Match of the Millennium

Description: Velvet arrives as Merrick of the Syndicate moves to shakedown a club in Southtown. A brawl breaks out.

[MERRICK]
'Cherry Tappers' was a Southtown original business, and at the minute, business was...well, 'surviving' was the term for it. This very classy establishment, filled with scantily clad women(and very respectable hunks on 'ladies night') who did all kinds of complicated aerial maneuvers with the help of firemen's poles, seemed to do its best business when the fight circuit was booming. When people saw young beautiful athletic people in tight outfits on SNFs or on official televised tournaments, they liked seeing 'enhanced' dancers in approximations of those same outfits taking them off for money. Since the fight scene was a little sparse right now, Cherry Tappers was doing less business than they would probably like.

But, sadly, none of that mattered when rent was due. Which is why the Syndicate's latest representative was currently pistol whipping a weasely-faced manager in a fancy silk suit, the dancers backstage looking on with an almost bored look on their faces. With a sudden violent 'whack' the manager falls backwards with a bloody nose and mouth, and the black-clad ninja just shakes his head, looking off into the distance while absent mindedly cleaning the blood off of his glock.

"Do we not take care of you, Takeshi? Is that it? Are you angry at us, trying to get back at us somehow? Is that why the envelope we got from you was a little lighter than it was supposed to be? Huh?"

[VELVET BLUE]
When the vibes are whack and fancy suits involved, one might guess that Geese's boys are involved. At least that's what a certain someone has seemed to get wind that something was going on here. In one of the mirrors near a dressing room table backstage, a pair of eyes opened in mid-air--yellow, and retracting into cat-like slits in the light, before the white teeth of a maw was limned beneath, turning toward the sound of the man being so harshly abused.

"You do realize far fewer people are attending these... establishments right now, yes?" a soft, sing-song-ey voice came out of nowhere as the rest of Velvet began to bleed into view, a body and head joining the disembodied eyes and mouth. A queer sight, to be sure--long black hair, bat-like ears, fair-skinned svelte face, and those sharp teeth. They were wearing what looked like a full-body black bodysuit, the shoulders sporting silvery fur ruff. The legs were covered in what looked like long indigo heeled boots, rising up to the lower thigh. They shrugged off a denim coat, idly hanging it on a chair nearby.

[MERRICK]
'Suit' was an interesting term, because Merrick wasn't exactly dressed like a Yakuza or a Mafioso. No, instead he looked like every tactical SWAT ninja's dream. In addition to his thin, skin-tight lycra, he was wearing a pair of black combat pants, that were tucked into a pair of somewhat messy looking combat boots. The goggles that looked like they were built into his mask were mostly black save for a pair of glowing red pupils that looked especially intimidating in the dark. They glanced up at the newcomer, looked back down. Then shot back up and seemed to widen in surprise as Merrick stiffened.

"WHOAH, is that Batboy?! I used to read all about you in the World Weekly News, I'm a big fan!"

The tone of his voice...was he being serious? Was he screwing around? Was he trying to be hurtful? It was impossible to tell, but soon those eyes narrowed and he cocked the gun in his hand menacingly, to point it at the man on the floor who was now crying and whimpering, trying to hide his face behind his hands as if that would do anything.

"Yeah yeah, simple thuganomics, I get it. But the fact remains, that potbelly over here made a pinkie promise to pay a certain amount, every month. And you know what breaking a pinkie promise makes you?"

After a moment, Merrick uncocks the gun and puts the safety back on, holstering the weapon and letting the fool on the floor sob in relief. Truth be told, this was the most fun Merrick had been having in a long while.

[VELVET BLUE]
"Perhaps, though I'm a much better dresser," Velvet gave Merrick a look like 'really', already, crossing his arms, before unfolding them, as he listened to Merrick's response. "I see. That is an unfortunate series of events--though I think if this place were to close due to his misfortune, all of the ladies here would be out of work, right? That wouldn't be very good for anyone," Velvet peered around at the women, who were probably just safetly distancing themselves from the bizarre scene, though they again didn't look exactly afraid or excited--this was probably a routine thing by now. Darkstalkers showing up included. It hadn't been that long since the city was overrun with werewolves, creatures, things that went bump in the night...

"I do like spandex, however--seems I have a fan," Velvet walked closer, trailing a long-nailed hand across the backs of the dressing room chairs. "You're having a lot of fun with this, aren't you," Vel was also something of an empath, being able to sense when humans were riled up emotionally.

[MERRICK]
"Come to think of it...do you, work here or something? Are you here to pick someone up? Just trying to get your creepy rocks off? 'Cause uhh...I'm kinda busy here."

As he speaks, he's holstered his firearm, and now he's picked up a selfie stick off of one of the tables. Every so often, he pokes Takeshi with it, just to watch the guy squirm and writhe. He keeps at it every so often, as if he were tending to a hotdog on a bbq grill.

"I see you getting closer, by the way. That some sort of tactical thing, to get the drop on me? Or, if I go postal, so you can try and save someone? One of these poor suffering sadsacks who need this job to pay through college, or pay through their second SEGA or whatever is cool now?"

Casually as he speaks, some sort of audible click is heard, and his goggles change from the creepy red pupils to glassy white. He's paying more attention to Velvet, now, eyeing the figure, trying to gauge any sort of hidden weapons, or hidden surprises to be wary about. He's playing it cool, but there's definitely some tension in the air.

[VELVET BLUE]
"You wish," Velvet counters the question of employment, grinning a little as he stops and folds his arms again. If Merrick looks him over, he might notice the wakizashi stuffed into the right boot, as apparently Vel is a right-handed draw, there.

"You're the one going tactical, you're projecting, dear--how about you stop torturing that poor old man and deal with me," Velvet looked up at the man in the gear and mask with a pointed challenge, seemingly, after having dragged a few scratchlines in the backs of those chairs.

"What outfit you with anyway, and I don't mean what you're wearing--you don't look like Mad Gear," the tail behind Velvet flicked around more animatedly now, like a cat when they're annoyed.

COMBATSYS: Merrick has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Merrick          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Merrick          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MERRICK]
At the seemingly innocuous question, Merrick tosses the stick aside and doesn't seem to care when it crashes against something loudly. Instead he puts his hands on his hips dramatically, and shaking his head even more dramatically at the apparant offense Velvet has just caused.

"Mad G...Mad -Gear-? Are you even listening to yourself, Batboy? Do I look like I wear a beret, white boy dreads, or drive a pretend car while drooling on myself? Do I look like I let myself get beat up and dismantled by a meathead with a porno 'stache? Do you believe...in love after love?!"

As he speaks he suddenly throws down a shiny black marble, and the room billowed with smoke very quickly. When the smoke dudenly dissipates and rises to the ceiling...it seems the ninja is nowhere in sight.

Until a creak up in the ceiling gives a slight clue as he is currently hurtling downward with his palms poised like he's going to do some sort of crazy palm strike. At the last minute, three gleaming blades appear to be sticking out of his palms, the tekko-kagi he's wearing finally apparant.

"As if, get real!"

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue dodges Merrick's Closing Strike.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Merrick          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
"Jeez--was it something I said--" Velvet notices the question of his allegience seems to get the man very, very angry--so he already knows the answer to that. He now had to move--because the man was coming down with palms out, to push?--Velvet only saw the contrast of the metal at the last second as he rolled back, sending another chair crashing over, plastic makeup containers and lipstick going flying.

"Oof, oh gee, don't hurt me Mr. Big Strong Man--" Velvet muttered in a mock worried voice, pulling himself up--and with a great effort, he took a great stride toward Merrick, pushing off the ground with one leg and suddenly both boots were flying right toward the spec ops suited man--in a flying drop kick!

COMBATSYS: Merrick blocks Velvet Blue's Random Strike.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Merrick          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MERRICK]
If they weren't hurrying before, the girls were definitely rushing out of there now. Smoke and blades and danger meant that collateral damage could be hitting them before they knew it.

For his part, both palm-blade things sunk into the ground, deep enough that when he tried to stand up straight, he found that they were stuck. So he ripped his gloved hands from the velcro-attached weapons, leaving them there in the ground even as he staggered backward and brought those palms out to take the brunt of that dropkick. The shock ran up his shoulders and caused him to fall backward, landing hard on the ground even as Takeshi was the last one to hurriedly run away.

Strangely enough, the ninja didn't rush to his feet, instead staying on the ground so that he could try and sweep the Darkstalker's legs right out from under him. That would lead smoothly into Merrick grabbing at the creature's right foot and ankle, trying to twist even as his legs wrapped around the knee to keep it in place.

"Alright, kid, let's slow it down. Relax."

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue blocks Merrick's Joint Lock.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Merrick          0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
Velvet gets up after the drop kick bounds off Merrick, feeling him stop his boots with his hands. He landed on his back, but sprang back up--wincing as he reached back to pluck a broken plastic makeup applicator off his hindquarters. Ow.

"Getting stuck to Velvet already? that's the problem with velcro--" with his ankle gripped by the spec ops fighter, the performer/darkstalker vigilante wound up giving his attacker some resistance as his leg is pulled up. But Velvet is able to maintain his balance briefly on one foot, demonstrating excellent poise--eyes widening as the man tried to grapple and wrap his legs around him.

"Ow ow ow--" Velvet writhed and scrambled animatedly within the man's crushing leg lock, managing to pull his leg away--almost losing his boot in the process. They stumbled back hitting their back and head against the nearby wall, retightening their own fit around that boot, drawing in a breath.

"You're pretty strong, I don't think you need all these toys--but the mask is pretty mysterious," he lightly grinned, then spread an arm wide--sending an array of glowing prismatic shapes toward Merrick, almost looking like he was firing some kind of playstation-era cloud of glowing geometric shapes at him! They are however charged chi projectiles.

COMBATSYS: Merrick dodges Velvet Blue's Neon Carnival.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Merrick          0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MERRICK]
Geometric shapes fly through the air, one embedding itself in the chest of Merrick while a lethal octagon smashes through the masked face and causes bone, blood, brain and bits of skin to all explode in a shower of splinters.

Wait. Splinters?!

From behind Velvet, a pair of hands bring down a clear plastic bag, trying to pull it taut over the mouth and nose, trying to cut off oxygen as that low voice of his speaks calmly and plainly.

"Yeah, you were throwing your best quips at a wooden log. Dumbass."

Hands pull the bag even tighter as if to somehow emphasize the ninja's point.

COMBATSYS: Merrick successfully hits Velvet Blue with Little Plastic Baggie.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Merrick          0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
Velvet had no idea this person could use this kind of jutsu before--so when Merrick is able to pop up behind them--it's too late to stop the plastic bag coming down. There is a tangle of plastic and hair, as the plastic begins to cut off hairflow, Velvet instead having to struggle to avoid blacking out and meanwhile getting the man off him. Straining with his hands around his neck, Velvet manages with great effort to push himself forward--one of his booted legs going up and back and trying to kick the man behind him--either into the thigh or knee, trying to knock them off balance!

COMBATSYS: Merrick blocks Velvet Blue's Mule Kick.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Merrick          0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MERRICK]
The kick connects, and even though Merrick is wearing some form of padding that softens the initial impact, it still stings and smarts. The bag is let go of, and the ninja staggers away trying to rub some life into his shin. The whole time, muttering to himself.

"...some real dirty pool mister, yeah that's what I'm gonna say yeah, then I'm gonna do THIS and I'm gonna do THAT..."

As he pantomimes throwing punches through the air, perhaps rehearsing his dramatic confrontation, it appears Velvet Blue will have a moment to breathe.

Until suddenly Merrick is leaping and rolling to suddenly face the Darkstalker, having pulled both of his pistols from their holsters, and holding the triggers down as the entire backroom of that nightclub becomes a strobe effect thanks to the three-burst fire of guns akimbo.

"Or maybe I'll just do THIS!!!"

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue dodges Merrick's Terminal Glockoma.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Merrick          0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
Velvet stumbles away, tearing the bag off his face, looking very much unamused at the bag-fu shenanigans, especially when it involves the whole choking him to death bit. Or till he blacked out. Velvet really didn't know the guy's intentions yet.

Suddenly, a horde of bullets is unleashed on Velvet, and he actually has to run and dive out of the backroom area to avoid the gunfire, scrambling up and getting back to his feet. Coincidentally, this might also force Merrick to follow him out there, if he still wants to fight.

When Merrick emerges from back stage, Velvet is standing... on the stage, surrounded by likely an empty club, given the fighting and gunfire that was going on in the back.

"Not my usual stage, I must admit," he is egging his opponent on to follow.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue gains composure.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Merrick          0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MERRICK]
Click. Click. Click.

"Well, shit. Looks like I'm gonna have to go ammo shopping in Japan again after this."

With a dramatic sigh, the tall, lanky tacticool ninja walks lackadaisically through the club, twirling his guns casually in his hands as he looks around, and eventually sees Velvet up on the stage. As Merrick gets closer, he holsters his left gun, but spins his right and suddenly holds it out to aim at the bat-eared vigilante. Click.

"Bang. Ah man, you'd be so dead right now, look at that."

Is it possible to perform advanced acrobatics while at the same time being low energy? If it's possible, Merrick does it as he hops up on a chair, and uses that to kip into the air and land on the stage opposite his opponent.

"Jesus, this floor is so slippery. How do those girls do it? I mean, besides being so coked out that they don't care how they fall."

COMBATSYS: Merrick is deciding how best to hurt this stupid idiot in front of him. This might be the best opportunity to attack him...

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Merrick          0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
"Nothing legal in that market, I'm afraid," Velvet waggled a finger. "Not that criminals have a hard time getting them apparently," guns were strictly prohibited in this part of the world, the govt had responded to the swarms of werewolves and monsters by training more police and response teams. "Funny how that works," Velvet angled himself around the otherside of the stage, now with Merrick approaching him--putting a booted foot against the brass pole that stuck up from the middle of the stage, with a metallic whine it started to topple over--directly into Merrick's way!

"Don't need that in the way, I think," Velvet remarked, as if he preferred a more un-obstructed space.

COMBATSYS: Merrick attempts to interrupt Medium Strike from Velvet Blue with Dragon Punch.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Merrick          0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0      Velvet Blue

COMBATSYS: Merrick successfully hits Velvet Blue with Dragon Punch.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Merrick          0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MERRICK]
"Sorry Double B, voting season's over...polls are closed! DRRRRAAAGON PUNCH!"

As the pole comes down, Merrick rockets into the air, spinning even as his right hand comes up in a picture perfect shoryuken. Of course there was no fire or mystical energy or anything, and he mostly succeeded in crashing into that big heavy object even faster than if he'd just stood there and took it. The good news, is he changed its momentum mid-air and sent it crashing into Velvet with equal force.

When he comes down, he is doubled over clutching his head as he walks around and tries not to writhe.

"Yeah, I might be concussed. I hate it every time this happens. A real 'touch fuzzy get dizzy' kind of situation, y'know? You get what I'm talking about?"

[VELVET BLUE]
Velvet was not expecting Merrick to respond that way--if anything he expected him to need time to get out of the way of the brass pole that was now falling like a piece of timber in the forest. Merrick just sorts of... punches it back into him--clonking Velvet on the head and knocking him back as the pole swings back down. And it wasn't light, by any means! Velvet drew himself back up, shakily, looking as if they're a bit dizzy for that, peering over at Merrick.

"/Might be/? Honey, you're a beast," he peers. "And a shoto no less, looks like I'll have to step up my game," pushing the pole aside, it clangs as it rolls off the stage, knocking things off tables near to where it hits. The gag here, perhaps, is that instead of saving or exploiting the place, they're kind of wrecking it. Whoops~

Now with the stage clear, however, Velvet is able to use the space for more... elaborate techniques. Like spinning into a cartwheel--boots coming crashing down on Merrick if he gets too close!

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue successfully hits Merrick with Wonder Wheel.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Merrick          0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1      Velvet Blue

[MERRICK]
By the time Merrick has sorted his life out, his opponent is blitzing past with a fancy looking cartwheel, and the ninja takes a boot to the jaw that snaps his head to one side so hard that vertebrae in his neck audibly crack just a little even as he staggers off the stage and lands on his knees. Instead of crying out or screaming, Merrick grunts out a question through the obvious pain, as he forces his neck back into a somewhat 'normal' position.

"What the hell is a 'shoto'?"

The stripper pole was on the ground down here. Instantly Merrick hops up to his feet and 'grabs' the pole between his ankles, pivoting and swinging his hips to bring it up in a 'bo staff' style strike that is aimed primarily at the face or chest of the bat creature.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue dodges Merrick's Intercepting Strike.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Merrick          0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
"You took that pretty well, too--I think you're kinda abnormal too, no?" Velvet regains his balance after dropping down onto his hands and feet after the cartwheel.

"Shoto-kan--y'know what? Forget it," he grins with a hint of lost patience, ducking the swung stripper pole as it sails over his head, and jumped up again, trying to grab the edge of the pole, while meanwhile a surge of magical energy will try to travel /up/ the pole and into Merrick!

"Can't come on stage without being part of the show, can ya hon?!" Velvet's eyes glowed briefly as the magic surged through, unless it was stopped, he'd be in the midst of Velvet's spell! Literally, anyway.

COMBATSYS: Merrick endures Velvet Blue's Spellbound Masquerade.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Merrick          0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0      Velvet Blue

The magic surges right up the pole and into Merrick--which then causes the entire scene to shift for the both of them. The stripclub is no longer empty, in fact it's filled with people, and there's about a half-dozen women sliding down poles right towards the Syndicate man. (Not that Velvet knows that, of course.)

As their hands and bodies begin to writhe and gyrate all over him, he might suddenly feel like he's being drained, in more ways than one!

"Glad you could join the show, how do you like 'em!?" Velvet swings by on a pole also, and likely the illusion will become apparent to Merrick just a bit too late--as there is a swirling vortex of energy heading right toward Velvet--the non-human features of the strange andro-figure becoming more embellished briefly as they are glutted with energy.

And then the whole illusion breaks down, sequentially, the girls and the poles withering and blowing away on a current of air like they're dust.

"Whew~ been waiting for a good show like that for a while!"

[MERRICK]
In the end, Merrick is stood there with magical dust girls blowing away in the wind. He stands there a few moments, looking around, then looking up at the stage 'performer', before shaking his head and glancing over to the side as police sirens can be heard in the distance...it seems automatic pistol fire tends to draw attention even now.

"Alright well...cool, I guess. That was weird."

A smokebomb thrown to the floor, and Merrick, much like magical hallucination dust girls, was just dust in the wind.

But not literally. More like, figuratively. Like, maybe he just took a side entrance and booked it or something.

Yeah, that's probably it.

COMBATSYS: Merrick has left the fight here.

                                  >  ////////////////////////      ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
"Aw, damnit," Velvet is disappointed when it appears the authorities have shown up. Despite his own efforts, he hasn't been able to avoid the place getting literally trashed and causing what is probably thousands in property damage, due to the back room getting shot up and the stage getting partially knocked down.

"This isn't over yet!" Velvet seemed steamed a little, and although the fight had been going decently evenly matched, it would seem the man had limitless energy and rebounded from his blows far faster than he expected. Or at all! Something strange was going on, and he was going to find out--but now now, now he had to beat it.

"Sorry girls--" Velvet began to disappear, growing dim, and running as he slipped out another entrance.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue has ended the fight here.

Log created on 14:10:32 03/25/2021 by Velvet Blue, and last modified on 19:39:42 03/25/2021.