Description: Black Sabbath (1978). The premise is short and sweet. Elle wants to see what Francois can do, and he obliges. Elle discovers that despite the antiquated nature of Francois' combat style, he can still ply his trade well enough to give Elle a run for her money. In return, Francois discovers that Elle causes him a great deal of pain on impact. Elle is satsified with what she sees, and Francois is satsified with his combat performance. A win for them. Not so much for anyone else, though. Set after "War Ensemble", but prior to "Bang Bang".
Francois would be lying if he said he'd seen how this week would go. First he'd been beaten up by a conman. Then he'd beaten up a Cajun. And /then/ he'd wound up driving like some kind of maniac across town, with a truly terrifying amount of weaponry being flung in his direction. Not how he'd seen this week going, to be fair. But. Overall, it had worked out well enough. He even had the promise of more work! And lots of money. Money is always a bonus, isn't it?
But then, something else he hadn't seen coming, getting woken up early by a demand that he meet his employer in the middle of an abandoned parking lot.
Well. It isn't his to reason why.
The frenchman is, at least, prompt. Having dragged himself out of bed to get here, he's obviously just a little bit tired, but, then, he'd let himself go recently. There was a time this really wouldn't have bothered him in the least. Unshaven, and already working on his third cigarette of the morning, he stands in the middle of the broken car park with a slouch.
It's a bit strange, really. He feels just a little bit exposed, too. The car park is -completely- empty. In truth, because it was nowhere near anything important. But still. It's eerie, the early morning sun just raising over the buildings, and casting a pale glimmer on the concrete. The only noise that of (thankfully distant) gunfire.
The car arrives shortly thereafter. It's not Elle's. Oh, Elle is /inside/ the car, but the car's not hers. When most of the vehicles have been abandoned, it's not too difficult to find a older vehicle in town and break in and hotwire the thing for a trip across town. The only problem is that they never seem to last a particularly long time before exploding or otherwise being annihilated in a hail of gunfire.
She doesn't even bother trying to get anything insured anymore because of that. There's always somebody running around that thinks they're going to get bonus points from punching her car.
But Elle's transportation issues aren't the focus here today. Francois has shown he can handle himself in an emergency situation, yes. But that's only part of the job. All of that is absolutely useless if Francois doesn't know how to handle himself in a battle.
Or at least, it's useless for any immediate job. The fact that he responds well enough to commands definitely keeps his resume from being tossed into the circular file, so to speak.
She clambers out of the vehicle. Elle is not a graceful person. Despite the way she organizes and plans, in the end, she's the embodiment of the mechanical precisioon of applied brute force. Boots march across pavement in a perfectly measured hammerstep. There's an internal cadence to her walk. Excessive energy isn't expended as she approaches Francois, looking him over once.
The man looks like hell, but that doesn't slow her down an iota as she explains to Francois exactly why he's here at an ungodly hour in the middle of nowhere. "I called you here to see if you know how to handle yourself in combat," she says simply, looping her thumbs around her belt. "I'll give you five minutes to get prepped. If you have weapons of any kind, feel free to use them. I want you to fight like I shot your grandmother in front of you and kicked dog shit on the corpse."
Short and abrupt, if not a little south from sweet. But it gets the point across.
For a moment, Francois just -stares- at Elle. From the crappy car, to the sheer... well, the sheer -energy- she was showing, the whole situation seemed vaguely unreal. He listens, though, and he nods vaguely. Plucking the cigarette from his lips, he drops it on the floor, and grinds it down with his shoe. In retrospect, perhaps, choosing to get drunk the previous night was not one of the wisest moves he had made of late.
But, such is life. Francois never thought that it would be easy, so he may as well see it through. "You're the boss." He replies, easily. Stretching his shoulder as he walks calmly towards the woman, it looks like he's going to take advantage of those five offered minutes to gather his thoughts...
But really, Francois had -seen- Elle fight. Albeit briefly. It might be dishonorable, but he had no desire to get cut up any more than he needed to. So, quite suddenly, he's coming forwards with as much power as he can muster, aiming to simply plant one fist right into Elle's gut, trying, pretty simply, to punch right -through- her. Of course, that isn't going to happen, but all at once, Francois sends three messages perhaps more elegantly than anything that has ever come out of his mouth.
First- that he can go from nothing to punching at the drop of a hat.
Second- that he /doesn't/ need anything but his arms to be ready to fight.
And third- as requested, he's going to go at her as strong as he can.
COMBATSYS: Francois has started a fight here.
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Francois 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Elle has joined the fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Francois
COMBATSYS: Elle blocks Francois' Straight Punch.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Francois
The attack is quick and considering the fact that she gave him all of no time to be prepared for it, appreciated for what it is: a cheap shot. Unlike most, however, Elle doesn't frown upon taking an opportunity. Attack while your opponent's guard is down, and don't let up until they're not moving or you aren't. Exploit weakness, focus on physical or mental chinks in the armor. Rip, tear, rend any available wound that exists.
It's not about winning or losing in this game. It's living and dying. 'Winning' is really just a cute little by product, if you're lucky.
Still, for the speed and ferocity that comes at Elle, the woman is fast enough to bring up her right arm, allowing the punch to crash against a gauntlet hidden under a sleeve. Feet set apart, she slides back only slightly under the heavy blow as she throws that arm wide, directing the brunt of the attack away from her to reduce the damage.
And with that, she brings her left arm around. The knuckles of her gauntleted fist are already sparking with electrical power as she hurls the armored fist into Francois' chest. Why such a heavily armored area? Because it's a big target. Also, the electrical chi she possesses hurts a hell of a lot more shen she fires it off into someone's heart.
COMBATSYS: Francois dodges Elle's Heavy Strike.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Francois
If there's one thing Francois has learned over the years... it's that when someone starts fizzing and sparking, it's a really terrible idea to let yourself be hit if you can avoid it.
He's surprisingly quick on his feet, a fact which becomes apparent when, rather than have the fist plough into his stomach, he dances himself backwards. Sparks jump and he grits his teeth, skidding around, and just barely coming out of it clean. "I would never have thought you the sort mon cher. I suppose I'm ... shocked~."
He snickers. Elle might be rather... stoic in battle, but, Francois found that his little verbal prods and pokes tended to put other people off their game. When they screwed up, he could take advantage of it.
His guard, however, is very definitely up now. He hated energy, and he had no desire to get hit by it. His fists lash out twice, going for Elle's left side, and making sure to cover himself as best he can throughout the attack, ready for her to try and punch him again. Punching, he felt, he could deal with.
COMBATSYS: Francois successfully hits Elle with Raison Detre.
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Elle 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Francois
Francois' fighting style isn't one Elle has seen in a while. Straight punching, oddly enough, is something she rarely sees. Generally, it's one ridiculous fighting style after the next. A lot of them are flashy, overdramatic and largely superfluous. As a result, she's a little surprised when Francois arrives not with some kind of power, but straight punches.
Fists smash into her body, which seems to absorb the blows alright. It's just somewhat off-putting to be repeatedly punched at when you're expecting energy blasts or power attacks from a dozen and a half 'ultimate styles' some guy decided to invent in his basement back when everyone else was more concerned with things like food and shelter.
The blows crash into her side clean, and Elle is forced to sidestep, swinging her arms down to deploy two hook swords. The sickle-like weapons immediately start to hum with sonic power as she turns the weapons into vibroblades and immediately hurls herself at Francois. The wicked weapons whip outward to shred and tear at the man's midsection as she tries to hook him by the skin and muscle at his stomach and hurl him face first into the ground.
COMBATSYS: Francois blocks Elle's Aces High.
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Elle 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Francois
Francois remembers those swords. He remembers how easily they had cut through those unfortunate NESTS troops the first time he had seen Elle, and he decides that he'd really like to avoid that fate for himself. He also notes that, apparently, Elle wasn't holding back either. Which is also fine. Really, he had to trust that she'd know when to call it quits, if she is better than him, and wasn't some sort of crazed killer who decided to lure you in with the promises of reasonable pay and hard work before finishing you off.
The frenchman brings his arms around, each sword slamming into his defense... it still hurts a surprising amount, but, he's at least deflected the worst of it. The man comes in hard, hoping to take advantage of his forward momentum, he draws his head back, and whips it forwards as hard as he can, aiming to smash his forehead hard against Elle's nose.
His words, for the moment, have abandoned him. Maybe it's the early morning, or maybe it's the fact he was actually a little bit surprised at just how much those sonic vibrations had hurt when they struck his arms, but whatever it is, he's too concerned with connecting head to head to say anything witty.
COMBATSYS: Elle fails to interrupt Tete-a-Tete from Francois with Electric Funeral.
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Elle 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Francois
It appears that Francois is just outmaneuvering Elle today. Each of his attacks don't appear to be doing a lot of damage... but even so, they seem to be avoiding all of Elle's attacks. As Francois closes in to smash his head against Elle's face, she turns, moving into the attack as the swords seem to disappear. Instead, they're replaced by wicked looking punching daggers.
However, before Elle can slam the daggers into the man's gut and send a horrible amount of pain through his body with a massive electrical jolt, Francoi's attack connects. The world explodes into stars, which fill Elle's vision and force her to step back.
It would seem that she's going to have to switch tactics considerably in order to properly engage this target. Still half blinded, she steps back, attempting to keep her distance as the punchign dagger slides back into her sleeve.
Francois isn't going to question his luck, that much is for certain. Never let it be said that he looks a gift horse in the mouth. He knows that his attacks aren't really raining pain down on Elle, but... that's not what he does. He wears them down. So far, that seemed to be going pretty good for him. That said, there's a definite need to put Elle down, because whilst luck was on his side at the moment... there was absolutely nothing saying it was going to stay that way. Just the one attack he'd taken was enough to convince him of that.
So as Elle staggers back disoriented, Francois comes forwards. His intent is pretty simple, though, it might catch Elle by surprise just because it -isn't- more punching. No. This time, he aims to grab the woman by the back of the head, and drag her over his knee. If he can manage this, she'll just be... flung into the ground. There isn't much in the way of subtly or finesse in this. Throwing people around isn't really Francois's strong suit, but, if she was kept constantly on the back foot, he might be able to keep his lead... that was what he was really looking for. Maybe it's just paranoia, but he was sure if he let up for even a moment, he was going to wind up biting the dirt himself.
COMBATSYS: Francois successfully hits Elle with Medium Throw.
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Elle 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Francois
And Elle hits the ground. For whatever reason, she's not getting a handle on the fight at all. Again, the hits she's suffering don't do much damage, but the endless barrage of attacks she's suffering is starting to cause a modicum of concern on her part. Luckily for her, she's still got a considerable amount of weaponry at hand that may be able to help even things up.
She rolls across the ground, this time giving herself the room she needs to refocus on the target. Francois is able to thread the needle in her considerable defenses by coming in strong but hitting very lightly. The man's tactics are unusual and drawn out... which is decidedly not something Elle is particularly use to. But it's time for her to reset the stage here, and she does so with the help of explosives.
There really isn't a problem that can't be solved by the judicious application of them.
She reaches down to her belt and pulls a canister, which seems to glow to life in her palm. With a quick motion, the silent woman hurls the weapon at Francois, the metal can flipping end over end. If it hits, the force of the explosion and sonic chi will be deafening, blasting the Frenchman back and to the ground, giving Elle the breather she needs to put up a decent fight.
COMBATSYS: Francois blocks Elle's Metal Health.
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Elle 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Francois
Maybe it's just instinct, but when Francois sees a shiny canister coming right at him, he brings his arms up crossed over his chest, and, luckily for him, though the explosion serves its purpose in giving Elle time to recover... it does also mean that Francois doesn't immediately explode and die. Stunned, momentarily, by the deafening noise, he's just glad to have come out of it breathing. That could have been ... bad.
"You... don't mess around, do you?" The frenchman asks, wiping the back of his hand over his brow, he narrows his eyes, and recovers his guard as best he can, positioning his footing carefully as he rounds on the woman.
"Nevertheless, I've got a lot more in me, mon cher. Unless, of course, /you/ wish to take a break."
He's just letting his mouth run on autopilot really. Fully expecting Elle to pull out some other horrific trick, he just wanted to be ready for it, and to give back in turn... the grenade had completely ruined his momentum, and he wasn't certain he could recover it without a lot of luck.
COMBATSYS: Francois focuses on his next action.
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Elle 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Francois
And the grenade does exactly what Elle wants it to. The weapons took a year of research and more money than she'd care to mention to develop. But they're simple, elegant, and do exactly what Elle wants them to do, namely cause people to stop in their tracks. Still, Francois is doing surprisingly well. Whether it's through luck or skill Elle hasn't determined yet. What she does know, however, is this fight is going to change course with considerable swiftness if she has anything to say about it.
Immediately, the ground sheems to shake, the tremors coming from beneath her feet as Elle uses the opportunity to draw power from the ground itself. The sonic vibrations seems to feed into her as electricity erupts from the ground as she draws from buried power cables. The energy seems to creep into her, salving wounds, powering her back up and releiving whatever energy she's already spent.
Elle doesn't respond in words, but there's a certain nonverbal communication that indicates that Elle's in the process of compensating for whatever Francois has to offer, and she's quite ready for anything that he decides to toss at her now.
COMBATSYS: Elle gathers her will.
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Elle 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Francois
To say that Francois is taken aback would be an understatement. In truth, he's horrified. There's a definite feeling that his luck has run out hanging in the air. Just -look- at her. She was not even fazed by the beating he'd given her so far, and that really is unnerving. On the other hand. It could just be an act. He'd like to believe that. Either way, it didn't change what he had to do; she obviously didn't want him to back down... and he didn't want to either.
This time, he comes in fast. Dancing to the left and right, he crosses the distance as quickly as he can manage, following the press with a barrage of quick, but weak, punches aiming across the entirety of Elle's torso. It wasn't really all that impressive, perhaps, but with each one that connects... he feels like he's coming a step closer towards winning.
It was important, he kept telling himself, to keep a clear head. If he didn't, if he started to get desperate, she was just going to see an opening and rip him to shreds. One thing is absolutely certain, though. He's -definitely- found a new and exciting way to get himself woken up in the morning. Just have Elle throw a terrifyingly powerful high explosive at his face!
COMBATSYS: Elle blocks Francois' Rapid Combo.
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Elle 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Francois
There are a few things Elle is learning. Francois is patient, tenacious, and knows how to capitalize on an opportunity. The fact is, the man is /very/ good at thinking on his feet, if not really someone that packs a lot of force in his punches. All that's appreciated, and considered carefully as the man's fist drives towards her midsection. Arms and shoulders meet the impact as she crouches, absorbing the hits with all the skill of a someone that's met this level of punishment before.
The hits are starting to take their toll. Elle doesn't show all of it because she isn't prone to screaming, shouting, or making a fuss when injured. Pain is part of this job. Elle dislikes it, but that's like saying you don't like the sight of human blood and trying to be a surgeon. It's silly and pointless.
While the man beats on her, Elle reaches into her jacket, backing away from the vicious, expertly aimed fists to reduce the amount of damage per blow, and she flicks her arms downward. Twin gleaming chunks of metal appear in her hands, and she swings them upward.
Suddenly, the air is filled with a unholy barrage of electrical blasts. The energy blots seem to erupt from her hands without any effort at all, burning through the air and smashing at Francois to drive him backward even further to give her adequate space.
It's only when the firing stops that the smoke pouring from the barrels of two .45 caliber pistols show that Elle has somehow managed to pack energy bursts into bullet casings and shoot them at people, solely to save time and effort on her part.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Francois with ACDC.
Glancing Blow
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Francois
"... Fu--"
It's about half a curse that Francois manages to get out. Then the world is erupting into a nightmare of electric death. It's just too much to get out of the way of completely. He tries, though. It really is an admirable effort on his part, flinging himself as far and as fast as he can, trying, desperately, to reach the car, to get behind it and find some shelter from the storm of buzzing pain that has filled up his world. In truth, he does manage to avoid most of the attacks. The shots scatter and disperse across the ground as much as they find a home in Francois, but, she doesn't -need- to hit him much to make him feel it. And Francois does feel it, a lot.
By the time it is over, Francois is twitching lightly. That had hurt. A lot. But he was still standing, and he was determined to ensure that if she was going to reload and do it again, he was going to give her hell buying the time to do so. He barrels from the ground with a fierce determination, back on the offensive, and this time, it's with a lot more force packed into the blows.
Aiming to hammer up underneath her guard and into her gut, Francois strikes at Elle's stomach six times, one after the other with a hammering rhythm that is, really, quite shockingly delivered, before, suddenly, he aims to use that momentum to finish with a powerful uppercut to her chin, a lot of power packed into that punch.
It's only after the combo is dealt that he realizes... he was starting to clam up. Other fights felt far less serious than this one, but, Elle's stony nature was practically impossible to crack with words. At least. It was at the moment, and really, if he -knew- how to needle her, he probably wouldn't want to. But. It had been years since he'd been in a one on one fight without having -something- witty to say after giving it his all.
COMBATSYS: Elle blocks Francois' Tour de Force.
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Elle 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Francois
Elle's eyes flick down. Francois escaped the onslaught better off than she had though he was. The man was lucky. Curiously so, in fact. It's clear that she didn't rate the man as high as she should have simply based on the fact that his punches don't do much damage. What he does do, however, is manage to not get hit, and that's sometimes just as good as anything else.
Still, Elle's still capable of fighting for quite a while longer, so as the attack comes in, Elle's arms deflect most of it's force with an intense concentration. Fists are diverted from their paths or smash into the forearm or her elbows, which are heavily protected with the specially made gauntlets. When the entire series of punches completes, Elle's still well within operating parameters.
She's just not anywhere near pristine. The attacks are starting to wear her down, punch by punch.
As a result, there's no reason why she shouldnt try to end this faster. Her hands flip the pistols back into her sleeves, and she hurls herself at the man, increasing the pressure of her attacks as something dark appears in her left hand. The matte-black kabar knife may as well be a meat cleaver for it's size, and the low level hum that it emits definitely doesn't sound all that pleasant as she swings the weapon quickly, attempting to send the serrated edge into the man's primary weapon: his arm.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Francois with Chase the Ace.
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Elle 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Francois
Francois curses, loudly. The blade is just too quick for him to keep up, and it cuts deep into his arm, drawing a lot of blood. He grits his teeth, decidedly unwilling to call it a day just because he's hurting a lot. No... he was getting frustrated now. He'd lead strong, but, now he was starting to fall behind? No. Not if he had anything to say about it!
"Your tricks are... nasty, mon cher." He says, drawing his injured arm up, and clenching his fist hard, a soft blue glow starting to wash around his knuckles. It's clear that this is a lot more effort for him than it had been for Elle, however. He'd -never- gotten the hang of chi. Taking it, using it, or defending against it, it never seemed to sit well with him. But he could still use it in a pinch, and this, quite clearly, -is- a pinch.
"But I have some tricks of my own, no? I hope you haven't counted me out yet!"
And as fast as he can, he ploughs his fist forwards, aiming to crash directly into the womans nose. It might not be elegant, again, but, it's the nasty freezing -burn- that accompanies the punch which is likely to take one by surprise, a numbing, icy chill which spreads from the point of impact.
COMBATSYS: Francois successfully hits Elle with Sang-Froid.
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Elle 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Francois
Ice? Temperature control? Whatever it is, Elle's got a lot of experience in handling the stuff. As a result, Elle's got no problem taking a hit. After all, the damage seems to be negligable, even if the killer sensation of an ice-cream headache seems to be drawing out a lot of the energy she seems to have at her disposal. The sensation is decidedly unpleasant, as is the ache in her nose. Thankfully, the chill numbs out a lot of the pain and probably keeps it from bleeding, too.
How convenient.
It's starting to come down tot he wire now. Elle's not at her best, and her slow sart is definitely making staying ahead a difficult proposition. It's with that in mind that Elle adopts an even further offensive stance. With a step forward, she clenches her fingers on her right hand, and with the sound of metal on metal, that punching dagger appears again. Instead of using it to interrupt an attack, however, Elle lurches forward, sending splayed fingers tipped with what appear to be claws that show up on her gauntlets at the last minute. The fingers dart towards Francois' one good eye while the other hand with the dagger launches towards Francois' chest.
If that dagger hits, it'll feel like getting a full body root canal while getting tazed. It's a spaectacularly unpleasant feeling.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Francois with Power Strike.
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Elle 0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1 Francois
"HNGHK!"
That is the incredibly witty and incisive comment that comes to mind as Francois finds himself stabbed pretty much uninterrupted. Surprised by the claws that came at his eye, he did his best to try and knock it to the side, but, the blow just comes in too quickly, tearing into his chest and coupled with that terrible zapping. He stiffens and dances on the spot, it'd almost be amusing...
But he doesn't go down. Not yet.
Both hands clasp up above his head, his breathing coming a lot harder all of a sudden. Phew. This was really starting to take its toll! But, he's got a lot more punch left in him yet, and he isn't willing to go down before he's given it all to Elle.
Which is why he lunges forwards himself, both arms coming down in a sudden, powerful axe-handle smash, fully intending to just plough down and batter Elle to the ground with as much force as he could possibly muster. The complete opposite to the quick and technical attacks he'd been throwing out for the majority of the fight, this is obviously a desperation move, and he's putting everything he can behind it.
COMBATSYS: Francois successfully hits Elle with Coup de Grace.
- Power hit! -
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Elle 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Francois
Well, it's not a coup de grace, but it's really darn close. The man's been running ragged with his hit and run tactics for a while now, and she frankly just can't keep up the kind of defense like she should have in the beginning of the fight. The axe-handle smash finally sends Elle to the ground with a crash, the woman slamming hard into the asphalt with a series of clatters.
The only problem is, she's not down yet.
Elle can fight just as well from a prone position as from any other. She's gone through enough military commando training to finally be able to compensate for poor situations. Still, it doesn't mean Francois isn't on the verge of a victory. The man's pushed her pretty far and them some, despite the fact that Elle's done quite a bit to make sure that he couldn't.
And so, Elle smashes a fist on the ground. The asphalt makes a great conductor of sonic chi, and by using it as a conductor, she creates a miniature shockwave designed to limit Francois' ability to evade it. Should it hit, it'll blow the man off his feet and drop him to the ground, even if doesn't exactly knock him away.
COMBATSYS: Francois blocks Elle's Wrathchild.
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Elle 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Francois
Francois is getting pretty tired of this constant energy. The shaking, the zapping, the deafening -noise-. It was all getting rather old as far as he was concerned. But. Though he had hoped, more than anything, that Elle would be taken out of the fight for good with that last one, he isn't too surprised when she's not. He's not even that surprised by the way she chooses to attack, though, there's little he can do but tense and try to stand firm throughout the assault. Which he does. He's starting to feel the burn far deeper than just his muscles, now. The battering was starting to burn deep in his bones, and it was really starting to get to him. More annoyingly than anything, she is on the -ground-. Honestly, one of the best places to be in a fight against Francois. Being a boxer, when his opponents are laying down, he's not precisely well placed to punish them.
Not that he's going to stop him from trying. Leaning down to grab her, he is shaking just a little bit, hoping that he can snare her, and, if he can, he'll swing her around twice...
Before literally flinging her at the car she had turned up in, as hard as he possibly can. He'd been giving it everything he had... now he -needed- it to end, because he wasn't sure how much he had left in him!
COMBATSYS: Francois successfully hits Elle with Au Revoir.
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Elle 1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0 Francois
Enough to grab Elle, and smash her into the car, but not enough to put her down, apparently. The woman smashes clean into the door. However, it's an exercise in being nickled and dimed to death. Being slowly eroded away by every attack that came in her direction is definitely a tough battle to deal with. If there's one thing Elle understands is how effective the tactic can be on a large scale.
It's just not generally a good one in close combat like this. Francois has essentially surprised her by making it work for him.
Her back smashes into the side of the car, causing a considerable deal of body damage. But still, she keeps coming, despite being slowed by fatigue. The sound of a chain sliding from her sleeve is heard, and suddenly, Elle's swinging her weapon up and around, the chain whip whirling outward to snag Francois by the leg. Should it connect, Elle will whip him around and smash him into the car behind her, sending him into the room and letting off a sonic explosion simultaneously that will hopefully put the tenacious frenchman out of the fight.
COMBATSYS: Francois fails to interrupt Black Sabbath from Elle with Au Contraire.
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Elle 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Francois
COMBATSYS: Francois can no longer fight.
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Elle 0/-------/------=|
Francois has no interest in just letting Elle take him down and out! But, on the other hand, that chain has already wrapped around his leg. Sometimes, there really is no way to go but forwards. Which is precisely what he tries to do, tearing across the asphalt towards the woman as fast as he can, his fist drawn back and hoping, praying, that he could make it to her before--
And then he's sailing through the air, it'd be serene, if it wasn't for the excruciating awareness of what, precisely, was going to happen when the whipping stops. When it does, Francois slams bodily into the car, and stiffens. For a split second, it looks like he's /still/ going to get up. If there's one word that defines Francois, it is definitely 'stubborn'.
Then the sonic explosion catches up with him, and he is utterly blasted. When the blast clears, Francois really is down and out. Face-down, in fact. Though he still tries to get up, the strength finally leaves his arms, and he grunts as he fails to do so.
"... Okay, I think... I think, on balance..." He slurs, a mumble from busted lips. "That we can say... I am out of tricks, now."
COMBATSYS: Elle has ended the fight here.
The frenchman is fast, which is just as good as tough in some instances. The man pushed Elle to the limit, and his rapid fists were able to wear Elle down quite a bit. Unlike Francois, who largely has several massive injuries to deal with, Elle's entire body is screaming, due to the non-localized punishment. She's been pummeled, tossed, thrown, and hit just about everywhere, and that's going to carry on a long longer than just one or two massive wounds.
She turns, walking slowly to mask the damage that she's taken. Just one of the many things she does in order to keep up appearances, not to impress, but to keep people from capitalizing on anything they may see as a weakness.
The woman crouches by Francois, and pulls him up off the ground roughly. He'll live, and the car, while damaged, is still stable enough to drive around despite the massive dent in the passenger's side. "Not bad," she says offhandedly, propping him up against the car so that he can at least keep some dignity intact instead of talking into the ground. "You've got an interesting style. Not sure how it'll hold up in the long term, but it's definitely something that you can get work with."
Log created on 17:28:06 05/16/2009 by Elle, and last modified on 23:35:42 05/16/2009.