With a horrible grimace, Sebastian climbed back to his feet, turning his angry, hateful glare onto the pink haired girl who lied on the dirt, looking up at him through all the filth and grime on her face with her ugly eyes sunk into her ugly face, framed by her ugly hair. The arrogant underground fighter sneered at her, at her ugliness. Cutting her up would be doing her a favor - it was almost too good for her if not for the horrific agony he could extract from her in exchange. At this, he smiled, his perfect, pearly teeth, somehow sinister.
He said nothing. Once again showcasing his immense speed, he charged Ashe, who could do little to dodge from her prone position. She fired a volley of shots, all of them going wide as Sebastian easily danced around them, moving in for the kill. And for the second time in as many minutes, he was shot in the back.
A big green sphere splashed across his shoulder blades, jarring his run into a stumble. His intended victim scrambled to her feet and drew her weapon at the recovering Sebastian, who wound up far behind his back, horribly telegraphing his moves because of the stunning blow to his back.
Too close to actually level a shot against the clawed man, Ashe, in desperation, swung her machine gun hard, catching Sebastian across the face with it and staggering him backwards, giving her the freedom to open fire on him. He began to wildly spasm, before collapsing in a heap at Ashe’s feet.
Out of the hut climbed a severely injured Sage, who swayed back and forth, leaning hard against a piece of broken wall. She was bleeding anew, and looked quite dazed, even from Ashe’s position across the village square. In her hand was her pistol, which she’d used to spare her friend a violent death.
“I think...” the cerulean haired girl mumbled, far too quiet for anyone to hear but her. She contemplated shouting, but just thinking about it hurt. Suddenly, a thought struck her. I think we got him, she projected. Ashe was about to nod in response, before a dark chuckle escaped the lips of the dead man at her feet. With a startled gasp, Ashe leapt backwards, scrambling away from Sebastian, who slowly climbed to his feet. He showed signs of fatigue, but not nearly as much as Sage, or even Ashe.
“You thought wrong,” he hissed. “You have, however, caused me to break a sweat,” he said this with the most intense disdain. “Honestly I didn’t even think I’d get my nails dirty taking care of you useless diversions. Well,” he considered. “Maybe a little blood.”
“You’re screwed up,” spat the pink haired girl, disgusted at the man’s twisted imagery.
“And you're just plain screwed,” Sebastian retorted, launching himself at Ashe. Red and green gun blasts lanced out at the acrobatic warrior, all of them pitifully missing their mark. He planted a vicious heel to the teenager’s forehead, propelling her onto the ground, only inches out of the flames behind her.
Sebastian kicked off the ground again, sailing high into the air. Instead of landing on Ashe, however, he landed on the cage over the fire behind her, and turned, his hand wrapped around the rope that suspended the cage - and Zena within it - over the flames.
“Katchin metal!” Sebastian taunted, locking eyes with Sage. He watched her expression turn from tired to apprehensive. He smirked. “Untouchable by even your sister’s incredible power!” he snorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Must take a big man to make fun of me while I’m behind bars!” retorted Zena, glaring up at her captor above her.
“Oh, please,” the brutal fighter snapped. “You fell for one of my traps, didn’t you, oh mighty strategist?” he jeered, and then pressed his claws against the rope. “What do you say, little girl? How about you stay for a little barbecue?”
“N-No!” Sage protested, making to run forward, but she stumbled, falling on hands and knees before righting herself, and then falling again to one knee. “Leave her alone!”
“Make me,” came the childish retort.
“Please!” the little hybrid insisted. “She never did anything to you!!”
“Maybe if she had, she wouldn’t be in this predicament,” chided Sebastian, making a show of sawing at the rope. His actions provoked exactly the response he expected.
“St-stop it!!” Sage demanded. “I’ll-!! I’ll shoot you!”
The clawed man just kept sawing, and Sage made good on her threat. The girl opened fire, squeezing the trigger hysterically as dazzling spheres of emerald hurtled toward Sebastian, who lazily dodged about the ones too near him, and laughed as others sailed too low and crashed into the cage beneath him. Zena stumbled and fell, but Sebastian had no problem maintaining his footing atop the wildly swinging cage, which spun and bucked as the energy blasts smashed into it.
“You’d best be careful!” Sebastian taunted. “Your light show might sever the rope,” he taunted, pointing at a light burn where one of the bolts had singed the lifeline that kept Zena suspended above the flames. By now, Ashe was on her feet, but she didn’t have much of a shot from her angle and dared not move for fear of provoking the psychopath to cut the rope. Zena might have been a bitch, but it didn’t mean she deserved to die.
Sage aimed more carefully now, but her aim continued to waver as her hands shook. She growled angrily at herself as she fought to steady her hands. The girl closed her eyes; if this shot didn’t work, she might lose her sister.
With her eyes closed, Sage put a new face on Sebastian. She put the worst face, the one she despised more than any other she had ever seen upon him. On Sebastian’s face, she put the face of Sol. The man responsible for... everything. Sol, Sage reinforced, revolted by his image. Now he has your sister.
Her eyes opened. “You motherf-” she replaced the curse with a grumble, and leveled her gun at Sebastian, again. He and Zena were trading words, and both looked extremely angry. It didn’t even occur to the crystal haired girl that her sister was buying her time. She didn’t think of anything else but Sol as she opened fire.
With the dead-eye accuracy of a trained sniper, the powerful bolt of ki sailed straight into the temple of the distracted pit fighter, who tumbled over the edge of the cage and wildy grabbed onto the bottom of it, lest he fall into the flames beneath.
The cage swung back and forth violently as Sebastian fought to pull himself back, and now it was Ashe who took initiative. She raised her gun, watching for some cue. She waited for the cage to swing wildly in one direction, and when it veered about and rushed the other way, Ashe hesitated until the cage was just about to lose momentum, and then opened fire. A flurry of ki blasts whizzed harmlessly through the air, but one of them pierced straight through the rope suspending the cage, cleaving it in half.
Unrestrained, the heavy katchin prison smashed into the ground several feet from the fire, right on top of Sebastian. Ashe couldn’t believe the fortune that had just fallen on her group; the narcissistic man seemed too powerful for them.
A heavy, metallic clank sounded through the air, and without warning or reason, the top of the liberated cage popped off with a sharp bang, tossing the entire wall, framework, bars and all, onto the ground.
Zena, somewhat disoriented, took a moment before leaping out of her prison. “...Huh,” she remarked, noticing a tiny control box wired to solenoids all around the seam of the blown-off cage wall. “It looks like this thing was... rigged. I guess someone activated it when you,” she shot Ashe an undecipherable look. “...Released me.”
“Idiot!” roared Sebastian, swatting the cumbersome prison aside as though it were made of cardboard. He leapt to his feet, outraged at what had transpired. “It was on a proximity trigger. It was one of Kai’s... jokes. There was no key or anything like that. You would have been left to die if they hadn’t figured out to move the cage away from the fire,” he grinned. “You should know the rope was similarly rigged. Another two minutes or so and it would have dropped you into the flames... but I can take care of that.”
Without another word, Sebastian unleashed an enormous wave of ki with a flick of his wrist. The sheer power dumbfounded the blond hybrid, who narrowly dove out of the way as it thundered past, obliterating a hut in the distance. “This should be fun,” he hissed.
He said nothing. Once again showcasing his immense speed, he charged Ashe, who could do little to dodge from her prone position. She fired a volley of shots, all of them going wide as Sebastian easily danced around them, moving in for the kill. And for the second time in as many minutes, he was shot in the back.
A big green sphere splashed across his shoulder blades, jarring his run into a stumble. His intended victim scrambled to her feet and drew her weapon at the recovering Sebastian, who wound up far behind his back, horribly telegraphing his moves because of the stunning blow to his back.
Too close to actually level a shot against the clawed man, Ashe, in desperation, swung her machine gun hard, catching Sebastian across the face with it and staggering him backwards, giving her the freedom to open fire on him. He began to wildly spasm, before collapsing in a heap at Ashe’s feet.
Out of the hut climbed a severely injured Sage, who swayed back and forth, leaning hard against a piece of broken wall. She was bleeding anew, and looked quite dazed, even from Ashe’s position across the village square. In her hand was her pistol, which she’d used to spare her friend a violent death.
“I think...” the cerulean haired girl mumbled, far too quiet for anyone to hear but her. She contemplated shouting, but just thinking about it hurt. Suddenly, a thought struck her. I think we got him, she projected. Ashe was about to nod in response, before a dark chuckle escaped the lips of the dead man at her feet. With a startled gasp, Ashe leapt backwards, scrambling away from Sebastian, who slowly climbed to his feet. He showed signs of fatigue, but not nearly as much as Sage, or even Ashe.
“You thought wrong,” he hissed. “You have, however, caused me to break a sweat,” he said this with the most intense disdain. “Honestly I didn’t even think I’d get my nails dirty taking care of you useless diversions. Well,” he considered. “Maybe a little blood.”
“You’re screwed up,” spat the pink haired girl, disgusted at the man’s twisted imagery.
“And you're just plain screwed,” Sebastian retorted, launching himself at Ashe. Red and green gun blasts lanced out at the acrobatic warrior, all of them pitifully missing their mark. He planted a vicious heel to the teenager’s forehead, propelling her onto the ground, only inches out of the flames behind her.
Sebastian kicked off the ground again, sailing high into the air. Instead of landing on Ashe, however, he landed on the cage over the fire behind her, and turned, his hand wrapped around the rope that suspended the cage - and Zena within it - over the flames.
“Katchin metal!” Sebastian taunted, locking eyes with Sage. He watched her expression turn from tired to apprehensive. He smirked. “Untouchable by even your sister’s incredible power!” he snorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Must take a big man to make fun of me while I’m behind bars!” retorted Zena, glaring up at her captor above her.
“Oh, please,” the brutal fighter snapped. “You fell for one of my traps, didn’t you, oh mighty strategist?” he jeered, and then pressed his claws against the rope. “What do you say, little girl? How about you stay for a little barbecue?”
“N-No!” Sage protested, making to run forward, but she stumbled, falling on hands and knees before righting herself, and then falling again to one knee. “Leave her alone!”
“Make me,” came the childish retort.
“Please!” the little hybrid insisted. “She never did anything to you!!”
“Maybe if she had, she wouldn’t be in this predicament,” chided Sebastian, making a show of sawing at the rope. His actions provoked exactly the response he expected.
“St-stop it!!” Sage demanded. “I’ll-!! I’ll shoot you!”
The clawed man just kept sawing, and Sage made good on her threat. The girl opened fire, squeezing the trigger hysterically as dazzling spheres of emerald hurtled toward Sebastian, who lazily dodged about the ones too near him, and laughed as others sailed too low and crashed into the cage beneath him. Zena stumbled and fell, but Sebastian had no problem maintaining his footing atop the wildly swinging cage, which spun and bucked as the energy blasts smashed into it.
“You’d best be careful!” Sebastian taunted. “Your light show might sever the rope,” he taunted, pointing at a light burn where one of the bolts had singed the lifeline that kept Zena suspended above the flames. By now, Ashe was on her feet, but she didn’t have much of a shot from her angle and dared not move for fear of provoking the psychopath to cut the rope. Zena might have been a bitch, but it didn’t mean she deserved to die.
Sage aimed more carefully now, but her aim continued to waver as her hands shook. She growled angrily at herself as she fought to steady her hands. The girl closed her eyes; if this shot didn’t work, she might lose her sister.
With her eyes closed, Sage put a new face on Sebastian. She put the worst face, the one she despised more than any other she had ever seen upon him. On Sebastian’s face, she put the face of Sol. The man responsible for... everything. Sol, Sage reinforced, revolted by his image. Now he has your sister.
Her eyes opened. “You motherf-” she replaced the curse with a grumble, and leveled her gun at Sebastian, again. He and Zena were trading words, and both looked extremely angry. It didn’t even occur to the crystal haired girl that her sister was buying her time. She didn’t think of anything else but Sol as she opened fire.
With the dead-eye accuracy of a trained sniper, the powerful bolt of ki sailed straight into the temple of the distracted pit fighter, who tumbled over the edge of the cage and wildy grabbed onto the bottom of it, lest he fall into the flames beneath.
The cage swung back and forth violently as Sebastian fought to pull himself back, and now it was Ashe who took initiative. She raised her gun, watching for some cue. She waited for the cage to swing wildly in one direction, and when it veered about and rushed the other way, Ashe hesitated until the cage was just about to lose momentum, and then opened fire. A flurry of ki blasts whizzed harmlessly through the air, but one of them pierced straight through the rope suspending the cage, cleaving it in half.
Unrestrained, the heavy katchin prison smashed into the ground several feet from the fire, right on top of Sebastian. Ashe couldn’t believe the fortune that had just fallen on her group; the narcissistic man seemed too powerful for them.
A heavy, metallic clank sounded through the air, and without warning or reason, the top of the liberated cage popped off with a sharp bang, tossing the entire wall, framework, bars and all, onto the ground.
Zena, somewhat disoriented, took a moment before leaping out of her prison. “...Huh,” she remarked, noticing a tiny control box wired to solenoids all around the seam of the blown-off cage wall. “It looks like this thing was... rigged. I guess someone activated it when you,” she shot Ashe an undecipherable look. “...Released me.”
“Idiot!” roared Sebastian, swatting the cumbersome prison aside as though it were made of cardboard. He leapt to his feet, outraged at what had transpired. “It was on a proximity trigger. It was one of Kai’s... jokes. There was no key or anything like that. You would have been left to die if they hadn’t figured out to move the cage away from the fire,” he grinned. “You should know the rope was similarly rigged. Another two minutes or so and it would have dropped you into the flames... but I can take care of that.”
Without another word, Sebastian unleashed an enormous wave of ki with a flick of his wrist. The sheer power dumbfounded the blond hybrid, who narrowly dove out of the way as it thundered past, obliterating a hut in the distance. “This should be fun,” he hissed.
![[Image: Sage.jpg]](http://rebecca.florizone.com/sig/miscsig/Sage.jpg)