Description: Cammy has to bring Quon along in an assassination attempt on Yuki. Of course, Rust shows up and ruins everything. At least, thats what Cammy will say afterwards.
The scene - a picturesque street, with nice houses on either side of the main road, all brightly painted and with considerable gardens around them. During the day it must be quite a pretty sight. However it is now night time, just before midnight, and in this residential area the street is mostly silent.
Despite it being empty, the Killer Bee is taking no chances, and so has secreted herself at the top of one of the apple trees. Arms wrapped tight around the trunk in the dark with her dark uniform on, and shrouded by branches and leaves, she is essentially invisible.
She can glimpse the road and the paths nearby though, as she is waiting for someone. Quon has been summoned by email again to this rather odd time and location. But perhaps no more odd than the other times they have met in rather out of the way places.
Another one of those emails. The Chongquan prodigy has been dreading looking at his inbox as of late mostly due to his mental association with Shadaloo and everything that has gone wrong in his life. His expulsion from school, losing his job, his apartment, and his happy disposition. If his friend Antoine was around, he would know without even needing empathy powers that this whole ordeal has been killing the Chinese ex-college student from the inside.
When he finally arrives, he glances around wondering why he has been summoned here, at an ungodly hour. He's in no position to complain. It's not like he has anything to do.
Cammy sees Quon, and smiles from her spot up in the tree - though with a little sigh, too. This isn't going to be easy. She swarms down the tree trunk, quiet and fast, and pads over to him, slipping over the white picket fence on the way easily enough. She's in full Shadaloo uniform, garrison cap and all, the blue a darker shade than normal - her night suit. And she looks a little dirty too, from clinging to that tree. "I am very sorry, Quon, but Lord Vega has given me very difficult orders to fulfill. I must ask you to trust me, and not ask difficult questions. And above all, /do not protest/.". The latter said forcefully for a doll.
She then reaches out, to rest a gauntleted hand delicately on his shoulder. "I do not wish to see you hurt.". Of course, it might be her doing the hurting, if he says the wrong thing, and that would be even worse, at least from her point of view. She blinks blank eyes, and then adds, in her best cheerful voice, "Maybe we can play volleyball with Ibuki next week.", to hint at future pleasant times rather than the miserable present.
On one hand, Quon is no genius and he knows and accepts that fact about himself. But on the other hand, Quon is no fool either. The first sign something was wrong was the fact that she hopped down in Shadaloo garb. The second was that she mentioned Vega in the /first/ sentence she says to him. The fact that she puts emphasis on the do not protest, gives him every indication that other shoe is in the process of dropping from above.
"I already know I can't promise you any of that." Inside he's wondering if this is how it will end for him. "Why am I here?" It's probably the last question she wants to hear but if he's going to die he might as well get it over with.
Rust has not had a great time of things lately himself. He got the book back, sure, but the definitive news on where it was this whole time is leaving him realizing one important aspect that contributed, potentially, to so many problems.
Being the increasingly worried man he is, he's called up all his friends in the book. One of them's suggested, hey, come over and watch a baseball game... and so he did, unwittingly being next door to an assassination target late into the night.
"--more often," trails the end of a voice that's a bit loud for this time of night as the vague outline of a man with one arm in a sling, a length of pipe by their hip, and - of course - really bad hair goes out the front door.
"Y-Yeah... n-not this late," an all too familiar voice grumbles nearby, rolling his shoulder and producing a pop that, while not loud enough to elicit a noise violation, should be the single red flag to those two gathered outside nearby in the night. It was an all right evening to spend with a friend, sure, but to be out this late...?
The door closed, the man starts digging around his pocket for his car keys before taking another step.
"Damn it, don't... don't tell me it fell in the couch," he grouses aloud.
Cammy is all business. "I know you couldn't, Quon, which is why I'm going to knock you out now." she says, in an approximation of a soothing voice. Her other hand reaches up, to rest on his other shoulder - a gesture of affection on one hand, sure, but it also means she's got hold of him! And she is very good at throwing techniques... "I'm very sorry, but I think it is the best way. There's no need to worry, it'll be totally painless, I assure you, and then you'll wake up in a few minutes and everything will be fine, and we can play volleyball, and eat cheesecake together.".
She sighs, and her face falls momentarily. "I do not like to do this... I hope you believe me. I have no choice, though." she says sadly. "Please do not complain, it will make it so much harder than it already is. If you just turn around, then it will all be over soon.".
The hand rests on his shoulder however it's only made the Chongquan practitioner even more on guard. Why would he be called here just to be knocked out? If she didn't keep talking about the future, which she seems to genuinely believe in there being, then he would survive if he were to let her go through with it. Which either means he's to be knocked out so he can be kidnapped or knocked out so she could do something that's so contrary to his nature that she knows full well he wouldn't let her go through with it while he was around.
He steps back away from the hand not quite taking a fighting stance but readying himself to react if needed. "Why call me here if you're just going to knock me out?" His only saving grace is he hasn't complained yet but that's only because he doesn't even know what he'd complain about.
Meanwhile, just past the porch of the neighboring house, Howard walks along to the vague sound of arguing. "Wait... uh, did I... put it in, in one of these," he thinks to himself as he goes over his toolbelt, patting his right hand across every compartment while he walks along down the driveway to his car, "god damn it, they're, they're gonna be in the car, aren't they."
A prolonged sigh and a pop of one of his knees later, his eyes spy an overturned trashcan. "Punk kids just... just leavin' these everywhere again, huh," he mutters to himself as he steps under a street light. Quon might see him a ways away, uprighting and moving a trashcan off the street.
Cammy is happily oblivious to her nemesis arriving at the worst possible time. She is focused wholly upon Quon - now advancing towards him slowly, though her hands are spread. "It is not my choice this time, Quon. It is Lord Vega's orders. I do not understand his motivations.". Mainly, for the sake of sheer joy of being evil, presumably. "It is not my wish, but I must obey him. I have found a way to obey him and keep you safe at the same time." she says, with a smile. Really, she's actually bending His instructions to the the limit with her little scheme.
"Now, please, come here.". She beckons him towards her, presumably to be knocked out.
Obey orders and keep him safe? With just that, it indicates what Cammy was here to do which is do something contrary to his nature that he wouldn't stand by and let it happen. He doesn't even need to know the target to know that he can't stand by and watch.
He lets himself slowly slide into fighting stance as a single tear of genuine sadness rolls down his cheek. "Shadaloo has taken almost everything away from me. My job, my home, my dreams. In a way, it's appropriate that you would be the one who would take away my life." He pauses as another memory comes to mind. "You told me that one day you would probably forget all of this and start all over. You asked if I would remind you of our friendship. I said I would let you forget. If the day comes that I would have to die by your hand, I would want you to live without regret."
He takes a deep breath and then lets out a sigh. "It's a shame that my death won't come before you forgetting me."
He's a sudden burst of motion eating up the space between them leading in with a forearm before letting his leg hook behind hers and sending out a palm push her backwards over said leg and trip her down to the ground.
COMBATSYS: Quon has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Quon 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Cammy has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Quon 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Cammy
COMBATSYS: Quon successfully hits Cammy with Wind Chases the Clouds.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cammy
Cammy really wasn't expecting that - she just stands there are Quon suddenly leaps at her, unwilling to believe that he's actually going to /hit/ her. So she gets hooked by one leg, like an amateur, and goes tumbling onto the ground.
She automatically rolls away from him, and then slowly draws herself back up to her feet, looking at him with a rather pained expression. "You hit me! What did you do that for?" she asks him, reaching up to adjust her now skewed garrison cap. "Do not be foolish, Quon! What are you trying to do?" she asks, voice plaintive. "Just let me knock you out and this will all be over.". She glances up at the house outside which they are fighting - no lights have flicked on inside yet. Good, good.
COMBATSYS: Cammy takes no action.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cammy
"Between the fact that you keep mentioning his orders and the fact you want to knock me out to keep me safe, it obviously means that you're here on a mission to attack someone and I was required to accompany you. Also the fact that you wanted to knock me out tells me that you knew that if I knew, I would protest which was obviously the last thing you wanted me to do. Stop me if I'm getting things wrong here."
Quon takes a deep breath and looks at Cammy. "Being put in the hospital by one of your friends has made realize some things. After seeing her do her level best to end my fighting career, I'll never be safe. If not you or her, it'll be someone else who may actually succeed in ending my fighting career. And this situation we're in now has made me realize that if not these orders which you've obviously found a loophole around, you'll be given orders that don't have any wiggle room. So treat this like removing a band-aid. Rip it off fast and get it over with instead of prolonging it longer than necessary."
He rolls his neck letting out a cracking noise that makes significantly less noise than those of Rust's. "Or you can continue to insist on knocking me out to keep me safe but, you're going to have earn it."
COMBATSYS: Quon focuses on his next action.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cammy
The commotion picks up as Rust relocates the trash can. Stuff he did not process as anything more than late night chit-chat that he really couldn't hear all that well - not that he really expects nor intends to eavesdrop on anyone, especially when he'd like to find his damn keys and go home - goes to greater clarity as a body hits the dirt and a now incredibly familiar voice exclaims dissatisfaction about being hit.
His head lifts slowly as he looks in the direction of the commotion. That couldn't have been /Cammy/ he was hearing, right? (Thanks to her uniform and the night, it's very hard to see her.)
Please tell me that's not Cammy, he's thinking as he unwittingl walks towards the fence, his footsteps rustling in the grass. This should be a red alarm to anyone being astute about keeping things stealthy, rubbing his tired eyes once as if to make sure it wasn't just his ears deceiving him.
Deceit is significantly less likely as Quon's frustration and resolve hits his ears. His face stiffens, right arm going to Ol' Rusty even though the first thing he really ought to be thinking of is getting over that fence - or how he's going to effectively fight with his left arm still in a sling.
"Quon... that you?" Comes the tired, gravelly voice of a very tired and rather surprised man. "The hell are you two even..."
"What are you doing here?" Cammy hisses at Rust, when she realises who it is, face, which has been blank up till now, suddenly twisting in anger and hate. "Bah. You always dog my every step. Like a curse.". She looks back to Quon, now looking very suspicious. "I do not wish to hurt you, Quon, but I will have to knock you out anyway I suppose. You are a fighter, I am sure you will be fine." she says, as she hurriedly advances towards him with blinding speed. "But it is your fault if it hurts!".
The Doll really does not want to hurt him too bad, so she goes in low, trying to get under him and grab at his legs before sending him flying over her back onto the grass of the garden.
COMBATSYS: Quon just-defends Cammy's Medium Throw!
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cammy
If there's one thing that both Quon and Cammy do agree on, it's the fact that they both don't want Rust to be there if only for different reasons. Quon doesn't want him there because he doesn't want anyone else getting hurt on the account of him. The fact that the man's arm is in a sling gives him all the more reason not to want him around. He's injured already.
He hisses to the older man in hushed tones, "Stay back!" He doesn't have time to do anything else before Cammy is on him, grabbing his legs and launching him up into the air. His reaction to it is pretty good, going with it as he's elevated into the air before twisting in the air and landing gracefully and luckily for Cammy, quietly. He slips back into his stance once more and then steps closer to her before lashing out at Cammy with a rapid fire series of snap kicks to the legs, torso, and head in a move that looks vaguely reminiscent of Chun Li's Hyakuretsu Kyaku or Robert's Gen'ei Kyaku.
He thinks to yell at Cammy to ask her the same - just in time for Quon to hiss to him to stay back. To this, he stares blankly at the both of them (even up close Cammy is very very difficult to see, a credit to Shadaloo's uniform designers). He just wanted to hurry up and go home, and it's not too late for that. Go home, get what few hours of sleep he's going to... get up early to help fix some of the damaged classrooms from some students going nuts.
Then what?
What the hell would Quon's sifu think of him if he turned his back on him now - even if he is truly a dangerous person to be around, thanks to the unnatural attention he has received from some truly inhumane, almost incomprehensible evils. The sort he'd like to have hoped left Southtown after the fall of Geese Tower in '09.
With a low growl, the man steps forward to bring his left ha-- wait. Argh, this sling, he grumbles. Two more days, two more days and he'd have gotten out of it.
Is there nothing he can do?
"Christ." He swears as he sheathes Ol' Rusty. Is it a sign that he's going to be listening to Quon's ultimately well-intentioned request? After all, if the weapon's back in the toolbelt pocke--
Nope. Just one good hand plant on a fence post, a grunt of effort and a pop in his shoulder as he handstands upon it, and flips down to his feet with an ungraceful thud and protest from his knees.
Assuming there's an afterlife, let alone a chance he'd end up in the same one, a certain old man really owes him a few beers.
"I ain't turnin' my back," as if his actions alone didn't say enough.
COMBATSYS: Rust has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Quon's Seven Dragon Tails.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/-------|
Cammy is definitely Her - she does after all have those blonde pigtails, which are visible enough now Rust is a little closer, quite bright against the uniform. Those pigtails are whirling around in fact as she backflips quickly away from Quon's outstretched foot, the Doll proving her slipperiness. "Quon, calm down, you are overwrought." she says when she's safely away.
And then she smiles a cold smile at Rust. "I am glad you are here, because I do not want to hurt poor Quon. I do not care about hurting you, though. I will dispose of you first, so we can get back to our conversation.". Trust Rust to show up right when they are having a domestic, typical.
Rust may just be standing there, getting ready, but Cammy is happy to go for him regardless, pre-emptively. She leaps towards him, to come down on him legs first - assuming she hits, she'll wrap those legs firmly around his throat and then flip so Rust ends up on the grass, hopefully quite painfully.
And despite his intent to keep the aggro on himself Rust seems determined to give a helping hand no matter what Quon says. He watches as Cammy moves towards the pipe wielder and he tries to chase her with a leap of his own and hoping to catch her with a jump kick that will either knock her off course or at least shake her hold on Rust.
"Cammy, regardless of whether you want to hurt me, your fight is still with me!" He knows that isn't going to work to get her attention back on him but he's at least trying.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Cammy's Hooligan Suplex.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/-----==|
Cammy is a masterful fighter who has, undoubtedly, already thought of many of Rust's physical weak points - not just the lack of an arm to fight with. His slowness, his apparent stiffness. The weakness in his technique in that his favored arm to use in warding off pretty much anything is his left arm - his off hand.
That's not an option for him.
"You, you call this not hurtin' hi--" He doesn't get any time to really say his piece as Cammy leaps at him, making the initial mistake of trying to - by habit - lean his left arm in. He quickly retracts it, but it's much too late to stop what Cammy is intending to do when she gets her legs around his neck.
He puts something else to work instead as she goes for the flip, putting his weight on his right side for a relatively smooth roll as he narrowly misses a collision with Quon. It's impossible to escape complete harm given the outright strength Cammy puts into it, but this would be a new thing for her to take note of in her analyses.
Howard is no stranger to taking hard falls.
"Is Quon really your friend?!" He growls out, realizing he's not going to really have much time to get up to his feet before she comes at him again - she is very fast, after all - so he tries to cover his rise as he sticks his left leg out to try and tag Cammy by her ankle or what have you.
As far as kicks go, it's not the greatest low kick out there, but he's still got two working legs and has zero hesitation in attempting to use them as the balding man will soon have to come to grips that he now has hard-to-remove grass stains in one of his favorite undershirts.
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Quon's Light Kick.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Rust's Light Kick.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/-----==|
Cammy climbs off of Rust, and drops down onto the floor, as Quon goes sailing past, and then twists and wriggles as Rust tries to kick at her - only succeeding in kicking the grass where she was lying an instant before. She flips back up onto her feet, pigtails leaving an arc behind them as the fly after her with the motion. "No, Quon, calm down! You are being foolish and stubborn again." she calls out.
She pads towards Rust, though, smiling now. "I'm sure you wanted to hit me with that metal thing for a long time, I guess it's your chance, now. You have ruined everything! Maybe you will have cost Quon his life, in fact. Poor Quon. Fools.". She shakes her head, and then steps in to Rust practically body to body, grabbing his wrist and trying to send him flying over one hip.
Quon is still mostly ignored, though she does give him a reproachful look. He's trying to /hit/ her!
There's a move Quon could've seen himself using if it wasn't for the fact that Cammy has inadvertantly used Howard Rust as human shield. His hand opens and closes as he feels completely powerless to stop her. Of course he came into this fight knowing that he was pretty much powerless comparison to her so that is no surprise. But the fact that someone else is getting hurt by his own inability to deal with her regardless of his feelings for Rust aside.
He decides to take a different approach, talk to her and keep talking as they fight maybe it'll distract her may be it will get her to see things his way but either way it had to be better than just flailing away ineffectually. "Let me tell you a story."
"There once was a boy who left his family to train at a temple..." He waits until there's a bit of separation between Rust and Cammy before delivering a quick backhanded punch to her chin.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Cammy's Medium Throw.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/----===|
And you know, she's right. He really has, he'd really like to considering her innocent act up until now. It's maddening, as he rises slowly up to something approaching a battle-ready position, right hand on Ol' Rusty while mentally weighting the consequences of fighting with it or without it - he only has one effective hand for fighting.
"How?" He manages to work into that one terse word to ask her before she goes to try and imbalance him body-to-body before grabbing his wrist.
He doesn't really go anywhere, although she succeeds in really giving his right arm a good, painful tug that gets him wincing as he stumbles a ways away from her. It's perfect timing for Quon to get his opening and start his narrative.
Shaking out his arm, he casts a nervous glance over to the house of whose yard they're all trespassing in. What are the three of them all doing here, anyway?
Turning his attention back to the two of them, he narrows his eyes, holding his right hand out in front of himself, legs spread apart and making sure to lean his left arm a bit away from the action with a deep breath.
Where Quon is willing to start the beginnings of a story, Rust is starting to feel flashbacks to the helplessness and panic of the '09 invasion. He's stronger now, he knows this - but will he be strong enough to corral them?
Or... will it be a matter not solved by his own hands? (...singular, hand.)
COMBATSYS: Rust focuses on his next action.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Quon successfully hits Cammy with Quick Punch.
- Power hit! -
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/----===|
"Oh, Quon, now is really not the t...". Cammy turns to face Quon, lifting up one hand to try and block him - but she's too slow and promptly gets punched, right on the jawline, sending her spinning to the grass in a heap. "QUONNNNnnnnnnnnn!" she wails, as that really hurt - and not just physically, either.
She gets back up again, in a deadly calm. "You should not have done that, Quon." she mutters at him, patience tested to breaking point. "Maybe the other dolls are right about ... us.". She shakes her head, thinking how embarassing it would be, the whispers of the troopers and the like. It's bad enough in the base already.
She goes into a handstand and legs snap out at Rust, trying to grab him and heave him to the floor again, this time really trying to be lightning fast so it's harder on him to dodge.
In spite of the protests, Quon continues his story his voice calm and even though bringing back the memories is quite emotional for the fighter. "As time moved on, he started on what was the beginnings of learning his martial art. Not too long after he arrived, another student arrived. This second student was teased and bullied constantly. The newer of the two students was battered and beaten while the other saw this and intervened on his behalf."
Quon takes advantage of his story to adjust his timing to not interfere with Rust. "He fought off the bullies, and gave encouragement to the newer student.He didn't think it was fair for them to go after others without the ability to defend themselves." That's when he delivers a sidekick to the Zero Doll.
COMBATSYS: Cammy successfully hits Rust with Frankensteiner.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/-======|
Rust's guard lowers for a moment to that punch. That's... that was a good punch Quon gave, but he steels himself for her inevitable rise and reaction.
"Right 'bout what?" Rust asks. Cammy rushes to Rust to go for the handstand, his instinct is to crouch down and avoid what he assumes to be a relatively fancy high-ish angled kick or what have you. For a few scant moments, he thinks that her legs are going to be shooting out a little too high--
Nope. Ducking does nothing - she catches him clean at last, jerking him by the neck and slamming him gratuitously into the turf hard enough to send clumps of grass and dirt flying pretty much everywhere. Glass and dirt that flies clean over the resolute Quon, as he approaches Cammy with continued storytime while Rust, deep inside, wonders if she's even going to listen to anything other than herself. Her excuses, her little lies about where she stands in everything.
Well, wondering other than the fact that he's pretty sure his upper back just ate a really thick and sturdy tree root. Ouch.
"Cripes," he grouses as he clumsily rolls to his right - very predictably - to avoid putting any pressure on his left arm as he comes up to a crouch and realizes that he really just can't stay on the defensive with this girl any more. She's too quick and too powerful alike.
Where Quon kicks at Cammy from one side, his right hand tugs at Ol' Rusty at his left hip. A pipe that proves especially difficult for him to draw despite repeated, frantic tugging... until one hard tug weakens the fabric of that particular toolbelt pcoket enough that it rips clean out, the strength of the tug as such that it could be genuinely mistaken for an intentional quick draw, the tip threatening to strike Cammy as he rises up with Ol' Rusty drawn anew.
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Quon's Heavy Kick.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Cammy dodges Rust's Power Strike.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 0/-------/-======|
If Cammy was a mindreader and could hear Rust's thoughts, she'd probably have a few sharp words for him at the very least. Lies? This stuff is from the heart!
As it is, she can pick up his mistrust and dislike, and that alone is enough to wind her up even more than she already is. It's not like Quon's attempts to distract her are likely to work, with this sort of animosity going on at the same time. "Help me hit evil Rust, Quon." she tells Quon as she gets up after the frankensteiner. "That would be much more fun for all good people concerned.".
She's already prowling back around Rust, arms raised defensively to ward off any swipes from that metal club he likes so much. She then thrusts out with one booted foot, aiming high, managing to twist her body around and aim a kick right at Rust's nose pretty much despite the difference in height.
Quon doesn't seem deterred from finishing his story. Even as his kick catches nothing but air he's atleast determined to hit with his words. "Do you want to know why that young martial artist intervened on the behalf of that newer student? He didn't want to live in a world that people could hurt people just because they can. A world where people use fear to force people to perform their whims."
"Think, Cammy. Why do you think he specifically requested for me to be here? I tried to bide my time and wait until I had tools to deal with this but time has clearly ran out. And I realize that I don't want to live in the world Vega wants to create because of the fact that all of those things are true. He wants to create a world where he rules over people with fear, he wants a world where he is free to hurt people just because he has the means. And if you want to live in that kind of world, I'D RATHER YOU KILL ME NOW!!!"
He finally has enough space between Cammy and Rust to do what he wants to do. He comes in just short of Cammy and thrusts his hands forward. The space between himself and Zero Doll distorts with a ripple of chi shot out in close burst before he draws his hands back.
COMBATSYS: Rust fails to interrupt Light Kick from Cammy with Cement Upper.
-*- DEVASTATING HIT! -*-
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 1/-----==/=======|
Cammy's defense sees the swing not go just wide - it actually puts the teacher in a bad spot, and highlights the other big weakness he has to work with. His right hand's grip is not as strong as it used to be. The simple redirection is enough not only for him to twist to the right - Ol' Rusty just drops right out of his hand, rolling on a very slight decline down towards Cammy's direction.
She goads Quon into attacking 'the evil Rust.' An angry snort later, he's already bending down (complaint of his knees be damned) to snatch Ol' Rusty up, realizing his left arm is vulnerable as she draws her leg back.
Twisting his body to the side, he realigns himself to make sure that foot doesn't meet his arm, Ol' Rusty scraping down low against the grass and soil as he tries to capitalize on the rare opening he /thinks/ he has.
Cammy's foot swings a bit too high to even nail his arm in the first place. It instead manages to connect - perfectly - the bridge of his nose. Whether it is a calculated expectation of Cammy's or simple chance, there is no denying the outcome.
Blood spurts out his nose with a muffled groan as Cammy inflicts the sort of injury that can - and does - kill people right on the spot, Ol' Rusty flying up into the night sky as the older man clutches his bloodied, smashed face in a backwards stumble that prevents him from processing the meaning of Quon's storytelling.
It may, however, put a point on what Quon is trying to say about a world where people use their fear to try and force people to do their whims, pathetic groaning as Howard stumbles off to the side, face still clutched - something that should give Cammy immense satisfaction.
For being a man touted as being very difficult to harm physically, one good kick appears to have overcome that.
Who's attempting to save who now, at this rate?
COMBATSYS: Cammy blocks Quon's Roaring Guardian.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 1/-----==/=======|
Cammy giggles like a little girl when she brings her foot back down to earth again, and surveys the damage done to Rust's face by one of her army boots - whether done by luck or by judgment. The fact that the normally placid Doll isn't exactly given to gloating normally, and giggling even less, somehow makes it all the more Significant, especially when twinned with her blank eyes. There's precious little sympathy to be had from her, to be sure.
While Rust is nursing his nose, she turns to Quon, and brings up her arms just in time as a blast of energy from Quon slams into them, knocking her backwards a couple of steps. "I will /not/ kill you, Quon." she tells him, as she peers through the afterglow of the dissipating chi at Quon. "I would rather forget it all instead when I am punished, I think." she muses, thinking about this course of action for the first time. Lord Vega will be seriously annoyed if she doesn't kill him - she's fairly sure of that at this point. It would be tantamount to outright disobedience after all. "I do not know the mind of Lord Vega, and neither do you. He has mysterious orders sometimes. Perhaps he is attempting to make me tougher. He has been disappointed with me at times, lately." she admits with a sigh. "I suppose I will accept a demotion. He likes Juri more than me these days anyway, even though she disobeys him so much. I guess if he kills me it won't be any different from forgetting, anyway.".
Then she turns a malevolent look on Rust, she's not finished yet, oh no. "But this one is as evil as Lord Vega, in his way. There has been nothing from him but spite and obstructionism and hate. I can feel it.".
She takes a few steps towards Rust, more languid than usual, and takes careful aim, watching closely, intending to deliver a particularly brutal kick to follow up the last one while Rust staggers around momentarily dazed.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Cammy's Roundhouse Kick.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cammy
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Rust 1/---====/=======|
Quon is at his wits end at this point trying to get Cammy to focus on him, he's realizing he can't get through to her verbally, he has gotten in shots physically and it will take something truly desperate to get this madness to stop. He tears off a sleeve from his shirt. "What? You don't feel the fear from him as well? Those emotions you're picking up from him originated from fear." He doesn't need to be an empath to figure that out. Rust had already told him of his experiences with Shadaloo in the past.
He moves to a glass window of the house they were standing in front of before this fight started. He wraps the ragged sleeve around his knuckle and shatters the window hoping that he's tipping off the occupants of the house and giving the window another tap to free a shard of glass for him in particular to wield.
"CAMMY!!!! I SAID I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN THAT KIND OF WORLD!"
After that exclamation, he drops to both knees and points the glass shard to his chest. "I've lost almost everything, I have little left to lose. Keep pursuing this and see what happens." Quon is not even attempting to mask his desperation even in his facial features.
COMBATSYS: Quon takes no action.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cammy
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rust 1/---====/=======|
It has been, rather bluntly, a one-sided engagement. It's not hard to see why - Howard still clutches his face, trying to suck in air as blood runs down past where his right hand is attempting to stem it and the injury, teeth clenched and the beginnings of the sort of foul language one would have expected to come more casually from a man who used to work construction to begin with.
His eyes are shut tight, one welling with a legitimate tear - but he's starting to calm down a bit (a teensy weensy bit, virtually almost not at all) with the realization this isn't going to kill him by itself, the shock starting to fade as Cammy starts monologing about how she'd rather forget it all. Does Quon or his well-being mean /nothing/ to her?! The way she speaks - the way she fully accepts herself as expendable!
The way she calls him evil as he hears those footsteps drawing nearer - he thinks to pre-empt it by thrusting his bloodied (gloved, but really bloodily) right hand straight in the vague direction of the kick. Foot meets fist in what would some call an emotionally driven, not at all skilled block.
Those boots are made for combat, and his knuckles ache just striking them, even if it does more or less stop truly serious injury atop already serious ones as Quon desperately attempts to reach out to her, describing his own fear (this is a man of plenty of them)...
Followed by the breaking of glass and a scream about how Quon refuses to live in that kind of world - and how he points a glass shard towards himself.
"Mehbbe," Rust starts, voice slurred as he tries to speak through a shattered nose and so much adrenaline pumping through himself, "yw dnn't shtl mah book." If Cammy can't understand him, he's not speaking up - but he shouldn't say maybe. Someone came by and gave him definitive proof it was not Shadaloo (and the worrying thought that Shadaloo was after it despite that).
With a sniffle, the man - rather than rush to go grab that out of Quon's hand - merely points to him. "Sho wht thh hell w cll thht?!"
Of course, if the occupants weren't alerted by yelling and scuffling...
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cammy
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rust 1/---====/=======|
Oh, Yuki is presumably long gone by now, and Kyo probably had a phone call, at the minimum. Certainly now her house is getting smashed up as the fight moves a bit closer to it.
Cammy has other concerns at the moment. Rust is forgotten, momentarily, as she looks in shock at Quon. "Quon, stop it! Don't do anything foolish to yourself. You have had bad luck lately, it is true... I have helped you though, no? I will help you more, in future. Everything will be fine. We will play volleyball with Ibuki.".
She glances over at Rust, and while her nose wrinkles with distaste, she swallows her pride - something that comes easy to a Doll really anyway. "Don't let him hurt himself, Rust.".
COMBATSYS: Cammy takes no action.
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Quon 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cammy
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rust 1/---====/=======|
He finally got Cammy to stop. And willingness to kill himself slowly leaves him. "And how long before I receive a visit from Balrog who seems to have taken an interest in you, Cammy? How long is it before I receive a visit from any of your other comrades? Do you think it will end with just this? What about your Master Vega? I'm pretty sure after this, my days are numbered. If anything, I don't think I'll even live to play that game of volleyball."
"This entire night has painted a bullseye on my chest. I don't have to do myself in. I might as well be dead already. At this point the question is when I'm dying rather than /if./" He rises to his feet and tosses aside the glass shard and pockets his shirt sleeve and begins to walk away. He still can be stopped and talked to but he doesn't seem all that inclined to stay around either one of them.
Howard, for his part, is probably too hurt to really keep up with Quon - not that he could match the pace of most people at the best of times anyway - actually taking a few steps towards Quon as if thinking the possibility that the Chongquan would-be action star would actually, truly and seriously, kill himself.
He knows what he's seeing. He's seeing how he saw himself in the mirror way back in the day when he realized his own dreams were largely sunk (and more recently, himself in the mirror after that first round King of Fighters loss).
He watches Quon walk off, turning to Cammy with a sour look (as if having your face smashed in and all bloodied doesn't already look sour to begin with) and just shakes his head.
"'m mhkn' shrr ht doshn't chme to tht," he says half-intelligibly, waving a finger at her out of explicit habit even though what's coming out of his mouth is muffled by his smashed nose and the fact he generally gets mumbly when he's so tired. That the bloodloss isn't stopping should be something truly worrying.
"Vhga dshn't wnt a ghddm whrl hf hhllball," he spits out, "yh got to dhcide wht mehns mohr to you, do, do you whnt to be ths?!"
With the shaking of his head, he starts to wander off back towards his car, thinking maybe he'll be able to pick up Quon and give him a ride back to his apartment. After all, Cammy may or may not have had someone watching her. "Wht you shed 'boht whrking for hm shnds... shnds ghddmn hwful."
Speaking of 'ghddmn hwful,' Ol' Rusty comes back down thanks to gravity at last. It manages to hurl itself through the windshield of his own truck.
There are worse places for it to be, but there aren't man.
He vaguely waves his right hand in Cammy's direction as he walks off, which begs a problem.
Does she want to chase after Quon, or continue beating down someone she has truly hated?
Cammy decides not to do neither. She just settles down on Yuki's lawn, legs crossed, still and quiet, waiting, thinking. She doesn't look particularly happy, but there are no tears or anything so overt, as per usual anything that the Doll is thinking is kept behind those bright blue eyes, hers to deal with alone.
Maybe she's waiting for Kyo to arrive and kick her ass. That particular line of reasoning is actually quite tempting to her right now. When Rust's pipe demolishes his own truck, she glances up briefly, but only briefly.
Quon's retreating back is studiously ignored.
COMBATSYS: Quon has left the fight here.
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Rust 1/---====/=======|====---\-------\0 Cammy
COMBATSYS: Rust has left the fight here.
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Cammy 0/-------/---====|
Log created on 08:00:47 06/09/2011 by Cammy, and last modified on 16:18:12 06/09/2011.