Description: Working for the Southtown Syndicate is a job that has always had some risks, but as Nagase and Raiden find out those risks are about to get a whole lot worse. When the warehouse they're guarding is attacked by a host of thugs looking to loot and burn the place, then the party is crashed by a combined NESTS/Shadaloo assault team of K9999 and Juli and the action draws the attention of Blue Mary Ryan you know you're going to have a bad day. Add in some explosions and the sudden appearance of one Kain R. Heinlein and you've got a recipe for one arms deal gone horribly wrong.
Southtown Business District! 11:44pm. Despite the war zone the city is slowly becoming, things seem pretty quiet at this warehouse tucked in the back of a storage lot. At least, for now.
See, what's inside is actually one of the Syndicate's many backstage operations. The hiding of contraband, the negotiating of money-laundering deals, the paying off of certain... undesirable elements. A convenient little hideaway for all your covert criminal needs. Unfortunately, return business means that information occasionally kinda sorta almost leaks out. Certainly, it could fall into the hands of a criminal cartel as well-connected as, say, NESTS or Shadaloo. And who knows what they would do with that information? Ohohoho.
The problem is, the PROBLEM is, that some Gumi types from the mainland who had a vested interest in some of the -- ahem -- 'cargo' being stored here currently due to business with the Syndicate are currently supposed to meeting with a representative of the Syndicate. One of the business types, rather than the real heavies. See, what's in those perky little wooden crates are... weapons. Stuff stolen from the Chinese military, in fact. For some reason Geese felt that maybe they might be needed soon?
Wonder why.
But with everything going the way it is, the Syndicate decided that Mr. Pencil Pusher would need something like... protection. What the man -- a nervous-looking yahoo in a navy blue suit with a tic in his left eyebrow -- got were two of the Syndicate's more amusing enforcers: the massive meat miracle Raiden, and the I-totally-don't-work-for-you-I-am-an-independent-contractor-god-damnit-stop-giving-me-orders snarkninja, Nagase. What the latter is currently doing, while Mr. Accountant negotiates the finer points of cost-per-thousand from frag grenades, is sitting on top of one of the stack of boxes, poking at her iPhone.
Nagase's twitter must be a really interesting read.
She looks totally bored, though. Why? "Man... those jerks were worried over NOTHING," she calls down to her beefy partner, waving a hand in the air dismissively. "I could be home grinding levels in Disgaea 3!"
You'd think that with attacks from both NESTS and Shadaloo turning the city upside down, everybody in Southtown has all the chaos they can handle. Well, for certain people that might stand to profit from this that's not enough. What's need is even /more/ chaos, and gunfire, explosions and arson are a good way to help bring that about. Of course, the guys at the bottom of the food chain responsible for actually committing the criminal acts don't know that. All they know is that they're being paid pretty good money just to destroy some buildings, steal goods and shoot anybody that gets in their way.
While they would like to think otherwise, these men are not skilled labor. What they are, is expendable. And unaware of just what they're walking into. Most of them don't even have firearms, choosing to rely on pipes, lengths of chain and what have you. They're also not particularly well versed in stealth, as they are gathering together right outside the warehouse. Sure it's late, but they're a pretty suspicious group. Especially the couple of guys preparing some molotov cocktails, though not lighting them just yet.
Okay, yes, they're not very bright, they're not very skilled, and they're not very well armed. But they've got numbers on their side! There's no way a couple private security guards or some warehouse workers are gonna be able to stop over two dozen criminals! Although, there does seem to be one guy who's slightly worried. "C'mon, let's just set the place on fire and get out of here..." A suggestion which is overruled, in some cases by people being a bit too loud. There might be stuff to steal in there!
It's just another day on the job. Sure, things are getting kind of violent outside, but here, inside this here warehouse, the only thing really happening is the ongoing negotiation between that important nerd and those other guys. It's as exciting as watching dirt grow.
Luckily, the Syndicate's heaviest heavy has a simple, well-adjusted defense mechanism for any situation. If one were to judge by the sound alone, this one would be 'play with a chainsaw'.
Raiden's inhuman snoring is abruptly cut off when Nagase speaks to him. He is up and alert almost instantly, assuming up is down and 'alert' is 'wiping drool off the corner of his mask as his brain struggles to catch up'.
Once he's capable of speaking again, he does so, his deep voice rumbling out in agreement. "It is a shame that you had to come. Nobody will be brave enough to interfere with Raiden here!" He slaps his chest for emphasis. It jiggles a little.
Precision. That was what they needed here, and in every operation around the city. The plan was to be set off without a hitch, and to this effect, it was felt nessicary that one of the top Dolls under the control of Shadaloo was to be dispatched to ensure their "interests" were kept safe... even from the hands of their ever-so-mutual allies in this endeavor, NESTS.
With the men outside plotting their arson, the silent, precise movements are almost completely missed. While she isn't nessicarily an invisible phenom, Juli lacks any scrap of hesitation or compassion. Still, these men here-- these weren't part of the plans. There would have to be something done about this. There would be an unnessicary complication and more fighting than nessicary should she have to handle all of these men at once, even if the NESTS counterpart they sent her were to do his job.
"I was instructed to give you all six seconds to vacate the premesis," she says, tone as flat and dangerous as it ever is. "However, as I cannot control the actions of my assistant, you may have as little as three." Slowly, she gazes off to the side, looking to where her companion and "teammate" for the operation should be. "Is this acceptable?" Juli asks, standing at rapt attention.
K9999, the /teamplayer/, that's what NESTs instructed him to be, and he'd do it...for as long as he could stand too anyways. And by 'stand' that meant till he care about the repercussions. The clone had a temper and will of his own, and those who weren't up to defying him when that bridge was crossed bore the injuries such a thing incurred. Juli likely could tolerate more than her fair share of damaging attacks, but right now that wasn't near the top of his priorities anyways. He was satisfied for the time being to do as he was told-- even if it was by some pompus Shadaloo bitch, it suited him.
Parading about in his flashy black and orange 'uniform' of sorts, he was being the Vana White presenter for todays asskicking. Lo, one metal-wrapped azure hand with three fingers. One second later, two, and look at that, after that, was one...K9999 wasn't wasting time speaking to this rif-raff, beating them into the concrete would be gratifying enough in a kind of appetising kind of way. Infact the one thing his scowling face mirrored, was how quickly he could do so so they could move on to complete the rest of their mission. By the time his finger vanished into a fist, the clone launched himself without much ado right into the thick of things. Like a bowling ball to pins, his mouth had drawn tauntly into a sneering grin, uncaring of any of the cries of pain elicited from the snapping of bones or the crushing of lives.
K9999 didn't care about leaving useless people alive, if they couldn't weather his attacks, he wasn't pulling any blows. The rest had the choice of either A) Trying to attack him with their pathetic weapons, or B) Running...and maybe next time checking out insurance, or more pay. Because he was going to make it so not worth their time.
Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaandemonium!
'Things Fall Apart': it's just not the title of an extremely neat African novel anymore. Nagase is about to open her mouth to lambaste Raiden for his third-rate Juggernaut impression when a few things seem to happen, all at once. Firstly, there's shouting from the Gumi types as armed thugs (well, *more* armed thugs) storm the place, looking to loot and pillage and all the other stuff armed thugs do. That in and of itself is enough to grab Nagase's attention, the facade of her lazy inattention burning away as she suddenly has something to pay attention to. Amber-colored lenses come down over her eyes; on the inside, invisible to all but the Iga scion, the sensor readouts and data come in. Heat signatures. People on the premises! Oh my, and a lot of them.
The mouth below the lenses curls into a sardonic smile of pure devilish glee.
"Come on, Cub Scout... time to earn your cheetos money!" she calls down to Raiden, before standing up and stretching. With a hop, she jumps down onto the floor between the invaders and the gumi weapon runners, yawning and holding her iPhone in front of her, presenting a bored face to the world. "Hey, could you guys pipe down?" she offers to the thugs, sounding bored. "I'm youtubeing YuGiOh the Abridged Series, because it is..."
Her other hand moves three times. Only three. And three silver shuriken fly through the air toward three of the thugs with ridiculous ninja speed, from Nagase's hand. The three throws are puncutated, of course, by her saying: "Super!" *TOSS* "Special!" *TOSS* "Awesome!" *TOSS*
She is just about to follow that up, however, when Juli and K9999 appear... and her devilish grin just gets even wider. "Yo, girly... if you're supposed to be teaching aerobics at Curves in that outfit, you are SERIOUSLY lost." She holds up the phone, screen out, showing her cartoon panda screen saver. "Wanna Google Maps it before I kick your ass?"
A number of the thugs are down before they even have a chance to do much more than smirk at Juli and the commotion spills into the warehouse. Hey, with all that noise they might as well get started, right? And not all of them actually got to see how much danger they're in. And the first three thugs in have the luck of going down with shuriken stuck in them. Then things get chaotic... which was the plan all along!
With the thugs spread out all over the place, the ones that are still standing do pretty much whatever they feel like. Some begin to spread through the warehouse, looking for anything they might be able to easily steal. If somebody cracks open one of those crates of weapons it could get messy. Another, one who actually has a projectile weapon, turns and raises his pistol toward Nagase and fires off a few rounds, hoping to not end up with a piece of sharp metal lodged in him. Outside, a muscular man standing a good six feet tall and carrying a several foot long pipe looms up behind K9999, rearing back to strike. "You asked for it, punk!"
What about the two fighters who haven't stepped into the fray already? Well, two unarmed thugs smirk at each other, then advance on Juli, expecting an easy, and 'fun' victory. Somehow, though, nobody really seems eager to engage Raiden in combat. One guy does look at him, then decides to try to slip off deeper into the warehouse instead to go for looting rather than violence.
Still somewhat groggy, it takes Raiden a moment to adapt to the rapidly changing situation. Thugs? A gymnast? Cub Scout? Violence? It's this last bit that really puts the situation into perspective for him.
His face contorting in anger, Raiden takes a few heavy, jogging steps forward. He shouts with all the volume having a body shaped like a barrel grants, "I JUST SAID NONE ARE BRAVE ENOUGH TO STAND AGAINST RAIDEN!" While this seems to be technically true for the moment, considering the thugs' weak and cowardly behavior, their mere presence is an insult!
Charging forward, the hulking wrestler palms the heads of two thugs and lifts, powerful muscles bulging through the fat. He stares each one in the face in turn, and then screams, spittle flying everywhere, "ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR?!"
Taking a step back from K9999 as he goes into his routine, the niche that she was warned so carefully about before they had departed, the Doll's eyes narrow and a hand comes up to adjust the small decorative necktie at her throat with a slight shift of left and right. The rubbish was being taken care of... which left two others. One, the massive wall of manflesh, the other being the gaudily-clad girl with the shurikens, assaulting others both physically and verbally.
Nagase's comment does nothing to faze Juli in the least. She doesn't laugh, cry, smile, or get angry. She doesn't shift once, and her body language is essentially a void. If anything, she screams of something more akin to a knife or blade, a cold instrument that has only one perogative.
The two thugs that opt to approach her despite the chaos brought on by the collective group of fighters are regarded with a half-lidded stare before she breaks into action. Almost gliding on the ground with unnatural precision and grace, one leg is brought up in a high-speed roundhouse kick to plant across his nose. Continuing her rotation, the opposite leg whips up for a crushing heel kick to the back of the head-- and if it does what she plans, her heel will stick to the back of his head all the way to the ground.
Looking Nagase's way out of the corner of her eye, the psychically-enhanced soldier narrows her eyes. "I will give you until the count of six."
So someone decided that the less than Raiden-like youth was best delt with by...attacking with choice A), the pathetic weapon. K9999 glanced, then spun and snatched at the pipe as it descended, his grip unyeilding. He spared a moment to look at the man's face, "Still waiting." and reversed the pipe, more like reverse it into the man's chest. Whether it sunk in to lodge betwixt the ribs or not, he used it as leverage to neatly toss man and pipe over his head with a strength that far belied his appearances. Sucks to be them, assumptions would do them no good. It was around that time meaty-man Raiden made his challenge. "Hey, FATTY!" Ever so polite, the youths these days, "If you don't give yourself a heart attack before you get here, I'll take the time to cut you down to size!" Yelling on back over to the wrestler. Give him that guy over the hyper phone-internet weilding ninja-girl any day. If he only saw the cutsey panda on the display, he might not be able to control himself.
Count of six, huh.
Well, the look on Nagase's face says that Skepticism is her middle name. Or at least the middle name on one of her many cover identities. The Iga technoninja has the cocky grin down to a *science*, and it makes an interesting contrast with Juli's all-professional, totally impassive stoicism. And uh... Raiden's Raidenism. And KQuad's... whatever his thing is. Tetsuism. X-ism. So many isms.
We're getting off track here.
Shrugging, Nagase folds her arms behind her head, placidly ignoring the chaos behind her... and visible only to Raiden, poking her fingers at the touch screen of her phone while talking with Juli. "I'll tell you what. *You* have until the count of seven -- SEVEN! Because I am nicer than you and can probably count higher -- to actually turn your tiny little loli behind around and walk right out of this warehouse. You can even take your pet monkey with you."
She smiles at K9999 there, giving him a little wave with the hand not holding the phone.
"And as a gesture of good faith, I'll even give you a little countdown timer." She then turns around and basically slings the phone along the ground at Juli. The internal speaker appears to be playing the first stage music from Super Mario Bros. 2. This is appropriate because the screen is showing the graphic of the SMB2 bomb you pull out of the ground. The phone skids to a stop somewhere between Nagase and Juli, next to a large stack of crates.
The music keeps playing a second as the pencil pusher, hiding behind a crate, says in a Very! Strained! tone: "Ah, Nagase-sannnn...!"
Turning around, the fox ninja looks very annoyed. "What! I'm gloating!"
"The... the grenades..."
Nagase has a fraction of a second to turn back and look at the position of the phone.
The phone does two things, then:
1.) it plays the music for when poor Mario and company die. Doot-da-doot-da-dooo.
2.) The bomb explodes, with appropriate pixel '*BOM!*' graphic.
Nagase blinks. "Oh, fu--"
Then the phone explodes. Then the GRENADES explode.
Oops.
COMBATSYS: K9999 has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K9999 0/-------/-------|
Raiden is more than prepared to go on shouting and grabbing people, because that is like ninety-five percent of his job (the other five percent is standing around trying to look menacing while covered head to toe in blue spandex), but things keep happening, vying for his attention. The big wrestler, clearly a man of intellect, does the only responsible thing in this situation. He singles out the guy who is calling him fat.
His hand spasms around the skull of generic thug number two, who is shortly thrown to one side, careless of any crates/mans/fruit stands he may impact. This is very important, because it frees up one of Raiden's hands to point a chunky finger at K9999. "You shrimp! I am going to cook you!"
The other thug is now thrown to the ground in enraged disgust. Raiden sucks in a deep breath, attempting to make himself look even bigger and more intimidating, before breaking into a run toward the punky little clone. Arms outstretched, Raiden tries to run him over with his shoulder, picking the NESTS experiment up and carrying him all the way outside with a completely badass explosion as a backdrop. And, uh, doesn't stop. Not even when a wall gets in his way, whether K9999 is still with him or not.
"RAIDEN IS GONNA EAT YOU!"
COMBATSYS: Raiden has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Raiden 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 K9999
With everything coming to a boiling point, even a hardened private investigator can miss evidence. Especially when the recent proximity of Valentine's Day have led to a certain Mary Ryan listening to Duran Duran albums a lot and staring at the ceiling.
Fortunately, SOMEONE had a better idea - walkies.
As they walk down these mean streets of Southtown, Mary sighs, looking up at the cold and uncaring sky. "Oh, Anton," she says, "it's gonna be another day soon, and in a few more it'll be another week, and then another month... Is this any kind of a life for us, here in this city? It - ffff-"
EXPLOSIONS. A shower of broken glass hails down across the street as the box full of subsidiary explosions brews up, Mary's expression utterly astonished as she looks over towards the probable screams of the hapless within.
Anton's comment: "wurf?"
Mary unfastens Anton's leash and then takes it, doubling it back up and fastening it around her waist. She shrugs off her jacket and rests it on his shoulders, telling him, "Go home, and don't get in any fights," before giving him a pat on his hindparts and striding across the street, cracking her knuckles. Too late, she realizes her cell phone was in her jacket.
"Oh well!" she says to no one, before kicking in a convenient service door.
COMBATSYS: BlueMary has joined the fight here in the center.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Raiden 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-------
Listening to the inital diatribe from the ninja, Juli's initial reaction is ... just the same as any other reaction. She regards it all with that same stoic, stone-cold stare, but ... perhaps, somewhere, way deep, deep down inside, there's part of her that has a spark of human left. Perhaps there's a piece of Vega's programming that's slightly lax. Perhaps with her position, a little wiggle room was given. In either event, she corrects Nagase with that same professional tone. "He is not my monkey," she says, regarding K9999 and Raiden with a raised eyebrow and a stare. "If he were, he would have been neutered long ago."
And now there's a phone with a colorful graphic, a countdown timer, and the potential for explosion. In fact-- there's a lot of explosion, as it's recognized by the pencil-pusher over yonder that the contents of that crate are highly, highly explosive.
Immediately backpedaling for the entrance, Juli's speed and agility gets her there within a few scant hops and turning to run in a flat-out, high speed sprint out the door while Raiden and K9999 ride the explosion as if they were being filmed for the next so-called summer blockbuster.
Coming to a halt outside, regulating her breathing and posture, Juli straightens and adjusts the wedge cap atop her head to sit straight once more. "Idiocy."
And now, to regard the other situation at hand: The NESTS agent sent with her, as well as the massive wall of manchild in spandex. If Nagase is as skilled at movement as she is at running her mouth, she'll be along shortly. This leaves her a moment to watch the pair with astounding clarity, gauging them less like a human would and analyzing them more as a machine would.
COMBATSYS: Juli has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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K9999 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Juli
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Raiden 0/-------/-------|
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Juli calculates her next move.
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K9999 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Juli
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Raiden 0/-------/-------|
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: K9999 endures Raiden's Savage Grapple.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
K9999 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Juli
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Raiden 0/-------/------=|
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: K9999 has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Juli
> ////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-------
Because K9999 was such a mindful individual, he pretty much didn't care what trouble Juli got herself into without him. He'd return the favour by not whining for help should his chips be down-- and thankfully because of it, he totally missed the phone-waving and neutered comment. Both of which would have guaranteed some kind of peevish rage-fest. Ok, so mostly the latter, not that NESTs had any plans for the clone to start any kind of breeding lines. Or did they? Food for thought when it came to NESTs.
"Come on...don't have all day." Muttering with an invitingly demeaning smirk, he made the oh so original 'approach-sign' using only his middle finger as he assumed the position. Literally K9999, so slight and small in comparison to the heavyset wrestler was surely out of his trix are for kids mind because he fully intended to weather the man's charge. Fearless to the end, and through the wall coincidentally, he'd realise that just /maybe/ he'd assumed some things in error. Physics alone might have suggested it, but K9999 never paid attention to such things. NESTs had limited funding when it didnt pertain to sheer force in combat, and that he was /supposed/ to have in spades.
Just as Mary was making her way in towards the warehouse, K9999 was being evicted in a shower of bricks, pulverised stone and landed with an awesome backward rolling crash, spared getting trampled only because he grasped Raiden long enough to catch himself. His clothing before the first serious strike was thrown at his opponent was raw in a couple areas, bloodied, and by that lovely stabby feel in his chest, that fat bastard (tm) looked to have cracked a couple ribs. EXCELLENT.
K9999 spat on the ground after he lurched to his feet, steadying himself with a burning to his red-eyes. "I'm gonna CUT YOU apart piece by piece!" Staggering foward, his steps became more secure as he launched himself, flinging his hand out with a sudden rising gust of wind and force, the air suddenly igniting with flames that gushed towards Raiden, "TILL THERE'S NOTHIN' left! Startin with ROASTIN' /you/ first!" Since you know. All the food things.
OH GOD EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE.
The explosion is pretty damn awesome, even though Nagase -- who has inadvertently caused it -- watches it go down with an amazingly accurate D: face. Box shards fly everywhere! MOOKS fly everywhere! The Tong guys and everyone dive for cover. The windows of the warehouse explode outwards in a shower of glass. But all the people in the warehouse with actual ratio and stat points are far too awesome to be put off by a mere massive incendiary disaster.
This explains why, as Juli stands watch on her opponents and Raiden proves to KQuad that he is basically a human battering ram, that the Iga technoninja is quite literally diving at Juli at full speed, the cloud of shrapnel and smoke hopefully obscuring her form (in that outfit? not a chance). The fox-haired girl explodes out of the smoke in a blur of movement, looking to suddenly drop to the ground and baseball slide right into Juli's legs, hopefully knocking her over. "SAFE!"
COMBATSYS: Nagase has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Juli
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: K9999 successfully hits Raiden with Split!.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-------
"Now who is the fat one?!" Raiden bellows and laughs, even though that doesn't really make a lot of sense. There is excessive jiggling. He is allowed his moment of mockery, on account of how he just sort of ruined K9999's shit.
Perhaps it is due to this mindset that Raiden takes a step forward, even as the NESTS clone is threatening to cook him. While normally this could be an okay idea, it turns out that it's a pretty bad one when your opponent can actually follow through on his intent to roast. The flame and force crash into Raiden, driving him back a full step and comically scorching his entire front-side.
The huge wrestler doesn't seem overly concerned, despite the obvious hurt that's been put on him. After recovering slightly, he starts to laugh again.
"Ha ha! You think you can defeat me with that? I am the biggest! I am the baddest! I am invincible!" He spreads his hands out above his head to either side, as if appealing to an imaginary crowd, accepting their phantom hoots and hollers.
"I! AM! RAIDEN! YEEEEEEAH!"
Suffice to say, he is getting completely pumped.
COMBATSYS: Raiden focuses on his next action.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-------
Mary enters the warehouse.
She sees some guy she doesn't quite recognize get kicked out through a wall, knocking bricks outwards; her head swivels to follow him as the fire /and/ the flames flicker on in steadily growing force. Some girl is leaping at some girl in a Nazi hat! There are mooks everywhere, groaning and flailing about like incompetents!
Worst and most menacing of all - there's Raiden, right there. Larger than life and twice as obese!
Blue Mary's brow furrows as she raises her hands, slowly cracking her knuckles as she breathes in the hot air and lets it out. She is not certain, at this point, just what is going on, but she has a fairly clear idea that there is crime involved. Very shortly, of course, it won't be.
COMBATSYS: BlueMary gathers her will.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Juli fails to interrupt Light Kick from Nagase with Cannon Spike.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
Dispassionately, Juli watches the battle unfold around her. She's not attempting to avoid conflict, but rather -- assess it. Cold eyes sweep the area, watching Raiden cautiously. Big and tempermental -- K9999 is likely a suitable opponent for him. She continues to watch, Psycho Power fluctuating across her body.
"Searching for target..." Her legs tense -- but then, distantly, something distracts her: Blue Mary's entrance. "Who are you--"
She never finishes the inquiry. A second later, Nagase is suddenly upon her in a pounce; she lashes out, attempting to strike -- only for the quirky ninja to disappear in a veil of smoke and schrapnel. A second later, she bursts forward, far too fast for Juli to track; barreling into the Doll, Nagase manages to knock over the young woman with an 'OOPH!' from the Doll, the -=crack=- of impact heralding the bowling over of the Shadaloo operative as she strikes ground, shoulder-first.
"... Target located."
MUCH BETTER.
K9999 was literally only just getting warmed up! Any other person would take a moment to reassess the situation and the formidable foe they were now faced with. Not to mention the injuries already incurred, and how this would not only affect the choices of attacks, but how to pace ones self. Perhaps a moment to breath, check on fellow allies and the other non-entity nuisances that were miling about the warehouse, insisting on being important. Yeah, maybe taking down a few of those...Nah. When Raiden puffed himself up like if he were some badass to be undertaken, he presented a target that was too tempted to ignore. Let it be said, K9999 was if any, consistent in his approaches to fights.
No patience, no sense, and all raw RAAAAAAGE!
So naturally it would come as no suprise when he'd, "Just SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Lunching foward, the teenager literally speared his hand foward as he drove momentum behind...literally a spear. The bands about his hand had unwravelled and elonged into a wickedly pointed weapon that pistoned out to plant itself right in that jigglin' bowl of puddin' that Raiden had used earlier to smash him through the wall of the warehouse.
Baseball: it's not just for beer-swilling American couch jockeys anymore.
The yellow and black-clad Iga ninja literally just plows right on through Juli even as she knocks her over, the slide carrying her farther across the warehouse floor until she twists around and skids to a halt in a crouch, facing the direction she just came from. She'd *intended* to focus on Juli, since it sounds like Raiden is having fun with the monkey and quite frankly, in the chaos of aftershock explosions of grenades and other ordinance left around the place. It is a towering inferno in here, and that is a fact. Someone must be storing Fire Rods on the top floor!
But this ninja isn't here to save little girls... she's here to beat the crap out of them. She also lacks a dog, unless you count Raiden.
Sadly, out of the corner of her eye, Nagase's amber-lensed HUD glasses, with their cyber-enhanced Super Vision(tm), see not just Juli, but the entrance of the most pulchritudinous private eye this side of the Pecos. "Keh... damn, just what I needed. More boobs." What does she mean, stupid people or ginormous dinners? YOU DECIDE! (protip: probably both)
Looking back to Juli, Nagase extends one arm and points an accusing finger. "Sorry, Lolitron 9000... my iCal is kind of full for the night." What? She likes Macs, they're shiny. SHUT UP. "I gotta put you on ice in a hurry. Nothing personal." And then she LEAPS at Juli, of all things *face first*. Why? Because as she effectively head-dives at the Doll, she grins. "Haha, ice! Oh how I lie."
Then she breathes fire.
Really.
COMBATSYS: Raiden interrupts Shut up! from K9999 with Crazy Train.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
"Make me, little man!" Raiden's grin practically splits his face in half as he beckons for K9999 to come at him with one meaty paw of a hand. Completely focused now, barely even paying attention the other shenanigans going on (protect who? private eye what? whatever), the rotund wrestler seems confident. As it turns out, he has a right to be.
When KQuad comes rushing at him with his adorable little spear arm thing, Raiden moves to meet him halfway, his ham-sized fist rushing toward the comparatively tiny clone's body. They hit each other at about the same time, but once against, physics rears its ugly head.
Because the thing is, Raiden keeps going after he gets stabbed, barely even seeming to notice. He might not be able to halt himself if he tried, at this rate. Not that he would really want to, especially since he has so many more punches to deliver, slamming them into the K9999 one after another, before pausing to crouch down in a sort of sprinter's stance.
Is he tired? Has fatty already worn himself out? Of course not.
"This is why you will respect the name of Raiden, because I will squoosh you!" And then he dashes forward into the NESTSie, giving him the gift of a shoulder with nearly a quarter-ton of weight behind it.
It's a mad house out there, and Mary is, perhasp involuntarily, the only warden in the place. The biggest threat is hard to determine right away; those two girls are fighting... a gang war? Well, the advantage with a gang war is that you have both sides trying to stop each other, which cuts in on your problems!
Until you try to arrest them. Then for some reason, Mary thinks as she dashes towards Raiden, they tend to cooperate. "Hey!" she calls out, even as Raiden aims his shoulder forwards into the smaller, squishier K999999999. Then, Mary leaps --
to land behind Raiden!? Her arms lash out, trying - possibly IN VAIN - to wrap around his massive belly as she takes in a breath, focusing herself on the motion in Raiden's enormous bulk. This is impossible - but so is shooting fire from your hands?! "Hyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaahhh," she shouts, before straining violently!
And hopefully this will conclude in Raiden being slung backwards, to land on his adorable head on the harsh concrete floor.
COMBATSYS: Juli blocks Nagase's Katon no Jutsu.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
All of these sudden, unaccounted for variables at once mean only one thing:
Someone at headquarters clearly didn't provide enough intelligence. Nagase proved to be a little faster once, but not this second time. Instead, with her palm turned outward and hunching down a bit, the psychically-enhanced Doll takes the burning flames to the arm and twists away from it, letting the damage soak into her left forearm, through the padded glove and armguard. Stepping out and away from the flames, Juli's legs tense up as her stance drops into a bit of a crouch. She twists hard on her feet, though her legs barely seem to move. The result is a sudden, amazing build-up of momentum that's released in the form of an impossibly-angled horizontal flying kick aimed square for Nagase's chest, carrying an odd charge to it-- an energy-based charge.
Up on the roof of the burning warehouse stands a shadowy figure, watching the carnage down below. So far things seem to be according to plan. But there's no reason that he can't step up the timetable a bit. The presence of Blue Mary wasn't necessarily counted on, but it could be expected that a do-gooder of some sort might show up. And while he wants her efforts to be successful... he doesn't want them to be /too/ successful.
There's a rustling noise, probably lost in the sound of the fire as the figure leaps from the rooftop, the flickering flames illuminating flashes of white cloth. There are plenty of places to land, of course, but the figure has chosen to attempt to land on Nagase's head, slamming into her (or the ground) with an explosion of black flame. And when the dust settles, the form of Kain R. Heinlein appears, thin smile on his face.
COMBATSYS: Kain has joined the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 K9999
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Kain 0/-------/-------|
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Kain has joined the fight here in the center.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
It would be nice if K9999 could notice what was going on around, but as things were, he was too busy with yet another faceful of Raiden. This was by far, the last time in a /long/ time the clone wanted to be this close to that much man-flesh. Whether or not body products were in use was questionable, not that it'd matter when things were getting...rough. He wouldn't even be able to thank Bluemary for stepping in! Which is to say he might not have punched her immeadiately in gratitude. But wait atleast a few seconds to give her a chance to flee. But back to what was the situation for K9999. He hurt.
He wasn't unconscious, but he was thrown into a temporary bout of dazed oblivion. He'd sorta fallen onto his back, those ribs if they'd been only cracked before, were surely snapped and add on a couple more. Nothing he couldn't heal from! Eventually. Just give him a moment to catch himself, clear the lungs of some nuisance blood, maybe breathe a bit when the pain wasn't at its peak. Yeah. The fury'd set in in a few moments and make everything ok!
COMBATSYS: K9999 gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Nagase dodges Kain's Schwarze Lanze.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Juli successfully hits Nagase with Sniping Arrow.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
A little blip in the upper right hand corner of the upper lens of her readout. It's... insistent. If they were a Scouter, those amber shades would be about to explode. Nagase is about to turn and deal with Juli, a snarky comment on her lips, when that little blip appears and she quite literally says: "Oh fu--"
Not a lot of options. There's the glowy kick that somehow isn't a kick, and then there's... a glowy kick. Well, if you're going to pick getting hit by a glowy kick, pick the one from a slight girl and not one from the guy who's making your power level readings pull a Vegeta. In an insane move, Nagase HURLS herself at Juli, narrowly escaping Kain's flashy entrance. She'd HOPED to turn and let the kick slam into her guard but that sort of acrobatic maneuver's just not in the cards... maybe Nagase used up all her luck not being instantly incinerated by Kain's attack. The Sniping Arrow slams her right in the chest, knocking her *through* a stack of crates which collapse in her wake with a loud crashing noise.
Yet even then, her voice carries (somewhat) from behind the debris: "...didn't hurt."
Let us take a moment to refocus, the Iga scion tells herself, ducking around boxes and keeping on the move, but watching both Juli AND this new entrant into the equation.
COMBATSYS: Nagase focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Raiden Toughs Out BlueMary's Backdrop Real!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|--=====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
Another victory for Raiden! His foe is mercilessly and brutally battered, and CLEARLY down for the count! He begins to laugh, but it is cut off as he feels delicate, feminine arms wrapping around him.
Could this be his partner for this job, finally succumbing to raw sexy power, congratulating him for a job well done? But then why is she screaming, and also over there getting kicked into crates?
Something is not right here, but it is too late. Raiden has already given himself over to the gentle ministrations of Blue Mary, which results in a rough landing on his shoulders against the hard floor, butt sticking up in the air. He does not go very far, though he is precariously balanced in his this almost completely upside-down position.
Unable to really see what's going on, even to get a good look at Mary on account of how his own girth is blocking his view, Raiden is really left with little choice.
Slowly, the mass of his body starts to tilt back downward. Once again, physics are on Raiden's side, as he crashes back down to the earth ass-first.
COMBATSYS: BlueMary endures Raiden's Crushing Blow.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|=======
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
In a better world, Mary might have seen the incoming Kain more clearly. Instead, he's sort of buried in the background as Mary finds herself in a precarious, eerily sensitive position as... as Raiden's raw bulk seems to negate her usual force. Her legs are spread out in a ridiculous position and she has her cheek to his back. This is not what she expected to be doing with her evening.
Raiden's weight meets the Earth's gravitational pull. He lowers himself ass-first onto Mary's smaller body, Mary herself skittering at the ground with her booted heels for a moment before seeming to simply /vanish/ beneath Raiden's enormous mass, her last motion some kind of weird side-splay kick with the leg. And then...
And then, she's gone. Gone like those puppies, and that stray mouse, and like Bao.
Except for the sudden burst of light beneath Raiden and Mary's sudden rising foot, aimed directly at the very place where his defenses are weakest -- his ass!!
COMBATSYS: Raiden blocks BlueMary's Vertical Arrow.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|=======
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
UNFORTUNATELY (for Mary) the brutal upwards kick is not enough to make Raiden a woman. With the momentary disruption in his mass, however, she leaps upwards, already doing a somersault in midair as her knees spread wide, approaching the huge man's head!
However, this is substantially less sexy; after grasping both ears with the inside of her knees and twisting, she does another somersault backwards, saying "Heyyyy!" quite unnecessarily as she unfolds back into a standing position. "You should lose some weight!"
Blue Mary says, "+ooc I thought he just went?! However I suppose he may want to /react/ or something."
When her kick lands, Juli's leg coils in and pushes off, giving her enough spring to backflip right back onto her feet. It's very reactionary, mostly due to what stands before her now: Kain R. Heinlein. A man whose reputation preceeds him even before the combat data can come into play, a man whose dangerous skills are known so well from television and word of mouth.
As Nagase stops to center herself, the Doll steps back lightly, taking swift, light-toed hops to clear herself to an exact distance away from Nagase and Kain, equal in every way. The fighting that goes on behind her is noted and yet somewhat irrelevant, though she does have the presence of mind to take note of her assigned partner's condition.
Sweeping her right arm around in front of herself, Juli draws in a sharp, hissed breath and tenses up. Energy ripples at her feet, building up into a translucent pillar of psychic power and light. She still says nothing as it grows, builds, and funnels into her, preparing her for what is still yet to come.
But this just became even more complicated.
COMBATSYS: Juli gathers her will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Juli
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|=======
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
Kain slowly stands up in the small crater he left in the ground upon impact. He doesn't seem particularly perturbed by having missed Nagase; was he even actually aiming for her? He casts a glance toward Nagase, tracking her even as she darts about behind boxies and rubble, then moves his gaze briefly to Juli. Ideally he won't have to seriously wound any Shadaloo or NESTS operatives, but he won't be particularly upset if it can't be avoided. They aren't the ones that he needs to put on a good show for.
"Would you like some assistance, miss Ryan?" Kain's voice carries over toward Mary and Raiden, and a moment later it's followed by Kain himself, moving in a blur. He comes to a stop right next to Raiden, his right arm out and raised slightly so as to be driven into the larger man's face by both muscle and the momentum of the run. And if that wasn't bad enough, the aura of blue energy surrounding Kain's fist is enough to allow him to easily punch right through a brick wall.
K9999 didn't care at the moment about mission parameters, or what it was exactly they were supposed to be accomplishing. He only knew, that there was /one/ person in the area, that he wanted to flatten, and only after returning tenfold the injury and hurt inflicted on him, could he perhaps give a rats ass about NESTs orders. Not exactly what Juli might have wanted to hear, but it wasn't as if the clone had made his difficulties any secret.
In the time it took for the teenaged seeming boy to wade back to coherancy and his feet, the source of said torment literally had enough trouble to deal with than his butt-crack might be able to handle alone. To Raiden's credit, he was willing to test just how much, it had done well to shield him before! With each ragged breath, the intensity about the experiment grew, swirling invisibly till it would reach a breaking point. The loathing that had been allowed to fester seared away much of the pain he felt movement caused, which pretty much allowed for him to haul himself closer. "Hyrugh..." Wait he was saying something, he pointed at Raiden who may or may not be dealing with Kain's assailing punch, and then K9999 snapped. "GRYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Throwing himself foward, raw chi erupted about him in a rapidly expanding sphere of energy that blasted its way through anything caught in its path. It'd rip up whatever wasn't firmly afixed, though through his efforts, Raiden'd be the closest to its nucleus.
Psycho Power.
Ask Nagase, and she'll probably say it's so named because everyone who has it seems to be ka-ra-zy! Well, alright; ask her about it and she'll probably look confused and change the subject because she's not supposed to even know what those words mean. But she does know that there's an energy spike on her readouts that juuuuuuuust happens to be centered around Miss Juli. It's probably going to mean bad news. This is going to take some thought. She'd better see how--
Turning her head, the fox-haired ninja looks over JUST in time to see Raiden get his ass kicked. Literally. "Oh my lord..." she mutters, facepalming mightily. "WHY HAVEN'T YOU EATEN THE MONKEY AND THE WALKING CLEAVAGE YET. :|" she demands of Raiden.
Yes, she did add 'colon vertical line' to the end of her sentence, in just those words. Don't judge me. That's how the kids roll these days.
Well she's got to do SOMETHING about this, and letting Raiden take on Kain AND KQuad AND Blue Mary all by himself just so she can enjoy mocking Juli's outfit is just plain wrong. But she can't help but fire a parting shot at the Doll, and so she holds up two fingers, glowing bright red with fiery chi, before she slams them into the ground, chanting: "It rolls downstairs, alone or in pairs, and over the neighbor's dog. It's great for a snack, and fits on your back, it's hugefuckingninjafireball, hugefuckingninjafireball, hugefuckingninjafireball!"
Expectedly, a huge [REDACTED] ninja fireball leaps from the point of contact and bounces across the ground toward Juli like a slinky... but even for this attack its path is erratic, spinning here and there and everywhere. Nagase, meanwhile, looks like she's ready to move on to helping Raiden.
COMBATSYS: Raiden endures K9999's Moon....
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Juli
[ \\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|=======
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Raiden interrupts Strong Punch from Kain with Crazy Train.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Juli
[ \\ < > ///////////// ]
Raiden 1/---====/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|=======
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|----===
COMBATSYS: Raiden can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Juli
> ///////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|=======
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|----===
Suddenly, Raiden is beset on all sides. First, the rumbly beneath his tumbly means that either those Super Burritos he had earlier are starting to kick in, or the Mystery Assailant isn't so easily squashed. Either way, it's in his best interest to clench.
It turns out to have been the second option when Mary bursts out from underneath the SS enforcer and then gives his head /such/ a twisting. It elicits a grunt of surprise, and not even neccesarily the bad kind of surprise, either.
That is more dedicated to the sudden appearance of Kain Heinlein himself. Raiden rolls to his feet and his eyes widen in shock; not even he's dumb enough to think he can take on one of the Syndicate's most powerful enemies by himself, especially not with these pests pounding on him.
With the humor in his expression replaced by one of grim determination, Raiden flexes his hands and prepares to take it. He has a moment to wonder what that noise behind him is before he is interrupted by a gigantic ball of energy that catches him square in the backside, propelling even his mighty bulk forcefully into Kain. Heinlein's punch catches Raiden high on the shoulder, but trying to stop Raiden under normal circumstances isn't easy; with the force of the blast behind him, the wrestler is like a bulky tsunami.
His fist slams into Kain's stomach with all the force he can manage, repeating the blows left and right, but Raiden is tiring quickly. He's on the way out. It's with the last of his strength that he staggers forward, driving his shoulder into Kain. He keeps going a few steps afterward, finally stumbling into the still sort of intact wall of the warehouse with a dull 'thud'.
Mary avoids breathing through her nose just now. Wow! she thinks - before someone flips outwards. Her eyes bug out, quite clear with the smears of smoke streaking her face.
Damn!! she thinks: Kain Heinlein -- what's he doing here? She does answer, even as she tosses her hair back, "Mr. Heinlein! If it's not going to put you out, then-" Oh, there he goes. Her head turns slightly to watch the force of Kain's brutal fisting -- and Raiden's brutal counterassault?!
She looks over her shoulder, slowly, as she lets herself breathe in and out and push out some of the lingering stench of ass that seems to be clinging to the inside of her nose. "Say what now?" she calls to Nagase, eyebrows raising up.
Wavering lines seem to draw in towards her. Is the camera zooming in sharply on her eyes, and then over at Nagase's?!
COMBATSYS: BlueMary gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Juli
> ///////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|--=====
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|----===
COMBATSYS: Nagase successfully hits Juli with Unrelenting Fire.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Juli
> ///////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|--=====
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|----===
The strange ninja girl proves to be odder still as she makes her move, bringing her fingers up and then down for... what seems to be a high-speed, bouncing, move-all-around ... ball? Though quick on her feet, her first natural, instinctive reaction is to manuver herself away from the assault, but she seems to have no such luck. It bounds right up and slams right into her, and the Doll finds her concentration broken prematurely, sent staggering by the blast.
Nagase decides to move on to what could only be greener pastures as her partner recieves the beating of the lifetime from three fronts. Still, Juli is unrelenting and unerring. Dusting off her shoulder with a few light smacks, she darts left, right, left, and lacks the rest of the essentials to well-known video game codes and lore.
Refusing to let Nagase go too far, her right arm attempts to loop around the girl's throat, right under the chin, and lock her other hand around her wrist. In short, a chokehold: Vicious, brutal, and using every inch of the strength she has at hand, Juli will try to flat out strangle Nagase on the spot.
Raiden's assault is powerful, but not powerful enough to drop Kain. He's staggered back by the repeated blows, but in the end he manages to sidestep the massive wrestler as he collapses into the wall, and Heinlein remains on his feet. He observes the remaining fighters and then begins to make his way toward the Iga ninja. Dangers of the job, Nagase. Maybe Geese will give you some hazard pay. Kain takes a few steps forward at a quickly increasing pace, then suddenly lunges forward, feet leaving the ground.
As he closes in on the grappling Juli and Nagase, Kain whips his body about and extends his right leg. Black flame surrounds the limb as he attempts to sweep it right into Nagase's chest... and if Juli isn't quick enough to get out of the way, well, Kain's not going to hold back for her sake.
Finally..."I told you," catching his breath inbetween, K9999 offered up the fallen Raiden a most cruel blood-stained grin. "I'd destroy you." When did he say that?! Somewhere probably in the mangled sounds that remained uninteligable for the most part. He was still hyped and ready to go however, some of the lesser fighters had probably melted away from the heated highstakes brawl outside, choosing no doubt to find easier pickings. That was fine, he was naturally drawn too the opposite-- and oh coincidentally his partner being the new focus of attention from the more recent upstarts. Dashing an arm across his face, he smeared the sweat and blood out from where it threatened to drip into his eyes, and plouged on ahead with a roar. "NOSEY BASTARD, stay OUTTA THIS!" Just give him an opening, and Kain'd have to deal with a sudden grab, and violent twist towards the onrushing ground. He was giving Juli her space needed to well, choke a bitch, he didn't care just who Kain was. Or how famous. Or dangerous...and other details like that.
COMBATSYS: Juli successfully hits Nagase with Choke Hold.
Grazing Hit
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Nagase 0/-------/-======|=======\===----\1 Juli
> //////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|--=====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Kain successfully hits Nagase with Strong Kick.
[ \\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Nagase 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\===----\1 Juli
> //////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|--=====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|---====
Oh jesus now they're all after her. It is a very D: kind of day.
Nagase grits her teeth and tries to cut left, getting the hell out of Juli's way. Needless to say that the Doll's skills are top notch and even Nagase's ridiculous ninja speed isn't enough to getting her out of the way in time; the black clad arm wraps around the Iga ninja's throat and starts squeezing really bad. Not that this stops Nagase from cracking wise, of course. "Ngh... weren't you... the warden in... one of those... lesbian... prison movies?!" she gasps out, while Juli chokes a bitch. Srsly.
And then there's Kain, who is going to kick the ninja really freakin' hard and oh yes, the Doll's choke hold has her kinda sorta immobilized. There's a gleam in the eyes behind the amber lenses as Nagase realizes this, breaking free of the choke hold just long enough to take one step, oddly, *forward*. If she can just make it look convin--
And then the point is moot again, because she doesn't have to make it look convincing on account of the black fire-powered kick smacking her in the stomach with piledriving force. The fox-haired ninja literally coughs up blood, eyes going wide.
She then says: "Gotcha."
Kain apparently just kicked the Southsynd contractor so hard that she explodes. Quite literally. The girl's form seems to dissolve into flame which erupts outwards from her former location like a miniature atomic bomb, massive rolling waves of flame as Nagase lets all of her chi out in one really freakin' pretty burst.
When the smoke clears, she's gone from sight. Why? Because she's on the roof, clutching a hand to her stomach and coughing loudly. "Ugh... shame about the... fat boy. Maybe they'll put an apple in and roast 'em."
Then she's off into the night. Pursued? Possibly. But for now, it looks like the assault on Southsynd materials is a perfect success. Except for the part where all the grenades blew up and she lost an iPhone.
COMBATSYS: Nagase can no longer fight.
> ///////////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Juli
> //////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|--=====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|---====
They're running rapidly out of foes! Mary could complain but she has learned after having to spend time in close proximity to Yamazaki and Billy in the notorious "Two Non Blondes" King of Fighters group, not to complain too much when the shit has stayed relatively low impact. Besides, she didn't know this was coming tonight.
As Kain moves to aim a snapping, burning kick at their two foes, Mary takes a step to the side and rebounds off of Raiden's fallen fatness, kicking up into the air with an unnecessary "whoo!" as she pivots at a complex angled somersault.
She doesn't seem to be heading at anyone in particular, until she kicks off a chain pulley up high near the rafters of the burning warehouse, descending with spread legs towards Juli's head and shoulders! She's already twisting around, to grab at the stoic woman's arm and, hopefully, twist it around on Juli's own way to the hard, cold ground!
Well, warmer by now.
COMBATSYS: Juli dodges Kain's Strong Kick.
> ///////////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Juli
> //////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Juli blocks Nagase's Stealth.
> ////////////// ]
|=======\=====--\1 Juli
> //////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|---====
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: BlueMary successfully hits Juli with Mary Spider.
> ///////// ]
|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Juli
> //////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-======
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|---====
Tightly, that arm locks down. Juli's strength is quite amazing for someone lacking such brutal, hulkish arms! Still, Nagase squirms her way free and decides to return the favor upon her by way of erupting into brilliant fire-- fire that, at this distance, she has absolutely no chance of getting away from. Twisting away a bit, her left arm hooks across her body while the right swings low, below it. Psychic energy bubbles up from her hand, gliding across her forearm like some sort of shield, and it keeps her from being utterly annihilated in the flames.
Almost systematically, her head cocks to one side, canting off to regard Kain and the kick thrown at the pair. Rather than being caught up in the arc, her arms hook back over her head and she handsprings backwards, elbows akimbo to push off and land free and clear on her feet.
But not free and clear of "Blue" Mary.
Twisted, yanked, and given a stiff introduction to the concrete ground, her face lets out a wet, loud *SMACK* against the ground, blood scattering from a blunt-force scrape and quite possibly worse damage done to her nose in the process. Dazed, but not out of the entire battle, Juli begins to reassess the situation, both for herself and her partner. In this state, it would be better to preserve their numbers should their defeat even seem remotely possible.
he Doll's body becomes like rubber in Mary's grip, and Juli half-slithers right away from the blonde woman and gets up onto all fours, knees bent and poised low to the ground. Her arms sweep off to one side, and in a blur of movement that's so absolutely, disgustingly FAST that it seems to border on what some would nickname 'teleportation,' the Shadaloo agent stands behind K9999 and speaks in that same even, unemotive tone even now. "Our chances will be better if you are in better condition." She reaches out to grab his shoulder, her expression stern and eyes focused hard. "Do not fight against this."
Drawing on all of her latent psychic power, natural or infused, it flares up, ripples around in a circle at her feet and suddenly SWELLS. It travels through her arm, presses through her hand, and channels that energy directly into NESTS' K9999 with the full intent to stimulate his body and close his wounds.
COMBATSYS: K9999 successfully hits Kain with Quit playing!.
> ///////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Juli
> //////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-======
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|--=====
COMBATSYS: Kain blocks Nagase's Stealth.
> ///////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Juli
> //////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-======
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-======
Kain makes use of one raised arm to hold off the flaming blast from Nagase's sudden escape with some of his own flames. He doesn't seem to be particularly bothered by the blast, but it does provide K9999 with the opportunity to slip in and grab him. Kain's eyes widen briefly as his balance is upset and then he's sent crashing down to the ground with a grunt. He quickly rolls away, popping smoothly back to his feet and looking over K9999 and Juli. Their work is done as far as he's concerned, but he can't come out and say that... or go easy on them.
There is, however, one thing Kain can do... and that's encourage them to leave. Heinlein rushes back in toward KQuad, twisting around as he does so and lashing out with a sharply rising kick aimed at the younger man's face accompanied by surging black flames. Between the kick and the explosion along with it, it might well be enough to send the angry man flying away.
COMBATSYS: Kain successfully hits K9999 with Schwarze Lanze.
> ///////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Juli
> //// ]
|=======\==-----\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-======
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 1|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Juli successfully hits K9999 with Psycho Charge Beta.
> ///////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Juli
> ////////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-======
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 1|-------|=======
And fly he does! With a howl, K9999 was blasted back, already exacerbating his severe injuries. He collapsed, and struggled to get back up to his feet, managing only halfway before dizziness and darkness licked at the borders of his consciousness, even he had to acknowledge that he'd pushed himself past his limits...That is, till Juli showed up. He gaped at her in disbelief, "What the fuc--KAAAAAUHHH!" barely managing to say before it hits him. Hits and rocks as he felt pain, pain that melted into a renewed vigor, life and energy slipping back into his body as injuries knitted back to a passable stage. And the rage, why, it'd remained the same...but now with an outlet.
Would he offer her thanks? "I'm going to make him wish he never crossed me..." Hissing out, he shoved at Juli to push past her at Kain a few steps. He halted as he brought up his right hand, the glove and arm there morphing in a twist of flesh and metal, reforming into what was quite plainly a wicked looking multi-chambered gun. Except this gun spat ammunition of chi-- "I'LL DESTROY YOU JUST LIKE THE FAT GUY!!" Letting loose a torrent of explosive impacts in Kain's general direction.
That rubbery body motion is a little unsettling to Mary as she recovers to her feet, raising an arm in anticipation - but she's whipping over there instead? Mary's brow furrows in puzzlement. What the hell is she doing?
Well, it seems to have made the burning man angry, and that's probably a sign that it was important, whatever it was. However, Juli's being helpfully shoved aside - and Mary is pretty quick to catch onto possibilities like that. "Sorry about this!" she calls as she lunges forwards, arm hooking up to try and catch Juli around the neck as Mary aims to climb back up onto the Doll's back and apply choking pressure!
COMBATSYS: BlueMary successfully hits Juli with Choke Hold.
> ///// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Juli
> ///////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-======
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 1|-------|=======
Pushed to the side so roughly, she didn't anticipate her partner being so rude and vindictive... but then again, considering the trash that NESTS tends to deploy, it seems more fitting for K9999 to turn about and send her staggering... staggering, it seems, right into the waiting arms of Mary one more time. She twists, turns as though she planned on twisting her shoulder to the blonde to make the grapple fail or become exceedingly difficult, and instead finds herself suffering the weight and pressure of a choking grip.
Letting out a gasp as her face turns red, fingers digging into the woman's arms, the Doll suddenly lurches her head straight down to pull out of her grasp. She's a little dazed and dizzy, but her eyes focus on Mary Ryan one more time as she backbends nearly -in half-, glaring up at her as her arms buckle in, her head nearly touches the ground, and her legs cross and draw in. In every sense of the word, she looks like a spring about to launch.
"Target aquired."
And then she does. Almost literally, her arms push off and her legs extend, twisting in a corkscrew as she seeks to carry Mary up into the air on a single kick that seems to drill into her multiple times. If it all goes to plan, it'll carry her prey to nearly fifteen feet into the air before her pose breaks, body rolling into a meager flip to land right back on her feet. She's out of breath and hurting, but not out ... yet!
COMBATSYS: Kain effortlessly blocks K9999's You get lost too!.
> //// ]
|-------\-------\0 Juli
> ///////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 0|-------|-======
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 1|------=|=======
Kain calmly lowers his foot after K9999 is sent flying, sparing a moment to glance toward the fight between Juli and Mary. It looks like he may have to get over there soon in order to prevent Juli from getting captured. His allies in NESTS and Shadaloo are probably going to need these operatives later... so he'll just have to beat them soundly for their own good. But it seems that they're both still in fighting shape. Kain strides intently toward K9999, not pausing when his target's arm turns into a gun. Most people would be somewhat startled by that, you'd think. But Kain isn't even perturbed when it sends blasts of chi flying his way. He calmly sweeps out one arm, knocking away the first blast with enough force to send the following ones flying of course. And aside from some smoke rising from the back of his hand, he appears to be just fine.
He does, however, pause in his approach, flexing his hand briefly. Then he levels his arm toward K9999. "You've had your fun, but I think this is enough." And although Kain's arm doesn't change into a gun, it does flare with blue light before suddenly firing a similar set of projectiles back toward K9999. Except they're larger, moving faster... and they explode massively on impact.
COMBATSYS: BlueMary blocks Juli's Reverse Shaft Breaker.
> //// ]
|-------\-------\0 Juli
> ///////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: K9999 endures Kain's Himmlische Seele.
> //// ]
|-------\-------\0 Juli
> ///// ]
|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
Kain'd have to hand it to NESTs fighters, they were a resilient bunch that were a glutton for punishment. Just that display alone would be enough to make fighters gape and rethink their course of attack, for K9999...He, spat to the side. He wouldn't back down, not riled up as he was, "No one tells me what to do!" Who didnt happen to be his superior that is in NESTs, and even then that was a dicy proposition. Infact he was in mid-charge when Kain's rebuttal slammed into him, he was unabel to avoid it, but he forged on ahead-- practically undoing al that Juli had strategically done to aid him. With one purpose in mind...taking Kain apart with his bare hands. "HUURYYYAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Bustin on through, ignoring the badly split cuts on his body, his arm literally spearing down to impale him.
Mary's arm tenses, the cordlike muscles beneath that smoothing layer of softness standing out in sharper relief as the Doll digs her fingers in. Mary then feels the sudden sensation of being borne aloft - and kicked!
She whips loose at the apex, grabbing onto the supportive girder structure and letting her legs kick feebly as she looks down, her abdomen and upper thighs bruised as hell and, she thinks, not getting any better. "... Target acquired?! That's not scary at all," she says, almost raising a hand to waggle a finger.
But no, she reasons, that would be pretty stupid in this situation. She pulls herself up slightly, and then lets out a "hyah!" and descends down, pushing off and aiming a snapped-down heel at Juli as she aims to land in a backwards three-point crouch. This looks faintly ridiculous, but it is perhaps the best she can do on this kind of short notice.
COMBATSYS: BlueMary successfully hits Juli with Light Kick.
> ]
|===----\-------\0 Juli
> //// ]
|=====--\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
Short notice, but ... still, better than what she could prepare for. Juli lets out a gasp as the heel, quick as it is, comes swinging about and lashing out and driving into her ribs. For a moment, there's a distinct picture of discomfort, an expression distorted into pain that shouldn't be there.
Holding her side as she staggers backwards, the psychically-enhanced Doll times her sudden movements for when Mary is recovering from her pose, starting to get herself onto her feet and ready. Sliding into a low crouch, she squats down on one leg while the other thrusts forward. A rush of energy blasts air and ripples with energy as she suddenly darts upward at an impossibly high angle, attempting to kick Mary one last time, laced with a strange, potent energy.
Hit or miss, after the kick, she takes a hopping step back and regards K9999 with a half-second's stare with her bloody nose and still deadpan voice. "I must withdraw."
COMBATSYS: Juli can no longer fight.
> //// ]
|=====--\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: K9999 successfully hits Kain with Drill Fist.
> //// ]
|=======\-------\0 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|------=
Okay, now things seem to be going smoothly. With Juli withdrawing K9999 will... /probably/ go with her. Unless he's so angry that he'd just keep on fighting. So perhaps Kain should provide both a reason to flee, as well as cover for doing so. He doesn't need much encouragement to inflict some pain, either, especially after getting speared by the transforming fist. Kain manages to twist out of the way enough such that it just leaves a long slash across his ribs rather than going /through/ him, but it's still quite painful.
In response, Kain swipes an arm toward KQuad, with a wave of fire following in the limb's wake. It engulfs the area where K9999 is currently standing, but Kain doesn't stop there. Using the motion as cover, Kain summons up a small amount of flame over by some explosives abandoned by the thugs in their attempts to flee. Of course, the building is already in bad shape, so it doesn't really need to be further destroyed... but the explosion should be distracting.
COMBATSYS: Kain successfully hits K9999 with Schwarz Cutter.
> ]
|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|----===
COMBATSYS: BlueMary dodges Juli's Cannon Spike.
> ]
|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|----===
As much as he'd like to stay and beat Kain into the ground leaving nothing more than a red smear, he would have to agree with Juli's assessment. It was time to 'withdraw'. Pushed back by the fire and hounded by his injuries, he used the last of his strength to keep Blue Mary away, mostly because Kain was already behind the wall of flames. Last thing he needed was for her to follow up from avoiding the doll's last. Cue open chi-fire again-- in the resulting thinning of smoke, he'd be gone for sure.
COMBATSYS: K9999 can no longer fight.
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|----===
COMBATSYS: BlueMary dodges K9999's You get lost too!.
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Kain 0|-------|----===
Mary does a backflip that leaves her on her feet, raising her arms in a guarded posture as the Doll slides forwards and - something's coming; the burst of air tells Mary that! She weaves sharply and suddenly to the side, that strike going wide as she looks past her shoulder at the robotic-sounding girl. "Geez!" she says aloud.
Her head snaps around to see a wall of fire bursting towards her. "!!" Her reflex is simple and true; JUMP UP REALLY HIGH; this time, at least, she grabs onto the low-hanging girder by necessity, not by mere chance.
Now, Kain /could/ go after Juli and K9999... but he doesn't. Instead he hops back to a safer distance from the growing inferno, glancing in Mary's direction to make sure that she's still okay. "Looks like they got away... but I'm sure there will be more chances. It looks like things are rapidly taking a turn for the worse. I'd watch out if I were you, miss Ryan. I'm afraid that if I'm correct about what's happening, this kind of violence is going to seem mundane very shortly."
Kain walks swiftly toward an alley entrance, then turns to look back over his shoulder. Expect to hear from me again once I find out some more about what's going on... and I think this city will soon be in dire need of help from you and your friends." And then Kain is into the alley and gone, leaving the burning building, and the corpses of a number of the men he sent to burn it in the first place, behind.
COMBATSYS: Kain has left the fight here.
[ |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
BlueMary 1|-------|=======
Log created on 20:08:51 02/18/2009 by Nagase, and last modified on 22:11:59 03/02/2009.