Description: It had come to the attention of Shadaloo's R&D division, the mysterious S.I.N. organization, that a certain Leona Heidern had a fight with a certain Rugal Bernstein that ended in such and such a way. So they got it in their heads to 'acquire' Leona, pump her full of prototype BLECE, and see what happens. What results, as observed by the experimental subjects, SIN's own 'Maya-san', and boxer Heavy D!, is not exactly an episode of 'Bill Nye the Science Guy'...
It's funny, you know... You rescue one little hospital full of innocent victims under an impossibly difficult time limit, and suddenly you're all popular.
Kyo Kusanagi, renowned the world over for his fighting prowess, smart mouth and poor attitude, one time King of Fighters champion, one time Saturday Night Fight champion, and reigning World Warrior champ... Really has never been known for his heroic nature or giving spirit. But since the incident at the hospital, Kyo's fame among the civilian populace of Southtown has changed significantly. He's become, much to his chagrin and annoyance, a symbol of hope for the otherwise helpless people oppressed by the invading forces of NESTS and Shadaloo, who have come to view him as some sort of a dashing hero that rights wrongs and saves the innocent from the invaders.
But they tend to give him free food since then, so Kyo? Not complaining where anyone can hear it.
On the other hand, there's some definite downsides to this situation; now whenever people see Kyo, they expect him to turn around and make their lives better with his selfless heroics, whether they're having trouble with invaders, or people taking advantage of the chaos, or their loveable kitten Mr. Mittens has gotten stuck up a tree.
Speaking of which, at the moment a /very/ embarassed Kyo Kusanagi is in the process of handing over Mr. Mittens to his ostensible owners, a young couple with their bratty daughter whose demanding nature has not been tempered at all by the whole 'holy crap there's a war happening like, in our damn backyard' thing. As the little twerp demands and screams and her passive parents just give a 'what can you do?' shrug, Kyo's blood pressure rises to dangerous, dangerous levels. The kitten, who is about as even-tempered as the little girl - or Iori Yagami on a really bad day - has already dealt the Kusanagi heir a few scratches and is at this very moment hissing violently as he holds it at arm's length towards the tiny terror who probably turned it into such a foul little beast. "Here's your kitten," Kyo says through a forced, rictus-like grin.
He gets kicked in the shin for his trouble; Kyo really hates being a hero.
Zero to hero, right? Kyo is a regular Hercules, or as James Woods-voiced Hades has referred to him many times over, 'Jerk-ules'. The animated series was amazing, for the record.
You have to hand it to S.I.N.: for an evil organization in the employ of Vega, who is -- for all his power -- kind of a crazed megalomaniac, they've really got a good intel-gathering operation. Much of this is due to the woman that the organization knows as 'Maya', but who is quickly coming to be known, thanks to her trademark red braid and acid-tongued demeanor, as 'Crimson Viper'. Whatever urge had them here to occupy Southtown and move in on Geese Howard's turf, it's become clear that soon this little siege is going to be over. SIN's role in this little affair has mostly been support, anyway; Vega's motives are his own, but Seth sees no harm in conducting a few little experiments here and there. Inject a prototype drug into some teenagers, set them loose... test the limits of Vega's patience... funny how doing all these jobs seems to fall on one woman's shoulders, too.
The truck with the gunmental-grey cab and the black cargo box with the SIN eye-shaped logo is waiting in Kyo's path, once he finally wrests himself free of his good deeds. After all, no sense involving innocent people, right? Somebody might get hurt. But even before he turns away, it's visible in the distance. A tall, tan woman with fiery red hair lounging against the cab, watching him. If he turns and look, she even waves. Apparently she doesn't really mind if she gets his attention or not. What's REALLY interesting, however, is the stuff that's going on behind her: suited MiBs, complete with mirror shades, are currently hauling something out of the back of the truck.
What they are hauling is, in fact, a metal platform on wheels with four big, metal hooks on it... the kind that circuses use to trot out really dangerous animals. Attached to all four hooks are chains... and attached to all four chains is Leona. How she got there is anyone's guess... or rather, anyone but Viper, who -- underneath her facade of perfect calm and mostly body-covering black suit -- has the bruises and scars that explain just how much trouble getting Leona in that position was.
Finally, once the Ikari Warrior is in place, one of the MiBs nods to Viper, who produces a cell phone and speaks into it with one hand... while the other pulls a syringe with a blood-red liquid inside it. The phone is cradled by her shoulder as SIN's rising star upcaps the syringe and squirts it into the air. "It's me. We're starting the operation. Prep the evac routes in case this goes bad... we're dealing with some unknown quantities here."
She hangs up, and then turns to Leona, holding the hypo and smiling with blithe sangfroid. "I'd say this won't hurt a bit, but I really don't like lying."
Leona Heidern really does look a mess.
The kidnapping from protective custody set in place by the Ikari Warriors cost SIN a heavy toll in manpower and sheer beatings from a young woman who should've been laid up in bed even after having a lengthy amount of time to recuperate from a gunshot wound. She should've been weaker and harder to take down.
Of course, "should have" and "reality" are two entirely different concepts.
Shackled with her arms bound to the elbows behind her back and no one chain leading to her body long enough to let her lash out with any limb to strike, the adopted daughter of Heidern sports bloody hospital scrubs, kneeling and barefoot with a few rips and tears. Dried blood is smeared at the left side of her nose and mouth, and the bruises visible on her arms with the short-sleeved garment suggest taking a good, heavy deal of damage.
Her blue eyes regard the red vial with an air of defiance, the unknown hypo and it's contents seeming more menacing than any knife that they could be wielding. As the Viper draws closer, the Ikari pulls and thrashes against the chains, letting out angry grunts and trying to break free of her restraints with nothing short of brute force.
"I swear to god," she growls through a veil of deep blue bangs, "I am going to kill you."
Yes, another job well done by Kyo Kusanagi, Hero of Southtown.
Muttering to himself about what sounds vaguely like shipping children off to the Moon, the Kusanagi heir turns and starts to walk away, wondering if maybe it wouldn't have been better to stay at home since people always seem to expect him to keep saving things and rescuing their loved ones, with nary a care for what he might rather be doing with his time. Speaking of people who have no care whatsoever for Kyo's preferred schedule, a short walk brings to Kyo's attention the presence of a) Crimson Viper, or perhaps more accurately Crimson Viper's breasts, and a few moments thereafter b) the cargo truck she's leaning agains that's in his way.
A moment later, his attention returns to a). He's a charmer, this one.
Finally, though, Kyo deigns to become aware that there's something sinister afoot, as those guys in black suits start to pull something out of the truck, which Kyo honestly guesses is probably a velociraptor. Only it turns out to be something way, way worse: An Ikari Warrior. That, in fact, makes Kyo's eyes widen, and an awed whistle of surprise passes his lips. "Oh wow, you shouldn't have done that," the World Warrior says, looking towards Viper and her... Needle? What the fudge are these crazypantses up to now? "Seriously, once Colonel Klink finds out you kidnapped his daughter here, you're gonna be in so much shit." Kyo pauses, lowering his voice for dramatic effect. "He has certain... Skills."
So one wonders: Does Kyo Kusanagi take /anything/ seriously?
First death threats, then Hogan's Heroes refs... we're swimming along fantastically, Viper thinks to herself, as she turns from weathering the storm of Leona's understandable anger to dealing with the presence of Test Subject #2 for the evening. True to her own style of cold, bemused arrogance, Viper starts talking to Kyo before she even turns around. In fact, she's fiddling with the syringe, tapping her finger against it. "Is that right? And here we had him down in our dossier as 'Cold War remnant with a pirate fetish'," Viper adds, finally turning around to face Kyo with a faint grin. "I believe one of the lab techs compared him to Naked Snake, whoever the hell that is. Pleasure to meet you, Kyo Kusanagi."
Her orders? Inject this little red drug into Leona and set her free on the World Warrior tourney winner. Seems simple enough, doesn't it? And it's not as if Leona was picked at random; S.I.N's intel involved some quite choice footage of a fight between Ms. Heidern and a certain moustached man (no, not Dr. Mario) that suggested Seth's pet project -- something called "BLECE" -- might have... intriguing results given to the Ikari fighter. Viper herself has decided to follow this through because it suits her mission objectives: find out WTF this 'BLECE' is. The results on the three Southtown 'kids' (if that weirdo with the red hair can be called a 'kid') were inconclusive; two dropped off the map and one is a foaming-mouth maniac.
"Anyhow, he's more than welcome to have her back once we're done here. I just need to borrow her for a tiny bit." The double agent steels herself. This could go REALLY wrong. Kyo Kusanagi is certainly among the best of the best and while he's not exactly Cecil-after-Paladin-class-change goody two shoes, he generally comes down on the side of Basically Okay. The Ikaris have their own definitions of 'good' but they're pretty just. In the process of keeping her cover, the red-headed double agent just might be dealing a serious blow to both. How much is finding out the secret of BLECE worth to her, at this point?
With snakebite speed, pardon the pun, the syringe is plunged into Leona's arm and the dose of the prototype BLECE injected into her arm in one fell swoop. Apparently: that much.
She doesn't bother with the chains. Something tells her they're about to become a moot point.
Turning to Kyo, Viper brings up her hands and snaps the wrists on both of her black gloves, the silver taser leads shining in the light as she does so. Flickers of blue-white electricity spark across her knuckles as she smiles too coldly and too smarmily at Kyo. "If you could be brutally honest with the pain and suffering you're about to feel, that would be fantastic. This is in the interest of science and it's for posterity, so please... be honest."
She pulls, struggles more. It's to no avail; even with the raw power inherit in Leona's body and the training brought forth by the Ikari Warriors, the blue-haired girl isn't going to be going anywhere anytime soon. Things are made a little worse when Kyo Kusanagi arrives, not striking out to aid her; more stand back and make the jokes he's famous for. But then... trying to attack at a time like this would probably be bad for them all.
"Kusanagi--"
It's all that she can get out before the hypo strikes her arm with a distinct CLAK and a long, painful ten seconds of drug being poured into her system. Leona cries out, body slumping a bit as she tries to writhe away. Going nowhere fast, the drug starts a speedy course through her body.
It's happening again.
Her eyes widen in horror as the latent, deep-running taint in her blood is virtually dropkicked in the face, chemically awakened with a burning, furious vigor. For a moment, desperate, her gaze turns to Kyo as if pleading for his help-- but not for long. She straightens; her body wracks with spasms as her back arches up, eyes wide. Gasping for air that just won't go down her throat, Leona Heidern snaps forward and coughs out a massive gout of blood. With excess running at the corners of her mouth, her eyes are masked by a thick curtain of blue-- that slowly washes out to crimson red.
The chains start to groan and bend, links starting to pull apart while the mouth open so wide slowly shrinks and bends into an insane, blood-stained smile. Her arms pull against the restraints, all of it snapping apart and ripping. One loud, piercing, and absolutely -predatory- howl escapes her throat before cuffs, shackles, and restraints rip and snap apart with loud, ringing noise.
Her blood is burning. Before, she looked at Kyo Kusanagi as if she were pleading for help. Now, with milky-white eyes that lack any definition, she looks at the scion as though he were food.
She springs immediately, wasting no time. Noticably faster, the berserk Ikari Warrior springs at Kyo, reaching out to snag him by the face and pull him closer. Her breath stinks of blood, and she even seems to be giggling at nothing at all. Her right hand goes rigid before thrusting forward, attempting to knife-hand him in the throat with absolutely no regard-- and -noticably- harder than what she's thrown in the past!
COMBATSYS: Leona has started a fight here on the right meter side.
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|-------\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: Kyo has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Leona
God, things are a mess in this city, aren't they? BLECE-junkies shooting up in every alleyway and curbside, kidnappings, dirty dealings, lost KITTENS?! What's this world coming to?
Is it any wonder that D!'s a mess of conflicted emotions as he scours across the city? As if running into the now psychotic Ichiro wasn't bad enough. At least in that case, he was actively looking for the guy as a favor to Roberto. This time...well....he honestly just is in the wrong place at the right time.
Trying to get around the city for more clues about the whereabouts of a certain Mr. Battler, it's little wonder that he's been finding his nose in places where they don't belong, and even moreso that he ends up stumbling upon a project of a certain redhaired agent. "The he..." THe boxer mutters, having spotted the suspicious event down the street. He has no idea what's going on, but something about it feels off...and when he gets closer, he recognizes the one known as Crimson Viper. "Hell's going on here?" he says, loud enough to be heard. Not a lesson learned with this one it seems.
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Leona's Leona Crush.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Leona
"Uh," says Kyo, his trademark smart mouth failing him for a moment after Viper injects Leona with... Something. It's not Glow, or it sure doesn't look like it anyway, but it seems like it's going to have some negative effects on Leona as she's turned into a test subject. There's a sense of something in the air, something Kyo can't quite put his finger on, but he knows it's Bad. This is confirmed when Leona, to put it bluntly, goes assballs nuts and her hair turns red, and holy schnikies she breaks right out of those chains holding her. Naturally, the berserk Ikari goes right for him.
Naturally.
Leona's knife hand slams into Kyo's regular hand, the World Warrior champion having to strain a little bit as he catches the strike, but his attention remains directly on Leona's face. That is /messed up/. "So, this is the part where I realise she's not herself, and I'm supposed to plead with her to return to her senses, right?" Kyo wonders, his question directed at Crimson Viper. "Hoping against hope that my words will reach her real self, deep inside..."
Kyo lets out a quiet pfft of a laugh.
"Yeah, save that crap for Asamiya. Sorry li'l Heidern, it's way past your naptime." That said, Kyo suddenly lunges at Leona with his free hand, flames trailing behind his fist as he aims to sock her one right in the face, more fire erupting at the point of impact; if that first hit lands, Kyo follows Leona as momentum takes her away, swinging his other hand in a second fiery punch, before he twists around and straight up mule kicks her in the jaw. "No matter what drugs you pump into her, it won't make her suck any less!"
Interesting. Very interesting. Viper certainly has the 'detached observer' schtick going down pat, as despite the gruesome terror of Leona's sudden eruption into something less human than beast, in Maya's estimation, she observes it all with placid calm. Ichiro Oe... he was a bit like this too. The BLECE was clearly consuming him from the inside out, even as it amped his powers and drove him into a berserker rage. But behind her glacial calm, there's some concern. The blood thing is not 100% out of expected ranges of response but it's freakin' WEIRD, especially how much of it there is. Never mind that the redhead was tensed for Leona to go flying right at *her*, considering the previous threat. Sure, she was pointed at Kusanagi, and there IS a slight... mind-control component to the BLECE. But... slight.
In short: there is an unknown element to this equation and it's starting to gnaw at the back of Viper's mind.
Still, she finds it in herself to trade one-liners with Kusanagi. "Er, sorry, you seem to have this confused for Extreme Home Makeover or Oprah, maybe?" the redhead asks, dripping feigned confusion. "Frankly, you two can cut each other to ribbons with your bare nails for all I care." She seems to be about to add more to this discussion when, of all things, she hears the voice of Heavy D! in the background, and an eyebrow goes up.
"Well... an unexpected guest loser. How fun!" Her stance tightens up; if her read on D! the last time they met is any guess, he's going to butt in, and she's going to have to knock his freakin' block off. "Fantastic. I can always use an excuse to claim overtime pay." She doesn't make a move... she just watches the battlefield very, very closely for now.
COMBATSYS: C.Viper has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 C.Viper
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|=------\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: C.Viper focuses on her next action.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 C.Viper
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: Leona blocks Kyo's Aragami.
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 C.Viper
> ///////////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Leona
Perhaps BLECE does have a "mind control" component. Perhaps there really is a state of control there, one that keeps her focused and dominated, one that's keeping her aimed toward Kyo Kusanagi.
But this assumes Leona Heidern still has a mind, period.
Her attacks are more direct, primal. While the motions seem to be the same, the savagery is unquestionable-- right down to the response to her own attack being stopped at his hands. Her right arm whips back to guard her face, Kyo's flaming fist striking bare, bruised skin and cushioning the blow. Her left arm crosses her chest, soaking up the damage of the kick.
Regardless, Leona almost hops a little bit from the strength behind Kyo's kick, a new welt immediately forming on her arm. Her bare feet pad on the asphalt while her stance drops impossibly low. Immediately thrusting forward, she runs on the balls of her feet to close that point-blank gap between them in a fraction of a second.
Her right arm comes around in a cleaving strike at his legs. Immediately afterward, Leona seems to just give the single-finger salute to physics, her body bending backward and legs whipping up in a crescent kick at the Kusanagi scion's chest. There's an oddly noticable chi attached to this, however-- not elemental, but "cutting."
Lets list off what's going on here first off. We have....
1) Leona, a fighter Heavy D! has fought a couple of times before for Saturday Night Fights, her behavior way off the radar of normal, and crossing into a feral psychotic brak instead. Even with their familiarity, D!'s able to recognize that much.
2) Kyo Kusanagi, whom the feral Leona has apparently been sicced on. A capable man, to be sure, and thus, normally this wouldn't be a problem...aside from that whole savage break thing. And....
3) One Crimson Viper, who, judging from the van, the syringe, and his past run-in with her before, can be assumed to be involved, if not behind this wall.
All that adds up to serious trouble for D!, the boxer, frowning as he hears her voice and seems her gaze drift toward him in an unfortunate manner. Narrowing his eyes, the hoodied boxer doesn't even bother puling back the hood of his sweatshirt. However, he knows to be wary from his past involvement with the strange woman, holding back himself and bringing his fists to bear even as he does his best to gauge the environment, lest he rush into another savage beating.
COMBATSYS: HeavyD has joined the fight here.
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HeavyD 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: HeavyD focuses on his next action.
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HeavyD 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: Kyo counters Grand Sabre from Leona with Nue Tsumi.
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HeavyD 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Leona
Seriously? Kyo gets into a situation like this and his backup is... /Heavy D!/? For a moment, Kyo's attention follows Viper's, in the aftermath of Leona blocking his attacks; of course, he can't spare the boxer more than a moment, because he's got a crazed woman trying to rend him limb from limb. This is less weird for him than it probably should be.
"Watch out, Dr. McBoobs," Kyo offers towards Crimson Viper. "If you give /me/ an opening paying attention to someone else, who knows /what/ might happen?" Kyo might be blustering even more than usual here; he does have to deal with Leona first, after all. But don't think for a second that he's going to just let Viper and her buddies walk away after this, oh no. Not with his newfound sense of civic responsibility.
Plus he gets cranky when people try to use him as a science experiment. Just ask NESTS.
Leona's amazingly low run is remarked, but Kyo doesn't have time to say anything. Instead he has to worry about that slash aimed at his legs; best to just nip this in the bud. So there's no fancy moves, no amazing footwork. Kyo just throws his upper body all the way forward, leaving just one foot on the ground as his fist arcs down and smashes into the back of Leona's head with an explosion of Kusanagi flames, driving her facefirst into the pavement and stopping her attack cold before it even really has the chance to get anywhere. "Just /say down/, already. This is sadder than when your old man tries to figure out how to use a computer." Ha ha! Old people are bad with technology.
"Things. Things are going on," the redheaded double agent says to D!, inclining her head. Well, he didn't rush in and try to clock someone in the face. Generally speaking, this is a good thing so far. Perhaps he can be persuaded to see the light? "I contractually obligated to remind you that you're out of your league and in some real danger but like all do-gooding whackjobs you've probably got that suicidal urge to 'help out'," she directs at the boxer, adding finger quotes as appropriate. "So frankly do whatever the hell you want, just don't come crying to me later when you're missing a limb."
At the same time, however, Kusanagi's bluster amuses her... but his fighting skill troubles her. If this fight's over in fifteen seconds because BLECE : Leona :: salt : slug, then this is a serious problem. "I don't think a girl's given you an opening in a long time, sweetheart," she says to Kyo with a faint smile, dropping into a sort of crouch. Blue-white sparks play along her gloves for a second as she gets ready to intervene. "I mean, here I am, giving you a pretty girl to play with, and what do you do? You punch her in the back of the head. No way to treat a blood-spewing berserker lady, I'll tell you that." She inches closer, glancing at D! for a fraction of a second before turning back to Kyo. "Sadly it doesn't suit my purposes that this is over quick, so I'm stepping in."
And by 'stepping in' she means firing the jets in the heels of her battlesuit's boots, with twin puffs of white steam, and performs her very best Rock Howard impression, looking to connect taserfist with jerkface.
There is no backup for anyone, in the eyes of Leona Heidern right now. No, there's only ... blurs, shapes of people that need to be dealt with. Hissing is heard between her teeth when she comes in, and Kyo's fist slams down right on the back of her head. Her face hits the pavement with a sticky, wet splatter and a crunch of cartelidge, the flames causing her body to jerk.
It's that-- that flame. That -fire-.
Slowly lifting up her face from the ground at the Kusanagi's feet, she looks up at him with a face smeared with blood and eyes widened. Her smile is a huge leer, making the sight all the more horrifying and disgusting to behold. From that position, she pushes off with both arms and both legs, throwing herself into the air.
Leona twists, arms drawn in and facing Kyo. All four limbs splay backwards as she lets out one short, gutteral scream-- and letting out a vaguely-formed sphere of chi surrounded by cutting blades, the whole projectile trying to tear clear through the flame-slinger's chest and deal a whole other world of damage!
A stern reminder of what Viper has against heroics before the woman's attention switches away from D!. Somehow, he's not sure how he should take that...but he realizes that even a man of Kusanagi's caliber will be hard pressed with two opponents of the kind of level he knows each of those women to be...and with Leona's state, it's likely she's even more formidable than before.
It takes D! a few moments to gather himself and see the situation, watching both attacks that come toward the Kusanagi scion. And despite knowing first hand hwo powerful Viper is....his worries seem mostly with the crazed military woman, if only for the total unknown factor and how unhinged she seems to have become. With that decided, feet shift, the Metro native coming in sharp and low toward the group, waiting until the cutting sphere is away enough to try and grab Leona by her collar and pull her into a sharp, gut-battering combo of body blows, and a final toss backwards and to his side with a yank. Of course...that's whether or not he can actually grab her in the first place in this state...
COMBATSYS: C.Viper successfully hits Kyo with Thunder Knuckle.
-*- DEVASTATING HIT! -*-
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HeavyD 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: Leona successfully hits Kyo with Baltic Launcher.
- Power hit! -
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HeavyD 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Leona
...What the hell, does she have rocket boots?
Distracted by that, Kyo is put into a bad situation; Crimson Viper rockets - literally - towards him while Leona, who should've been put down pretty hard by that little hit of his, gets her ass back up and smiles creepily at him before she... Throws something at him from the sky. Twisting, Kyo tries to deal with both at once, getting an arm in the way of Viper's rocket punch while also intending to use this movement to avoid Leona's ball of chi pain. The thing is... In trying to get both, he ends up getting neither.
Viper's punch smashes through Kyo's guard and catches him right in the side of the head, which one supposes is better than the face, rocking his head to one side and leaving him stunned long enough for Leona's tainted chi to tear through him, drawing a cry from the Kusanagi heir's lips and sending him flying back, a ringing in one ear providing a persistent distraction now.
Kyo... Pushes himself up, settling his weight back on both feet before he looks up at Leona, and then at Viper, since it seems like Heavy D! wants to play with the former. "See, now you went and pissed me off," he notes, holding up his right hand, flames dancing in his palm. The flame grows brighter, more intense, painful to look at directly, as Kyo calls upon the power of his ancestors, of centuries of Kusanagi forebears. And as his power builds, so too does the pressure around him, directed at the two women. "Lady, I'm gonna rearrange your face so bad, you'll have to go back to Mad Scientist college and get them to replace it with a Mr. Potato Head."
COMBATSYS: Kyo gathers his will.
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HeavyD 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1 Leona
Well, that was pleasant! The way that her tasergloved hand impacts to the side of Kyo's head is entirely satisfying to Viper. The way that she has to suddenly reverse course so she's not in the way of Leona's attack -- an attack with a ferocity that momentarily cracks even Viper's facade of perfect cool, though only for a nanosecond -- is not so much on the satisfaction scale. Her sudden leap backwards sadly lets D! plow right by her, which makes the tan woman's dark red eyebrows furrow in a moment of brief annoyance. Leona can't be in good shape, not after a pair of really punishing-looking blows from someone of Kyo's stature. Adding even more injury is going to bring this experiment to a close too soon.
Of course, part of Viper's plan is that these two will take down the seemingly demonic Ikari warrior and, if not get her help, then at least keep her out of SIN's clutches. Easy enough to say to Seth that 'it was too close, keeping opsec meant leaving her behind'... but it's got to be convincing to everyone.
"I'll believe it when I see it, shortpants," she tosses off to Kyo... but her ire falls on D!. Ducking toward him as he attacks Leona, the SIN agent quite simply says: "Back off my test subject, kid," before looking to grab him by the arm and, pivoting on one foot with the grip if she can keep it, chucking him into the distance. Maybe at the side of the truck, for an extra-dramatic slam!
COMBATSYS: HeavyD successfully hits Leona with Reverse Stomach Buster.
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HeavyD 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/-----==/=======|=======\===----\1 Leona
It hits. It hits better than Leona would've even thought possible, if the processes exsisted in her mind at a time like this. She doesn't get to revel much in her "victory," however, not while Heavy D! decides to make his foray into the battle. All at once, she's snagged out of the air by the scruff of her hospital scrubs, pulled about and hammered in the stomach repeatedly with powerful, strong hits that force her to virtually double over the man's fist before being cast off to the side.
Tumbling a few times while she hits the ground, Leona becomes a tangle of mint-colored clothing and bright crimson red hair. Her arms and legs feel the brunt of it, the knees of the scrubs worn and torn out, marked with scrapes. She flips herself over into landing on all fours before her head bucks back a little bit, throat slightly bulging before she lets out another set of deep, racking coughs that project more blood on the ground.
Looking back up at them-- ALL of them-- her wide, white eyes remain. Another crazed, bloody-toothed smile returns.
From that position, it seems like she's going to try it all over again. She charges, body impossibly low as blood continues to seep out of her mouth and body virtually parallel to the ground. It rips skin on her feet and she threatens to fall over in that precarious balance at a moment's notice, but Leona Heidern doesn't seem to care.
Her arm whips forward again, aiming to carve a gash with that odd cutting chi, right across the young Kusanagi man's gut before throwing herself into another broad kick, legs flipping upward not just to cut and strike-- but to launch him into the air...
COMBATSYS: Kyo auto-guards Leona's Dead End Inferno!
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HeavyD 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: HeavyD interrupts Medium Throw from C.Viper with Rolling Soul Driver.
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HeavyD 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Leona
Well...he supposes that really couldn't finish Leona off completely. It would've been unrealistic to expect that especially in her state...but D! at least managed to split the odds again and keep things from overwhelming the Kusanagi scion with that barrage.
Unfortunately for him, he's got other issues than Leona, as the Viper closes in after her earlier focus on Kyo. And...kid? He has a feeling he might be older than Viper, but that's not a matter at the moment. What IS a matter is the sudden grab she lances out, trying to yank him by the arm and chuck him away. Not happening, not this time. D! goes with the pull...but as he comes in, his free arm surges outward, a storm of chi surrounding it as he punches out toward the red haired agent's chest to punish her for the grab and hopefully send her flying off instead. "HRRAAAHHH!!"
Well, Kyo's pretty sure Heavy D! can handle himself, he's got an exclamation mark in his name and everything.
Kyo has other pressing concerns when D! and C. get busy, since Leona is coming right for him in what is surely a very bad thing for Kyo's future plans of possessing a non-eaten liver. That power continues to build around Kyo, and he has to concentrate on it or risk losing it... Which limits his options pretty handily, here. No, his only real chance is to keep Leona from getting a good head of steam and tearing out his precious inner bits. So, when Leona swipes at him that first time, Kyo does exactly the logical thing.
He sweeps his own hand back across to meet hers, fiery Kusanagi power versus cutting chi, and the two simply... Cancel each other out entirely in a brief but spectacular clash of forces.
"Jeez, crazy or not, you need a /lot/ of practice, l'il Heidern," Kyo notes with a rueful tone, giving his head a shake. And then he lunges at Leona, elbow-first in a stunning strike; if that hits, he follows through with the motion, using his other hand to catch her by the neck and lift her off the ground in a single smooth move, before... "/Burn/!" Kyo commands, a violent explosion of Kusanagi flames bursting from his hand to envelop Leona entirely and send her flying!
Oh dear. There's a grimace from the redhead as she realizes that her grip on D! isn't terribly secure, but this at least gives her a second to brace herself before impact, which turns what might have been a blow that knocks her across the dusty road into something that sends her skidding back across it to land in a crouch, a cloud of dirt rising up around her. A hand gingerly pokes at her side... that stung a little bit, but she's already faced down D! once and the SIN agent feels like she's got a handle on how this is going to go. It's Kyo and Leona that are the unknown quantities, and sadly that's where her attention has to go...
Just in time to see Kyo shrug off what looked like an assault from Leona that would have torn a lesser man to shreds. Hmmm.
Again, she comes back to her earlier experiences with BLECE, fighting Hotaru and Ichiro. It doesn't seem to do a lot for people's accuracy, does it? Instead there's just that overwhelming power, and the urge to use it to snap somebody's neck. Then there's the... whatever it is that's REALLY boiling in Leona, which Viper is convinced is not just the drug but which she has neither context nor information to even guess at.
And then there's all that *fire*.
But she's got to keep things moving if she wants D! off Leona long enough for the Kusanagi/Ikari drama to play out. She all but dashes straight at the boxer, looking to snap out a hand for his throat with one electrified taser-y glove. If she can get that grip, the SIN agent lifts D! up with surprising strength, before letting go and delivering a brutal spin kick as he falls, her other arm dropped to the side for balance.
COMBATSYS: Leona blocks Kyo's Koto Moon Positive.
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HeavyD 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0 Leona
Her hands strike nothing. The cutting chi, negated. Leona looks utterly confused by this entire situation, stopping short in the throes of her attack; much like a wild animal that may only now realize that she's engaging a prey that might just be more powerful than she is. The wild Heidern doesn't recieve a whole lot of time to catch her breath, however.
Kyo steps forward and drives his elbow into her stomach as she attempts to shift her footing. His hand snags her by the throat, and the Kusanagi's flames are right and ready to blast the Orochi-blooded girl right in the face with the searing fire. Instead, Leona's hands clamp down around his wrist and PULL, jerking his hand and her throat away from each other all at once.
Landing in a crouch, she drops low-- lower-- and lower still, remaining on her feet yet nearly dropped down into a split, a hand touching the ground for balance at either side of her body, along her legs. One more racking cough brings up more blood-- vastly more than she should've been able to expel since the outset of this fight. Then, she retaliates again, letting it all flow in one smooth movement.
Rising in the blink of an eye and a scrape of her bare feet on the street, Leona's arms whip around in a circular cutting motion, attempting to deeply slash Kyo from shoulder to hip!
COMBATSYS: HeavyD blocks C.Viper's Combo Grapple.
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HeavyD 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Leona
This is playing out remarkably similar...but Viper's not the only one to take something away from the fight. When she lances out that hand to grab D! by the throat, she manages to lift him up with the eletrificed grasp, but not long enough before he's able to wrench himself free of it, pulling away before he gets that kick to the side to send him off.
Still, the grasp is enough to really make his throat hurt. And with distractions abound, he's not sure who he should be focusing on. Still...Kyo seems to have Leona in hand enough...that he pours in after Viper again, sending out sharp shots aimed for her body with each hand. He drives at it...before he switches up, aiming a straight to hopefully provoke her guard upward before finishing with a deep shot to her liver.
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Leona's Moon Slasher.
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HeavyD 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0 Leona
"Sweet Christmas," Kyo says, perhaps ironically. "You're pretty serious about this, aren't you?" Leona manages to power out of his attack through main strength, which is no mean feat, and then she starts acting crazy again. Kyo takes a wary step backwards as Leona crouches low like that and coughs up blood, the latter part getting a distinct 'oh, ew' look from the terminally arrogant Kusanagi heir. "That," Kyo says, heedless of the fact that Leona is coming at him again, and surely about to do something both crazy and painful to his person, "is disgusting. /Almost/ as disgusting," he adds, catching Leona's slashing hand again so that only some of her chi leaks through, drawing some blood from his hand, "as your crap-ass fighting skills."
Pushing back on Leona's hand, Kyo opens up the distance between the two of them again... But /as/ he moves back, Kyo twists and whips one hand out, launching a seed of flame towards the street. The seed blossoms, forming a ground-crawling flower of orange-crimson Kusanagi fire, tearing towards the berserker Leona. "Hey, Fatty D! or whatever!" Kyo calls out towards his, uh, 'partner'. "You done kicking that stripper's ass yet, or what?"
What? Come on, just /look/ at her!
COMBATSYS: C.Viper blocks HeavyD's Rapid Combo.
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HeavyD 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0 Leona
You've got to hand it to Viper: she makes this look easy. Her aggressive combination moves seamlessly into a defensive maneuver, the taserfists trailing blue-white as the SIN agent brings her hands up and, in a series of quick movements, interposes them between D!'s flurry of quick punches and her, well, face. Charged with electrostatic energy, the gloves are surprisingly good barriers for damage, though simple physics says that the blows leave their mark anyway... you can't just negate that sort of thing, shiny lights or not. Still, it's a lot better than getting flat-out punched in the face. "Boy, even the guy with the bad attitude you're helping thinks you're a loser," Viper says with a smile, as she weaves around not only the feint, but the liver blow that follows it. "That's got to be good for the old self-esteem, hmm?"
Jumping back a step, Maya takes a second to evaluate the scenario. Kyo and Leona have all but torn each other to shreds, but something about the BLECE test subject's obsessive focus with Kusanagi is making her wonder. Why not attack D!, or herself for that matter? Of course, there's plenty of reasons why that could be... Kyo's done most of the damage to her, and there is the whole idea that the BLECE should keep subjects from attacking SIN personnel. But, if she REALLY wants to see how this is going to go down...
"I make more in an hour than a stripper does in a year," Viper says with a smirk, turning her focus to Kyo. The boxer is going to have to wait it out. Science demands it. "But if you want to try and stick some hundreds in my waistband, be my guest." With that, she lunges forward, looking to snag Kyo's collar with one hand. Not necessarily to toss him, but rather just to keep him still... long enough for her fist to come up and, enhanced with the battlesuit technology's kinetic-generating force, slam it into his abdomen from below in a really, really forceful gutpunch.
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Leona with Yami Barai.
> Determined Hit! <
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HeavyD 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/--=====/=======|======-\-------\0 Leona
The taunts, cuts, jibes, and ribbing from the likes of Kyo Kusanagi are lost on Leona Heidern right now. There's no recognition or anger. The question is, would it bother her if she still had control of her mental faculties?
It's hard to say.
Agile as she is, Leona attempts to shift her footing after her strike, to get into a more advantageous position to try to jump up and rip the Kusanagi scion's head right off. Only... she never gets the chance. For a moment, it looks like the wild blood-red redhead is going to outright dodge the attack-- but there's just something to it. Like a hand guided from beyond, the purifying flames flare up and consume her in one massive burst.
Almost as though the attack had a greater effect than even Kyo could predict, Leona drops to her knees, coughing and gasping for air. She pitches forward onto her hands and knees, breathing so heavily and hard that it seems like her ribs are expanding, looking up at the Kusanagi through her jagged bangs.
COMBATSYS: Leona takes no action.
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HeavyD 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: Leona has reached second wind!
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HeavyD 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\0 Leona
... and then she starts to stand back up.
Yeah....D!'s gotten used to having his name butchered or not even recognized. He's had to live with that while assholes like M. Bison manage the fame and fortune and respect. But....no, D!'s not bitter. He's not about to let that get to him, honestly. Even if Kyo has officially dropped on his respect list about a hundred places.
In any case, he finds C. Viper breaking away, moving to bring her focus back onto Kyo again. Narrowing his eyes, fists still tingling from the blocked shots on those eletrostatic gloves, he moves in to follow. He's not about to let this go like this again. ANd...well, he's got to make sure someone who doesn't know how to show any damn gratittude doesn't get beaten up further for underestimating things again. "You're not going anywhere right now!" he shouts, hoping to intercept Viper with a good, ol fashioned lunging left to the jaw.
COMBATSYS: Kyo interrupts Ab Fitness from C.Viper with Orochinagi+.
-* LEGENDARY HIT! *-
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HeavyD 0/-------/---====|=======\======-\1 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Leona
Two unfortunate things, at least from Kyo's perspective, happen in quick succession: First, Leona fails to stay down like she should, the crazed Ikari Warrior instead starting to get back up like this is some bad monster movie and she still has to be finished off by the plucky, young, handsome hero. Secondly, Crimson Viper comes at him again.
This draws Kyo's attention away from Leona, his eyes and head swiveling to see Viper bearing down on him, which has previously proven to be less than ideal. Don't worry though, because this time, Kyo Kusanagi has a plan, his mout pulling into an arrogant, even eager smirk as the SIN agent gets closer to him, and his right hand comes up, bursting into flames...
"Bad idea," Kyo chides amicably, completing his twist and throwing his right arm in a sweeping arc; as he does so, he unleashes the Ever Burning Flames of the Kusanagi, forming a crescent wave of burning hell that impacts with Viper as the tips of her fingers brush Kyo's collar... The overwhelming force of the flames blasting her away before she can manage to get an actual grip on him, the legendary technique handed down through centuries of Kusanagi Clan members seeking to destroy her outright.
"See, there's a difference between you and me," Kyo explains to Viper. "Between me an' l'il Heidern," he adds, jerking his thumb towards Leona, "no matter what crazy space steroids you pump into her. Come back in a thousand years, maybe you'll be able to do something worthwhile then." Kyo, helpfully, gives Viper a thumbs down as he tells her this.
COMBATSYS: C.Viper interrupts Straight Punch from HeavyD with Burst Time.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Leona
There's a lot of variables here. For starters, previous BLECEbots tended to stay the hell down when beat to an inch of their life. Leona Heidern got right back up again and looks as crazy as ever. That isn't exactly working in Viper's failure, because that sudden development pulls her attention away and gives Kyo part of the opening he needs. The other is the sense, on her periphery, that Heavy D! has decided to get in her way a second time. Her attention is split, and with a fighter of Kyo's caliber, you just can't afford to do that. He's going to sense the opening and he's going to take advantage of it any way he can.
And boy, does he.
Those flames hurt like a bitch, that's for sure; Viper's not exactly one of the world's heavyweights either, so the sudden burst of flame -- which, interestingly enough, doesn't even CHAR that pseudo-tux suit she's wearing -- sends her flying backwards, conveniently in D!'s direction, too. That stung... more than she was prepared for. Suddenly, her evaluation of the BLECE is changing, too. Leona was tough but surviving multiple bursts of that fire has got to be something awfully difficult to do. AND she got back up.
As she turns toward the approaching boxer, Viper's decided this little scenario's played itself out.
Just because she gave Kyo an opening doesn't mean the SIN agent wasn't prepared for this eventuality. Her battlesuit gloves flare with two things: blue-white electricity, and a hazy aura like heat shimmer, the taser and kinetic generators on full blast. D!'s punch sails in, but it slams, thanks to a last-second evasion, into Viper's shoulder rather than her stomach. With an impassive face, the redhead says to D!, simply: "Back... off."
Slamming her fist into the ground, she subjects the American to a point-blank burst of kinetic and electric force that rockets him skyward, a massive impact crater and dust cloud resulting. But that's not the end of it; leaping upward, Viper makes four perfect circular kicks, climbing ever higher... and from the jets in her heels comes continuous gout of real fire, making 4 rings of flame as each kick impacts the juggled D! before Viper lands back on the ground in a crouch.
Standing, she brushes herself off and reaches into her jacket, producing a cell phone. She's hurting, and it's time to leave... but she's going to look picture perfectly nonchalant right until that moment. "How many episodes of 'Kung Fu' did you watch before you stumbled on that insult, Kusanagi?" she asks while dialing, before speaking into the phone. "It's me. We're done here. Send the extraction team." A pause. "No, we're not taking her. I've got all the data we need."
It takes a moment. She pulls, grunts, and strains with burns on her skin and blood-stained clothes; whether or not it came from her own wounds or from her own mouth, it's hard to say. One pantleg of her hospital scrubs is virtually burnt away, the other in tatters, much like the remainder of her shirt. She's breathing hard.
She's still up.
Leona arches her back, letting out one more ear-splitting scream that would reach the moon itself if her voice had the range. Her hands become rigid, more like claws, and she seems to move with uneven, careful steps-- as though she were trying to maintain any semblance of that balance she's shown to use throughout this fight.
Stepping in, even while Kyo unleashes his great attack upon Crimson Viper, Leona won't give either of them long to banter afterward-- instead releasing two harsh overhead strikes with her right arm, as though she were trying to hammer-blow punch him across the jaw. She switches it up here and there; rapid, hooking punches aimed at his stomach, wild, extreme blows to the face, and ending it all with an attempted backhand to send the Kusanagi staggering!
Well...that didn't quite go so well.
Who knows what happened in the crossing of wires there, but while Viper ends up getting quite toasted thanks to the legendary Orochinagi from Kyo (even if her suit somehow doesn't), D! ends up on on the worse end of the exchange between her and Viper instead. His punch coming in, he strikes...but where he was aiming...and for his trouble, he ends up slammed point blank in a blast of shocking concussive force that ends him upwards. The kicks that follow slam him even higher into the air, before he's summarily flung off away from the rest of the group, landing with an ugly thud on the street.
It takes some time before he finally moves, but move he does, groaning as he tries to push himself back up to his feet...only managing to get into a crouch as he glares out with narrowed eyes toward the battle, teeth gritted. He may still be too shell shocked to get up, but that doesn't mean he can't come in with a battle plan once he does...
COMBATSYS: HeavyD focuses on his next action.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: Kyo counters Combo Attack from Leona with Nue Tsumi.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Leona
"Heh, still alive /and/ able to talk? You're tougher than I thought," Kyo notes towards Crimson Viper, with a confident chuckle and a smirk. Luckily, Heavy D! has enough sense to go after the Science Dominatrix, though unluckily Viper has a few more tricks up her sleeve, and she demonstrates them quite ably to poor D!. Kyo even winces sympathetically, a little bit. Don't blink, though, you might miss it! But then Viper is making a phone call, and Leona Heidern has decided she still wants a piece of Kyo Kusanagi.
It's only been heartbeats since Kyo sent Viper flying, but that first overhand strike comes in towards Kyo's head and it...
...Stops when it meets Kyo's gloved palm, as he /once again/ catches Leona's attack and stops it dead. "Yeah, I know, chicks get real persistent around me, it's kind of embarassing," the World Warrior champion declares, tugging Leona off-balance and whirling around to smash his other elbow right into her face, and at the moment of impact he unleashes /another/ blast of his fire, those distinctive flames Kyo slings around with contemptuous ease in the face of all these people who've worked for years to learn to control their chi half as well.
Did she mean what she said on the phone just now? She absolutely did. As far as Viper's concerned, this tells her all she needed to know, both for the report Seth is going to ask for, and the... other reasons she tagged along on this little outing. The summary? The BLECE is too unstable as long as it keeps making berserkers... and Leona Heidern bears further investigating. Clearly, the drug reacts differently depending on the base abilities of the individual in question, and there's got to be something special about her. Doubtless the Ikari Warriors, once they link Leona's predicament to SIN, are going to want to have... words.
It's going to be interesting.
Of course, that loud sound that keeps getting closer and closer is, indeed, an approaching helicopter. It's one of the sleek, black, Airwolf-looking designs that are oh so common in the spy game. Naturally, the side has the eye-shaped, purple and gold logo of SIN itself, and the hold door is open.
The sound and dust cloud from the rotors becomes overpoweringly loud as the thing gets near the ground where Viper's standing, and provided Kyo or D! don't try to blow the thing up, she hops into the open hold door and looks out it at the two do-gooders (one reluctantly so) with a smirk. She's shouting to be heard over the noise, too. "It's been fun, boys, but I really must dash. Feel free to have fun with Miss Heidern... well, look who I'm talking to," she adds, waving. "Having fun with unconscious girls must be your specialty."
And then the copter is up, up, and away.
It happens again. Kyo stops her attack cold, turning his arms into lethal weapons and burning away at her with the crimson flame. Leona lets out a harsh, angry gasp as she actually slides back on the balls of her feet, head drawn back and hands over her face as though to shield them from further exposure to crushing limbs and painful fire.
She stumbles, again, clearly driven beyond all rational thought. Almost losing her balance in the process, the red-haired Ikari's right arm bends a bit, fingers drawing into a tight, knife-handed stance one more time. Her mouth bends into another leer, her eyes remain as wild as ever. She could fall over at any moment.
Leona charges forward with rapid, long strides. The gap between them wasn't massive to begin with, but the alarming speed she moves with makes it all the shorter. Her hand thrusts forward, as though to drive it directly into Kyo Kusanagi's stomach, brimming with that cutting chi-- almost as though her hand were going to try to drive through his torso and come out of his back...
COMBATSYS: Leona has reached third wind!
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: Kyo just-defends Leona's Rebel Spark!
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Leona
Heavy D! barely manages to get up to his feet in time to see C.Viper's rather...dramatic retreat. The sound of the helicopter is unmistakable though, and when he sees Viper taking off in it, ideas are to try and stop it before the thing can take off...but in his state, he has nowhere near the speed he'd need to catch it before it lifts off. Gritting his teeth, D! finds his frustration over being essentially shamed by the mysterious agent again boiling over.
It'd peter out impotently, if not for the sudden resurgence of the still-mad Leona, her rampage still focused on Kyo as she tries to stab straight into his gut with her own hands. Even if Kyo's mostly been handling himself well enough, D! isn't sitting on his duff while something like this is going on. Coming in as fast as his still shook legs can take him, he tries to pull Leona away, oddly enough not going for any sort of punch, bur rather simply trying to yank her away by her arms and shoulders and drop her to the ground in hopes of subduing her.
"I think she's talking to you, bro," Kyo offers towards Heavy D!, at Viper's parting comment.
Meanwhile, the physical gap between Leona and Kyo might not be that enormous... But there's another gap, a less palpable one, which is much more obvious. Again, as Leona attempts to attack Kyo, the Kusanagi heir simply knocks aside the incoming knife-hand, disrupting the berserk Ikari's entire attack. A triumphant feeling surges all through Kyo's body, bolstering him. He knows he can win this. It's a piece of cake.
Ducking low for a second, Kyo twists and suddenly leaps up off the ground and /into/ Leona, whirling with both fists outstretched in a rising, fiery punch that will hopefully if nothing else at least leave the berserker open for D!'s attack. A double helix of Kusanagi flames trails behind Kyo's motion, and if he manages a solid hit, Leona is quite likely set aflame once again by the thunderous, powerful impact. "Tch... Burn!!"
COMBATSYS: Leona parries Kyo's Oniyaki!
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: Leona dodges HeavyD's Medium Throw.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Leona
There's a near-audible crack from her hand as it's taken off-course, the "knifing" action of her hand turned aside faster and harder than the wild young woman could've ever expected. The build-up of momentum ceases. There's notable exhaustion in her body, and even on contact with the Kusanagi, it seems like there's something driving the girl on, beyond the control of any drug.
It's blood versus blood. Perhaps not the Kusanagi's eternal rivals, but that taint in her blood she's never been consciously aware of continues to burn, pumping acid through arteries and veins and causing her to feel nothing but anger, hatred, rage, and pain. Pain can also be a focus.
D!'s arms reach out, but only pass half an inch over crimson hair. That chi begins to build up inside her one more time, driven halfway to give that broad, bloody-mouthed smile. Unfortunately for Kyo, however, it's Leona's turn to be ready. She springs into the air over the initial shoulder-in, catching the Kusanagi scion by the arm and shoving it right back the way it came, killing the momentum dead and leaving her in a much better position.
The buildup of chi comes one more time, at that point-blank range, culminating in another large sphere of cutting energy, passing slowly through the air and attempting to rip a powerful chunk out of the Kusanagi scion again!
Well, that didn't work out so well, it seems. Ignoring Kyo's attempt to deflect Viper's comment away onto the boxer, D! focuses on trying to grab Leona...however, the woman's speed and elusiveness seem to thwart both him AND the Kusanagi scion, her hands moving to knock the Oniyaki away before it even starts, and counter with her own point blank chi sphere.
Thankfully, D! isn't the one it's aimed at...but nonetheless, he has to figure out a way to stop the crimson haired feral woman. And if trying to subdue her with unconventional methods, then it's time for the old fall back: a nice, sharp shot right into the kidney that should hopefully get the wind out of Leona at the very least.
COMBATSYS: Leona successfully hits Kyo with Baltic Launcher EX.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Leona
Finally, it seems, Leona manages to actually land another solid hit on Kyo Kusanagi.
That she manages to stop and deflect his attack, he can deal with, but he's left pretty wide open. That's not good. Trying to compensate, Kyo aims to get his guard up and in the way of Leona's renewed assault, but to no avail; the cutting chi strikes home, digging deep gashes through Kyo's shirt and drawing the sacred blood of the Kusanagi Clan, sneding Kyo sprawling. "Hah... Looks like you had a few surprises left up your sleeve there, huh?" he says aloud, though it's mostly a rhetorical question that Leona can't really answer anyway. Pushing himself back up to his feet, for a moment Kyo weighs his options... And then he breaks into a full run directly towards Leona.
As Heavy D! goes for that punch aimed at the girl's kidneys, Kyo strikes simultaneously from the other direction, attacking high; with the full weight of his momentum behind him, Kyo's right fist streaks towards Leona's face in a powerful punch, raging Kusanagi flames trailing behind his fist... And subsequently erupting in an explosion at the point of impact. "Let's see you do that twice!!" he taunts.
COMBATSYS: Leona dodges HeavyD's Hook Punch.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Leona
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Leona with Dokugami.
- Power hit! -
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Leona
She lands on her feet. That's the start of it all, turned to the side and being surrounded on both sides. D!'s punch is hard, fast, and timed just right-- but there's something to Leona's awareness that lets her twist away, spinning almost in a pirouette that--
-- puts her right into the fist of the bloody Kusanagi.
Leona twists hard, sputtering out with a wet lash of blood and spit. If there were still color or even pupils in her eyes, they would be dialated and just as vacant as they are now. The fire burns away at the inside of her lungs, taking away the air just as quickly as the punch to her gut would've; the flames sear her face and burn away a bit of the blood as well as heat up her own flesh to uncomfortable degrees.
Nearly stumbling backwards into the boxer, the feral Ikari opts to throw the whole of her weight forward one more time, hooking her arm around in a broad cleave. The first strike is like before-- a deep, swift blow that tries to cut across the Kusanagi's stomach. The second strike is swift and immediate-- a cutting chi-lined kick powerful enough to launch Kyo if it hits...
COMBATSYS: Leona can no longer fight.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Leona successfully hits Kyo with Dead End Inferno.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
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Kyo 0/-------/=======|
Not only is the kick powerful enough to launch him, but it carries Leona into the air as well. Travelling right along with Kyo, it isn't until she releases a hard, stomping thrust of her leg into his stomach that she uses him to flat-out VAULT into the air even higher. Chi, physics, and god knows what else are beaten half to death as her legs spark with energy.
Darting forward from that position, Leona Heidern drives a knifing kick into Kyo Kusanagi one last time, slamming into the ground and driving him ahead almost as though it were a baseball slide. All of that pent-up energy is likewise released, generating a massive explosion that engulfs them both!
If this were any other moment, any other victim, Leona would be back on her feet, howling and screaming to the heavens. If it was anyone other than Kyo Kusanagi, she'd be back up and turning her attention to Heavy D!, the only person still moving about where she is.
Instead, when the smoke and fire clears, she's laid out on the ground right next to Kyo when he comes to a halt, sprawled out and covered in blood. On her side, eyes closed, her breathing sounds painful, wet, and labored.
The will driving her finally burnt out. She won't be getting up, this time.
Well, that's... Unpleasant.
Kyo simply tries to avoid the badly telegraphed kick, but he's just taken too much of a beating, barely able to continue fighting himself. His reactions are a hair too slow, and the World Warrior champion is caught by Leona's initial strike, and left wide open for the rest of the attack, ending up laying on the ground beside an unconscious Leona Heidern.
"Ungh," Kyo says, sagely. Slowly, gingerly, he gets up to his feet, watching Leona warily all the while. "Hey, you," Kyo says, pointing at D!. "Help me with her, we've gotta get her out from the open like this." He doesn't even listen to any protests or anything, he simply assumes that D! will do as he's told, and turns away to pull his cellphone out of his pocket and flip it open.
He's got another Ikari Warrior to call. And then to drop Leona off with. He just wanted a nice, normal, peaceful evening, or as close as you can get inside a city-wide war zone!
COMBATSYS: Kyo takes no action.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
COMBATSYS: Kyo can no longer fight.
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HeavyD 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 C.Viper
Log created on 19:47:35 05/20/2009 by C.Viper, and last modified on 01:56:31 05/23/2009.