damned_institute | Nightshift 38: Recreational Field

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.

For the moment, Logan's mind was gone. It was almost a meditative state rather than a feral one however, one channelled through years of training. His movements were methodical, his body focusing on the singular task of breaking through the ice. The low growl remained, but it, too, served to focus him rather than give rise to his rage. He listened to Falis, but her voice came through as if in a dream, distant, near-whispering, as if it was almost just a voice in his head.

Suddenly, he was through. Not fully having comprehended Falis' intentions through her words, he was startled back into reality as she dived through the gap he'd created before he'd even realised it was there. She was crazy, he was sre of it. Crazy, but determined. That sounded familiar. A cynical smile crept unbidden and unconsciously across the mutant's lips, before he remembered what they had to do. Another three swift, solid kicks, and the hole was wide enough for his stocky frame...just. Squeezing through, he instantly caught sight of swift movement through the mist. Not enough to pinpoint her but...as soon as Falis opened her mouth, he knew both where she was and what she was doing. That sword...he hoped she knew how to use it properly. One mistake...if Ami went down...he doubted he'd have any control over his actions from that point on.

Now he really hoped Falis knew what she was doing.

Despite Falis' warning Mercury knew she could never back down. The other senshi were counting on her. ﾞI am the Sailor Soldier of Wisdom and Justice, Sailor Mercury! I protect the innocent and fight evil, and that means you!" She took a defensive stance.

Sailor Mercury? Soldier of Wisdom and Justice? In that skirt? That was fucking hilarious. Falis couldn't help herself; she laughed - deep and hearty.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! That's the funniest fucking thing I've heard since I've been here, Ami. Most witches I know don't try to make their targets laugh themselves to death; they try to go with the fucking intimidating shit," she replied with a smirk. "And they don't go showing off their legs like that. Tell me, sweetheart, ain't you a bit a cold flashing your panties and all like you did when you jumped out of that ring? Not that I minded..."

That last bit was said hoping it'd fluster Ami a little considering how red she'd turned when the bow had been torn off and earlier when Falis had kissed her on the cheek. Before the words were fully off of Falis' lips, she was on the move. She may not have her unmatched speed here, but she was still pretty fucking fast.

The hunter's form exploded forward, but went past Ami on the girl's right, her sword in it's reversed fashion coming up as if it was going to cut along Ami's shoulder as the blonde shot past her. The blade did not connect, though, merely close enough to shear a piece of that floofy sleeve off if Ami didn't move fast enough.

The hunter's mark was tired, Falis could sense this. Labored breathing, though she was doing a decent job covering it up, there was a good chance the ice witch was out of magic for the moment. Falis wasn't entirely sure, but she was going to take the chance that Ami was tapped out. Immediately once the tip of the sword passed Ami's shoulder, Falis pivoted and put all her considerable strength into her strike as she tried to drive the butt of her sword straight into Ami's gut, the blade still running down the back of her arm where it wouldn't cut the supposed Sailor Soldier.

"I warned you," she said to Ami in a low voice. "But I've been called worse."

As soon as he was also through the hole, Logan was already running. He closed this distance in less than a second, but before he could either attack or defend either of them, Falis had started laughing. It stopped him short, even as her words caught up to his ears. Glancing over at their now mutual antagonist, the Canadian had to concede that Ami's skirt was probably a little too short for someone of her age.

Falis' words didn't go unnoticed by the mutant, but after all he'd seen and done, he could have been much more surprised than he was. The animal within reared its head briefly, almost as if in unconscious response to Falis' 'not minding' Ami's far-too-provocative outfit, but he quickly kept himself in check. Logan's mind returned to pure instinct as Falis struck. He knew well enough that she hadn't used the blade, but with that amount of force...he would have preferred to just subdue her, restrain her in some way. The animal within snarled again as he realised just how many times he'd done the same...or worse.

Mercury didn't have time for embarrassment as Falis launched herself forward. Her visor readings were too slow for Falis' attack, and she felt the coolness of the blade as it sliced off part of her sleeve.

Too late Mercury dived to try to avoid the next attack, and instead of the sword hilt connecting with her stomach, there was a sickening crunch as it smashed the bottom of her ribs. Mercury cried out in pain as she slammed into the icy ground, rolling for a couple of metres.

Gasping in pain, she struggled to stand back up, pain flaring sharply through her torso. With shaky legs, she managed to pull herself up again, one arm wrapped protectively around her broken ribs, the other ready to cast what was possibly her final attack.

"SHINE...AQUA...ILLUSION!" She threw the attack at Falis, using up what was left of her strength.

Before she could see if the attack connected, a roaring sound filled Mercury's ears, and stars danced in front on her eyes.

"Usagi..." she whispered to the darkness as her body crumpled to the ground.

A white light surrounded her unconscious form, slowing dimming to reveal a battered and bruised Ami, dressed in Landel's attire.

A small stick with a blue glass ball with the symbol of Mercury inside rolled loosly away from her fingertips.

[Please to be giving it back to her in the morning whoever picks it up? -batts eyes-. Permission from mods to turn back into sexy miniskirt Mercury at night :D]

Shit.

She felt the blow hit ribs instead of lower, stopping her follow through.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The ice attack was thrown haphazardly at the hunter, a desperation move, and Falis dropped to the ground, sliding along it to let the icy waves pass over her. She wasn't perfect, though, and the ice wave caught her already iced shoulder again and barely touched her left cheek. Pain flared before it quickly dropped into an icy numbness. Falis didn't care, though, she was more worried about Ami than herself.

"Fuck," she ground out, wincing as her cheek protested her speaking. Driving her sword into the ground to stop her momentum, Falis was up on her feet. She was immediately at Ami's side, sword put into the sash at her waist, and she knelt down to examine her friend.

"Ami," she called to the girl, not that she was expecting her to respond. The girl was out and Falis felt like shit for what she'd done. It had to be done, her experience showing her that anything short of knocking out a controlled patient was useless, but that didn't make her feel any better. Her hand moved across Ami's abdomen, searching for the damage, finding the broken ribs.

"Fuck," she growled out, her eyes closing briefly as she tried to calm herself down. It wasn't life threatening by any means, but still... she hadn't tried to hurt Ami like this. She'd just been trying to knock her out without hitting her in the head. Damn ice fucking up her shoulder, making her have to strike with one hand instead of two, reducing her control of her blade in half. She fucking hated magic.

"She'll be in pain tomorrow, but she'll be okay," Falis stated, her voice quiet as she put a hand to Ami's cheek. "I hope she forgives me."

"As long as she's ok." He growled, giving Ami the once-over. She did look pretty good in that outfit, the animal noticed. He shook his head quickly. She was just a kid; such thoughts were highly inappropriate.

The pen may have gone unnoticed by Falis, but his senses didn't miss a trick. Moving swiftly, without ceremony, he swept it up into his right hand. "This looks important." He began. "Remin' me ta ask her abou' it tomorra. Fer now, le's jus' ge' her somewhere safe."

Falis glanced over at the man as he picked up something that looked like it might have been Ami's power item. That wasn't helping the whole witch thing, since they usually had shit like that.

"Yeah," Falis said, scooping Ami up into her arms with a groan of pain. Damn shoulder and damn leg and damn... magic. "I'll get her back to the women's block." She started toward the building with a pronounced limp as the ice around them started to thaw. "Catch you around, old man."

Nightshift 38: Recreational Field

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