Description: Although Jiro is on the run, he tries to do justice for the world. As such, he has been trying to hunt down NESTS for some time. With his own brand of intelligence, Jiro had gained information on where a strange activity was located. Daniel was on the scene in pursuit of Jiro as well...
Activities like this always take place at night. When most people are asleep and those still awake are far from their sharpest. The shadows are at their darkest and the world at its most lax. There are disadvantages, of course. That absolute quiet brought on by hours beyond midnight, for example. Moving undetected through such is much more challenging than during the hustle and bustle of a typical afternoon.
But it will have to suffice. Kula isn't given the hassle of planning these operations, after all. She simply has to carry them out. A weapon; pointed in a direction and told to kill. And that's what she does with deadly efficacy. From outside the estate it would be so hard to tell that anything at all was amiss within, that death walked there and tonight the reaper's scythe had taken the form of lethal ice.
Anyone following in the trail would find evidence of what was afoot, however. The property belonged to a Mr. Shibata, prominent political figure in Japan. Why his name ended up on a list is for NESTS to know and others to wonder, but what matters is that it had. There wouldn't be immediate signs of violence on the property. No broken windows, no shattered doors. No sounds of gun fire or yells of panic. Just a sense of deathly chill.
That would change once one entered the building, however. The front door slightly ajar, just inside is the first corpse: a security guard suspended from a mask of ice that encases his whole head and keeps him fixed to the wall. Judging by the scuff marks in the wall near his feet and a place where his hand had clawed into the wooden surface, it would appear he died there, no doubt from suffocation due to the lack of any holes through which to breath in that form-fitting mask of ice.
Another body on the second landing. Another guard it would appear. His chest pierced straight through, leaving him skewered to the wall, a bloody mess at his back and dripping over the floor. With the way his neck is slashed, it's clear that he wouldn't have been able to make a sound before his horrific demise. Whoever was stalking through this home tonight was a professional killer and no one on the premises had any prayer of preventing the scheduled hit.
Shibata's room is just down the hall of the third floor. No lights are on anywhere in the house, but a dim blue glow escapes from the slightly opened door. The essence of death hung in the air. It might already be too late to interfer.
Sometimes, one gets their messages from a little birdie. Or ten. It is never a dull moment for the Stray Dog. Having to have lived in the shadows for some time, Jiro has gotten a little accustomed to being hidden now. Not only thanks to the NESTS outft, but through his quick thinking of utilizing his friends to aid him, Jiro is never alone in the endeavor. The night is his friend now. He has to make it so if he is to survive.
He received a message of something strange going on a bit far off in the northen district. That is why Jiro has traveled through the streets of Southtown, his tracks covered by his strays as he makes his way towards the assigned location. He was warned that something was afoot. Whoever it was used cold energy.
That was all that Jiro needed to know.
He arrives, wearing the black leather outfit with the shoulderpads. The NESTS armor fits like a glove along with the utilitizes that are installed. With the ice going up, Jiro activates the goggles to undergo the infrared sensors. With the huge patch of ice, there has to be some assigned heat, right? No.
"Shit.." Jiro deactivates the goggles, and he storms through the door, looking at the guard suspended in the air. A grit of teeth is given, then he shakes his head and he contnue onward, passing through the impaled guard.
Running towards the third floor, Jiro is manifesting his scarlet chi, there is no point in being subtle. He will make himself known to the killer and stop the intentions.
Daniel Jack was a private eye. An investigator. Unlike most people, he had a natural knack to being in the wrong place at the right time. Some say it was his intuition, others say it was his experience. Daniel himself believes it is both, with a third wild card. Ryuhaku Todoh had a knack of being at places at times. Kasumi Todoh had a knack of finding her man. The detective himself believes the Way of Todoh provides much more than just expert combat skills... but an innate knack at sleuthing that no man has learned to tap.
Such talents kick off a small mission that he had. Jiro Kasagi had many more enemies than he had friends. The law, the underworld, and everyone in between wanted a piece of the dog man. But he had a few useful allies, most important being a Hotaru Futaba. Daniel Jack imposed on the little girl, and after a short grill-session, he got a fun little deal. Find the truth behind Jiro, and Hotaru would pay him handsomely. And frankly, the truth was worth it's weight in gold.
The detective takes more time than Jiro on his approach. Unlike the criminal, he had to rely on his natural talents of stealth. Light steps, low profile, and brilliant pacing. Oh, he was trailing Jiro for a while now. The Stray Dog might not know it, but he was his best contact right now. Finding him wasn't hard. A leather-bound special-ops guy in goggles that called himself Stray Dog. After a few false leads to the Red Light District, he narrowed down on a weirdo stomping around with animals. Stray dogs, birds, things like that.
Daniel suspected the weirdo was his weirdo.
After Mister Fetish charges through the door, a trench-coat clad stranger walks silently behind, keeping with the shadows. Unlike him, he had a reason to be cautious. The first reason was to avoid being crotch-shot. The second was that guard cased in the ice. As Jiro charges to meet the cause of this, Daniel Jack looked closely at the man. This was gruesome. Alien. "Sweet sugar santa." The detective mumbles to himself. Stray Dog, a super hero. Ryouhara, some sort of super villain. And now... another super villain?
Daniel began his slow approach towards the stairs, keeping his ears open and eyes sharp for danger.
When you kill a nobody, you do it quick. Oh, to be sure, those guards were somebody to someone. Friends, possibly families. Someone out there had to know who they were. And now they're dead. But in the big picture, in the cruel, harsh world at large, they were nobody. Not even speed bumps for the assassin, based on how quickly they were dispatched.
When you kill a somebody, you're doing more than just eliminating a problem. You're sending a message out out to others as well: step out of line and this will be you next; that there's worst punishments than simple death - there's the agonizing final minutes of life that come /before/ death. Kula was given specific instructions as to how he was to die. It's that exacting need to kill Mister Shibata in the exact way she was told that may very well save his life. It has certainly bought time.
When Jiro slams through the door the engineered assassin has an older, silver-haired Japanese man pinned to the wall by his head, her gloved hand pressing over his face. That such a young thing would have the strength needed to hold him so helplessly may be somewhat disturbing. That she appears so completely detatched from what she's doing is likely moreso. No smile. No smirk. No amusement at her prey's plight. Just a cold, even stare into the man's eyes.
She looks dressed for the job. Replacing the violet leather body armor she enters sanctioned matches in, she is clad completely in black. A black form fitting body suit covered mostly by a black leather jacket and pants - light weight, flexible body armor, engineered by NESTS, keeping their investment safer from harm than one might expect. Her hair, however, is a shock of frosty blue in the otherwise mostly dark room.
Her left hand is drawn back, her right hand pinning the man in place. A crackle of ice made manifest is audible as she prepares to go through with her orders. To the letter. There is no expectation that anyone will interfer. The mission brief was specific. Two guards inside. One up on the roof. If all goes as planned, the third one on the roof won't even know anything has happened until morning when his employer is found deceased...
There was one thing that was to be taken account of.
A wild card.
Fortunately, for the man, Jiro was that wild card. That is why Jiro had to act fast. He can't do anything physical, unless he wants to be a split second too late. So that gathered chi that manifested some time ago is there for a reason. Jiro is going to act pretty fast.
The surprise in the matter is that the person in question of the killing is none other than Kula Diamond. So, she is their killer. At this point, Kula is no longer regarded as a friend. She, like all NESTS members, are the enemy. As Jiro makes his presence out, Jiro is fist to act in the play by releasing the chi from his hand. It comes out twirling towards the path of Kula. That chi's shape is that of a cutter, yet it curves to the side as it seeks to hack at her from the side, yet avoid hitting the man should she avoid it in time.
He doesn't want to accidentally kill the guy.
COMBATSYS: Jiro has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jiro 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kula has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Jiro 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
Daniel slowly marches up the stairs, mulling over what he was getting into. Jiro was after an organization called NESTS. This NESTS, according to Hotaru, framed Jiro's murder. This was a load, obscured by the fecal matter that ranked of all wild claims. And yet, here he was, on the 2nd floor of a building where a corpse was frozen against a wall.
What did NESTS stand for? New Empire Set To Socialize? Naughty Europeans Seeking Tall Southtowner? Nega-Evil Super Terror Squad? It sounded ridiculous. What about that Sei fellow? Was he part of the group? And what about Mad Gear? There were so many possible paths, but none rang true at the moment. As he moves along, the second corpse sticks out to him. Bending over steadily, he inspects the remaining icicle. Ice weapons. Sensing a strange... force with it, Daniel's intuition triggers. He was dealing with an frozen bad guy of some sort. Looking briefly at the neck, he removes his hat, and holds it over his heart, shaking his head. NOW, he picks up the pace, shooting up the stairs... to the third floor.
COMBATSYS: Kula reflects Balefire from Jiro with Counter Shell.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
Whatever was Kula's agenda, she isn't going to be able to carry it out just yet. Her left hand pauses, ice crackling over her fingertips. Quickly she glances to the side, crimson eyes widened slightly by the interruption. Expecting one of the security personal, it's quite a surprise to see someone far more prepared for combat than they were. With nightvision goggles in place, she isn't even particularly sure who she's looking at...
But that crimson chi coursing over his hand leaves no question as to his intent to interfer. The girl is silent as she steps back. She could kill the man in her grip in an intant. Her right hand alone has the power to drive spikes of ice through his skull and end it. No speedy interference from this new arrival could possibly act in time. But her orders were clear, and in light of this new development she hesitates.
In the end she changes hands, her right hand releasing his face, her left hand gripping into the top of his button down pajamas, not about to let him go that easily. Her right hand freed up, the girl waves it through the air, creating for a moment a barrier of shimmering, highly reflective ice. THe incoming chi blade crashes into it but doesn't manage to get through as the energy is absorbed into the frozen matter. A light touch of her finger is all it takes to explode the barrier outward, a significant portion of it flying right back at Jiro - a veritable grenade of tightly packed ice shrapnel and a hint of his own crismon chi lingering within.
She has to act quickly to contain this situation. And right now her mark has been demoted to 'least of her concerns'. Pressing him against the wall with her left hand, she turns back on him, raising her right gloved hand up to paint a belt of ice over his arms and chest, effectively constraining him to the wall of his bedroom. That will suffice, she decides, turning back toward the interference, her expression having regained its clinical, dispassionate calm. When she's going about business, nothing will disuade her.
COMBATSYS: Jiro blocks Kula's Reflected Balefire.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Kula
Unfortunately, she was quite prepared for the maneuver. Jiro was actually afraid that she would had been prepared as well. Nevertheless, he pressed on with the attack. As the chi collides with the field, it only comes back to him in the form of the tightly ice packed grenade. Jiro's eyes widen and he brings his hand up guarding him. The shrapnel splinters out against him as well as the dose of his own chi. A hiss is echoing from his lips as the impact collides with his body. There is a bit of flash behind it as well. He know it would not be that simple.
Nevertheless, Jiro immediately sprints towards Kula, deciding to finally get up to close combat to deal with the young girl. He lunges into the field by springing out towards her path. As he springs up, he greets her with two mid-air snap kicks; each one more like a stepping motion to allow him to get close to her. With the landing, he thrusts his elbow out towards her direction, aiming to smash it across her cheek.
By the time Daniel Jack reaches the third floor, his sensitive ears pick up the strange sounds. Some sort of explosion, but without the blast. Like breaking thick glass, or splintering wood. Then, the flash, and the hiss of a man. Daniel Jack held back for a moment. Reaching into his coat, he pulls out a small silver flask. Hastily undoing the lid, he tilts back, sipping it quickly. Was it cold in here, or was it just him? The whiskey warms him up a bit in either way, and fastening the cap tight, he slips it back into his coat.
Moving by the door, he hits the side, attempting to hide behind the small corner to peer into the room. There was his mark charging at... no. A small girl? The detective narrowed his eyes at the woman in the catsuit against the man in the catsuit. The only one who seemed normal was the well-dressed man frozen to the wall. Frozen to the wall. Daniel Jack narrows his eyes. He needed to figure out a plan of action. Restraining himself back, he scouts out the room, forming together some tactical approach before charging in blindly to a pair of super heroes and super villains.
COMBATSYS: Daniel has joined the fight here in the center.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Kula
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Daniel focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Kula
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to interrupt Medium Punch from Jiro with Crow Bite.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-------
As Jiro charges, Kula has turned, ready to take him on. Her left shoulder toward him, she watches his aggressive advance with silent regard, waiting for him to commit to his next move before she counter strikes. Her right foot slips back just slightly, brushing over the carpetted floor as she plans her next move. There's something familiar about this new individual, though she hasn't quite matched him up against the combat profiles she's been exposed to over the last year of her life.
When he takes to the air, she readies herself, tensing up further. A surge of white courses along her right arm as she hooks it back, bracing to strike him with a brutal uppercut. The ice solidifies, becoming a guantlet of jagged edges, spikey outcroppings, and needle sharp razors of ice out over her clenched glove. And it's all of this brutal ice that she intends to tear into the young man with, to put down this interference as quickly as possible.
That his leaping kick was more of a feint proves her foil as the girl swings early, grazing him with the harmless tips of ice that simply break off from the contact due to not being properly wedged into him. It leaves her side exposed when he slams his fist forward, the impact cutting her rise short and driving the lighter fighter back into the wall behind her where she stops with a soft gasp for breath.
Jarred more by the mistake in her instinctive reaction than the hit itself, she's back on her feet in an instant, mouth still frozen in that cold, neutral expression. That he's tougher than she estimated at first is certain, but that won't be a problem, she believes.
As the ice strikes against the feet, merely grazing it, that landing allows Jiro to follow up with that elbow to disorient the young girl. That is actually the time that Jiro needs to shout out to the newcomer. "Worry about cutting the guy loose and get him out!" His eyes shift towards Kula, then he presses on with the assault.
There is not much time to dwell on the plan of action. His goal is to give the young woman a bit of distraction. Jiro knows that he is outclassed by the NESTS agent. However, he has no choice but to follow up with a method of dealing with her, all considering the situation. That objective is to keep her away from the man, not to beat her. If he manages to do that, then that's another step ahead.
Jiro is reaching out his hands to strike towards her throat. At the same time, his hands are manifesting those scarlet flames. It would appear that Jiro has plans for her should her get his hands locked against her throat.
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Jiro's Helldrive.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Kula
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-------
So, the girl was the one pulling off the murders up along the path to the third floor. Two guards in, and such a sweet-looking thing too. Then again, he ran into a powerhouse of a young girl before. That little brat who blasted him with that strange energy. Still, Jiro was manifesting energy to counter-act her ice, which might assist in the long-term. He had a few things to discuss with Jiro. And he had a duty to protect the poor man frozen against the wall.
Slipping from the shadows, he keeps his profile low. He was spotted, yes. But why would Kula go after him? Well, if he tried anything with the man, she would most certainly jump him. But if she jumped him, Jiro would have an opening to pile through her. How wonderfully tactical. Shuffling silently, he doesn't even look at the pair. He just keeps his collar up and his hat low, concealing some of his feature. Hurrying to the man trapped in the ice, he considers his options. And then, figures out a perfect choice. As Jiro snaps out to Kula, the detective raises his right hand up. Peering at the point between the ice and the wall, he suddenly manifests a single sheet of orange energy. With a mutter, he snaps out a very familiar phrase to anyone with some combat training. "Kasane Ate." With a swipe, he attempts to use his chi energy to cut through the ice, attempting to release Mister Shibata from his icy tomb.
COMBATSYS: Daniel takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Kula
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-------
It's when he speaks that it clicks. Jiro Kasagi. What's /he/ doing here? And why's he dressed like that? The young killer is distracted by the realization for a moment, staying back by the wall long enough for the ex Interpol agent to bark his request to the third party and then charge her again. She's more rooted at this point when his crimson-infused hands go for her neck.
Her left arm comes up, letting him grip that instead, the chi baking against the leather jacket sleeve but not doing much harm to her in the process as she fights against it with her own formidable aura. She gives the American a quick glanceover, wondering what the connection between the two is and how they both happened to walk into her operation like this.
Pursing her lips closed, she pries her way free of Jiro's grip, taking a lightning fast step to the side to put her at an angle to him. Her intent isn't to try and take advantage of an opening on Jiro, however, as she lunges for Daniel instead. Free her captive? Well, he's got a lead on her there, and as his orange energy crashes down with a sharp edge, slicing through the solidified ice and breaking the dazed elderly man free from the wall. Mister Shibata stumbles, barely able to comprehend what is happening to him, but Kula doesn't go for him first.
That Daniel drew upon chi means he's got fighiting potential, which means he needs to be quickly incapacitated. Poor Shibata-san can be chased down as long as she deals with these two quickly enough. The operation isn't scratched just yet. Daniel might be though, because it's toward him she extends her right arm, a surge of brilliantly white energy conjealing into a sphere of diamond-hard ice over her fist.
With Jiro so close, she can't get all the way over to Daniel. But her ice can. Three lances of varying length shoot out from the sphere as the girl literally attempts to skewer him to the wall. He's interferring in something he shouldn't have, and now she has to kill them both. Her over-reaching attack leaves her vulnerable to the young man at her side, but she can't have Daniel helping the old man out of here so fast either. Or so say her automatic sorting combat algorithms!
The target was for Kula's neck, as he was actually aiming to throw her and himself out of the window. That way, she would have an even harder time carrying out her execution of the man. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get a good grip. Instead, he grabbed her arm, somewhat searing against the leather jacket sleeve. Of course, the grip was not as good since she got away.
With her attention focused towards Daniel, Jiro hisses out, "Shit..." So he immediately turns around to pursue Kula once more, dashing himself towards her direction from behind. He seeks to wrap his arms around her waist. Why? Well, he is going to redirect her attempts back towards him. Even if it means violently bodyslamming her against a table.
But acting on quickness rather than utilizing full power, he is aiming to quickly whip her over towards a nearby wall.
COMBATSYS: Daniel endures Kula's Critical Ice!!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|=======
Daniel's training with Chi paid off, as the simple but versatile strike cleaves right through the ice, freeing the man from the icy tomb. "Break for it, scuzzy, get the cops!" The detective snaps, interposing himself between Kula and the poor old man. Unfortunately, the plan where he draws fires comes VERY true. It almost seems elegant when she presents her hands forward. Daniel Jack suddenly picks up the pace, moving closing the distance between himself and the girl. Jiro picks up the cue as well, and moves in to take advantage of the little girl.
Images of Hotaru come back. Hold old were those two, anyways?
Suddenly, the detective finds himself with a sharp spire through his torso. This isn't a metaphor. Daniel Jack has one of the spires directly though his abdomen, ripping through his internal organs. So that is what the guard went through. Daniel Jack's face locked up into an intense grimace, a growl escaping his throat. Spreading his weight around, he figured something like this MIGHT happen. Entering as best of a defensive stance, he winds back his left hand. If Kula is still paying attention, one of the objectively greatest hand chops in the world was being set up. The form was almost perfect, shocking in the angle it was to hit for maximum damage. It was unthinkable how someone of Daniel talent could even prepare such a knife hand strike. Shoving himself further down the spire, he nods at Daniel, and with an explosion of force, unleashes the hand strike straight for Kula's collarbone, attempting to clock her cold.
Hah. Ice Pun.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Jiro's Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Daniel's World's Greatest Hand Chop.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|=======
It's in situations like these - where her work for NESTS is jeaporized - that she becomes the most dangerous. Striking to kill, if Daniel's life ended pinned to the wall right then and there, she wouldn't have thought twice about it. He would be dead just like the two guards he passed on his way into this frozen nightmaric scene. Unfortunate, but with her upbringing, pity or sympathy is in short supply. She doesn't even flinch when the ice stabs through him, even though she did correctly guess that he stood there rather than trying to save himself the pain she had in store for him.
With Jiro trying to get a grip on her the same time Daniel advances as well, the highly trained professional whips around to the side, leaning into her attack at the same time she frees her hand from the icy sheath that bore those deadly lances. Twisting to the side, she avoids the ex Interpol agent first, before ducking down and under Daniel's impressively prepared but unfortunately unsuccessful attempt to chop her in the neck.
The deadly fighter comes up at both of their sides, a blur of dark motion in the poorly lit room. Her mark is trying to take his chance at escaping. A chance she isn't about to allow for. Gritting her teeth, she crouches forward, planting her hands against the floor, sending an ice slick expanding out from her position to cover the surface of the carpetted floor. Slick, without friction, it sends Mister Shibata tumbling face forward the moment the floor beneath him turns to ice.
Of course, standing on such a surface, the girl has transformed the environment into one more conducive to her own manner of fighting. Standing back up after having created her indoor ice rink, she spares a moment to glance over the two trying to stop her and evaluate their condition. "You shouldn't have interferred." she declares. Maybe the gaping wound in Daniel's torso, the ice slowly crumbling out of it as she ceases to maintain it, already told him that much.
COMBATSYS: Kula focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|=======
This is not going as to how Jiro would had wanted things to go. He needs to get the guy out -now-. However, Kula is not going to make it very easy for him. At the same time, he is not going to let her kill off the man. The young man wanted to let NESTS know that he is still a threat.
Even more so, now that there are no restrictions.
Jiro immediately launches himself towards Kula's path, but he grips at nothing but air as she twists away from him first. A hiss echoes from his lips. The young man snarls at Kula, then he faces her direction once more. Manifesting his scarlet chi, Jiro extends his right hand towards her direction.
"Too bad. I am paying you assholes back. Big time." He channels forth the scarlet chi once more. This time, it appears in the form of a small ball of energy, instead of blasting with it, he darts himself forward as he extends the ball of energy out towards the path of the slick ice. He is going to recreate the friction to cover the man's escape.
At the same time, Jiro twists himself in mid-air, aiming to slam his foot across Kula's face.
Despite the intense skill and power behind the chop, it fails him. Truly, Kula was that talented of a fighter to subvert the inherent talents of a hand chop. Man, Daniel Jack was really glad he took that drink before the fight. Regaining his standing, he suddenly takes a moment to focus on his breathing.
The detective reaches in his coat, feeling the point of penetration. Ouch. Why did he put himself through crap like this. Slipping his other hand in, he begins to feel around for other things. "Actually, Frost Queen, I'm here for old murder-chops here, you dig?" The detective snaps, whipping out two objects. Yeah. Jiro, you use your not-Kasane Ate to deal with the ice. Adjusting his footing, the detective decides to use a more convential approach.
Daniel Jack tosses a small vial up in the air. The vial seems to be wrapped in a red label. What reason? Only he knows. In the other hand was a small bull-pup revolver. Face frigid, he suddenly pops a round off to the small container. Immediately, the room explodes with small grains of some caustic material. Where ever the grains land on the ice, it immediately melts, indicating that the material is stranger than usual. Yes, if any of them caught it in their eyes, they would find themselves partially blinded. While Jiro was at least facing away from the blast of the strange chemical, Kula might not be as lucky. Daniel Jack, gun still drawn, begins to back up slowly, preparing to make a run for it... with the poor man.
Wait, what did Jiro mean by 'pay them back?'
COMBATSYS: Daniel assists Jiro.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Jiro's Medium Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|=======
Having put the world on ice, Kula figures this little inconvenience will be tidied up in no time. She of course was aware of Igniz's plot to ruin Jiro. He could kill the young man, but that would just make his casework all the more believable. Ruin his reputation though and all his investigations into NESTS affairs would be for nought. It seemed to be working too, the young man left to working on his own, fighting an entire cartel all by himself. Madness.
But now? Now she might have to kill him. And as the stately bedroom becomes a winter wonderland, she gets ready to make good on just that. Daniel is dismissed, her combat algorithms dropping his priority level down significantly after she managed to not get chopped in the neck. This proves to be unfortunate, however, as he and Jiro both actively seek to put an early end to her indoor skating rink. Jiro's bolt of energy explodes into the ice, sending frozen shrapnel up into the air and exposing some of the floor.
Pesky. But not as pesky as Daniel shooting some grains down over the floor, melting the thin layer of ice even more quickly in every direction. "Che." She should try to take off his head with a vicious blade of ice. That'd put a stop to his pesky interference. But Jiro's harassing her, twisting into a leaping jump kick, the target being her cute face! Fortunately for her, what's left of her icy distraction still leaves her moving fast, skipping around his jump kick deftly.
Her mark, however, has pushed himself up to his feet, using the newly exposed, wet carpet for traction in order to scramble toward the door. Kula's time is running out here. Time to eliminate one of these pests... It's for Jiro that she lunges, because of his proximity. Her right hand leads, going for his neck, her entire body devoted to slamming him backward against the wall while she seeks that grip. "It's not practical to make threats against that which you cannot stop." Her left hand is where the menace lies, however, as she brings her hand forward and attempts to palm his face. What would follow might come as no surprise - she's about to recreate the treatment the guard downstairs got as she tries to encase the youth's head in solid ice and leave him stuck to the wall!
COMBATSYS: Jiro endures Kula's Strong Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|=======
Unfortunately, Jiro is putting himself at the position where he may be killed. Nevertheless, Jiro will stand by his beliefs. If needs to be, die for it. He will show Kula his ideals and how he'll stand by it. Even if unmoved, the young man will press on, driving his will to fray into the strike. For when Kula reaches out for Jiro by the throat, his body is slammed against the wall as she grips against him.
"Eghn.... You think I can't back it up...?!" He hisses out as his face is slowly being covered in ice. The flames are slowly manifesting once more as the scarlet blaze erupts along his body. As if fighting off the chilling darkness, his right hand lowers towards her chest. A spark of energy manifests the sphere, the energy gathers more of the chi together as to build up the whirring cannon. Mini particles orbit the sphere that forms. At the process, fireflies flutter around his body as he seeks to position that hand right towards Kula's stomach. Instead.... his hands come together and he tightens his fists.
"I AM CASHING IN ON MY FUCKING PROMISE!"
The flames explode to life, washing the blaze off to sear against the ice trying to freeze him. At the same time, a large burst of energy ignites from his body, seeking to scorch against Kula's body.
As the chemicals kick in, Daniel finds himself with much better footing. Yes, it was a waste of perfectly good Margarita Salts, but at the time, a solid crusting is just not as important as staying alive. Withdrawing back as Jiro charges in, the detective decides to take priority with the man staying alive. Damn his morals. Damn them all to hell.
Maybe he could get pity cash from Hotaru.
Leveling his revolver at Kula, he waits until Jiro gets out of the way of the freezing. He doesn't. So instead, he just focuses on getting a clear shot. He can't. Ditching the finesse, he fires a series of rubber-tipped rounds at the young girl as he hurries to Mr. Shibata. A set of parting shots, so to speak, before he helps the man up. He needed to get him out of the building. Fast.
Somewhere on the muck, Alma has connected.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Daniel's Wobbly Wobbly.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Jiro 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Jiro's Defiance.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Jiro 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
Jiro proves to be stubbornly resistant to death as Kula tries to attach his head to the wall and leave him there to suffocate. The very nature of his chi manifestations end up paying off for the young man as they combat against that indevitable advance of glacial ice meant to take him out of the fight or possibly even kill him. To top it off, Daniel is not dying like he's supposed to either and to make matters worse, he stands a very good chance of helping old Mister Shibata out of the estate and into the relative cover of night. Alone, the old man is too dazed to make it far. But with aid? Well...
Forced to back off from Jiro as he punches out, attempting to blast her with his own element, the girl spins in a quick circle, arms out at her sides, leaving in their wake an ice barrier ring around her. It suffices to deflect the rubber bullets entirely, and even diminishes the threat of Jiro's strike as his chi crashes against the ice. It doesn't hold indefinitely, and eventually a little gets through, but she has already prepared for such, allowing it to crash against her raised arms, causing her sleeves to smoke but otherwise leaving her mostly untouched.
With the coordinated efforts of the two wouldbe heros to deal with, however, she's constantly got her hands full with no time for a break. Her right hand waves out to the side before she raises it, palm up. A thick piller of ice errupts up in the door's frame, blocking that route of escape. Either the ice will need to be dealt with or another route will need to be pursued. Thinking that will stall Daniel and Shibata enough, the frosty haired killer whirls back on Jiro, having given him only a brief second to recover.
Her retaliation comes in the form of leaning way from him, snapping her right foot out, aiming to drive the hell of it into his ribcage. A spike of piercing ice juts out from the heel of her boot, designed to deliver a savage, piercing wound to back up the powerful kick. Trying to drive the young man back into the wall, the girl continues to try and contain this situation. "And promise is that?" she asks, her tone calm, her demeanor still entirely too controlled given the chaos of the rapidly trashed bedroom.
COMBATSYS: Jiro counters Medium Kick from Kula with Dead End.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
If there is one thing that Jiro is good at is avoiding death. It his his tenacity that has allowed him this long. He has survived getting impaled, Grant's killing technique, and many other occurances. It is hard to believe that a young man has a strong resistance to death. One would have to wonder if he can die at times. But unfortunately, that too is a curse for a long and painful suffering.
Unfortunately for Jiro, the sudden burst of energy was not as effective as Jiro wanted it to be. He was hoping the burst would send Kula to a further distance and bowl completely through the ice. Nevertheless, the flames erupting from him did help alleviate the attempts to encase his head into ice.
Breaking the flow against Kula, Jiro brings his right fist back while winding the right hand, gritting his teeth at Kula. Yet, as she launches that rib, crunching kick, Jiro immediately shoots forward, smacking the foot down and he comes forth with his left boot towards her stomach to hunch her over.
Both hands close in towards her face. He twists the hands and reveals the middle finger to her face.
The Stray Dog Stunner coming up!
"To pay you fuckers back for ruining me."
Then, Jiro twists about, seeking to wrap an arm upward to ensnare the neck against his shoulder. With her chin over the shoulder, Jiro says, "And keep you guys from succeeding!"
With his weight dropped, Jiro kicks both legs out and descends, aiming to fall on his butt and have Kula's throat smash against the shoulder.
Kula was not Kula to Daniel Jack. She was just some spandex-clad girl unleashing vast amounts of ice. Thus, she needed an appropiate title. Ice Princess seemed appropriate, if tacky. Jadis, while even more awesome, was a bit too obscure. White Tiger made reference to her catsuit, but just didn't dig it.
Well, neither did this ice wall.
Torso still oozing blood, the detective bit back the pain as Kula went and blocked his get away. Letting Mister Shibata down gently, he stated in a whispered voice. "Keep steady, scuzzy, and will make it out, you dig it?" With that, he snapped both arms up high, beginning to manifest a even greater mass of orange energy in his hands. As Jiro fumes at Jandis, Daniel Jack couldn't help but get another parting shot. "Dammit, Stray Dog, just shove it and shaft it, real solid! KASANE ATE!" Dropping both arms down, he unleashes the sheet of energy into a wave, attempting to cleave through the wall with greater power than before. He needed to get the man out of here, and once he cleared the room, that would be easy. Kula would need a great deal of time to kill Jiro, and that would be enough for both to make their leave.
COMBATSYS: Daniel takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
Her foot smacked down, she starts to correct almost instantly, her left hand flaring to life with that same vibrant white, promising to deliver pain to Jiro some other way if kicking isn't working. But he moves in too swiftly, getting a grip on her head and pulling her off guard before she can shove a spike-covered fist into his throat. Stumbling as she's dragged forward, neck yanked over his shoulder, the young killer begins to correct for that as she readies an ice blade in her right hand, intending to introduce it to the young man's kidneys.
That plan doesn't come to fruition either when he drops, pulling her down easily, her throat crushed against his shoulder, Kula left with no means by which to mitigate the impact. A startled choke escapes her lips as she rolls off to the side and lands seated on the floor, eyes widened slightly, her left hand resting at her throat briefly as she looks like she's choking at first, her face paling.
A cough a second later indicates that her body has begin to breath again, which means she can get back to moving and trying to regain control over the deteriorating situation. A glance over her shoulder toward Daniel reveals he's making a solid effort at breaking out of the temporary barrier she created for them, driving his brand of chi discipline into the ice. Just sustaining the piller in light of that force is starting to wear on the girl. "Che." She hasn't lost that control, but there's a certain tension in her motions now, as her combat routines begin to allow for the possibility of this not going so well at all after all. Much more trouble and she will have to simply settle for escaping, only to deal with these two problems another day. "Good luck with that." she murmurs, musing Jiro's oath, sounding like she doesn't believe he has a chance in hell of putting a dent in NESTS.
Cracked, diminished some, it would just need one more solid hit for the ice piller to be blown asunder, but she's not interested in giving him that opportunity. The girl slips up to a crouch before leaping into the air toward Daniel. White chi flares along her leg, solidifying into the form of a giant axe blade at her foot. An axe blade she brings swinging down at a sharp angle toward Daniel, possibly catching the American detective off guard with a vitally punishing chop into his shoulder. It's the kind of blow that can end a career or a life, delivered with the careful aim of a natural predator.
COMBATSYS: Jiro endures Kula's Strong Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
After that strangled form of the girl hits the ground, Jiro immediately rolls back up towards his feet, observing the girl as she takes the moment to get up and catch her breath. While that happens, Jiro looks at Daniel, shooting him a grunt. Yet, he watches the workings on the wall being dealt with. But then, when his sights fall towards Kula, he recognizes that she is now about to turn her attention towards his direction.
Damnit.
Stiffening, the man immediately springs himself into action and he sprints after the path of the girl, trying to get to her before she can get to Daniel. He needs that guy out of here. He won't let NESTS get a hold of completing their mission. In other words, Jiro will mess up NESTS game up. % And he'll make good on his oath.
When Kula comes out with the literal axe-kick, Jiro's eyes narrow as he sprints towards Daniel's path. Acting quick on his feet, he immediately springs over towards the ice, sliding straight into the path of the ice that wasn't melted. And while doing so, he spins around so that he can be facing Kula when he finally meets with her. The moment that Jiro's foot hits the salted spot, no longer affected by the ice, he springs up towards the air towards the trajectory of the axe.
Hissing out a thunderous roar, he is colliding with the axe blade, which hacks right into the chest of the man. In doing so, a trail of blood splatters out, yet Jiro releases a thunderous roar of defiance. Although he is in excruciating pain, Jiro presses on with pure tenacity as he gets the closing in on Kula.
"RAAAAGGGHHHH!!!"
The eyes widen, almost becoming blood shot as Jiro is giving into the adrenaline of his fury. The fury gives birth to the scarlet blaze once more. Connected with his emotions, the blaze burns like a furnace, scorching the air as Jiro closes in against Kula. With the fist thrusted out, he is launching it out with an uppercut against her face.
Daniel Jack, on the other hand, doesn't even notice the girl coming at his back. When the first Kasane Ate doesn't work, he goes inward to the training that Ryuhaku Todoh instilled in him. He could remember those long evenings in the Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu Dojo, emphasizing the most important aspect of Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu: The Kasane Ate. And when the first Kasane Ate didn't work, you would just send another one. Without even breaking a sweat, he rises up his hands, and unleashes another Kasane Ate. And then, another.
Jiro's scream catches his attention behind him. Hands still high up, he turns around to stare at the offending girl. And then, at Kula. Jiro just took a hit for him. That was... solid. Real solid. Eyeing his new partner, he grimaces. God, he really was retarded. "Real solid, scuzzy. Pity you are on the run, you dig?" He seethed, manifesting the glowing orange sheet in his hand. Swiping it down towards Kula, the wave strikes the ground hard. It runs along the ground, exploding upwards in the general direction at the Ice Princess.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Daniel's Kasane Ate.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Jiro 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Kula reflects Burning Hell - A Scene with Jiro from Jiro with Diamond Shell.
[ < > //////////////// ]
Jiro 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|---====
Her foot tears into Jiro with all the ease of a finely sharpened katana's edge. Blood splattered, tissue rent, the girl lands deftly, the axe blade on her foot crumbling to bloodied ice shards the moment her boot strikes the floor, not interfering with her landing at all. Her eyes are closed in that instant, as if she's already thinking ahead to her next step. Jiro closes in swiftly, his fist infused with that crimson flame once more, ready to punch the girl's lights out should he land a solid blow to her glass jaw.
But something else is closing in on her with even greater speed, as if sucked into a single location by a localized black hole: ice. All of the stray ice particles, crystals, shards, debris left all over the room by Kula Diamond's attacks zip right back to the girl with a wooshing sound of matter being yanked right through the air at high velocity. Curling up a little as she lands, she literally hovers in air for a fleeting moment, feet drawn back up off the floor as her entire body becomes covered in thick, nigh unbreakable ice. The epitome of all her lessor barriers combined. Nothing can get through. Not even Jiro's valiant effort.
It's striking the barrier that sets it off, however, causing it to explode as if he tripped the detonator on a point blank chi bomb. Brilliantly white chi blasts out from around Kula, sending frozen shrapnel in all directions, each as sharp edged as any blade can be. A fan of knives or whirlwind of swords couldn't possibly be any more devastating as that concussive explosion of white, blisteringly cold chi mixed with so much frozen matter. Were Jiro not in the path of it, the resultant damage it would have done to Daniel and Shibata might well have finished Kula's job for her all by itself.
Stretching as her feet once again rest against the floor, the ice cold killer cants her head to the side, glancing toward Jiro, "Curious... So after killing your superior, you decide to make it your life's finale to strike at us... is this your way of trying to clear your name, murderer? A way to try and redefine the way you will be remembered?" She smiles faintly, shaking her head. "It just might work. Too bad you'll be dead in the end anyway..."
Her smile fades as crimson eyes glance toward the now open door, having pulled the crumbling ice piller into the attack she just used against young Kasagi. A frown crosses her lips. Daniel has not yet been dispatched. An oversight she intends to correct shortly before completing this mission. "Your reckless ways will be the end of you, it seems. You don't get to win just because you're brave." Her tone is sober, grave even, as she starts to advance after Daniel, seemingly in no hurry.
When the fist flies towards Kula, his hand actually strikes against... something solid? This is quite a strange feat to have done. But then, Jiro is realizing that something is admist. A barrier. That solid strike that he made was against a barrier. It isn't just any kind, but the fact that it is made out of the ice. And he just caught himself into it. As the barrier is struck, the explosion is devastating. For when the barrier breaks apart, it forms into the shrapnail that splatters everywhere, seeking to tear towards Jiro's path. It not only tears to his path, but it literally tears into him.
The blades pierce along the skin, digging through the skin from the legs, to the chest, and to the arms. It is as if Jiro is being made into a pin cushion. With the blades penetrating all over the young man, he releases a growl as he finds himself literally broken into shreds by the cold chi.
Nerves struck, Jiro is temporarily stunned. He grits his teeth, listening to Kula's words. So, she believes him to be a murderer....? He lowers his head, letting the blood drip down the arms. He drops to both knees, looking like that he is about to go down for good.
Blood drips on the ground.
"...I would say kettle called the pot black, but..."
He coughs, "...I wasn't the one who did it, liar."
Then, the rage is not sate. No. The powerful flames spark to life as an erosion as the funnel of energy roar into life. Melting against the ice, Jiro's hands extend towards the sky, lifting himself from the ground. The ice bursts from his body as the flames roar and melt it off of him. "ARRGGHHH!!" Heavily wounded, the mixture of the blood pours through, yet Jiro keeps himself under the adrenaline that he has left.
"....It'll take more than that..." He sneers, Then he rushes towards Kula, "TO TAKE ME DOWN FOR GOOD!" Then, Jiro winds his fist back, releasing a burst of chi to blast straight towards Kula. But due to the energy that it took to get the power out, Jiro's actually more spent than he'd like to.
As the burst explodes from Jiro's hand to Kula's path, Jiro falls towards the ground.
COMBATSYS: Jiro can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Kula 0/-------/-------|
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|---====
Well, the situation was one part good, two parts bad, and ten parts terrible. The good was that the ice barrier was suddenly gone, giving Mr. Shibata a way out of the room. Daniel Jack's wave of energy, on the other hand, was absorbed completely by the ice barrier that Kula drew up from all the cold. That was the bad. The terrible, however, was very simple. Jiro's mass of meat suddenly gave up the ghost, or at least a low-fat substitute of such. Without his living shield, Daniel realized that Shibata's chance for survival was outsourced to America. There, he would need to cut through high upkeep costs, a cultural gap, and a significant reduction in quality. Or not. It was really uneven like that.
he detective let lose an exasperated sigh as the explosion went off. Positioning himself between Jiro, Shibata, and the ice shards, he brought his arm up. Thank goodness for Jiro, who absorbed most of the impact. Well, at least psychopathic meat shield was a friend. Or was he? Kula's lines were something to chew on, though context was important. Kula WAS a sociopath in the most traditional sense, just by looking at her actions. Jiro, on the other hand, was just good-hearted but dumb. Then he makes the kettle black comment.
"What the HELL, scuzzy?" He snaps, clenching his fists. He asides to the old man, nodding firmly. "Get out, fast, I'll buy you time, dig it?" Facing Kula again, he hears Jiro's stunning counter-arugment. Really, both of these guys need to have ACTUAL SOCIAL INTERACTIONS that didn't involve hitting people. The detective just sighs again, and lets loose his speil at the approaching Kula. "Listen, Frosted Flake, I know you might not have the chemical capacity to understand real solid what I'm about to lay, but let me swing it right down. That whole 'murder that' and 'get back that.' Care to make it straight and simple to the report? I might toss loud and tawdy here in the koosh-cow got it? I arrest him. Oh, right, before I forget."
Daniel Jack reaches into his jacket, drawing out a cigarette and a match. Lighting it up, he places it in his mouth, looking grimly at the girl that is about to become the victim of Jiro's psychopath spasms. Puffing a bit, he lets the tar fill his lungs with their medicinal nature. "What do I owe your name too?" Apparently, it seems that Daniel was dropping down to a more passive stance. The hell?
COMBATSYS: Daniel gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Kula 0/-------/-------|
[ ||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|----===
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Jiro's This Is My Bang.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Kula 0/-------/-------|
[ ||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|----===
The walls are painted white and red, a mixture of bloody slush carved right out of the body of the young man that absorbed the worst Kula's violent attack. A lot of people would be dead at that point. But not the ex-officer. Not yet, anyway. Already having turned her attention to Daniel, the NESTS assassin has already dismissed the young man at her side as irrelevant. Were the only one here, she would finish the job. She knows well over twenty five ways to kill a man with her bare hands. Factor in her fearsome ice options and the list becomes staggering.
But before she can do that, the girl has two other matters of higher priority. Issue number one. Her mark is presently stumbling past Daniel into the hallway located on the third floor of the estate. He's supposed to be dead. This is a problem. Issue number two. Daniel isn't dead yet either. And he needs to be. He may not know this yet - that just by seeing what transpired here, his life is in jeopardy, but it is. White chi pours over her right hand, ready to be given some defined form once she decides just how Daniel will be dealt with.
That Jiro moves at all in his condition is rather awe inspiring, to the point that the girl stops in her tracks and glances over her shoulder toward him. "No? The evidence says you did. The world thinks you did." She smiles distantly, not focusing on him but rather through him. "Hm." Turn on NESTS and this is what happens to your life. The lesson here is not lost on the agent of wavering loyalty to the Cartel.
Defiantly, Jiro throws one last shot of chi her way. But she can see at a glance there isn't much to it. It's small and short lived, and doesn't merit any further attention beyond raising her right hand and letting the pulse spash against the back of her glove fairly harmlessly. "Apparently not." she murmurs softly in response to his final outburst. She'll be back to finish the job with him. Lowering her hand and shaking it a little, she whirls back toward Daniel, long, frosty blue hair catching up a split second later before resting against her shoulders, her expression once again deathly sober.
Of what Daniel has to say, she seems to pay no attention, giving him nothing more than a slightly furrowed brow as she strides toward him. "Wait over here," she remarks. "And we can talk." When she moves again, it is with that frightening speed she's capable of, crossing the distance between her and Daniel almost instantly, one hand going for his throat to seek a tight grip, her other going for his shoulder, to make him easily moveable, both infused with brilliant white chi moving as if a liquid, as if she was about to give him a bath in liquid nitrogen rather than simply toss him across the room into the wall to open the path for her hapless mark.
COMBATSYS: Daniel fails to counter Quick Throw from Kula with You Got Jacked!.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Kula 0/-------/------=|
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 1|-------|=======
Daniel Jack just glares at Kula, eyes locked on frigid. Her mark was fleeing right now, and that left him between her and his prey. He didn't even know the man. Hell, the only reason he was protecting Shibata...
Well, it was the right thing to do!
However, when things looked like they would break between him and Daniel, the detective would break for him. As Kula asks him to step aside, Daniel Jack just snorts. "Listen, I don't care if you are Mrs. White Christmas or Mrs. Snow. I asked you a question, and-"
Where there would have been a dramatic reversal seemed to have collapsed thanks to the advances techniques of the NESTY girl. Sure, the detective has snatched a wrist out of the agile movements of Yamazaki. But there was a problem. See, Daniel did graze the wrists of the young girl. That wasn't the nasty part. That sudden shock of COLD simply freezes him metaphorically... and a bit literally. The hand on his throat is barely felt in the numbing sensation that ran through him. He was sick, confused, and now upon the ground, the room reeling as he slowly regained the ability to shudder. Ice Bitch of Narnia. Yeah. That's her nickname now.
Alma does not know why he is running.
The night is painfully dark, a wintry silence reigning, but Alma has taken walks like this before and the shadows have never fazed him. The past days have been tumultuous, but no moreso than usual, and if anything they have only proven the worthiness of his choices in his eyes. His previous encounter with NESTS both assured him of his own convictions and made clear of what he has learned from his time with Igniz, facing his own weakness: that he feels an empathy with the hollow products of NESTS's machinations for a reason, and that reason is what fuels the very faith that he confronts them with. With that darkness within him embraced as fuel for the fire that burns, not something else unclean that needs to be purified in the righteous flames that swell undeniably within his breast, Alma is at peace even only days after the intensity of his life-or-death conflict.
He has never been fazed by shadows, but only because he possessed an unconditional confidence in the power of his light to banish them. Now, less naive but no less faithful, the night feels like home.
So he does not know why he is running.
There is a stirring in his heart, one that with its stirring seems to shake off dust within him. It has been a long time since he felt this way, but there is something so familiar with it, and Alma is so used to utterly trusting his intuitions as reasonable even when he is not yet certain why, that he fearlessly pursues it rather than question its source. It pushed him up to the roof of the YFCC; he felt as though he needed to get some air, strangely. And then all of a sudden he was moving, leaping, from rooftop to rooftop, silent and serious, fixated on a distant goal totally obscure to him yet appearing as a shining beacon through the vision of his heart.
He has forgotten what this stirring is because he has been alone.
But Alma is able to be alone because he is blind to loneliness, because the bonds that he forges make up his very being; and while he truly believes this is true for everyone, and is the key to what it means to be an individual, it is his prerogative to be able to sense it deeply, to feel these bonds viscerally.
They tug at him, though he has forgotten how they are distinct from himself, having melded so seamlessly into his colorful world.
This is right.
He is certain.
Alma runs, and the brink of this building looms before him.
He does not know why, but he cannot say no to this.
So he leaps.
In faith, unblinkingly...
...and off the edge.
Alma is falling now, and for a moment, sheerly out of human physical instinct, something within him thrills a warning. Hey! Hey, Alma? Isn't this, like, crazy? You jumped off a building, you know. This somehow passes through the wall of fire that serves as Alma's utter certainty, and he examines it curiously, a rare artifact of common sense. And with his blood rising now, adrenaline surging at this wild nighttime moment, feeling now as though he is truly sailing through a dream, the bonds within him tighten and he feels a rush within his heart and looking straight at the window he is sailing towards Alma's eyes grow wide and the answer explodes within him--
"JIRO!!"
--and, blasting footfirst through shattering glass, he remembers what this feeling is.
It is thus that in the most improbable event since Hotaru began dating Jiro, Alma Amavela Towazu flying kicks through the window of this third story room, a blaze of white soulfire illuminating the snowstrewn bloody carnage as the psychic hero hurtles toward a blue-haired girl he does not recognize. A normal person would pause, wondering who here is the criminal and who the victims. But a normal person would not be anywhere near here, now would they?
In his completely intuitive state, Alma does not even need to look toward Jiro's fallen form; he finally recognizes that it is this aura that has been summoning him for so long, as it had so many times before so long ago. (Even if it never before pulled him through a window.) N
In his completely intuitive state, Alma does not even need to look toward Jiro's fallen form; he finally recognizes that it is this aura that has been summoning him for so long, as it had so many times before so long ago. (Even if it never before pulled him through a window.) Neither does he need to analyze the situation to guess that Kula is the one he should attack. This girl's aura, while significantly more developed than most of the other NESTS creations he knows, remains cursed with that tinge of the 'inorganic', the unnaturally grown, that all clones seem to have; as though their self has been piled atop itself in a careless heap rather than given the vibrant layering of time-earned experience.
To Alma's aura sight, the enemy is obvious.
And that is the only sense operating right now.
Before Daniel's startled eyes, Alma's fire-wreathed kick will send him shooting straight at the side of Kula's head, his blazing Soul Power accompanied with one strong foot and a shower of shattered glass, his best friend's name serving as his war cry.
COMBATSYS: Alma has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Kula 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Alma's Shooting Star EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Kula 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
It is odd. Being at the brink of death. It's been a road that Jiro has lived in for the longest time. The crossroads between life and death has been encountered on so many occassions. But never has Jiro been able to cross the land of the dead. Sometimes, Jiro is usually toughened up to break way from death's icy grips. Other times, Jiro, for some ungodly reason, isn't allowed to die. Maybe it is true that he lives to suffer his years. Maybe there is a purpose that Jiro has to fulfill before he can finally cross over to the land of the dead.
If there is some sort of purpose, it has not been fulfilled.
A hand twitches to life, signifying that despite the tremendious blood-loss, Jiro is still alive. His vision is a bit blurred, due to the loss of blood and the wavering between consciousness and unconsciousness. Yet, he can feel a presence within. Perhaps it is that spiritual bond that lingered for the longest time. In essence, Jiro was never alone. Perhaps that is what kept him going. That bond.
There is a bit of a cough, "Heh.... Alma..." He smiles a bit, lifting his head up despite his wavering path, "...You fruit."
Daniel is tossed aside with ease. Simply trying to get a grip on the girl's chi infused forearm proves deadly, the shock seemingly enough to leave him easy to move as she intended. He'll feel, in that moment, the underlying power in her arms. Human muscles augmented as if by the ice that must surely flow through her veins, allowing her feats that seem impossible for the wirey girl of young teenage years.
And in that simple gesture, she removes the final obstical out of her path. A streak of black and lingering sky blue brings her to the elderly Japanese politician. She was given exact orders in how he was to die, but at this point, grim specifics will have to be waived. It's time to finish this job, then kill the two unfortunate witnesses. They did their best to save her mark, to keep the assassin from her prey, but she is the best NESTS has to offer - the ultimate result of all their technology, research, and brilliance. Felling Kula Diamond is not a feat to be taken lightly.
A flash of white heralds another vicious attack, the sound of energy forced into crackling frozen form by that unusual aura Alma senses. She is a killer and always has been from the day she was created. It is said - once you taste blood, it changes you forever. Kula wouldn't know as it's been a part of her diet since day one. Someone might ask her what is worth killing for. What could possibly be that important that a life must be extinguished; all that potential that each human being possesses should be cut short? She doesn't know, because she believes she's never had any other choice. In matters of death, she has always followed orders. Except once. In the end, taking a man's life is both easier and more difficult than anyone can possibly imagine.
A window shatters, a name called out, a young man charging toward NESTS' weapon without pause. He would see it in its gory detail. The passing of a life before its time. In the end, it seems such a simple thing for all this fuss that has been made to get to it. So difficult to create, so easy to take away. Life.
As his kick carries him past the position Kula was but an instant before, the thud of a head parted from its body strikes the floor a fraction of a second before the freshly made corpse slumps down against the wall, a bloody trail in its wake. Her right arm rests at her side, a two foot long blade of ice extending out past the length of her glove. Hints of crimson victory drip from its tip to splash against the floor next to her feet. Kula stares after this latest unexpected interference with that same calm she had exhibited throughout this operation gone wrong.
An eyeblink later and she is already in motion. Another life to end, another fly in the ointment. Without so much as a verbal warning, Alma is facing that same ice blade stabbing forward directly for him from the black-clad agent.
A lot happens for Daniel Jack to take in. Still recovering from the snow job courteous of Ice Bitch of Narnia, Alma suddenly explode by singing the name of Jiro at the top of his lungs. Oh crap. MORE heroes. Why didn't Hotaru mention someone like this? Oh, because he didn't ASK. The detective struggle up, still piecing the situation together. So... pretty boy is here to save loud mouth. Ice Bitch is after foogey at 3 o'clock. Staggering over towards the door, he peers around partially to see options of exit-
The detective grimly looks away, biting hard on his cigarette. Damn. Couldn't be helped. He was lucky to be alive. Speaking of which. As pretty boy looks like he might get shanked by Winter Wonderlass there, Daniel Jack had a criminal to capture. One prepackaged for him, even. Rushing over to the mumbling Jiro, he catches the name of Pretty Boy. "Alma. Real thanks, scuzzy. Just real thanks." He begins, lowering himself down to the man. Unfortunately for Stray Dog, he then says 'you fruit.'
The cigarette drops a bit in Daniel's mouth as he reacts. The asshole. The detective grumbles a bit as he reaches in his coat. Drawing out a small silver flask, he decided that Jiro needed a little perk up. The Way of Todoh taught that warriors with strong inner flames could survive wounds that would level lesser people. The Way of Daniel taught that booze did the same thing faster. But first, Jiro needed to be woken up. Hissing, he removes his cigarette, and discreetly puts it out on Jiro's shoulder AFTER he lifts his head up "Wake up! Good, scuzzy. Now drink this." With the speed of a Kula, he juts the whiskey flask towards Jiro's mouth, attempting to stream the firewater down the straydog's throat. It is just like street-legal morphine!
COMBATSYS: Daniel takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Kula 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Alma with Medium Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
Alma's kick sails inches by its intended mark, yet there is no room in his heart for dismay. He turns his head away from the missed opportunity as though having already forgotten it, his bright eyes meeting the dying light in Jiro's own. Seeing his friend and rival, ever long lost, the snow seems to melt away in Alma's gaze, and all he can feel is the warmth of union swelling within him, his soul exulting in the rightness of his moment. Already operating purely on the level of his aura sight, Alma feels as though he can /see/ their hearts intertwining, the depth of their brotherhood resplendant for all to marvel at. That others do not have his sight would never strike him as a problem; the shattered window is surely evidence enough for normal eyes, for those who understand its context and significance.
Alma grins.
Propelled down to the floor, he slides swiftly toward his fallen friend, skidding to a stop by his side, never breaking eye contact with him until the moment that he is able to reach out and take the Stray Dog's hand in his own. He does not say a word; he kneels before his friend and continues to smile. It only lasts a brief moment, but in that moment it appears as though Alma has forgotten all else. But that would be impossible. For now, moreso than ever, Alma's very consciousness is pulsing with the sea of energy around him, the life force of the people around him permeating his world just as Jiro's own resonates with him. He embraces it all -- the half-formed aura of the girl, the odd aura of the odd man upon whose behalf Alma seems to have also intervened and who is now comically pouring alcohol down Jiro's throat, the bystander that he had barely noticed until then -- and in that moment, where he feels as though he could make it all his own as easily as he could disappear into it, Alma feels as though he has truly found the perfect harmony between light and darkness, between himself and the world. In that moment, Alma Towazu feels as though he has succeeded at his life.
In that moment.
That moment explodes.
Alma abruptly arches back, fluid bursting from his lips, as he feels, wide-eyed, a spike of ice drive directly into his neck and sever his head from his body.
Twisting as he vision dims, Alma's last sight is of a head flying, blood spraying across the wall, and of a blue-haired girl turning calmly, her face utterly composed, to face him.
"...nnn..."
The aura.
It's gone.
Like a piece of him, carved away.
It was there. Just a moment ago.
Like a pebble, dropped into a pond.
He can only watch, as the last ripple fades away.
The man, whoever he was, he's not gone.
That's the worst part.
Because Alma can still taste him faintly in the memories of those around him, and knows that there are lines finer than he with his skill can see stretching out to those who knew this man far better, that within their heart he will live on for better or worse, that with his death he will be neither fully lost nor escaped-- and yet in some crucial way /something is gone forever/.
"...ngghh... ghgh..."
Alma realizes he has stood up, and cannot remember doing so. Like a bystander he watches his own body tremble uncontrollably, his normally half-lidded eyes bulging.
"...haaah... haa... haaa...!"
On the verge of hypervenalating, Alma finds he cannot move, finds he does not want to, that something within his mind is too busy desperately scrambling for that which has been lost, like a child pathetically reaching into a sewer grate for whatever has rolled within-- and something else within his mind is convinced he's already dead, that the ice that cut into that man's neck has already cut into him.
It doesn't matter that Kula rushes forward.
It's doesn't matter that the ice slams into his chest.
But then he feels it.
The ice meets the fire.
And he screams.
"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Tears stream from his eyes as Alma cries out, as though the spike tore the sound from him, as though it was ripped out of his very heart. Raw anguish fuels his movement as he seeks instinctively to express the depth of his impossible grief the only way he knows how--
Through impossible flame.
He reaches out to grasp her neck, to heft her up, but it does not even occur to him to choke her. It is to lift her up to his level, to force her to look directly into his eyes, to see the wild emotion therein, so that when he sends a raw eruption of Soul Power invisibly into her, the only other evidence of the force projected being how it blasts the snow and blood around them away and to the walls -- so that when he thrusts all of that emotion into her and seeks thereby to crush the shell around her mind -- perhaps it will make sense.
His tears.
They're... glowing.
It is a touching reunion between the two. Jiro, admittedly, had not seen Alma in months. It is why the young man is offering a chuckle. It is pretty nice, seeing an old friend again. It is nice being able to see someone that is on his side before---
---eghnk! He is going to kill Daniel at some point. Or at least break his bones when he gets better. The eyes widen as the flask of strong contents run down his throat. He coughs up and hisses forth. "...What the fuck, man...?" He grits his teeth, then he looks over the gore. "...."
God damnit. They tried so hard to stop her from the objective too.
Daniel Jack has little to care about Alma, or his glowing tears. They were ALL insane. Drawing the flask back, the detective growled. "That's the frack, scuzzy. Now shut up, I'm medicating you with my healing hands." The detective reaches into his coat, and replaces the flask in it. There is a short rummaging, and Daniel bring back out... a small first aid kit. Opening it, he brings out a small bottle of brandy... and a long rubber glove. Preparing the long rubber glove, he stares right back at Jiro.
"Okay, now drink this, it medicates you real solid?"
As Daniel attempts to shove the bottle into Jiro's mouth, we may take a break on the hijinks of Jiro and Daniel. MEANWHILE, where there is CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.
COMBATSYS: Kula reflects Full Confession from Alma with Counter Shell.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
Eclipse has disconnected.
And with a flick of her arm, another death is added to her toll. She knows not how many she's killed at NESTS' behest. To count the bodies is to acknowledge them, to think of them as somehow sigificant. She forgets them all as quickly as she finishes the job and returns home to an occasional affectionate pat on the head or treat for good behavior. The faces have long since blurred, the names usually not even on her mind as she ends them. It seems so easy to execute but with each death a bit of her dies as well. A life so young already dead cold to the spark of the soul in others. Like a typical five year old might dismember an insect and think nothing of it, so to does she sow death with her ice edged scythe.
As she takes the ultimate price from the elderly man, she too robs Alma of a moment. Her eyes, genetically altered to be far sharper than a normal human's could hope to be, easily perceive the reaction in Alma. He spasms before she even stabs, his back arching as if unimaginable pain racked his body. Because it does. It almost makes her hesitate. Were she less cool under pressure, she might have stopped early. But she doesn't, sliding that icy blade into the young man the moment he stands and faces her.
His body trembles, but she knows it isn't from her stab. Something else is going on here and she doesn't understand any of it. What is wrong with him? Why does he hurt so? What is the agony that makes his body tremble? Her expression, so cold when she brought her hand forward, breaks a little. She wants to ask him what happened to cause such a reaction. His scream echoes throughout the house, leaving her ears ringing, the girl taking a step back, recoiling from him.
It's then that she sees the tears. Was the old man a relative? A friend? Could such trite 'formal' relationships possibly even explain this reaction? She's stood over men pleading for their lives before. Powerful tycoons reduced to wimpering when the reaper of NESTS pays the last visit they will ever receive. Never has she seen another suffer so as a result of her work. She starts to shake her head, confused now. No training prepared her for this. No programmed mission algorithms could account for what she sees now.
Her mouth opens, then closes, the entire exchange transpiring in a blink of the eye as his hand goes for her neck. She's easy to lift. Nothing but a small, confused child. So stunned the girl doesn't even seek to defend herself at first. His hold isn't perceived threatening enough leaving her instincts lax to respond. That changes in a microsecond when Soul Power attempts to pour into her, attempts to share with the assassin what he feels. What was lost... no, stolen.
But some defenses aren't ready to be crushed quite yet. He triggers them - those survival instincts forever churning in her subconsciousness. The power gets close before it happens and her aura reacts in a way few could possibly expect. Defense mechanisms engineered into the girl against this very threat. A rush of something displaced, like a vacuum drawing air quickly from a room, leaving it an empty void. All of that Soul Power is rejected, as if the idea of it was refused. Invisible but present, just as real as the force that send ice and debris scattering.
A cyclone of pristine white energy churns down her arm, carrying with it all of that foreign contaminate that sought to open her mind's eye to something new all together. That the entirety of that concoction of both Soul Power and deathly cold chi is expelled directly back toward Alma is not even by intent - all that mattered was expunging it from her system immediately, even as she staggers back a couple of steps, mind reeling at this entirely inexplicable chain of events, reeling at trying to understand why she feels so sad.
Her tears.
They're frozen.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Alma with Reflected Full Confession.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
He didn't even know the man.
He didn't know him, and it didn't matter. In that moment, Alma might as well have been a brother to Mr. Shibata, so powerful a place did the man's spirit hold in his heart.
The force of his Soul Power is in how it transcends the conventional boundaries of the soul; theoretically, taken to its ultimate limit, it would burn Alma himself away, so utterly would it inculcate him into the fullness of existence. But pushed as far as his mortal frame will allow it, it allows him to feel with complete sensitivity that which any human being can experience through love: the fusion of his identity with that of another.
As soon as he releases his own power at the girl, Alma's own mind torn apart by the eruption of grief, the pieces of his consciousness begin to fall back into place; though it has been a long time since he has been psychically vulnerable enough to face the kind of 'internal damage', so to speak, that he has just endured, his past training at quickly recovering from it -- and reassembling his own identity and the patient strategy it is capable of -- has endured as well. He can sense that Jiro is recovering from the brink of death -- again -- that Daniel has withdrawn and needs time. He can sense that the girl before him is no mere puppet, but that the magnitude of the energy she wields is, however artificial, mightier than his own. And he can sense the raw desperation of her defense as she reflects his own power back at him, and forces him to brace himself against his own attack.
Still he flinches back, grunting as he staggers under the sheer cold and mingled energies. By now his psyche is well prepared to receive the blow, and he does not falter. Yet when their eyes meet again, Alma knows that he has not failed. Her mental defenses are well-prepared for assaults such as his, moreso than he could have anticipated had he been prepared to anticipate anything. But in the breaking of her composure, he feels that bond between them tighten-- and in seeing her tears, he sees his opening.
He pauses, gasping quietly, seeking to master again the moment and grasp, however much his recently wounded subconscious wishes to hesitate, the flow of the spirit around him. He will need this to have any chance at defending what he cares for, a man who truly /is/ the brother of his heart. He will need this to reach her, whoever she is, before the moment is lost.
"You can't."
He only breathes this, but his words are clear.
"You can't go on like this."
His eyes, though reddened, remain sharp with unrelenting resolve; his tears have long since ceased to glow -- they were only water after all -- but the source of their previous brightness is hinted at deep amidst the hazel.
"No heart can endure without consequence the taking of a human life."
Seishirou Ryouhara. That man thought he could take responsibility for his murdering, that he could shoulder the burden through the might of his ideals. The fact is -- and now Alma feels he can face it squarely -- the psychic is sympathetic to this view. He too behaves as one who can take responsibility for the lives of others, for the world itself. He and Seishirou are not so different in character, however much they differ in the nature of the ideals they uphold so unhesitatingly. But that is precisely why those who act with such unflinching conviction to do what he knows is wrong hurt him so profoundly, why they stir him to such fury and such ruthlessness.
"And whatever you are, however you arose..."
That could be him.
"You won't escape your own humanity."
Alma could kill too, without remorse.
"I'll make sure of it!"
That's why he mustn't.
That's why...
He's willing to die to stop her.
"YOUR ATONEMENT BEGINS HERE!"
The fury wells up within him before he realizes; he is lunging forward before he even knows what he is doing. Sweeping in with a terrible grace, Alma's right leg blurs up toward the girl's face only to hook down, cutting fluidly down in a post-feint effort to scythe her legs out from under her, pressing her back toward the wall opposite his fallen friends.
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to interrupt Light Kick from Alma with Crow Bite.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
Everything happens so fast. The rejection of that power coursing through her body for a fraction of a second, to Alma's voice reaching out to her from what feels like an incredible gulf. "What do you mean-" she asks, cutting herself off as the sentence escapes her lips. Her eyes blink, the presence of tears catching her completely off guard, as if she hadn't even noticed her own, so captivated as she was by his.
He speaks of her heart and her right hand lifts, a black, insulated leather glove resting over her chest. Does she even have one? Was she designed to have one? Do 'things' have hearts? He speaks of her humanity and Kula shakes her head, her complexion turned ashen, "...that is the difference between man and machine." The words speak of untold ache even as they escape from her lips, echoes of countless battles fought in the silent chambers of her own frozen soul in the nine months since she was first shown the world outside of NESTS; when all the doubts began.
Her hand lowers from her chest to hang at her side. Her arm trembles, as if still responding to the close brush with Alma's spiritual fire. She tightens her fist, flexing her arm, and the tremble passes. He lunges forward and the shakes her head again at the futility of it. Why does he persist when the result will be the same as those he desperately seeks to save now? Her algorithms have evaluated his attacks thus far and ascribed a lower threat level to his apparent abilities. He can strike deep, straight to the core of consciousness, but her defenses will hold against that, rendering him helpless to stop her.
Her right hand, still clenched, becomes an even greater weapon than it already was as she turns her left shoulder toward him, determined to demonstrate the hopelessness of his situation with one distressingly powerful counter attack. Were her mind clear of distractions - were she not withdrawing from the demand for atonement, she could have reacted with ease. The trajectory is so clear and her technique so refined.
But it is that demand for atonement that destroys her concentration, leaving her to read the feint and not the true attack for what it is. Her arm swings, left shoulder intending to absorb the kick, her right hand encaused in a thick, spike laden gauntlet of jagged ice with which she intended to tear his body asunder. A half second later, her feet have been taken out from under her and she's crashing against the floor in a steated position, her back pressed against the wall.
Crimson eyes stare back, the crystaline tears on her cheeks shaken loose by the fall, cascading to the floor like discarded diamonds. Atonements are for those who have done wrong. But she can't be held accountable for what she's done. There's nothing to atone /for/. Alma stands between her and the two who dared to try and stop her. But suddenly, the priorities of her passive mission algorithms, nested deep in her subconscious, and her active desires are entirely unaligned, leaving her to sit still, not even pulling herself back up quickly though the power to do so rests within her.
"You're not a machine."
Alma's words are soft, but his tone is difficult to parse.
"I can see it."
The statement is a reassurance-- and an accusation.
Indeed he can see it. And he has fought machines before, and witnessed first-hand what happens with a mind built around algorithms becomes immersed in the human world of significance, where logic is merely a tool to be used in service to an, objectively speaking, arbitrary system that determines what will be found meaningful and meaningless, where men strive to obey a prime directive mysterious even to themselves yet permeating every facet of their existence. This girl perhaps /was/ a machine, when she began. But that doesn't matter anymore. She might as well be human.
She has a heart.
He can see it.
That's his gift.
"It doesn't matter whether or not you're to blame for your actions."
Alma steps forward, casting his shadow over her fallen form.
"You have only one hope for survival..."
In the darkness of that shadow, the light in his eyes gleam.
"...and that is to take responsibility for your actions."
What do we deserve?
Our gifts, our flaws, our predispositions, are they not passed down to us, are they not thrust upon us by fate? Is what we call 'free will' truly at all free, when it must arise from such earthly origins? Alma's response to this question has been to recognize it and to then cast it aside. To him, whether or not we are /actually/ responsible for what we do -- whether or not we are /to blame/ -- is completely irrelevant. The fact of the matter, as he sees it, is that if we do /not/ take responsibility for ourselves, if we do not boldly grasp what we do not understand or necessarily deserve, if we do not assert our power in the face of total powerlessness, we will not even begin to live. It is in accepting what life has offered that integrity and sincerity, what he sees as humanity's greatest achievements, become possible, and a man becomes more than a machine.
That is why, looking at her, he feels no mercy.
For Alma does not believe in mercy. He does not believe in a mercy separate from justice. There is no 'mercy' in allowing a sinner to evade atonement. There is no 'justice' in punishing someone when punishing them would do no good. There is only creating the opportunity to take responsibility for what has happened. There is only salvation.
He reaches out, his eyes warm, soft, and utterly ruthless.
"Repent," he gently suggests.
A beam of light explodes from his fingertips, seeking to pierce her through-- to the heart.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Alma's Divine Intervention.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
That's a first; someone so convinced of the construct's humanity as to declare it so undeniably. She bows her head, closing her eyes briefly, his words sinking in deeply. He speaks of survival. Of responsibility. Kula shakes her head. What can he know of her? There's another question even more important than that, however. One that resides in the foremost thoughts of her mind but refuses to be uttered quite yet.
She opens her eyes when he steps closer, still seated on the floor, looking up at the young man squarely in the face. She shirks back just a little, back pressing against the wall behind her, feet scraping over the floor belonging to the man she just murdered in cold blood. She shouldn't be scared of him. She can deal with a man like him. Even in her worn down condition, she should be a match for what he can do. Or so she thinks. Why, then, does she shiver so?
The girl trembles, "Why...?" she whispers, lowering her head even as he extends his hand. Offering not a hand up, he offers instead the invitation to change her course. An offer punctuated by a beam of energy that is uniquely his. "No!!" But she isn't there, compelled by a subconscious terror for the nature of Alma's power, Kula goes from seated to leaping in a flash, her super human speed serving her once again as she flips up over Alma to land behind him, her back to him when her feet touch the ground.
Whirling around to face him, her expression has changed. The fear has receded, the guilt trapped behind that psychological shell that has always protected her before. "Why?" she asks, her right hand coming up to brush aside long, cerulean locks back over her shoulder and out of her face. "Why. Do. You. Care?" Each word pronounced seperately, parted by a distinct pause.
It must be a trick. An illusion. A game of the mind. This is how he must fight. Her combat profiles elevate Alma's threat level significantly, deciding that she just missed how much of a danger he was before because of his ability to deceive so effectively. She looks to the side, avoiding eye contact as she continues to speak. "In the story of the scorpion and the frog... the scorpion stings the frog even as it was carrying him across the stream, dooming them both to drown."
She pauses, a tremor present in her voice a moment prior, is gone now. "Asked why, the scorpion answered that he couldn't help it." She looks back toward Alma, eyes narrowed, her composure regained. The trembling is gone. The scared child is no more, replaced with the killer NESTS wants her to be. "That it is his nature." Kula looks at Alma directly, standing up straight, exhaling softly as she regains what she believes to be control over everything - her body, her thoughts, her fears.
"I am a scorpion."
COMBATSYS: Kula gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
Alma cannot help but shiver in surprise at Kula's formidable agility. He can tell the girl has been emotionally pushed to the limit; he can tell how he has affected her. Given what he can tell of her strength and disposition, this is an achievement. Yet such a meaningful act can arise only through sacrifice, and Alma has willingly sacrificed in opening the floodgates of his emotion. For all the rapt composure of his previous statements, he is still emotionally vulnerable from the grief that has shuddered through his very being, and he will not pretend to be unimpressed. His eyes widen and follow her up and around him as she leaps away from his piercing blast.
"Wh... why...?"
Alma listens, eyes still widened, gazing at her through a stray blond bang, and as he does his body begins to tremble again, his arms shaking with unconstrained feeling.
"You think... you think that's /different/?"
He seems outraged, aghast-- desperate-- his voice shaking unlike before.
"Everyone's like that! You can't excuse yourself that way! Coward!"
He shakes his head slowly, his very lips trembling as he speaks.
"Reason," he manages, "we're so proud of it. Self-interest-- we speak as though that's how we live. People pretend to that, m-model systems in that image. But everything we crave... everything we are made to want destroys us, and our r-reason becomes subservient to the pursuit of those... 'irrational' goals. Desire brings suffering. That's... that's exactly what it means to be human!"
He can barely get out the words.
"L... look at me." He's shaking. "I can't let you kill that man." He points behind him toward Jiro, but does not look away. "I love him. If you killed him while I stood by, I... I would die too. That's become my nature-- so there's no point in not facing you." He seems short of breath. "Th... this love, then... it brings me pain, and suffering. Is that irrational? But what would I be without it? How would I find meaning in my life without the possibility of sacrifice through love? I... I choose to affirm it! Even if I have no practical choice!"
Alma's fists clench, eyes widening yet more as he stares straight at Kula.
"Even if this destiny has been thrust upon me, I won't turn away, despairing at my own powerlessness! Unless I take responsibility for my own nature... unless I make it my own!... I won't just die... I'll never live! I defy that destiny! If I am to value my life as... as more than already forsaken, I must!"
His clothing begins to ripple around him; his eyes begin to shine.
"We all have a program! We define ourselves by how we react to it!"
White luminesence flickers once more about his form.
"If I were a scorpion-- I'd /sting myself/!"
And thus does Alma plunge forward, heedlessly toward death.
Form flickering, he drives forth; body blurring, he unleashes a flurry of blows, jabs firing out to hammer at the girls defenses-- and, instinctively, without Alma even being fully conscious of it, seek to make sure she does not move too close to Jiro and Daniel.
"You have to believe."
Does he speak those words? They seem to echo amidst the blur.
"You have to start by believing you're more than that!"
That's how he began.
And if he hadn't...
Who knows?
Perhaps he would have drowned long ago.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Alma's Spring Shower.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
Daniel Jack stops his hands-on medicating at Alma... existing in a very loud manner. The detective has regretted many things. It was part of the job, really. But this, hands down, had become the worst case he had ever taken. Much worse than the Nebraska Bull Sperm Bank Funnel. God, and that was pretty bad. Especially when he discovered that the Bull Sperm was CUT.
When Alma confesses his love, he first shakes his head, and STARES at Kula. "I don't even know this man. Look, HONEST." He looks back a Jiro, a slowly burning anger coming over his face. "Is this a joke? Is this what Hotaru doesn't know about, scuzzy? That you are playing boy wonder to the Big Easy here? Does he do the same to you?" He suddenly takes the brandy away, and is about to take a sip. He stops, suddenly, a nauseating look coming over his face. Gazing slowly over at the barely conscious man, a look of intense horror comes over his face.
"... He DOES, doesn't he."
Coming to was not the most painful part. He had to take the drink down his throat and was later dragged off. During the course, he wished that he could strangle the man. He really did. Then again, Jiro is just feeling very violent right now. But, he has no choice but to drink the contents in order to get revived. He does cough and wheeze, mind. While watching the two in battle, Jiro grits his teeth with a mutter. And then...
Alma proclaims his love.
Jiro is staring at Alma, stunned. The eyes are wide open, as if there is a sudden realization that Alma has professed out to him. It was something that Jiro had ever heard before. Maybe Jiro's heart was opening up to Alma and that perhaps -he- is the true love that Jiro should had held dear the whole time, and not Hotaru. Maybe it was Alma that Jiro should had spent the rest of his life with. That model and the rough Stray, best friends and brothers... and more? Alma and Jiro, the greatest couple that are destined to be?
Hell no.
Jiro's expression turns deadpan and he lowers his head. The look of annoyance soon takes over as a long suffering sigh escapes.
~ God damn you, Alma. As if the fans making yaoi stories about us WASN'T ENOUGH! ~
He grits his teeth at Daniel, glaring right at him, "Don't think too much on it." Pause. "I don't."
And yet, Jiro thinks on the proclamation even further. Furrowing his eyebrows in frustration, his eyes dart right at Daniel. "...Fuck it." A hand reaches out to snatch the whisky right from detective's hand. "Gimmie that." And then, Jiro just -chugs- the liquor down. He wants to drive the memory of this incident into the furthest pits of Hell. Oh yes, the memory will die one way or another. He doesn't care -HOW-.
Daniel Jack is a man of loose conviction and hard liquor. And trust me: When a man declares the love of another man, that was the time to hit the booze. The detective lets Jiro take ye flask and just start chugging. "Don't use it all up, scuzzy, I need to forget this too." The man growls, just shaking his head.
Her declaration made, she stands opposite of Alma. He would do well in being worried, for in vaulting over him, the assassin has placed herself between him and the other two he seeks to protect. Her own priorities have not been forgotten. She wanted for her words to have an impact, but the outcome is nothing like she had anticipated. She wanted him to understand that trying to disuade the killer in her was in vain. That she is what she is. A scorpion. A creature that kills because it is her nature to do so.
She can see his struggle but she doesn't understand. He trembles and shouts, and Kula backs up a step, right arm raised as it to fend off the verbal assault. Her a coward? How dare he say such a thing. She's not afraid of him. How can he call her that? His words come harder now. Haltingly. A stutter even, and the girl trying to shard to stay distant, both physically and in other ways more important, begins to wonder again. "What happened..." she asks, more of herself than of the stammering young man.
He declares what it means to be human and his words resonate, Kula wincing slightly. Desire. Suffering. Pursing wants even if they will destroy us. She hasn't been doing any of those things with nearly enough /intent/. He speaks of how important the fallen young man is to him and Kula glances over her shoulder briefly, "Are you brothers?" This time her voice is more clear. If he is a sibling, then this makes sense. It would be like Whip - the girl that almost died trying to kill NESTS Anti-K', even if the mission was almost impossible. She did it because she was a sibling. That was a relationship Kula could almost understand but not fully. He isn't going to back down. He isn't going to make this any easier. He is going to join Daniel and Jiro in death if it means not having to stand by and watch what she intends to do.
Kula's brow furrows as he speaks of a fate worse than death - to never live. Energy swirls about him, evidence of that incredible power within, and Kula shakes her head again. Breaking eye contact. She spoke of the scorpion's sting - but right now it's his words that sting more than anything else. And then he surges forward, possibly to his death. He does it so that he may truly live. The strikes are fast, his image a blur moving through space. But the ice blooded target moves through them. Weaving under kicks, leaning around jabs, skipping over a sweep. Several close calls, his hands occasionally brushing against her leather jacket or sweeping through her trailing hair, but never close enough to have an impact.
But the way he swings - the angles, directions, and course he travels, does force her away from the other two, diverting Kula off to the side at an angle as she slips backward to avoid a mid level swing entirely. "I can't." she replies, teeth gritted. "I can't believe that. If I do, then I will lose everything..." Her home with NESTS, possibly her life. Can it be worth what he speaks of? Is /truly/ living within her grasp? She thinks of another who spoke similarly. She told him that she was going to prove herself to herself. But since then, what has she done? Simply what she's told. She's proven nothing. "It's impossible!!"
She draws her right hand back, ice crystalizing along her forearm in a spiraling, churning cyclone of energy. "You can't make any difference either. How can you talk like you are able to!" She lunges forward, left hand leading, going for Alma's shoulder, in order to secure him in place. It's her right hand he need worry about, however, as she slams it forward, bringing that concentrated power to bear, aiming for his chest, aiming to plow it right into the stab wound she already gave him - to tourn a narrow injury into a bloody mess.
She'll show him the futility of his defiance. She'll let him feel the utter hopelessness of it all. Force him to face despair. He can't save them, he can't even save himself. Like a tantruming child, she seeks to destroy him where Alma where he stands. Let him feel the sting of the scorpion.
Eclipse has connected.
COMBATSYS: Alma interrupts Fierce Punch from Kula with Blaze of Glory.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
Eclipse has reconnected.
Eclipse has dropped a connection.
Alma's strikes brush and slip, never making full contact, yet with every slightest touch he feels his heart yearn further, his soul cry out. She is no one, his senses blare, a monster, an abomination opposed to natural human life. Yet he cannot deny her. Precisely because of that, he cannot. The gulf between them seems infinitely vast; his inability to connect seems to symbolize that. Yet like an occasional flicker of light within the deepest darkness, the brief glimpses at this strange and deadly girl's humanity only pull him further in, compel him to sacrifice more and more.
His gaze never breaks her own, and though his body connects to suffer from tremors of emotion they do not inhibit his speed or grace. He has pushed her again away from her next targets, barely conscious of the act, but there is no time for reflection. He has time only for instinct: physically against her swift attacks, and spiritually against her words.
"EVERYTHING!?"
Alma roars this, a battle cry ripped from his lips, searing hot with indignation.
"What do you HAVE!?"
The blood rushing through his veins has become burning oil, fueling his every movement. The eyes through which he perceives his attack become crystal lenses aimed at the truth. The words he howls are weighted with the agony of a martyr, proffering up his entire existence for a single moment in which to reach towards heaven.
"What is it WORTH!?"
His spasming right arm explodes into flame, jerking in an unreal arc into the path of Kula's desperate attack, and it slams her ice blade to the side. He does not seem to notice how it shears into his arm.
"WHO is this /'I'/!?"
All he senses is the opening.
That fire forms into a sword, a counter to her own.
The battle of words, the battle of blades.
To his sight, they are one.
"CUT THROUGH YOUR FEAR!"
He cuts through her.
The psychic blade, blazing with the glorious light of his invincible convictions, tears through her form, leaving not a mark, yet carving a line of fire within her tormented, half-formed soul as he throws himself bodily into the strike, half-flinging himself to the ground with his own wild momentum.
"It doesn't matter whether or not /I/ can make a difference."
But even at his wildest, his gaze never falters from her own.
"That's up to /you/."
She lunges, one hand seeking his shoulder, to clamp down like a vise. Into his roar she charges. What does she have? She doesn't want to think about it. It's not much. A home, perhaps. A source of food. The barest of essentials for surviving. But how can she let go of those two things? What does the world have to offer her? Certainly no promises, no guarentees of shelter, food, or support. The world is a cruel, scary place. "I'd be alone," she whispers distantly as she brings her right arm in to strike - to drill into him with that savage blade.
His arm becomes a weapon to augment his words, just as hers had, striking aside the brutal blow intended to fell him. Shards of ice fly into the air, a rain of diamonds as her attack shatters, leaving her open for him to cleave her psyche in twain.
The contact is staggering. No visible mark but for the stunned look on her face. She can't retaliate, her body collapsing, the girl falling to her knees with a soft grunt, staring sightless at Alma. She tried to pin her responsibility to do anything back on him, but he would have none of it. She wanted him to admit he was wrong, but at last he drives that blade of Soul Power. She gasps, falling forward, catching herself with her hands.
It isn't the pain, though she would remember later on that it was significant. It's the /way/ it feels, that contact with Alma's purpose made manifest for that brief instant. She looks up, crimson eyes at last focusing on his. It's up to her. She swore to prove herself. It won't happen on its own. It takes those things he spoke of. It takes /sacrifice/. "What is it worth?" she asks back softly, the chilling vehemence gone from her tone.
She starts suddenly, as if spooked, pushing back with her hands, rising back to standing, though her movements are slowing down, fingers lingering for a bit too long against the floor in order to prop her up against failing strength. But she stands all the same, after so many attacks, so long a battle, she stands all the same.
A glance is cast past Alma, toward Daniel and Jiro. She heard Jiro's voice, it sounds like he'll live. Daniel is still moving about. Her gazes falls at last on Alma again. "It seems you can make a difference..." Her right hand goes to her ear, the girl taking another step back from Alma, further down the hall. "Target dead, interference in the form of three fighters, estimate that kill them all is unlikely, evacuating."
Her report called in, the girl lowers her hand to her side, staring back at Alma, her expression a whirl of bewilderment, curiousity, and jealousy. "You don't know what it's like." she asserts, taking another step back. "What do /you/ have to be afraid of?" Her hand rests at her chest, the lingering memory of that firey slash impossible to forget. She nods back to the room behind Alma, "You have him after all."
The girl shakes her head, one more step in retreat taken. "This isn't the end."
COMBATSYS: Kula takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
"You're not alone."
Alma does not advance as she backs away.
"All of humanity... struggles as you do."
His chest begins to heave quietly, until he is hiccuping. The beautiful youth, who had grown still after his eruption of fury, seems unable to control yet another spike of emotion rising within him-- as, forming a triangle with the retreating girl and the fighters that she once considered slaying, he kneels by the decapitated body of the murdered man.
"I have him..."
Tears stream from his eyes as his gaze tilts toward Kula again, yet for now, Alma's voice is clear.
"You know what that means, don't you?"
Clear, and soft.
"That means I'll lose him someday."
Bright are his eyes, bright and reddened with grief.
"What do /you/ have to be afraid of?"
He rises to his feet again, unsteadily, but while his gaze remains tilted toward the girl he continues to stand facing toward the dead man.
"You've killed," he manages, and his voice becomes faintly tremulous again. "You've killed, and you can /never/ take that back, /ever/. You'll never escape that for the rest of your life. You can't account for a quantity like that. But... neither can you escape how you were made... and how you've been forced to suffer by the nature of your birth." What does this young man know? What can he see? He knows nothing of her past, not really. But looking at the way of her heart, seeing both its pieces of brightness and the vastness of its ice, he feels he grasps at something real with his words. "All of this... it's a part of you forever. And you won't be able to run away from it and still know yourself."
He swallows heavily, and the tears continue to silently flow.
"Y... You... you've killed!!"
Flames explode around his right hand, raging, demanding. Alma cries out those words, and grasps his own right hand with his left, physically restraining himself as he visibly struggles with some spiritual outcry.
Crush her.
Destroy her!
Make her understand!!
Alma heaves a ragged, piteous breath, and lets the fires die.
"N... no..."
His wounded gaze is impossible to read.
"...only you..."
He sways, lips parted, gasping for breath.
"...can end this."
With that, his gaze returns to the corpse.
"Ah... ahhhhh!"
Sobbing, he collapses, clutching at the breast of the man he does not know.
"You... you have to...!"
Spiralling into incoherence, Alma can only just bring forth the words.
"...you have to make this matter!"
He cannot do justice to this loss of life himself.
But he tries.
Weeping copiously, burying his face in the bloody mess that was once a man, Alma tries to express the inexpressible, losing himself utterly in his grief.
COMBATSYS: Alma takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
"How can it?" she snaps back. How can everyone possibly face the same struggles as she? It seems impossible to believe - that her circumstances might not be so very different from those of others. He turns then, kneeling next to her latest victim. Another dead body - one of unknown quantity. Oh, sure, someone back at the lab probably tracks that statistic, but she has no idea herself. He speaks of losing someone important to him and Kula balks, hesitating in the hall.
Her mind wanders to her own losses - when a rage filled, poorly formed young man errupted through nearly every single one of her toys, leaving only a bloodstained seal in the aftermath of shattered plastic and scattered stuffing. It had produced then a rare flash of rage. To have the only 'friends' she could talk to taken from her like that. What Alma speaks of must be similar. Perhaps... perhaps her story isn't so different after all.
He rises to his feet and levels an accusation. It should be easy enough to dismiss as a simple statement of fact. Yes. Yes she has. She's done it before. And she will do it again. And it will never matter to her. But the way he says it... the weight he places on the grave transgression, leaves the assassin stunned, as if forced to view her actions through a lens that had until now been clouded in fog. She shakes her head, wanting to convince herself that it doesn't matter. It never mattered before, why should it matter now?
Tears glisten, baptizing the young man's face with liquid anguish, and Kula shakes her head again, eyes widened, her expression appalled. "N-no," she stammers, wishing for a moment to undo it all. But there's no taking back blood once spilled, no restoring that which was forever lost. She watches him war with himself, at last squelching the fires that so eagerly burn.
He collapses, lost in grief her immature mind can't even possibly begin to understand. There's those words again. 'Make this matter.' Don't let this just be another life lost, another statistic for some spreadsheet evaluating her 'worth' to the Cartel. Tears, unbidden, /unwanted/, slip down her cheeks. These ones don't freeze, they burn to strongly to be stopped so. "No," she whispers again, shaking her head, "I'm sor-" she starts to apologize, wishing this night never happened. But apologizing for it makes it real. It means she's responsible. She can't accept that.
Another step back, and this time she turns. And she runs.
Her handlers wait in a car a half mile away. It would take the girl minutes to get there and collapse into a restful ride home. But as she leaps off the third floor landing to the lobby two stories below, her right hand goes to her ear again, removing her transceiver and flicking it aside.
Tonight they will wait for more than mere minutes before Kula's retreat comes to an end back in the cradle of NESTS, before her hopeless attempt to make everything back to the way it was before this fateful night. But even as she vanishes into the pitch night, she knows nothing can be the same now. Everything /has/ changed.
COMBATSYS: Kula has left the fight here.
> ///////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Alma
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
COMBATSYS: Alma has left the fight here.
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Daniel 0|-------|-======
Log created on 22:29:01 12/24/2008 by Jiro, and last modified on 18:03:21 01/20/2009.