damned_institute | Nightshift 38: Recreational Field

Damn. Almos' go' a glimpse o' her, was Logan's first thought as he managed to catch a flicker of blue amongst the haze. She had retreated, that much was obvious. Still shy, huh? He kept moving nonetheless.

'Shine Aqua Illusion'? Was that supposed to be some sort of incantation? Maybe that was how she accessed her power; through spells of some sort, like Dr Strange. The mutant shuddered mentally. He hated magic. Always felt so helpless against it. His experiences with his former mentor Ogun had done a lot towards generating that particular feeling. But he would not back down. The air had gotten colder again, but still he moved forward. Finally, he was able to take full sight of her. It seemed she had taken up a static defense for now, and had surrounded herself with ice. With his claws, or even the knife, Logan was confident he could make pretty short work of her cage, but for now he had neither. All that was left to him for the time being was to just keep on talking.

"I don' wanna pass, Miss Mercury. I ain' go' nowhere ta go. I jus' wanna talk ta ya, try ta help ya." He held his left hand out ahead of him imploringly (the right still refused to move), as if to show he was not a threat.

At least her defensive wall had stopped his advancement. She knew he was close enough to be able to see her, though a little unclearly through the ice and mist.

Apparently he still wasn't leaving. Fine. She hated doing it this way, but sometimes there was no other choice.

"SHINE...AQUA...ILLUSION!" The droplets of ice water spiralled around her before she threw the attack at him.

Ice water, potential to freeze. Freezing down time: 5-10 mins

Whilst the fog was still playing tricks on his eye, Logan was able to catch full sight of the girl through her ice barricade, although not as clearly as he'd have liked. She appeared to be wearing a traditional Japanese schoolgirl outfit. Was that what all the 'sailor' talk was about? Some sort of gimmick? Or just a bad pun? Either way, he had more important things to worry about just now; it seemed that she wasn't listening to him at all, as he'd expected from his own experiences.

The mutant was a fast learner, however; he hadn't lived this long based solely on his healing factor after all. As soon as she opened her mouth again, he knew what was coming. And since his right arm was telling him (quite loudly now) that it was useless to try and block her attack, he did the only thing he could, and dived forward toward the ground, just as she completed her incantation, making sure to lead with the one arm that still worked. He was almost fast enough, too. The jet of ice water that shot out from Mercury's direction burned across his back and down one leg as he hit the ground. Not enough to freeze them solid, but he certainly felt it. There was no numbing sensation this time, just a searing coldness that may as well have been liquid nitrogen coursing across his body. "Gah!" he spat involuntarily, as he lay there heavily for several seconds, desperately trying to work out a way to get through her defenses to subdue her.

She saw him dive to one side as her icy water connected with the lower half of his body. According to her data, he was still okay. She waited in a defensive stance to see what he would do, keeping an eye on the rest of the field.

It burned. Oh, how it burned. But he'd been through worse. From being trapped under a glacier, to being incinerated, there were far worse pains he'd endured than this. The only problem was, this was feeding the beast. Riling it up. Making it mad. He struggled against the urgings, tried to maintain his composure, his humanity. She was still a friend, after all. But it would be so easy to just kill her. No. No more killin' innocents.

Shakily, he got to his feet once more, and forced a smile. He could take this, he knew he'd still be alive tomorrow no matter what. Despite his reduced powers, he was still essentially immortal. And better she take her brainwashed anger out on him than someone more...vulnerable. "Tha' all ya go', darlin'? If yer finished, then mebbe we c'n talk now?" The pain still throbbed all down his back.

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/554969.html?thread=45699801#t45699801)

Toward the back of the rec field, Falis perched on the wall between it and the courtyard. She'd been drawn by the icy fog and her own desire to find some trouble. A bored bounty hunter was never a good thing, especially one with nothing better to do. Visibility was low across the field thanks to the fog, but the ice coating the wall below her was easily noticed. This wasn't anything particularly new to Falis, having encountered a lot of magic in her life, but she was pretty sure this was going to be challenging. No one had talked about an ice user anywhere before.

There were two immediate problems, though. The first was the ice on the inside of the wall. If Falis were to jump down, there was a very good chance she'd slip and fall, losing any shred of surprise. The other problem was that the hunter wasn't sure where the magic beastie creating it was. Both could be taken care of with a simple shift in position.

Carefully, the hunter crept along the wall, her profile low, as she rounded to the back of the rec field, thankfully not too far from where she'd climbed the wall originally. There was a shed only a few feet from the wall, thankfully ice free. As she heard a man with a gruff voice start to talk to whomever, whatever, was being the ice queen, Falis used the sound as cover to make her leap from the wall to the shed.

Landing lightly, making little noise, Falis crept to the apex of the she'd roof. Crouching down, she narrowed her eyes, peering into the icy fog and concentrating on any sound she could pick up on. She knew the layout of the field and this was just one of many times where she'd have to track a mark in the middle of a magical fog. Controlling her breathing so the small cloud it formed was less noticeable, the hunter waited. Soon, something will tell her what she needed to know.

Mercury was surprised that the man was able to stand. She had a recollection of meeting him before. Logan? Is that his name? No matter. He was still a patient, still a threat, and still not returning to his room.

She bristled at his words. "I am not intimidated by you," she said strongly from inside the ice ring.

"Return to your room. I do not want to injure you further, but I will do so if you continue to remain here."

On the fringes of the fog, Mercury registered another blip. Female. Since the female was a decent distance away and Mercury was surrounded by a defensive wall of ice, she focused on the immediate problem of the man in front of her. She would deal with the other patient later.

Apparently, his attempt at communication was falling on deaf ears. But then, he had suspected this would be the case. "You ain' go' no reason ta be intimidated by me, Miss Mercury. I'm yer frien', whether ya choose ta believe tha' or no'." He started to move closer to her again, his left leg dragging slightly. "I ain' returnin' ta m'room, tho'. No' until I know yer no' hurtin' anyone...or yerself." He was almost within reach of her ice cage now. Just one more step...

"Ya c'n injure me as much's ya like, darlin', bu' I ain' stoppin'." Finally, he'd reached her. Drawing back with his good hand, he thrust a punch foward with all the remaining strength he had, hoping to at least crack, if not shatter, her icy barrier.

A loud crack could be heard echoing across the field as Logan punched the ice, and a jagged seam formed straight down the centre of one of Mercury's ice spikes.

She gritted her teeth. Apparently the metal on his bones was a lot harder than she thought. No normal person should have been able to break through the ice.

She had to attack him again before he broke through her wall.

"MERCURY...AQUA...RHAPSODY!" The liquid lyre appeared once more in her hands, firing six icy jets over her defensive wall at him.

In the back of Falis' mind, she registered there was something familiar about the female voice she'd heard, something that nagged at her. Unfortunately, Falis was focused on where her prey was and the female voice brought to the forefront one word - witch.

The hunter had been patient and her patience paid off. The more both the witch and the gruff man talked, the closer she was to honing in on the witch's location. When she heard the ice crack, that was the signal she'd been waiting for. In a flash, Falis had leaped down from the roof of the shed and charged right at where she knew the target was, drawing her katana in the process. Hearing the witch call forth her magic, made it that much easier to adjust her angle.

The jagged icy ring surrounding the figure casting magic with blue sparkles and shit wasn't expected by Falis, but a split second assessment allowed her to gather her strength and vault over the icy wall. Normally, clearing a shoulder high wall like that would be nothing for the famed bounty hunter, but she wasn't quite as strong here as she normally was, so the sharp upper edge of the wall cut a thin line through her pants, drawing blood from the outside of her leg. The cold pain stung, but being just a flesh wound, it didn't stop Falis. Landing inside the ring, the hunter cut a horizontal strike at the witch, intending on taking the bitch's head off in one fell swoop. Then she saw a flash of blue hair and that warning bell that had gone off in her mind earlier blared in full force.

This was Ami - not a witch. Falis barely managed to stop her strike, the sword's blade less than an inch from Ami's head. Eyes wide in shock, Falis' arm trembled from the force needed to stop that strike. Relieved that she'd stopped in time, not taking the moment to analyze why Ami was in a ring of ice wearing a really short blue skirt that showed off her legs beautifully not to mention throwing ice around like a fucking witch, Falis yelled at her in a way only a friend would.

"OI! WHAT THE HELL, AMI?! I JUST ALMOST TOOK YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"

The ice attack caught Logan square in the chest, freezing it solid and throwing him on his back. But still, it didn't stop him. It didn't burn yet, but again, he knew it would. Besides, he still had one am and a leg-and-a-half, so he wasn't prepared to stop yet. It took him longer to get to his feet this time, but his sheer force of will drove him ever onward.

Without wasting another second, the mutant punched again, this time smashing the shaft of ice to pieces. Wasting no further time, the mutant shimmied sideways through the narrow gap, just in time to see Falis swing her blade...and stop short. He barely registered Falis' outcry, before launching one of his own at her. "Wha' tha hell ya doin' kid?!? Tha's a frien' o' mine! Can'cha see she's outta her min'?!? Ain' no reason ta kill her! Watcha sel', or I take you down firs'!" He was angry, not feral angry, but very defensive all the same. This was what he was trying to prevent, dammit!

Mercury wasn't prepared for the speed in which the blonde woman moved, and would surely have lost her head if the other hadn't pulled the attack at the last minute.

She jumped back to the far edge of the icy circle, away from both the katana wielding woman and the short, hairy, and by now mostly frozen man who appeared to have, for some reason, jumped to Mercury's defence. Mercury was again surprised by the use of her real name, but the blonde hair and attitude seemed familiar. Alita.... The name swam up in her mind. But she had no time to think about it. They were much too close "SHINE...AQUA...ILLUSION!" She threw the ice water at the pair.

[Icy water, potential to freeze the area which is hit. Freezing down time: 5-10 mins]

Falis started to snarl at the man, clearly as angry as he was, when Ami started speaking. Instantly, the bounty hunter recognized it as an incantation and reacted before the words were fully out of Ami's mouth. She sprung forward, using all the speed this place allowed her, switching her sword from her right hand to her left.

She saw the water coming at her and twisted her body, taking the hit on her left shoulder and upper arm, powering herself forward while her right hand reached out in an attempt to grab a hold of the front of Ami's top where that ridiculous bow met the edge of her collar. The cold seeped deep into the hunter's upper arm and shoulder. She could still move her wrist, so she rotated her sword so it was in a non-threatening position, the unedged side of the blade toward Ami.

"I can fucking see that now, asshole," Falis growled at the man. "If you hadn't fucking noticed, there's this thing here called FOG. Makes it hard to see shit until you;re right up on top of it."

Crimson eyes boring into Ami's, Falis added on, "And she's my friend, too, so don't you dare think I Ain't pissed at myself for not recognizing her earlier. She's usually not the type to show off those legs of hers or cast magic like a witch."

There was still no pain yet, and the numbing sensation of the ice helped to clear his mind. The low, throbbing pain that still came from his slowly-healing stomach wound was gone, replaced with a nothingness. It was actually an advantage, despite the ice reducing his mobility. He needed his mind more than his body now, after all.

When the next attack came, he was ready. Bracing, he took the hit full in the chest, grimacing as it connected. But with his feet well planted, he didn't lose his balance this time. And he could still walk. Logan's breath was shallow, rapid, as his organs began to cool beneath the skin. Some days it felt like there were just as many disadvantages as advantages to having a metal-laced skeleton - the last time he fought out here, he was fried, this time he was being frozen, and both times the adamantium made it worse. But as long as he could still walk and talk...

The mutant's head snapped up as he saw Falis lunge for Ami, his left hand clenching into a fist. Her acid-laced words brought him back to the fight at hand. "Wha' kinda warrior you sposedta be?!?" He spat suddenly in return, his tone dripping with both contempt and impatience. It was possible that she was just some inexperienced kid who'd happened to stumble across a sword, but the way she held it; it was obvious she'd had at least some training, no matter how rudimentary. "If ya can' see, use yer other senses! Basics, kid!" True, he had a far greater advantage than most when it came to other senses, but still, there was much an ordinary human could do, even without their eyes.

"Ya mean ya coul'n' hear her yellin' away like tha'?" It was almost as if their attacker had been forgotten for the moment as he continued his tirade. "Or tha fog makin' ya deaf, too?" Logan was getting angry now, but at least he was focusing that away from Ami. He was almost on top of the pair, although he was seriously doubting what he could do to subdue her with just one arm. Still, between the two of them, he and Falis might be able to put her down. "Watch tha mouth, kid." He said to Falis, his tone a little softer as he struggled to maintain his composure. "I don' know if she's a witch, a mutan', or wha', bu' righ' now she's a danger ta herself n' ta anyone else ou' here." He looked down at Ami as he kept walking. "We're gonna ge' ya someplace safe, darlin'" He soothed, whilst already bracing for another attack.

Mercury had noticed the sharp jump in Alita's adrenaline as she lunged forward, and dived to the side to avoid the attack.

As she fell, she felt a strong pull and a ripping sound as the large bow on the front of her sailor fuku was torn off. The force of the pull put her off balance and instead of a smooth roll back into a standing, defensive position, Mercury hit one of the ice pillars surrounding them.

Luckily for her, the pair seemed to be too busy arguing to follow up with another attack so soon, though Logan was getting close. She quickly stood up, glanced down at her ruined fuku. A red tinge washed across her cheeks as she noticed that her white leotard had turned into a low-cut leotard where the bow had been torn off. She was highly embarrassed and wanted to end this fight quickly.

"MERCURY...AQUA...RHAPSODY!" she yelled as her liquid lyre appeared in her hands. Six icy jet streams leapt for the pair, three aimed at each of them.

[Ice attack, will freeze an area of the body if it hits. Freezing down time 30 mins. Also possibility of being cut by ice shards]

"I'm a fucking bounty hunter," Falis retorted, her tone lower and controlled as she channeled her anger inward instead of outward to fuel the need she may have in the future to force herself to tear muscles in order to break the freeze on her shoulder. "And it's my other senses that let me pinpoint her and get closer than you have in less than a minute. I ain't never heard her fucking yell like that, so forgive me for making a mistake. Keep in mind, I stopped my blade."

She dropped the ripped bow on the ground, eyes narrowing as she tracked Ami's movements. "If you know she's being controlled by them, old man, and have dealt with it before like I have, then you know what we have to do - that talking ain't going to stop her," the hunter stated.

Her eyes narrowed as she continued to track Ami and again, the moment she opened her mouth to cast, Falis was moving, clearly experienced in fighting magic users. The first ice wave was dodged as the hunter pulled one of the three foot long wooden spears from her back. Spinning it around, tucking the end under her arm, she deflected the second ice stream to the side and blocked the third with the back half of the spear.

Shards from the last two ice waves made it past her defenses, one cutting a red line across her cheek and a few cutting her hand and arm holding the spear. Those didn't bother her, though she did grunt when one shard pierced her leg, blood slipping down to the ground. "Che."

Despite the pain, the hunter darted to the side and then threw the now ice-covered spear at Ami. She aimed a little to the side of the girl to force Ami to dodge the other direction, toward the old man while the hunter, herself, advanced. This was a small arena the ice witch had managed to corral herself in; eventually they would herd her.

"Tell me, Ami - what are you?" She wasn't expecting much of a response since Yukari hadn't really been helpful in explaining all her magic when she was on Special Counseling, but maybe it'd be distracting. Probably not.

Keeping his eyes on Ami the whole time, Logan was nontheless able to listen to Falis' continued tirade. Kids. They were all the same. They all thought they had the answers for everything, and therefore had no need to listen to their elders. And they always ended up learning the hard way, whilst those with more experience were just left biting their tongues and shaking their heads. "No goo' gettin' in closer unless yer gonna help, kid. Sometimes ya c'n achieve more talkin' wit' yer mouth than wit' yer blade." He was well within range now, and just about to reach out to take hold of Ami when she opened her mouth again. Dammit!

Before she could finish, he lunged. Low and fast, both to avoid whatever she threw at him, and to hopefully connect with her legs and take her down. It seemed the 'conversation' would have to wait after all.

Mercury gritted her teeth as both opponents dodged her attack. She saw Falis' arm move back to throw the spear, and Logan dive low towards her. Her visor calculated the projectory of the spear throw in a split second, and instead of throwing herself to the side, Mercury jumped, arching in a graceful backflip over the ice barrier to the other side.

"SHINE...AQUA...ILLUSION!" she cried, as she turned in the air, throwing the attack as she landed, not at the pair inside the ice wall, but at the wall itself. In a matter of seconds, the wall became an ice dome, closing Falis and Logan inside.

Mercury dropped to one knee, panting. She was quickly losing strength.

Fuck.

Falis barely stopped her advance, trying to get a hand on Ami's ankle as she jumped backwards, before she ran into the newly formed ice. Staring at the barrier a few inches from her eyes, she listened for movement on the other side. Hearing none as either Ami wasn't moving or the ice was too thick, the hunter turned her attention to the dome encasing them.

The old man had been pretty fucking ice covered when Falis first arrived and he'd taken at least one more icing since then. The hunter's own shoulder was still frozen, so she switched the sword to her primary hand again. A tapping on the ice with the tsuba told her the ice was decently thick, but she still wasn't sure how thick. She moved carefully around the edge of the barrier, tapping the sword against it in places, searching for a potentially weak spot to break through. The ice shard in her leg went unattended; she didn't want to pull it out since it was too numb to tell how deep it really was.

"Hey, Popsicle, you okay?"

Damn, she was fast. Of course, he'd been slowed down somewhat by her attacks, but still, he should have at least been able to connect with her in that time. But instead, his outstretched left hand merely grazed her booted heel as she flipped maddeningly out of his reach. With his right hand still not responding, the mutant landed heavily on the near-frozen grass, his arm crumpling heavily beneath him, taking the wind from him once more.

Logan was vaguely aware of another of Ami’s incantations, but his head swam and he shook it groggily, trying to regain focus in his good eye. The world suddenly went entirely white, and for a second he thought he might have lost his eyesight altogether, but as his vision cleared gradually, he saw the real reason for the sudden uniformity of colour in all directions. She had frozen them in. This was getting better all the time. Just peachy, in fact.

Slowly, far too slowly, Logan pushed himself up on to his knees. He spat blood and grimaced in Falis’ general direction. “I been worse. How thick is it?” He essentially evaded the question, but the both of them were stuck in here together, and Ami was still free to wreak havoc on the outside, so he should at least try to be nice, at least until they got free.

Mercury could vaguely hear the tapping on the ice, but she didn't think they'd be able to get through it straight away.

Hopefully that would give her some time to recover. She was still breathing heavily, the exhersion of throwing so many attacks causing beads of sweat to form across her forehead. Her upper right arm throbbed from when she was hit before, and she massaged it gently. Her visor readings showed that another person had entered the field, but, for the moment, Mercury couldn't do anything except watch and hope that they would retreat back inside.

The man's non-answer was answer enough for Falis, which made her a bit concerned, if only because this man was a friend of Ami's. She didn't let any of that concern show, though.

"I don't doubt it," she replied, tapping again. "Sounds about a foot thick, give an inch or two." She narrowed her eyes at the ice. "I can probably break through it, but I'll tear my shoulder doing so thanks to the fucking ice. It might cause some... not good consequences." She was well aware of how much pain that would cause and how quickly her other side would start to pressure her into letting it loose. She would not let it loose. She might not care about accidentally killing the old man, but she'd be fucking pissed if she killed Ami because she lost control.

"You got any punch left in you?" Falis stopped at a point she thought was weaker than the rest.

With what seemed to him a near-herculean effort, the mutant struggled to his feet once more. The pain in his leg was lessening, and with focus, he was actually even able to move his right arm a little. Not enough to be of any significant use just yet, but it was reassuring to know that the damage wasn't as bad as he'd initially thought. His chest however...there was no pain yet, but breathing was becoming difficult. He'd lived through worse. He had to keep reminding himself of that. This was peanuts compared to some of the things he'd endured over his long life. Nothing. Now if only his body could be as convinced as his mind that this was the case...

Instead of worrying about how much he was probably going to hurt tomorrow, Logan turned his attention fully to Falis. At least now she was being less hostile, although he had to admit that he'd been pretty riled up, too. But whatever. They could tear chunks off each other all day tomorrow if necessary, or have it out at night to determine who was Ami's 'best buddy', but right now, she was still out there, and still a threat.

The mutant sensed something then, not something that might be noticed by an ordinary human, but it was there nonetheless. It wasn't a smell, or even a significant change in Falis' voice. It was something...less tangible than that. But there was something there, under Falis' skin, that reminded him of himself. An internal war...or something far sinister. But again, this was not the time for such thoughts. Instead, he let them slip from his mind even as he moved over to where she stood. "Yer sword ain' gonna do much goo', an' there def'nitely ain' no poin' in bustin' yerself up unless ya go' no other choice. I go' a bi' o' figh' lef' in me...an' we sure as hell ain' gonna le' our frien' keep runnin; aroun' pullin' tricks like this anymore, are we?" He attempted a half-arsed smile which spread across his face as more of a pained grimace, so he quickly let it drop. The Canadian took two steps back, braced himself as best he could on his weaker left leg, and kicked with all of his remaining strength at the spot in front of his new companion. Then he kicked again. And again, teeth gritted and bared, a low growl of frustration just beginning to rumble to the surface.

Mercury heard the vibrating thumps of someone hitting the icy barrier. Focusing her visor,the readings showed that it was Logan. She frowned. This isn't good. My barrier won't stand up to his metal skeleton for long. She forced herself to stand, mentally preparing herself and gathering the remainder of her energy. She waited with baited breath.

Falis nodded, a bit of a smirk touching her lips briefly, before moving out of the man's way. She reversed her sword so the blade ran up the length of her arm, while she tested the strength in her injured leg. Good enough.

"As soon as there's enough room, I'm through the hole," she said, her voice low so it wouldn't carry outside the ice. As the ice started to crack, Falis brought up her mental map of the field and remembered where Ami had been when she created the dome. That was roughly seven meters from where they were currently positioned. Assuming the ice witch hadn't moved too far.

She made a mental note about how effective the man's kicks were against the ice, much more like what she'd expect out of Pete and not just some guy she met on the road, but tucked it away to think about later. As soon as a chunk of the ice broke away and a second one followed, the hunter sprang through the hole and landed in a three-point stance. Pain shot up through her shoulder, but she pushed it away.

Crouching low to the ground in that stance a second, sword back behind her some, the hunter searched for her prey. There. Falis darted to the left to flank Ami and get out of the old man's way. Dropping back into the three-point stance, Falis fixed her eyes on Ami.

"I warn you now, Ami, and only now. Stand down," she said in a low voice.

Nightshift 38: Recreational Field

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)