Description: Aranha makes a trip back to Metro City to go back to his roots and back to the fight clubs that could be found there. As he returns to motel room from such a fight he comes across a surprise from 'R' in the form of Bane. Bane pushes all the wrong buttons and Aranha introduces her to a side of him not publically shown. The Venomous Spider.
Aranha, the fighter and ex-thief who was born Keith Mason, found himself in Metro City after there was an attempted robbery in his place. While he couldn't defeat the thief he wrecked everything in his house that wasn't in his duffle bag. He hasn't returned to his place since.
We'll save you the training montages, and the various fights in the underground fight venues. Needless to say Aranha has been frequenting Vito's Restaurant a lot. That is where Aranha is actually coming from and he's heading to a cheap motel to rest his head.
It was a miracle Aranha had gotten as far as he did without someone trying to rob him for his winnings or beat him for other reasons. The night is still young and he's only made it to the motel's parking lot.
The move to Metro definitely made things harder. Aranha's trail was dead for a while. If were it not for the significant resources available to 'R', there's no way they would have been able to track him here after his home was found damaged and abandoned. Maybe the kid was already dead. Maybe there /was/ no revenge to be metted out.
In the aftermath of Jinchuu, all was quiet on the 'R' front. Some were convinced Rugal was dead. That the Ryouhara were responsible for his demise and that the crimelord would never trouble anyone again. Even his own people began to wonder at the silence from the higher ups...
But then orders started coming down from above to the normal rank and file troops. Men were dispatched. Many sent out with vendettas to deliver. Punishment for those who interferred. No doubt 'R' blames its failure to secure the Suiryuu on many factors. One of those factors is the elusive Keith Mason. And /someone/ has to be punished for failure.
Bane is the woman assigned the task when at last Aranha's location has been pinned down. The motel has been watched for a little while now, the woman, clad all in black, including her face covered by a mask, has been waiting up on the roof of the motel, waiting... Aranha didn't check out, so she knows the boy will be back eventually.
And then there is the young man at last. The eyes of an Asian female peer down to observe his approach, long, black hair resting against her shoulders. He will be left alone through the parking lot... and up the stairs... and toward the door of the motel room. It's only when he goes to enter that he'll find a problem when he tries to close the door. A foot, clad in thin, black boots, is blocking the door as he tries to close it. The woman seeks to trap him within the room it would seem.
"Spider, hm? No natural predators in most ecosystems, but sometimes they garner the attention of creatures much larger than them and have to be squashed all the same..." comes her calm voice. Poor kid. Looks nice enough. But now he's about to become just another statistic.
Aranha thought he was done with the whole Rugal thing when he got off the ship. Rugal was blasted to kingdom come as far as he was concerned. And so he's not expecting a woman to show up to try to kill him. He would've suspected her to be another thief but then she finally talks making her reasons known.
Aranha doesn't act like he's acknowledged her presence as he calmly places his duffle bag down on the ground and pulls out his sunglasses. "Ok. So who have I pissed off now, sweetheart?"
There's a long dramatic pause as he slips the mp3 sunglasses onto his face and then his lips turn downwards into a frown. "Oh and normally I wouldn't say this to a female, but get the fuck out of my room, bitch!" He suddenly launches himself at Bane and attempting to slam his foot into her gut kick her over the railing. "After all first I don't know what you look like with that mask on and second you've made it quite clear you want to 'squash' me."
COMBATSYS: Aranha has started a fight here.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Invader has joined the fight here.
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
COMBATSYS: Invader blocks Aranha's Strong Kick.
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
Up comes Aranha's foot but the woman isn't so easily gotten rid of as all that. Pulling her arms up in front of her with precise timing, she catches his foot by the shoe, the reinforced, sleek, body armored gloves over her hands and forearms managing to substantially reduce the strength of the impact.
"A smooth talker, hm?" She remarks as she releases her hold on his leg and lets him drop it back down to the floor. "You're not a dumb kid. You knew you there would be repercussion... Nothing personal, but I'm here as part of the clean up operation. Someone thinks you should be erased."
She steps forward then, her own leg coming up from the side in a roundhouse aimed for Aranha's head. Strength behind that attack, but also some hard toed boots as well. It's not going to feel good if she hits. "But really, who's going to miss you anyway?" she laughs, the sound cold, amused, and entirely morbid.
COMBATSYS: Invader successfully hits Aranha with Strong Kick.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Invader 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Aranha
While Aranha does make life around him interesting when he can take time to cultivate an atmosphere of fun around him, he still keeps people at arms length. It's part of the reason people like Eva find him mysterious. It also has the side effect of not leaving many people to miss him when he's gone.
There is his sister but in all honesty that's perhaps the only person who would truly miss him. Not that he would verbalize that. He would like to say, 'Maybe my mom and dad if I hadn't killed them,' but why give this woman more ammo to ruin his life with.
Apparently he spends too long thinking about that because when that roundhouse comes the usually focused Dancing Spider slammed hard into the wall cracking the plaster and causing the other occupants of the hotel to scream for the two shut up. "What makes you think I give a damn about being missed," is all that is uttered before he launches himself at her again this time taking to the walls to bound off before going right for her chest.
COMBATSYS: Invader endures Aranha's Sky's the Limit.
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Invader 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Aranha
She read his profile. Very skilled with kicks, and a propensity and ability to take to the walls like a spider might. And so when he backs up and does just that, the woman in black isn't caught off guard. But that doesn't mean she moves to get out of the way either. Sometimes the best course of action is to take the hit. And when one is as trained in being tough as a 'R' agent is, it becomes very possible to survive it.
Her feet lock down as his foot come for her chest. Were it not for the thin body armor she has on over her sweater, the kick would have probably been brutalizingly punishing. Tough woman as she is, she isn't a fighter of Aranha's caliber, exactly. But she doesn't need to be. Just has to be good /enough/ to take him down and the armor will help.
The strike elicits a grunt and she slides back toward the door, but then both of her hands come up, gloved fingers reaching out for Aranha's neck as she lunges for him, attempting to tackle him down and start choking him on the floor of the room. "Hey, if you don't care, all the better, right?" she grins.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Invader's Brutal Takedown.
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Invader 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Aranha
The would be killer's fingers do wrap around Aranha's neck, attempting to squeeze the life from him. The problem is that his ginga while fluid and constantly mobile, is also quite stable, allowing for him to keep standing, or rather dancing and so he spins out of her grip
When finally free, Aranha leans over to the side as he starts a cartwheel motion but stops in a handstand. One would normally see a handstand and see him as showing off but when it's from a capoeirista, a position of apparent vulnerability is still not to be taken lightly because he brings down a pair of kicks right on top of the femme fatale's head.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Invader with Change-Up Kick.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Invader 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Aranha
Bane is in for a headache. One moment she's busy trying to tackle Aranha to the floor and suffocate him, taking the fight out of him so that she can finish her job here, and the next moment he's refusing to go down, twisting out of her hands, and coming back at her with an upside down kick toward her black hair covered head. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any armor there. Just a flimsy black hat. Which is why she tries to get out of the way rather than playing the tough girl act.
To no avail. Aranha's feet snap hard against the wouldbe assassin's head, driving her to the floor of the motel room with concussive force. "OW! Damn!" she hollars as she collapses. That wasn't really what she needed at all. Dazed, but not out, she rolls forward over the floor, not getting up to her feet, trying to catch Aranha before he comes out of that upside down stance of his.
"You're dead, boy," she hisses, lunging forward to try and tackle him again, this time just going for a series of punches to his head, knees to his stomach, and a headbutt toward his face. A vicious combo of brutal violence as she tries to take him out entirely.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Invader's Savage Beatdown.
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Invader 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Aranha
As it has been pointed out in previous logs, most African American males have a severe aversion to being called boy. Especially by people of other races. Not many will offer an explanation why but in Aranha's case it's due to seeing it as an act of condescension. A refusal to see them as an equal and there's even more racial issues that go along with it. So when Bane says this, it lights a fire under his ass. The fact that one of his favorite songs is playing in his Oakley Thumps isn't hurting much either.
Aranha flips above the female twisting in the air so he lands facing her back up and over the tackle attempt which in turn makes the rest of the attack... The punches, knees and that headbutt all a non issue. "What the fuck is up with all you motha fuckas calling me, 'boy?'" His voice and the look on his face taking on a darker tone
Aranha begins his retaliation by whipping a his own roundhouse, glowing with blue chi, for her head, followed by a blue glowing spinning jump kick and finishing with a back flip kick driving a brilliantly glowing foot down upon her head once more. "I'M A GROWN ASS MAN!"
COMBATSYS: Invader blocks Aranha's Aggressive Dance EX.
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Invader 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Aranha
Ah, good, the young man is livid. Bane smirks beneath her mask, pleased at the shift in demeanor on his part. At first only seemed mildly agitated, but now he seems outraged. She's found a button to push. She so enjoys that. "Is that so... See, when you work for the kind of people I do-"
Her voice cuts out as she raises her arm, pushing a button on her glove. There is a hum of an electronics system firing up in that body armor of hers, causing it to become even more capable of absorbing impacts. Which it then needs to do as she blocks his strikes with her arms, this time managing to not take another brutal hit to the head - which does seem to be a weakpoint for her if he maanges to get his attacks throw.
Lowering her arms, her eyes glint with malicious intent, "...your child-like naivete just causes people like me to assume you're a simpleton or a boy... so which is it? A fool? Or just a kid in over his head?"
Her right hand lowers to a utility belt worn over her armor, pulling out a taser device that she points toward him. "But for now, I really need you to slow down a bit." *click* Two wires shoot out with small metal spikes on the end. And if they manage to tag the fighter, they'll be followed up with a /very/ powerful electric jolt as the taser's entire capacitor is discharged in a single burst.
COMBATSYS: Invader successfully hits Aranha with Suppression Fire.
- Power hit! -
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Invader 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
Aranha noticed the tazer and while he was sure he could completely altogether slowing down wasn't a luxury that he could afford. He took the least risky of his choices which was lean away and try to knock the spikes aside which while it would still hurt would minimize the pain.
It wasn't to be Aranha leans the wrong way and doesn't get his arm up in just right place and he receives a strong jolt shaking him before he looks at the woman again. He doesn't go for an attack again he watches and waits. "All these resources devoted to someone who couldn't care less about them, and in the grand scheme of things is so unimportant that no one would mourn the loss. It kinda makes me wonder... Who's the bigger fool?"
COMBATSYS: Aranha focuses on his next action.
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Invader 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
Bane laughs, shaking her head slowly. "You don't get it, do you. Taking you out has cost about as much resources as lifting a fly swatter to squash an insect in comparison." She drops the taser to the floor. It's charge has been expended, no need for it now.
"But that doesn't mean the fly goes unsquashed, right? It's still an annoyance. Which is why in the end, even even the most insignificant of things merits a little bit of attention..."
And then she's going after him again. Relentlessly as before, trying to pursue the swift young man. Jumping up onto the bed, she springs off o fit in an attempt to drive the heel of her boot into his chest. If she lands it, she'll spin around in mid-air, locking her other leg around his neck, before droping to the floor in a sort've handstand of her own. Her other leg will clamp around his next then, adding to the first, scissoring the young man...
If all that connects, she'll finish by twisting her body to the side, attempting to slam him down to the ground with the brutal lock.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Invader's Break The Rules.
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Invader 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Aranha
Aranha seems to be waiting for the 'R' soldier as she leaps in feet first for his chestbut instead only meets his forearm as he rocks backwards gracefully spinning with the impact before letting her feet hit the ground. Practically diving for the ground his hands make contact and form the support for the rest of his body. His head touches the ground while his torso, rests on his elbow. He then twists his body over and whips his leg downward attempting to drive his heel into her head as hard as he can.
Meanwhile he's about to point out that he's not a fly but a spider however he's not going to trash talk at this point. Pride before fall, and all that stuff.
COMBATSYS: Invader fails to interrupt Colossal Kick from Aranha with Savage Beatdown.
- Power fail! -
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Invader 0/-------/-======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
The young man takes her attack in stride, defending himself from the pain that was meant to take him down for good. If she had gotten him in that strangle leg lock, it could've been over. "Damnit," she growls, landing hard after the somewhat wreckless acrobatic attack failed to connect.
But she's coming back up all the same and sees that he's going for a strong, spinning heel for the top of her head again. "I've had about enough of you, insect," she spits, raising her hands up to try catch hold of his leg rather than getting out of the way. But even with the augmented strength her gloves are able to provide, she doesn't have what it takes to stop his foot from striking her unarmored head, the heel knocking her hard, driving her back to the floor, face down.
The impact nearly takes her out of the fight all together, her dark eyes squinting as she struggles to see straight. The young man is tougher than she gave him credit for, and right now it's becoming questionable as to whether she's going to be able to pull this mission off at all. Seems one spider refuses to go down...
Aranha's own somewhat reckless attack had success while Bane's didn't meet with nearly as much. Aranha is carefully moves in to straddle her back and grab her by her hair. His lips twist into a malicious grin. He attempts to lift her by her hair and then slam her face back down to the ground in a display of complete and utter disrespect.
He lifts her head once more pulling her mask from her face and then slamming her face down once more and spitting on her as he rises to his feet.
COMBATSYS: Invader blocks Aranha's Medium Throw.
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Invader 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
Down, with her vision spinning, but not out it would seem. Aranha manages to get seated on her back as the female assassin is slow to recover from the jarring crack to the head she just took. "I'm going to..." Her voice is pained and a little strained, for all her bluster, she sounds pretty worn out.
As he pulls her hair up, however, Bane gets her hands planted against the floor in time to resist the slam to an extent, though he does manage to shove her face back down into the carpet for a moment.
Her head lifted up again, he's able to rip the black mask from off the lower half of her face, revealing the female to be of Asian descent in her mid twenties. And she's looking pretty ticked now. There's nothing she can do to keep him from expectorating on her in abject disrespect, but as he starts to get up, she's already spinning over onto her back, legs swinging up as she literally arches her back and tries to slide her feet in under Aranha's arms before straightening back out and trying to slam him down to the carpetted floor as well, arms wrapping around those dangerous legs of his if she gets him down.
COMBATSYS: Aranha fails to interrupt Quick Throw from Invader with Joker's Wild.
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Invader 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Aranha
Aranha's body begins to glow blue as her legs catch him under his arms. Whatever he had planned probably will remain unknown to her unless the file was incredibly in depth on his fighting style. He finds himself unable to move his legs to deliver any punishment of his own.
At this point Aranha knows he has a significant advantage. While both are battered, Aranha knows he's been better at pacing himself. Even still he knows this is anybody's fight.
He'll continue to struggle against her until he's able to free himself or he's unable to fight with a grunt of effort released as he does so. Whichever comes first.
"Gotcha," the woman smirks, dark eyes narrowing as she clamps the young man's legs together with her arms, her legs slipping out from under his arms as she intends to keep him face down on the floor. And then she's crawling over him, releasing that grip on his legs in order to secure a more favorable position. Sitting on his back.
And if she pulls that off, she grabs him by his ears to pull /his/ head up and slam it back down into the floor, only to repeat the same motion a second time, and a third. "Don't bother giving up," she remarks, "Because when that happens, it's over!" After all, she isn't here just to mess up his night...
COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Strong Throw from Invader with Change-Up Kick.
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Invader 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Aranha
The first grab and slam goes as planned. Aranha's face goes up and then back down. A sensation of pain flowing through him and blood flowing out of his already deformed nose and busted lip but his mind is still working quickly instead of freaking out and devising a plan for escape. Bane will have just an instant to realize that his head went up too readily with the second lift and his head snaps backwards slamming the Asian woman in her face and driving the back of his head into her nose.
He bucks his own hips upwards to push her off before scrambling to a crouched position on the floor, staring at his current adversary. These next moves will determine the outcome of the engagement and determine who is really the hunter of this scenario.
The headbutt to the face was definitely not what she had expected. The grip on his ears is lost the moment his skull cracks into her nose, knocking her backward and off balance, making it easy for him to buck her off the rest of the way, leaving her seated on the floor with a very stunned look on her face. Not to mention, a trickle of blood running down from out of her nose. Lips curl into an angry snarl as she crab crawls backward and away from the young man, needing to get on her feet before she has any hope of retaliating.
"Not bad," she hisses, not even bothering to wipe at her nose. "But now it's over!" From her belt she pulls a serrated, black handled dagger. Laced with a poison strong enough to numb most fighters, Bane leaps for Aranha again, weapon raised high. "Even if you didn't realize it at the time, you were dead the second you decided to anger Mister Bernstein!"
What follows is a flurry of slashes, stabs, and gouges as she aims to slice the young man up and lace his blood stream with as much of the numbing poison as possible.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Invader's Dead On Arrival.
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Invader 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Aranha
Aranha slowly stands to his full height as Bane crawls backwards trying to buy space for herself enough to rise to her feet. Aranha back tracks as well but for a different reason. He knows Bane is beginning to get desperate and desperate creatures are also at their most dangerous when they feel they are backed into a corner. He wants enough room for him to react to whatever comes.
It's patience that's rewarded as he sees the initial slash which he weaves out of the way of. It is a combination of luck and skill that gets him out of the other slashes and stabs and gouges as both weapon and target become a blur as they engage in an intricate dance of life or death. Aranha's flexible body bending him in unusual directions and finally out of the way of the final blow.
Aranha still continues his motion as he tilts over into a cartwheel that once again becomes a handstand but instead of a pair of kicks, this time, he twists around as he becomes a human whirlwind, rapidly smacking her in her face over and over again.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Invader with Inverted Tornado.
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Invader 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Aranha
The slashes fail to connect and Bane's attempt to take Aranha down with the numbing poison fails. His evasion pays off, as well as his pacing, as the young woman has literally exhausted herself trying to take down this mark. And now he's hanging in there whereas her own strength is starting to run out.
He avoids all of the slashes with remarkable control, the woman getting more and more desperate with each swing. But finally he turns the tables back on her, flipping forward into a handstand in order to deliver a sequence of painful smacks to the face from his spinning kicks.
And that's all she wrote, it would seem, the female assassin stumbling backward, impacting the wall with a gasp, one hand coming up to wipe against her buised and bleeding face. "You're only delaying the inevitable," she hisses, pushing off to try and get one last grip on him, "If you don't die now, there will be more!"
Lunging forward, her gloved hands come up for his neck while her knee comes up for his stomach as she tries to take him down to the floor one last time.
COMBATSYS: Invader can no longer fight.
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Aranha 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Invader's Brutal Takedown.
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Aranha 0/-------/---====|
But the young man just isn't where she needs him to be, those fingers grasping out to get a hold and coming up short, the would be assassin falling forward to the floor, exhausted and beaten, unable to continue.
Where Bane was beaten and exhausted, Aranha was just beaten due to his careful pacing of the fight. He's hardly out of breath. He's bleeding all over and slightly singed in other places from the taser. When he's certain she has nothing left to give he grabs her by her hair and lifts her limp form up to his standing height. "It was nice having you come to my parlour, little fly." He had to make sure she understood who was really the fly in this particular scenario.
Of course that's not enough for him. He shows a side of himself that not many people are aware of. The side that's capable of cruelty when needed and/or deserved. He runs his tongue up her face in a straight line from chin to forehead while crossing over the Asian woman's eye with tongue. "Such a delicious fly, but I'm not hungry right now."
He hawks loudly drawing up a bloody loogie which he directs to the other eye. After those two demeaning acts he drags her limp body to the railing he had previously tried to kick her over and throws her over not caring how she falls... Ok... Perhaps he'd rather her to land on her head. But throwing her over is good enough for him.
There's nothing the woman can do to stop him, of course, as she's barely conscious and all she can do is grimace at the taunts. It seems she's provoked a side of the young man that none of the profiles had on him. Fighting style, propensity for ticking off dictators, and even public fight records were all studied. But they only go back so far. There's another side of Aranha that's shrouded more in mystery than fact - the man he was before now.
And perhaps that's a glimpse Bane gets as he spits in her eye before dragging her by her long, black hair, to throw her over the railing. She puts up a weak fight, incapable of resisting at this point, making one last desperate attempt to grab hold of the rail before being dropped over it to fall.
It won't kill her, as much as she deserves it. But maybe the worst punishment is being alive to report back on her failed mission to take out the young man.
They tracked him to here in Metro... and if more are to come... how long can he keep running? And surely they know of his sibling. It may only be a matter of time before the simmering coals of wrath on the part of Rugal Bernstein look elsewhere to met out the vengeance the tyrant no doubt seeks against Aranha and so many others that made the mistake of getting in his way...
Log created on 21:57:59 11/18/2007 by Aranha, and last modified on 21:23:03 11/19/2007.