Description: Mary is given a warehouse to 'decorate'--and Cross and Jayden have to fight in it, with Mary playing the part of spoiler. Who will come out on top--mercenary or NESTS agent?!? (Winner: Jayden)
Saturday Night Fights. The fighting institution was interrupted for quite some time--Geese Howard's most profitable public venture ever, perhaps... and now it's been taken over, by none other than Ken Masters. But for how long? And will anyone but Ken Masters and Geese Howard care? Jayden Remarque certainly doesn't--he just wants to fight, for money. It's what's on his mind. Of course he'd researched the setup--knew that almost anything could and would happen. Where the Neo League is just a basic one-on-one ladder, the Fights tend to be wackier, more situational.
But he signed up anyways. He wants the money. He wants to fight. Elle's work is good work, but sometimes there isn't much to do--he isn't the dealmaker, he isn't the guy who sets these things up. He's a soldier. So when Elle's doing deals, he's on his own.
The rough and tough man comes walking into the warehouse, shrugging his shoulders... not knowing -what- to expect, really. And that's kind of the point, as far as the SNF people are concerned.
Cross had no idea who Geese Howard was, in practical terms, and she doesn't really know who Ken Masters is, either. There's every possibility she is entirely unaware that the stewardship of the Fights has changed hands--if, in fact, she was ever cognizant of someone being in charge of the proceedings at all. The only thing she knows is one of her supervisors gave her a pat on the butt and instructions to go practice fighting against opponents who don't go up like kindling, and this was the event with billboards advertising for it. You should always listen to billboards!
The young agent strolls into the warehouse, completely casual and calm despite the aggressive punk-rock style of dress she affects. There's a set of headphones draped around her neck, blaring music loud enough it can faintly be heard even from a few feet away, and she's got a lit cigarette dangling from the corner of her lips as she leans this way and that, glancing in between rows of crates and other assorted storage detritus, obviously not quite sure what she's looking for. "Eh... hello?"
Sitting inside the building, Mary has been up above for quite a while. Perhaps she has also been a bit high, but then from her experience, maybe she just exists in a continual state of it.
The warehouse, to begin, is dark. Unsegmented. A massive space, somewhat square shaped. And all of it is /hers/.
At least for a day. The light flashes on.
Upon being open, the world is ... kind of something out of a Fairy Tale. There are mushrooms about, placed here and there about the landscape, some are larger, some are smaller. There are trees, but their leaves aren't supposed to be that color, having been afflicted with the acidic chi Mary is so good with, they're crumpled up, withered. Some trees are dead, some stand nearby, alive.
In the midsection, a massive web of something is put up.
Some 'sweets' hang above, buckets sliding across the ceiling on an old rail, market the 'sweet factory', for whatever purpose it is, the buckets moving to and fro above, containing ... something. Maybe they each contain something different. In the middle, an odd 'lake' with an island in that sits, and extending upwards is a single wall of bricks, faces painted on it, happy and unhappy and mostly rather odd. Sitting at the top, legs cross, with a parasol over her head and open, is Mary. Nearby her, a spherical thing with a happy face painted on it.
"Ya'll welcome to my humble abode." She stands, keeping her balance on such a wall. The ground all about has various things, bushes painted, or perhaps found, pink, others purple. The ground itself changes colors in sections for some reason, and there is a golden 'road' leading this way and that.
"But we're not here to just gawk, ya know? Lets have some fun darlin'," She notes to Cross, before over to Jayden, "Oh and you too dear. Wouldn't want to keep ya'll on your lonesome."
Spinning the parasol, she glances down. "Though, ya'll might want to be quick about things..." A few 'flowers', buds closed, seem to be moving back and forth slowly.
They're pretty big too.
COMBATSYS: Mary has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Mary 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Mary has joined the fight here in the center.
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Cross has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Cross 0/-------/------=|
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Jayden has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cross 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Jayden
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
"What the..." Yeah. Weird. Weird weird weird. At least he recognizes Mary's accent, which is somethin'. He looks up at the wall-standing, parasol-twirling Mary, and then looks around, quirking the left corner of his lips up.
"Guess we're gon' see th' wizard, mmm?" he comments, to no one in particular. Chaos Agent... could be interesting. Could be annoying as -hell-. He'll have to figure out which it'll be. Finally he looks over at Cross.
"Guess you th' mark, mmm? Heh. Didn't expect t' be fightin' a girl." Not that he seems to have any problem with it; the man rolls his shoulders, popping the joints, and rolls his head around, eliciting a series of pops and cracks.
His eyes flick off to the side--well, either the cameras are ready and rollin' or they're not. Either way, as of right... -now-, the fight is on--and Jayden's on the attack immediately. As he moves for Cross, his arms come up in a pseudo-boxing guard, squared up just a touch more, his gait rolling. As he comes in, he seeks to test Cross's defenses, snapping off a quick two-punch combination--a right jab for her face, followed by a quick, snapping right hook punch. Simple.
COMBATSYS: Cross blocks Jayden's Medium Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cross 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Jayden
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
"What."
Cross turns her head this way and that, then pivots on her heel and does an entire circle, taking in everything around her with an expression somewhere between confusion and incredulity. At one point she even ends up with her back completely to Jayden, apparently having forgotten about the purpose of the venue, just trying to sort out what exactly she's processing here. "What."
Even so, when he comes in throwing punches her hand snaps up, catching the first fist entirely and shoving it off, then deflecting the other with the meat of her arm--such as it is, anyway, she doesn't look thick enough for that not to have bruised quite a bit. The apparently very confused young woman glances over one shoulder at Jayden, cocking her far arm back at her hip with that defending hand still up in front of him. A mass of nigh-invisible, ghostly white flames coalesces inside of that clenched fist at her hip, growing more and more until the flickering flames are spilling out from between her fingers to wreathe her entire hand in eerie ghostfire. Remaining in close with him, she swings that arm around and opens her hand, releasing a wide fan of flames toward him without actually laying a hand on him. "No seriously. What?"
Standing up, Mary glances down to the ground, towards both Cross and Jayden, as they begin to fight. A simple punch, before Cross lets forth a mass of those nigh-invisible flames. The parasol wielding woman kicks off, before kicking the egg forwards first.
Truly, there is a reason for that, as he begins to topple downwards. It's a long fall, however.
As she floats down, some of the things begin to ... move. Towards Cross, as the wide fan of flames shoot out, there comes an eruption from the lake. A terrible sea beast - or rather a miniature fish rises. Then more. Then more. All of them. Then comes the heavy pressurized water that shoots outwards.
It might do a bit more than tickle, but the fish are quite /quick/.
COMBATSYS: Jayden Toughs Out Cross' Let the Flames Begin!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Cross 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Jayden
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Cross dodges Mary's Trap 1.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Cross 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Jayden
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
What the, indeed. The flame washes over Jayden--but it might not be having the effect that she expects. Oh, it burns, but Jayden is already moving--wisps of smoke rising off his shoulders and head, though he's not -actually- burning--and since Cross chose to remain close, that lets him close in even more, pursuing the NESTS Agent.
Now, actually, Blackjack probably isn't on good terms with NESTS, what with disabling a NESTS base during the war, but Jayden doesn't know she's NESTS--and probably wouldn't care anyways. Attempting to capitalize on his charge, he seeks another combination move--slamming his left fist for Cross's stomach, an attempt to stun her for a second--if he makes the hit, he'll grab her around the neck and head, turning and flipping her sharply overhead to slam her on her back.
"Cute trick there, doll," he grins, "actually hurt quite a bit... maybe this'll be fun anyways..."
COMBATSYS: Jayden successfully hits Cross with Combo Grapple.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Cross 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Jayden
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
As the fish start pouring out with the waterspout, Cross again finds the environment more curious than Jayden threatening, focusing entirely on sliding to one side to avoid the deluge of minnows. Even once the 'danger' has passed, she continues to stare at the flopping fish-out-of-water in stupified wonderment, shaking her head and blinking her eyes. "Okay, now that's just--gurk!"
This time her attention is apparently divided too far for her to easily react to her opponent, who she hadn't expected to continue moving *through* the gout of flames she directed toward him. The clone waves her hands in the air over her head and behind her, trying to find something to grab hold of as she's twisted awkwardly, but comes up short and soon ends up going head-over-heels to thump with a rather painful sounding crack on her shoulders and back, skidding a half a foot before she come to rest. "... ow."
The young woman apparently decides to reverse the experience, rolling back onto her shoulders and throwing her feet up over her head once more, this time bringing them up and over herself in an attempt to snag them on either side of Jayden's waist and pull him forward. Should she successfully snare the mercenary, she'll be introducing him to two blazing-hot hands hemmoraghing pristine flames, not so much punching or even slapping him as simply grabbing hold and letting the unnatural fire pour directly into his exposed body.
COMBATSYS: Jayden blocks Cross' Poison Girl.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Cross 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Jayden
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
The fish start to pour out, and Mary grins. Oh how lovely - of course Cross manages to push away from them, avoiding them. However, Jaden seems to manage to grasp the woman, to stun her her and toss her about. Still floating downwards, Mary is happy to see such eager blood letting! "Ya'll really get into it, don'tcha?"
Touching down, she closes the parasol as a bucket from above decides it is time to spill it's guts.
A loud whistle rings, steam erupts, and pouring down towards Jayden comes the sweet prize! A prize so tasty! A deluge of jaw breakers!
Except these, literately, will break your jaw. The small colored hunks of spherical metal that bear down onto Jayden! Even as Cross attempts to burn him with her chi flames.
Maybe Cross will need a bit of a cool down.
COMBATSYS: Jayden endures Mary's Trap 2.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Cross 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Jayden
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
There's two things for the merc to deal with--a rain of metal spheres and Cross's flames. The flames first--though there's nothing -physical- to defend against, he uses his instinctive defenses to abate the flames as much as possible. The falling 'jawbreakers', well--he grunts, as they start impacting. It's a flood of them, and though each individual impact doesn't add much damage or pressure, the flood of them forces him forward--towards Cross.
That's just fine with him, really--it's where he was headed anyways. Fortuitously, a pair of narbles find their way under his feet--giving him a weird rolling start to his lunge, which turns into a flat leap--Jayden drawing his legs up and back, and then firing off a flying knee kick. The merc manipulates the potential impact--it'll actually fling him backwards just a touch more than expected, letting him land ready...
COMBATSYS: Cross dodges Jayden's Cannon Knee.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Cross 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Jayden
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-------
Though she may seem in a particularly disadvantageous position, no one seems to have explained this to Cross; as the sphere rain down she just holds there, trying to use Jayden as an umbrella to keep herself out of the bizarre 'rain' for as long as possible. Even when he drives himself forward, she doesn't hassle with leaving her back. No, it's much easier to just plant her palms and heels and push off, rolling along the ball-bearing like carpet of marbles to slide across the floor in that supine pose, skidding right beneath him as he soars overhead behind that leading knee.
Cross comes to a halt a few feet behind Jayden, planting her palms and heels again to stop herself. Rather than fussing with the mess of marbles and putting on a comedic show of trying to stand from them, she just flares up her hands to direct searing jets of flame and heat into the ground beneath them, using the pressure to give herself a quick boost back to her feet. The flames continue to lick at her fists as she surges forward with the momentum, swinging them in wide, undisciplined arcs to try and catch him with a fiery haymaker. "This is pretty messed up! I think I'm delirious again!"
They work as intended. Mary grins. Oh just /perfect/, she thinks.
Though Jayden charges forwards. Meanwhile, Cross manages to come a feet behind, stopping and going about the 'marbles'. That's just not it though. "Oh you two are /really/ going at it ya'll know?" Laughing to herself, Mary brings the parasol upwards.
"I'm just tickled pink, watchin' ya'll is gettin me all riled up!" The older maid exclaims, as the heat and flame tosses Cross back to her feed, before she charges forwards. "There's only one way to make sure if it's real darlin'!"
And with the parasol open, Mary stands there, angling it towards Cross.
The 'egg' that has been falling, lands on the parasol's tip. It's a blade. Which pierces into the shell. Which activates the explosion.
Which sends a high explosive blast towards Cross. "Now be a dear and stand RIGHT there!" Oh, poor humpty dumpty. You should have always been a bomb.
COMBATSYS: Jayden interrupts Aggressive Strike from Cross with Neutron Break.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Cross 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Jayden
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Mary 0|-------|-------
Well, hell. Not all is lost--Jayden's flying knee misses and he gets his feet down in -safe- territory, spinning around to face Cross. Of course she's winding up an attack--but so is he. Her undiscplined haymaker is going to make some contact, but not nearly what she wants--because his forward rush is going to cut off some of her momentum, and as he closes, the punch's aim is off--clipping him in the side of the head, but towards the back, not a full impact.
Jay, on the other hand, -is- making contact, throwing a hard right hook into Cross's ribcage--the impact turning her away from him. And then he grabs her around the waist--stomping his booted feet, redirecting his momentum, lifting Cross up and over his head, slamming her into the flooring of the the warehouse in a classic German suplex--almost.
He doesn't let her go--he keeps the grip on her waist, pulling her into a turnaround and another suplex, and another--and another. The fourth suplex is the last, and that's where he finally lets go of her, maybe just leaving her on the ground...
COMBATSYS: Mary successfully hits Cross with Trap 3.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Cross 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0 Jayden
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|------=
Cross has her back turned toward Mary when the strange woman decides to direct an explosion at her, and as a result she takes the full force of it directly into the small of her back, not only stunning her but also launching her forward into Jayden's waiting arms. The rest from there is elementary, as she's too dazed from the explosion to mount even a cursory defense or 'roll' with the impacts, taking each slam full-tilt and ending up completely crumpled by the end of the procession of throws, sprawled out on the ground in a completely unconscious heap. The flames slowly recede into her fists, vanishing entirely a moment later.
COMBATSYS: Cross takes no action.
> ////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Jayden
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Mary 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Cross can no longer fight.
> ////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Jayden
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|------=
And how effective it is.
Cross falters, and sprawls out. Mary laughing as she goes down, and then turns to .. Jayden. "Ya'll really are kind of interestin' dear, able to take her down so simple. Or was it a bit difficult? Either way... darlin'... it's quite unfortunate." She notes, as she stands nearby the body of Cross.
"It was just too early for me to appreciate it to be over!"
And tapping the floor once, the flowers begin to twist their heads about to face Jayden, a bright cheery music coming to fill the air!
And then, from behind him, the sounds of gunfire and shot erupt, and while the way to Mary is clear, he would be the target for the flowers pollination. Alas, it was a bit more lead filled than normal. "So ya'll are just going to have to enjoy it too!"
COMBATSYS: Jayden endures Mary's Trap 4.
> ////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Jayden
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-----==
"Right, that's done," says the merc--just about to turn away from Cross, towards the officials--but something warns him that the fight isn't -quite- over yet... Mary asks if it was easy, and the man shrugs. "Wasn't easy, wasn't hard. Fight's a fight, I won--"
And then the report of gunfire. A sound he knows well. Spinning around, he takes the hit--but staggers instead of falling.
"Th' hell you doin'! You crazy or somethin', chere??" As if he'd allow Mary to just fire a blast at him like that--when the fight is clearly over. Growling, he generates chi in his hands, crossing his arms and ripping them outwards, sending a spinning, scything projectile of green-yellow sonic chi energy slashing outwards at Mary.
If she takes the hit, she'll find that energy reverberating painfully inside her for a while, at the least.
COMBATSYS: Jayden successfully hits Mary with Sonic Slash.
> //////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Jayden
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|----===
It's as Jayden spins about, to take the hit instead of falling, that Mary has to laugh a bit.
Of course, that he doesn't seem to /get/ it interests Mary. He generates such chi, and as the scything projectile slashes into her that Mary takes the blow. It reverberates, but the initial assault... she was surprised at the 'onset'.
She shakes herself off, even as she staggers about. The pain is sure to stay, but it's a bit of a good feeling. It shakes her up. It's not like she doesn't /like/ things being shook up. "Oh /darlin'/, ya'll just are the best at helping a gal. That's really going to hit the spot!"
And she moves forwards, a bit slowly, as she swings about the parasol in her hands. "But darlin', you just ain't getting the picture!" It's swung, like a club, to whack him at the spider web.
It ain't no normal web, as the electricity running through it may prove to really note. Provided he doesn't see it as a good place to be!
COMBATSYS: Jayden dodges Mary's Trap 5.
> //////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Jayden
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|-----==
Weird girl. This is throwing alarms in Jay's head. But she's committed herself to attacking him--and the officials don't seem inclined to stop her. This is probably just going to end up badly for Jayden, but he's not about to let her just take her whacks at him. That swung parasol is ducked under, Jayden tumbling forward into a shoulder roll--and then popping up, thrusting his hands down onto the flooring to spring upwards, tucking into a ball, and then coming down with a dropping axe kick aimed for Mary's head.
"The hell... you crazy, girl, dead crazy..." But, hell, he's more than willing to fight her, it seems, regardless.
COMBATSYS: Mary fails to interrupt Fierce Kick from Jayden with Trap 6.
> ///////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Jayden
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Mary 0|-------|----===
As Jayden tucks towards her, in the ball, coming down with that axe kick towards her, Mary attempts to pull on one of the wires nearby. The tree behind her bends, and begins to fall forwards, attempting to squash down on Jayden.
He manages to avoid that, at least, for now.
Mary meanwhile is struck, knocked backwards, and shaken up. "Oh dear, it looks like I've ran out of surprises.." She exclaims, dusting herself off and rubbing the red from her lips across them, sort of like lipstick. "There... and it was fun darlin' but..." She brings the parasol upwards, twisting it around and heading for the door.
"The fun is just over for now!"
She begins to skip off, even if she's a bit roughed up.
COMBATSYS: Mary has left the fight here.
> ///////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Jayden
... Jayden shakes his head as the girl skips off. Well, whatever. At least he wasn't crushed by a falling tree--be hard to explain -that- one to the boss. The merc turns towards the officials, and shrugs, pointing in the direction of the departed Mary.
"What she said--we're done here. I'm gon' go get me some gumbo." He pauses. "Sheeit. Don' even know if I can find gumbo here..." Then the man shrugs, and heads for the exit as well. Is Cross just left on the floor? She is by Mary and Jayden, apparently--but the SNF officials are usually pretty good about getting their participants medical treatment.
The booted man just walks towards the doorway, mumbling about gumbo and whiskey.
COMBATSYS: Jayden has ended the fight here.
Log created on 16:58:19 07/11/2009 by Jayden, and last modified on 20:41:48 07/11/2009.