Description: The crushing weight of her responsibilies heavy upon her, Zaki has decided to take action against the unsavoury element plaguing Southtown. A brief campaign fought on the mean streets leads her to a small concealed warehouse, where she finds a shocking secret waiting to be uncovered... or more accurately, does the secret find her?
It's a beautiful day.
There've been a lot of those lately.
The streets of Southtown seem to have been slumbering, long-fought disputes fading away - or at worst turning to the extremely petty. Tournament fighters come and go from overseas, bringing with them the darkest and most dire of rumours. Yet there is little stirring from the population at large, whether due to the early onset of lazy, summery days, or a simple despondency built up over time. Whatever the cause; this city sleeps, and to those who seek to protect the hallowed streets of the fighters' metropolis, it's frustrating at best. Because there are pockets of society that never fall still. A complacent attitude only allows the unsavoury elements to spread, to breed, to infect the very underbelly of the city. And in turn, those who lie nearest the bottom.
This includes /children/.
"Hmph..."
Aoi Himezaki is not a happy bunny. Recent months have been tough on her own stamping ground. While she's been busy studying for her future, lost in her own form of stifling ignorance, rumours have reached her ears of invasive violence, of failure to protect and maintain the generally excellent reputation of Seijyun High. It's a reputation which lies, contrary to the belief of the aged fools who deem themselves in charge, in more than academic achievement and extra-curricular virtue. The young women within represent a future steeped in the chaos of progress and change. They represent a brighter tomorrow.
So when she hears that some of their number have been pulled from their path by something so self-diminishing as narcotics, there is no preventing her from action. Rallying a large number of her own fledgling army - the Ladies' Team - the imposing bruiser known only, and only EVER, as Zaki has turned her own spike-heeled step toward the utter ruination of the pathetic scum responsible. Various informants have been left bloodied and beaten by a storm of chains and deceptively-weighty purses, the authorities misled from interposition thanks to those special few girls who are best able to turn on the waterworks.
It's all led her to the solid, seedy concrete of Southtown's notorious river bank. A few bloodied Gedo noses, a word or two sent in the direction of Daigo Kazama, and Zaki has moved into their territory to stage a 'training session' of her own. Fully two dozen young women of varied creed and colour variously stand, squat and lounge at the river's edge, raising a hubbub of chatter between them that well draws attention from the rusty metal gates swung open at one vast stone wall of the bank, leading into a dark, dank maintenance tunnel.
Inside, the sounds of a fight already begin to diminish as their great and glorious leader puts the final hurting on the pair of thugs who deigned to try and prevent her from reaching her goal. It's a beautifully executed operation; with only one flaw in the cunningly mounted camera the statuesque teenage hellion had failed to account for at the tunnel entrance. Bulk and Skull may be unconscious at her feet, but she is watched by other eyes as she turns to head deeper inside, emerging into a wide room stacked with covered crates and boxes.
"Well," she mutters darkly, glancing to either side to ensure she has been tracked by the trio of women who followed her inside. One stands on either flank, dressed in the stylish motley favoured by delinquent schoolgirls, whilst the other - brought along because she needed the experience - stands with knees nocked, biting her nails at the centre, about three scant feet from Aoi herself. Rolling her eyes as she turns back to the task at hand, Zaki reaches for one of the tarpaulins covering up the sinister cache. "Let's see what these miserable pukes were hiding away in here."
The cover drifts away, tossed with a vigorous motion to land in a heap in the far corner - revealing a container that is far too large to contain something so dense and easily-concealed as a bit of cocaine. Daubed upon the top in sketchy black stencil, a winged skull. Harsh eyes narrow upon the emblem.
"Tch. What the hell is /that/ supposed to mean?"
Do dolls dream of electric sheep?
While the forces of good and justice and all that blahblahblah are storming through the city above like purifying fire, Cammy is resting her eyes, hands folded over her chest, thinking. After all, despite what a few in the base may think she really is a real girl, she can't just switch her mind off at will despite outside appearances. Most of her thoughts are currently occupied by no less a man than Geese Howard, as her last encounter with him was quite painfully memorable. And she's sure that the master, once he returns, will be fascinated to hear her report on him.
Some of her thoughts wander every so often to her unfortunate and persecuted crush, her best (and really only friend), and also of course all the people who she loathes, who she hopes will not get. Like Balrog, and Adon, and Juri, and all the other tiresome petty thugs there. .
God, she's bored, and can't wait to be out of here. Only a fanatical zealot would ever stand to do this sort of thing. Fortunately for her, she is just such a fanatical zealot where orders are concerned, but even so, she's glad when her reverie is interrupted by the sounds of fighting nearby. While outwardly remaining quiet and still, eyes closed for effect, she is very aware of her surroundings, and ready to spring into action should someone actually try and get the drop on her while she lurks in her box.
Hopefully whoever opens the box will be too surprised to promptly punch her while she is so confined and unable to move. And maybe not notice the breathing holes in the side.
This is not a normal situation. Seijyun's self-made sentinel is no psychic, but she can sense that something is entirely not right here. Whether the box is full of drugs, weapons, or something unpredictable and infinitely worse, after a long moment examining that forbidding crest she is at least entirely sure that she doesn't want to open this box herself. She looks over her shoulder.
"Oi!" Sharp, vulpine eyes affix upon the practically panicked girl dragged along for the ride. Alongside the pair of flamboyant fatal-femme gangsters, and in front of the dark-shrouded form of Zaki, she looks nothing approaching the part in her denim miniskirt and pale blue skinny tee. "Tch." That's not what frustrates the bondage queen of Southtown. Her gaze darts sidelong, singling out one of the other women who - though they keep an eye upon Cammy - are no less mindful of their bosslady. "...what was her name?"
It's spoken coldly, and does nothing for the poor girl's confidence.
"Nezumi."
Returned with only the warmth of the cruel, a malicious little grin pulling on the older teen's lips for a moment, before the stammered objection comes with quiet indignance. "M-My name's not--" Aoi rolls her attention back to centre.
"Nezumi," she echoes thoughtfully, neither raising her particularly indicating that her own interests hold any more importance than those of her stricken subordinate. The truth is the she doesn't need to - there's not a single soul on the Ladies' Team who isn't aware of the plain and simple fact that you should not, do not, dare to speak when Zaki is speaking. "It's a good enough name for now." She leans back, dangling length of chain rattling against her chest before she folds her arms across it. But she speaks kindly enough, "Nezumi, why don't you step up and open this box for me?"
"W-Why do I need to...?" Raising an argument is out of the question too. She is cut off by the faintest, tiniest narrowing of that piercing stare. Pulling her chewed hand away from her mouth, patting herself down as she draws in a deep, shuddering breath, the girl replies, "O-Okay, Zaki. Whatever you say."
She paces forward as her masked tormentor takes a step back, swaying to the side to keep a wary gaze upon the deeply suspicious crate. In what seems a most unsettlingly idle gesture, the chime of slipping steel links resounds from her right sleeve, and the end of a second chain drops into her gloved palm. Behind the thick buckles of her mask, Aoi begins to hum faintly, toying with the cool metal links, watching coolly as the lid of the box comes away.
And then 'Nezumi' is screaming, leaping backwards as she lets the heavy wood clatter resoundingly to the floor, clapping slender hands to her mouth to cut the sound short and continuing to back off as she turns to STARE at her still-calm boss, who quirks a pencil-thin brow in response.
Stepping forward, Zaki takes one look down at Cammy and promptly snaps her wrist, allowing the full length of her hidden weapon to uncoil. The end is seized with a second darting motion of a practiced hand, which is then raised before her, the chain wrapped tight around her palm as a jabbing finger is pointed down at the lurking Doll.
"Out," she snaps, entirely untrusting, entirely rude, "/Now/."
Cammy's blue eyes flick open when the box lid is finally tugged off by someone of nervous disposition, apparently. The uniformed Doll is quite eager to get out of the box herself, of course, and so Zaki's 'order' is one Cammy is happy to follow, as she stretches, languid, and slowly but deliberately steps out of the box, unfolding her arms as she does so.
A blank gaze fixes upon Zaki, who is rather obviously the ringleader here. "An easy enough task to find out who has been interfering with the masters plans in this part of town. You will not find any drugs here... only me.". And finding the Killer Bee is generally a bad thing - especially when her orders involve the teaching of painful lessons.
Her gaze moves down to the chain briefly, and then over Zaki's minion, before it returns to Zaki herself. "Commencing mission!" she declares, and suddenly runs straight at Zaki, sure that the minions will fall if their boss does, whoever the hell she is.
And inside she's actually rather proud. Lord Vega would be so happy to see his top Doll being so doll-like. She's really making an effort here - she doesn't want Lord Vega to think her off duty activities are getting in the way of her work, after all!
Cammy's willing display of obedience does not overly faze the vulpine redhead, who in spite of her abrupt and fierce orders, easily enough resumes her earlier show of patience as she watches the Doll unfold her impressive form with a gaze that is - in fact - very interested beneath the impassive glint of her hard blue eyes. This is certainly an unexpected turn of events. And this strange, almost impossibly well-toned woman clearly seeks to set Zaki upon the back foot. She'll not find a second screaming victim here.
"I'm glad you found me such easy prey," her voice slips with a hint of wry sarcasm from behind her mask, as she takes slow steps back out into the room, away from the crate-cocoon and its emergent butterfly. "Quite a trap you've set; I couldn't have planned it better myself. Four on one, with another couple of dozen waiting to pick up the pieces?" Invisibly, she smirks. It does not reach her eyes. Only showing in the amused edge of her deep voice. "Genius."
Behind her, the two more experienced thugettes settle back into their own approximations of fighting stances - and for what it's worth, they seem to at least have a little training. 'Nezumi', on the other hand...
"I-I-I don't think I want to be here any more!"
"Pull yourself together," Zaki barks in response, finally raising her voice to something approaching a yell as Cammy begins to /move/. She's fast - probably faster than the sukeban herself - but Seijyun's sentinel remains confident. No girl her own age is the match for close to thirty trained warriors. "Stop sobbing so I can fucking think! SURRR-YAAAAAHHH!"
Thrusting a leg back, grinding deep into her heel, she drops away in front of the charging Doll, lashing her right arm upward to strike out with a whiplike lash of that gathered chain. It unwinds with startling rapidity, seeking to snap taut around the neck - if she can manage it - and then with a spin and a twist of her own athletic frame, Zaki seeks to drive Cammy overhead and into the harsh, unforgiving concrete inches from her terrified subordinate's feet.
COMBATSYS: Zaki has started a fight here.
COMBATSYS: Cammy has joined the fight here.
COMBATSYS: Cammy blocks Zaki's Chain Flip.
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Cammy 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Zaki
Cammy lifts up red gauntlets as the chain comes in, it curling around a forearm rather than a neck, and flies through the air as the chain is tugged and twisted, a storm of braids and limbs as the doll spins through the air while trying to maintain some semblance of balance. She does in the end, however, land on her feet like a cat rather than on her face, so she manages to avoid humiliation in front of Zaki's homies.
So far, anyway.
She then casts a gaze over Zaki's unsteady minions. "You should run away now, little girls, run away. Before you get hurt... permanently.". Her attentions return to Zaki, whipping around to face her leaving a trail of blonde hair as she twirls. And then she /launches/ herself at her, boots first, somehow in defiance of gravity as she flies through the air in some sort of weird wire fu technique. "SPIRAL ARROW!".
COMBATSYS: Cammy successfully hits Zaki with Spiral Arrow.
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Cammy 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Zaki
"Tch."
Aoi Himezaki is NOT a happy bunny. Vulpine slits narrow upon the Doll's unerringly safe landing, and there follows an instant where the hard-hitting sukeban is able to reflect on her own over-extension, tensed muscles relaxing as she starts to reverse the excessive momentum and prepare for the riposte. She put too much into it - tried too hard to end this, and Cammy's approach is faster than it should be. She /knows/ that attack at least had to slow her down. So why is the stoic, pigtailed woman still moving like that?
Because she's that damn good. Zaki tries to evade, using her own oft-enviable agility to draw back from her strike, the chain whipping in an arc to loop once around her forearm, an almost unconscious gesture made as she occupies her full faculties in spinning to one flank, long limbs arranging themselves to maintain the perfect synergy between balance and speed. There's nothing wrong with what she tries. But she is struck all the same, knocked onto her side to shriek across the concrete, body chafed and bruised beneath her uniform.
Just another reason she wears it. Weakness is not acceptable.
"Hold the line!" She thunders to her three compatriots, flipping to a crouch and staring through the gloomy air at Cammy. She pushes herself to her feet with a faint hiss of breath, "You're good," she notes, cracking her neck to one side and twirling the chain back out from around her arm. It hits the floor with a rattle of collecting links, an oddly melodious sound that may just distract from the blurring motion she enters a beat later. From standing to airborne she goes, turning a deft somersault through the narrow confines above to end up behind her opponent. "Too good! Who do you work for?!"
Her demand comes in the wake of a widely-lashing length of chain.
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Zaki's Random Strike.
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Cammy 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Zaki
Cammy is curiously still as Zaki somersaults behind her - she half turns, looking over her shoulder, spots the chain coming in, and scary muscles bunch up as she tenses before hurling herself up into the air, achieving an impressive altitude. The flailing chain sweeps out a wide arc beneath her, but fortunately it doesn't sweep out an arc in three dimensions, so the doll is safe. "Shadaloo!" she hisses in response as she flies through the air - not a time for long sentences or pithy prose.
And she's landing... on Zaki! The doll attempts to thump down right on top of her in fact, neatly landing on her shoulders like an acrobat jumping onto a horse. She doesn't plan on being there for long though, as the thighs of doom get a grip, and then the doll tries to backflip off of her onto the ground. Needless to say, as she's holding tight onto Zaki at the time, Zaki will be going on a painful ride to the concrete in the process.
This, of course, all conditional on the Doll actually managing to land on her.
COMBATSYS: Zaki interrupts Hooligan Suplex from Cammy with Chain Strangler EX.
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Cammy 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Zaki
"Zaki!"
Despite her harsh demeanour, Aoi knows a thing or two about loyalty. Nezumi's gasped exclamation attests to that, as she stumbles a step forward and almost seems ready to throw herself in the way of her leader as her landing is set to be interrupted so dangerously by the swooping Doll. Only a hissed warning keeps the hapless girl back. Loyalty. It's a precious thing. But what of her scarily talented foe? That Cammy so readily speaks her employer's name is incredibly interesting - it means either her own status does not depend on the sanctity of information, or that she believes they have no reason to hide. The first may mean she is not entirely loyal.
The second is troubling. Very troubling.
Whether or not the redheaded delinquent gains any advantage by the warning of her hopefuly subordinate is arguable; but the fact remains, as Cammy lands upon her, as those thighs tighten, they are met by a deft redirection of that chain. The subsequent flip comes in tandem with the likewise tightening of chill metal links about the Doll's neck, and when they hit the ground neither woman is given the benefit of an easy landing. The back of Zaki's skull cracks against the concrete, but her teeth are already gritted in readiness, and she /hauls/ upon the secured chain to pull Cammy down past her, rebounding from the floor to flip to her feet with a fierce exhalation.
A moment later, a bootheel descends for the chain about the Doll's neck, and Zaki stands bent over her, breathing hard behind the mask but with that threatening stare aflame with intensity as she leans in close, continuing to choke the other woman as she addresses her with as much cool as she can muster.
"Tell Shadaloo to stay the hell away Seijyun! We don't need your /crap/ here."
Cammy for one moment actually has Zaki, and is on the verge of snapping her body so Zaki meets concrete - but then these happy thoughts of victory are disturbed as the chain lashes up and wraps itself about the dolls neck, suddenly half tearing her off of Zaki's shoulders. But she's already committed, and so the two of them go down anyway, but not quite in the way Cammy intended.
Stunned for a moment, she realises there's a boot pinning the chain to the ground, and the doll scowls, sweeping out with one leg at Zaki's foot to dislodge the chain before backflipping away to a safe ish distance. There, she watches, and calculates.
"Nobody cares what you think you don't need." the doll informs her foe. "If nobody needed it they wouldn't buy it." she also points out. It's like the opium wars all over again, even with a (spiral) Arrow involved.
"Your minions are very loyal." she comments, while still considering her actions. "I approve. I do not think you worthy of their loyalty, though.".
COMBATSYS: Cammy calculates her next move.
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Cammy 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Zaki
The sukeban is no slouch, but her grip is easily broken once Cammy regains the wherewithal to free herself. She stumbles only momentarily before righting herself with an intake of breath, slinging her weapon into the air with a twitch of the wrist and beginning to spin it in a whooshing arc as she circles around the troublesome Doll. She's not stupid; already she realises this is a fight she probably can't win alone. But there is a reason she demands such respect from her subordinates-- her /peers/. She'll not let them take the bulk of the punishment, not while she still stands firm upon her feet.
"People like you," she responds to Cammy, voice level and calm until it suddenly raises, those vulpine eyes flashing above her mask, "Know nothing of worth! I don't own Southtown, and I can't stop the educated idiots from destroying themselves, but there's precious little morality in peddling your dangerous shit to children already fighting against a system that hates them!" She takes a lunging step forward, the chain humming once more through the air before it comes to a melodious rest beneath her extended arm. "You've got talent, and I'll bet you think you're just doing your fucking job..."
She tails off with a sneer in her tone, canting her chin up and her head sidelong, staring wildly down the length of thick leather buckles. And then, abruptly, she pushes off and breaks into a rapid sprint, rearing up at the last instant to lift a spiked heel up to head height. She pushes it forward with a vicious thrust of her trailing leg. "Walk /away/! Tell your bosses how to find me, and I'll settle this with them!"
COMBATSYS: Cammy interrupts Light Kick from Zaki with Cannon Spike.
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Cammy 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Zaki
"Lord Vega does not care about your idle philosophical musings. And neither does he care about your outmoded notions of morality. Submission to His will is all that matters." the doll breathes in response to Zaki's sermon, voice flat and absolute. "I am doing my job, yes. And more! I am Lord Vega's empty weapon." she explains, recalling Geese's 'insult', which to a brainwashed zealot is more of a compliment. And indeed, a faint edge of pride does edge into the addled dolls voice.
Zaki may dislike authority and the system, but Cammy is practically the embodiment of slavish devotion - so much so that she considers her unquestioning obedience to be a point of pride, something to show off!
And then she allows herself a small smile as Zaki moves in close to try and kick high. "A kicking contest." she smiles, eyes brightening for a moment of rare emotion, as she lifts one knee in readiness to exchange boots.
There's a blur of motion as Cammy's kick snaps up with blinding speed, one army boot smashing into the point of Zaki's chin with bonecrunching force and simultaneously half turning aside Zaki's own kick, and then she's bouncing away, propelled by the twin impacts as Zaki's foot finds one of Cammy's shoulders and knocks her back.
Though there is no doubt who came off the worst in that little contest.
No doubt whatsoever. That reinforced heel plows into the most fragile part of Zaki's leather-wreathed jaw, knocking her away well before her own strike can be delivered with its intended power. In a rattle of chains and a rush of swinging limbs she is sent into a graceless pirouette, ultimately coming down for a rough landing upon the leg she has been unable to entirely retract - and committed as it is to attacking, the lithe musculature is unready for a weighty burden at so unwieldy an angle.
She couldn't hide the pain if she tried; so she doesn't, releasing a guttural yell that booms noisily against her mask, her agony and frustration amplified only further by the confines of the tunnel chamber. The catharsis is enough, though, to wash off the stunning effect of Cammy's timely counter-assault, and a moment later Aoi pushes herself none too gingerly up to her feet. It's tough not to limp, it really is; but she manages to present herself with some semblance of the pride she never really lost.
It just squirmed in her grasp, that's all.
"You're a weapon alright," she grunts out, sending a curt nod in the Doll's direction. Zaki is starting to grow angry - and she can't say she likes this woman - but she 'likes' barely anybody. There's respect there, despite her purpose, and at least the placid Elite is forthcoming. Vega. She'll remember that, if she gets out of here in one piece. "Makes me wonder if you might be able to get past my girls after all. Whaddya reckon, pigtails? Could you take another ten? Twenty? After all..."
Her vulpine stare narrows.
"This isn't /over/ y---"
She does not finish that sentence, because in that very moment a loud, shrill scream parts the thin air behind Cammy, and poor, startled little Nezumi flings herself forward. Desperate to prove herself worthy of a place on the rapidly growing Ladies' Team, eager to assist in any way she can - despite her sheer terror of this uncanny woman - she has pulled from her shoulder the adorable, kitten-decorated purse she wears to accessorise, and swings the pink-and-baby-blue article at the back of Cammy's pigtailed head.
It's a wide swing, but it's not too badly aimed.
And what does she keep in it, a /lead brick/?
Zaki starts forward too late to make any difference, coiling her chain about her fist and cursing under her breath. She can't deny she needed the help, but given what Cammy just did to her? Not good. Not good at all.
COMBATSYS: Zaki gains composure.
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Cammy 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Zaki
COMBATSYS: Nezumi has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Nezumi's Purse Smack.
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Cammy 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Zaki
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Nezumi 0/-------/-------|
Cammy isn't particularly reticent, no - who she is exactly and who she works for is discernable with a little research, after all. Besides, the name of the giant chinned one is often enough to terrify those who knows him into submission, which accomplishes the mission objective. It works on people like Adon, after all.
"I think your girls would not be stupid enough, after they see what I have done to you." she observes coldly, like an axe murderer before the main event. Mission parameters included 'pour encourager les autres' after all.
She's a little surprised when Nezumi steps forward and tries to brain her with her little cute purse. The Doll takes the threat seriously though, hurriedly dancing around Nezumi in a cartwheel which sucks up a fair bit of her effort and attention, before leaping right over Nezumi's head to her main target again. Given the doll is a braided bundle of cute herself - well, from the neck up anyway - it wouldn't do to dismiss her contemporaries too easily.
Coming down next to Zaki she lashes out with a clenched, gauntleted fist, aiming at her midriff in a short but viciously powerful strike. "Yah!".
COMBATSYS: Cammy successfully hits Zaki with Axle Spin Knuckle.
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Cammy 0/-------/-======|=======\===----\1 Zaki
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Nezumi 0/-------/-------|
There are many odd things about Cammy - but that face, her apparent age. As she advances with a hard, unreadable glance toward an even more startled Nezumi, now hastily pulling her purse back with a bright flush upon her cheeks and hands faintly trembling, Zaki does briefly consider that under different circumstances she'd quite probably be attempting to recruit the blonde warrior for her own reportedly-heinous purposes. She'd definitely be an asset. Her loyalty is still somewhat in question, too, although her tone, her eyes...
Perhaps the sukeban thinks too much. Though her intent gaze is back upon the Doll, she doesn't even seem to attempt an evasion of the incoming backhand, actually starting to accelerate just as it thunders toward her midsection. It lands true - or seemingly true - though there is something in Zaki's receiving grunt of pain that is less than astonished. In fact, she almost rolls with the blow, turning her reversed momentum into a sidelong stumble and kicking a leg wide to catch herself before she can move too far. It's close to graceful.
But not close enough.
"Kuso," she spits, swallowing back a dangerously dry mouthful of bile, lashing out with a hard stare as Nezumi actually beats her to the punch in mounting the next offensive, rushing Cammy with a boisterous shout and winding her arm back to bring the purse swinging around again. The only problem for the poor girl is that Zaki /is/ a great deal faster, and with a rush of breath she pushes herself off from her back heel and swings out with the lead leg, tripping her subordinate in mid-toss. The purse goes flying at Cammy - but it happens at range as Nezumi goes down, tucking her shoulder and rolling to a crouch as her suddenly-raging boss swings around to take her place.
"Keep out of the way!!"
Whether she's directing this to the Doll or the Ladies' Team hopeful is moot compared to the violent flash of energy creeping up her raised leg as she uses her gathered momentum to /spring/ toward Cammy, spiked bootheel slicing down toward her face in a positively vicious axe kick. And if it hits, she has absolutely no intention of stopping there...
COMBATSYS: Nezumi successfully hits Cammy with Purse Throw.
Grazing Hit
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Cammy 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Zaki
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Nezumi 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Zaki's Hissatsu Inazuma Gankou Geri.
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Cammy 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Zaki
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Nezumi 0/-------/-------|
Cammy goes into action as attacks come in from all sides. She leaps up at first, straight up into the air, apparently merely to confuse as when she lands she promptly bounces off to one side like a jet ball. A purse goes flying past, opening in mid air to wing Cammy on the elbow, before the Doll leaps forward, well above the axe kick of Zaki.
She whirls around upon landing, braids careening around her, to grab at Zaki's outstretched foot, while a flying braid-tip bats harmlessly against the back Zaki's head, and tries to twist it viciously in ways nature did not intend, not so much a throw but more of a horribly joint popping lock executed with lethal competence. And she's not looking for a referee to declare a submission, she's looking for it to /hurt/.
"You should follow your mistresses advice." she tells Nezumi, without actually looking at her - she's all focused upon Zaki at the moment. "And you. Should learn your lesson!" she tells Zaki!
COMBATSYS: Zaki endures Cammy's Strong Throw.
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Cammy 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Zaki
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Nezumi 0/-------/-------|
"And you--"
Dropping into a crouch as she starts to drop her heel, Zaki tenses every damn muscle in her lithe frame, staring up at the Doll for an instant before it registers that the evasive woman has eluded her again. Her eyes widen substantially, a shocked exhalation bubbling from her throat that she would probably deny ever happened. This is not... usual. This is not right. Her own lengthy tail of unnatural red whips against her back as she darts her gaze upward, Cammy landing and twisting with horrible speed and power.
"Get the hell--"
Zaki grits her teeth, turning into the pressure with fierce, bloody-minded abandon, snarling as the pain intensifies for a moment before she can pull through the hold. She weathers it admirably though, and pulls herself free with a gut-wrenching shout, spinning up to her feet and around, coming to face Cammy with her right arm thrusting forward. The gathered links of chain unfurl in a clattering, jangling rush, launched forward to impact against the Doll's chest and pile up in the space of an instant, driving home a shocking amount of force. "HRAAAAAHHH!!"
"HAAAAAH!" Her cry is joined by another, as Nezumi rises from her crouch to straight-up bullrush Cammy from the opposite flank. It's a bold, even brash, headstrong kind of move - and if that chain misses she could end up entangling herself in the fury of her 'mistress'. If she can hit, she'll follow up the shoulder tackle with a wild haymaker, calling in its wake, "The only person that needs to learn a lesson here is you! Don't mess with Zaki!"
Loyalty is a precious thing.
"...away from the stupid girls in this town..." Zaki lamely finishes, hit or miss.
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Zaki's Hakai no Tessa.
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Nezumi's Aggressive Strike.
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Cammy 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Zaki
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Nezumi 0/-------/-------|
Cammy eventually has to let go of Zaki's leg, even though the effect it seems to be having brings a faint, grim smile to the doll's blank features. Because suddenly all hell is breaking loose!
There are shouts and incoming objects, the clattering of chains. Cammy reacts instantly, letting go of the leg for some blessed relief, practically doing the splits as she ducks down low almost impossibly fast, the chain flying by overhead. Nezumi's charge arrives while the doll is all splayed out, but somehow Cammy manages to wriggle out of the way, twisting almost casually so that Nezumi's charge just glances against Cammy's back harmlessly.
It looks like /her/ joints really do bend in all manner of ways nature did not intend.
"You need more friends." she observes, as she lunges forward with both hands to grab at Zaki's ankles, then surge to her feet - hopefully still holding those ankles - to try toss Zaki's feet straight up into the air.
Where the rest of Zaki goes the doll is less concerned with. It probably involves the concrete, and pain, though.
COMBATSYS: Zaki interrupts Medium Throw from Cammy with Kuuha no Tessa.
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Cammy 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Zaki
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Nezumi 0/-------/-------|
If you asked Zaki to list all the things that she values most...
Friendship actually might find itself a place, though she'd probably not admit it to all but her dearest and closest. Which includes all of two people. Given to fierce, prideful loneliness and acts of dominating violence throughout the majority of her youth, Aoi is perhaps one of the least likely candidates to see the value in such a sentimental side of life. But when times are rough, when the chips are down, nothing pulls through like a united front. Recent events have taught her that, and she's nothing if not a quick study. Friends, though, they're in short order - Cammy is right.
Nezumi is not her friend. Though the hopeful eyes of the girl find her across their impromptu battlefield, drawing herself up to an inexpert, but reasonable approximation of a basic fighting stance, the return glare from Zaki holds a modicum of respect that may grow in time... but little more. She may only ever be an ally. Ultimately, however, that's probably enough. There's only so much love to go around in this world. Perhaps Cammy realises that, too.
"And where the hell are yours, pigtails?"
Or maybe not. The sukeban couldn't care a great deal less.
Spitting the reply, she allows her ankles to be grasped for the moment it takes the almost inhuman woman to send her hurtling into the air. It hurts - this Doll has been marketed with all the trimmings, and her plastiflesh grasp can probably snap a girder in twain with enough motivation. But it doesn't make Zaki lose her head, it doesn't break her resolve or take her grit away from her. She flips over in the air, coming within a breathless inch of slamming into the unyielding ceiling, but manages to control herself for long enough to whip her arm up, the chain still following in her wake immediately summoned into a lashing strike against the Doll's torso. Links sting, but they grasp too; and when Zaki falls back to earth, landing in a crouch, she does so with a sharp yank - dragging Cammy down to join her in the dirt of the tunnel.
A beat later, a white Mary Jane thunders toward the grounded Elite's side.
"Friends stand together!" Nezumi proclaims, grinning fiercely as she pulls her foot back and stands with fists raised, looking down at this no-longer untouchable foe. "Just like the Ladies' Team!"
"Heh," Zaki looks across, a sharp glint in her vulpine eyes, "You tell her, shortround."
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Nezumi's Medium Kick.
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Cammy 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Zaki
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Nezumi 0/-------/-------|
Cammy wails out a high pitched wail of surprise when she feels the chain wrapping around her - she knows what's coming next, as when Zaki falls, Cammy is hurled to the ground with a sickening thud. While she's down Nezumi is kicking at her, and there's an almost comedic little moment there where, like an action movie, despite her compromising position on the floor the Doll just isn't there whenever Nezumi kicks at her. She manages to twist and turn and roll and writhe and somehow as if by a miracle she comes through it all unscathed.
Nezumi only has a few chances to do this though as before long Cammy has recovered her wits and is rolling away, before bouncing up in a kip-up. "My name, is Cammy White." she grates out, a little tired after all this exertion, and deciding that she really doesn't like being called 'pigtails'. "I have friends.". Well, one, and a terrified stalker victim. "I am on my own as analysis suggested no more would be needed. So far, it appears that analysis has been proven to be correct.". She glances over at Nezumi, and shakes her head. "You should really go home." the doll warns. Kicking the hapless about does not sit well with the doll - at least unless she is ordered to, and her orders did not say that she should. At least, not specifically, anyway.
There is a brief pause...
COMBATSYS: Cammy gains composure.
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Cammy 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Zaki
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Nezumi 0/-------/-------|
If truth be told, Seijyun's foremost brawler really doesn't have a great deal left in the tank - her style is not structured around the kind of extended effort that dealing with the evasive Doll demands. That she has landed two solid hits already would normally be far more notable, and it seems this battle is far from being over. However. Nezumi, despite her own efforts being handily nullified, is keeping up the kind of passion that Zaki secretly finds inspirational in her fellows. And it's in part thanks to this that she pushes herself up with a shake of her head, long ponytail swishing.
"She's not going anywhere, /pigtails/. This is our home. You and your toys," with this she gestures toward the stack of crates with her chainless hand, "Weren't fucking welcome to begin with. We look after our own, and that's exactly what we're gonna continue doing. Capiche?"
The westernised slang is hurled in with as little regard for the society she claims to represent as presented in her mangled school uniform and ostentatious hairstyle. Or her choice of arms. Smirking beneath the mask, Aoi glances away from Cammy to direct a sharp nod and headtilt toward Nezumi, whose frank and impulsive expression gives no particular indication of understanding - until a hand gesture follows. Taking advantage of the brief pause to coordinate, boss and aspirant circle about on either side, Zaki to the fore and Nezumi behind.
A moment later, they charge as one.
"If you don't like it..."
It is the former who makes it in first, lunging out with her chain-wrapped fist to plow a rapid, stinging jab directly toward the throat. If this lands, she follows up by leaving the ground in a tight, rapid leap, thrusting a knee heavenward with intent to plant it into the exact same spot. It's a vicious, nasty move - but if anyone's proven she deserves it, it's the Doll.
"Take your Kung-Fu Action Grip and get off my--"
"OUR TURF!!"
She's cut off abruptly by Nezumi, who comes in the wake of her attack, leaping past Cammy as she seeks to ensare a wayward arm, whipping up both of her skinny legs to grapevine the limb and drag the Shadaloo Elite down toward the concrete with her. If she can somehow pull off the complex and demanding move, she'll end up with the armbar fully applied, /hauling/ backward to put vast pressure on the elbow and wrist, her makeup smearing as the sheer effort of the manuever causes uncried tears to prickle up and well from the corners of her eyes.
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Zaki's Armed Combo.
COMBATSYS: Cammy parries Nezumi's Wrist Crippler!
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Cammy 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Zaki
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Nezumi 0/-------/------=|
What is it with opponents of Lord Vega that they like talking about all this tenacity in the face of adversity, you're not welcome here, our turf rubbish. It's all so tiresome, Cammy hears it all the time. Her blank countenance assumes a rather tired expression for a moment, and she shakes her head, braids swishing. In the brief silence between words and actions, she shrugs her shoulders. "She's not going anywhere. As you wish." she replies, simply.
And then there is charging, fists jabbing at her from front and behind - she jumps up, going horizontal in mid air as she spins over the heads of Zaki and Nezumi, landing right next... to Nezumi.
Who then foolishly attempts to grab the dolls wrist. And she actually does, too, as Cammy just holds her hand out, to be grabbed. Nezumi then heaves on it, and despite all that herculean effort, it seems to do almost nothing, with the doll tensed up just so, and with her funny joints at that.
Once again Nezumi only gets a brief opportunity to inflict pain though, a second or two at most, as then the Doll is ready, and suddenly kicks at Nezumi viciously while her hands are busy - kicking with blinding speed, all over her body and face, dozens of kicks somehow in scant seconds. The final kick, assuming these land (fair assumption) knocks her high up into the air - the Doll leaps, grabs her, and then brings her down to the concrete with a horrible crunch of bones.
COMBATSYS: Cammy successfully hits Nezumi with Killer Bee Assault EX.
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Cammy 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Zaki
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Nezumi 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
Damn it all to hell. This is one of those moments that Aoi will be forced to watch again later - replayed time and again in the ever-haunting focus of the mind's eye. She's a hard woman, as seventeen year old schoolgirls go, but she is not without feelings of passion or remorse. Her seeking, biting jab cracks against the air, the moment of over-extension as she retracts from the follow-up costing young Nezumi dearly. One moment Cammy is leaping; the next she is simply /there/, driving in the first of a sickeningly brutal combination. It would be bad enough had the girl a decade of experience. For one who has only begun to discover her innate prowess...
Horrible doesn't do it justice.
Doelike brown eyes flash wide open in the instant before the Doll strikes, a short and relatively lacklustre life flashing past them. And then they close tightly, her teeth gritting as she is subjected to a trial by figurative fire, bones audibly breaking even before she is knocked heavenward. Her limbs are bloodied, t-shirt soaked through with crimson that could not remain internalized - there is simply too much. She hangs in space for a moment, head slung back and too-skinny form limp, until she is grasped, and driven downward.
"Hnnngh..." She is too agonized to even scream, folding like a discarded ragdoll and slumping into a pile, a fresh river of blood flowing from a cracked skull, and yet somehow - most disturbingly - she manages to move, fingers white at the joints as they claw at the concrete floor. She starts to drag herself upright, lifting her face and opening her eyes despite the red fluid that flows around them. She tries to speak, but merely gurgles.
And then Zaki is there beside there, her eyes fiercely locked upon Cammy as she settles beside the broken girl and lifts her up, an arm cast about her shoulders and her own, shaking back bracing the both of them as she stands. It could be the worst decision she's ever made; but she could not watch Nezumi try to fight further. Cammy wonders at their tenacity? This is why. Because this is what happens when they strive; one has to wonder, what would happen if they merely accepted the stamping heel of Shadaloo and their like?
Drawing herself up with strength and pride, the sukeban seems for a moment to be defying the Doll further - daring her to attack them again. Until her head bows, vulpine gaze remaining upon her foe; but no longer narrowed, hard and neutral as she shows her respect and acknowledges what is a sure victory.
At least now. She does not forget the two women standing nearby, nor the dozens outside. Inwardly, she hopes that Cammy won't either. Certainly they have no intention of mobbing her and killing her; or even capturing her. This is a fight neither of them can precisely triumph.
"Well fought, Cammy White," she offers with an audible sigh in spite of herself, "I despise what you're standing for, but you've made your point. This isn't a battle I can win without losing innocent lives. Sucks to be me. We'll back off, and if you have any honour..."
"Zaki! What the hell?!" The gangster who spoke earlier, almost as hard-faced as her boss, with a sneer upon her lips that is somewhere between indignant and hateful, steps forward from her vigil at the tunnel's edge. A switchblade flicks open in her palm, as her partner swings free a short chain - an imitation of their boss' own - from the inner pocket of a purple leather jacket. They've been waiting for a signal, until now.
A sidelong stare penetrates them each in turn. And they stop dead.
"/If you have any honour/," she resumes forcefully, turning back to Cammy, "You'll give us this retreat. Otherwise, you'll have to fucking kill us all. I'm not gonna bother threatening a woman like you -- we're beyond that -- but let's be honest. You've taken some hits. How many more can you take? Don't turn this into a bloodbath. Enough lives have been destroyed."
COMBATSYS: Zaki takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Nezumi takes no action.
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Cammy 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Zaki
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Nezumi 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
Cammy is far to one side by the time Zaki decides it's time to negotiate - a suitably safe distance. She drops her guard, gauntleted hands moving down to rest upon muscly hips. "Look what you made me do now." she says, voice flat. It's not quite clear what the meaning is - some sort of particularly tasteless joke perhaps, right after she brutalised someone with pretty much all she could muster. "If the rest of your little gang is anything like her, I clearly don't have much to worry about. And if I had to kill you at all costs, I am sure I could, and then what happens to me is the least of your concerns, is it.". Says the fanatic.
Buuut, the doll shrugs, and actually stretches, catlike, a much more human gesture than most of her precise movements have been up until now. Truth be told, after waiting in that box for god knows how long, her back is killing her, and she'd be glad to go home and have a bath or something. "But you have been taught your lesson. My mission is complete. And now I know who you are, the next time some of the masters merchandise goes missing maybe I will come for you where you live, and then you will not be able to beg your followers to help you. The masters business, is not your business.". The Killer Bee brushes a braid back into place over one shoulder - assassins are not known for fighting fair, after all, or when their targets are well prepared and with all their homies to hand.
She actually smiles at the gangers waiting with the switchblades and the chains. "I like it when little minions try and talk tough. The masters do that as well sometimes... not in my presence, though. I wonder if they'd be so tough after watching me snap your neck right here in front of them, and your other little friend too.". The Shadaloo base is such a happy fun time sort of place!
And while she may be happy to end matters here, intimidation value will certainly be lost if she allows terms to be dictated by the clearly vulnerable and defeated. "This is not your warehouse, you have no reason to be here. I suggest you leave with nobody in your gang permanently damaged, and let us hope we never have to meet each other again on these terms.".
Okay, the doll is a little bit wary here, as she likes Southtown, and she'd hate to be having a cup of tea in the Pao Pao Cafe with Ibuki only to have this mob show up. It would be... difficult to explain.
COMBATSYS: Cammy takes no action.
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Cammy 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Zaki
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Nezumi 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
Cammy knows who she is? Is that a fact?
A pencil-thin brow arches upward at that, though Zaki's face remains as ultimately unreadable as she favours it being. This encounter has made her gladder than ever that she wears such a mask, both literally and figuratively. There will be a lot of things to mull over later - and a future to prepare for. If there is a connection between the Doll and the fanatical freaks who invaded Seijyun High a few weeks ago, it's very possible that Shadaloo does know as much as it lets on. Shadaloo. Now she reflects on it...
"They talk tough because they are tough," she distantly replies in defense of her enraged subordinates, who have not backed off in the slightest. They may have stopped moving forward, but Cammy's words are having precisely the desired effect on them, and on the barely conscious Nezumi too, who struggles a little in Zaki's grasp. "Not like I am, and not like you are, but enough to count. You can stop making threats, White. I already told you we'd leave." Kill them all? No. She doesn't believe that for a second. But she does know who Cammy is.
Aoi wasn't involved directly in the pivotal events of the war that raged throughout Southtown, but she was there in the background. Defending those who could not protect themselves, giving help where it was due and deserved. Fighting the little fights. And even the backlines received word of who was to blame. Shadaloo. Vega. Yes; she remembers, and Thailand too. She is not so isolated within the confines of her school that she is not educated.
Suppressing a groan, she stands taller and begins to walk away, keeping her gaze warily upon Cammy as she signals the two waiting nearby to follow suit. They do so reluctantly, the hard-faced woman who has spoken twice now, biting back further words at a flickering glare from the sukeban.
"Thanks for your consideration," Zaki offers finally, before she steps out onto the river bank to lead off the rest of her girls. And to find medical attention for the one now hanging limply about her neck; the one who has earned her stripes this day, and then some, if she pulls through. "This time. If we need to talk business again, I reckon we both know that one of us won't be walking away. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Pity to waste skills like yours."
Her words are hard, but touched with respect she can't help but feel even now. Vega's lapdog is quite the warrior, and she has proven herself not to be pointlessly cruel, or, worse, stupid... And that puts her ahead in Zaki's book.
COMBATSYS: Zaki has left the fight here.
COMBATSYS: Nezumi has left the fight here.
Cammy stands there for a while, hands remaining on her hips, as Zaki and her mob file out of the warehouse. Whatever emotions were displayed during the fight fade away now as she goes back to her doll rest state, tightly controlled. Not even the two gangsterettes talking tough are given another glance.
She does arch a blonde eyebrow at the thanks. None of her targets ever /thanked/ her before. "If that is Lord Vega's will." she replies, with a shrug. As Zaki's crew file out, the doll vanishes herself, backing away into one of the shadows, her blue uniform and camo paint surprisingly good at merging with the dark.
She does of course hope it isn't Lord Vega's will, but thems the breaks.
COMBATSYS: Cammy has ended the fight here.
Log created on 08:10:57 04/01/2011 by Zaki, and last modified on 18:55:10 04/01/2011.