Jinchuu 2 - [R2] Crushing Force

Description: 'R' Organization has the most amusing HR practices. Take for example the one where to retrieve an AWOL employee, they drop an Orochi-blooded madwoman into a chi-saturated post-apocalyptic hell where she kind of sort of runs into Vanessa and Soma and shows them a good time, for given values of 'good time' that include 'spitting blood' and the phrase "oh god my everything."


Luqiao - the dirty back streets. Vanessa's home, practically. For a 34-year-old woman, you'd think going out to the rough end of town for a night in the 'fun' ('stupidly dangerous') ends of town would be a fond memory rather than a daily occurrence, but....

..she doesn't really have anything else to do, these days. Still...

"Nnn," she sighs, leaning up against the far wall at the entrance to a dark alley, staring off into the vault of the sky overhead. "This whole place is just off..." She reaches down into her pants pockets, pulling out the smartphone she's had loaded with the Sanctuary app, flipping through it lazily, to give her mind something to do. Matchfinder says to be here, so she's got to be here - that's the breaks. Maybe this time things will line up a little better..though she didn't mind hanging out with those two kids, really. The one kept calling her auntie, though; she's gotta remember to knock his block off, next time she sees him. Hum.

Let's enjoy a sepia-toned flashback.

Long ago, there was a great ship called Suiryuu. It was the property of the Ryouhara, the location on which their first Jinchuu tournament was held. For the 'recompense of the fighting proletariat,' they had said. This individual, the man in black with the twin daggers, is Soma Travedi. At the time he was an undercover agent of international police force Interpol, and his job was to investigate the actions of known terrorist Seishirou Ryouhara.

In the end, Ryouhara escaped his grasp. However, Soma brought in known Russian crime figure Nikolai Tippin, and some information about the Ryouhara's movements. Deciding that his current assignment wasn't going to do him much good in the long term, Soma left the public eye. Inquiries in Leon would only say he was on 'independent confidential assignment'. What he was doing, alone and in secret, was putting together the pieces of the first Jinchuu. A long, laborious, annoying process that paid off not much at all. In time he was forgotten in both the pro fighting and novelist circles.

And then there was the fisherman.

Creepy green glass, he'd said. Has a sort of electric feel to it. He took it to the police. The police took it to the People's External Security Force. The Ministry of Security brought it to Interpol, and *they* brought it to Soma. Cue the rental of the boat, the diving equipment, and diverting the Chinese navy long enough to do it... no small tasks either way. There was supposed to be pristine wreckage at the bottom of the ocean. A reminder, Soma believed, that even the enterprises of ninja can go pear-shaped.

A chunk of it being missing was troubling indeed.

He began his career as an intelligence analyst, and so that's where he went back. Intelligence. An explosion in Huangyan. No trail, because ninja are good at those, but long series of coincidences, meetings, and movements. Strange behaviors in the Taizhou reconstruction effort. And finally, nine weeks after the dagger washes to shore, the death of Seishirou Ryouhara and the beginning of the second Jinchuu tournament.

All of this certainly explains why Soma is on the rooftops of Luqiao. Events kept him from his first fight, but the Sanctum app apparently forgave him enough to put him here at this position, now... he just happens to enjoy the ninja-like safety and perspective they offer. Particularly of, say, redheads in a dark alley. Someone trained like Vanessa may hear the *clink!* as Soma bounds down a fire escape 'til he's on one a mere half story above her, on the opposite side of the alley. "Well hello," he offers, leaning on the metal and waving a hand at Vanessa lazily. "Fancy meeting you here."

Vanessa flips through the device's entries. It's hard to tell what the hell is going on, from what she's got so far. She'll have to do some digging, later - figure out SOME kind of plan of action. The bars have proved surprisingly unhelpful. Like nobody really knows anything...which is strange enough, for Vanessa.

This whole thing is completely bizaarre. Vanessa has her own story to tell - the semi-Ikari unit under Ling had no damn clue what the hell is going on either. Nobody does. That's the scariest part. Ryouhara is on the move. Nobody knows what he's doing, why he's doing it.

Vanessa's a fairly public name, these days, ever since Igniz outed her publically on SNF, but still. At the moment, she is in a rare official-lookin' outfit, with a olive green business blazer on over her shirt and tie. Naturally the shirt is her halter-shirt, and the suit is mostly there for her to pull off dramatically. It's actually a little scary how professional she looks with the blazer on, you wouldn't even know she's in a sleeveless halter button-down shirt if it weren't the thing she'd worn to most of her public appearances.

Either way: She looks up when Soma appears, and tips a red eyebrow with a little grin. "So /there/ you are," she says. "You're late, copper." She hums, glances down at her phone. "Or early. I can't even read this damn thing."

That gets a laugh from Soma, who grins as he hops over the side of the fire escape and lands in the alley on the ground opposite Vanessa, the dust of both disrepair and the destruction surrounding Taizhou disturbed in a little cloud as he does so. "You're right about that," he says, grimacing a little bit. He doesn't know a lot about Vanessa, but what he does seems positive. Go-getter, no-nonsense. The type you want to have your back in a firefight or a barfight. Not sure where in the shadowy power networks of the world she belongs, but at times Soma's not sure where HE does either.

"Sorry, at any rate. Something came up on my way here." Yeah. ASSASSINS happened, not that he's going to tell her that. They probably weren't Ryouhara-sent, but that's no guarantee either. What should have been a simple movement from Turkey to China became a two week test of changing planes, erasing his tracks, and in a couple instances knifing people and shoving them off a moving train. It sucked an awful lot. "Trouble just came looking. Must be the job... you know how it is."

He turns and looks down the alley, then up above, and then down the alley before turning back to Vanessa and flipping his own phone out, poking at the screen with a fingertip and then sighing. "Is it bad that I'm almost nostalgic for the stupid boat from last time? None of this messing around with cell phones like we're on The Amazing Race? Just people on a massive boat beating the hell out of each other."

This seemed like a much better idea when Vice was in the Black Noah's situation room(complete with a big holographic globe and, strangely, Wolf Blitzer).

It was basically 'Rugal stands, or maybe floats a couple of inches off of the ground if he's feeling fancy, Vice files her nails in one of the scalloped chairs arranged around the room's big oval table, Rugal goes on about loyalty this and Alan R.B. that, and so on and so forth,' with intelligence dossiers(that Vice at best skimmed) and a detailed mission plan(that Vice at best caught the high points of).

What mattered is that she'd have to spend a few days/weeks/whatever hunting for Alan R.B., doing God knows what to God knows who along the way, and presumably bring him home alive -- she either missed that part of the briefing or didn't pay it much heed. All in all, a perfectly fine assignment, but for one thing:

She'd be going it alone.

So cut to now, where Vice is slumped against a scorched, graffiti-kissed wall in what was a pseudo-trendy nightclub. A certain amount of... heat, of intravenous fire has been a matter of course for her since her being made as a member of the Hakkesshu, but since the third or so day without Mature's touch and cool, soothing words, what is normally an everpresent warmth has blossomed into an inner wildfire.

She's been scratching her arms, her legs, her neck, any skin she can get at pretty routinely in the hopes of soothing the burn or somehow exposing it to the open air; ironically, because of these rising tides in her Orochi bloodline the many ragged scratches and gashes she's left across across the surface of her skin have healed themselves in mere minutes, far outstripping even her usual inborne resilience.

A lifetime ago, she'd read stories of Greek gods and heroes in times long past that never where; that being deprived of her partner's presence has made her like unto a certain mythic, fire-thieving titan escapes her now, though.

'Fancy meeting you here...'

"Hnngh..."

'You're late, copper...'

"... grggh..."

'... beating the hell out of each other...'

"... rrrrrrRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGH!"

Birds perched on one of the buildings bordering Vanessa and Soma's alley when a--woman? A wounded animal? /Something/ within roars, enraged and wounded and loud enough to echo palpably in the air outside. Not that the cry will have /long/ to echo, for a section of that building's wall will loudly collapses moments later. Despite the damage that Taizhou has suffered, the building is(was) actually in pretty decent shape, certainly not at risk for spontaneous deconstruction.

It likely, then, has something to do with the hand whose nails are coated in chipping red paint and the freshly dusted, normally near-black sleeve jutting from the hole. The hand grabs one of the wall's new, interior edges and pulls until a face - possibly familiar from, if nothing else, SNF outings - comes into view, eyes wide, bulging, faintly reddened and flicking predatorily between Soma and Vanessa, lips curled to reveal a rictus of pain. The rest of her - heavily rising and falling shoulders, freshly bloodied neck and sweat-drenched suit dress and all - is emerging gradually as she continues to pull.

Vice has no idea whether or not these two have a thing to do with Alan, with 'R', with anything at all.

She also doesn't /care/.

Ha ha ha, no nonsense, he read the wrong file. Indeed, despite the outfit giving her a broad-shouldered and professional kind of look, the way she crosses her arms - a little too low, across her belly, with no possible intent but to emphasize her breasts - probably says all that need be said about how no-nonsense she is. She's got a sly little grin on her face. "Good to see another face, at least," she quips. "Somethin', huh?" The grin evolves into a teasting smirk, and she leans in, laughing, "What, afraid to sleep in the same room as little ol' me? I don't bite." She wiggles her eyebrows: "Unless you ask."

MMmmhmmm. Trouble came lookin', huh? She laughs, leaning back into the wall. "They made me fight a wall made out of energy knives that could chew through a tank," she says, pulling an arm free to gesture at...well, the universe, apparently. "That was kinda cute. Makes you wonder what's up with these guys, you know? I can't figure it out."

Blink. She reaches into her pocket again, pulling out her phone and flipping open the Sanctuary app again. "Yeah, /this/ thing is just nuts," she says. "Centralizing and limiting information...Idunno how much from this thing we can trust. But I guess we don't have a choice..."

And then she hears a...bear? She glances over, frowning, at what she hears, a scream like a woman but something a lot worse. "NESTS?" she mutters, instinctively assuming Igniz is responsible for everything, ever. And then it's even worse, as the building explodes outwards, and Vanessa's small frown tips into a real, serious expression. "That's.../Vice/?" she says, and instinctively pulls her hands up, drawing her gloves tight against her skin. "What the /hell?/"

"I try not to figure out the Ryouhara," Soma says blithely in response. "It's bad for your sanity." His contact point for most of Jinchuu 1 was Riko Koganei, and trying to understand her was a little like trying to read a book full of Rorshach tests; occasionally you'd see a picture that you were SURE was a butterfly but on second thought ended up being something like a knife stuck through a tomato sitting on a rocking chair? Something along those lines. All he can do is go along for the ride. "But yeah. This seems a bit much, even by their standards."

He's about to say something to Vanessa about the advisability of taking Seishirou at his word when something prickles the hair on the back of his neck... and the small of his back. One is his Psycho Power abilities, specfiically his empathic abilities. He doesn't read minds, but he can... sense things, and an oncoming Riot-ing Vice counts as 'things'. The second, weirdly enough, is the glass-looking emerald dagger he's wearing, which also seems to... rattle and resonate. "Well, that's not..."

Then Vice kind of explodes onto the scene Hulk-style and the point becomes moot.

"...now that's bad news," he says, stepping backwards to be a little closer to Vanessa. His eyes narrow a bit. Representive of 'R', huh. Well that's just super special awesome news. "Not good at all. Rugal showed up himself at the last one of these. About a day later, the god damned ship blew up. I'm sure it was totally coincidental."

He also gives Vice a long, appraising look, before glancing sidelong at Vanessa... and letting his hand drift to the hilt of the non-rattling dagger he's wearing, of the pair. "Does something seem... off to you about this?"

As her eyes flick between Soma and Vanessa, the urge to rip, to tear, to feed hungers she normally sates by indulging in that which she is named for builds within Vice; there's even a hungry rumble deep in her throat, particularly as she lays eyes on Soma and the sheathed weapon that for some reason sends little plumes of fire pumping even more insistently through her veins than it already is.

And then there is a part of her that would like nothing more than to lay her head on Mature's shoulder until the inferno eating at the edges of her being subsides, so that she can resume being a person--or at least, her best approximation of what a person is.

That other part of her is why, once she's stepped out of her hole - sending bricks and dust flying behind herself thanks to more of the wall faltering beneath the pressure she's exerting on it - she's able to rasp, "Alan... R.B.--where is he?" Her eyes have, for the moment, fallen between the two fighters, focused more on the ground than anything; in fact, her body is slumped forward even more than it might be in her usual poorly postured fighting stance, to the point that a few stray droplets of sweat fall from her hanging hair, and--perhaps more disconcertingly, droplets of /blood/ fall from betwixt her teeth once she's finished speaking.

Given that her words were delivered in a weary tone like razors being being forced up one's throat and past her lips, the latter is, perhaps, appropriate.

There's very little in the way of waiting for an answer; shortly after the blood hitting the ground, she softly, wetly growls before lunging at Vanessa with her right hand outstretched.

There's dried blood caked beneath her nails; judging from the way her fingers are curled and pointed for Vanessa's neck, she aims to add to it in the process of tackling the non-no-nonsense agent to the ground and strangling her until she somehow gives up answers or, well, doesn't.

COMBATSYS: Vanessa counters Gore Fest from Vice with Puncher Vision.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Vice             0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0          Vanessa


Vanessa's dialogue with Soma is momentarily halted on account of Oh Jesus It's A Monster Lady. Vanessa's eyes narrow - glances over at Soma, nodding. "Bad and bad again. If she's here, 'R' wants in. I haven't heard from that guy in a while." Vanessa slips her phone in her pants pocket, and then looks Vice right on, watching her movements - before gripping the lapels of of her jacket with two fists. "'Off'? What, you mean like the matchfinder just /happens/ to have us waiting outside of where Vice is going crazy?" She snorts, and then YANKS, and the buttons on the jacket fly off - baring her shoulders and midriff while Vanessa gives Vice a smug look. "Let's see what you've got, lady," she says, all bluster. This is bad. This is dangerous. But---wait...

"Alan? Wait---THAT guy!" Vanessa growls. "I fought him in Southtown!" And he /kicked her ass/. "Uhhh...a long-ass time ago, though. What, he's here!?"

Vanessa's surprised howl is met with Vice bearing down on her, already, except Vanessa replies - hurls her coat in Vice's face, and when that distracts her, Vanessa BLURS, too fast to track, and the next thing anyone can see of her is her fist lodged in Vice's gut. "SHIT you crazy ladies need to learn how to rein it in!" she says, and it's not entirely sarcastic. "Get a drinking problem, it's probably better for you!"

...well that was pretty damned impressive. Vanessa is not only armed with pull-cord tear away clothing, but she's also equipped with Wire Fu Wizardry Punching Action. Despite himself, the ICPO agent whistles as she blurs through Vice's terrifying onslaught and comes through smelling like a proverbial rose. "...pretty slick," he admits, giving Vanessa a raised eyebrow. "Sounds like it's not your first time to this particular rodeo. Any suggestions?"

He stares at Vice for a moment, and his hand rests on something in the small of his back: the hilt of one of his daggers. The 'normal' one, and when the 'normal' one is the one with the detachable handle and the length of steel cable buried in it, what does that say about the *other* one? "Other than not die."

With that, he nods at Vice. "Dunno where your guy is, and I'd tell you your under arrest and to come along quietly for questioning, but frankly that doesn't even seem realistic at this point." Instead, he charges, the hand not on the hilt of a dagger striking out to hopefully snap into a pressure point just below Vice's collarbone, sending a jolt of pain through her body, before he quickdraws the dagger and attempts to smash the pommel of the grip right into the underside of her chin.

COMBATSYS: Soma successfully hits Vice with Armed Combo.
- Power hit! -

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Vice             0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0          Vanessa


Vanessa's fist, Soma's dagger pommel... they collide pretty closely behind one another. Vice crumples somewhat against the fist in her stomach; the coat draped over her head is disguising her maddened, agonized mask, but it does nothing to hide the feral rumbling in her throat.

When Soma connects, she's forced to stand upright by both the upward movement of the blow and the countless little lightning bolts jumping the gaps between her nerve receptors. It's all very stiff, though; most of her weight rests against Vanessa's fist when she's crumpled against it, to the point that when she's forced upright it's maybe a bit of a blessing, and from there she doesn't... move, much. Even the jacket is undisturbed, leaving nary more than her chin and, after a couple of seconds, a thin trickle of blood oozing slowly down it, following the lines of her jaw and eventually throat.

Neither of them were particularly helpful, she knows that much. Both of them actually hurt her pretty badly, enough so that she's aware of it amidst the raging fire in her blood; a tiny part of her, the part of her yearning for Mature, for pseudo-normalcy would have been pretty content with only, you know, knocking them out and moving on because they're in the way, but well.

It goes without saying that that part of her is a bit muted right now.

"Drinking problem; christ," she rasps. "Too bad."

In a blur, the jacket is unfurled so that Vice might make a go at winding swiftly around Soma's neck in a makeshift noose; despite the blood visibly staining her teeth and pooling between them in some places, she is grinning now, big and wide.

If she successfully cinches the noose, she will try to use the sleeve remaining in her grasp to haul Soma over her head, pivot at the hips and finally slam him to the ground right on the crown of /his/ head with enough force to leave a small crater. This will be followed by her dragging the ICPO Agent a short ways across the ground before flinging him haphazardly skywards to fall or land as he may.

"Drinking problem," Vanessa confirms with a nod and a thumbs up. "Does wonders!" She's smirking, but this is more danger than she really expected to /be/ in tonight - someone set this up, and whoever /did/ it is looking to...to do what, she thinks. What's the goal here? Two on Vice? Surely Vice isn't THAT powerful. To test them? See how far Vice can push them...?

She glances at Soma, and mutters, "Pretty much wingin' it, actually," with a more grim tone than she's spoken with previously.

And then Vice MOVES, and Vanessa's eyes widen in surprise. /Damn/ she's fast, and Vanessa's not really in a position to take action, take charge, she sets herself and charges in and doesn't even think about the consequences.

"You want info, gimme some, first!" Vanessa yells, as she swings in with one arm raised to slam into the crown of Vice's head. "Who!" she adds, as the followup comes for her chin. "Who /is/ Alan R.B.!?"

COMBATSYS: Soma blocks Vice's Black End.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Vice             0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0          Vanessa


As he sinks into the now-cratered pavement, hoping that the wet feeling on the back of his head is Vice having struck a water main or puddle rather than something like his own blood, Soma Travedi has time to consider that perhaps he should have gone into a safer line of work, like, oh... naked dancing performance art in old WW2 minefields, or something involving cleaning windows at the top of the Burj Dubai without a safety rope.

The jacket trick is so clever and unexpected that it catches Soma completely unaware, and this is where his bad luck starts. He's not particularly heavy and Vice is powered by OMGWTF right now, so he goes up, and then he goes down, *hard*. Indeed, Vice's legendary crazy-fueled power is enough to drive the policeman's head quite hard into the pavement, spiderweb cracks extending outward from the impact point. The only thing that saves him from hurtling through the air from the followup is survival instinct, which is to say, there might not be enough of him left for Vanessa to bite after this is all over if he doesn't *move*.

Soma kippups and somersaults backwards out of Vice's grasp just in the nick of time, but the damage is done. He hunches forward in his fighting stance, wearing the macho 'didn't hurt' face, and glancing at Vanessa. "Think I remember... boxer guy. Nice suits... hair like a Brylcreem ad..." A pause, and a cough. "Could be the... near concussion talking though."

Hmm. Perhaps if they can keep her occupied, she'll wear herself out? "Not looking too good, there," he offers to Vice. "Sure you don't want to call this off?"

It's a bluff, but hopefully it'll work, because what he's about to try is very tricky indeed. Driving forward, he draws his 'normal' dagger, the point suddenly glowing with a haze of silver-black, and tries to quite simply drive it into Vice's midriff. He doesn't pierce very far; in fact, he's looking for a particular nerve bundle a little bit below the surface, where the Psycho Power imbued in his weapon will do the rest courtesy of her nervous system... *if* it works.

COMBATSYS: Vice endures Vanessa's 1-2 Puncher.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Vice             0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |===----\-------\0          Vanessa


COMBATSYS: Soma successfully hits Vice with Dhanu.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Vice             0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |===----\-------\0          Vanessa


Vice /really/ does not move this time, when Vanessa hits her. It's like punching a tank--metaphorically, that is, because, okay, Vanessa is probably pretty capable of punching a hole through a tank, so it's like what would happen if a /normal/ person punched a tank, and--

Basically, her head doesn't twitch with the momentum and her her flesh and bones feel incredibly hard beneath Vanessa's fists.

"What the pussy said," Vice hisses, fresh trickles of blood finding their way past her teeth throughout. There's a hint of mirth for Vanessa speaking as if she has anything more to offer amidst the madness in her eyes, but when that subtle laughter tries to express itself audibly, her throat instead seizes painfully, choking any noise from coming. She's surprised, then, but only for a moment; her mouth closes, her lips purse just so, and after an ugly and rather prolonged throat rumbling she's able rid herself of the mouthful of blood that rushed unexpectedly from... somewhere inside her.

By spitting it at Vanessa, where if it lands it'll spatter messily across the center of her face.

After running her tongue briskly over her teeth to catch a few stray bits of blood clinging to them, she murmurs, "See? Better--" to Soma; her eyes sliding to him when he's just about atop her cuts her clean off, though.

"Ggk--"

She stumbles back a few steps, dagger wobbling gently up and down inside her with the movement. She's /already/ burning from the inside out and the infusion of Psycho Power only multiplies it; where most fighters would cry out in pain or perhaps clutch their wound, however, Vice responds with a mounting chorus of heavy exhalations and grunts and groans while dragging her right nails up her left arm, pushing her sleeve progressively upward with each stroke. It doesn't take her long to break the skin, at which point a few thin streams of blood arc intermittently through the air; there's a subtle sizzling all the way.

Her eyes are again moving at high speeds between Soma and Vanessa, and ultimately, though it is the former who's retarded what minute relief being able to indulge in outright violence has granted her, it's the latter she ultimately leaps towards as her broken up notes of pain twist together into a frenzied roar.

Her legs are folded up, nearly tucked against her chest; they'll snap forward in search of Vanessa's head and neck as soon as she's reached them, and then if she cinches them in, all of the momentum of 'flying through the air really fast' will be reversed when she flips her body backwards to crush the boxer's head into the pavement.

And then, with another powerful revolution, through the nightclub wall she initially emerged from.

And then through the dance floor where the nightclub's decorations haev long since been shredded and strewn about by Vice's nesting.

And then, finally, through the little stage set up at its front for live music acts; at that point, she will roll free, remaining nearby on all fours, blood dripping freely from between her teeth once again.

COMBATSYS: Vanessa blocks Vice's Negative Gain.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Vice             0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////       ]
                                  |=======\-------\0          Vanessa


"Dammit, copper!" Vanessa yells, shaking her fist. "If I want your story I'll ask you!" She wanted to see what kind of state Vice is /in/ - this whole thing is weird, she's never seen someone like this before. Is she under some kind of drug? She halfway dares to entertain the possibility of a magic spell, but no, "R" is weird but it isn't /that/ weird.

She seriously has no idea.

And then Vice spits blood all over her, and Vanessa emits a horrified "Wha--!?" and tries to block with her forearms. Fortunately it is not some soul-flaying horror-blood, and so when it strikes her forearms Vanessa mostly just has to yelp, "Holy shit, are you for real!?" and looks down with some dismay at her now ruined shirt. "Mannnnn, I like that one..."

Eyes snap up. Vice is getting...there's something to this. Some trick. Is this Vice, herself, or is this some Ryouhara ninja sorcery cyborg murder thing? She can't tell, too many variables, and Vanessa's never been much for figuring out this kinda thing in combat. All she can tell is Vice sure seems to be, in a phrase, bitch-ass crazy.

Vice grabs her by the neck. Vanessa gargles in her throat, gripping those legs to try and stop Vice's move - and ends up with her skull in the ground. "AUGH!"

Then Vice swings her through and hurls her into the wall. Now she's got something to play with. Her arm snaps out as she sails on, and grabs on to the railing at the edge of the dance floor, so that when Vice tries to heave her further across the range, Vanessa's grip and the sturdy construction stops the lunge.

Vanessa's other, non-dislocated arm, meanwhile, is gathering chi into it, and with a spark of gold light, Vanessa growls, "Had about enough of THAT! PISS OFF, LADY!" and thrusts a straight punch into Vice's abdomen hanging over her head from where Vanessa lies prone on the floor - the fist and the entire arm whirling with snapping wind chi.

It's a truly scary moment for Soma when Vice starts spitting blood and either snarling, laughing, or both. The blood that's, you know, oozing from her mouth, and from the wounds she's suffered, some of which include the slashes she raked down her own body which, frankly, is just insane. The dagger's whipped back into place and Soma all but backflips to the opposite side of the alley, looking at Vice in a daze. "Did you seriously call me 'copper'?" he throws to Vanessa, with a raised eyebrow and a little smirk, taking refuge from his nervousness in humor. "Are we in a noir film all of a--"

He doesn't get time to finish the thought because Vice is just... ON Vanessa, in an instant, and it's terrifying to watch. Thankfully the pugilist agent has things well in hand defending herself, but it still looks painful either way... which is good, because Soma bows his head a bit and puts his hand to his forehead. Having empathic abilities around an Orochi-blooded maniac who's Riot-ing (or doing a passable imitation) is really unpleasant; Vice's unchecked emotions are effectively broadcasting on station KRZY with 10,000,000mhz of power.

But there's something else.

Reaching behind him, even as Vanessa prepares her counterattack of punching death, Soma realizes the green, jewel-like dagger he 'found' from what he assumed was Suiryuu wreckage is... rattling. Reverberating, more, perhaps. He hadn't wanted to use it, because he flat-out doesn't know what it DOES, but there's a good chance that if Vice isn't taken down soon she's probably going to kill both himself and Vanessa. So he makes a decision, and grips the hilt, turning back to the fight. "Alright. Let's see what this baby can do."

Dashing in at the same time as Vanessa, Soma shouts inarticulately and makes a wide, sweeping slash with the dagger through the air. Somewhat expectedly, the length of the blade hums with his silver-black Psycho Power... but it ALSO thrums with a flickering aura of blue lightning, seemingly pulled from the crackling storm above, too.

The surprised look on Soma's face tells you just about how likely THAT outcome seemed.

COMBATSYS: Vice blocks Vanessa's Puncher Finish.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Vice             0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////       ]
                                  |-------\-------\0          Vanessa


COMBATSYS: Soma successfully hits Vice with Hikoboshi's Hook.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Vice             0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////       ]
                                  |-------\-------\0          Vanessa


Her momentum completely shot, Vice drops a little awkwardly to land beside Vanessa; given that /she's/ standing and Vanessa is on the ground, it's probably not unreasonable to suggest that she didn't land as awkwardly as the boxer did, but still. As soon as she's on her feet again, her posture gives way and she slumps forward as if incapable of standing straight any longer; the thin, ropey strand of blood that oozes past her bottom lip to paint the ground beside Vanessa like some kind of mad spin art certainly might suggest such a frailty.

"Hnnh," she grunts, eyes flicking to the boxer's glowing arm. "Cunt--"

The punch doesn't raelly catch her off guard - she was /watching it come/, after all - but it cuts her off somewhat by virtue of driving the air from her body anyway, because while the hand she moves between her abdomen and Vanessa's fist is sufficient to catch the blow and prevent it from striking directly, there's simply too much kinetic and spiritual energy to cancel so bluntly, so the back of her hand ends up wedged against her midsection with Vanessa's fist resting in her palm. Her hand is numb, her arm is even more sore than it already was, but she doesn't go /flying/, so her strategem is about as successful as she could have hoped it would be.

All of this leaves her back wide open to Soma; it's no wonder that his dagger rends her clothing, her flesh, sends sizzling blood flying /just/ above the ICPO Agent's head, infuses her yet again with redoubled agony, and...

... draws a measure of attention from the stormy skies above. Vice can feel it in her blood a split-second before the sky splits in thunder and electric blue; she manages to whisper, "Mature--" and then it happens:

Accompanied by a powerful, "KRA-KOOM!" a slender, forking bolt of electricity arcs from somewhere amidst the clouds, weaves through the crystal lattice, pulverizes the nightclub's roof and finally makes contact with the 'R' 'secretary's dagger wound like a nitroglycerine kiss. She is rocketed from Vanessa and Soma, smashes right through the performance area and ends up somewhere backstage, where she'll smoke and smolder and gently crackle.

And reconstitute; the black marks on her skin, the superficial markers of her injury won't be going anywhere any time soon, but the burns, the dagger mark, the self inflicted gashes, they are all reversing themselves at a respectable pace, and while it'll take her some time to hit top fighting form again...

... the refridgerator that seconds after her being thrown backstage comes flying towards Soma's head is a pretty clear sign that she still has /something/ left in her.

Vanessa forces Vice back with that lunging half-functional haymaker, trying to force Vice off her and into the roof - she manages to wind her and force her back, which is...well, it's something. Vanessa tries to pull herself free, which is aided by Soma apparently invoking THE WRATH OF HEAVEN, and Vanessa hisses out something she's not allowed to say in public as lightnign strikes a person who is like three feet away from her.

She just sits very still for a few seconds, hoping that she didn't just die, and only when she is satisfied in her notdeadity does she roll away from the hole in the air where Vice was, pushing herself to her knees with a fist, and slowly rising.

She looks at Soma. "What the hell did you DO!?" she demands. "Or does Ryouhara have a /lightning gun/ n--HOLY SHIT"

That would be because Vice didn't die, but instead picked up and threw a refrigerator. Vanessa stares in a sort of mute horror, and then does what she's gotta: Put her down, got to get her on the ground and keep her there. If they can just do that...!

She lunges forward, skating between racing bodies with quick footwork, and then swings her arm around, putting the spin of her body into a lunge for Vice's jaw.

COMBATSYS: Vice successfully hits Soma with Large Random Weapon.
- Power hit! -

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Vice             0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////       ]
                                  |-------\-------\0          Vanessa


What did he just do? Good freakin' question. Soma doesn't even have time to sheathe the strange emerald dagger again once it's been used; he just sort of steps back from Vice -- well, REALLY far back because: unexpected lightning -- and stares at it for a moment in total confusion. "I honestly have no ide--" he begins, replying to Vanessa without looking at her, and then he realizes he should turn and see what happOH MY GOD FLYING REFRIDGERATOR. Moving sort of like a glaicer thanks to perhaps Vice's fatigue, but like a glacier, effectively unstoppable in terms of fighting back. His only real option is to get the hell out of the way.

It should be pointed out that all of these thoughts, Soma has about four days AFTER this, looking back on it. What happens right NOW is that he turned, saw the fridge, made to take one step to get out of the way, and then got hit with it so hard he literally goes flying out of the alley, into the street, and into a parked car, crushing the door and window. He sort of slides down it bonelessly for a second, looking... well, stunned, frankly. It takes a few seconds before he stands back up, wiping a hand across his mouth and looking into the alley.

"When I find that ninja bastard," he mutters to himself, "he's going to wish he'd stayed dead."

At that, Soma takes off at a dead run back into the alley, hoping that sheer stupid momentum will be his ally at this point, because he doesn't do anything fancy, nor does he at all care if Vice is conscious at the end of this fight or not. Maybe she's bleeding over empathically. Alternately, PERHAPS SHE JUST HIT HIM WITH A HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE.

Either way, it certainly explains the vicious roundhouse he aims at the *side of Vice's head* once he gets back in range. Two head blows at once? Certainly at least ONE needs to connect...

COMBATSYS: Vice dodges Soma's Strong Kick.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Vice             0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1             Soma
                                  >  ///////////////////////       ]
                                  |-------\-------\0          Vanessa


COMBATSYS: Vice interrupts Hook Punch from Vanessa with Nail Bomb.
- Power hit! -
~ Cruel hit! ~

[                         \\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Vice             0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1             Soma
                                  >  /////////////////             ]
                                  |=====--\-------\0          Vanessa


Vice's arms sway a little once they're no longer burdened, as if she hasn't the strength to do anything more with them than allow them to dangle limply before herself. Her laboured breathing is perhaps distressingly audible, each deep, raw tortured inhalation and exhalation echoing in the confined space the three fighters are sharing.

Of the two blows aimed at her head, one indeed connects, and it's Vanessa's; the _problem_ is that the boxer's knuckles exploding against her jaw push her to react, and right now the only sorts of reactions she's even capable of are of the shockingly violent variety.

Which, okay, is not much of a change from her norm, but normally she might say something awful or say /anything at all/, and while she's spoken a bit over the course of the fight, at this juncture she merely roars as she snatches Vanessa's wrist before it can be pulled all the in from the punch.

Blood-caked nails dig a against flesh a little as the nonsense-filled secret agent is yanked in against Vice's body, and in the next moment she has reached beyond Vanessa to circle both arms around her middle, hauled her abovehead, leapt past Soma's roundhouse and most importantly built a bit of momentum so that when she lands and slams Vanessa back and head first into the concrete--not to mention the refuse and rubble strewn across it, there will be another small crater to mark her having been here.

She coughs violently after letting Vanessa go, body racked with the effort and hand clutching momentarily at her stomach; this time, when she winds up spitting emerging excesses of blood, it'll all end up on the wall and ground, at least.

Vanessa punches Vice in the snout, and then Vice retaliates by attempting to tear Vanessa in half. It is a slightly disproportionate reaction.

Actually, to be strictly accurate, Vice retaliates by powerbombing Vanessa face-first into the concrete floor of the nightclub, earning a surprised wail, and more importantly, a very briefly limp boxing queen.

It takes Vanessa about three seconds to rouse herself - push herself up and roll over, rubbing the blood pumping out of her nose off with an already-bloodied forearm. It had seemed like they were just gonna put her out of her misery with no trouble, but it looks like she's got them where she wants them, now. Or at least, is having no problem putting them in that position, and Vanessa rubs her forehead and flinches. Bruise, at least. Maybe cracked. "Ugh," she mutters, shoving up to her feet while Vice is busy puking her organs all over the floor. She glances at Soma to make sure the refrigerator did not break him into many smaller Somas, and satisfied in this - she lunges in, swinging, yelling, "HERE IT COMES!" as she slams a fist for the back of Vice's head, and then at her back, swinging punches wildly, yelling, "BODY!" every time, and if Vice ever has a moment to turn around, Vanessa finishes up with a savage, full-body powered "UPPER!!" to the chin!

Okay, there's a name for whatever alloy Vice is made of, and it appears to be 'unobtanium' or 'ultra mega phlebotinum' or 'mithril'. Something. It's not as if she doesn't take hits; just look at her. Bloody and mangled. It's more the fact that she apparently just does not care, and neither do her internal organs, muscular and skeletal systems, or anything of that nature. Soma begins to fear, as he watches her slam Vanessa around like she was made of cardboard, that if you actually literally killed Vice, her body would just KEEP ON FIGHTING afterwards anyway.

Vanessa, at least, appears to be on her feet. And, uh, kind of furious. "Right, well," the ICPO agent says distantly, shaking out his hands like a gunfighter prepping for a quick draw, holding them at his side, palms up and open. "Not about to be shown up by... whoever the hell it is you work for." At least he has that sort of sly smirk when he says that.

While Vanessa looks to deliver the MILF of All Punchings to Vice, Soma takes a deep breath and concentrates. In each hand, a little glow of silver takes shape, then elongates and shapes itself into two roughly dagger-shaped light constructs, edged in crackling black. Bringing them together at the 'hilts', Soma produces what is effectively a double sword of silver-black Psycho Power. "Now...!"

Ducking forward, he tries to time his strike with the end of Vanessa's. It's not fancy; it's an overhead, Mega Man Zero-style arcing slash with the psychic energy weapon, trailing an arc of silver in the air and looking to cut it right through Vice from head to toe. If it were a REAL sword, this would be quite nasty... as it is, though, this might feel just as bad.

COMBATSYS: Vanessa successfully hits Vice with Machine Gun Puncher EX.
Glancing Blow

[                          \\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Vice             0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  /////////////////             ]
                                  |=======\-------\0          Vanessa


COMBATSYS: Vice interrupts Ashvinau from Soma with Withering Surface.
- Power hit! -
~ Cruel hit! ~

[                            \\  < >  /////                         ]
Vice             0/-------/----===|=======\=====--\1             Soma
                                  >  /////////////////             ]
                                  |=======\-------\0          Vanessa


COMBATSYS: Vice has reached second wind!

[                        \\\\\\  < >  /////                         ]
Vice             0/-------/---====|=======\=====--\1             Soma
                                  >  /////////////////             ]
                                  |=======\-------\0          Vanessa


'HERE IT COMES! BODY!'

Vice, who had begun to brace herself against a wall to assuage some of the stress of standing upright under her own power is /forced/ to do so when Vanessa's first punch collides with the back of her skull. The hissing noise that follows is a quavering, agonized, and thanks to the hurricane of punches following the first choppy thing. She will turn to face Vanessa, but it's very, very slow, like if there was an episode of Inspector Gadget where Dr. Claw was finally, /finally/ revealed, the way his chair might gradually swivel to face the camera, /that/ is how she turns.

So a single wide, frenzied eye laced with a thick webbing of redness and the beginnings of a sanguine underline is the first thing Vanessa and Soma will see, then a bloodsplattered cheek, a bruisey nose, and of course the rage-and-agony rictus of her retracted lips and tightly clenched teeth.

And it is then that her chin is lifted by a thunderous uppercut. Her eyes flutter a little as she wobbles unsteadily on legs that are already unenthused with the notion of doing their jobs.

And then comes Soma, cutting her without cutting her, bleeding her without bleeding her, flaying her psyche in a way normally reserved for skanky British nimbos with purple hair, unreasonable physiques and an allergy to reasonable attire; the sword travels effortlessly through her body as things with no weight or material substance are wont to do, but once it's embedded in, roughly, her chest, her unsteady swaying sees her weaving towards Soma. There is blackness creeping in from the corners of her vision thanks to the two fighters' efforts, but if /anything/ can kick a person's - or, maybe anti-person's, right now - Fight or Flight mechanism into action, it's having a goddamn sword embedded in her chest.

Her right arm swings almost listlessly, and in the name of self defense she reaches beyond Vanessa as need be to grip the ICPO Agent's face and apply enough pressure to his body to at least arrest the cleaving a while.

Threads of ugly purple chi leak from her healing gashes and from between her teeth to swirl around the two of them as she forcibly takes his head fully into both hands, rears her own cranium back... then SLAMS her forehead into the center of the Agent's face. All the chi explodes - harmlessly, despite the brief skull imagery - into a column around them at the moment of impact and continues to do so as she wrenches her head back, slams him again, and again, and again until even she is too dazed to continue. At that point, she'll send him flying for a second haphazard vertical trip; where and how and if he lands isn't /really/ a concern anymore.

Vanessa unloads all her powerful fist powers against Vice, and for her troubles she receives...

She stares Vice in the face, even as her fists power in, harder, harder, harder again, don't be scared ,don't be /frightened/, she's a /woman/, and you've got a guy with a lightning knife, you can /do this/, she's not...HIM!

But Vice is sticking to life just as thoroughly as that man, and Vanessa swallows hard - darting back, back out of range, she can think, she can do this. What is she? It doesn't matter, maybe; just keep the pressure on her, knock her down and take her out. Right. OK, OK, OK, GOD I need a DRINK!! Vice savages Soma while Vanessa watches, unable to really intervene - anything she could throw into that mass would hurt Soma, too, and she figures he doesn't need more of that. Wait for it. She throws him. Vanessa tracks him. She's not sure he /will/ land.

She darts in. The ground doesn't even realize her feet have passed before she's there - right there as Vice staggers, and Vanessa lunges one fist down to the top of her skull, and then another at her chin, yelling, "HELLION!" with all her might, sparks of golden chi tracing the path of her fists, hopefully searing Vice and knocking her down for good. This is no longer a fight for fun or for information - Vanessa can tell a killer when she sees one.

For most of his skyward ride, Soma is actually unconscious. In fact by, oh, the second or third face slam previous head trauma had already made this point seemingly moot, which certainly accounts for (or at least contributes to) the sudden burst of ragdoll physics involved when Vice throws him overboard, as it were, right into the stratosphere. He quite literally blacked out, and there's an extremely good chance he would be quite dead on the way down if it were not for one surprising thing:

He lands face-down on an invisible ninja grind rail.

It's in the distance, but Vanessa might spot it, since he's wearing black... but with the storm clouds overhead, maybe not. For a second the ICPO agent just lies there, bleeding out on the chi-formed pathway. It's a wonder he didn't shatter the thing instantly; it's likely the weird behavior of gravity around them is to blame. Eventually, however, some tenacious trait (hint: TENACIOUS) awakens something in Soma, forcing him to his knees, then standing, looking down. She's still down there, that one... part of him would really like to just stay here and let Vanessa handle it. But that would be, and the capital letter here is critical, Wrong. Sighing, wiping blood from his eyes, Soma looks down.

His fingers brush the hilt of his wire-dagger, and he narrows his gaze. "This better work."

Then he's in facedown freefall toward the alley.

He only comes into view as he's hurtling downwards, but he doesn't wait to just drop onto Vice like some sort of curry-flavored meteor. Instead at about the roof height of the two buildings that make this ill-fated alley, he lashes out with the wire-detached blade of the dagger, looking to wrap it around Vice's arm. If he can get a good loop, he continues down... *Vice* goes upward. And around... and around... and around... and then down, *hard*, with Soma landing right on top of her, the ICPO agent havng Bionic Commando-ed here as a sort of midair stepping stone to buy him some time.

Voice chokes with injury and the coppery taste of blood -- his, or Vice's, possibly both -- he then forms a glittering silver psi-dagger in one hand and stabs it into the body beneath him, growling: "Stay. DOWN."

COMBATSYS: Vice blocks Vanessa's Forbidden Eagle.

[                         \\\\\  < >  /////                         ]
Vice             0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                  |=======\-------\0          Vanessa


COMBATSYS: Soma successfully hits Vice with Orihime's Loom.

[                                < >  /////                         ]
Vice             0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                  |=======\-------\0          Vanessa


Vice sort of... crouches beneath Vanessa's first punch, the one that falls atop her head; the second never makes contact because she just catches it and pushes down hard enough to keep it from ever making contact with her chin.

This doesn't do much for the chi, which arcs freely across her body thanks to the skin to skin contact, and that's probably some part of why Soma's whipcord assault binds as tightly as it does. She is ripped from Vanessa and sent crashing through whatever construction happens to be unfortunate enough to be in her way, and when it is all over she is grounded, breathless, bleeding, aching, mounted--thinking of Mature again, for some reason.

She can't stop Soma from stabbing her, not now; she /can/, however, try to make him pay for the affront by straightening her right hand and driving it towards his adam's apple so that as she is stabbed, as she writhes in the kind of pain that only a shot of Psycho Power delivered directly to one's nervous system can bring, she can maybe, possibly take him into unconsciousness with her.

COMBATSYS: Vice can no longer fight.

                                  >  /////                         ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                  |=======\-------\0          Vanessa


COMBATSYS: Soma parries Vice's Death Blow!

                                  >  /////                         ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Soma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                  |=======\-------\0          Vanessa


The blade of the dagger, attached to the long wire, makes a complicated orbit as it's reeled in. It snaps in place just in time for Soma to slam the hilt of the weapon into Vice's hand with what is probably unnecessary roughness, but damned if he's going down with her at this point. He very slowly slips the weapon back into its sheath in the small of his back, and grinds out "Right then."

He then stumbles backward a few steps and ends up collapsed on the alley floor, back to the wall and legs splayed. He leans forward and coughs up blood into his hands with a really unnerving wet sound. Whatever it was that let him survive just now, he will probably be praying to it for the rest of his days. There may be goat sacrifices involved too, for all he knows. Soma's looked death in the face before, but the key difference between those situations and now is that Vice *looked back at him*.

"So," he says to Vanessa in a ragged tone, looking up at the boxer with a rueful expression. "How's my hair?"

Log created on 23:09:25 05/16/2010 by Soma, and last modified on 21:06:50 05/18/2010.