Match of the Millennium

Description: Locked and trapped in the Pitch Black room -- a room that does little but live up to its name -- Vanessa and Whip find themselves ready prey for something much worse than the dark. This becomes a fight for them to retain their very sanity, among other things. (Winner: Igniz)

Many Saturday Night Fights are not without merrit. Many of them occure in different places, at different times, with different things. Sometimes the contestants fall from a designated height, fight on trampolines, or other zany things. Many times they just fight.

Today is a little different. Fighting will still happen, but in Metro City's own Financial district the darkness once more is a sporting environment. If you could see in the dark, that is. Which many cannot do, but even seeing in some light is completely negated, as the room was made especially to filter out as much light as possible, leaving nothing, no where to look but absolute darkness. Other senses would have to be used instead.

Many would wait until the end, but before it even started, before most of the crew was even there, a cloaked figure, robed in purple and covered completely still arrived. To the SNF application a few days back he had stated his strength as 'godly'. To which they responded in tune.

Still, Igniz had gotten here many hours in advance, moving into the darkness, and waiting there, eagerly awaiting what was to come. He practiced only for the few moments at the beginning, but then it was finished. He did not need anything more. Instead, he waiting. Waiting far back in the darkness.

For what would happen if Whip saw him in the light? No, that would never do. She had to find out the other way. That no matter how much she's over that part of her life.

She'll always be afraid of the dark.



Vanessa doesn't arrive very early. Indeed, she is only barely on the kinder side of punctual, showing up about three minutes before the fight is due to begin.

She is not quite sober, because one does not go into a fight with a man of Igniz' reputation /in the dark/ without a little liquid courage. Not even Vanessa, who boldly faces down people perfectly capable of tearing her apart, is quite /that/ brave. That's what the liquor's for.

Still, when she waves to the crew and offers a hearty "Yo! Where's the ring? Don't wanna keep the fans waitin'!" she isn't swaying, bleery-eyed, and doesn't even slur much, so presumably she's perfectly OK to fight. She's not in her suit today, showing up only in one of her variant colors - the all-black ensemble with a dark tie. Of course, the colors wouldn't help the least bit in a room from which all light has been removed, but...

...well, if by chance some light should get in, better to make herself not so obvious a target with that white shirt, right?



When Whip was handed the fax where upon her fight details were listed and finalized, she remembers squinting at the text on the paper for a little longer than necessary. She read a few words in particular over and over again, as if she wasn't sure she understood them right... pitch darkness? They expect her to fight without being able to see? They're kidding, right?

They have to be kidding.

"...They're not kidding," Whip mumbles to no one as she finds herself in Metro City, staring up at the towering outside to what must be the Pitch Black Room. She squints, half-smiling like some realistic part of her still isn't sure what to believe... though the constant presence of SNF personnel scampering past her, back and forth (and getting ready to attempt to film a fight by infrared vision) does little for her healthy skepticism. She exhales noisily, running a gloved hand through her long bangs. So they expect her to fight without her eyes. This is going to be new.

"--Hi!" a voice calls up at Vanessa's shoulder a few seconds later, as young girl -- who looks either in or barely out of her teens -- steps up to the taller woman with a kind smile and shy wave, her demeanour seeming entirely contrary to the outfit she's wearing. Dressed in vintage military fatigues, she looks like an extra stepped off some Indiana Jones movie. She continues on in a friendly way, speaking half-apologetically, half-dubiously, "You're Vanessa, right? I'm Whip. Looks like we're going to be a team this week! I guess we should go on in; I'm being told the other guy is waiting in the room for us."

Whip makes a slight face as she adjusts her tunic, checks her holsters, and gives her gloved hands a readying flex, calling up old training and sharpening her senses as she heads into the Pitch Black Room herself. But her thoughts are elsewhere. What kind of person voluntarily sits by himself in a dark room? Sounds like a freakshow.



A freak show? That's no way to talk about the leader of NESTS. He's a god, heavenly from his head to his feet. If he could read thoughts then Whip might have been extinguished before she even made it into he room, but there isn't any movement. Igniz had found a corner to sit in, awaiting the arrival of the others. Whip and Venessa? Both of them delivered to him in a nice, dark room?

It almost makes Igniz consider sending Geese a fruit basket, one that isn't full of faulty weapons, grenades, or faulty grenades. He had considered it before, but until now he's made no motions towards said goal.

But today, Igniz did not have to move for others to come to him. Instead, he watched from the opposite corner, looking towards the blaring portal to the other world, seeing Whip's figure move in, blocking the light for a brief moment, her shadow entering behind her.

His mouth slowly crept into a smile. There was nothing to say at the present moment. He could only wait. Wait until the doors were closed.



"Yeah," Vanessa says, eyeing the much younger girl. She hooks her thumbs into the waist of her slacks, and after a few moments of analysis, grins. "Yeah, I am." This is an Ikari? Seriously? Well...

...if that's the case, maybe they can have a few words, later. If Vanessa's impressed, anyway.

"It's nice to meet you, Whip." She bobs her head, a casual sort of greeting, and then pulls one hand up, making a careless, exaggerated gesture in the direction of the veritable tomb awaiting them. "Love to talk more, but you're right - it seems Batman over there is already waiting for us."

She spins on her heels, walking toward the entry. "I hate to rush a good fight, but..." she muses, aloud. "Well, we'll see. Maybe the other guy can make this interesting."



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

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Igniz            0/-------/-------|

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

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Igniz            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0          Vanessa

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

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Igniz            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                 |-------\-------\0          Vanessa

Hardened, veteran mercenary soldier, Whip most certainly appears not. But if there's any universal truth to be told, especially in regards to this peculiar breed of fighters, it's that appearances can, and will be deceiving. And there's probably something belying that small, lean, and innocuously-smiling girl that has won her a respectable place within the Ikari ranks.

Either that or they've really lowered the bar in these last years.

"For some reason, I doubt this fight will be boring," Whip deadpeans, already bemoaning the thought of losing her eyesight. She's never doon anything remotely close to this. She supposes if this isn't a test of her skill... nothing will be. She pauses shortly before entering the room, a thought striking her well enough to turn a curious look back at Vanessa. "Hey," the girl intones, "don't let us get separated, OK? I think if we stay close, we'll have a chance. That way we won't accidentally attack each other."

With that, she enters Pitch Black. The door soon closes after the two fighters. The lights go out. And Whip already is getting that weird feeling in her gut, the one she usually gets when she knows she's about to be incredibly unlucky.



As both women move into Pitch Black, the light are gone. The doors are closed, locked, and tightly sealed. No light can be seen in this room of unseen size or height.

As darkness envelops and devours the last bit of light, Igniz's eyes open fully. Nothing. He can see nothing in the dark. Nothing at all. But it doesn't bother him. As if he knew the area about him, he moves forward, two powerful steps that both girls could hear easily. "You've come." A voice declares, soft yet powerful, echoing among the room constantly.

Without even touching the robe, it flares violnently. The rustling of clothes can be heard, wind sweeping where wind cannot get. A heavenly prayer can be heard along side, and for the faint moment, if only a blip of light gleaming down into Igniz's face, they see where he is. Light in an unlit room, the Pitch Black. And then, nothing. The moment of light once again gives into darkness.

"Whip..." Igniz begins. "Is that what you call you? It's been so long since we've seen each other. Hasn't it?" Igniz begins, forming a whip of his own, summoning it from his battlesuit. And once there, striking out through the darkness, a powerful strike lashing out towards Whip's features, thorns attached to each segment of the weapon.

It cracks, with or without Whip there. He must have watched them when they entered. To give him an advantage at first.

COMBATSYS: Igniz successfully hits Whip with Trans-Axial Slice.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Igniz            0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                 |-------\-------\0          Vanessa

Whip is already realizing how little she likes the dark. She's glad she's never really had any problems with it that borders the irrational; her uncertainty is far from the quiet panic of a phobia. But she knows she doesn't like it in here. She already wants this fight ended so she can get out.

There she waits, finding the focus and the concentration to sharpen the rest of her senses, especially that of her hearing, which is going to be the closest guide she'll have without her eyes. The darkness seems heavy and thick, and her eyes twitch in their sockets, moving despite themselves to try to make out any shape, any texture -- anything within the pervasive black. Nothing comes to them. The strangest of sensations comes upon the young woman in her forced blindness, one she knows she has no time for. It's been a long time since Whip has felt this vulnerable, and she doesn't like it.

If there's something about being unable to see, it makes everything else sound louder. When that voice speaks up out of nowhere, Whip startles, her nerves already on edge. She orients reflexively towards the sound, frowning, letting her training think about nothing other than to ascertain just where it came from. But she gets a helping hand. Light flares out of nowhere, and Whip flinches from it, her eyes already adjusted to the dark. Managing to look back, she gets the glimpse of a face, something there-and-gone-again, something that doesn't give her too much time to ponder.

Whoever that man is, who she found strange enough to be waiting for them in a pitch black room, reveals that he knows more than her name. If her face was able to be seen, it would look as if she was struck. "What?!" she blurts back into the darkness, at that formless voice. "What're you talking abo--"

She makes herself shut up in time to hear it. Her useless eyes widen. And trying to navigate by sound alone, the girl tries a blind dodge against whatever's meant her way... but it's not enough. She doesn't know why. Too slow, too uncoordinated, or just too damn unlucky, she's startled by fast, sudden pain in all the darkness, Igniz's whip struck against her with all its little barbs sticking in. Felled by the blow to one knee, she crouches, lifting one gloved hand to her face, not needing to touch it to know she's bleeding.

But she has no time to nurse her mistakes. She needs to attack this man while she has an idea where he is. A moment later, she reaches blindly and snags her own trusty whip, snapping out Voodoo with an expert ease that requires no eyes to perform. With a hiss, she lunges forward, striking blindly, repeatedly with her outstretched weapon, hoping that its winding length will find something.



Vanessa frowns, squinting. Darkness, complete and utter. Nuts. They really weren't kidding, were they? And the other guy was smarter than they thought - hiding back there in the dark, too far away to see. But--there, that spark. Just an instant, a single second - but it was there, and now Vaness ahas an idea of where he is. Then he starts /talking,/ and she has an even better one.

It's maddening...but Vanessa has trained well, to keep her calm in situations like this. The enemy would not always be something she could face in broad daylight. This, she knows well. She focuses as best she can on the /sound/, trying to pick up locational cues from footsteps and voices.

Those words...then, this guy must know Whip? But, from Whip's words, she doesn't know the guy back.

Freakin'--Howard always did like his drama, didn't he? Vanessa growls, low.

But then Igniz is striking at Whip, that thorned whip slashing the darkness and the air. She can't see it, of course, but she can hear it well enough. She's sure Whip will be striking blindly, and from what she remembers hearing about Whip from the folks before the match, that means there will in fact be a /whip/ in the air, but...

...but Vanessa can move anyway. She tries to keep an idea of where Whip is in mind before she moves, planning it as carefully as she can before she goes: she streaks forward, arm held back, and drives her fist full-force toward where she /hopes/ Igniz' face is.

"You're gonna try to psyche her out?" Vanessa grates. "Don't think it'll be that easy!"

COMBATSYS: Igniz blocks Vanessa's Dash Puncher.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Igniz            0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                 |-------\-------\0          Vanessa

COMBATSYS: Igniz dodges Whip's Strength Shot - Chikara.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Igniz            0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                 |-------\-------\0          Vanessa

Igniz is a man of many talents. One of them is to disorient, to speak whimsically and bring others on his side, as if it was the true word of god, and those that march behind him his loyal servants. The other side of Igniz only those which cross him see. For the moment, none have really crossed him. None save for Whip. She could only hope this is over faster than it starts. Perhaps.

The darnkess aids him, Igniz able to suck back the strike quickly before disapating it into thin air, tucking it into his battle suit. Words come before strikes. Precious words that, while the man cannot see, touch or feel, he can hear before they come. To speak is to stay ahead. "Such an ugly name, Whip." Igniz sighs, "Your real name was much more pretty. Much more fitting for some one like you." Igniz continues, his voice echoing among the dark. She's startled. Good. Igniz tracks her footsteps even below his voice, listening for her weapon to strike out. Igniz shifts his feet towards the side, evading the strike as he flattens himself out. Her whip would have captured nothing.

Shaking his head even in the dark, he imagined much greater things from her. Perhaps he must see them with his own eyes. Today was not the day for that, but to lay doubt here, in this vulnerable state, was important. If not to speak with Whip once more. He had not seen or heard her in so long.

But in this thought he almost forgets about Vanessa as she carefully manuevers herself towards his figure. He's quite certain he had not seen her coming quick enough, perhaps his biggest down fall of all. When he can feel her presence close to his is when he reacts, the battlesuits chi fields raising to stop her deadly assault. The four discs slow her strike considerably, but they shatter, leaving the rest of the strike to connect directly. His suit had been scuffed. A minor victory for Vanessa.

"Psyche her out?" Igniz asks, "No, not at all. I know her name because I'm the one that gave it too her. It's quite simple, really." Igniz grins, letting off a soft laugh afterwards as Vanessa still moves through will the assault. But something happens. The man doesn't even move, but something can be heard, felt snaking across the ground towards the boxers leg. The cape begins to slither around her leg, moving to surround and grasp before hurling Vanessa straight up if caught, moving to disorient and seperate both of them at once.



But as long as Voodoo's reach is, the weapon finds nothing in the darkness. Irritated, and irritated at herself for getting so emotional so quick into the fight, Whip calls back her weapon with a snap of her arm, the sharp leather whistling through the air and falling silent as it coils loosely around her gloved arm. She stands, every last sense on alert, turning her head to try to orient by the sounds she ears through the dark. Vanessa's familiar voice reappears as a beacon of hope for the younger Whip, both to serve as something familiar in the daunting darkness, and to remind herself not to get so bothered by this fight.

Or by whomever she's fighting. She has little idea who he is, or what he is, past the minute information listed on her fight docket. But just as well... he should know just as little about her. So why is he pretending he's not? Is he trying to get the upper hand? Is he trying to psyche her out? Is he--

...saying what she thinks he's saying. Whip may not remember much of her life, but in what she knows, she's seen a fair bit and done a fair bit more. It takes something truly novel to stun someone like her. Much like implying that she's had a name before this one. In the darkness, her eyes flare. Her jaw grits. Her hands tighten. And, for a moment, she finds it hard to hear anything else past the sound of her own pounding heart. "Who the HELL are you?!" she demands of the room she cannot see, already sounding agitated.

Stepping forward, sensitizing her ears to the nearby struggle as Igniz's suit quickly stops Vanessa's powerful attack, Whip quietly sidestrafes through the dark, looking for her own veritable opening in the fray that she can only hear, she... loses all pretense of stealth when Igniz goes as far as to imply that he not only knows her... but named her.

Whip feels her last shred of patience abandon her much like her eyesight, her newfound outrage feeling as blind as the rest of her body. "How dare you..!" she snaps, lunging forward at the noise. She forces herself to ignore her own thoughts and attack, one quick hand pulling a wicked blade off her own body and flipping it to a reverse grip. Stepping up sharply, she reaches out, trying to grab a handful out of the man in any way she can -- so Whip knows for sure it's not Vanessa she's attacking. With her other hand, in a long, clean stroke, she tries to rip the blade against him.

COMBATSYS: Vanessa counters Red Noah from Igniz with Parrying Puncher.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Igniz            0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                 |=------\-------\0          Vanessa

"Not at all, huh," Vanessa growls. "So you're...." The boxer closes her eyes against the distraction of /thinking/ she can see. Focus. Feel for it - that instant, that microsecond where he's open. Find it. Know it!

"...I don't know who you are or what you are. I bet Howard knows--"

THERE - stinging the silence, a rustle of cloth and cape, a brief microsecond's distraction, but it's THERE, and she seizes it with everything. Her fist moves by memory, driving across the distance - and smashing hard into Igniz' nose.

"Don't interrupt a lady!" she rebukes.

COMBATSYS: Igniz dodges Whip's Medium Strike.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Igniz            0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                 |=------\-------\0          Vanessa

The Darkness can help, the darnkess can hurt. He can expect, but at the same time, he can forget entirely. Both scenarious are quite terrible. The leader of NESTS holds back for the moment, but finds the fleeting moments to be terrible. The strike doesn't land fast enough, and even before he can face Whip, the plan is detroyed.

Vanessa's in too quickly. He didn't put enough space between them. A fault that Ingiz should have realized, but instead, decided to continue on. He will not make the same mistake again. The robe is stopped clearly as Vanessa throws herself in, a punch cutting through the air... and right on Igniz's face. It connects with a crack. The shield isn't able to raise, nothing happens. Igniz growls, throwing himself back.

Igniz sighs loudly, "You dare to strike me? A terrible mistake." He continues, letting Vanessa have her moment. Inside, he wants to destroy her, leaving only Whip. Whip, alone in the world. But Whip isn't her real name, is it? "Vanessa, is that your name? I think... I think I know something about you as well. Only if you want to hear it. Of course." Igniz continues as he fires himself backwards, Whip's charge resounding on the many walls as he prepares.

And once she reaches him... it's too late. He's already moved. Instead, Whip is given the fleeting feeling of a cape. The cloth of the battlesuit. "I was the one that brought you into this world, Whip. I made you who you are. One could say that... I am your father... and you are /my/ child." Igniz delights in hearing it. Even his own voice tantalizes him as he says it. He can barely focus for a moment.

Raising a single hand, while wrapping the other across his chest, pure white chi forms in the air, an orb, pulsating for moments on end before launching off towards Vanessa's last position. It barely even takes time to crackle into existence, lest fire towards its intended target.



"WHAT?!" Whip shrieks back at faceless revelation. For as long as she's known, she's been searching for her missing past. More than anything she's wanted to find her roots, her missing brother, and the knowledge of who she is. She's daydreamed a thousand times of what it would be like if -- when she would find her missing memories. Where she would be. What she would be doing. How it would feel.

She never thought that, of all places in the world, her past would choose to find her in a pitch black room during a nationally televised fight. Her last attack made in vain, her serrated knife slicing harmlessly through thin air, Whip vocallizes her frustration in a thick, throaty sound, her wide eyes trying desperately to see something, anything in the darkness. Of all the god damned places her past supposedly returns to confront her, and she can't even see..?!

"You shut the hell up," Whip hears herself snarling back, her voice hoarse, missing all traces of its usual gentled patience. She's too shocked to feel anything but anger. She refuses to believe any of this. This isn't how it's supposed to happen. This isn't supposed to be true. "You lying bastard!" And, switching weapons between her quick hands, she replaces one of her signature knives for her preferred Whip, its dangerous length arcing through the air by a quick direction of her wrist. Orienting to the sound of that haunting voice, she lashes her weapon forward, Voodoo trying to tangle at his legs...

COMBATSYS: Igniz blocks Whip's Boomerang Shot.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Igniz            0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                 |=------\-------\0          Vanessa

COMBATSYS: Vanessa blocks Igniz's Divine Arrow - Air.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Igniz            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |===----\-------\0          Vanessa

The white energy is visible to Vanessa, a searing light in the blackness. Her fists come up, the blow smashing into her forearms and causing a brief hiss of pain from the Boxing Queen. That hurt a lot, especially for something she blocked - the pain shoots up her arms and sits in her brain, throbbing.

She doesn't let up. She waits for the light to dissipate, planning to use the darkness to her advantage as best she can. She takes deep breaths.

OK, Howard did not pick this fight with /hugs/ in mind, obviously. Whip's long-lost dad?

...long-lost /asshole/ dad?

"You're having fun, sparky," Vanessa hisses, balling her fists tight. The gloves squeek audibly from the sheer pressure. "Messing with her head - and trying to mess with mine? Tch. But I've hit you once, and the way you answered...you don't get hit often, do you?"

She moves, fast - dashing in with one fist balled back. He's talking too much. She can find him with her fists, especially with Whip removed from him. The only question is whether she'll get in the way of something Whip is doing, which..well, for that, she has to trust luck alone.

"This ain't the place for your ANSWERS, punkass! Now shut your trap and CLENCH THOSE TEETH!"

COMBATSYS: Igniz endures Vanessa's Hook Punch!

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Igniz            1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |===----\-------\0          Vanessa

Harsh words, Whip, very harsh words. You might hurt Igniz's feelings, if he has any of course. In the darkness, it's quite simple to say that there very well may be nothing held back. No one will know until the end.

Igniz could, at this very moment, destroy all thought of it. Her wondering, he journey could end here. But her name will not be handed out at random. He will not tell her. He chooses to entirely forget it, not acknowledge it at all. Her name will be told when she is specifically ready to hear it. This is not the time.

"And why would I lie?" Igniz states with a soft left, "Who do you think gave K' the flames of the Kusinagi? Maxima his cybernetic gear?" The god's voice slows down, softer, gentler. "Who sent K9999 to look for you?" Laugher follows in the dark. Constrained laughter at her wavering faith. All towards Whip. Even when Whip approaches, the whip slinging around his legs. It tightens, but the barriers of the suit break it, the strike still battering his suit. It hurts, but compared towhat may have happend, an acceptable price.

Still another plauges him. The option comes once more. To destroy her. But this time, Igniz does not run from this thought. He embraces it entirely. He had not told her anything yet, focused entirely on Whip, but she pushed so hard. She herself deserves, nay, warrents this treatment. She comes, but Igniz doesn't move. The fast dash strikes Igniz dead on, bashing into his chest. Another into the side of his head. But he moves with her, letting each punch strike, feeling the blows and what she will do next. Each blow can be heard clanging against the battlesuit. It pains Igniz only briefly as he smiles, even when no one can see him. His face battered, godly yet still with the consistant pain given to it. "Brash. Courageous. You weren't always like this I take it? Your husband disappeared. Killed." Once more, laughter. Soft laughter.

"He had gotten to close to discovering. I ordered his execution. His last wish was that you lived on for him as well." The man certainly has humor, as once more, he can be heard holding it back. "But it's too late! His words will fall on the ears of the dead." Igniz begins, raising a single hand to the heavens. A powerful light eminates, swelling above him. It glows, grows. For moments the darnkess is replaced by a terrible white light, crashing down with Igniz's fist into the ground.

Where it escapes, white pillar of power exploding out of the ground, searing through the area towards Vanessa, moving to engulf her. "Now Vanessa, die! DIE BY THE SAME BLADE THAT FELL YOUR HUSBAND!" Igniz booms suddenly, no longer controlled, no longer hiding. The god is angry.

And Venessa the reciever of his wrath.



"What?" Whip keeps hearing her own voice bleating, over and over, hoarser and hoarser. It's all she can say to those horrific, formless words Igniz tells her, that voice reaching out from the darkness and sinking straight into her. She wants to stare incredulously, unwilling and unable to believe it, but she doesn't even know where to look. Her helpless frustration mounts. The Pitch Black room is starting to feel like a coffin; it's getting tighter, the oppressive darkness moving in so close she can almost feel it on her like insects moving up her arms. None of this is true. It can't be true.

When he mentions K', she startles, feeling a surge of hot, venomous anger she never knew she had. She forgets to pull back her own weapon when she realizes Igniz has stopped her attack, her mind too far lost on the names he recited out to her. The fight itself is forgotten on Whip. She can think about as well as she can see. She feels so dizzy... so sick to her stomach. And she can feel the tears on her face, which are never too far away. She's always crying.

For many moments, Whip stands there uselessly, marinating in her own shock and confusion, trying to sort out some sanity from the last five minutes. Her mind is moving too fast, she can barely concentrate. She wants to be able to see, to look at the face what keeps telling her all this. She wants out of this room, out of this fight...

"You did all that? It was /you/? It's because of YOU I can't remember? Is it?! It's because of YOU that--"

...Vanessa lost a husband?! Whip stops when Igniz channels his revelations on the third fighter, someone she had nearly forgot was even here. Even through her own teary-eyed rage, the young Ikari has the heart left to feel stung on behalf of the older woman, staring insanely into the darkness when that voice reveals itelf as a murderer. Rubbing at her bleeding face, blinking her useless eyes, Whip searches for her own anger and seizes it. She grits down on her new resolve.

She starts forward as soon as the light hits; the Ikari recoils against the pain of it, her eyes too used to the darkness to weather the sting for long. But still, her voice rings out towards Vanessa: "WATCH OUT! Follow my voice... he's right over here!"

COMBATSYS: Whip assists Vanessa.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Igniz            0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |===----\-------\0          Vanessa

COMBATSYS: Igniz successfully hits Vanessa with Ideon Blade.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Igniz            0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  //////////////                ]
                                 |=======\====---\1          Vanessa

Vanessa keeps her fists coming, one and again and again - a relentless stream, only repelled slowly, when Igniz forces her to skip back, hands up, arms ready to go in again.

But--

He speaks, and Vanessa's breath catches in her throat. Sightless eyes stare into blackness, useless.

He--

Her breathing slows to a crawl.

He--

"You..." Vanessa whispers - a slow, quiet tone, the only word that will come to muted lips. "You--"

Light returns, and Vanessa emits a low tone, a helpless squeek as the light sheers away her vision. Whip's voice reaches her, and Vanessa turns to look - eyes clearing, her heart racing, she picks herself up and skates along the ground, away, to safety--but no, there is no safety here. The attack clobbers through her attempts at evasion, and Vnaessa shrieks in agony as layers of skin and cloth are seared away from her body, the holy light of God's Judgment destroying her sinful flesh.

There is a sick, lifeless THUMP, as her body hits the far wall. A commotion outside, however brief - the technicians had not planned for this to become mortal combat.

But nobody outside is strong enough to stop the three who have decided it should be so.

Time passes as it must - the blackness, impenetrable, returning. But despite Igniz' great hopes, there are still the sounds of three people breathing in the room - however ragged one may be.

"You.../arrogant/..." Vanessa croaks. Her voice is calm - too calm, like the sea before the squall. Her legs and arms shake as she wedges a knee under her body, and then another, and then slowly drags her body upright, one agonizing inch in a time. "You...think..."

Footsteps - slow. Purposed.

"You think...you can show yourself in front of me...and expect me to lie down...?"

Long, slow breaths to match long, slow footfalls, slowly approaching Igniz.

"You made mistakes, you arrogant bastard. First, you didn't kill me when you had the chance..."

And then she's THERE - her voice, crossing the distance between her and Igniz in less time than it would take to sprint, like she simply covered the distance by will alone, one fist pulled back for a single, magnificent punch -- "and second, you TOLD ME WHO YOU ARE!"

COMBATSYS: Igniz dodges Vanessa's Crazy Puncher.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Igniz            0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  /////////////                 ]
                                 |====---\-------\0          Vanessa

Igniz recoils from his strike, standing up straight afterwards. The white chi hovers in the air momentarily, the screaming expulsions of chi fade. There is nothing for a moment, silence from him, from the others. But it fades. Screaming instead is the overall tone. Whip screams at Igniz. Vanessa screams at Igniz. And the man who believes he is god laughs. Powerfully, Majestically.

Feeling no pain, yet instead, justifying all by his divine will, Igniz cares not about a fighters husbands. The experiment that must be done. They aren't worth feeling for. They are after all just there. Just alive. Just that. Humans may come and go, live and die. None of them have any sacred bond to the planet. A god, however, deserves his status. It cold not be denied.

"Yes, me, Vanessa. I did it. I did it all." He responds to Vanessa. The darkness is his ally, his partner against both Vanessa and Whip. Even as Vanessa begins to come, moving, slowly, slowly. He listens, hears. He cannot see even with his battlesuit, but he continues to use what he can. She comes. She's near. "I am a god..." Igniz sneers as she exclaims, powering through Pitch Black as if she was a wraith. But Igniz escapes, fluttering backwards with a half hearted laugh. "I make no mistakes." Igniz states with a sneer, "I expect you to pay tribute, or die!" Igniz answers, obviously most certain he has the upper hand in that moment.

But it's not enough. Vanessa had her moment. But poor Whip. She's catching on. He hasn't checked in on her in ages. He moves like a shadow, step after step towards her calling voice. Her aid to her ally used against her? Exactly what he's attempting.

"It's all because of me. Of course I had the help of the team, but who started it? Who funded it? I can most certainly tell you that I had caused it all." Igniz states, "Are you not happy with the life I gave you? Do you not enjoy your purpose in the world?" He doesn't relent, he doesn't stop. And when he judges he's close enough to Whip, a blur, faster than the eye, even sending up a spray of wind is sent hurdling towards Whip. A simple, powerful strike. Before it begins, it's over. Directly to the Ikari Warrior's chest. What he was using could be judged simply by sight... but that isn't possible right now, is it?

COMBATSYS: Whip fails to interrupt Fierce Punch from Igniz with Strength Shot - Chikara.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Igniz            0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  /////////////                 ]
                                 |====---\-------\0          Vanessa

Whip can hear that voice all around her, the darkness seeming to amplify it until she can feel the words reverberating behind her eyes, inside her teeth. She gives her head a disbelieving shake, even if no one can see it, reaching both gloved hands to grip fistfuls of her dark hair. The tears roll endlessly from her eyes, and she inhales sharply, crying silently and without a fuss.

At least until a certain word strikes an awful chord in her, its dirge resurrecting the young woman slowly, carefully, her eyes opened, her back straightening, her face trying to turn to the source of that faceless voice. "Life?" she echoes back at him, her voice shrill, spat out like the very word has curdled. Her dark eyes stare forward at the black nothingless. Her lip twitches. Her hands drop away from her hair, clenching uselessly at her sides. One moment Whip is silent save for the sound of her breathing. The next moment, she is apocalyptic.

"LIFE?!" she screams again into the dark, so loud that her voice cracks. "You call THIS a life?! You did this to me! You DID this to me, you dirty son of a bitch! I had a life! You took my life away! I can't remember anything! You TOOK IT FROM ME! What did you DO TO ME?! TELL ME! You TELL ME--!"

And then Whip's ears hear the slightest of scrapes through her own tortured sobs. She shuts up, just in time, her cries dampened to parched, ragged breathing, one she listens straight on through to hear the attack coming. She could try to outstep it. She could try to dissuade it. She could, she could, she could...

Or she could step forward, reacting purely on fury, caring no longer about what the dark has in store, as long as she can make it bleed right on back. Snarling furiously, moving one arm to draw forth her Whip, she tries to rein her weapon in to catch whatever is coming-- but it's just too fast. He is just too fast.

Igniz's fist slams straight into Whip, her small, lean little body forced to absorb the entire blow. Her spine bows outwards, and her voice is permanently silenced with a broken gasp. Thrown back by the punch and sent skidding, the young Ikari crumples on the spot. Her gloved hands feel at the ground, and she leans her forehead against it, bracing herself as she coughs harshly, wetly.

COMBATSYS: Igniz has saved the state of this fight.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Igniz            0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  /////////////                 ]
                                 |====---\-------\0          Vanessa

He escapes.

Vanessa's hoarse throat howls a shriek of frustration, but she still hears the words - those damn words, more cutting than even Igniz' godly wrath, cutting straight to the heart, telling her all she needs to know: I am before you. Your search is over. I have come.

And you are as nothing before me.

She stumbles, tripping over her own feet. Get it together. They told her. Told her this could happen. Told her she was powerful now - strong enough to take down entire groups of lesser men on her own with nearly no effort, strong enough that the casual thug of the world could barely lay a finger on her...but that the leaders of groups like NESTS were stronger still. She's faced men like that before without fear, with a cocky grin and a smug laugh, but now--

He could see right through her. She hadn't expected that. She hadn't expected him to know who she was. She had thought she could find him before he found her, and gather the strength she needed to bring him down before he ever knew there was a light amid the shadow.

She pushes against the ground, arms quaking, focusing. He doesn't even care that she exists. For all he knows, she's dead now - given up the last of her breath in a final, mad rush.

Let him think that. Vanessa was a hothead and a hotshot, but she was no fool. It would be unkind to Whip, but she needs just that moment, that few seconds to gather her strength again - steady her nerves, gather her power, and be ready to show this bastard just who she really is.

With any luck...the darkness, and Igniz' own maniacal focus on Whip, will save her.

COMBATSYS: Vanessa drops her guard to recover.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Igniz            0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  ///////////////////           ]
                                 |====---\-------\0          Vanessa

To continue to forget about Vanessa would be a follow. Twice did Igniz ignore her, twice it had come as a suprise, moments before he was able to manuever she would come. He had almost forgotte. He knew much about her, much indeed, But this changed nothing. Whip was who he had to teach. Whip was who he would focus as she grasped for a moment of relief.

And he would keep that focus as it was granted. His strike had silencd her momentarily, just enough to stun her. She crumples, falls and strikes the ground in a wet lump. Igniz could not continue to fire upon a downed foe. She had waited for him. Had done nothing save try to overpower him, a critical mistake.

"Life is what I call it." Igniz begins, her gaze piercing into the inky blackness still. His suit could illuminate for him, he could use critical devices, yet he would also make it easier for others to see his face. His strength is that here, he is not a ghost, but not fully a man. He is a god, and the darkness his domain. His voice, his power are his features that they shall see and hear and feel.

"I will tell you what I did when it is time. I will tell you everything then. But you do not /deserve/ to know them at this moment. Not at all." Igniz muses momentarily. With Whip momentarily at his feet, Igniz turns his attention to something else entirely.

Silence. He had expected Venessa. He had expected her to come, fists swinging. Stregth overpowering. Blinding stepping into his domain. But she made no advances. A small grin comes to his face. This was a perfect chance to correct something Whip had mistakenly mentioned before.

A single hand grasped the side of his robe, lifting it slowling. "Whip." He begins, "NESTS is a joke, is it?" He pauses, "If I'm not mistaken, those were your words." He pauses once more, a small globe of white chi sizzling into existence at his feet, in the open body of the robe, almost as if it was draping it.

"Allow me to correct your misundertanding!" Igniz cries, the ball of chi expanding, creating a faint light, just enough to cast a small enough shadow of Vanessa, waiting, biding her time.

And of all things, it comes towards her, pulsating as it races across the ground. This was Whip's present for her insolence, and Vanessa's as well, shared only because she thought she could fool a god.



Her hands tighten against the floor that she can't even see. And that's what Whip hates the most. She can't see. She can't even see the truth that has walked back into her life. She doesn't even have a face to connect to her missing past. Just another gap. Another stretch of blackness. All she knows is this god damned hateful darkness. It's all she has. It's where she started, and it might as well be where she'll end.

Her teeth grit against the sting of Igniz's words, which hurt her more than any fist ever could. The throbbing ache of her broken ribs holds no candle to the stinging burn in her eyes, her tears hot and her crying unable to be stopped. She makes a harsh, grating, tormented sound when her supposed father and maker declares that he will not give the girl her truth. Whip doesn't know whether to agonize in frustration or relief over this possible revelation: in one way, it seems her long search has finally found its end -- or rather, it is finally found her; yet, in another way, it refuses her of what she wants; it declares itself as the mastermind behind her amnesia, behind everything that has been taken from her... her brother, her memories, her mind.

Whip looks up, even if she can't see, staring blindly out at the unyielding darkness with watery eyes. She stares impossibly at that formless voice that weighs her as undeserving for her own memories, her own past, her own /person./ And all she does is stare, compelled by that white hot rage that is so salient, so virulent it leaves people unable to do anything but simply stare and breathe slowly, the emotion so strong it makes it hard to exist. He won't give her any answers?

Then she'll have to take them.

As Igniz turns his attention back on Vanessa, Whip is rising slowly to her feet, blinking tears from her eyes as she stands tall in pure darkness. Vanessa seems to creep back into the peripherals of the Ikari's pinpointed attention; Vanessa who... has not made much sound in the last minutes. She could be hurt. Or worse.

Whip's lip curls at one side of her mouth. When the flare of chi makes the only light in the entire room, she is dashing toward it like a moth attracted to an open flame, every single one of her movements feeding entirely off her unimaginable rage. One arm tries to reach out at the body making that light.

"--And allow me to reiterate," Whip spits back, her voice low and deadly. With one gloved hand biting outwards, she tries to grab a fistful of the man, so she can turn him around and ram a fist straight at his face."NESTS /is/ a joke. And you must be the motherfucking punchline, you FREAK!"

COMBATSYS: Vanessa blocks Igniz's Divine Arrow - Ground.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Igniz            0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  /////////////                 ]
                                 |=======\-------\1          Vanessa

Vanessa rises, slow and steady. She has time, she has time. He's dealing with Whip, talking to her, taunting her. She /longs/ to go over there and shut his gob - shut him up as hard as she can and send him screaming back to whatever Hell he came from. She feels the strength in her legs, able and willing to move again, ready to--

"/Pigfucker/" Vanessa hisses, and throws her arms up as the blast wave comes crashing down toward her. It works, against all odds - the blast smashes her hard, before she can quite get her guard back up, but she still manages to intercept the attack with her arms. It sends her skidding backward...but she doesn't hit the back wall this time.

And in fact, there's traceries of light around her hands now, shimmering golden light. There's a sound in the air, a faint rustle as the air moves at her will.

"So," she wheezes. "You're learning..."

She walks forward, slow, steady, crossing the distance to where Igniz was when he shot that projectile. The darkness is so impermeable he could move and she'd never know, but...

...but no. Now she can hear him breathe. Hear his clothes move if he tries to evade. She'll find him. She'll--

She breaks into a dash, sneering as the light around her hands glimmers - it's not bright, it's not the kind of energy that would /be/ bright even if it was powered by a soul as mighty as Igniz'. But there's that sound - like a hurricane, blowing just outside the door.

She slides upward, traverses the distance between her and Igniz in less than a second - and lashes out with a single, perfect punch. "BUT I'M NOT DONE YET!"

As soon as her arm reaches full extension, hit or miss, her other arm rises up in a slash across her target's torso, and then the hurricane is HERE, NOW - shooting out of her arm, streaking across whatever floor space there is, is a whirlwind of gale force winds, chi and flooring torn free by the force of Vanessa's hate, smashing toward Igniz. "Go to HELL!"

COMBATSYS: Whip successfully hits Igniz with Strong Punch.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Igniz            0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  ////////////                  ]
                                 |=======\-------\1          Vanessa

COMBATSYS: Igniz blocks Vanessa's Forbidden Eagle.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Igniz            0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  ////////////                  ]
                                 |=======\-------\1          Vanessa

He had thought it was his ally moments ago. Now, Igniz is not quite sure. Moments pass, and he's sure that Vanessa has been completely destroyed. One can only endure his strength so long before death knocks on ones door. Vanessa is no different than anyone else. She must have been destroyed. But as soon as the figure turns, he can hear here. Her voice, her breathing. Her footfalls.

Vanessa is coming, or at least, Vanessa's going to come. It doesn't matter. She will, even as the gale force winds of chi whips up across the ground. Flooring is torn from the pitch back room, clattering and crushing back on Igniz. He thrusts himself back, away from Whip as they clatter against his four chi shields. They strike, slow down, and dent the armor. Even more so, the wind is barely a gale. "You might as well be." He mutters after weathering th assault. "Do you think that in your rage you will find the solace needed to beat me? Needed to best God?" The man taunts, his foot falls loud enough for another. Whip.

As if planned, Whip lurches out in a feral charge from her weakned state. Breaking through the treatment. The words, the motions and even weathered strikes to flare at him. Igniz cannot react in time. The words wash past him as he's snagged, and then brought towards her fist. It connect, loudly with his face. Her strike. Her words. Igniz is left at first to debate what hurts worse. Neither of them can be explained. His fury has peaked.

Igniz recoil, his face partially busted from the strike. Blood drips down his face, trickling across his perfect, so perfect features. "I'm bleeding." He announces towards Whip and Vanessa. "Is that your intention, Whip? To make a mockery of those that created you?" The god asks, stepping back towards Whip. He will not lose time, yet instead, he pushes forward. "I'm afraid your attempt will be in vain!" He calls as the vest slithers across the ground, one of the amplifier snaking around Whip's figure, aiming to pull and lift, sending her flying backwards towards the far wall. "I am no ones fool! I AM A GOD!"

COMBATSYS: Whip blocks Igniz's Medium Throw.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Igniz            0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  ////////////                  ]
                                 |=======\-------\1          Vanessa

The darkness gives Whip her first just dessert of the entire fight. Her fist makes up for her sight, and that fleshy sensation of her knuckles hamburgering someone's face is something she doesn't need eyes to imagine. It's almost worth all of this. Almost.

Her hand draws back, the warm, greasy wetness rubbing between her gloved fingers giving the Ikari a momentary reprieve through her rage. It's a familiar sensation. It's a welcome one too.

Even if no one can see, the ex-assassin is slowly shaking her head in disbelief. "You call yourself a god," Whip deadpans, her formless voice sharp and bitter in the dark, "and you're worried about ME mocking you?! You're a god damned psycho!!"

Whip's success seems to steel her on the spot, centering the girl through her half-feral madness and forcing her to remember some of her own training even in the face of her missing past come back to haunt. She can't let herself get carried away by this, not so far that she hits some point of no return, that she crosses through some revengeful doorway from which she can't backstep. She has to ignore her tears, keep her wits, and take this bastard down. And then get her answers even if she has to beat them out of him.

She can't let him get her angry again. Everything is riding in this. She can't fail now.

At that moment, Vanessa's voice seems to filter somewhere into Whip's awareness, which is met with a sudden, virulent flood of relief. It means she's OK. It also means that this fight isn't finished, even if it's continuing for other reasons. Good.

The Ikari tenses, her sanity returning with the gift of her sharp senses, which quickly inform the girl of a sound that shouldn't be. Even if she can't see, she hears it, a strange, slithering noise that's up to no good. She squints her useless eyes and orients towards it, slipping one gunslinger-quick hand for the handle of her whip. She waits until it's just right. Then, when she feels something wrong begin to graze her body, Whip reacts, flexing her arm and snapping her whip, Voodoo, in a full, vicious arc to rip that reaching vest off her own body.

Her whip turns, and in a split-second, her defense becomes an offense, and the lashing end of her leather whip snaps inward, trying to hunt out and catch one of Igniz's limbs in the dark. And should her line hit gold, Whip is going to reel it on in, pulling viciously on her line and slamming a step forward to try to throw him violently off her own shoulder. "Gods don't BLEED!"



Vanessa is so alive, oh yes - and although her blast of eagle's wings is stopped by Igniz' chi shields, that attack is good at plowing through defenses - even his powerful abilities will be smarting, after a blow like that.

Vanessa skates past Igniz as he dismisses her attack and turns his eyes on Whip, but then she suddenly...

...giggles.

It's a low, dangerous sound, devoid of mirth.

"Your arrogance...you still think I'm going to go down easily..."

There's a sudden spark in the air - another glimmer of chi energy, shimmering the air, just enough light to be seen in this blank void.

Vanessa spins around, and charges at Igniz, crossing the distance too fast to see, too fast to imagine, but there's something there, around her fist, glimmering just slightly against the light. "She's right--God doesn't bleed!" she roars. "And there's something else He wouldn't do...let me show you--!"

The only other warning is the sound of a tornado suddenly spawned from nothing but Vanessa's own will, even as she's THERE, right in front of him, her fist suddenly rising toward his chest and igniting in air, the force of her punch augmented by the maelstrom held in her fist, which then discharges right toward Igniz' heart.

"SCREAM FOR ME!"

COMBATSYS: Igniz endures Whip's Rebound Whip.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Igniz            0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1             Whip
                                  >  ////////////                  ]
                                 |==-----\-------\0          Vanessa

COMBATSYS: Igniz reflects Gaia Gear from Vanessa with Nega Genesis.
- Power hit! -

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Igniz            0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1             Whip
                                  >  ////////////                  ]
                                 |==-----\-------\0          Vanessa

It's all a matter of thought, isn't it? But in the end, Igniz had planned it perfectly. Even with the darkness surrounding, encompassing the area, Igniz continues to bide his time. It's all a matter of time. He's been able to hold them off momentarily, but with every fleeting moment, they begin to assemble, strengthen their resolve, and work together.

Igniz cannot allow it. Like a growing village, he must make an example of one of them, to keep the other entirely scared to make any more movements. To sit when told, and to work without growing displeasure. He finds it impossible with both striking at him at once. Each of them hurrying towards his position, quickly heading towards him from either side. Words, weapons, assaults. From Whip, a whip. From Vanessa. Something much more. He chooses Vanessa, out of both of them, because she had said a few choice words that Igniz could not ignore, she had been boisterous. Loud. Disruptive. It was important to silence the louds ones first.

The whip snaps out, grasping onto his arm. It coils as she pulls, heaving him backwards, away from Vanessa momentarily. Whip's strike crashes up against the armor. She can feel the cold battlesuit, battered and crushed. She feels no skin. The suit is all she feels. Igniz even shuts out whip from anything save from the cold embrace of NESTS technology. Perhaps this was intended.

The strike cuts into the armor, his strength, his reserve. It pains him, his teeth clenched. "Is it wrong for a father to want an obedient daughter?" The man muses, even as they cry at him. "I am all there is, Whip. Embrace me. Embrace my strength. Together we can do marvelous things. Things such as this..." Igniz begins, stepping towards Vanessa's boisterous charge, even in the dark. He must be mad. But a God is forgiving.

And must punish those that sinned. Vanessa's giggle, her arrogance leads Igniz to persue her, a glimmer of chi appearing in the dark. A light which Igniz follows like a wavering torch. Venessa charges. Closer. Closer. Still Igniz does not move. And then, when it must be too late, the man waves a hand. "I do not think, Vanessa. I know. I simply... am." White chi appears between both fighters in an instant. Brilliant, gleaming in and spreading in a single moment. Vanessa's fist rising towards the portal of light, blinding all from the light. The fist strikes, the maelstorm coating the blast errupts point blank.

"And you... are not." He says, leaving Vanessa to figh over control of... herself.



So much for finding her center. It happens so quick, Whip barely even feels herself snap.

Her rage hits her so hard that even total darkness starts to blur over. The girl stands straight, facing the direction of that sick voice, those SICK words, every muscle in her body tightening and every joint locking in her furious outrage. Fresh tears roll invisibly down her face. Without warning, she SNARLS back, "You SHUT UP! Shut the HELL up! You're NOT my father!" Because he can't be. Even Whip herself can't even scream those words in total certainty, having no memory of her past, of that girl she used to be before that day when she woke up and simply existed. She doesn't remember any of her family. She doesn't even dream of them. There are but ghosts to her, faceless shadows of what-have-beens and what-could-bes that she may never be able to find. From where she stands, this faceless, formless voice has every chance of being family to her as... every other voice in the world, simply because she just does not know.

But Whip refuses to believe it. She refuses even to lend the littlest despair to sheer probability. She's far too angry and far too agonized, feeling half-crazed by everything that's going on. This man says he's responsible for everything that happened to her. She spent all these years searching for a life she had thought lost... but no. It wasn't lost. It was taken away from her. And no father could ever do that to their child. Make them unable to remember. Make them feel like something's been stolen from them, like they're missing something so important, like they're left incomplete. Whip may not know her father, his name, his face, or even if he loved her, but she has to believe that whoever he was -- he would have never done this to her. It's faith like that what keeps her sane.

"Is that what you're trying to do, you freak show?!" Whip demands violently of the dark room,."You're playing God? Playing God with people's lives, like you did mine?" Her voice suddenly chills. "--If you don't tell me, I'll MAKE you tell me. Tell me what you did to me. You have NO IDEA what you did to me! If I have nothing, it's because you TOOK IT from me! Do you HEAR me, you bastard?!"

Whip's last demand turns desperate, mixing with her anger a quick, mindless urging, wanting her answers, hating that her own past is standing so close but still remains unable to be seen. She blinks fresh tears away, hating that she's crying, because that's not what soldiers do. Light suddenly bleeds along her bleary peripherals, and the Ikari sensitizes immediately to it, already dashing forward toward its shining beacon. Like a ship to a lighthouse, she returns home, trying to meet Igniz with a sudden, harshly-snapped roundhouse kick, her booted heel trying to aim high for the throat. "TELL ME!"

COMBATSYS: Igniz successfully hits Vanessa with Reflected Gaia Gear.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Igniz            0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1             Whip
                                  >  /////////                     ]
                                 |====---\-------\0          Vanessa

"SON OF A--" Vanessa swears, as Igniz gets the shield up. That energy, catching her carefully managed force and throwing it right back in her face, a blow she knows to wield tremendous power, and he just...

She throws her arms up, silently resisting the urge to just lose it. Whip had lost it, completely. Vanessa refused to grant the same satisfaction, even if she should be a hypocrite.

Of course, the best thing to do - in the long run, the absolute best thing to do - would be to simply lie down. Let him think she was useless and weak, so that she could return beneath his notice. Let him think she was gone, so that she could bring her own allies to bear against him - enemies not even Igniz would dare to face alone.

...but no. Her pride wouldn't ever accept it. Not in a million years would she allow such a thing. Even if the whole world is watching, even if...

The blast shoots right through her guard, impacts her hard in the chest...but does not send her flying. She emits a loud "HOOF!" as the blow lands, and skids back...but even here, at this distance, she can feel Igniz still nearby, and hear Whip's shrieking fury.

"Alright..." Vanessa hisses. "I've...had about enough of this..." She gulps deeply for air, and then just runs in, this time - not her insane skipping across distance, simply running in, as fast as she can. She pulls back her arms as she draws near. She can't see him, but with WHip so close, she just has to follow the yelling, and wait for the feeling of him too near. She can't console Whip, not in this blackness, but--

...but she can try to knock down the man who claims the name of God. She can try. That is, in the end, the best she could ever have done, in a situation like this. She rears her arm back.

"BODY!"

Her fist streaks down, the other pulls back, "BODY!" and again the fist falls, and the other retreats, and "BODY!" and it falls and "BODY!" and so does the other, hammerblows, one after the other after the other, blasting into Igniz with all her strength until she can no longer strike.

COMBATSYS: Igniz dodges Vanessa's Machine Gun Puncher.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Igniz            0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1             Whip
                                  >  ////////                      ]
                                 |===----\-------\0          Vanessa

COMBATSYS: Igniz counters Heavy Kick from Whip with Void Genocide.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Igniz            0/-------/---====|=======\======-\1             Whip
                                  >  ////////                      ]
                                 |===----\-------\0          Vanessa

The Pitch Black room is fun. It will most likely take off, and become a main stream event for growing fighters, as well as contestants willing to test their mettle against a variety of foes. Many none will ever see. Except on the way out. That is, if they ever get the blood of the current fighters out of the flooring. They might even rip it up to replace it. It's a very easy thing to do if ratings are that important.

Still, being so close to Vannessa, Igniz does not move. He awaits to see what will happen. Whips howls like a feral child, definitely one thirsty for blood, information, or both at the same time. Vanessa however continues the tride and true method of throwing herself up against him. He watches as her strike knocks her back, only for a breif moment, and then listens as she takes her own blow, skids backwards and crashes into the wall. Igniz raises his head in thought. Such a sweet music her body produces.

He stands, unmoving still as she gets to her feet. "You live yet? Persistant." Igniz mutters, "I was sure that should have delayed you longer than that." Igniz muses, sounding rather more certain about his abilities, but not about the womens potential. "You've grown stronger than I have imagined you would, but no matter..." Igniz begins, even as Vanessa lurches forward, crying out 'Body'. What it means Igniz quite isn't sure.

She wasn't striking his body. The most each punch would get would be the fluttring of the robes of the battlesuit as he streamed backwards, sliding out of the way of the blows. She could chase, hammer blow after hammer blow, but ultimately end up only striking the fiberous material that lead her forward like a bull to a matador.

Eventually Venessa would get tired, or lose the trail completely. Whip, however, was led in by the light. She would be led true towards Igniz, powered by the fury of her hidden past. One that Igniz keeps a tight seal on. Whip would be led like a dog to water, but fenced off from entirely drinking the water all together! It was a fine way to attempt to find them all at once, save for just Whip alone, no matter how important Whip may be. Many are important to NESTS. Few have escaped their grasp for as long as they have.

"I do not play god." Igniz states, turning towards the voice, "I am. And to expect me to tell you the first time we had met is absurd. You do not even ask properly. But... I will tell you this." The god states.

And as Whip's anger powers her towards the man, through the darkness where few venture, and hurls herself towards his position. She finds a hand, outstretched, aimed towards her position. A violent white light of chi explands, and collapses outward, immolating Whip as she completely half of the roundhouse kick. A half a second more and it would have connected cleanly as a testament to her skill.

"I made you who you are, Whip. That is what I did. Do you detest my kindness?!"

COMBATSYS: Igniz has saved the state of this fight.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Igniz            0/-------/---====|=======\======-\1             Whip
                                  >  ////////                      ]
                                 |===----\-------\0          Vanessa

The chi detonates violently, and painful light flares up against the darkness of the room. It pulses briefly, like the instant of a lightning strike, and in stinging whites and blues, reveals Whip's hidden face. Among all her bruises and that distinct, jagged cut zippering across one cheek, her skin is pale, her dark eyes are raw, and her expression is contorted in a look of torment. She's also crying.

And a second later, the light flickers out, and the young Ikari is blasted back, forced back home into total darkness. The ground receives her mercilessly, her bones and skull cracking audibly where she collides, and she skids, tumbling limb over limb by the sheer power of the explosion, leaving an unseen smear of blood in her wake. A last breath sighs out of her, the sound wet with blood.

If there's any truth to that man's words, then she is closer now than she's ever been to discovering who she is... and who she was. Sprawled there, with her forehead leaned against the cold floor, Whip lay motionless in the dark and didn’t feel the freedom she should have felt. She is instead paralyzed, rooted to the dusty ground like just another shadow. There is nothing she could say, and her mouth runs dry. The simple words suck the air from her world and leave her dizzy and unbalanced.

He made her. He made her who she is... but who is that? Whip is suddenly not so sure if she even wants to know. Who is she? Who is she supposed to be?

But if there's one thing she does now...

"Kindness?" her voice asks out of the dark. "You... call that kindness?"

One stained sound later, the girl forces herself back to her feet, her body immediately regretting it. Everything hurts, but she doesn't care. She doesn't notice. All that matters is that she makes herself keep walking, and find him, and hurt him, until he tells her everything, until he's suffered just like she has suffered. Her weak, airy voice strangles onwards, half-snarling, half-sobbing into the room, "You call that KINDNESS?! I'll kill you if you don't tell me. Do you hear me?! TELL ME WHO I AM!"

Not an breath later, the telltale SNAP of Voodoo resonates through the dark. And Whip, running only on her rage, on her tears, and on the sheer, insane need to feel complete, pushes against all her injuries and all her blindness, surging against the dark and racing towards the source of those malicious words. With one last, mindless yell, she pulls her arm and brandishes the uncoiling length of her whip, cracking it blindly against the darkness and hoping to hell that it catches something. And, if it does, that's when she snaps. Again and again and again, her pelting whip lashes blindly at Igniz, trying to score groove after groove out of his body, led on by her murdering hand. There is no mercy. There is no second thought.

Whip wants blood.



Whip wants blood. Vanessa does too...but she has trained for this moment. Whip has searched, but Vanessa has forged herself for vengeance. While neither search has ended the way it was supposed to...Whip's mad fury is inevitable, unprepared as she is for the harshness of this confrontation. Whether it's the truth or not is immaterial - he knows enough to fake it, to get under Whip's skin. Vanessa has trained long and hard for this instant - worked for years to harden her fists and speed her feet...and prepare her mind for the high probability of a man like Igniz. People obsessed with vengeance make poor mercenaries. People obsessed with vengeance unable to cope with the forces Vanessa now faces...they barely make a decent corpse.

Which is why the handful of people on this Earth who know of Vanessa's struggle should be unsurprised to find that she maintains some of her calm, now that the initial hate is out of her system. Oh, her blood is up - but she's not screaming, instead trying to focus through that anger to hear the sounds of battle. It's not Whip's screaming she needs. She needs--

There - the rustle of cloth, the sound of Igniz moving. The middle-aged boxer shifts her feet, and then surges forward once again, tripping across the distance toward Igniz, arms primed back, fist held high, aiming to plant her fist right in the back of Igniz' skull, and hopefully, hopefully, right into the path of Whip's murderous intent.

COMBATSYS: Igniz blocks Whip's Sonic Slaughter KW.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Igniz            0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  //////                        ]
                                 |===----\-------\0          Vanessa

COMBATSYS: Vanessa successfully hits Igniz with Dash Puncher.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Igniz            0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0             Whip
                                  >  //////                        ]
                                 |====---\-------\0          Vanessa

Igniz can feel they come for him in his weakned state. The two fighter that stand against him stringing themselves along towards him. Even if they cannot see him, the grasp at every thread, every step, every rustle his battlesuit makes, taking it all to heart. Igniz can only out manuever them for so long. Sooner or later, he will fall. One of them has to be disposed of.

But that's not before he's waylaid by both of them. He can barely think when they converge, but the man has his priorities. Whip comescrying, screaming, belting out towards Igniz, attempting to make him look at her. And he does. Even as she heroically rises up against him, cutting out towards the air with voodoo, Igniz weathers the storm, the multiple guards of chi appearing at each strike, licking at each majestically, slowing down just enough for each to strike his figure, cutting into the battlesuit itself. The damage was minimized, a worthwhile expenditure.

"You threaten me?" Igniz muses, "You. Threaten me with the ideal of death? Have you learned anything?" He begins, only to remember, quite late, that Vanessa was there as well. Moving to escape the shot, he's left with nothing. He's unable to move. He doesn't even act fast enough to multigate the damage. The fist slams against the back side of the battlesuit, crushing into it. The strike causes spiderwebs to crack into the side, several systems beginning to power down. Igniz is throwns,

Igniz is thrown, the shock of the strike knocking the leader of NESTS uncerimoniously off his feet as he slams against the back wall. He bleeds. His body tormented by the continued strikes. Destroying one of them would have been tactically the best method, but he couldn't. To focus on one would to admit that he did not possess the power to crush them both.

Pulling himself up, floating to his feet, Igniz huffed. "Such display of herasy. To strike a god as such." He sneered towards Vanessa, staring towards the darkness where she had made her strike. But that was not his target. No, Whip was barely standing. He could hear it in her half choked sobs. "Whip, it was nice talking to you once more. But, I'm afraid that the answers you seek... will be learned when you are ready to accept them."

Even before the sentence finishes, the ruffling of the battle suit could be heard. Igniz was headed towards Whip. Her sobs, her anger, her moment of emotion. Weakness. Had attracted the leader of NESTS. A knife hand strike, sent directly towards Whip's chest, flared outwards violently. A blur usually, but entirely unseen in the dark.

"For now, it is time to rest." Igniz stated as he sought to strike Whip one last time.

COMBATSYS: Whip fails to interrupt Jab Punch from Igniz with Desert Eagle.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Igniz            0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0          Vanessa

COMBATSYS: Whip can no longer fight.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Igniz            0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0          Vanessa

Whip wants blood. She wants revenge. She wants a pound of flesh for every single memory stolen out of her head. This is the man who did this to her. He fractured her. He took her past away, her family, her person... the sense of knowing who you are, and what you're supposed to be. He wrecked her and now she's an incomplete work. She doesn't even feel human some days. And it's all his fault.

That whip of hers does not do the destruction Whip had hoped, her own weapon, her namesake and confidant failing her at the most crucial moment. That suit of his protects him from her most murderous of strikes. He cleanly dismisses the rest. And, with a thick, throaty sob that is so far past words, intelligence, or sanity, the avenging amnesiac furiously throws her beloved weapon away, reaching one quick hand to go for something else. She can hear him retaliating. She knows it's coming. She doesn't care. She doesn't care any more.

"NO--!" As Igniz moves, Whip recklessly grabs the holstered Desert Eagle off her back, and with tears blinding her eyes what the darkness does not, snarling mindlessly, she tries to level the monstrous barrel straight forward--

--but not quick enough. His strike stops her clean. The gun rips out of her hand, clattering as it skids harmlessly away into the darkness. Then, softly, mutedly, in the darkness, there is the littlest of sounds. The Ikari, the ex-assassin, the amnesiac, the crying and lost girl exhales brokenly her last pained, conscious breath, sighing out into the darkness. Then she crumples, falling bonelessly to the ground, finally silenced.



Vanessa grins to herself. She HIT him - she made him respond, she made him /tell her she'd hit him/. She'd wounded his pride.

In a battle like this - she thinks she can win, she knows that if she can just land /one punch/, he'll fall, but...to let herself be pleased with small victories...well.

When the enemy is God, perhaps a sinner is right to feel pleased by every whine.

She hears Igniz strike Whip, hear her howl of fury and her gun clattering to the ground.

Vanessa takes a single breath - and then seizes what she hopes is an opening, surging in toward Igniz one more time, fist pulled back to clock him in the jaw. She doesn't speak, doesn't swear - just emits a short, loud huff of breath as she wills her body to obey.

Strike him. Just once--!

COMBATSYS: Igniz counters Hook Punch from Vanessa with Void Genocide.

[                        \\\\\\  < >                                ]
Igniz            0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1          Vanessa

The sound of Whip's final rebuttle is most enjoyable. He can hear a 'NO!" punctuated by the girl crashing backwards towards the ground, crashing against the ground, and finally, the sound of silence. But she breathes. Almost silence. He's almost moved to tear by such a finality. Rebelling against him until the end. Igniz smiles. He had fell one.

But the other still yet could breathe. It was perfect finallity for the moment. He did not purpose Whip's untimely end. Not just yet. He had other things to deal with. Those that go by the name of Vanessa. "Sleep, poor Seirah. You may yet become Seiraphim." Igniz whispers. She may yet experience nightmares before she wakes, but he cannot guarentee it. Only provoke it.

Turning towards Vanessa, the leader of NESTS had not forgotten her this time. "Vanessa. Why don't you speak? Why don't you lash out at me? You must want to scream. Cry. Destroy, do you not?" Igniz begins, even as she lets herself get caught for just a moment. The moment after Whip's finallity. Vanessa lurches at him like a dog on a fallen duck during the hunt.

And then, as the fist rockets towards his cranium, he raises a hand towards his side, where Vanessa had moved. "Scream for me!" He mimics her earlier outburst, a blast of violent white chi searing through the air, directly towards her figure. Blasting into her, and rocketing her back. "You should have died of sadness." He comments, "It may have hurt less." %



Failed.

Vanessa doesn't cry out - doesn't scream as commanded, only takes the blow straight in her exposed midsection. The air wells up in her lungs, trying to burst out through her vocal cords and rent the air in a final shriek of agony, but she bites down - hard, piercing the skin of her lip, making her mouth bleed even more than it had already, a groan of agony that wants to be a howl of suffering and sorrow.

She spits the ground, the darkness swallowing a sick splut as blood and spittle colide with clean pavement.

He won't have moved. She can barely stand, but she can't just--

"It would have..." Vanessa croaks. "Oh, it would have hurt so much less. But...if I'd died like that...how could I face him? Hell or heaven...wherever people like us go, how could I ever face the end like that?"

Her legs are shaking. She has to make this count. She puts one foot forward - it falters, quaking under her, but she shoves herself to the other, propelling her body toward Igniz more by will than by her body's own strength. She's finished. But if she pushes herself hard enough, maybe--

"There's one thing...you didn't count on, for us sinners, 'God,'" she hisses, her voice barely rising above a whisper - she lacks the strength. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to /hurt/. "We're some of the most tenacious little bastards on 'your' Earth...and even if you crush us a thousand times...even if you kill our lovers and steal everything we cared for...even if you...you crush my body to powder..."

She moves - crosses the distance as fast as she can, hoping, praying that he's still where he was when he fired that shot, hoping that her first fist connects while she thunders "I'LL GET UP--" and then more follow, a blow to the chin, several to the torso, slow, steady, methodical streaks of her fist aimed with the single purpose of battering even Igniz' mighty guard away...

"--A THOUSAND AND ONE!"

But that last roar is all she has - her breath catches as she throws the final punch, her body fails her, and alone in the dark, her eyes roll up into the back of her head.

She falls, limp.

COMBATSYS: Vanessa can no longer fight.

[                        \\\\\\  <
Igniz            0/-------/=======|

COMBATSYS: Igniz counters Champion Puncher from Vanessa with Jab Punch.

[                        \\\\\\  <
Igniz            0/-------/---====|

Vanessa explodes backwards. Igniz is happy. It's just as he had hoped. The woman was launched, far enough away that he could, once more, focus, determine what they would do, and then, in the end, finish the job. But even as Vanessa get up, he doesn't move. He doesn't retreat. He doesn't advance. He just stands, waiting for Vanessa's next move.

"You think it matters that you resist me?" Igniz states, annoyedly. They continually thrust themseles towards him. Advancing, moving to destroy with each strike. But he had found ways around them, had mastered the darkness, and in turn, counter attacked. This is no different.

Igniz lets Vanessa speak, wanting to hear her words. Her thoughts. Everything. She speaks, and she's entirely correct. He couldn't crush everyone's spirit and body thousands of times over. He has an army of clones for that.

"Sinners like you will be made example of," Igniz snaps, "to bring the rest of the flock in line. I should kill you right here and now!" Igniz hisses, even as Vanessa crosses the distance. The foot falls thrashing across the ground, moving towards Igniz and within moments she would be there. But Igniz does not move to kill her. He's too amuses by her last statement. The attack begins, a single shot at first, but then broken as Igniz fires his own hand directly towards her chest. She had given it her all, both of the fighters had. Yet Igniz stands. "Then get up one thousand and two. It will make no difference." He remarks, breathing heavily now that the room was entirey too quiet. Bleeding, Igniz lifts his hands to his hood, slowly hiding beneath the garment again. It transforms int the cloak once more, hiding him from prying eyes.

"I will see both of you again. I'm most certain," Igniz begins as the doors are opened. With the lack of violence, crews will be heading in to aid the two fallen fighters. Igniz makes his way out during the aid, leaving as he came. Outside, he is cloaked in a purple robe, seen leaving, although many cannot fathom who it would be.

"And I expect you to bring 'friends'." Igniz smiles, a laugh overtaking him for a brief moment. Oh, he misses K' and Maxima so. So, so much.

As he leaves, the battlesuit makes up for his weakness, aiding him on his leave. Perhaps they will fear him now? But there is the off chance that, they make, be steeled twice as much for what is to come.

Log created on 21:44:29 03/28/2008 by Whip, and last modified on 23:26:47 04/01/2008.