyne lies, of course, Mitsuru is far, faaar from okay, mentally/emotionally, but physically? Well, she's still telling the truth there, technically.
Moondyne, physically was in one of the security offices, having put a few of the Mishima Zaibatsu guards to sleep (non-lethally) and has uploaded a computer virus into the security system, which is keeping the cameras from recording what they see to the local hard drives, and has opened the the entire place up to her like a baked potato. Of course, she can't do all that and have no explanation for it...
"She'd held in another part of the detention area, can you walk?"5r
[STEVE]
"Are you daft? I've been walking this entire time." Steve shakes his head as he speeds up to a jog through the sterile halls. "Blimey, A warning would have been damn nice. I'll gladly take the opportunity though, and run with your plan."
He sighs "I'm disturbed at the fact you're somehow talking to me, but we can talk about that later. Where to next?"
[MOONDYNE]
"You've got mice on the brain, like most men, don't worry about it," Moondyne sounds like she's aware of this and is being pretty smug about it. One has to wonder how she learned this level of ego and arrogance. If she is what she said she was, anyway.
"Good good, just making sure, she's a bit away, but if you can get there, I can probably unlock the door for you," she proceeds to guide Steve down the long narrow corridor with the red light at the end. It turns out it's actually T-shaped.
"Okay, now take a left," Moondyne meanwhile is standing back from the console, rubbing her hands together, her nails clicking. "And I've got a date with a 70 year old man, bwahaha~" Moondyne is still grinning even as she watches the monitors in the security room, anxious to get Steve to Mitsuru's cell, but also to get at her real target.
[STEVE]
"Not sure what you're on about, Mouse." he responds as he takes a tokyo drift down the left corridor." Eager and hopeful to see Mitsuru again, his jog turns into a proper run. "Anything else I should know? Guards, complications, some other catch?"
"Even if you're helping me, I can't help but feel dodgy at your philantrophy. Why are you doing this?"
[MOONDYNE]
"I let loose some of the other prisoners for a distraction, if they see you just keep moving, I've got some of the security keeping guards pinned down in certain areas too," Moondyne's voice intoned, evenly. It sounds like she's planned this. And in fact, she has. "I fear she's probably going to be a little... distraught, so you're going to have to physically move her, if it comes to it, got it?" that part came out more as a command than anything, however.
"Now, down that hall, holding cell L7, go, go," Moondyne then tapped open the door controls on her side of the security room and headed out. Right now she could wirelessly control any door in this complex thanks to her virus upload, but that wouldn't last, and she had to move fast and cover her tracks.
"Oh, herr Doktor~" Moondyne snapped on a latex glove as she entered a cell sometime later, of course, the poor occupant would see not a bizarre-looking mouse humanoid, but instead a rather fetching (if a little older) nurse...
[STEVE]
"What? Wasn't she alright?" Steve says with a scared look, before his face sterns up, acknowledging Moondyne's words "Wouldn't be the first time I've had to carry that girl. Bollocks, Please be alright, Mitsu."
"L7 you said, right? He confirms as he scans the different holding cell numbers, weaving around the confused prisoners that dot the hallways.
"Eventually he sees the number he's looking for, and slides to halt! Wasting no time grasping the doorhandle and pushing and shaking it violently. "Bugger all, it won't open! Little help here, Moon?"
A brief pause later, the brit adds "....Please?"
[MOONDYNE]
"Auuughhh... ahhhhhghhh~" the noises that were currently coming from the now closed door of Dr. Boskonovitch were the type one might hear if they were receiving treatment from a chiropractor, or perhaps someone having a stroke. As the lovely and slightly matronly-aged nurse entered, she had grabbed ahold of the good Doctor's wrists, and for him, everything might have gone to white.
As Moondyne decoupled from him and left the old man on the floor, she was convulsing and holding her head. The process had been... invasive for both parties involved.
And this was about the time that Steve had asked for help, again.
"Ack... Ya... ne... ponimayu... ahhhh!" decloaking from her holographic disguise, she fell back against the cell floor, convulsing and twitching further. She had fired a direct neural uplink beam into the eyes of the man laying across from her, 'downloading' (more like, reading and saving) as much information as she could to gain the knowledge she wished for. The knowledge she did not entertain the idea of her being able to obtain neither quickly, or willingly. Knowledge she risked betraying Heihachi Mishima and getting in trouble with her own masters at NESTS to get.
Right now, images and memories of the old man's mind were rushing through her mind, like watching a VHS tape played on high speed.
"Pomogite! Stoy!" she raised a hand, as if to try and block someone coming towards her--despite the fact there was no one in the cell--rising to her feet shakily, in a delirious state. The old man's memories and more were overlapping and confusing themselves with her own, as well as his language. Staggering to the door, she beat her head against the padded wall surface, holding it with both hands.
"Nnggghhh---oh fuck, damnit--what IS it Steve...? before she finally remembered... the door.
Which finally slid open.
[STEVE]
"Bloody, Hurry it up, Will you?" Some of the groans and noises might peek through through Steve's mind. "Blimey, are you off your trolley or something? I'd rather not have you Scuff this up now. I sure as hell ain't gonna go back to that room of utter mundanity."
After some more frustrated groaning on Steve's part, the Door finally opens. And with a somewhat Delayed reaction, Steve charges in, and has a Gander around the Room. "Mitsuru? Mitsuru?" the english brawler calls out with hopeful tone.
[MOONDYNE]
Moondyne is propped against the wall nearest the door, with Dr. Boskonovitch lying on the cell's bed. She'd have to do something with him, at some point, but for right now she needed to go destroy evidence and frame some other actor for the virus attack on the complex. Probably Shadaloo, which would work best--who else had the technology or prowess to do something like this besides NESTS, afterall?
"I'm on my best trolley, tovarisch," of course, this would probably be slightly confusing and weird to Steve, as was most things Moondyne did. That was a given.
Fixing her hair, she morphs back into the 'milf nurse' disguise and heads out, apparently going to meet Steve and his captive friend later.
[MITSURU]
It's like a dream, when Steve enters.
The muscled, tall teenage girl with the black hair and chestnut eyes is unmistakable. She is dressed in her banchou wear; the tattered gakuran jacket, authentic and raw in its execution. Metal epaulets on the shoulders, and blood-stained sarashi bindings across her unmistakably more endowed body. It seems she had only grown since her time in the bunker. Her rope belt is tied loosely, and upon her head is a the commissar cap, the boundary between hat and hair almost perfectly blurred. On her feet are thick wooden sandals. And underneath her foot?
A battered and bloodied guard.
"Yare yare daze, you really think you are worth anything more than garbage?" She states coldly, giving one more stomp before turning towards Steve. For a moment, there is a flash of joy, of real happiness. But it is quickly suppressed by a cool aloofness, a single toothpick gnawed on her teeth as she looks at Steve dismissively. "Oh, it's you. Looks like you saved me the trouble of rescuing you." Mitsuru glances up and down Steve, before crossing her arms defiantly. "I was wondering when you would show up. Oh, don't start crying, it's unbearable." The tsundere presence was precise and measured, Mitsuru turning her head away with just the faintest blush. "I hope you didn't beat everyone up on the way here. I haven't had a good fight in months!" The blush deepens a bit more.
"Not that I w-w-wouldn't be grateful for it or anything!"
[STEVE]
"Mitsuru! You're- you're alright?" She's Alright? Mitsuru is Alright? Moondyne must have been wrong, then. She looks far from distraught. This is the most confidence Steve had ever seen in the girl.
Steve tries to pull Mitsuru in for a somewhat crushing hug, getting a bit too caught up in his emotions to realize he might be outputting a bit too much force. "I'm dead chuffed to see you again." She looks different. Bigger? Bigger in presence and personality.
Steve however, had only shrunk. He looks rather messy, standing there in his loose hospital gown, with his ungroomed face and grown out hair. Baggy eyes and chewed-up nails indicate some of his own struggles. His current rush of energy comes almost purely for his desire to get out, get out with Mitsuru.
"Blast, we have no time to spare." Steve says as he lets go of the girl. "We've no time to waste, a friend of mine is helping us escape." He grabs the banchou's arm. "Can you run? We'll have to go for a sprint."
[MOONDYNE]
Moondyne Mouse, meanwhile, is already heading back into the security room, to try and 'fix' the problem that she caused, and therefore proceed with the next part of her plan. She had already used Steve and the virus as a good distraction for her attempt on Boskonovitch, and that had worked out--though she was still reeling from the after-effects of that. It would take her a while to go through the data, and until then, it was fairly confusing still.
The hypnotic triggers she had placed in Steve's mind on the other hand, would begin to take effect right about now, since he had his own target in sight.
Steeeeeve. Steeve you've got to save her. You're the only one that can--pick her up and get out of there, go down the hall...
Very strong thoughts such as those would be popping into his mind right about now. Strong thoughts he would want to go along with. Moondyne knew it was much easier to get subjects to go along with orders that aligned with their own desires or personality anyway--Steve made the perfect pawn in this case. Even if she /did/ find it lame he was trapped in there for the months that he was. With a little luck, her plan would work flawlessly--and everyone would win.
If things went the way they were supposed to, that is.
[MITSURU]
If things went the way they were supposed to, that is.
Mitsuru's cheeks flare slightly when Steve holds her. And yet, when he pulls at her arm, there is a noticeable shift. A change in her expression. A certain dominating energy, a certain proactive force. When Steve grabs her arm? Mitsuru goes and grabs -his- arm. To push at him, to push him against the wall, to trap him there for only a moment by his chest with the full force of power. A twisted, almost feral smile on her face. Hungry, even, as thin green chi follows her. "I can take care of myself, Steve. And I can take care of you." There is a smirk as Mitsuru flows with that dominating energy, that sheer force of control.
Where she didn't need to have people make her do things.
Mitsuru rubs her tongue inside her cheek, studying the total mess Steve was in. Clucking her tongue dismissively, she carelessly asks, "So what's this friend you're talking about." Mitsuru states huskily, looking up and down Steve with that same hungry eye. "It better not be another woman. I can't stand you being around other woman." There is a flex of her arms, a surge of anger. "But you don't need other women." Was she going to sprint? No. She pulls away from Steve, hips swaying only twice as she walks. "You coming, baka?" She barks huskily.
"Or do I have to make you come?"
[STEVE]
Steve does not resist being pushed around, but he looks back upon her with a utterly confused and even more worried look. "I- I understand, Mitsuru. I've never doubted your strength. Just, i was just worried, that's all." Steve seems to deflate, like a balloon getting popped. Weirdly enough, feeling guilty about telling /her/ what to do. A chill runs down Steve's spine as he sees the odd, uncharacteristic smile on Mitsuru's face.
As the girl walks away, Steve hesitates for a moment. Before following her. "Right." At that point, Moondyne's influence starts kicking in harder then It already had. "Come, follow me. Down that hall, right there- he points." His walk speeds up to a run again, and with a pat on the back, urges Mitsuru to do the same. Choosing his words carefully, he explains "Moondyne. A sentient mouse-looking Robot. Bit of a pain in the bum and a confusing person, But she managed to get into the system to temporarily open the doors for us."
She. It's a She.
A slip-up amongst the neutral terms Steve was trying to use, in light of the odd threat she made to him.
"So we really are working on a narrow timeframe here. You better put some spring in your step, really."
[MITSURU]
Mitsuru pauses a moment, at the mention of Moondyne.
Mitsuru blinks, letting it sink in with another player in this game of escape. So when Steve picks up the pace? Mitsuru steps across, body-blocking the escape route. "A robot mouse?" Mitsuru scoffs with a disgusted tone to her voice; her arms were spread apart, chest pumped out confidently. "Really?" Mitsuru wasn't hurrying. She was being openly defiant, even more so as Steve describes the urgency. Mitsuru shakes her head behind her.
"Well, we're ditching her."
The teenager states carelessly. "We're going down the other way; that will take us to the elevator, and to the surface level. We'll get away, and we won't have to worry about your stupid robot mouse anymore. We're not prisoners anymore, we don't need toys." Mitsuru puts a hand on her hip, knocking it slightly to one side as she focuses hard on Steve, practically commanding the pawn as a queen. "We only need each other." And then, the words comes hurtling in like a sledgehammer to the chest.
"I only need you."
[STEVE]
Steve stops in his tracks, and stares at Mitsuru, a blank, utterly worried stare. "What did they do to you, Mitsuru?"
"Blast, i am not attempting to talk you down here. I am simply Gobsmacked." He falls quiet, looking down at the plain grey floor. "If anything, the confidence you are showing is astounding. But this is not the kind of confidence I dearly want you to have." He takes a step closer to the Delinquent girl. "The Idea of us being what, 'together'? What the Bloody hell has gotten into you." he says, loudly with a noticable measure of anger in his voice. Apparently, that specific statement had really ticked off Steve.
He ruffles his hair with both hands, before yelling out. "Bollocks!" he collects himself, and cools off a bit. "We need to talk. We need to Fucking talk, but not here. We're getting out of here. My way. I cannot bear another second in this god-forsaken plate. I hate it. I absolutely, utterly despise it. I want to Leave, Mitsuru. I just want to Bloody leave. I can't stand this." Hints of fear fear permeate the way he exclaims those last particular sentences.
[MITSURU]
Something fumes at the rejection.
Mitsuru seemed hurt. But in the same way she would react to a haymaker to the face. And not by flinching, either. Mitsuru shoves her own chest into Steve, with an intimidating glower burning on her face. "I'm not a child, Steve. I'm not some little sister. I am a woman, and you -will- treat me like one."
And in that moment, she almost seemed ready to fight.
Something manages to pull her away, and she eases back slightly, her eyes locked on Steve's as she continues. "You're just getting used to not being the cool big brother anymore. I'm just better me now, Steve. I had a great teacher, Miss Sakamoto, I am stronger, smarter, and am in charge!" There was that edge of dominating charm again. She shoves Steve, before pointing down the hall. "Now we are escaping here, but we are going that way. I don't care about any dumb rat. We are escaping on my terms, and I don't need you to wimp out on me. I want a knight in shining armor." She furiously punches into the wall, a flash of green flames boiling out on impact. Exhaling, she turns back to Steve, leaning forward smiling now.
"So man up, be my hero, and follow my lead!"
[STEVE]
"I refuse to believe this. I simply refuse to believe these months in captivity have changed you so much."
"You're a teenager, Mitsuru. You're still a Teenager. You cannot play pretend to me. Whatever this- this Facade you're putting on might be, I thoroughly dislike it. Yes, I wanted you to be strong. I wanted you to take charge of your own life." In the middle of his scolding, he shakes his head.
"But not like this, Mitsuru. Not like this."
He takes a step closer, pointing down at her. "The way you're acting now? It's selfish, that's what it is Bloody selfish. You don't need a 'Knight in Shining armor'.
Steve trembles, deeply saddened and frustrated "You need a Blasted Reality check. And if you refuse to acknowledge that, well." He swallows, before saying "Then I will go down the other hallway alone. Doing that would hurt. It really would hurt me. But I wouldn't have another choice."
[MITSURU]
See, Mitsuru would have been okay with that.
It's not impossible to see the raw damage she was doing between herself and Steve's relationship. Another bridge burned. Another corpse on the pyre. She doesn't even fight when Steve resists so much. Except he wasn't being wooed over. Mitsuru shakes her head once, actually shocked that Steve had the audacity of defying It's the most evil words ever uttered from the lips of the Tokugawa. The sheer wickedness is unrivaled.
"Do you really hate me?"
The tone is like a puppy that's just been abandoned at the pound. It doesn't stop, as she continues, the pain pouring from every word. "Do you really prefer this- this rat over me? You would rather hurt me? Is that what you need, to hurt by me?" She holds her hands over her heart, and clenches. "Tell me the truth, Steve. You didn't really want to save me, did you. You just wanted to feel like you were saving me, before you run off with another woman. Run off with another woman like -daddy- does!" Mitsuru flares with green energy, as she broadens her stance. "Tell me the truth! What kind of me do you want? The bullying hellion?" Mitsuru slams a sandeled foot down, unleashing a small shockwave of green fire. Grinding it down, she pauses, and shifts.
Putting on a much sweeter appareance.
"Or do you want me to be coy, and shy, and oh so awkward, who just needs someone to tell her what to do so I don't keep messing things up." She actually trips a bit, almost falling over, needing help. But then she corrects herself, and she puffs out her chest. "Oh maybe you want the Tokugawa princess. Prim. Proper. Confident. And utterly majestic, who always gets what she want." SHe relaxes as she strides at Steve, moving with the grace as expected of a princess. Green eyes wide, looking at him with almost hypnotic presence. "I can be any of those Steve. You know I can, because I trust you. I want to be someone you like, Steve." She reaches out to hold his hands, face so gentle, so kind, so... needing.
"Just tell me which one you need me to be, so you can come with me."
[STEVE]
Mitsuru's attempts at instilling guilt on Steve is having an effect. He stares blanky as she makes her speech, yet still tries to pull away when Mitsuru takes his Hands. "I dont want- I don't want you to be anything for me, for anyone.
"I just want you to be yourself. But this, this just- it doesn't feel right." Is he contradicting himself? "I don't want this, Mitsuru. I just wanted to keep you safe from being forced to change. Forced by your father, your family.
And I failed. I failed the moment I got tricked by that Demoness. You got locked in here, because of me. And- and whatever happened to you down here, it changed you. I fucking failed." The brit gently pushes Mitsuru away. "Blast, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about how this turned out. I failed you. And now they turned you into a person I can barely recognize." Silent tears roll down Steve's cheeks, leaving a clear trail into his dirty face. "I've never hated you, I couldn't ever hate you."
"But I can't do this anymore. I can't take any more of this." The boxer looks drained, utterly defeated. And he turns his back to the girl.
"I'm leaving. Goodbye, Mitsuru."
[MITSURU]
It was a victory.
Destroying someone's life and hope was the greatest victory of all. As Steve and Mitsuru's relationship is destroyed in the fire between them, Mitsuru could barely hide the smirk. But there was venom with that smirk. Because of that mention on that demoness. Failure, because of being tricked? Did he mean- no, he couldn't back -then- in the parking lot. Something was just -wrong- with it. The implications. Yes, he was sobbing like a baby, and he deserved it. But is that what he really decided?
Did he really think he was -that- good?
"Seriously? You can't take any more of -this?- You think the pathetic, whining badbutt Mitsuru is better than all -this?-" Mitsuru takes a moment to highlight all of this, starting from the top, working her way to the bottom. "Come on, I saw what you were like around Lyraelle, around a real woman. I saw what -you- wanted. I -tasted- it." Mitsuru pats herself on the chest. "What you're so guilty about. And now, I strip away everything that's so wrong and pathetic about Mitsuru, giving you exactly what I know you want. The perfect filet mignon, the flawless dinner, cooked for months under the watchful eye and management. A teenage girl who is just broken enough for you to fix, but strong and independent enough that you feel good that you are helping her. Just platonic enough where you don't feel guilty, but just mature enough where you feel like a real man to tell her what to do. The perfect woman, the perfect Mitsuru. And now?"
"And it's not good enough for you because you just now decide you want the trash out back?"
"Seriously, you -are- such a white knight." Mitsuru leans against the wall, bringing her left foot up against it. "I'm blaming that rat. Tell you what. You tell me where and what the rat is up to, I'll help you out in getting the worst Mitsuru back. And really, I am making this clear: she really is the worst Mitsuru. You know she confuses you for her daddy? Hello, calling doctor Freud." Mitsuru mimes a phone to her ear. If the words and the hand gestures didn't count as an invitation?
The writhing of a tail, just behind her, would be.
[STEVE]
"You- You're wrong. I never wanted anything to do with that Succubus Skank. I- I tried to get us away from her, remember? I just didn't want any unnecessary fights. You understand, right?" He does not turn towards her, Still looking down the hallway with his back turned to Mitsuru. "I made a mistake there. Just a Mistake. I should have been on your side all the way through, but she deceived me with her friendly words. I didn't realize her true, harmful intentions."
He must walk away, he must. This is going nowhere. It's useless. She's gone. But her words cut deep, and his fists clench up in anger, and Steve remains put. Attempting to control himself emotionally "Please, stop. Stop talking about her." But she doesn't stop. she doesn't stop and her phrases pierce their way straight through the Boxer's Heart. And eventually, after listening to that devastating monologue, one statement makes the water spill over, And Steve wildly turns around.
"SHE'LL NEVER BE TRASH!"
His tears don't stop as he starts yelling. But he's not yelling at Mitsuru anymore. "It's -you-! The worst Mitsuru is you! Stop it, stop it. Stop it and bring her back. Bring her back you- you, Bloody Imposter. Bugger off, just leave, and give her back. You don't fucking know her, and you don't fucking know me. Just leave us alone and...."
"bring her back.."
But at that point, after his exhaustive rant and dwindling energy, Steve Finally notices. Notices the tail Flicking around behind her legs. All he can do stare Wide-Eyed at it, utterly befuddled, and unable to wrap his head around the implications. And after a solid few seconds of silence, all he can muster out is
"what?"
[MOONDYNE]
"Well well well, look what we have here," From outside the cell, Moondyne Mouse's voice comes, appearing behind Steve as they step forward and around the boxer's side. "I was wondering why you hadn't taken her pretty little ass and your own and left by now," Moondyne has a look of annoyance on her features, not using a disguise at the moment, so the perhaps semi-surreal appearance of the 5-foot tall android mouse girl is there for all to see, her tail swaying about behind her.
"And at least he had the good sense to not take that--that is not the dumb twat," Moondyne pointed a long-nailed hand at Not!Mitsuru, narrowing her eyes. This was an unexpected monkey wrench in the mouse's plans, and she was not in approval.
"You--Idi v'banyu!" Moondyne suddenly had what looked like an energy pistol in her hand, gesturing with the barrel for the girl in the cell to take a hike.
[LYRAELLE]
Letting out a huff, Mitsuru gives a tilt of her head, tossing her hair and running a hand through it before stepping away from the corridor wall. When she turns back toward Steve and Moondyne, there's a broad smirk across it, unfamiliar to the face that's wearing it - as are the extraordinarily green eyes that regard the duo with sadistic amusement.
"Gravitas setting in yet, Stevie?~"
The banchou steps forward, one foot in front of the other, that rubbery, purple tail flicking behind her. Her eyes shift to the weapon that the newly arrived mouse-android is now brandishing at her.
"Gosh, I didn't know that Disney's industrial espionage program was so interested in the zaibatsus. You should think about putting that toy away, before someone gets hurt."
The teenager leans forward slightly, the cant of her head causing the brim of her hat to obscure her eyes for a moment. There's a shift in the body, mistakable at first for the effects of the change in posture - the chest and hips swelling a little, her height shrinking ever-so-slightly as she reaches up to take the bill of her hat between two fingers.
"Heads up, kids~"
As her head lifts, the cap is doffed, tossed aside toward Steve. Before it can reach him, twin beams of green hellfire erupt from the woman's eyes, raking the upper part of the wall between two security cameras at either end of the curved corridor, eradicating both in less than a second and leaving a sickly, glowing viridian trench across the wall.
By the time that the display of infernal energy finishes, the change is revealed, the card played - the Queen of Demons card, as it were.
Though her wings are still yet to be seen, Lyraelle's pink mane, pale and flawless complexion and black horns are unmistakable.
"So, now that we're all of us on a timer, I'll open the floor to any bids you want to make for your tsundere friend," Lyraelle says with a saccharine-sweet tone, tilting her head to one side and smiling at Steve and Moondyne. "That is, assuming you don't want to just ditch her and get out of here with a real woman," she adds, turning her eyes to the boxer with the last words - a knowing wink hinting at the irony in the offer.
[STEVE]
Steve turns around his head as Moondyne's voice comes in. Finally, someone to help him in this situation. Set him straight. He quickly turns his head back to the Banchou, however. Still staring at the tail, flabbergasted. He keeps listening, and witnessing Mitsuru- no, Lyraelle's transformation, trembling when he sees the form that is eventually taken.
The Succubus.
Eventually, he does speak up. "No, no. Not you. No more of this. No more of your lies and deception." The boxer is breathing in and out heavily, a mixture of anger and fear, though the latter emotion seems to be more prominent. "Just- just tell me where she is. Tell me where she is, and I'll- We'll, leave. I-I need to see her, Save her. She needs saving." Steve had cracked, his words are interrupted by stutters, and heavy breaths.
"Please, please just tell me that. I don't- I don't want to do this again. Don't want to fight again."
[MOONDYNE]
Moondyne Mouse is giving the now emerging Lyraelle a frowning, suspicious look of curiosity, even as they quickly grow to likely much taller than the Mouse as they stand up fully.
"I didn't know it was demon stripper night," Moon flicks her eyes up from the bottoms of Lyra's boots up to her head, apparently realizing they're not dealing with a human. Steve was the only 'human' here, at the moment.
"You're also not on any of the personnel lists or hirings on that Heihachi has going right now, so you're not supposed to be here," Moondyne kept the gun levelled on Lyraelle. "So where is she, her dad put you up to this?" Moondyne gave a cursory glance around the cell, not seeing any sign of the freakshow banchou girl.
"Guess he doesn't want her back until her brains are good and scrambled, if he wanted the job done right he would have hired me," Moondyne grinned, definitely shining Lyra on there. When Steve began to ramble on and freak out a little, Moondyne's tail whipped around and gave him a playful pat on the butt.
"Speaking of, it's about time she took a little walk, you want to tell us where she is, tovarisch--or I can put the boots to you with him--you'd make a good maid," Moondyne seemed deadly serious, too.
[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle's hands rest on her hips, just above the trousers - she's still distressingly dressed in Mitsuru's clothing as she her green eyes regard Steve and Moondyne, the temperature in her eyes and expression rapidly cooling as her lips draw tight. Seconds before it would hit the ground, the hat is snatched out of the air with a whip-like snap of the succubus' rubbery tail and slapped back in place atop her pink hair in the same jaunty position as before. Her jacket slides slightly down her shoulders.
"Goodness, even when I put on some pants I get the lines. I must give off a vibe," she says with an uncharacteristically flat monotone. Her eyes shift from Steve to Moondyne. The same smouldering vitriol that oozes from the melted trench cutting through the wall behind her is reflected in the demonette's gaze.
"You see Stevie here?" she asks rhetorically, one thumb tucking into a belt look while she uses her other hand to point lazily at Steve. "You see Stevie's face when he sees me? The cold sweat, the heavy breathing, the broken speech? Stevie sees me and Stevie has to make a Sanity check, and Stevie can't figure out if he's passing or failing yet. There are two differences between you and Stevie."
Her hand turns over, holding up the index finger.
"Firstly, Stevie knows me."
She flicks the middle finger up to join the index, now holding two fingers up. The tips ignite with currently harmless but menacingly suggestive green hellfire, refreshing the scent of brimstone that lingers in the air from the eye-beams.
"Secondly, I have a reason for keeping Stevie around."
Lyraelle's smile returns, plastic and fake as a porcelain doll's as she stares unblinking at the mouse.
"As I'm feeling magnanimous, in the interest of time, a simple 'We're sorry, your Majesty, please help us, we'll do anything' will do. Otherwise, you can float on or roll for initiative, Modest Mouse."
[STEVE]
"I- I don't know you, I don't want to know you. Not after what you did to us." He slurs.
He takes a step back, perhaps unconsciously. When Moondyne's tail hits him, he physically flinches and turns his head around "Stop calling me that, Lyraelle. That's not... My name" He tenses up when he hears the Demoness's offer. Beg, plead and grovel for answers? His teeth can be heard gnashing, but inside of his mind one thought rings true.
There's no time.
No time for hesitating, no time for taking the difficult route out of this situation. Lyraelle is strong. Frighteningly so, and he's had first-hand experience of that power when he almost got burned out of existence. He looks at Moondyne, as if to judge her strength in a fight. His face finally tenses up, as he reaches some conclusion. The brit slowly turns back to the demon, letting her fiery eyes meet his own, baby blue ones. Before his eyes pan downwards, to the floor. And he says, in an entirely monotone and utterly fabricated voice.
"I'm sorry, your Majesty. Please help me, I'll do anything."\
[MOONDYNE]
Moondyne is quiet for the moment and lets Steve respond, glancing back between Lyralle and the boxer, still holding the gun on the former.
"Women tend to have that effect on men, to be fair," Moondyne looks unimpressed and unamused so far, and doesn't seem to be entertaining the idea of begging for the information she wants.
"Well there we go, is that good enough? Maybe you want to break his ankles, too? Or pull out his heart, then drag him over broken glass, so his soul screams?" Moondyne is giving a face like 'really?' to all this. "This whole debacle has been utter torture already, and this girl isn't even in the room," she shrugs with a sigh, motioning again with the barrel of her gun.
"Now then, please to be showing where you stuffed the little psycho, operation is running late, here."
[LYRAELLE]
The Demon Queen's plastic smile melts away, flame flickering out, arms shifting to fold beneath her bosoms as she hears out Steve's protests and eventual plea, along with Moondyne's own words. The fire behind her eyes has started to smoulder out, but no hint of a smile touches her lips.
"It seems as though at least one of you can follow instructions, at least by letter, if not in spirit. Really, the difficulty class of this roll would be much lower if you tried rolling diplomacy instead of bluff. Trying to roll intimidate, on the other hand?"
Lyraelle makes a tutting sound with her tongue against her teeth.
"I'll give the two of you one more chance."
Her eyes flit to Steve, softening to a charming gaze that's almost an eerie contrast to the anger, vehemence and arrogance before. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small cellular phone - a relatively standard device that looks as though it's seen little use.
"Now, since you've already promised you'll do anything, Steve, you'll be grateful to know that what I need from you is simple, quick, and costs you nothing but a smile."
She slinks a few steps closer to the British boxer, moving to sidle up next to him as she holds her cell phone out, eyes shifting to the screen as she brings the camera function online.
"I want you to take a selfie with me. And I want you to look happy about it. Satisfy me, and I'll tell you which castle your princess is in. Promise."
Despite the nature of her words, her tone has grown softer, almost friendly and petitioning rather than domineering as before.
"It's a win-win, no ankle-breaking necessary."
Her eyes flit pointedly to Moondyne for a moment before returning to Steve's face.
[STEVE]
Steve hears her proposal, and responds almost right away. "No- No- I wont. She would be devastated after seeing that! I can't do that to her."
He is Motionless as Lyraelle preys around him. "You- You would make sure she would see it. It would destroy her, and our friendship in one fell swoop. A lose-lose. I know what you're after, your majesty." He adresses her with just an hint of sarcasm. He briefly glances at Moondyne. Before looking back down towards the ground. "So I will not do that. Suggest something else, or tell me where she is. As much as I want to avoid it, this can still turn into a fight." He admits, his voice trembling.
"I just don't want her to hurt anymore then she already has. Poor girl's been through a lot. Too much. So please just leave her out of this."
[MOONDYNE]
"You organics disgust me, literally the only thing you think about is feeding or fucking, or some combination thereof," Moondyne is actually /trying/ to restrain herself here, too. Her tone comes off as more complaining and griping than the explosive outburst her better instincts are instructing her to do. In more ways than one.
Instead she's just sort of standing alongside Steve, her large mouse-like buckteeth denting her bottom lip as she continues to exert control over her short fuse.
"Trying to be really patient here," she grumbles, the barrel of the energy weapon she had in her hand lowered, slightly, but not all the way. Worser still it's shaking with anticipation. "Just tell us where she is and we go away."
[LYRAELLE]
For a moment, a silence hangs in the air. Within it, the sound of Lyraelle taking in a slow breath through her nostrils can be heard, her head tilting downward ever so slightly and eyes disappearing behind the brim of her borrowed banchou cap. Her shoulders lift up, then sink as she exhales, causing her jacket to slide off of her arms and drop to the floor.
Then, popping up from her shoulderblades above the bandages wrapped around her torso, the twin demonic purple bat-wings of the Demon Queen emerge with a sudden flapping sound.
"I'm sorry, but even a monarch's patience can only stretch so far," the pink-haired hellionette says in a low, but piercing tone as she reaches up and straightens her hat by the bill with two fingers. She speaks with the steadily increasing tempo of someone whose sanity is unravelling. "Are you aware that since I revealed myself, you've told me what to do /ten times/ while only using the magic word /twice/? You've also made derogatory and patronizing comments three times, threatened me, and between you refused every term of peaceful negotiation that I've offered while having the audacity to insinuate that /I'm/ wasting /your/ time."
Sultry waves can be seen rising from Lyraelle's body, the white bandages wrapped around her chest starting to curl and blacken with it.
"Not to mention calling my /good friend/ Mitsuru a /dumb little psycho twat!/"
There seems to be genuine anger regarding the last issue, her eyes starting to glow with green heat. She swipes her right hand horizontally, causing a crackling whip of green flame to appear and snap through the air before licking the corridor floor.
Her head cocks to one side, pointed ears flicking. "You hear that?"
There's little to be heard but the dripping of molten slag along the wall and the sizzle of the whip as she brandishes it in preparation to strike.
"That's the sound of my BOSS FIGHT MUSIC!"
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle has started a fight here as a boss!
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|------------===
[STEVE]
"Mitsuru isn't your friend. You have repeatedly humiliated and abused her. Frankly, I'm almost happy it came to this." Steve steels himself, still marginally frightened but with the understanding that he can't evade this fight. "It will be bloody satisfying to beat the information out of you. You deserve all of it after everything you pulled." The boxer states as he raises his head up to face the demoness turning his body so that his right shoulder faces Lyraelle, his right arm in a low position, the elbow curved, the Flicker stance. Without facing away from the Succubus, he says to Moondyne. "Be careful. She is stronger then her personality would betray. And..."
%"...thanks for all this, Moondyne."
COMBATSYS: Steve has joined the fight here.
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|------------===
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Steve 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Moondyne has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|------------===
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Steve 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Moondyne
[MOONDYNE]
Moondyne Mouse leaps back from her spot as the green flame whip comes crashing down, landing on her boots, tail flicked up and arms raised.
"Grrrr... I am going to enjoy making you enjoy it," Moondyne's eyes began to glow an electrical white hot color, along with a strong electrical humming droning to life from her direction,, as if some powerful, high voltage device was suddenly powered on, or switched into high gear.
Suddenly, all around the width of the corridor, Moondyne is joined by clones of herself, all mirroring her exact appearance. And then they begin to move--feinting, lunging, attempting to parry--finally a bolt of energy would fly from the midst of them, headed straight for Lyraelle's body!
[STEVE]
Steve waits just a few moments while Moondyne is doing her attack, wanting to take advantage of the confusion caused by all the clones. He times his approach right after Moondyne's bolt, continuing the assault that Moondyne started with a rapid barrage of 3 flicker-jabs with his right, and finishing the combo with a straight aimed to strike deep into Lyraelle's Chest. He back a few steps right after, and into the defensive flicker stance, focused and ready on protecting himself against the inevitable attack from Lyraelle.
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle parries Moondyne's Shadow Self!
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Steve 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Moondyne
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle blocks Steve's Spitfire Combo.
LYRAELLE
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|-------========
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Steve 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Moondyne
[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle's whip sweeps the floor, a blackened line tracing its path like a charcoal pencil on paper. Her eyes flit left and right as more and more clones of the mecha-mouse flash into existence and start to move toward her.
"Cute!" she exclaims audaciously as the first clone feints toward her. She dips down slightly as her body poises for what's to come.
"Eenie!"
Faster than the average eye can see, the demoness seems to flicker, dashing past the feint and deeper into the fray. Mitsuru's hat is left hanging in the air, drifting toward the ground as Lyraelle reappears amongst the manifold mirror mice in a sprinter's crouch, one hand on the floor.
"Meanie!"
As another Moondyne lunges for her, the demonette coils like a cat before leaping upward with blinding speed. An instant later, she's on the ceiling, clinging in an inverted crouch against a ventilation grate - sandals and trousers alike eschewed with the lightning-fast leap, leaving Lyraelle in purple bikini-style bottoms and bare feet with matching toenail polish.
"Miney!"
The blast flies at the rapidly-disrobing demoness, but despite its speed, it finds no purchase, splashing against the metal grating as Lyraelle lunges through the robo-rodent throng, one of the copies barely managing to parry her horns before it can be skewered by them. She's already in a spin as she lands, her leathery demonic wings interposing themselves against Steve's striking combination and pushing back against his fists as her back turns to him.
"Mo~"
The last of the bandages around Lyarelle's chest, already stretched to their limit and smouldering from the pink-haired hellion's rising heat, flake away in scattering ashes as the demonic temptress twirls, revealing a strapless purple bikini top beneath. Likely more pressing than Lyraelle's transformation from banchou chic to lingerie model is the blazing whip winding up with the succubus' spin, flaring with malice and melting a trench in the ceiling as she snaps it toward Moondyne with a deadly lash!
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle successfully hits Moondyne with Imperious Scourge EX.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Steve 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Moondyne
[MOONDYNE]
The clones do blink out as they are struck--normally, she might have gone for solid ones, but right now her main aim was misdirection--which apparently is turned back against her when the wave of energy she projected at Lyraelle out of her body zings by, hitting nothing--and the REAL Moondyne is struck by the whip as it strikes down towards her, causing an immediate reaction.
The clones all diappear with a strange VHS image warping effect, and an accompanying electronic screech, followed by Moondyne being thrown down and into the nearest wall of the corridor, the outer surface of the cement crushed in by the force of her body hitting it.
"Urgh--damn," she actually has to pull herself out of the wall, just partially--plaster and cement chips sticking to her hair and side of her body, before reorienting herself and charging at Lyraelle, pulling her hands up and together and bringing them down in a quick, physical blow!
[STEVE]
Steve's punches strike the leathery wings of the Succubus, rendering the attack mostly inefficient while the android is struck by the fiery whip. Steve calls out "Blast! Be careful!" He rushes down towards Lyraelle, wanting to give Moondyne time to recover and ready her own strike.
Steve Lunges- Making a wide hook with his right as he dashes in range, attempting to slam his fist into her Abdomen. After his attack, he would stick close by the Demoness in the low, Peek-a-Boo stance.
COMBATSYS: Moondyne successfully hits Lyraelle with Axe Handle.
- Power hit! -
LYRAELLE
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|-----------====|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Steve 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Moondyne
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle dodges Steve's Dash Punch.
LYRAELLE
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|----------=====|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Steve 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Moondyne
[LYRAELLE]
The sizzling whip winks out of existence in a puff of acrid smoke as the commissar cap clatters to the floor behind Lyraelle, along with a rain of molten green metal droplets cascading from the ceiling. With Moondyne seemingly dispatched for the moment, she turns her face around to face Steve, tilting her head and giving a wink with a menacing Mona Lisa smile. When he charges in on her, she seems to flicker again, a warm breeze from her bruised wings washing over the boxer in her wake as she reappears hovering in the air above him.
"Let's you and me play, now, Stevie~ <3"
The demoness' tone is seductive and mocking as she rears her feet up to her chest -
"OW!"
Moondyne's axe-handle smash connects clean with Lyraelle's pink-crowned noggin, causing her to flinch and throw her arms over her head with the pain - though she remains floating even as her face screws up with aggravation. When her eyes open again, she's not smiling anymore - she's scowling, eyes alight with viridian rage.
"I'll make sure you feel me in the morning, Steve!!"
The tone has flipped to a raw, unhinged bellow as Lyraelle dives like a hawk toward the boxer, feet lighting with infernal flame in place of a raptor's talons. Machine-gun-like kicks rain down, silken socks doing nothing to mitigate the inhuman might of the succubus' shapely legs or the sting of hellfire as she aims to stamp her mark - literally - on the boxer's upper body, leaving a lingering burning brand in the shape of a heart should he fail to avoid her wrath!
COMBATSYS: Steve blocks Lyraelle's Royal Seal.
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Steve 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Moondyne
[MOONDYNE]
Moondyne Mouse manages to crash both of her closed fists against Lyraelle's head, in her reckless charge, leaving the succubus reeling--and Moondyne is prepared to follow up on her next move, when... she dives around and toward Steve, instead! Blast!
"Hey--hey! Come back here!" one might think that Moondyne would be grateful for the current lack of danger after such a hit, but she apparently can be one-track minded in a fight.
"Lemme help you move!" Moondyne throws out what looks like shimmering flying objects into the air--already, /something/ has been placed here and there on the floor, walls and cielings around the fight, in a field of sorts.
Chasing after Lyraelle, the mouse is suddenly behind her again, leaning back trying to deliver a heel drop kick while the succu-queen is distracted!
[STEVE]
Lyraelle is on to him, assailing his upper body with a barrage of lightning-quick kicks. The Boxer raises his arms in a cross-guard, preventing the kicks from ever reaching his torso. The heat that each foot leaves behind however, does add up. And by the end his arms feel noticeably heavy and numb. The heart Lyraelle attempted to create runs partially over his forearms, but gets cut off at the top and bottom. "I'm not your palette, demon. Take this seriously." Steve says as he reels back his arm- whipping it out towards the Airborne Lyraelle's leg and hoping to get a grasp- before throwing her towards the ground and against the grey floors.
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle dodges Moondyne's Medium Strike.
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Steve 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Moondyne
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle dodges Steve's Medium Throw.
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
2|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Steve 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Moondyne
[LYRAELLE]
The kicks rain down, Steve's arms an umbrella against the storm. As it abates, Lyraelle's ears twitch, eyes flitting back over her shoulder. Her expression is serious, now - a frown where before there was a smirk, a glower in her eyes where mischief gleamed.
"Help me move?!"
A split second later, as Moondyne Mouse's heel drops through the space where the demoness was floating, Lyraelle hits the ground on the other side of her, sliding with one socked leg extended and the other knee bent, fingers raking scratch marks on the smooth floor beneath her to arrest her movement.
"Does it look like I need help moving?!"
Lyraelle's tone is chastising and venomous as she takes to the air again, pivoting and launching up on leathery wings. Steve's hand grazes her sock only briefly as she twirls free with violent elegance. She crinkles her nose and huffs.
"Take this seriously? Maybe /you/ need to start taking me seriously, Stevie!"
The succubus spins around again as she leans forward into a corkscrew dive, wings folding into a sleek spear as she aims to slam shoulder-first into Steve and sweep him off his feet and into the air!
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle issues a challenge!!
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
2|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Steve 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Moondyne
COMBATSYS: Steve instinctively blocks Lyraelle's #Royal Decree - Banishment#.
LYRAELLE
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------------
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Steve 1/------</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1 Moondyne
"How's this for serious?!"
The demonette's intent would be to carry Steve through the air against her shoulder, opening her wings and slipping her grip down to his legs via inertia as they slow her flight, attempting to slam him into the opposite walls of the corridor in a circular motion before throwing him to the ground and raising one hand over her head. A familiar ball of infernal fire would form above her outstretched palm, growing rapidly to nearly fill the space above her, before she'd unleash the spherical inferno, growing as it approaches the boxer and nearly filling the corridor!
[MOONDYNE]
"Shouldn't be that fast with how huge she is--" Moondyne stumbled as bit as her heel drop hit nothing but air, and she was left flat footed, before her eyes went behind her cracked red-tinted visor at what was bearing down on Steve at this point. "Hey, let go--" Moondyne was currently training that energy pistol she had formed earlier on Lyraelle as she rolled about in the air with Steve, growling. "Damnit--no clear shot," then was blown back a bit and had to regain footing as the huge fireball came down, Steve getting slammed into the wall.
"There you are--" Moondyne gestures with her free hand, a large shiny monolithic surface rising out of the floor on the otherside of Lyraelle and Steve, proceeding to bank shots from her energy weapon off it's surface and towards Lyraelle!
[STEVE]
Steve grumbles. "I'm not letting you pull that off again, Lyraelle." While Steve can't resist her demonic strength and gets pulled along, he guides Lyraelle's flight, and is able to kick himself off of the walls before struggling loose and landing on on the floor with a dampening roll- Steve knows what's coming next. And this time, He'll take it on head-on.
In preperation for the fireworks, he focuses- another cross-guard with his arms. His normally very internal reserves of Chi, are mustered into a shimmering shield covering his arms. The flames hit the shield, creating a high-pitched noise as Steve resists the blaze attempting to lick his body. The ball gets smaller and smaller, until the Boxer manages to dissipate it entirely with a final grunt and push of his arms. He looks at the Demoness, and says "I was prepared." Before rushing towards her landing position, outstretched arms aiming to wrap around her head, pulling her close.
A hug? No.
He is pulling her into the perfect range for a follow-up attack, swinging his right arm overhead for a frighteningly heavy overhead smash aimed for the head, letting go of Lyraelle so she has space-a-plenty to be knocked into the floor.
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle blocks Steve's Brain Pulverizer.
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|--------<<<<<<<
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Steve 1/----<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1 Moondyne
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle endures Moondyne's Mirror Master.
LYRAELLE
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|------------<<<|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Steve 1/----<<</<<<<<<<|=======\====---\1 Moondyne
[LYRAELLE]
There's a faint pricking of Lyraelle's ears as she hovers for a moment, finally slowing down to observe Steve's impending annihilation, and a cursory glance is spared to the robotic rodent behind her, eyes narrowing and glinting, before she turns them back to where the sulfurous green smoke is clearing. Her ears flatten and jaw sets as Steve is revealed to still be standing - and then rushing toward her.
"Oh good, you do learn~"
The hell-temptress' taunting tone is slippery and serpentine as she floats in a moment between the energy bolt about to careen toward her from the back and the English boxer bearing down on her from the front. She touches down, socked feet padding onto the cool floor, almost daring the pugilist onward as he reaches for her head. She's doubled over, Steve's arm wrapped around her, pushing up on her tip-toes, back arched and tail standing upright as she's trapped in the boxer's embrace. And yet, in spite of her situation, she turns a smile up to Steve as though the headlock were a tender display of affection. Her wings fold, one moving to wrap behind Steve's back as if returning the same.
"Don't spoil my next trick, Stevie~ <3"
She winks, a split second before the fist crashes into her pretty face.
In the same moment, the wings shove forcefully against Steve, her body moving with the strike and redirecting the momentum to eject her at speed from the headlock.
And like a scantily-clad demonic lady-torpedo, she hurtles arse-first toward Moondyne Mouse, the energy bolt banking off her backside and legs swinging up for aerodynamicism as she aims to crush her quarry against the corridor wall.
If she manages to pin her opponent, her tail will lash out to try and trap Moondyne's gun arm before a subtle - and increasingly forceful - supernatural will would begin to attempt to drain the essence from the mouse.
"What was that you were trying to say, Minnie?!"
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle successfully hits Moondyne with Royal Requisition - Dark Queen's Throne.
~~ Alluring Hit! ~~
LYRAELLE
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|--------------=
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Steve 1/----<<</<<<<<<<|=======\====---\1 Moondyne
[MOONDYNE]
"How many times do I have to shoot you--gahk!" Moondyne's radar-dish like ears focus sharply as she attempts to use her amplified senses here, however she is overtaken by the donk, super fast--being pushed back by the sheer force of it, still trying to shoot Lyraelle even while, the latter's tail getting wrapped around her arm as she's... crushed and shocked against the wall. The wall itself suffers a huge indent at the center of the impact--the cement actually crushing inward, as the body of the succubus grinds her into the hard surface which almost seems like it begins to yield.
"HRRNNGGHH--" Moondyne is gritting, baring teeth, digging her hands and nails into Lyraelle's hips and sides until she's able to pull herself down and out, her body sparking and shimmering and growing transparent as her body cloaks, hiding her from sight.
"Even a trapped mouse can still bite--" white-yellow eyes glow, appearing for a brief second before a HUGE blast of energy jumps from them, both beams entwining to form a huge surge of energy, attempting to connect and zap the succubi's brain!
[STEVE]
"Blast." he responds, as Lyraelle slips free from his grasp and into the mouse. He rushes after them, aiming to free Moondyne by pelting Lyraelle with a rapid barrage of strikes- he circles around the demoness, laying into her with all of his strength from every direction with blinding speed- Straight, hook-hook, straight, cross, Jab."one, two-three-four, six-seven, eight, nine...."
"AND TEN!" he calls out, peforming a final, finishing uppercut to knock her away. He closes back in, wanting to get between Lyraelle and Moondyne. Keeping up a light, ready-for-action stance.
COMBATSYS: Steve successfully hits Lyraelle with Ten Count.
LYRAELLE
[ ||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|--------------=|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Steve 0/-------/----<<<|???????\???????\0 Moondyne
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle dodges Moondyne's DNI Blast.
LYRAELLE
[ ||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|--------------=|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Steve 0/-------/----<<<|=------\-------\0 Moondyne
[LYRAELLE]
"At least one more, babooshka," Lyraelle retorts as she presses into the mouse, a mark forming on her posterior from where the robot's discharge connected with her before. The warning comes, and Lyraelle gives herself a split second longer to grind the cyber-souris into the impacted wall before splitting - though she doesn't know the angle the attack is coming from, she can still /move/, blitzing away from Moondyne at the last second before the beams entwine and obliterate the space where she stood only a moment before.
She's still fast - but even succubi can sweat, it seems, and Lyraelle's skin glistens with a sheen as her chest begins to heave with the onset of laboured breathing.
Suddenly, Steve is on her.
Sharp cries and grunts of pain rise out of the demoness with each blow, each sidestep and twist too slow to stop the next from colliding with her exposed flesh. Her face twists into a grimace, teeth clenching as she sets her will to keep standing - and then the final punch sends her flying into the wall, causing cracks to spiderweb through it as she crumples down to one knee.
"You're still not... doing it for me, Stevie! You'll have to get a little rougher if you want me to sing!"
With that, she flaps upright, then swoops toward Steve again - but at the last minute, she pulls up, swinging her legs upward and sailing over the boxer before aiming to land with her thighs on Moondyne's shoulders, intending to trap the mouse's head between them. If she succeeds, she'll squeeze them tight before giving a prodigious, yet graceful twist of her hips, applying sharp and violent torsion to the robot's neck and driving her into the wall before twisting back the opposite way to throw Moondyne away and herself in the opposite direction!
COMBATSYS: Moondyne dodges Lyraelle's Combo Grapple.
LYRAELLE
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|--------------=|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Steve 0/-------/----<<<|=------\-------\0 Moondyne
[MOONDYNE]
Moondyne is still invisible, for all intents and purposes, and using those radar-dish ears of hers to draw in all that was going on around her, so she was extra slippery right now. When those glacier-sized thighs of Lyraelle swing down for her, like a mountain on a pendulum, she is able to roll backwards, while her eyes flash again, finally coming out of stealth.
"Got to be quicker than that to trap a mouse--" those large buckteeth of hers are showing with the open mouthed half-grin, half-wince of pain, as the front of her armor has been pushed in, probably even moulded around the donk, in some way.
"Still got a few tricks, actually--some of yours~" Moondyne Mouse hops backwards and there is a bit of a holo-light show around her as her HitBit generator starts to fire up, specially adapted from Krizalid's magnificently white fur-ruffed collared coat, at that.
Moondyne grins as she crouches down low, images of her springout out of nowhere around her as she builds up glowing power between her two glowing fists, suddenly springing toward Lyarelle, and...
Suddenly turns to make what looks like a hip check...? Can the Mouse out-hip the succubus!?
[STEVE]
"Nice one." To Moondyne after her evade.
Steve circled around to Lyraelle's side as she missed her head-lock against Moondyne, pulling his right arm in deep "Dodge this, you Harlot!" he taunts Lyraelle as he thrusts his arm out into a cross straight, trying to crash his fist into Lyraelle's side.
COMBATSYS: Moondyne successfully hits Lyraelle with Undying Trickster.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
LYRAELLE
[ |||||||||| ]
1|-----==========|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Steve 0/-------/----<<<|==-----\-------\0 Moondyne
COMBATSYS: Steve successfully hits Lyraelle with Cross Punch.
LYRAELLE
[ ]
2|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Steve 0/-------/---<<<<|==-----\-------\0 Moondyne
[LYRAELLE]
Faced with two fighters flying at her, Lyraelle flits her eyes in either direction. She lunges, attempting to put distance between herself and Steve as Moondyne charges up - but she miscalculates, and as she's bursting through the void, suddenly the void becomes mouse derriere, smashing directly into the she-fiend's face with undeniable force. Sent teetering backward, arms flailing, she twists away, just in time to get decked again by Steve's oncoming fist. She slumps down to her knees, shuddering, broken. Her right eye is blackening, her exposed skin mottled with bruises, cold sweat running down her body. One can practically imagine her once-sprightly form crumbling to nothing as she coughs up a spatter of blood on the scar-crossed corridor floor.
"Dammit... looks like you douchebags get the victory screen after all..."
She sniffles, pressing her lips together and gathering herself as she shivers, the heat gone out of her.
"I swear, when I tell you guys where the little brat is, you'll Ell-Oh-Ell so..."
Her head dips forward, eyes fluttering as the last word comes out in a swoon.
"...hard..."
Just as she's about to collapse forward, eyes rolled back in her head, they suddenly snap back open, glowing green.
"Stupid child. Au moins que le jeu soit fini."
It's not Lyraelle's voice - that is to say, it is Lyraelle's voice, and something other. There's little time for discourse with this presence, however, as it uses Lyraelle's arms to snap twin whips of flame into existence, aiming to capture both Steve and Moondyne by their legs and drag them into reach of her hands. The entity grasps for the two, trying to catch each by an ankle with Lyraelle's hands and spin, rising and intending to throw any unfortunate enough not to elude it up into the ceiling before raising a hand over its head. A familiar corona of spectacular green balefire blazes into existence, growing rapidly as the entity devotes all of its maleficent intent into fuelling the fireball.
And then, it slams the ball down into the earth.
*FWOOOOOM*
The inferno erupts, mostly straight upward, but also into the corridor, turning the space around Lyraelle's body into a blackened, glowing crater. As the fire clears, molten green slag and soot begin to rain down on her, followed by large and heavier cinders and debris, beginning to rapidly bury the demoness. The ventilation grate above her, half missing, buckles, then droops into a makeshift ramp, allowing the bound, kimono-dressed form of Mitsuru to roll out and drop unceremoniously onto the floor as the sound of many booted footsteps start to ring out from down the corridor, frantic shouts of "This way!" and "Over here!" echoing through the hall.
COMBATSYS: Lyraelle can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Steve 0/-------/---<<<<|==-----\-------\0 Moondyne
COMBATSYS: Moondyne dodges Lyraelle's #Royal Decree - Banishment#.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Steve 0/-------/---<<<<|==-----\-------\0 Moondyne
COMBATSYS: Steve blocks Lyraelle's #Royal Decree - Banishment#.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Steve 1/------</<<<<<<<|==-----\-------\0 Moondyne
[MOONDYNE]
Moondyne Mouse is sparking, and looks worse for wear, her armor dented and busted in here and there, mostly around the chestplate. Landing from the hip-bump, she places a hand against the wall nearest to her, leaning against it as she watches Lyraelle apparently gaining critical mass.
As the fireball springs up and crashes down, Moondyne leaps into the air--actually winding up with her back to the ceiling, springing up with superhuman strength and agility, somehow able to latch onto the surface above with her nails cracking the cement, legs splayed out against it.
"Guess that was a load-bearing succubus, in more ways than one," Moondyne grunts, letting herself down slowly, hanging there by one hand, as if still careful to drop down.
"Oh hey--there she is Steve--look, she even came gift-wrapped!"
Moondyne grins, before she rears her head, hearing the footsteps and voices tromping down the halls. "I think we should go."
COMBATSYS: Moondyne has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Steve 1/------</<<<<<<<|
[STEVE]
Steve is caught by surprise as he is dragged Into Lyraelle's range by the 'Entity' He quickly steels himself, though, kicking himself off of the ceiling and towards the oncoming explosion, keeping his arms in a tight defense, and his leg curled up to form a kind of ball, while putting all of his energy in protecting himself. The flames seem to dissapate around him as he falls down, mitigating the damage to a handful of burn wounds and some sore legs.
When the inferno ceases, and he is left pushing some few rocks of debris off of his body, he quickly looks around to see if the Android is alright- confirming her survival before quickly realizing someone else's presence. "Mitsuru!" he yells out, in exuberance. Before realizing her unconciousness. He wastes no time to rush to her kimono-clad body and scooping her off the ground, and holds her in front of him with both arms. Finally, he responds to Moondyne. "No Kidding. You were Excellent, Finally knocking her down was immensely satisfying. I think you would agree."
He catches on to the footsteps and calling from down the corridors, and breaks out into a Jog down the opposite end, taking care to Hold the girl as to make it as comfortable for her.
"You're entirely correct, Lead the way."
[MOONDYNE]
"Oof, gonna need a bit of WD-40 after this, I think," Moondyne prises one of her shoulder pads free from where it got stuck, fidgeting about as she makes sure her joints all still work as she drops down to the floor.
"I can follow, you're gonna need to carry her--most likely she's been through some form of indoctrination, keep to one side of the hall, we're going to pass right by them," Moondyne attunes her holo-emitter to cover both herself and Steve, who is now carrying Mitsuru. "I still have control of the security system here, but not for long, I think, they'll do a shutdown and cold boot to restart all the lock systems, so we gotta go~" the trio would now be invisible to all but themselves.
"Main freight elevator, lets go," she pointed ahead down the hall, beginning to run (with some effort) leaving the carnage of the fight scene behind.
[LYRAELLE]
A minute later, too late to catch the interlopers, armed security flock into the corridor, spreading out around the rubble.
"Confirming we have a man down," one of the squad says, moving over to kneel next to the unconscious guard lying next to the prison door and check his vital signs.
"Still breathing. Report it and let's get him to med bay. Team two, split off and continue the search -"
Suddenly, a weak feminine groan permeates through the mound of debris, causing the squad to stop in their tracks.
"Someone's alive under there! Get 'em out!" the squad leader instructs, and the soldiers move to do so, making quick, but cautious work as they avoid the still-sizzling bits of rubble.
"Be careful! Till we know what caused that explosion, assume another could come at any time! Watch for falling rocks!"
A minute later, some of the last of the wreckage is pulled away, revealing the bruised and battered form of a petite Japanese brunette who looks to be in their mid to late twenties, dressed in scorched purple skivvies.
"It's Miss Sakamoto! Damn - how could she have survived that?! Be careful, don't try to move her yet!"
Sakamoto's eyes flutter open dazedly to stare dazedly up at the multi-storied hole melted through the ceiling.
"Mitsuru-chan!"
Her eyes widen, and she rolls over to clamber out of the crater she's in, brushing off the hands that reach out to stop her as her head snaps to and fro in a panic before her eyes fall on the commissar cap lying abandoned on the floor. She rushes over to it, stumbling and falling on her knees as she clutches at the cap and holds it up to her chest. Her lip trembles as tears start to stream down her face.
"She's gone! They've... t-taken..."
The salty deluge opens up as she throws her head back, screaming into the bunker's gaping wound in desperation:
"MITSURU-CHaAAaAaAAaAnNNnN!!!"
Log created on 07:58:05 01/12/2021 by Steve, and last modified on 18:12:13 01/20/2021.