Description: Quiet Riot (1979). In order for Leilani to return to active duty, she has to pass a combat exam. The only way to do that is to fight Elle. Leilani puts on a good showing, pushing Elle to her limits. Unfortunately for the island girl, Elle simply just outlasts her. Leilani earns the right to be put on active duty, however, despite almost being put into intensive care.
Once upon a time, there was this rocker chick, see? And she totally beat this stripper into the ground with a metal guitar. For serious.
But that was a while ago, and this is now. Since then, Elle has hauled her organization from simply a few random berzerkers to a lot more random berzerkers. From that morass of insanity, Elle has formed a team. But not just any team. Blackjack is, quite simply, the best of the forgotten.
Blackjack members are individuals that everyone wrote off, neglected, or simply pushed to the side because they weren't 'powerful' enough, or 'sane' enough. People with strength and skill, but with a need to fulfill somewhere in their hearts, no matter how pure, blackened, or insane. For some, it's a finding of a new purpose. For others, it's a means to maintain honor. Still, for others, it's a window to new opportunity in the form of fabulous cash earnings. Elle disparages none of the goals brought to her doorstep. Each one is as valid as the last.
And despite her appearances, each member is treated equally, with all the respect that each one earns individually. Every player in this intricate game Elle is involved with always gets what they deserve.
That leads to the impression of favoritism. It's true, Leilani has largely escaped Elle's wrath. Even Tran has gotten the thumbscrews of Elle's considerably forceful personality, not to mention Marise and Naerose. But it's also true that Leilani has shown the most overt displays of loyalty. Nevertheless, certain things can't be ignored.
Skills still have to be tested.
Elle is in her harbor warehouse, awaiting Leilani's arrival. The reason for the meeting is clear: Leilani needs to pass combat testing in order to return to active field duty. Therefore, a spar is in order. Elle prefers to be hands on with her troops. She's battled each one personally, to show them that she's unafraid of them. It also tells her what they're capable of and in turn informs them of what their leader can do.
Elle's been working hard, however, and hasn't shirked her own training. Leilani's being fought as a precursor to Elle's own development: she has to be ready for Aislinn's inevitable vigorous training regimen. So, as she waits, Elle checks over her equipment. The aforementioned Metal Guitar is slammed into it's holster across the back of a black leather jacket, tossed hastily over a Grateful Dead tee. Boot cut blue jeans and cycling boots complete the ensemble in Elle's 'classic' look. She hasn't been this casual since the beginning of all this.
Time to get back to basics.
It was many moons ago that Elle first tested the combat skills of the adult services worker she would later come to employ. Since then, the Hawai'ian woman has not used those skills much, save for a NeoLeague battle with the young Hotaru Futaba, a minor altercation with a demon-infused hulking superpower of a man and a few random knees to the crotch in a couple of bars. She's rusty. And the fact that she's been off-duty to recover from battle damage sustained from that small row with Rugal has made her even more so.
When she'd been informed that another test of her skills was required, she'd sighed. Leilani was not looking forward to this. Having her ass handed to her was never really something she favored, but she understood the need. Elle required her people to be combat-ready at all times, and of her people, Leilani was really the weak link.
Entering the warehouse through a side door, the Shark pulls the hood of her thin, white unzipped hoodie off her head, looking around for a moment before locking onto Elle. Stepping forward and hopping down the short set of stairs, she pushes the sleeves up her tanned forearms with gloved hands. The light, matching white fleece of her bootcut sweatpants flutter in her wake as she makes her way quickly to her boss. "Evening, Mo'i," the Hawai'ian says once in speaking range. "How are you doing tonight?"
Not many people ask Elle that question. It's appreciated, but the answer is always inconsequential. How Elle is doing never matters. What she's doing? That's something altogether different. "Holding things together," she replies, her voice dry and raspy as ever. "Look, I know you don't like fighting, and I didn't hire you to fight," Elle says as she raises her arms above her head to stretch.
"But I don't like doing it either. I just have to stay on top of things. Getting fat and lazy isn't an option for me anymore. We've got too many potential enemies floating around out there, and I'm not losing anyone because they're not prepared."
"Granted," Elle continues, "I'll always make sure everyone has backup or a partner whenever they might need it." The same isn't true of everyone, however. Aislinn rarely needs a partner, although the girl knows how to fight with one, and Marise is very much a solitary hunter.
But it's true, Leilani's the least battle tested out of the group. Elle means to fix that shortly. "I'll be testing out a few things in this fight," she explains, "so that might give you a bit of a one up on me. However, I'm not going anywhere, so I don't want you to hold back on me. I have an unfortunate habit of not dying, so don't worry about doing any lasting damage."
With that, her stretching hand falls onto the neck of her guitar as she backs up. "Go ahead and make the first move," Elle says calmly, eyeing her public relations agent carefully.
COMBATSYS: Elle has started a fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Leilani has joined the fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Leilani
Shrugging softly, the Hawai'ian smiles at her employer. "Of course," she says, adjusting her gloves. She understood that her place was the face of Blackjack, but she, too, understood the need to keep ready. With powerful enemies such as Rugal waiting in the wings, it helped if the members of the organization were prepared for war.
Such is the life of a mercenary.
Nodding softly to the rocker, the Hawai'ian decides to cut the chatter and get right to the action. This was, after all, a test... and while her employer might be getting prepared, perhaps a blitz could surprise and catch her flat-footed. Leilani, after all, tended towards the 'wait and see' approach of combat, dancing before the strike... But here, against her employer, the potential use of the hula to distract was lessened than against a fighter unadapted to the idea.
Dropping down and slapping the ground with her palms like, she explodes into the air like a tree frog, twisting around like a gymast. Positioning herself behind Elle, back to back, when she lands and immediately dropping immediately into a crouch, the Shark uses her own momentum to coil up before rocketing her elbow back towards the rocker's tailbone. If she connects, it could risrupt the ability of her comrade to walk for a few days, but this is a test of her skills. She's gotta start with a bang.
COMBATSYS: Elle endures Leilani's Strong Punch!
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Elle 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Leilani
An unusual tactic. Elle's not a swift fighter, but what she lacks in speed, she makes up in durability. The crashing elbow against her backside is enough to deaden the nerves in her legs for a moment, which causes her to crash down to one knee with a grunt of disapproval.
The rocker, however, is far from crippled. Adrenaline dulls the inital shock almost immediately, and Elle turns the drop into a roll quickly. Almost too quickly, in fact.
As she does so, she pulls her arm up, grasp firmly clamped at something hidden in the neck of the guitar behind her back. The sound of metal scraping on metal is heard as Elle unlimbers a weapon: a solid metal mace. The brushed steel of the simple smashing weapon catches no light, and is only a blur of gray as Elle's legs push her forward across the ground.
Boots chew the floor beneath her as the pain screams through her legs, dulled by the focus Elle is putting on her approach. Her arm rears back, the steel club suddenly becoming hard to see as Elle channels sonic power down the weapon which harmonizes with the frequency she sends down the crushing weapon. With a short grunt, Elle attempts to pound the weapon clean into Leilani's sternum. She's not going for vitals, but it'll hurt all the same if it connects.
COMBATSYS: Leilani blocks Elle's Bad Reputation.
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Elle 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Leilani
Well, that was somewhat of a surprise. She didn't expect to connect, to be honest, as she had a certain vision of Elle's skill. Perhaps she just got lucky. In fact, the fact that Elle's come back immediately seems to further this particular view of things. As the rocker slams her guitar at the Hawai'ian, Leilani crosses her arms in front of herself, letting her forearms absorb the energy of the blow. Shoved violently backwards, she barely keeps upright as she's sent hopping backwards.
Shaking out her left hand, trying to regain some feeling in the limb, the Shark begins to circle like her namesake, looking for a crimp in the rocker's defense. Alas, there's really none that she is able to find, so it's simply a hope to overpower. Hopping forward, the Hawai'ian drops into a crouch before leaping again, arching her back hard as she flips over. Kicking her legs out as they leave the ground, a wellspring of water rushes forth from the concrete, trailing behind her feet like razors... all aimed at Elle's face.
COMBATSYS: Elle blocks Leilani's Tsunami Kick.
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Elle 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Leilani
The mace is slammed back into the body of the guitar proper, being withdrawn after smashing it squarely onto Leilani's defenses. It didn't have the effect she was looking for, and Elle's eyes narrow slightly as she backs off.
The rushing spray of harsh water splashes towards her, the razorlike tearing of the rapidly moving energy burst slamming hard against the rocker's shoulder. Having raised her jacket to protect herself from the brunt of the explosive display, Elle's left hand has already snaked back behind her.
There's a secret Elle rarely shares, but a close observation of her actions would reveal that Elle is actually ambidextrous. She rarely uses this in battle. Nevertheless, it's dawned on her that it allows for a quick switching of weaponry in combat, and that there's no real reason she shouldn't use her special trait in combat.
So as her right hand brings her jacket down, Elle's left hand is whipping out a metal cord. The steel 'whip' is handled with some amount of awkwardness. Elle is used to a light wire, not a heavy cable-strength weapon. Nevertheless, the mercenary cracks it in retaliation before whipping the new toy about to snag Leilani by the leg and yank yer to the ground with a thud, trying to toss the hula girl off her balance.
It would appear that Elle's trying out a prospective new arsenal on her hapless employee.
COMBATSYS: Leilani counters Medium Throw from Elle with Counter Strike.
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Elle 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Leilani
Landing back into a crouch, the Hawai'ian's face is decidedly unemotional as the last of the water cascades down from her kick. It's a tactic she'd used plenty of times in non-combat situations, but it hadn't really occurred to her to use it in a fight until she noticed how Elle handled herself. It was a good tactic. Held the cards close.
As Elle cracks the whip, the Shark reads the movement and immediately reacts. Snapping her right fist out, she punches Elle's left hand directly as the rocker maneuvers the cord around, hoping to not only interrupt the attack but dislodge the weapon. A left jab sails towards her comrade's right hand just before the right hand rockets into Elle's sternum, the open palm used as a strike, a shove and a point from which to push herself back and out of immediate danger.
Leilani doesn't see much into the success she's been finding thus far. Elle stated she was trying out new things... and perhaps that reason is why the Shark is able to bite.
Failure hurts more than the punch, and the metal cable falls to the floor. Perhaps Aislinn was correct: there's such a thing as spreading your focus to thinly. Then again, there's the fact that Elle's not done yet, and still has quite a lot of fight left in her frame. The blow knocks the air out of her lungs for a moment, and she's only able to draw breath with some difficulty as she hacks out a harried cough.
No time to recover now, however, as Elle's already trying to stage a counterattack. Eyes shift left and righ as she attempts to discern her standing in this mattle. So far, her only strike was the initial attack, and it was blocked. If memory serves correct, then she's not doing what brought Leilani down in their initial meeting.
And that's unleashing the pure, unadulterated force she's known for.
Twisting on her heel, Elle whips her hand towards Leilani's face, fingers splayed as if going for a full on face grab, but she stops inches short as she leans into the attack. The hideous screech of a heavy metal guitar wailing at maximum volume inches away from her face will likely leave a pounding headache in it's wake if Leilani can't cover her ears or duck as it seems to burst forth from her palm.
COMBATSYS: Leilani blocks Elle's Metal Health.
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Elle 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Leilani
Bringing the noise is exactly what the Hawai'ian was waiting for Elle to do... but that doesn't mean that she had a good defense planned. Leaning back as the rocker brings her hand forward, Leilani's initial defense to avoid getting a faceful of palm, the Shark's eyes suddenly go wide in surprise as the initial screetch rumbles forth from her boss' hand. Slapping her palms over her ears, she grimaces at being subjected to the total audio output of two Marshall stacks set to eleven. Even thus muffled, the sound is almost deafening. It'll certainly make her hearing about as good as the day after the last concert she attended.
Which, mind you, was a Slayer concert. Strippers are f'in' metal.
Leaning her head further back as the onslaught starts to fade, Leilani pulls her hands away from her ears. Swinging them violently down, she uses the extra torque to drive her head forward, aiming her forehead at her employer's middle finger. Jam, dislocate, break; whatever it takes to make sure Elle stops trying to deafen her.
COMBATSYS: Leilani successfully hits Elle with Quick Punch.
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Elle 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Leilani
It would seem that this time around, Leilani's got the advantage. As she recovers from unleashing what is normally a crippling attack to most of her opponents, Elle notices that Leilani's not falling to the floor in a heap. Instead, she's smashing her forehead into Elle's hand with considerable force, which sends pain rocketing up her arm. The limb is quickly pulled back, and the woman clenches her hand into a fist with a shout.
Elle's not going to be playing her guitar any time soon, for sure.
The woman takes a step back. Time to recover her bearings for a bit. Her new tactics seem to be putting her at too great a disadvantage. Letting her own internal power build, Elle crouches in a defensive posture, the rolling sonic energy at her command causing the ground to shudder slightly as she draws that power up into her frame.
COMBATSYS: Elle gathers her will.
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Elle 1/---====/=======|======-\-------\0 Leilani
She got a reaction out of Elle. This is somewhat new.
The yelp, though, is not exactly what she wanted to hear. Part of her is pulled out of the combat and into another mode, that of the denmother. She slips into this mode often, and it usually coincides with a homicidal urge towards those that have caused injury to her people... But in this case, that urge could only be self-directed. As she forces this mode down, her face once again becomes placid and dull, the emotion and concern draining away quickly. Remember, Lei, this is a test. Any of this could be part of it.
Given the nature of the combat, however, it's unlikely that a denmother instinct is being tested. It's more likely the drive and determination to win.
Stepping forward swiftly, Leilani reaches out, attempting to snag Elle by the throat. If she can manage that, she hopes to be able to show her boss that she has some significant strength... as she lifts her up and sends the rocker crashing to the cement in a chokeslam.
COMBATSYS: Elle blocks Leilani's Strong Throw.
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Elle 1/-======/=======|======-\-------\0 Leilani
Having found her bearings once again, Elle's forces to take stock of the situation. First thing's first: There's a hand coming to choke the hell out of her. This is rather unfortunate. Centering herself once again, she finds herself searching for options now, and considers the few that she has available at this juncture in the battle.
So far, Leilani's more or less managed to survive her nastier attacks, and properly defend herself against Elle's new weaponry. The fact of the matter is that Elle's only got so much in her. After a while, she starts to run a little low on endurance. It's a weakness she's been meaning to fix. It's one she hopes Aislinn will be able to remedy.
No time to dwell on such things now, though. Elle takes a hand to her neck, but jerks her head roughly to one side, knocking the hand free with a strong arm. The result is thin lines on her neck, where nails scratched trails of blood on dark skin. Using the momentum of the lean back, she flips once, landing in a crouch. Legs send her into the air, flying overhead as she attempts to land behind Leilani. Should she manage, Leilani will have her head turned to one side viciously with a single hand before being flung to the ground as Elle cradles her wounded limb, favoring it slightly.
COMBATSYS: Leilani endures Elle's 17 Crash.
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Elle 1/=======/=======|=======\=------\1 Leilani
The slight pang of guilt is enough for the Hawai'ian to pause as Elle flips overhead, giving her only enough time to steel herself for the incoming pain as Elle grabs her roughly and sends her to the concrete. It hurts, and it causes Leilani to crack a pained smirk for but a moment as she peels herself off the floor and right herself.
Back on her feet, the Shark steadies herself as she returns to a stony demeanor. Slipping her hoodie off and tossing it to the side, Leilani takes a deep breath and nods once. Now unfettered, she explodes off the line, rushing the short distance between her and the rocker in a few long strides. In a flash, she ducks low, coiling her legs for a moment before leaping into the air, trying to dive over Elle's head, her path giving her next to no clearance... which is her plan, seeing as her intent is to drive her knee, hard, into her boss' forehead.
COMBATSYS: Elle dodges Leilani's Heavy Kick.
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Elle 1/=======/=======|=======\==-----\1 Leilani
As much momentum as Leilani took from absorbing her vicious attack, one would expect Elle to be all but destroyed when the incoming knee shoots forth to smash her forehead open like a watermelon. In fact, it's a razor's edge chance for her, as Elle calls on the flagging amounts of reflex that come from her former life, years ago.
At cheer camp.
As if anyone could beleive Elle was ever a cheerleader, once upon a time. But that's neither here nor there. As the knee shoots forward, Elle heaves her body back int a perfect backflip, executing it with nary a stumble. Her heavy boots slam against the pavement beneath her feet, and the cracking sound echoes in the warehouse.
Then she pauses. Aislinn told her to try to focus her energies without her guitar. The weapon has since been a crutch for her, allowing her to direct her power with greater ease. She feels uncomfortable without it, although her deadpan, expresionless face would never betray it. Nevertheless, as she feels the power well up inside of her, a trickle of sweat crawls down her forehead. The surging energies build up in her, and with a deafening blast of a single bass note, Elle lets fly with a massive wall of sound, the blast coming like a wall from her stationary body, fists held away from her. The recoiling vaccuum of wind causes her to stumble upon release of the sonic charge as the rolling wave of power chews up everything in it's path, disintigrating small objects as it rushes at Leilani.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Leilani with Black Sabbath.
- Power hit! -
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Elle 0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Leilani
Rolling twice after the dive, Leilani turns around and witnesses Elle's training take hold... The wall of bass is impossible to prepare for, hitting the Hawai'ian like a freight train and reverberating in every cell of her body. Her lungs attempt to implode, and her left eardrum ruptures. Thrown back into a wall, the Shark falls into a heap and doesn't move for a few seconds.
Once she begins to stir, it's evident that she's in a lot of pain. Blood trickles from her ear, her nose, one eye and the corner of her lips... The sonic assault having done a lot of damage, the slightly disoriented stripper gains her balance and turns towards Elle. Despite the pain, the Hawai'ian forces down the desire to wince or to cry out. Elle's got this thing in the bag, really... She just proved her might once again. But now, it's time for Leilani to try and prove hers.
She doesn't run towards the rocker. While moving quickly, the best adjective is a stalk... Elle's use of the guitar may have been a crutch before, and the previous injury to her hand might have put her use of it out for a bit... but Leilani now has plans on giving Elle a good reason to leave the large metal object at home. Reaching out as she approaches, the Hawai'ian reaches for her employer's right shoulder.
She just wants to return the favor.
COMBATSYS: Elle blocks Leilani's Kapu Ku'i A Lua.
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Elle 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Leilani
Grabbing Elle's shoulder roughly, the Hawai'ian slams a fist into the rocker's armpit, trying to deaden the limb in a quick shot before causing a significant amount of pain... But the punch is off-target. While trying to wrap Elle's arm into a jointlock that would cause the joint to slip out of place, Leilani loses her grip, despite digging her fingers in to try and keep ahold of her boss' arm.
"Well, I'm fucked," she mutters as the rocker escapes.
The metal mercenary doesn't respond. All she's got is a very grim look on her face. Granted, she always has that sort of inexpressive mask clamped on like it was some kind of blast shield that defends her from everything that's happy and bright with the world, but that's the price you pay when you want to know everything there is to know about everything and everyone.
For want of knowledge, the light of life is lost.
Or some other stupid poetic nonsense. The fact is, Leilani has been evaluated, and Elle's just looking to finish this up now. She wastes no time, although she doesn't act with undue haste. Slipping free from her employee's grasp, Elle's hands reach out to apply a hold to her own. Once again, Elle seeks to grab the other woman by the head, this time twisting it the /other/ way before heaving her to the ground with her good arm.
COMBATSYS: Leilani counters 17 Crash from Elle with Kona Wind.
- Power hit! -
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Elle 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Leilani
Well, maybe she's not fucked just yet.
Though somewhat disappointed at not being able to show Elle her most potent, and forbidden, technique, she isn't exactly ready to throw in the towel just yet. This is, after all, a test, and quitting is not a good way of passing any evaluation whatsoever. As the rocker reaches towards her, the Shark strikes, snatching the arm out of the air and twisting. Leading the arm down while twisting, Leilani forces the other woman to bend over at the waist. Immediately, she rolls over Elle's back, wrapping the immobilized limb up as she rolls, forcing Elle to twist as she comes over the other side. The momentum, plus the forced pivot point at the shoulder, allows Leilani to heft the mercenary leader over with great speed... and spike her roughly into the ground.
The Shark's still got some teeth.
Elle hits the floor with a resounding /crack/, the mercenary being sent to the floor in a surprise move. She didn't expect that. The force knocks a good deal of fight out of her, and she lets out a hiss of breath.
She lay there for a second. That was possibly the heaviest hit Leilani's landed on her the entire match. lungs labor for breath as Elle stands up slowly, staggering slightly. Damage doesn't show up on Elle as easy as most people. The woman can take huge amounts of punishment, the likes of which she realyl shouldn't be able to. Still, Leilani's pushed the battle to a knife's edge.
But, lest the islander forget, Elle's doesn't only have sonic power at her command. Elle's hands raise up unsteadily, but suddenly lock into place as power begins to rip up her frame, swirling around her fingertips as she steadies herself, splaying her feet for better stability. Energy arcs between her hands before she suddenly throws them wide apart, hurling a snarling white band of electrical energy at the other woman. The thick rope of power seeks to ry the Hawai'ian to a crisp, if she's nto careful.
COMBATSYS: Leilani slows Whitesnake from Elle with Waterspout.
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Elle 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Leilani can no longer fight.
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Elle 0/-------/-----==|
Tsk. Leilani, you should know better. Water and electricity don't mix.
As Elle's electrical build-up begins, the Hawai'ian prepares to counter with her only remaining option... Dropping quickly, she taps the ground with her fingers before standing and launching them upwards with a flick of her wrist, a swirling spout of water erupting from the ground in front of her, just in time to intercept the white electricity. But the force of the incoming blow forces the liquid tornado to bend slightly backwards... the bend enough that the swirling mass comes in direct contact with the Shark.
With an explosive pop, the energy surges into her body, causing her to stiffen immediately. Like a felled tree, she falls over as the water disperses, her eyes rolling back into her head as darkness envelops her.
COMBATSYS: Elle has ended the fight here.
And Leilani is down. Elle doesn't take any enjoyment from that fact. Instead, there's a sense of satisfaction that she's made the right choice. Leilani checks out. Although Elle's inflicted some serious damage to the islander, it's nothing that a few days rest, some black market docs, and a little bit of Dr. Tran's miracle ointment can't fix.
But first, Elle's going to need a sit down herself.
The rocker slumps to the ground voluntarily, sitting heavily onto the floor with a thump. Oof. She'll make sure Leilani's not in any immediate need for emergency repair, then set her on the cot she had stored for Naerose's use. In the morning will come the physicians and then a ticket out to Metro City.
The Shark is going to be let out of her cage.
Log created on 00:21:35 09/28/2007 by Elle, and last modified on 17:11:03 09/28/2007.