Description: Vice is on vacation, Billy Kane is bored. They are both in the same place. Can there be any doubt about what happens? Well, the VIOLENCE is caught on film by Billy's crack team of cameramen, and it soon becomes an object lesson in terror and bloodshed... for the kids at home! Everyone loves a Neo League matchup! (Winner: Billy)
Greece, Billy Kane has decided, isn't much more boring than anywhere else.
Entertainment can be found in the dullest backwater, after all; it's all about what you carry with you. Though he could hardly be accused of having a 'zen' mindset, the well-travelled Londoner does subscribe to the popular notion that you choose your attitude when you awaken each morning. This is what defines you. If you want to be frustrated or angry, wake up and think about all those people who walk slowly in large groups on busy streets, or that sinking feeling you get when you're wearing a fresh shirt and a dumb waitress slips up and deposits a raisin rum sundae over your torso... or Terry bloody Bogard's stupid smug face as he---
Ahem.
The point is, Athens is a beautiful city that offers a cornucopia of pleasant diversions for the passing tourist, even if said vacationeer is in fact a world-renowned brawler looking to make an explosively violent impact on the frankly tired - and recently, genuinely quite boring - professional scene. This is true even if Billy would rather be somewhere rather more grey and drab, with more rain and less excruciating sunlight. For now, he's made do by retreating to a cozy restaurant-bar in the labyrinthine back streets, that might just happen to have a criminal connection and therefore offer free drinks for a man like him.
At this precise moment, he's seated outside, boots kicked up on a classy table complete with chic parasol, arms folded behind his head as he lazily half-regards the two men and one woman sharing his approximate personal space. One of them is holding a camera, the other controlling a boom mic, and the young lady apparently supervising the ordeal and acting as the utterly mute ears for Billy's banter.
"So that's when the hostess comes back in, right, covered with the in-flight meal with tears /streamin'/ down 'er pretty little face. I thought to myself, 'Billy, if Ryuji Yamazaki were 'ere, that stuff'd be all over his tongue, and she-- well, she'd be gut-deep in a switchblade by now.' That's just the kind of guy he is! Real laugh riot. 'Course, I helped her clean up just as well as he would. All the better for makin' a mess all over again, hahaha!" He leers, glancing up at the sky - or the inside of the parasol as he heaves a nostalgic sigh, "If you thought she screamed when that dumb bitch covered 'er in hot sauce, you should've 'eard her then. I dunno where they find these air hostesses-- though, ah, I could almost swear I'd seen her on Big's arm..."
He tails off with a grin, glancing down to catch the producer's eye. She says nothing, doesn't even react.
Okay, he'll admit, perhaps this is a bit boring.
Vice has been told she has a zen mindset. Indeed, she has been told that she is a paragon of control, someone who reacts exactly as the situation warrants, and who never, ever, gives anyone anything they don't deserve. She has mostly been told this by crying, weeping men and women as she gives them... exactly what they deserve, obviously, because she's harsh, Vice. But fair. Even when she's nailing your head to the floor. Perhaps especially then.
Vice had actually felt *alive* in her fight against Raiden. Though the brute wrestler had utterly trounced her, she had come around in a nice, soft bed where she had a few moments before the burning desire to *kill everyone around her* returned. It had been fun, in its way! Infuriating, yes, but at the same time, on reflection, it had been good to run up against someone who could actually defend themselves. She hadn't had that since... well, since Thailand, really.
So since then, she has been prowling Greece, looking for the next challenge. And as she catches Billy's obnoxious cockney laughter, there's a glint in her eye. Oh yes, there it is!
"KANE!"
Vice is... loud. Her voice accompanied by a squeal of metal on pavement, as she sweeps aside the table of the family next over from Billy. Food, drink, and the family itself scatter. The little girl whose sundae she just destroyed bursts into tears.
"BILLY KANE. Isn't it NICE to meet you here? I've got a message for your boss! Would you like to pass it on? Take your shirt off, I'll write it in nice. Big. Letters!"
Well, that's one way to get a guy's attention.
It's good to be Billy Kane. Once upon a time, it sucked more than "Blue" Mary Ryan, but that all changed when he was singled out by the single greatest man on the face of this planet; the benevolent and illustrious Sir Geese of Howard. Life in the Syndicate has given him more than his share of violent fighting - and not just in nineteen ninety six - it's also provided for his family, and bestowed a lifestyle like none other. Why isn't everyone in the world a criminal? Well, he figures, they're just not talented enough.
And then there are people like the insane lesbian now screaming his name.
"Oh," he says, utterly unruffled by the volume of her introduction, "It's you, is it?" His lips curl to an entirely pleasant smile as he slowly, lethargically unfolds his arms and flips his legs from the table to the floor, stretching them out before standing - without any assistance from his arms, just to be a slightly flashy douchebag. "Here I was thinkin' my holiday was startin' to drag." He's completely ignoring the nearby crew now, as they steer off to one side like well-oiled automatons, instead reaching into his open jacket to withdraw a familiar three-sectioned shape. Crimson flashes as the staff is unfolded with a dual snap.
"Tell me, darlin', why do you dislike food so much? First that luvverly meal they cooked us on the plane, now some poor kiddo's share of the diabetes?" Seriously, it did look disgusting. He'd applaud Vice for her taste and conscientious concern for healthy eating, but that would mean praising someone who he could be hitting really hard in the face. What a terrible waste that would be. Billy's a far wiser individual. "See, me, I reckon you'd look a bit edible with some more meat on yer bones..."
He knows that the best thing to do, with someone like Vice, is provoke them into ripping your intestines out.
"I also like my meat COOKED!!"
Suddenly he's jarring forward, thrusting his rod outward, fire blazing down its length.
It doesn't come anywhere Vice, the explosion erupting about a foot away from her shoulder.
"Take a long look, darlin'. The only message passed on today will be that you lost to Billy Kane. Don't make a habit of this... could be embarassing for /your/ boss, eh? By the by; this'll be official-like, so smile for the bloody camera as you burn fer me!"
COMBATSYS: Billy has started a fight here.
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Billy 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Vice has joined the fight here.
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Vice 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Billy
"Official?" Vice repeats, seemingly uncomprehending. It takes a second or two for her to realize that he's talking about the League. Oh yeah. She'd signed up for that, hadn't she? More out of the hope some idiots who didn't know who she was would challenge *her*. It isn't like she needs an excuse to go around beating the ever-loving hell out of ... well, anyone, really.
The flash of fire doesn't even make Vice flinch. Instead, she ducks down, and runs in close. She crosses the ground crouched, jumping forwards across the space. She knows Billy is a badass, but why is everyone trying to coax out about Rugal recently? Like she knows what the boss is up to. Like he and Mature care to share their plans with her. No, she's just an animal. A freak! Tolerated, but kept at arms length.
Surprisingly, these thoughts do not do a great deal to calm her down. She's pissed because she lost to Raiden, she's furious because she feels stupid for being unable to just make everything fall into place, and she's ENRAGED because the blood in her veins is boiling, encouraging her to wipe the shit-eating grin off Billy's face.
Vice growls as she comes in, snarling and grinding her teeth together, her aim is to grab Billy by his shoulder, and HURL him through the front of the cafe. "DON'T talk to me about BUSINESS!" She bellows, not so much giving a smile for the camera, as a look of true psychotic rage.
"I'm on VACATION, DAMN YOU!"
COMBATSYS: Billy fails to interrupt Quick Throw from Vice with Red Lotus Requiem EX.
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Vice 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Billy
His cocky jibes serve their purpose well; though Billy knows in his heart it really doesn't take more than a sideways glance to enrage this particular woman, that doesn't mean it's not fun to make it worse. He doesn't necessarily underestimate her, though-- there's a reason a man like Rugal, who measures up not to Kane himself but to his legendarily powerful boss and friend, keeps the two secretaries close. Together they're a match for anyone on the planet... individually, they just might surprise you.
He'll be damned if he's admitting that to her, though.
Kane's grinning as she charges, indeed, and it only spreads the closer she draws. His extended rod is maintained in precisely that fashion, until the moment she seizes for a grip, where it's almost instantaneously withdrawn with a spiralling action of the wrist. She gets her grasp, and the intent is to punish her for that, twisting away from her scathing grapple to do something far more brutal. She'd like that, he thinks, almost betraying himself with a chuckle that quickly turns to an undignified yelp of alarm as he's beaten to the non-literal punch and flung through the nearby window. Glass shatters, and people start running.
This may be a criminal bar, but there are levels. These shady citizens ain't stupid.
Billy, for his part, is just amused. His laughter rings out, high and grating, as he pushes himself up and stands in the ruined facade of the establishment. Fragments of jagged glass slip from his denim and leather, a few pieces remaining in the muscular front of his torso as he reaches up to pull away his heavy jacket - the only reason that abrupt toss didn't hurt a hell of a lot more. It's flung to the ground with a final barking laugh, and the Londoner spreads his arms wide. The cane has been dropped, and lies before him.
"Then I'll say no more, darlin'. You want a vacation? Let's make it a party. My shirt's off."
If he was eating shit before, he's now shovelling it in by the handful. That grin couldn't BE more annoying.
"Now why don't you do us all a favour and reciprocate?"
There's actual laughter from Vice at the statement. A high-pitched bark of it which cuts almost as sharp and jagged as the glass in Billy's jacket. The orochi-blooded secretary is not a complicated personality, she enjoys violence, and blood. Whilst she hadn't managed to get everything she wanted from that exchange with Billy... it is enough to take the edge off. Oh yes, this is going to be fun! Billy's speed is just as good as she was hoping. His reputation isn't entirely unfounded.
"I'm going to rip out your spine." She purrs, low and sultry. Her fingers slide over her jacket, and she discards it, revealing the dark red dress shirt beneath. It looks mottled, stained in a variety of fascinating shades of red. Billy can probably guess why that is. She slowly starts to walk towards the man, picking her way over the broken glass. All the imminent threat of yet more pain.
"And then, when I've ripped it out, I'm going to strangle you with it, in front of all these ~nice~ people. Do you think that's official enough? I haven't READ the handbook in a while."
Her shadow falls over Billy, now. He's probably not intimidated, but hey... it makes a good shot. And this being Vice, she's not being intimidating for fun. She's just apparently determined to make sure she *enjoys* this.
... that might actually be scary for ANYONE ...
COMBATSYS: Vice gathers her will.
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Vice 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Billy
No matter how powerful someone is, and no matter how much they believe in themselves, there is always someone - or something - worse and more potent. Billy Kane is not an entirely fearless individual; he just knows he's damn good, and has been assured through a great deal of circumstantial evidence that this is the case. Still, there's always that niggling idea that he might slip up, lessen the image he works so hard to maintain. Which is why he doesn't particularly maintain it-- being a swaggering badass isn't the same as being someone like Howard or Heinlein, relying on their impression of power to retain what they have.
Billy can take a few hits. He can afford to be intimidated, even.
"Promises, darlin', promises. You could turn a bloke's head like this."
Doesn't mean he's going to be.
As Vice takes step after crunching step through the glass, he squares up to her as he would any opponent. A hand hooks through the waistband of his jeans, the other reaching up to brush alongside the edge of his bandanna, watching her with a wary eye belied by the casual nature of his stance. She could take a shot like this, and probably hit; he knows, she knows it. It makes her the more fearsome that she doesn't take it. It implies she doesn't need it. Sounds good, and looks good. She wins a point there. Billy's still smiling, though, and continues to do so as he takes a swaying step forward across the devastation.
He comes within headbutting distance of the Orochi-blooded woman, smirking at her, even deigning to butt shoulders when he suddenly darts forward. But it's not even close to being an attack-- he's going for something that now lies just behind her, dropping low to seize up the three-section staff. It's still at full length, and he takes advantage of that very fact as he steps around, neatly circumventing Vice to rear up on her other flank, just frontal enough to be able to catch her eye from the side.
"Might wanna try turning yours, before I blow it off."
Scarcely are the words out when he lunges, thrusting his arm out as he did moments before.
This time, the extending rod /is/ aimed for impact, seeking to strike against the woman's jaw, before the follow-up blast of fiery chi detonates with all the force of a C4 package. It erupts hard and fierce enough not just to cause damage to her - there's always a chance she'll avoid that, anyway - but the ceiling shudders and cracks, the debris on the floor goes flying each way, creating a hellstorm of broken glass and wood.
She's not the only who knows how to be scary.
COMBATSYS: Vice blocks Billy's Blazing Cane Thrust.
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Vice 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Billy
Vice might not look like a scholar in the arts of chi - and indeed, she could never explain why she knows what is coming - but her instincts *scream* at her that what is going to happen... is going to happen. At the last possible moment, both of Vice's arms come up, and the detonation rocks over her, covering her in shards of broken glass and debris. The smoke surrounds her for a few moments, but, Billy has to know that she isn't too hurt - her body has stayed perfectly solid.
And then the audience at home knows it too.
Lunging from the debris, Vice's arm leads the way, aiming to grip Billy firmly by the throat. If she manages to get that grip, she'll swing him around like a ragdoll. Swirling through the remaining smoke and debris, she winds him around three wide circles before hurling him up at the cracked ceiling.
"You're not bad, Billy boy!" She crows, and now that she's not obscured by the detonation, the visible rawness of her face indicates that the burn wasn't a total miss. But it'd take a hell of a lot more than a mere block of C4 to remove Vice's head. SHE had wanted to try and tear the massed forces of NATO apart with her bare hands... but it hadn't been her decision to make.
"You'll have to hit me harder than that, though! Come on, come on! I want a good warmup before dinner!"
Vice is clearly in a far better mood than she had been against Raiden; there's a lot more banter. Always a good measure of the mood of the competitor. She's being mouthy! If she WASN'T telling Billy in detail all about her plans for him, she might actually be more likely to follow through.
God only knows what is going to be left of this poor bar by the time they are through with it, though.
COMBATSYS: Billy dodges Vice's Misanthrope.
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Vice 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Billy
Billy's aura is a blunt object, really. To those with any semblance of an education, or with the deep-lodged instincts that a terrible being the likes of Vice possess, he practically resonates with that fiery energy when at rest. It's only ever a moment from being spewed forth-- because he's always attuned to that particular element, a dancing candle flame that can never be extinguished. While Kusanagi might have him soundly beaten in this department, there are scant others who can compare. Perhaps two or three.
It's the sort of natural and nurtured talent that brooks incaution, but Billy - for all his bluster - does learn from failure. And he learns from observation. Two can play instinctual games, and when Vice is surging toward him, he's already retracting the extended cane with a vigorous snap, clenching his teeth in a focused snarl as her hand is thrust toward his throat. She's fast, but no way near fast enough. Not this time. He darts back into a lunging skid, one leg thrust behind and the other stamping hard to draw him to a hasty stop.
"Not bad?" He scoffs as he straightens a few mere feet away, spinning the retrieved cane to seize it in a double-handed grip, held below the waist. "Oughta do your homework, love. I'm the /baddest/. But don't worry, doesn't mean I can't be charitable-- there's no better warm-up in this city," His taunting pauses as he jolts forward, taking two fast steps across the glass, making a jab with the butt of his staff then crossing behind on the third step to spin up into a hooking heel kick, denim stretching as his booted foot comes around to score against the temple. "I'll get you nice an' loose, before I really set you on fire!!"
His leer as he swings through the blow would say it all, if he hadn't pressed it home already.
Vice is scary, but Billy's a douche. This can only end well.
COMBATSYS: Vice fails to interrupt Combo Attack from Billy with Nail Bomb.
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Vice 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Billy
Vice doesn't try to get away; in fact, she steps into the jab of the staff, taking it to the stomach as she moves to grab Billy by the collar. The trouble is that where most people would not be able to continue their motion with her grabbing them, Billy is strong enough that the kick wrenches him out of her grip, and smashes into her temple. She grits her teeth, stumbling across the ground, but she doesn't go down.
Billy might have nurtured his talent. Vice is just a creature of instinct. Whilst she doesn't like the fact sometimes, her instincts very rarely steer her wrong. Life is much simpler when you listen to the monster in your gut, and when it can generally be trusted to tell you the quickest way to rip someone into their component pieces.
Where a sane person might back off after taking a boot to the head like that, Vice just shakes her head once, growls, and then she spits to the side. She's bleeding a little, but she's far from done. Her anger is really starting to boil up now. Billy might be one of the best fighters in the world, but to Vice, whether he thinks he's too good for it or not, right now, he really is just... a warmup. This vacation is getting off to a pretty good start!
"Are you going to dance around all day, Kane?" She snarls, "You SCARED to let me get my hands on you?" She's coming forwards again already, aiming to get the ground between her and him covered again. She's enraged, but she can't seem to get a solid grip! It is good to be getting out there again... but she can't vent her anger if she just TAKES hits, now can she?
Cheeky. That's what Bethany suggested he should be; be bad, but don't be nasty. An opponent like this forces him to walk a tricky line - seethingly primal as she is in her rage, Vice could easily drive him to do shocking and terrible things. The sort of antics that Yamazaki likes to brag about. Or almost. Despite his banter, Billy's not got the insane temperament to turn people inside out or suspend them from meathooks.
"Nice try," he offers with a lopsided smirk as he recovers his stance with the stomp that naturally derives from that heavy connection of boot to skull. Back on the alert instantly, he's inwardly unsure whether to be wary or disappointed-- she came on so fast and eager that he hasn't got time to implement the half-baked plan that sprung to mind a few moments before. A lot Billy's style is honed instinct, but he likes to play, too. "Per'aps next time you'll think at least once before you try to beat me at my own game, eh?"
"Scared, love," he concedes in response to her own words as she starts to come forwar once more. Eager to resume the flow himself, he's barely had time to spring once against his heels before he meets the challenge, catching her halfway with a direct thrust from the horizontal length of his extended rod. "That's exactly what I am, yeah!" His face, naturally, says otherwise. As for hers? It's not designed to be impacted, the staff driven forth as a partial feint, before he seeks to loop it up over her head and against her neck.
"How are you feelin', darlin'?" He asks as he tugs forward, trying almost to press her against him.
Almost. If he can get his unorthodox grip, he steps aside as he hauls, seeking to sling Vice past him into the landscape of shattered glass and splintered wood. Face-first, if he gets his way. He heard she likes pain. But hell, he's heard a lot of things about Rugal's lieutenants.
"Any closer to /wanting/ to put your hands on me, and not that preening blonde dyke?"
COMBATSYS: Billy successfully hits Vice with Quick Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Vice 1/----===/=======|===----\-------\0 Billy
Vice actually hesitates - and that split second of hesitation is all that Billy needs to send her hurtling across the floor, picking up a vast swathe of broken glass with her body. It was the dig about Mature which did it. She's a mess when she gets back up, dripping blood and... well, if it wasn't for the fact that she's *grinning*, it might be that Billy went too far.
But she is grinning. The grinning smile of a skull as she flexes the glass out of her hands. She's not quite been cut to ribbons, but it really is a mess. "You stupid son of a bitch." She cackles, throwing her body back, arching at an awful angle as she bleeds copiously across the floor. What's... more disturbing is that the bleeding just doesn't last long. She's bled all over the place, but in no more than a couple of heartbeats, the pumping stops, and she hunches back over, eyes bloodshot and focusing on Billy all over again.
"You think its like that? Heh... heheh. I'm gonna wear, your goddamn skin as a HAT!"
Suddenly she's closing on Billy again. Her leg swings up and around at the last moment, aiming to crash into the side of Billy's head and take him to the dirt. If she can, her foot will twist around, and the heel will drive further into the side of his skull. "Fool. As though, I'd EVER be interested in something like that. Not with her, and NOT with a /tamed dog/ of a /dead man/!"
COMBATSYS: Billy blocks Vice's Aggressive Strike.
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Vice 1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0 Billy
"Ooh," Billy winces as he watches his wrathful foe go flying, his face scrunching up as he glances aside at the cameras - which he knows won't be focused on him right now. Just as well; he almost looks like he feels sorry for the woman. Which he naturally doesn't, concerned only for the look of the thing. Even if she did technically start it... "Might have missed the mark there."
His attention roams back to Vice with ample time to take in her grotesque demeanour before she resumes raving. The part of him not concerned with his media career phrases a bark of cruel laughter, the staff flipped up in the air and allowed to form into its three sections before he catches it in one hand. Her hunched laughter resounds in the space during and after, and is met by an arched brow from the Londoner as he drops into a low posture - almost a horse stance, showing some degree of martial talent away from the extreme brawler.
There's not much more time to prepare before her onslaught resumes, and once again he's tested. He struck a nerve, though, and that shows in her technique-- it's not too tough to get his free arm up, muscles bunching to steel cord as his forearm intercepts the incoming blow. A soft grunt escapes his lips. Bitch can hit.
"Wear my skin as an 'at?" He mangledly echoes, snorting an outbreath as he pushes her striking limb away. "At least promise me you can 'andle a needle better than you fight. Thought Rugal has more taste, could pick a woman with a bit of bloody capability. Get with the times, love!" He snarls as he snaps his staff-loaded arm out, a single section of the weapon escaping to lash out in a swinging blow toward Vice's face.
"It's all about equal opportunities now. There's women out there 'oo can fight worth a damn!"
COMBATSYS: Vice endures Billy's Quick Strike.
~ Cruel hit! ~
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Vice 1/=======/=======|====---\-------\0 Billy
Vice's face doesn't budge an inch when Billy crashes his staff into it. The blow bounces free and clear off Vice's forehead, and even though it clearly cracks into her, this time, through sheer force of bloody will, she stands there and takes it. This means that she is staring Billy right in the eye, and though he can poke and prod and needle and *mock* in that ridiculous accent of his, Vice isn't playing around any more. There's a flame burning in Billy which is always lurking under the surface?
Well, Vice *is* a demon, clothed in the skin of a human being. She is a monster every bit the equal of Yamazaki for destructive fury. The difference is that Vice makes some attempt, most of the time, to keep herself under control. Spending life lurching from one explosive outburst, where the thin veneer of humanity which struggles to contain her boundless rage is cracked, to the next. Billy had pushed at her with the comment about Mature; nobody makes fun of Mature in front of Vice.
But it is the *violence* which pierces the lid, not the mockery.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
The roar is terrifying, and it is coupled with a sudden leap, as she tries to wrap both legs around Billy's upper body, and use the momentum to bring him down into the floor. If she can manage that initial, stunning impact.. then the demon within will be allowed to really let loose.
And if she can't? Well... Billy had better finish it pretty quickly from now.
COMBATSYS: Billy counters Negative Gain from Vice with Water Dragon Pursuit Cane.
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Vice 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Billy
Ryuji. There's a name that's especially pertinent here, and a man who is notable for his absence. Psychotic in the truest sense, utterly enraptured by the giving and receiving of pain, the man /is/ a demon made flesh-- the Londoner knows that as well as anyone. Billy can feel the same torrential waves of uncontainable fury pouring from the Orochi madwoman, reminding him of a half dozen beatings, of some of the few times in his life when he's felt physical pain so overwhelming he simply wanted to get away.
She's capable of inducing the same state, this one. He knows it as he stares into her eyes.
The scream just drives it home.
"Shit!" Billy's exclamation comes completely unbidden, as insinctive as the motion that accompanies it. Her headlong dive into cataclysmic violence does Vice credit; most men couldn't stop it. Kane isn't sure he can, until he feels his left hand whipping outward in an opposing motion to the first - to the one that delivered his strike a moment before - bringing the other half of the staff into his right hand. One end still hangs loose, but it's not this that he requires... he just needs to stop those legs from encircling him.
There's a bone-jarring crack as he deploys the weapon, as Vice's striving limbs impact it. The Syndicate punk is sent backwards, his stance remaining robust but immobility impossible; she comes on too quick and hard. Though he avoids taking any real physical harm, it's still astounding. She's inches from his face, feral and vicious, a nightmare's countenance. In that instant, Kane is actually afraid of her. It flashes through his eyes, but distantly, as his abilities take over and he twists against the unyielding guard he's erected.
A second crack marks the sound of the rod's third section impacting Vice's face for the second time.
Skidding to a halt against the far wall, boots couched in two snowballed mounds of debris, Billy can only gasp.
"Stay down," he urges between breaths, "Stay down or I'll /break/ you, you Prehistoric bitch..."
"Hahah... hahahah... AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAH!"
Vice really shouldn't be laughing, with her mouth as full of blood as it is, but there it is. The white hot flash of pain that Billy's defense had sent jolting through her spine came very close indeed to putting her down. Just like when she fought Raiden, though, there's no fear in her. Vice doesn't fear death; she's killed ... countless people, been close to death dozens of times in the course of her career. What the hell does she have to fear in this? He's /holding back/. He's trying /not/ to kill her. It'd be funnier if it WASN'T WORKING!
"Stay down, stay down, stay down, stay down! STAY DOWN! STAY! DOWN!"
She's stalking towards him, eyes wild and crazy, body hunched almost totally over, hands almost touching the ground, before she lurches up totally straight, grinning from ear to ear as that blood pours down her chin. "YOU SOUND DESPERATE, KANE! DO YOU WANT TO WAKE UP?!"
There's more cackling laughter, high-pitched and totally free of restraint, she doesn't even go in for the 'kill', she's staring at him. Waiting for him to make the next move. She might be the one bleeding and barely hanging on, but she *thrives* on this. She can almost taste Billy's fear, and even if this is the end for her, it is sweet. So very sweet.
COMBATSYS: Vice gathers her will.
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Vice 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Billy
Not shifting from his position against the wall, Billy regards the oncoming train with eyes faintly widened and a detectable tremor in his hands. That madness-- like Ryuji's, it has an infectious quality, screaming out to the very blood, spreading a terror that's not quite what it seems. Fear doesn't make a man violent except through perceived necessity. The Brit knows he's got this, that he can have the demon-woman face down in moments, her body says it and his instincts repeat it like a mantra. He. has. got. this.
Somehow, it barely helps. He wants to hurt her. He wants to lash out without thought or skill.
Of all the ludicrous things, it's a flash of a bountifully-endowed woman that brings him back.
"No," counters Kane at last, pushing himself fully upright against the crazied storm of mirth. His lips spread to the best grin he can manage, and despite their slight pallor it works. His heart's beat slows just enough that he feels someway human again, not a scared, primal ape staring at a greater predator. Vice may be a dinosaur, but that's the funny thing about dinosaurs-- they're all bloody dead. "I wanna put /you/ to sleep."
Suddenly he's lunging forward, covering the distance with a tight yell of mounting enthusiasm. There's still that lingering knot of doubt, of uncertainty, of being not-quite-there, but he's Billy freakin' Kane. The staff is swung up at its full length, a lightning-quick spin resulting in the presentation of one solid end, thrust toward Vice's sinister throat with enough force to decapitate an ordinary person. She's far from ordinary, but it's still going to hurt like hell if he can get the meat of it. He's past cooking her, though...
This time, when the staff hits, it's used as a fulcrum to lift her off her feet and toward the ceiling. Into it, even, a second yell accompanying an upward thrust from both arms, his formerly free hand clamping to the rod's base to drive her up and through the floorboards above. It would be nasty enough were the other end not lodged in her throat, and once raised she'll be given a thorough shaking until she comes flying off, choked and battered... and hopefully, down for the count. Billy loves a fight, but he wants this one to end.
COMBATSYS: Vice fails to interrupt Hell Drop from Billy with Black End.
[ < > //////////////////////// ]
Vice 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Billy
COMBATSYS: Vice can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Billy 0/-------/=======|
The power of Orochi has poisoned this world since the demon-god first touched it. That shivering fear that Billy fears, a fear that doesn't respect logic or reality, is one of the more pervasive touches. Orochi's chosen almost all have it, to some extent or another. The feeling that they don't belong in this world; that they are beyond it. That every living thing is just biding time until it is torn apart by Orochi's otherworldly strength. The fact is... Orochi wants to kill everything, and Orochi's power makes other things... prepare for that.
Unfortunately, the world is also full of stubborn fools who aren't ready to die just yet, and tend to react to that power by, for instance, crushing the manifestation's throat with a metal stick and ramming them into nearby objects.
Vice attempts to drive herself forwards into the staff as it rams into her throat, and she manages that. Where she falls down is in getting a firm grip on Billy before he is spinning her around into the ceiling. She doesn't even choke, just *growls* and tries to grab him again as the plaster shatters underneath her back.
She hits the ground like a sack of meat, and for one horrible moment it looks like she's going to get up again. Her knees come up underneath her, her eyes lock on Billy's... she lunges!
And then she falls over, and gurgles. A wet, messy sound as her eyes close and she is forcibly introduced into unconsciousness.
On almost any other opponent, Kane would have no doubt he'd won in the very moment the his blow finds purchase. She was run ragged, bleeding internally, and subsisting on pure rage and hate; of course she was going down. Logic dictates. But fighting isn't always about logic, and world-destroying gods outright defy it. When Vice seems to be getting up again, the Londoner's heart is in his mouth. He tenses all over, he--
He freezes like prey, waits it out, until she collapses. Losing the battle; winning the moral victory.
It's over. Relative to the many knockdown, drag-out brawls he's had over the years, Billy isn't physically that worn; but as the Orochi-blooded fiend falls still and he draws his staff back with a half-hearted spin, the weight of the last few minutes settles on his shoulders like a ten-ton weight. Slowly he breathes out through the mouth, then sucks in a long, shallow burst of charged air through the nose. His head slowly shaking, he turns and makes his way out toward the ruined shop-front, leaving the shattered bar behind.
But not before he remembers the camera, and looks up with a sudden smirk.
"Remember, kids," he says with the most casual, swaggering air he can manage. To someone who doesn't know him intimately, it's fairly convincing; it should look good on television. "Violence and bloodshed ain't big or clever, an' naughty words won't make you cool like Billy Kane." With that, he swings the extended staff up over his shoulder, leaning back into his heels as he aims a swift wink at the lense, "Don't try this at 'ome, eh?"
Speaking of home... he's going back to the luxurious and no-longer-boring Athens Hilton, for the longest and most satisfying soak ever. If ever there was an opposite force in this world to the likes of Ryuji Yamazaki and the inimitable Vice, it's to be found in a bubble bath. Possibly with candles. Yeah, that's right. Billy's a badass.
Log created on 09:04:30 05/13/2012 by Vice, and last modified on 09:53:36 05/14/2012.