Description: "Dear Diary, Today I found the toy man and broke him bad. Diana was there to see how good I was doing. But then K' showed up and got in the way. I was going to hurt him too but was too tired then. I thought Diana might be disappointed but she just looked really worried. Next time will go better. - Kula."
It is night time in the Business Distric, the seediest place in Southtown. Probably. Bright lights and loud noises abound. People hurry to and fro, people of all shapes and sizes, wearing the latest trends and the slickest hats. But there is one man who stands out. In a world of high fashion and neon lights, one man stands up against the slow creep of aesthetic progress. Only one man dares to wear those sideburns, that jacket, that teal turtleneck.
One Man: MAXIMA.
Who is whistling a jaunty tune as he carries a large paper bag under one arm, it looks to be full of vegetables and milk. He may or may not be whistling the Old Spice song. "Ah, what a lovely night!" he exclaims, pausing in his melody to look up at the smog-filled sky. "Why, I can almost breathe un-aided! This must be the lowest smog count in /weeks/. It's what, 80%? Maybe 82? Stunning!"
"I like the night too," comes the young girl's voice just off to the side of Maxima. Seated atop a graffiti covered brick wall is a mid-teen youth with long, auburn hair. Yellow, insulated glove clad hands press down against the wall, letting the girl lean forward just a little without risking topping clean off onto the ground. "The daytime can be so hot that it melts dessert right away before it can be enjoyed." she continues.
Her attire identifies her as part of a cartel Maxima would be well familiar with. Neither trendy nor retro, it has a style all of its own. He's no doubt seen many like it in his days. An agent of NESTS. If her age was any indication, likely the result of more recent experiments than some of the older projects to have come out of the science facilities of that secretive organization.
Her expression is a childlike smile, as if she didn't feel at all out of place in the rougher places of the city this time of night. Insulated shoe covered feet kick against the wall as the girl continues to look over Maxima thoughtfully, "You must have done something really bad. Or else she would not have told me to find you." the girl adds after a moment, her voice as if one simply explaining the basic facts of life as only a far younger child than she would see them. 'If you do something bad, you have to get punished.'
"You do? That is wonderful! The night is wonderful! Everything is wonderf--"
Maxima turns and actually sees who he is addressing. His nuclear heart skips a beat, but he is quick to recover. "--ul. Hello there," he says, still cheerfully, though it sounds a little forced. "Who told you to find me? Was it your mom?" A pause. "Is your mom... lonely? Is that why she wants me?"
Maxima is, of course, playing for time. He totally does not watch Desperate Housewives on Future TIVO or anything like that.
As Maxima turns to face her, it is with one of those insulated gauntlets of hers that Kula waves back at him. "Hello," she returns his greeting with an amicable level of cheer. "Oh," she blinks, mouth opening into an O shape as he asks who sent her to find him. "I shouldn't say. But you probably know." The girl shakes her head after a moment, "She isn't lonely though. She has me!"
And then down to the sidewalk the girl hops, landing lightly in a half crouch before rising back up to standing. At her full height, Maxima dwarfs her by no small measure, but she doesn't appear bothered by that at all. "She said that you hurt them all when you left. That you were not thankful for what you had been given." the youth continues, breathing in deeply then exhaling slowly.
"She also said if I hurt you back that there will be a treat waiting for me at home." As she exhales, a change comes over the small project, that dark shade of hair shimmering, a small band of blue so light that it appears grey in the night starts near the cown of her head before expanding outward and overtaking every last strand with the same brighter color. But that wouldn't be the only change, as easily detectable small glimmers of sparkling ice begin to spiral up around her body, the temperature all around her dipping enough to be noticeable to Maxima's enhanced senses.
"I hope you don't make this take too long," she remarks the moment she suddenly slips forward, her feet sliding over the ground as if skates atop smooth ice, "It's already getting kind of late," she adds, her right hand drawn back before being slammed forward as a fist, a sudden surge of freezing chi particles coalescing into a spikey sheath over the top of her arm that she tries to slam against Maxima's chest. A man may get out of NESTS, but that doesn't mean the 'beneficent' cartel quickly forgets the man!
COMBATSYS: Kula has started a fight here.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Maxima has joined the fight here.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Maxima
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Maxima with Medium Punch.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Maxima
"Uh, look, little girl," Maxima begins, looking around for somewhere to put down his groceries. "I kind of have to get these back to the Center before they spoil, because Fiesty Ninja Teens don't much like rotten food, you know?" He looks pretty uncomfortable with this 'getting attacked by a tiny lady' thing.
"Do... do you think we could not do this, maybe? I could get you a treat and we can talk this over instead. How does that sound?" Maxima hastily puts the groceries down on a handy bench, putting up his left arm, elbow bent, and dropping his right arm diagonally down behind him. "You clearly have some issues you need to resolve and I'd like to help you with that. I know how difficult Peer Pressure can be, b--"
Kula punches Maxima in the solar plexus, taking him completely unprepared for the blow. He staggers backwards, pulling one hand up to his stomach and gasping briefly for breath. "Gkk. Okay, okay, you can have that one, but just please think it over. You are not doing the right thing here and I am concerned about your mental well-being."
Maxima attempts to trap Kula's arm in one hand and toss her lightly on to the bench. Because it's time to Rap Serious With Today's Youth.
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Maxima's Quick Throw.
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Kula 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Maxima
"Do you have anything tasty in there?" the waifish agent asks calmly, drawing her hand back from the strike she landed against the giant of a man just trying to nicely disuade the attacker from her objective. He gets a hold on that arm of hers, but as he goes to try and swing the girl to the side, the icy sheath covering her limb shatters, collapsing in his powerful grip and Kula slips free, sliding away two steps, hands dropping down to clasp behind her back.
"It doesn't matter what you say," she replies, "She told me that you and everyone else on the outside would always try to confuse me with lies. But I know how to tell the truth." the young lady continues, raising her right hand, pointing finger lifted, "Anything you say that goes against what I have been told is obviously a lie!"
Lowering her hand after her proud declaration, she draws both of her arms forward, right hand raised to the level of her mouth, palm raised skyward. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you not being grateful for what you were given." The words provide the prelude to an inhale then soft, steady exhale, her breath blowing over her palm. But she isn't trying to douse Maxima with snowflakes, but rather a sudden flury of small, sharp shards of ice, exploding out toward him from the diminutive assailant."
COMBATSYS: Maxima slows Diamond Breath from Kula with Thrown Object.
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Kula 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Maxima
Maxima is visibly upset by Kula's words. "Sweet Cyborg Jesus," he breathes. "They really did a number on you, kid." He steps back behind the bench, grabbing the groceries off the seat and placing them on a concrete ledge instead. "All I've got in there is healthy food to make your body grow big and strong, for the kids at the Center. A lot of them don't eat very well, you know?"
Maxima is still trying to buy some time and talk this girl down, but it's rapidly becoming apparent that he's outclassed by the new NESTS tech they've built into her. "Can you really believe that so easily? Tell me, what's your name, little girl?" He watches carefully, cyborg eye whizzing as it tries to keep up with her movements and powers. "I'm Maxima. And I am not a bad man."
He's not particularly GOOD, either, but she doesn't need to know that. As her ice crystals form and shotgun towards Maxima's face, he swiftly rips the bench out of the ground one-handed, flipping it towards her and catching some of the ice shards. The rest still filter through, digging in to his arm and chest. Maxima frowns. "This is getting ugly."
The bench ends up absorbing some of the icy chi meant for the cyborg she's targetting tonight, but Kula doesn't seem worried as she lowers her hand from her mouth, the limb resting against her side just like her left arm. "Kula Diamond." she answers with complete honesty as he asks after her name. That, apparently, isn't considered a secret, unanserable query. Chalk one up for Maxima! "Why should I believe you over them?" she asks with a wide eyed blink. "You have never done anything for me, whereas they have given me everything."
She draws her right hand back up, twirling it about her wrist, collecting a considerable amount of chi over the surface of her fist. "Power, food, a place to sleep, learning... Everything a person should want and I already have it." She glances toward the bag of food intended for the YFCC before glancing back toward Maxima, "Do you have those things too? Is that what you're taking for the kids there?" She looks to the other side, eyes resting upon the blasted remains of the bench he used to spare himself the worst of her attack, taking in the entire situation with an impassive analysis before her attention rests back upon Maxima.
"Power you have, but not as much as me. And you have to get your own food now that you left." She shakes her head, "Too bad, I think. It's better at home." Hands clasp behind her back, the ice around her hand falling off into small flakes of snow that drift toward the dry ground as Kula advances again, slipping in close and swinging up with her right foot, the bottom of her shoe suddenly accompanied by a blade of ice, as if an ice skate meant for maiming moreso than skating around a Winter's frozen pond, its icy sharp edge inbound for Maxima's chest via verticle slash!
COMBATSYS: Maxima interrupts Medium Kick from Kula with Maxima Missile.
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Kula 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Maxima
"Yes. They give you the basics you need to survive, and to be a weapon," Maxima replies, warily moving in an arc around Kula. "It is nice to meet you, Kula Diamond. I wish it were under better circumstances." The Cyber-Canuck straightens momentarily, looking at the grocery bag at the same time as Kula.
"What do I give them, you ask? Okay, good question. I'm happy to answer that for you." Maxima reaches up and thumps at his nuclear chest with a fist, then holds the fist out in front of him, elbow bent. "I give them INDEPENDENCE!" An aura seems to flare up around him with a muted sonic boom as he says this. "I give them SELF-RESPECT." Boom. Flare. "I give them HELP and SYMPATHY and LOVE!" Boom. Boom. Boom. There is a swirling inferno around Maxima now, barely perceptible, but it seems to be feeding his strength. "I give them EVERYTHING that young people NEED, everything that NESTS denies you!"
Maxima thrusts his fist towards Kula's attack, forearm splitting open and firing a volley of missiles into the kick, buffeting it back. Even so, the close-quarters explosions damage the cyborg's arm. When the smoke clears, his arm snaps back together. "In short, I treat them like HUMANS. And as long as you stay with NESTS, you will NEVER know what that's like."
Her incoming kick is met with enough explosive force from the missles in Maxima's arm to send Kula sliding backward, the girl partially protected from some amount of the damage by the sturdy leather jacket over her torso. At first she skids, but after a few feet, she recovers out of the lost of control with a skating slide, the ice on the bottom of her shoes allowing her to slip over the concrete with great eyes before she comes to a stop again, her hands down against her sides instead of clasped behind her back.
"They give me things and ask me to do things in return." the girl replies as she spins back around to face Maxima directly once more. Independence. Self respect. Help, sympathy, love. The long haired girl leans her head to the side a little, the words going in one ear but not quite out the other so easily. "If I needed those things, NESTS would provide." she remarks after a moment's hesitation.
Her right hand comes up, brushing at her jacket, knocking away some of the char left over from Maxima's defense system. "Why did you leave? Are you not better now for what they gave you?" the child asks after a moment, drawing her hand up again. Chi particles begin to collect around her fist before concentrating down into a sphere of ice. Malleable as water but as strong as steel. "I'll show you what they gave /me/!" she chirps, slipping forward two paces, drawing her hand back, then slamming it forward from a distance.
The sphere around her hand shoots outward, becoming a massive lance of piercing, slashing ice that the girl sends plowing toward Maxima's chest, going for a brutally painful strike - no remorse, no hesitation. Just simply an attempt to plow the attack into him and make the bad man /bleed/.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Maxima with Critical Ice.
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Kula 0/-------/=======|=======\======-\1 Maxima
Maxima frowns. He hadn't intended to hurt the girl, but he's beginning to wonder if he even COULD. "'They give you things and ask you to do things in return'," Maxima repeats, shaking his head. "So cynical for one so young. There are things you should be given unconditionally. Things a FAMILY would give you. Things NESTs won't-- no, CAN'T-- give you."
Maxima thrusts out a finger, pointing at the still-unscathed groceries. "Love and independence and self-confidence are like vitamins. They are like nutrients, and protein, and calcium. They are what allow you to grow and become a person. A real individual. Not just a weapon."
Maxima isn't able to keep up with the younger, newer fighter's attack. The lance of ice slams right into his chest, just missing the life-giving (and -taking) disc in the middle of his torso. Even so, it spears him clean through, the tip coming straight out his back and making a tent out of the back of his leather jacket. "Ggnn," he grunts, coughing up a gob of what might be blood, except it's shiny and blue. Once the initial shock passes, the fightin' Canadian reaches forward, gripping the ice lance. Blue 'blood' runs down the blade and over his hands, pooling on the ground.
He grips, and he squeezes. The shaft shatters, and Maxima coughs up more life fluids, twisting and wrenching the ice out of his chest. It comes, pulling tubes and wires and more liquid with it. He looks up.
"They've given you the power of Death and Destruction," he says softly, pain evident in his voice. "But you deserve so much more and so much better." Maxima reaches a hand towards Kula, shaking only slightly despite the gaping hole in his chest. "You deserve... to LIVE." Suddenly, his eyes narrow. "And if I have to take you down NOW to make you see that LATER, then SO BE IT!"
Maxima's legs tense, flex... and launch. Maxima flies into the air, impossibly high, higher than the eye can see. And once he reaches his zenith... he bursts into flames.
Then, Maxima begins to fall. He assumes the classic 'cannonball' position as he does so. "Forgive me, little one. I do only what I must." A pause. Then: "BUNKERRRRRRRR!" the ground nears, faster, faster, faster, "BUSSSTERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
Boom.
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Maxima's Bunker Buster.
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Kula 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Maxima
What Maxima may be beginning to realize is that right now he is contending with the latest in NESTS human weapons research. A project culminating years worth of cloning, gene manipulation, DNA splicing, and science beyond the comprehension of most of the world. Harmless in appearance, but deadly, amoral, and without remorse, the perpetually cold child stares back at him as he speaks, her ice lance having skewered him just as intended.
The words he speaks provoke a narrowing of her eyes. "What is cynical?" she asks after a moment. As his altered blood spills from the savage wound, she reacts not in the slightest. About as interested in the results of her attack as as a small child may be at the death of an insect on the sidewalk. He's bleeding a different color. That's interesting. Another gift from NESTS perhaps? "What is better than-" she starts to ask as energy builds up around the run away science project.
But he answers that very question with a single word. What is better than her gifts is the power to /live/. Kula smiles just a little. It's a sad smile, the likes of which a girl might save for a puppy that's gone and misbehaved after being asked kindly not to. The man launches up into the air, energy churning around him, his systems pouring a destructive amount of power into the next attack. If he was worried that the skinny child sent out to torment him so was fragile, he would soon find out otherwise. Raising her left hand, palm forward, the girl paints a shimmering barrier of ice in the air before her. She sweeps her hand back, creating a second layer, then one more time for a third, final mirror of steel like ice... And then she draws her arms up to protect herself as Maxima smashes right through all three protective surfaces. The explosion from his landing drives Kula back, her arms driven out against her sides in the end, her feet losing traction but for a brief moment.
But as the dust clears, she's still standing, eyes fixed on Maxima, mouth having slipped into a bit of a frown. "That was a very foolish thing you did there. I can't forgive you because I'm not angry with you. I only know what I was told to do and am here to do it." She brightens again after a moment, "But don't worry, it will be all over soon."
Again she slides in, not giving Maxima much of a break. Her right hand draws back, fist clenched, before Kula extends it forward, stopping just shy of comming into contact with half metal man. There's a split second of pause before her fist completes the journey, moving forward one last inch, but this time with all the force she can muster with a single, physical strike. Unlike before, no ice is there to pierce or slash, only a single punch - Maxima has likely seen the technique before and in her execution of it... with all of her icy chi... he might just begin to realize who this girl was designed to defeat.
COMBATSYS: Maxima endures Kula's One Inch.
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Kula 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Maxima
Maxima hops out of his crater. The blood has stopped flowing so freely as his systems begin to slowly mend. Patting at his ruined jacket to get some of the dust off, he looks up to see Kula fine and dandy behind her shield, and frowns. "Ah, I see." he says. "This makes me very sad, Ms. Diamond. I had hoped you would be able to understand what you're missing."
Maxima, who is actually about 80% metal, braces his stance and leans IN to the final inch of the punch, taking it on his hardened abs. He grunts, blue leaking from the corner of his mouth, but he's still standing. Just barely. Shaking it off, he falls back into his unique fighting stance. "Life is passing you by, an endless parade of joys and sorrows and real experiences, and for the price of a few magic tricks, no matter how powerful, you're willing to let it do so."
Maxima steps forward, possibly for the final time, reaching out for Kula. He attempts to grab her, spin her until she's vertical, then simply toss her up into the air. "I can't seem to lift your spirits, so this will have to do."
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to interrupt Maxima Lift from Maxima with Diamond Shell.
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Kula 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Maxima
It is perhaps with reluctance that Maxima extends his hands to get a hold of the thin human weapon. Her arms clamped against her side, there seems to be nothing she can do at first. But that doesn't keep her from trying, as the girl curls up just a little in his powerful grip... and tries to draw together a powerful surge of icy chi at point blank range around her. A barrier of sorts, meant to explode outward and do harm to the wounded cyborg and put him down completely.
But before she can do that, he acts first, sending her skyward in an out of control spin, her barrier of chi exploding harmlessly out from around the girl as she drops back down, landing rather ungracefully on her back against the ground. She's still for a moment, but the hostile thing doesn't stay put, gloved hands shifting to press against the concrete as she starts to sit up, drawing one knee up, before finally shoving herself the rest of the way to her feet.
Her jaw is tight, her expression blank. Her right hand comes up to rest against the side of her head, flipping on a communications device hidden in her ear. And then she begins to speak, addressing someone else entirely. "The toy man is stubborn," comes the quiet voice, her tone steady, reflecting neither annoyance nor joy at the thrill of a good fight. "This should be done by now. His lies make me tired." All the while her eyes are fixed on Maxima. "But he doesn't have much longer. He's leaking all over." Lowering her right hand, she flicks her fingers out to the side, discarding droplets of Maxima's unique blood with an 'ew, icky' look on her face.
Maxima slumps to the ground after tossing Kula up, taking the time given him by her flight to pull a small aerosol can out of his jacket and spritz it on his gaping wound a few times. Breath rattling through his artificial respiratory system, Maxima climbs back to his feet... just in time for Kula to come back down. He winces.
"Yeah, I'm a stubborn guy," he agrees easily enough, rolling the shoulder on the damaged side of his body. It creaks a little, but moves freely enough. "No one ever accused me of rolling over." A pause. "Lies don't tire you out, kid. What you've got there is Truth Fatigue. Too much, too fast. It goes against everything NESTS has brainwashed you into believing." Maxima smiles. "My fault, I know. I should have held back a little, fed revelations to you one at a time."
Maxima leans against the wall, eyes lidded, and tilts his head back. "Take your time. I'll just be here, having a little rest."
COMBATSYS: Maxima gains composure.
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Kula 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Maxima
"Understood," the young looking agent speaks, though her words are clearly not for Maxima. She seems content to let him bleed a little while longer. That is until he pulls out the can and begins to perform field repairs on himself. "Stop that," comes the less than polite 'request', only to fall quiet as he identifies her tired state as being a result of not just contending with him in a fight but also the effort of blocking out the facts he's tried to inform her of.
Kula exhales, sounding mildly exasperated. "Gotta go," she states. But if Maxima was hoping that meant she was about to take off, he'll quickly learn otherwise.
He's repairing himself, catching his breath, but Kula isn't about to let up, darting forward, her right hand clenching as over her yellow glove a sphere of concentrated, freezing energy congeals. And then she leaps, attempting to jump up onto the much taller fighter and twist around behind him, hooking her arm around his neck with her left arm before drawing her right hand in, attempting to unleash the sub-zero cold energy against the side of the cyborg's head before releasing her hold and slipping backward from him.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Maxima with Quick Throw.
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Kula 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Maxima
Maxima is indeed taken unprepared for the girl's assault, opening his eyes just in time to see her leaping around his neck. "Wh--" he gets out, before the sub-zero fist slams frigidly into his mouth, icing it shut. "Gnn! Nnn!" he grunts, staggering sideways into the previously-upended bench. It shatters beneath his weight, and Maxima crashes to the ground, field repairs completely undone.
He rolls and sweeps back to his feet, reaching up with one hand to pry his jaw apart, then chuckling weakly. "Got 'her' on the radio, eh?" he queries, rolling his neck and working out a few kinks. Sparks blast out of his chest-hole every now and then. Even they seem weak. But when all seems lost, the cyborg pulls through. "Don't worry, kid. I'm not THAT fragile! HAH!"
With renewed speed, Maxima seems to blur as he rushes towards Kula, drawing back his right arm. The hand clenches into a fist, almost faster than the eye can see. "I may not be able to beat you, but at least I can show you the power of INDEPENDENT SPIRIT!" The Cyborg's fist slams forward, releasing a hissing cloud of steam just prior to impact. "VAPOUR CANNON!"
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Maxima's Vapour Cannon.
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Kula 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Maxima
She'd been gone too long for the expectations, and as time went on.. well, while Foxy may not have begun to worry about, the Amazon had, and towards her signal, something blue fluttered about the buildings, leaping along the tops, or at least staying as close to out of the normal streets as possible.
Her hands grasp the cold side of the structure she leaps onto, hauling herself up, flipping up and onto her feet, before running to the opposite edge and plummeting a floor, not even breaking her stride. The goggles are down as she charges the overlooking level, blue hair bending as she reaches a speed she usually only cares to in battle.. before coming to the edge, her gaze looking over .. that's him all right. Large, mechanical, full of Canadian spirit.. and apparently lecturing her favorite girl.. and assaulting her. Damn that's .. fast. All of that force.. she doesn't like the look of it. She grits her teeth. Come on..
Diana slams a gloved hand against the cement siding. "No, she's got me right here!" She yells out.. and it looks like Kula's got everything under control, for the most part... or does she? She's staying up there for now, standing on the edge, hauling herself up.
She's there for you Kula, even if you might not need her. She .. actually cares too.
Her point blank chi blast delivered, Kula's feet slip easily over the concrete as the girl puts distance between her and Maxima. He asks about the radio and she nods slightly, her hair shimmering as it drapes over her shoulders, the icy chi that seems to flock to her continuing to swirl about her in a small, localized snowstorm of blue particles. "Yes." comes the simple reply with regards to speaking with someone on her communicator.
"Of course you're not weak. NESTS made you strong like that. But they made me stronger." He charges in, with speed drawn from determination and the brief break he got from her relentless assaults, and Kula brings her arms up, bracing behind them for the impact that lands. No shields, no barriers, just the smack of a powerful fist against the limbs of the girl that should be so much more vulnerable to damage than she looks.
The force has its effect, even if he didn't land a clean hit, the NESTS project send skidding backward over the sidewalk, only coming to a stop when her back hits the wall she had been seated upon when Maxima happened across her path. Stumbling forward out of the impact, the girl stays upright as she shakes her arms out at her sides, trying to stave off some of the pain from absorbing the worst of the famous Vapour Cannon.
Her eyes glance up at that point, however, Diana's voice easily heard from atop the nearby roof and her vexed expression from a moment drops immediately, replaced with a quite clear smile at the sight of the NESTS scientist. But she doesn't stay distracted for long, eyes snapping back to Maxima as she breaths in a little, the flurry of ice around the girl building up significantly. "It's time to go now."
And that's when Kula takes to the air with a forward flip, the ice forming a veritable cloud around her as she reaches the apex of her leap. At that point the girl kicks out, drawing all of that built up chi into her leg before it drops out of the sky at a sharp angle toward Maxima. A giant... snowflake, its edges as sharp as the serrated rim of a buzzsaw, descends toward the cyborg, only to explode with a frightful amount of force should it come in contact with the girl's target... while Kula completes her flip and drops down toward the ground, arms raised, ready to land back on her feet.
COMBATSYS: K' has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Maxima 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 K'
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Kula 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Kula has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Maxima 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 K'
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Kula 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Maxima has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Kula 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Maxima
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 K'
COMBATSYS: K' blocks Kula's Diamond Shoot.
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Kula 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Maxima
> /////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 K'
Ever since Kula began to fight in earnest, the temperature in the immediate area has cooled... and stayed cold. Her presence suffuses the vicinity with a slight chill, the air misting perceptibly from all that ice. In the past few moments, however, that frozen, aloof chill has encountered some resistance. A sweltering, dry heat prowls subtly around the fringes of Kula's enforced arctic, encroaching closer and closer; and the instant Kula kicks that spinning disc of gathered ice and snow towards the cyborg, that snarling warmth focuses and finally pierces straight through.
A streak of black interposes into the path of the descending flake, resolving into a lean frame that twists hard and forces a gloved hand directly into the knitted ice. A blast of ripping flame tears through the latticework, melting what it doesn't instantly shatter to pieces: the shrapnel embeds into the boy, shredding deeply into skin where leather and jeans don't protect him, but the shards of ice quickly drip away when confronted with his eternal heat.
Retracting with a huff of scorn and a malevolent glare, K' looks Kula over unimpressedly. He assesses her a minute, wordless and abrupt, before his yellow eyes flick up towards Diana. The woman's presence affirms just what this is all about; one roll of the eyes later, he glances over his shoulder at Maxima. An unpleasant smile threatens his face. "I thought I'd come out..." he greets slowly once keen eyes have ascertained Maxima's condition, his gaze carelessly roving back to settle unerringly on Kula. A lick of fire persists about his wrist, before a lazy flip of the hand shifts it down so he can play it along his knuckles. "...help you take out the trash..."
COMBATSYS: K' gathers his will.
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Kula 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Maxima
> /////////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 K'
Maxima watches the attack as it starts to come. He is pretty much spent here, and he knows this attack is going to finish him off; there's no way for him to avoid it. And in his state, he certainly can't block it, let alone endure it. The cyborg falls to one knee, trying in vain to raise one arm, to at least protect his beautiful face from the incoming ice shards. Yep. It's over. Barrin something... dramatic?!
Look! Something dramatic!
Maxima looks up, lowering his arm. K' to the rescue. The Cyber-Canuck heaves a sigh, because he will never hear the end of this, and laboriously hauls himself back to his feet. As his young partner begins to speak, Maxima displays a complete lack of respect for dramatic pauses. "You did? Finally! I just want you to know that I'm still here to support you and love you-- as a /friend/-- no matter what gender you're attracted t--" K' finishes, and Maxima coughs, having the decency to look at least a little embarrassed.
"Yes, right. Of course. Trash." Wincing, he reaches down and picks up a handful of ruined bench. "I appreciate the assist but I'm not gonna lie, I feel kind of wrong double-teaming a little girl."
Wrong or not, he winds up and tosses the debris at Kula. Maybe it will at least distract her from the real attack, now that a guy capable of real attacks on that level is here.
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to reflect Thrown Object from Maxima with Counter Shell.
[ \\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Kula 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Maxima
> /////////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 K'
She's vaguely aware, as she descends, of something not feeling quite right. There is a presence - a force that resonates with something deeply innate to the girl. A fellow kin, another bearer of the genetically instilled Kusanagi power is nearby. It is something to investigate, as soon as the giant chi bomb finishes the job she came to start against the battered cyborg.
At least that's what she thought was about to happen, just before another interposes himself into the path of the sharply bladed snowflake from hell. A gloved hand smashes into it, a contesting power against her ice that sends it exploding mostly away from its intended target, falling apart into a cloud of mist, droplets of water, and steam. Kula pauses, mouth slightly agape as her eyes come to rest on the black clad hero of the moment.
Of course she knows exactly who he is. He is the reason she exists. If he had simply stayed put where he was supposed to, there would not have been the need to so carefully craft a human weapon that could contend with him. It is as if staring destiny in the face, the young project fixated purely on K' then. This was precisely who she was to defeat. It was her purpose above all others. His death would mark the very moment in which she would be declared a resounding success - all those years of research having paid off perfectly.
But this just suddenly got 'hard', and there's a moment's hesitation where years of programming in combating this very man struggle against a very strong sense of self preservation. She's worth billions of dollars of research. She isn't exactly supposed to throw her life away in a hopeless fight, no matter /what/ her purpose is. A yellow gloved hand raises, the girl clenching it, a halo of piercing cold energy resonating out from it. "This wasn't expected." she remarks calmly, eyes shifting to the side just in time to see Maxima send a section of the shattered bench her way.
A triffle annoyance from a man who shouldn't still be standing right now, Kula swings her chi infused hand out in front of her, intending to create another barrer capable of easily deflecting the irrelevant object. But the barrier doesn't appear, harmless ice crystals trailing out behind her arm but nothing more, and the bench chunk ends up hitting her squarely in the shoulder, sending her back a short distance with a surprised gasp as she looks at her hand, clearly confused as to why the intended defense didn't manifest itself.
But the cause becomes a lot more obvious, her icy blue hair losing its pale color, fading back to her natural aburn locks. The crystaline particles that swirled around her the entire time fade, and the girl exhales a long, exhausted sigh. She's used up all she has contending with Maxima and right now she has nothing left with which to fight. It seems that power she was so proud of does have its limits. "I should go now." she asserts, her tone far less calm this time as she repeats the desire she's had to leave for a little while now, a slight tremble in her voice as she glances up at Diana, perhaps worried that she might be so very disappointed in her.
Two quick steps backward are taken, the girl clearly waiting to see if she is going to be pursued, but then she turns and bolts, leaping for the wall she had jumped down from when she ambushed Maxima at the beginning, hands touching down on the top of it, allowing the girl pull herself up onto the high ledge and pause there for a moment, turning around to face K' and Maxima from the top of the wall, taking a long moment to study the rogue clone, her right hand lifted, her fingers resting over her mouth with a somewhat contemplative expression.
With Kula seemingly taking care of it, Diana still isn't happy yet. Leaping down, over the edge, she can see things a bit clearer. What with the ground covered in whatever Maxima has been leaking, and .. unfortunately, some of it's Kula's. Telltale things you already realized are still bothering. Even Kula can't make short work of a man like him, not even if she wished that'd happen. You can only tamper so much with genetics to get what you want. Right now? Kula's been modified a bit, but about as advanced NEST wise as they will come.
And then something else happens.. Diana's eye widening as she notices the streak of black near instantly, the ripping flame.. it's hard to ignore that when you see it daily. But the clones aren't anywhere nearby. That can only mean... well, he makes himself known well enough, and Diana's butterfly rapier is out in a moment as she slides over to Kula, the debris assaulting Kula.
"Kula.. dear.. we better get moving." She grits her teeth a bit, leering at K' and Maxima, the Amazon not quick enough to grasp a hand on Kula's arm and get her moving .. especially with Kula busy trying to stop the debris hail. "I think you're mistaking which of us are the trash though." Diana says, without any kind of grin or smile. She means it. The blade still stays up, held with her arm out, daring one of them to come closer. Even if she knows they would, anyhow. Sharp pointy things tend to at leave drive the point home with some of these .. well they certainly weren't failed experiments. But they were still failures, to NESTS. Even if they were brimming with strength.
Kula's hair fades from the blue color.. and that's when Diana knows it's completely over. No point in staying.. but Kula's gaze to her as she glances, Kula wouldn't see disappointment, but more a look of worry. Kula could get hurt.. or worse. And she waits for Kula to leap up the wall, and then pull herself up.
Only then does Diana vanish in somewhat of a blur, a faint butterfly like afterimage as she lands, appearing next to Kula, blade put back and everything. "Come on dear.. lets not wear out this little welcome any longer. You'll see him again." Hoisting Kula up, she actually takes her into her arms, before beginning to jump off. She's .. rather fast, perhaps not as Kula, but she's certainly in better condition.
Oh, she's sure she'll see him again. "And you'll take care of him, I'm sure of it. Just rest."
K' looks right back over his shoulder again as Maxima brings his own special interpretation to his words. The boy is clearly irritated at having his lazy speech patterns interrupted. Ignorant as he is to most of society's euphemisms and turns of phrase, he doesn't even immediately parse what Maxima is saying at first or why; but when he does, his unimpressed expression extends to include the cyborg. "Shut up," he eventually concludes blandly, turning his back with a dismissive wave. As for those reservations of Maxima's? K''s opinion is eminently practical: "Better to just get rid of them when the chance presents itself..."
But for all his marginalizing manner of referring to Kula... he can taste it too. A stolen force foreign to them both. He doesn't understand exactly why it is that this girl resonates as 'familiar' in his blood-- why she clicks with him and makes him feel -sick- all at once, in a way no one else does-- but he can recognize that there's something about her that is the same as him. And from there, he can guess. Another Kyo clone... and this time, not one of those disposable jokes that never last longer than three days and can't even properly express flame.
The ramifications race through his mind even as he watches the white fade from her hair, his eyes narrowing and his stance growing in hostility as she starts an unsteady retreat. Like most animals who've managed to provoke any reaction of uncertainty or fear, K' is only encouraged by the sudden waver in her voice.
He barely even pays Diana or her blade any mind, except where her actions are depriving him of his target. His gaze is fixed on the weakness he's perceived. "Leaving already? We just met." Unsettled by the murmur in his blood, perhaps even feeling threatened by how Kula's presence makes him feel, his first reaction to that feeling is to posture and grin: the reflex more akin to an aggressive bare of teeth than any attempt to disarm or charm. Flames consume his arm in an abrupt burst, crackling in his hand as it turns palm-up and claws. "I didn't get -my- chance to play..."
And the instant Diana moves, K' lunges, clearing to the walltop in a violent pounce: his fire attendant about his arm. But in those instants, the two have already vanished. Straightening up, the thwarted K' paces restlessly back and forth a few moments, staring fixedly off in the direction he last saw them... and then, finally, with a huff of disgust, he drops back down, shoves his quenched hands into his pockets, and strolls back towards Maxima with a controlled-- but fake-- sort of calm. "...you holding up?" he eventually queries.
As Maxima follows through from his Maxima Bench Toss, his hand suddenly morphs from open-just-tossed-some-stuff hand into a fist. Then it slams powerfully into position parallel to the ground, and it is... a MAXIMA THUMBS-UP. The force of the MAXIMA THUMBS-UP causes the asphalt below his arm to crack and splinter, and the air on either side of the arm WHOOSHes in opposite directions. Maxima's primordial sideburns ruffle majestically in the intense breeze.
"Kula Diamond!" he calls, ignoring Diana's jibes. She is clearly another victim, but a victim who is propagating the Circle of NESTS. "Do not forget what I have said. You know where to find me, if you can come to your senses." Painfully, he straightens, dropping the MAXIMA THUMBS-UP and switching it to a MAXIMA POINT, aimed at Kula. "You are a PERSON, not a WEAPON."
To K', he smiles. "The day I shut up for you is the day my jaw ceases to function, kid." Grimacing then, he turns, putting on hand to his gaping chest wound, and using the other to pick up his miraculously-unscathed bag of groceries. He waits patiently for K' to return from his mad dash, then nods. "I'll be fine, you know me. Harder to kill than the common cold, and twice as mucousy." To demonstrate, he pulls the hand away from his damaged chest, trailing slimy, stretchy tendrils of NESTS cyborg blood. With a wink, he hefts the bag and turns for home. "C'mon, K'. These vegetables aren't going to steam themselves. And judging from that look you and the girl exchanged, I'll need to tell you about... the birds and the bees."
COMBATSYS: Maxima has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 K'
COMBATSYS: Kula has left the fight here.
> /////////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 K'
Log created on 23:45:01 05/08/2008 by Kula, and last modified on 05:43:02 05/10/2008.