The past cannot always be left behind. Grudges cannot always be buried. Lives change, lives grow, and lives end in ten years. Sometimes death would be a sweeter release then living life.

For these heroes, the past can never be buried.

The city of New Myria has an unresolved secret lurking below its tall buildings and clean streets. They fall constant prey to thievery, murders, and acts of inhumanness. A group of thugs, outcasts from society that live together, are the cause of New Myria's problems. The city's small but sufficient law enforcement was never prepared for the onslaught. They are like no gang ever seen before, with massive numbers that rival the population itself. This group works to become rich and infamous, pillaging what they can and always looking for a more glamorous prize.

New Myria is a large city, but not the kind that normally comes to mind. There are no large buildings and no paved streets. Instead there are house-sized stucco buildings scattered across a large, grassless area, and dirt roads. New Myria resembles a frontier city, but set in modern times. In short, think of a typical town from Trigun.

The heroes will be introducing themselves. There is a plot laid down for this story and they'll get it rolling as planned. Since this is a branch of the main storyline at Gamer Crossfire and Soul Sector, there are some limits. You can't use characters from games, TV, movies. There is magic, but no flying and there are no super-duper blasts.

In this RP, you may join either side, as you wish. If you're a thug, then you're pretty free to act on your own accord. You can be leaders of small groups if you wish, and control multiple underlings. You must follow the orders of the gang's leaders, however (They'll be introduced in time). Thugs are also limited to human abilities, except for a rare few. If you're a good guy, then your best bet to fit in is being a vigilante. For example, your sister was killed by the gang, and now you're really pissed.

Multiple characters are allowed at this time. Please PM Fury Three with your profiles. DO NOT post profiles in this thread! This information is required:

Group:
Name:
Gender:
Age:
Eyes/hair:
Clothing:
Weapon(s):
Position: (Lowly thugs, leaders, mercenaries, etc.)
Background: (Optional)

Thank you.

(Intro written by Wolf, revised by Fury)

---------------

A trio of cracks from a rifle shatter the silence across an empty dirt road that divides the city of New Myria. The scream of a woman echoes right behind the gunfire. At a bar on the east side of the road, several men turn to look at the sound's source, disinterested. One man sighs and turns back to his drink at the bar, silently undoing the safety on his revolver. The gang usually didn't loot the bar, but they did have a tendency to kill everyone inside besides the bartender. After a long pause, a faint thump moves across the road. The body of a young woman, shot three times in the head, becomes the only obstacle on the dusty path. The rest of the bar's patrons turn back to their drinks or cards. It was just another day in New Myria.

A jeep pulls into town. It's over crowded with people of all types. Two of these jump off as it slows near the girl's body.

One is an average height woman wearing a deep blue cloak and carrying a large battle ax. She is followed by a golden haired youngster with an advanced maturity look in her face and a sword on her hip.

The woman, Rikali, kneels at the girl's body, blocking her daughter Rose's view.

"Gross." Rose states. Riki glances at her.

"I suppose. Wonder why she got shot."

"I heard something about this being a gang town." Fury's words are slightly muffled by an unlit cigarette. He hadn't bothered getting off the back of the truck, but instead just stood and looked over the windshield frame through a pair of sunglasses. He wears a red shirt, a white undershirt, and a pair of baggy khakis. His only weapon is an assault rifle, slung over his right shoulder and unloaded. "Still a good question, though..."

After watching the body thoughtfully for a few more moments, as if trying to rewind to the scene, he glances at the driver. "Ayn, let's find a place to stay."

"A gang town?" Riki scowls and pulls her hood over her face, climbing back into the jeep. Rose hops up after her and makes a gross face at Bianca.

A woman with long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and light blue eyes acknowledges Fury, her hands loosely gripping the steering wheel. "Fine by me..."

Next to her, a teenager bearing an uncanny resemblance to the driver, has her arms crossed and looks rather upset. "I wanted to drive!!"

Ayn rolls her eyes. "Shove it, Bianca. I'll let you drive later."

Rose laughs at Bianca and pushes her older friend. "You look like Fury when you make that face."

Fury turns around and sits back down behind the passenger seat on the wall to the truckbed, holding on to the roll bar in preparation to move. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That she looks like you?" Rose giggles and does a little dance in her seat, with the result of stabbing her leg. "Ow! Stupid sword..."

Riki stares at the girl's body, her hidden face nervous. "Gangs can be dangerous. Maybe we should just pass through this town. We have an unexplained tendecy to attract trouble, you know."

Bianca looks slightly confused at the statement as well. "Whaddya mean by that?"

Meanwhile, Ayn has parked the Jeep and turned it off, she's watching them with crossed arms.

After sensing the vehicle come to a stop, Fury stands again. "Yeah, right, like a bunch of thugs with second-rate weapons are going to be much trouble." Noticing Ayn's apparent discontent with the whole situation, he changes the subject. "Okay everybody, I guess we should get moving."

Rose pushes Fury off the jeep. "If you're going to move, move."

Riki glances at Ayn, sharing her unhappiness.

"Hey--" Fury falls out of the truckbed and lands on his back next to the wheel. "I have to watch out around ten year olds now, too?"

((since my actually characters won't appear for a while, I'll use generics! :D))

A gruff looking man looks up from his paper at the group by the jeep. A rifle leans against the wall next to him. He's obviously part of the local gang. He seems disintrested at first but looks up again, a curious look on his face. He folds up his paper and grabs his rifle. He walks away from them and down the street. "Hm..I wonder...I better tell Dimitri.."

"Yes."

Rose jumps onto Fury's stomach and walks off it.

"Don't disrespect your elders, Rose." Riki snaps from the jeep.

Rose glares at her rebelliously.

Ayn steps out of the Jeep, slamming the door shut behind her.

Bianca hops out of the Jeep, then looks around curiously... Feeling somewhat nervous with the environment and current situation, she starts tugging at her ponytail uncomfortably.

Fury groans under Rose's foot and scrambles up after she passes. While dusting himself off, he glances around for a place to stay. He spots a nearby hotel and points it out. "Let's check over there. How much money do we have to spend?"

"Not enough to buy us all dinner and a room." Riki throws Fury's wallet at him and jumps off the jeep. She heads towards the hotel and doesn't wait for the others.

Rose sighs and watches her go ahead. "Wonder what got her in a bad mood..."

Fury stops and catches the wallet like a football. "Man, this is a cheery group. What's up with you guys?" He turns the knob to the hotel's front door and backs in.

Rose shrugs. "I'm perfectly fine. This is a...uh...'nice' hotel."

She looks around the main lobby, an eyebrow raised. "Where is everybody?"

Riki waves Fury over from the front desk.

Ayn's trudging behind, not really in the mood to talk to anyone.. she holds up a hand, incinerating someone trying to mug her with a blast of fire.. She enters the hotel, looking around, half-interested.

Bianca, on the other hand, seems to have forgotten about not being able to drive and is standing up at the front desk, grinning.

Ayn's little magic trick attracts the attention of more thugs. Realizing that trying anything could mean death, any ideas they might of had are shot down. While most of the thugs go back to their buisness, two go in the direction as the one from before.

One of the thugs break off from the others and moves deeper into town... What he'd witnessed was trouble. The Boss would have to be notified about it.

***

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing..." Noticing Rose's eagerness, Fury walks over to the front desk and gathers himself, preparing for some possible bargaining. "How much will it be to get enough rooms for five people."

((Heh, I'll be generics.))
The woman looks up at Fury and frowns slightly at the rifle. She then notices the cheeriness of the young girls and becomes a little more calm. "You must not be from the gang..Whew...We'll sir there are 3 beds to a room, at $100 a room."

He manages a smile, despite a growing concern about this gang. "We're just passing through. Okay then, I'll take two rooms for one night." With that, he fishes a wad of paper bills from his wallet and pays the clerk.

"Thank you, sir. Just be careful. Most of the gang members hang out at the bar and won't bother you. Others will, however."

Bianca looks at Fury, wondering who is gonna be in each room.. But it doesn't really matter, she's kind of interested in going into the bar- the idea of danger kind of excites her.

The women hands Fury two keys and sits down. "Enjoy your stay."

Rose watches the exchange with mild intrest. Like Bianca, she too is interested in this bar. Rose informs her friend this by lifting her eye brows and looking pointedly at the bar's location.

Riki grabs two keys from Fury. "I'll take 218 and the Rose will have 216."

As Fury is pocketing his wallet, Riki snatches the keys. "Hey wait, shouldn't you have the same room?"

~Meanwhile~
The first thug that saw the group slows down upon spotting one of his comrades (Fury's thug). He turns to him. "I take it you saw them too?"

The clinking of glass to wood, the quiet, careful sips of a drink too potent to be enjoyed, the flickering lights... Yes, Element's occupied many such bars at these hours, wiping a bit of blood from his fingers to instead take a new drink to his lips. Tonight, a certain 'Venom of Vendural' was what he was gulping down. Only a name, he hoped, only a name: no bar in their right mind would serve something as terrible and fiery as this drink unless they wanted people to live through the encounter to lay down good money to try again.

The thug slows down to look at his fellow gang member. "Oh, yeah, I saw 'em. We better get this up to Dimitri, quick."

***

The doors to the bar crash open, sending up a thin cloud of dust over the doorway. Gunfire almost immediately begins to go off.

Almost every glass on the counter shatters in an instant as bullets carve the bar into poorly made Swiss cheese. The glass in Element's hand explodes without warning, and just as soon as the fire starts, it ends.

Four men lay shot on the floor with pistols drawn and locked in death grips. A group of six from the gang, frequent visitors to this bar, stand nonchalantly in the doorway, sporting assorted old assault rifles. After the silence has a moment to sink in, the bartender rises up from a cowering position behind the bar and the group walks through a mess of overturned tables and cowering patrons. Sweeping a spot clear of broken glass in front of the thugs, the bartender greets them as if nothing had happened. "What'll it be today, Jack?"

The thug nods in agreement. "Yea man. Dimitri told us to look out for her and anyone with her. Those two weird guys Dimitri has with him pretty much demanded it. I don't see why he hired them. I have yet to see something they could do better then us."

Element stares nonchalantly at wounds from shattered glass all across his fingers, his hand being streaked with crimson. His eyes flit to the remains of his drink, and he spares a quick smirk. "Oh well... Not much of a loss there..." and with that he rises to his feet and begins setting tables right again, intending fully to set something else right as soon as his task is completed.

"Hey, if you wanna argue with Dimitri--go right ahead."

***

The ringleader of the little group of gangsters leans on the cleared spot of the bar. "Yeah, give us the usual there, bill."

One of the thugs decides to try and make a scene out of Element, and shows off his Australian accent in the process. "Hah, lookit that poor dumb bastard..."

With a smile one might use while telling a small child he won't be getting any candy, Element turns to face the gang, reclining somewhat against a table to do so. A quick coughing fit overcomes the sickly human, and perhaps trying "the Venom" was a bad decision on this dreary evening. His moment of unhealth passes, though, and his attention turns once more to this gang.

"That's quite the accent you have there, my friend..."

"Christ man I'm not gonna argue with Dimitri. I just don't see why we had to keep an eye out for that broad when it wasn't even Dimitri's idea. He hired those guys, they should take his orders is all. Besides, I don't want to fight her, you saw what she did!"

"Dimitri said he'd know what do to about them, though. Those two he hired seem to have similar abilities... I wouldn't be surprised if they're even more powerful than that woman."

***

"Why don't you take that and pound it sideways, pally?" He cocks his AK-47 carelessly, and raises it to face Element.

"If they want to take the broad out they can go right ahead, but I'm gettin' my ass out of there. The other's didn't look as powerful, though there was that guy with the rifle."

Hmmm, this was new... Usually he didn't approach these fools directly, for fear of being forced into a situation as this, where he might have to use magic. Oh well, what happens happens.

"That's quite the intimidating gun, friend. I wonder... Would you be able to use it with your other hand?" With those words said, a quick flick of his wrist draws a throwing dagger into a conceiled position in his palm. "Or maybe I should just stab that accent right out of you..."

Hmmm, this was new... Usually he didn't approach these fools directly, for fear of being forced into a situation as this, where he might have to use magic. Oh well, what happens happens.

"That's quite the intimidating gun, friend. I wonder... Would you be able to use it with your other hand?" With those words said, a quick flick of his wrist draws a throwing dagger into a conceiled position in his palm. "Or maybe I should just stab that accent right out of you..."

"Pfft, a rifle, big deal. We got rifles too. And if Dimitri's right, then we have people stronger than the broad on our side."

***

"Hah, you hear that, boys? I think the little stoner thinks he can fight!" He raises the rifle stock to his shoulder and aims through the worn targeting reticles on the weapon's built-in sight.

((Thug time! dunananananana..))

One particularly bulky thug raises his fists, being somewhat of an odd creature, he always preferred fists to guns and knives.

"Yeah but he's the only guy with all those women. For all we know he could be some pimp who goes fanatical Arab when you look at one of them the wrong way."

Element grins toothily, odd that his teeth should seem more like fangs... "Consider yourselves lucky that I can only fight you in this form," and at those words, his dagger's point flies from his palm and stabs directly through the eyepiece of his Australian friend's gun.

(( :kill ))

"Heh... Even if that's true, I still wouldn't worry about 'im."

***

The end of the sight, just above and behind the end of the barrel, explodes into two halves and the length of the sight bursts open as the knife burrows it's way through the gun. The blade exits the viewing end of the sight in a spray of tiny plastic and glass pieces, and embeds itself in the thug's right eye with a sick thud.

((Final Destination 2! AHHH!))

Element smiles wickedly and slips two more daggers into his palms, hopping on top of a table as he lets the blades whiz through the air and embed themselves in the windpipes of the two thugs at either side of this most-likely dead one. Quickly hooking his foot underneath the table, he pulls it up onto its side and rolls it towards the thugs.

((Please, let's assume the tables are round, it makes me feel better... ^_^'))

((I only got to post once with my thug and you already killed him! *mourns*))

The knife thunks into his throat, and he stares straight ahead, blinking rapidly.. he doesn't even bother trying to breathe, instead he collapses, landing on his face.

The Australian thug falls backwards, pulling the trigger to his weapon in the process, and creates a line of holes in the cieling. Once the gun hits the floor, it tracks up, blowing the foot off of the thug to the right of the Aussy. The footless thug bends over in time to meet one of the daggers in the face, and flails to the ground.

"I guess. Either way, I'm not messing with the broad." The two thugs approach a rather large building. Many other thugs walk around near the doors, loosly guarding the entrance. "We're here."

Element's rolling table has left him rather open, and he's at least grateful that the lack of bullets gives him the opportunity to dive to a safer position, behind the counter. He offers a quick shrug to the bartender, murmuring, "I'll do my best to fix this mess," before he readies a dagger in his left hand and slips a small firearm from a right pocket.

The two jog up to the entrance and heft a door open.

***

"What the hell?" "S*** s*** s***!" What's left of the little group turns tail after Element's dagger performance, one of them hosing the bar down with his rifle as he backpedals out the door.

Element sighs and pockets his firearm, grateful he needn't have added to the swarm of bullets in the air. Glass hisses in protest beneath his boots as he rises to his feet, licking his hand free of blood before he steps out from behind the counter. A quick wink betrays his good humor, though, and he manages to leave enough payment for his last drink in the bar before making to the door (after returning a certain table to it's appropriate spot.)

The guards recognize the two and allow them to enter. The swiftly walk through the building. Some rooms are fillied with gang members, others with tvs and tables, other completely empty or locked. The eventually come to a stairway with a large door at the top. The walk up the stairs and knock. After a moment a simple, "Come in." sounds out.

Meanwhile, Ayn gazes around the hotel, a lurching feeling in her stomach.. She didn't like this place.. too many people killing shamelessly.. of course, she had no room to talk, as she just did the same thing five minutes ago..

Element steps into the cool night air with a shiver, but can do nothing but bury his hands in his pockets, as he owns no more clothing than what he wears. He's hesitant about venturing onto the streets with his hand still bleeding freely, but he needs a place to sleep for tonight. He meanders between buildings with the regular crunch of his boots, making a beeline for a particular inn who's manager always has a kind heart; a rare find in this place...

"No," was Riki's first answer to Fury. But after hearing the fight in the bar, she hesitates and returns a key. "Come on, Rose."

---

((YES! Jit!))

Inside the room, Jit is leaning against the wall, happily sharpening his new knife he had taken from some thug. Raising his eyes, he laughs and throws the knife with a flick of his wrist, sending it quivering in the opposite wall.

The first thug slowly opens the door. This was one of the few places that demanded all of what little respect could be mustered from the street trash. Just as they start to walk through, three more men barge in the front door, hysterical. "He killed 'im! He killed Jack! He's dead! Just a few knives! Ahhh.... aggghhh...."

Jit shoves (fury's thug) aside. "Who killed him?"

"I-I don't know. Some stoner at the bar. He's crazy man, plain crazy, ohhh God..."

***

Fury tosses the remaining key to Ayn. "Get settled in. I'll keep watch from the porch, if it makes anyone feel better."

Jit motions to the speaker and another thug. "Come on, you two, blood for blood. Let's go avenge dear...what's his name?"

A man who all the claims are directed to sits up from his chair. He runs his fingers through his raven black hair and speaks in a cool voice. "Gentlemen, one at a time please."

One of the thugs just keeps babbling about death, but the other regains his composure at Jit's words. "Jack, y'know, the bar guy?"

Ayn arches an eyebrow as the keys meet her hand. "All right then, brave hero. You do that.. Come on, Bianca." She turns, and heads to the room.

Bianca huffs, and trudges behind.. she still wants to go into the bar.. She'll have to sneak out later.

"Yeah. He was a good man..." Jit giggles and turns to look at the calm speaker. "I've got it covered."

---

Rose rolls her eyes and follows Riki. Luckily for her and Bianca, their rooms are across the hall from each other. Rose waves bye and winks.

In a small room, in a small inn, Toryu sits on the bed, looking out of the window, and sighs

Weeks, I've been stuck here. Bloody gangs >_o
I told 'em, I didn't mean to hit him, I was drunk, but no, apparently they took offence.

He starts to bang his head on the head-rest of the bed, when he notices sounds of a fight from a nearby bar, followed by someone he swears he recognises leaving.

Hmm? Strange...

"Yeah, yeah, the alternative is sharing a room with you two rays of sunshine..." Fury opens the front door and walks out onto the porch. With a loud click, he jams a magazine into the assault rifle he'd been carrying, and sits down on the step.

The man nods. "Very well Jit. Take care of the bar incident. Now, what do you two want?"

((*evil grin* I finally get to have some fun.))

Jit slatues and retrieves his knife. He stuffs it into the back of his belt as he leaves.

Jit walks into town. Any citizen that sees him quickly finds a reason to be gone. Jit ignores the lot of them.

As he passes the hotel, he notices Fury. "Who are you? Citizens are not allowed to carry arms, that's a gang privelge. Give me your rifle and get lost."

"At the hotel, there was this group of chicks and this guy, and one of 'em blasted poor Billy into nothing with fire. We high tailed it outta there to come and tell you, sir, since you said to watch out for stuff like that. Man, this is turning out to be a crazy day..."

At the back of the bar in a dark corner a large man sits in his chair undisturbed by the days events although there had been some interesting new arrivals earlier although he supposed with the rate of deaths it would probably at least keep the town populated a while longer. They would be an interesting bunch to talk to though. The town had recieved few new visitors with the thugs in town. Maybe they had an interesting reason to hang around in a place like this. He would have to find out.

The man stops for a moment and offers the men a ciggerate. "..What did she look like?"

The other thug shrugs."She was a blonde and she carried a sword, weird huh?"

"I'd say she was around twenty-five or thirty, too. She blasted him into nothing I tell ya, and didn't even seem to have a second thought about it."

***

Fury curses himself. "Oh, we're just passing through, didn't know there were any rules, sorry..." Just as he's about to unsafety the rifle, a building across the street explodes in a ball of flames.

Jit turns to look at the building, grinning. Forgetting Fury and the bar, he goes to join the other thugs.

Fury breathes a sigh of relief and slings the rifle over his back to avoid any more trouble.

A group of gangsters runs out of the flaming building with assorted valuables, laughing and whooping.

Jit reaches the group and passes by them, interested to see if they left anything behind. He enters the flaming building happily.

Dimitri nods and then smirks. "Did she have any companions?"

"Yeah, a girl that looked exactly like her except ten years younger, a ten-year old girl, a grouchy woman with a cape, and a guy with an odd assault rifle. They came in on a jeep."

As the gang of looters run down the street and past an alleyway as the last one passes by a pair of hands reach out over his mouth and on his neck silently pulling him into the dark alley while the rest of his comrades run on un-noticing too happy with thir bounty leaving Bhaal and the unfortunate corpse of the thug in the alley. "Now let's see what you've got there then?" Bhaal said to the corpse of the man while searching thouhg the bag of goodies for anything that could be easily carried and hidden. "Well this should be enough of a reward for killing you I suppose. The rest can go to whoever finds you and it." Leaving the other end of the alley unseen Bhaal leaves back for his room in the hotel.

"I see..very good. My last question is do you know where they went?"

"They were heading into the Copper Stone. Looks like they're staying there for a bit."

The other thug adds, while chuckling, "That guy must be pretty lucky."

Jit exits the building with a handful of goodies. He seems pleased with his finds. Walking back slowly, he inspects a small necklace.

He glances down the alley out of curiousity. Seeing the thug's body, he laughs. Jit takes the remainder of the possessions and continues on his way.

"Guess I'll have to tell Dimitri about this. He won't be pleased, two killings in a day."

"Very good. You will both be rewarded as soon as possible. You may leave now." Dimitri stands and walks through the halls to another room. "They will definately be intrested in this."

"Thanks, uh... sir." With that the two leave the room and find a spot in the building to watch TV.

Dimitri walks into a barely lit room with no windows. The most light is the glow of a tv and the two inside are hidden in shadows. "A blonde women who could use magic and had a sword was spotted today. She had a teen that looked like her with her. As well as another women with another girl about 10. There was also a guy carrying an rifle. Ring a bell?"

One of them speaks. He sits hunched forward in a chair with his hands folded between his knees, as if he had been rooting on his favorite football team only seconds earlier. "I'll be damned..." He grins, an action surprisingly visible through the darkness, and puts his hands on his knees. "Nope, don't know them. How about you, Gale?"

Five minutes after leaving the lobby, Ayn and Bianca arrive at the door to their room, already lost in another argument.. They argue and curse at each other in Italian while Ayn opens the door, tosses her sword on a bed and sets a bag of clothing to the side. Ayn finally ends the argument with a dismissive wave of her hand, and sits down on the bed, turning on the television.

Bianca huffs and has a seat on another bed silently.

The Abbis steps forward. Little has changed in the decade. Except now he wears a trench coat. "Nope never heard of them." He snickers and turns to Dimitri. "Where are they?"

"In the Copper Stone Inn. Why are you so intrested in them?"

Gale smirks at Dimitri. He stands up and shuts the door. "How about me and Nyx tell you a story..."

What a town... his night's sleep ended before it even began, as he entered the inn to find the structure looted and employees slain. With a pained expression on his face, he leaves what little money he has left on the counter, hoping a survivor might come to claim it and at least have enough to feed themselves a bit longer. His booted feet drag up the stairs, taking Element to a room in disarray, one that looks as though it's seen many patrons and hasn't been kept tidy in between. He'd rather take this room over an alley, though, so he collapses on the bed with a thwumph of finality, laying on his left side and begging sleep come to im tonight.

Riki climbs into her bed and mutters about taking a short nap. Within minutes, she is asleep.

Rose grabs Fate and leaves the room. She waits around in the hallway for Bianca.

Content that is coast is clear, Fury brings his weapon around again. He checks several different pieces on the rifle and assures the safety is engaged. With a pull of a small lever, the magazine drops free and he pockets it again. After slinging the weapon he stands and heads back to the door.

Jit leaves the bar the thug got killed in. Having gotten as much information about the murderer as possible, he heads towards the inn.

The innkeeper makes a small protest as he heads upstairs. Jit turns too look at him, his eyes gleaming. The innkeeper shuts up.

Jit sets about kicking every door open. "Come out, come out, where ever you are..."

Bianca stands up and glances at Ayn, who's dozed off on her bed, and she quietly slips out the door, darting across the hall and rapping lightly on the door to Rose's room.

"Mom's a light sleeper, let's try to not wake her up." Rose pokes Bianca in her back, stepping forward from the shadowed wall she was sitting against. "To the bar?"

Bianca whirls around in shock and blinks at Rose.

".....Okay.." She sort of giggles. "Think we'll meet a thug?"

Fury turns the knob on the front door, swings it open, and steps inside. He leans back on a wall in the lobby, whistling out of sheer boredom.

"I bet we will! I bet he will be all big and ugly with scars all over his face. And he'll have a big rusty sword, too. That sounds thug like, doesn't it?"

---

Jit has nearly reached the end of the hallway. He kicks open another door.

Giggles again, and runs off towards the end of the hallway, creaking the door the stairwell open slowly.

Rose passes by Bianca and sneaks down the stairs, glancing around the corner to see if anyone is around. She pulls back quickly. "Aw, Fury is standing at the door! I forgot about him."

The whistling continues, and Fury sits down on one of the lobby's benches. He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees with his arms crossed.

She stands there, in a thinking pose of sorts. "hmm.. We'll have to distract him then.." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small sphere, grinning at Rose.. She leans over around the corner and throws it at Fury's feet, and it explodes, causing a cloud of green smoke to fill the lobby.

Rose, trying hard not to laugh, runs towards the door. She bounces off the lady behind the desk, who obviously thinks they are under attack.

Follows suit, shutting the entrance door triumphantly behind her once they are both out.
"I wonder where this bar place is.."

"I dunno. Let's try this way." Grinning, she heads left.

Without a second though, Fury jumps to his feet and draws a semi-automatic pistol with his right hand as he shields his face with his left. He scrambles for a clearing in the smoke, hunched over to try and limit how much he inhales.

Wait, doors being kicked in could be potentially dangerous! With a brief struggle to rise from bed, Element crouches behind the nearest obstructive piece of furniture and slips a hand into a pocket, hoping he comes across something useful.

Most of these idiots don't look for trouble, they pick off what looks easiest to fall to a bullet... He'd rather not confront this fight as he did in that bar, and remains crouched in the shadows, out of sight of the doorway, and hopefully this antagonist.

Jit walks into Element's room. He stares at the bed, still warm. Grinning, he closes the door behind him and bars it with the bed. That done, he begins to systematically search the room. He checks behind the curtains, in the closet and the bathroom.

Runs after Rose, her eyes darting around suspiciously.. maybe she wasn't the strongest person in the world, but she was the oldest.. The idea of being in charge for once is rather exciting as she darts ahead.

Well, s**t. This definitely wasn't going to be an idiot theif from the bar, that much was certain. Were it one of those fools, the room would be swiss cheesed with bullets in about ten seconds, if it was even noticed to have been occupied.

His hands resume their quest for a weapon. Damnit, he found a gun easily enough in the bar... A quick twirling of his wrist, and another dagger slips seemingly from nowhere and into his palm. Griping it in a throwing position, he readies to toss it; at least he might warrent an element of surprise this time.

Rose, used to Bianca's command, lets her pass. She keeps her eyes open for any thug bars.

Riki turns over and pulls the blanket over her head. She begins to toss and turn, lost in the depths of a dream.

--

Jit re-enters the main room and spots Element's hiding place. He draws his knife and flicks it at where he is hiding to see if anyone is there.

In a loud crash, Fury storms out of the front door of the hotel, coughing on the green smoke. He scans the road left and right with his gun, holding it sideways as he bends over coughing.

Bianca screeches to a halt in front of particularly tattered and run-down building.. She peers at the sign, there is no name, rather, just a crude drawing of a mug of beer.. She figures thugs can't read, and nods to Rose. "Here's a bar..."

Rose pushes Bianca ahead. "You first."

The noise of the explosion wakes Riki. She sits up and looks around, noticing that Rose has gone. Grabbing Bliss on her way, she goes across the hall to wake up Ayn. "AYN!"

A cry of pain escapes this hiding place, but a dagger flies out in response to the blade buried in Element's shoulder. With an indignant snarl, he stumbles from the corner and fumbles a firearm out of his left pocket, his right bleeding freely from a protruding dagger. He raises the gun up in what he hopes is a threatening manner, but his arm is trembling so much in an resistance to the pain that he can barely grip it.

Jit watches the dagger narrowly pass by his arm. Chuckling, he turns to face Element. "So, you're the guy then. Well well. You see, we rule this town. And we can't have our members being killed off by stoners. So...you have to die." Jit reaches into his jacket pocket and draws a small pistol.

By now, Fury has regained his composure and has assumed a two-handed grip on the pistol. Noticing the smoke has dispersed some, he points his weapon to the ground, moves back into the building and heads to rooms 218 and 216.

"You should be... Ashamed to call them members... They die so easily..." Element stammers, his free hand straying to the dagger embedded in his flesh. With a snarl of pain, he draws it from his flesh, his knuckles white in their strain to resist crying out and abandoning the removal. He lets his own gun's trembling end point at Jit's torso, and his fist still holds the bloody dagger. "I didn't kill them without reason... They... Wasted my drink..."

"Did they now? I'll have to punish them for that. Can't have drinks being wasted." Jit doesn't seemed at all fazed by Element's gun. He prepares to fire Tino, his pistol.

((don't ask about the name...))

Ayn stirs slightly at the nose, being somewhat of a hard sleeper, then mumbles something inaudible.

~~~~~

Bianca falls forward, her hands pushing the door open to keep her balance.. With a mixture of fear and fascination, she peers inside.

((...Tino? Sounds like Jit's significant other. Long-lost love, perhaps?))

"Shoot, and I'll return the favor," Element murmurs, and his grip on his own weapon tenses. "I doubt you'd sacrifice your life over the loss of thre lackies... Or are you really so worthless?"

On rounding the corner to the hall with the party's rooms, Fury shouts. "Riki! Ayn!" He spots Riki at Ayn's doorway and runs up to her.

Riki turns to look at him. "Rose is gone!"

---

Rose follows Bianca, looking around the bar. She wrinkels her nose in disgust at the smells. "Which one is a thug?" She whispers.

Bianca peers at the counter, wide-eyed, and whispers back. "I think they're all thugs..."

~~~~

Suddenly the door to the room flies open, nearly smacking Fury, and Ayn looks at Riki with the same panicked expression. "Have you seen Bianca?"

"...You mean she's not with you?!" Riki's face drains of color. She looks at Fury. "They are both gone!"

"God dammit, someone must have seen them earlier and decided to snatch them. Someone set off a smokebomb in my face."

All the inhabitants of the bar look up at the two girls. Some turn back to their buisness, other mumble to themselves, other smirk. None of them get up yet, however.

"Shit...." Ayn quickly disappears, emerging from the room with her sword, and makes a beeline for the stairs.

~~~~~

Bianca looks curiously at the thugs, then looks at Rose. "......Should we go talk to them..?"

With a flick of his thumb Fury safeties the pistol and pockets it. He switches back to his assault rifle, sliding the magazine back in and cocking it.

"...Snatched?..." The thought of Rose beinging kidnapped-again-is nearly too much to bear. She stares at Fury dumbly.

--

Jit ponders Element's question. "Nope, won't die for them. I'm here on orders. However, since being shot isn't on my list of things to do today..." His other hand flashes. A second knife flies towards Element's gun. A blast of gunfire follows.

---

"I don't know. What do you say to a thug?" Rose stares back at the bar goers.

Bianca arches an eyebrow. "Hello..? Isn't that what you'd say to anybody?"

Element lets his knife flit toward the hand of Jit, stabbing it out of the way in an attempt to send the shot awry, while darting out of the path of the shot as best he can. He's not quite rewarded well for his efforts to avoid tha shot, though, and takes yet another metal obect to the arm.

((hold that thought, I have to go for the evening... >_<))

"heh, yeah." Rose raises her voice some. "Hi...everybody..."

Once again all the thugs look up. A group of them closest to the girls stand and turn to them. "What are you kids doing here? Ya know.." The man takes out a gun. "It's dangerous with all the gangsters. Maybe we should bring you home.." The other thugs snicker.

Jit curses as Element's knife hits his hand. He pulls his hand back and shoots at Element again.

--

"No, thanks, we're quite fine." Rose answers. She appears to be quite cool, but her hand grips Fate tightly.

Bianca makes a disgusted face, the particular thug who was speaking was exceptionally fat and ugly...

Only a gasp of pain escapes Element at the penetration of the bullet, which intently buries itself in his gut. His efforts at escape end with his stumbling and tripping, where he lays to bleed. A feeble attempt to rise onto his feet ends with him sprawling partially out the door and splayed across the floor, where he decides it best to stop moving.

((Someone owes Element a drink. :kill))

((The hell did you two expect? Friggin' Sephiroth?))
"No, we insist." The other thugs take out guns and aim them.

((well, yeah, I did actually =P))

Her eyes widen slightly, and she backs away slowly... Obviously, coming to a thug bar wasn't a smart idea. ((No shit Sherlock!! o.o))

((No...not at all...*shifty eyes*))

Rose glances at Bianca then returns her attention to the thugs. "I'm very sorry, but we were told to not let strangers walk us home. Maybe next time."

--

"Aw...that went fast." Jit looks down at Element. "Hey, you're still breathing."

He steps over him and moves the bed. After retreiving his knives, he exits the room.

Several gunshots can be heard from an inn across the street. "Shit. Did you guys hear that?" Fury turns and sprints back to the front door.

Rose follows him, cursing herself. "How could this have happened again? I vowed to never let anything happen to her again...Some one's going to pay for this."

---

Jit, whistling merrily, exits the inn and heads back to the headquarters.

Upon returning there, he barges in on Dimitri's meeting. "Mission accomplished, sir! Hey, I know you two."

((Depth! It's...Depthy!))

Well, at least this one left him breathing... But he doubted he would be for long. Element's wounds bleed freely, and stain the already-soiled rug beneath him a deep, fresh crimson. He tries to concentrate, though, and upon hearing footsteps departing the inn, he begins feebly crawling from his room and owards the hallway, grimacing in agony all the while.

"Going so soon? That isn't nice. None of us have been properly introduced!" The thugs close in the two while one moves to block the door.

Bianca looks at the thug, terrified.. she searches around frantically for something to defend herself with.

~~~

Meanwhile, Ayn has broken away from the group, and is running up and down the alleyways, looking for the two girls.

((screw depth.))

Rose draws Fate and doesn't move. "I'm Wemust and she is Begoing."

Fury smashes the front door to the inn down with a good kick and storms in, assault rifle raised to his shoulder. A quick scan of the room with his naked eye turns up nothing but several almost day-old dead employees... It seems the inn had fallen victim to a gang hit. The walls were riddled with holes and the entire room is in disarray. Content that the lobby is clear, he jogs down the hallway, where he sees Element lying on the floor, trying to dye it a new color.

The thugs look dumbfounded and then burst into laughter. "A sword? You have to be kidding kid. Now be a good girl and put it down. You wouldn't want to get shot now would ya?"

Dimitri nods to Jit. "Good because I have a new assignment..."

Rose hesitates. She hasn't been taught how to use a sword. Riki had been continually reminding her that the sword could be dangerous to herself if she doesn't know how to use it. Rose lowers it. "There."

---

"Oh really? Details, details." Jit pulls up a chair.

---

Riki stares at Element. "The gang did this to you, didn't they?"

((I think blood-red is a pretty color... :())

Element sees feet, but his eyes don't make it much farther past the shoes. He's not quite the energy left to shift, either, and the act of doing so would probably only mke his wounds gnaw at his nerves even more.

"Jesus..." Fury kneels on his right knee by Element and rests the rifle by it's magazine on his left. "If I didn't know any better I'd say this looks like Element. Riki, I'll take care of things here, keep looking for Rose and Bianca."

Riki nods and turns. Leaving the inn, she stops and thinks. She remembers seeing Rose look interested when the bar was mentioned. "Of course! I have to find Ayn..."

Riki runs back across the street and climbs into the jeep. She starts it up and tears out of the parking lot, searching for Ayn. "AYN!"

Element nods at that, once more straining to at least lift his torso from the ground, but doesn't do much more than lift his chin before slipping once more on the slick floor and sprawling out again.

((Wee, it sure is fun when you're wounded...))

Ayn walks up quietly behind Riki, her arms crossed. "Quit yelling, would you? You're making a scene.."

Riki ignores her. "I know where the girls may be. Come on, we'll get there faster if we drive."

She floors it and races towards the bar the hotel lady had told them about.

"I said put it down." The thug waves his gun.

Dimitri smirks. "You see, some old friends of our hired hands have should up. They've asked for a favor..."

Barely manages to grip the back of the Jeep and pull herself on before Riki speeds away... She sighs and opens the door to the passenger side, pulling herself in and slamming the door.

Glancing around the room, Fury notices the signs of a struggle; a bed in a place a bed shouldn't be, a gun and a knife lying on the floor in front of a chair, and splatters of blood dotting the carpet around them. A streak of blood trailed from a position in front of the weapons to Element's body. "What the heck happened here?" He sets his rifle down and tries to assess Element's wounds. "Where are you hit?" Using his right hand, he fishes a roll of medical tape reserved for limb hits out of his pocket.

Rose stares at the thug and sheathes Fate. "I'm not going to lose my sword."

--

Jit leans back, grinning. "How well will they pay?"

--

Riki comes to a screeching halt in front of the bar. Grabbing Bliss, she heads for the door.

"A stab to the shoulder, two bullets... One at my arm, the other my gut..." His face pinches at the effort to speak, but he tries to explain. "I killed three thugs in a bar... More ran, and a superior came looking for me..."

Ayn jumps out of the Jeep, and easily opens the door, taking out the thug standing guard.. She looks incredibly pissed to see Rose and Bianca standing there.

Riki stares at Rose, a mixture of relief and anger on her face. She turns quickly to dispatch the other thug.

--

Rose winces as she spots Riki. She's in deep trouble. While Riki is occupied killing the thug, she heads deeper into the bar.

"The hell do you two think you're doing?!" The thugs fire at Riki and Ayn.

"They aren't paying for this. This favor is part of THEIR pay. Trust me, you'll gain from it."

Fury curses sharply under his breath. He locates the bullet wound in Element's arm and hastily wraps it with the gauze. "All right, I... can't do a damn thing about a gut shot. I gotta go get help." A frustrated sigh expresses his concern about leaving someone to bleed to death.

Riki uses Bliss to block the bullets. She leaps at one of them, stabbing forward then slicing up.

Rose glances over her shoulder and ducks under an empty table.

---

Jit smiles. "Okay, then. What're we doing?"

Element chuckles and grins slightly, despite himself. "Don't worry, I'm amusing myself changing the innkeeper's rugs... I quite like the new color..."

Ayn shoves Bianca out of the way, as she wasn't moving out of fear, and quickly takes out three thugs with a blast of holy energy, then whips out her sword, taking out another two in a series of clean slashes.

After seeing a few thugs go down. All the other gangster in the bar stand up and attack.

Dimitri takes a seat. "It seems are few 'old friends' of our associates are in town. A woman named Ayn, her younger sister, Bianca, another women named Riki, and her daughter Rose. Finally there's a man that goes by Fury. I want you to take some thugs and hut them down. Kill Ayn and Riki. Then kill Fury. Fury should have a sword on him called 'Ranna'. You are to retrieve this sword and bring it back. The two kids we don't care about."

Riki slits another two's throats in a single swing, very nearly beheading them. She hisses in pain as a thug's blade slices into her side. Bringing her ax handle down on his head, she kicks his body aside.

--

"Can I have the kids?" Jit laughs and grins. He was fine with the rest of the mission. Two women and a man. What's the big deal?

"Blood loss..." Just as he's about to take off, he retrieves a gauze patch from the same pocket as the tape and puts it in Element's left hand. "Use this to get some pressure on that wound. And don't freakin' die while trying to redecorate." Fury stands, picks his assault rifle back up, and heads off down the hall, leaving Element to fend for himself.

Element calls back "I'd better get compensation for this from the owner," before he sighs in defeat and slips the gauze about his undressed bullet wound, trying his hardest to quench the bloodflow in his semi-dazed state.

((Damned school.))

Ayn grins at the approaching thungs, and says something to them in Italian before grabbing the arm of a thug and pulsating ice into his body, causing him to freeze.. She then swings her sword, and the body shatters onto the floor.

After Ayn's elemental attack some thugs flee while other attack.

"Yeah like I said I don't give a shit. The thing about them is they have inhuman abillities, so watch out. By the way, we start tonight."

Riki catches these thugs on their way out and quickly disposes of them. Her mind whirling from the lost of blood, she grits her teeth and leans against the door, battling the thugs off with one hand. Her other hand is clenched around her wound.

--

Jit nods and gets up. He gathers a large group of thugs and heads out.

One of the thugs freaks. "Yaaahhh... Holy shit, did you see that?!"

***

Fury exits the hotel to the sound of a fight going on in the nearby bar. He runs over to check through the building's large weather-stained front window, and sees the conflict. Without a second thought, the rifle stock comes up to his shoulder and he pulls the trigger.

Stars of fire lick into the bar's window and it shatters immediately. A small crowd of thugs is immediately greeted by a hail of invisible death, piercing one in the neck with a spray of red mist, drilling into shoulders and guts, and nailing two in the head with sickening thunks.

((moving along...))

Jit's group reaches the bar quickly. Jit notices Fury standing outside and quietly motions to him. "Get his sword." Jit mouthes the order to them. Ten break off the main group to surround Fury.


Jit directs the remainder at the bar. He goes around to the back, hoping to catch the girls.

Ayn nods to Riki after taking out the last thug that dared attack, and looks at Bianca, her eyes blazing.

Bianca bites her lip and looks at the floor, shifting on either foot uncomfortably.

Fury turns at the sound of footsteps and a glimpse of someone in his peripheral vision. Bringing the rifle around to bear, he opens fire on the thugs moving in on his left flank.

Two of the thugs attacking Fury fall. The rest close ranks and draw their weapons.

--

Riki sighs in relief just as the door opens, emitting the thugs. She groans and turns to face them.

--

Jit watches the activity up front for a moment. His ears catch the sound of breathing coming from under a table. Moving his head, he can see Rose's hand. Jit laughs to himself and moves by Rose.

He waits for Ayn's attention to be turned before reaching out and grabbing Bianca, one hand clasping over her mouth and the other holding a knife at her throat. "Make any sound and I will kill you."

With a roar, Fury bashes the nearest thug's face in with the stock of his rifle, turning his nose into a mess of red hamburger meat. He turns and clubs another with the barrel, knocking him out, and thrusts the weapon backwards, catching a third with the butt of the stock.

Bianca tries to cry out, but upon the threat she stays still, despite trembling slightly.

Jit pulls Bianca away. On his way out of the back door, he pulls Rose out. Her half scream is drowned out by the sound of battle.

Outside, Jit gags the two and ties their wrists together. He shoves them against the wall and watches the activity inside.

--

Riki fights with all she has, trying hard to keep focused. The pain from numerous wounds starts to block her vision and slow her movements.

--

A couple of thugs shoot at Fury. One tosses a knife at him, laughing about something. The rest of the thugs close in, shooting and stabbing at Fury.

Ayn turns, seeing Riki's weakened state and the fact that they're all attacking her.. She runs over to help, calmly ripping the skin from a thug's bones with a sudden burst of wind.

Thud.

The knife impales Fury's left shoulder, and spins him around in shock. Several bullets whiz by his face. Fighting off the burning sensation in his shoulder, he beats one more thug in the face with the rifle before dropping it and drawing his sword. With another shout he slices into the gangsters swarming him, cutting down three. He stabs another, cracks another over the head with the hilt, turns to his right--And a dagger sticks into his back. Gasping and wincing, he reels forward. Time seemed to slow down to a creep just about then, as he was stumbling headlong into the wall of thugs. He was surrounded by armed brutes, closing in, shooting and stabbing. As the pain starts to take over, his vision becomes distorted and dizzying, as if stuck in a dream running at a torture's pace. Time suddenly speeds back up as his shoulder explodes in a cloud of red, prompting a bloodcurtling scream. One of the thugs takes advantage of Fury's vulnerability by firing a pistol point-blank into his back, which finally sends him to the ground.

Riki bites her lip and removes a knife embedded in her knee, sending it right back at its owner. Unable to take the pain, she loses control of her human form and snaps into her true self.

The demon leaps into a gathering of thugs, killing them all viciously. Some of the thugs, upon seeing the demon girl, back down and make for the back exit.

---

Jit snarls at these thugs to get back in there. They ignore him and continue running. Jit shoots them down. "Cowards."

--
Rose watches in horror as the thugs are shot down. Her horror increases when Jit grins at the two of them. "Wait a little while longer, then we'll have fun together."

Element rocks with laughter, having summoned enough strength to crawl feebly to a wall, where he now reclines in a half-dazed state, his own blood staining his garments. All the gunshots, all the killing... Idiots, the lot of them. He cannot hold back his somewhat-crazed mirth, and though it pains his somewhat-numb wound, he still chuckles to himself.

Bianca looks down, crying softly.. her tears slide down her cheek and splatter on the ground.

"Shit!" Ayn jumps backwards, out of the way of Riki.. A thug wraps a beefy arm around her neck in a choke hold, and Ayn places both hands on the arm, sending a blast of holy energy coursing through his body. The thug stumbles backwards, shrieking in pain, before falling to the ground writhing.. after a few moments, he is still.

*The outline of a man with short and spikey hair steps into the bar. His coat fluttering into the air after he throws it off. The man has a giant sword on his back with bondage straps hanging from his belt. He slowly unsheathes his sword and the light from sword gleams into his face, showing a 32 year old Cloud Strife. He grits his teeth and runs at Ayn with his sword drawn, jumping into the air and beginning to bring the sword down*

The hairs on the back of her neck prickle slightly, sensing a presence behind her.. She whirls around, and her eyes widen in shock to see Cloud lunging at her. She raises her sword in front of her to block.

*he brings the sword down onto hers, making a crashing sound as his blade hits hers. It pushes her to the ground and he quietly and calmly walks twaord her, a feirce look in his eyes*

She looks up at him, almost too shocked to move.. She had trusted this man, she had entrusted Bianca to him no less.. She shakes the thoughts out of her head and her sword starts glowing white.

A man stands on the roof of a building across from the bar. He had come to see how well Jit could do his job. The man buttons up his trench coat and puts on a ninja like mask. He then puts on sunglasses to cover his emotionless blue eyes. His blood red sword Sin morphs in a ring the fits on to his finger. He takes out a shotgun and pumps it. He'll be ready to strike at the drop of a coin.

*he swings his sword at her again, hitting hers and sending so much force into it the strike pummels her into and through a wall the the dusty ground outside. He steps out of the wall and looks at her, seeing her sword still glowing* hm..

Riki notices Ayn's predicament and fights her way towards her.

--

Rose stares at Jit, her eyes betraying nothing. She moves closer to Bianca, seeking comfort and willing to give as much as possible.

--

Jit looks around, feeling the other prescence. He shrugs and glances into the bar, impatiently waiting for it to end.

Like a swarm of insects, the thugs close in on Fury, kicking and punching.

Just as it seems the struggle is over, a beam of light erupts from the pile. It slowly grows several feet wide, incinerating the unlucky gang member that was standing it in it's path. With a flash, the light shrinks to into a small, intensely bright beam. The thugs around the light are picked up off their feet, drawn into the blast, and disintegrated instantly. A building on the other side of the street erupts in flames after receiving the blast for several seconds. Then, as soon as it struck, the beam disappears.

Waves of electricity slowly creep across the remaining thugs, who are now slowly backing off, but still surrounding their victim. Starting off as small bolts of static, the waves grow into bright fractal patterns. Bolts and sparks bounce off the group sporadically, but don't seem to have any affect on the gangsters.

Meanwhile, a similar electrical disturbance is taking place around an exposed power line connection on the building directly across the street...

The man on the roof sees this and jumps of the building as the electricity and flames start. "Heh, was that Fury?"

There's an audible snap as she crashes through the wall, and she clutches her snapped arm in pain, the glowing sword clattering to the ground.

With no warning whatsoever, a lightning bolt explodes from the power line and connects with the group of thugs. All of the gangsters are immediately thrown to the ground, blinded and afflicted with burns and concussions. Every window and loose object on the street rattles violently as the loud crash of superheated air colliding with cool air rocks the area. The thug that took the direct hit remains standing, his scalp and left foot slowly smoldering.

Riki bursts outside with Ayn, standing in front of her. Bliss swings and flicks in the dim light, biting out at any approachers.

Riki's voice is flat and cold. "We cannot win this. Fury is in danger over there. It would be best to make a fighting retreat then double back to get the girls. Can you stand?"

"I'm afraind that won't happen!" A shotgun blast flies at Riki but the man's identity is still a secret. he walks over to Ayn laughing to himself. "I'm gonna enjoy this..." He pumps his shotgun.

Ayn raises an eyebrow at the man, then her eyes narrow into an expression of hatred. She gropes for her sword with her good arm, standing up shakily after clutching it.

Riki cries in pain, the attack catching in her back. She twirls to face the person. Like Ayn, her eyes narrow in hatred.

--

Rose and Jit look over at where the explosion took place. Rose sees her mother and Ayn...then she sees the man behind him. He's too far away to indentify.

A shotgun blasts rings out, the man smirking under his mask. He takes off his sunglasses to reveal his emotionless blue eyes. "How stupid for you to use your powers here. You know I took a job with the gang here, but never in my wildest dreams did I think you and the other would show up. It really made my day.." He pumps again and fires at Riki.

She raises her sword, the glow returning and much stronger now as she readies a blast of holy energy.

Riki uses Bliss the block the shots. "You're still alive. How disappointing Katayk never killed you. I guess that will be my privelege."

She moves fast, driven by haterd, pain, and bloodlust. Bliss shoots out at his legs, the blade going in between and sweeping to the side.

Gale jumps to the right to avoid Riki's attack and he fires at her again. He pumps and fires at Ayn. He laughs to himself. "You're both far to slow!"

Fury slowly stumbles to his feet among the unconcious bodies, a knife sticking out of his back and his left shoulder a bloody mess with both a bullet and knife lodged in it. He walks up to the frozen thug that acted as his conductor and reaches over with his right hand to pull the knife from his shoulder. Cringing, he yanks it out, sucks in a breath of air as he stifles a yell, and jams the blade into the thug's neck, sending him gargling to the ground. Fury spits on his dying body and looks over his back for his rifle.

Riki dodges the shot and seemingly appears behind Gale, swinging at the small of his back. before he can react, she is next to him, slicing at his ribs.

Ayn jumps to the side and fires the blast of holy directly at his chest. She bends over slightly in an attack position, ready to charge after the blast.

He takes both blows but holds out his right had close to Riki, Sin turns into a blade and extends. Which will impale her if she doesn't move. "Damnit, Jit, get the SWORD!!" Gale is hit by the blast and knocked across the street.

Riki screams and steps back, pulling her arm free of Sin. In retort, she slashes at him again.

--

Jit hears Gale and speeds up tying the two to a tree. "Alright, chief, give me a moment!"

He gives the knot one last tug and races by Gale, towards Fury. Jit dives at Fury, a knife in his hand, attempting to tackle him to the ground.

With a surprising amount of agility left, Fury takes a quick step back, grabs Jit's wrist, pushes the knife past himself, and kicks the feet out from under the punk.

Jit flips to free himself and punches Fury across the face. He regrips his knife and laughs. "Just give me Ranna and I'll let you live."

The punch connects with Fury's face and sends him stumbling back a step. His response is short of breath. "Like I'm gonna..." Fury forms an orb shape with both his hands. "...Believe that..." Electricity gathers into a ball of lightning between his hands.

"Oh, a living firework man. How interesting." Jit throws his knife at Fury's stomach, aiming it so it passes through the orb first.

---

Riki leaps after Gale. When she reaches him, she brings her battle ax down heavily.

Gale uses Giga Flash to propell himf ruther backwards and away from the ax. Also sending the blast toward the women after him.

In a flash of light, the orb explodes, instantly blasting Jit backwards and melting his knife into a useless blunt shape. Fury's eyes glow a bright white and arch ferociously, like a predator. "Now...." He reaches for his sheathed sword and slowly walks towards Jit. "...Would you like to see what I can do with a weapon?"

((eh...not fair....))

Jit slams heavily into the ground, the blast momentarily blinding him. He can still hear, though. Jit groans and pretends to be paralyzed, flicking his wrist to let a new knife slide into his palm.

--

Riki leaps out of harm's way. Shaking with rage, she kneels to the ground and places her hand on it. A blueish fire springs up and races towards Gale.

Gale regains his footing and jumps over the flame. He disguards the mask and stretches. "Hmph. I'm growing bored of this...."

"Can't have that, can we? I'll do my best to keep you on your toes!" Riki's statement ends in a shout. Accompanying her shout, the flames roar up into a column, tracking on Gale. They move with incredible speed, burning upwards and outwards.

A surge of electricity appears across Ranna's face, illuminating the blade. Another surge collects around every piece of metal on Jit's body, revealing his knife and any others he had on him. Fury maintains the glowing stare and continues to approach Jit. The two disturbances send leaders to the ground randomly and fill the air with crackles.

Jit, knowing full well the knife was visible, launches it anyway, rolling backwards to regain his feet and look for an easy escape.

The knife is knocked out of the air by a bolt of electricity that leaps out from Fury's sword. It falls harmlessly to the ground to Fury's right, scored with carbon. The two surges of electricity suddenly intensify, sending static everywhere.

Gale creates a bubble to contain the fire and continuous to put distance between them. He tosses his shotgun away and fires a beam of energy.

Jit leans back against the wall of another building, gritting his teeth against the electricty flowing through his body.

---

Riki slices the air with Bliss. A wave of energy rushes outwards, cutting Gale's blast in half and continuing on its way with less speed.

A second roar of thunder rumbles through the city, nearly silencing the battle taking place in the bar.

***

Fury, thoroughly satisfied that he's caused enough pain for his foe, sheathes a smoking Ranna. Two fresh burn marks lie in the street, one against a wall under a man and a second several feet out from the first.

Jit loops around the back of the bar. Untying Rose and Bianca, he starts towards the headquarters, wheeling from pain.

Gale notices Jit leave. "That coward! ..Hmph...at least he grabbed the kids...I'll just get Ranna myself." Gale jumps out of the way of the blast and runs towards Fury.

Fury turns in time to see Gale and reaches for his sword again, but can't react quickly enough...

Gale elbows Fury and uses his other hand to try to grab Ranna.

The blow connects with Fury's chin and sends him reeling, tearing his guard down and giving Gale a straight shot for Ranna.

Gale snatches Ranna and let's Fury fall. He puts the blade in his cloak and salutes. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, especially since I have nothing against you. Thus I shall spare you. Next time might be diffrent though." Gale smirks and runs out of the bar. When he reaches the streets he jumps on to one of the buildings a run to the headquarters.

Worn out and unwilling to even reply, Fury just lies there panting, his shoulder still bleeding profusely.

Gale stops when he reachs a rooftop above Ayn and Riki. He smirks and yells. "It was us!" He then bolts off the building and on to another. It would take them a moment to figure out what had been taken.

Jit tugs the girls into Dimitri's room. "Mission accomplished, chief. They are ours. Gale has Ranna."

--

Riki stares at Ayn, uncomprehending. The answer strikes her like a lightning bolt. "Rose! They have her! No!" She appears in the bar, despertly searching for her daughter.

Gale walks in and holds up Ranna. He tosses it down. "Coward, it wasn't hard to get a sword."

"Easy enough for you. Your a warlock. I'm just Jit. Besides, had to make sure we got the girls..." he laughs happily.

Rose is busy looking around the headquarters, telling herself they will be rescued, when she hears Gale's voice. Rose stiffens and slowly turns to look at him.

"Good work, Gale." Nyx steps out of a shadow to the left of Gale and places a foot on the handle of the sword. He flips the sword up by his toe and grabs the sheathed end.

"Jump. Elbow. Grab. Sprint. I was really using magic."

Dimitri steps forward. "Gentlemen, it doesn't matter. You have the kids and the sword."

"I'd hardly call this a success. Ayn and Riki are still alive."

"Hey, I tried. Then he electrified me. I'm going to bed. The gang can have fun with those two..." Jit motions to Rose and Bianca.

Rose succeeds in slipping her bonds. Driven by pure terror of being near Gale and Nyx again, she tries to slink away against the wall.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure it was quite a challenge." Pulling the sword from his sheath, Nyx looks it over. Satisfied that it's still in the condition it was ten years ago, he resheathes it. He watches Jit leave and scoffs. "He's worthless."

Nyx turns to Gale again. "Explain to me again why you still want Ayn dead, Gale?"

"Why would me feelings change?" Gale crosses his arms.

"............" Her eyes blaze with anger, and she silently sheathes her sword and runs out the door. She was going to find that bastard.. And she'll be the one sending him to Hell.

~~~~~~~

Bianca looks around, terrified, desperately trying to free her wrists.

Gale leans against the wall and glances at Bianca and Rose. He notices the Rose has slipped out and turns back. He then does a double take. "-_-Well we know now Jit can't tie ropes." Gale starts to walk over to rose. His palm glowing.

Riki follows Ayn. She'll send him to Hell and back for this. All of them.

---

Rose pulls the gag from her mouth. Her eyes-Gale's eyes- crack into fear. "Leave me alone..."

"..Why do kids always think that saying something like "Stay back!" or "Don't come any closer" is gonna save their ass? Wrong." Gale creates a bubble and fires it at Rose.

Rose stares at Gale through the bubble, wondering what he is doing.

"Hmph. That should hold. With any look the other kid's rope won't loosen."

Rose pushes back on the bubble. It was small enough to fit through the door. "I'm not going to sit in his power again...once was bad enough!"

Tor sneaks down a street, trying to keep in the shadows. He's seen a hell of alot of things today he'd rather not and would prefer to keep in the shadows. However coming up on an inn, he spies what appears to be someone slightly familiar, if... well... deader than usual.

He takes out one of his pistols, and sneaks over to what appears to be Element's body

Is he still alive? I think. I'm no doctor though.

Bandages? Hm. No-one who'd make someone bleed like this would bandage them... Who else is here?

Realising he's babbling, Tor checks around to see if there's anyone coming before looking for signs of life

Now sitting up, Fury uses a second patch of gauze and the remaining medical tape to fashion a bandage around his shoulder, which, despite it's appearance, hadn't taken as much mechanical damage as he had feared. The bullet had passed through and the joint had been spared, but part of the bone and the flesh around it was destroyed, blasted like poorly made hamburger meat. Cutting the roll of tape with his teeth, he finishes securing the patch to his wound and slowly stands up. Unfortunately, he remembers the stab in his back too late, and groans in pain as he stands. The shot to his back had been stopped by a nylon vest, but the stab hit it's mark. Freezing in a half-standing position for a moment, he winces hard and stands upright, cringing even harder as the wound protests.