[02] City Sector

[DA 2009]

CITY SECTOR

Time Of Day: Dawn

Bunker: Active

Starting Players: Kaden, Ashe

[Shun]

Vincent appeared, seemingly spawning from nothing more than the molecules in air. Leaving only a scar as proof to his previous existence as he made his way up the fire escape of a building. The hybrid's mindset was simple. Not to say he was simple-minded, he was just running through some key facts at that point in time. No real thoughts registering, more of a 'I gotta remember this' thing going on.

Upon reaching the top he made his way to a ledge, doing so with caution since he in all honesty had no idea where anybody else was, let alone how many. It the beginning of an attempt to lay out a plan. Something the onyx-haired brawler had no real experience in. He'd always been a more of a jump in guns'a blazing kinda guy...he just figured there was too much of a risk for that here.

Perched on the rooftop he scanned all he could see, searching for any signs of life. Even resorting to the use of the scope on his ki rifle to better his vision, yet and still he saw nothing. Bullshit. There's gotta be someone around. He thought to himself, refusing to lower the weapon before giving the area the thorough scan it deserved. To the best of his ability at least.

The orange-blue tint that colored the sky made it apparent the sun was rising. Wherever he was, it was dawn. A low sigh escaped him before the hybrid released his vicegrip on the rifle. He'd have better luck when the sun was higher. So for now at least, he'd need to keep moving. With that thought, Vincent was off. Dashing to the adjacent ledge and leaping from it. Only to vanish mid-air and re-appear on his target; it was jumps like that the hybrid favored. There was no real tactical reasoning behind it, he just found it cool as hell.

By now the collar that surrounded his neck was less of a bother. At first it caused him discomfort. Not the collar itself but more what it was built to do, what it was capable of. After realizing he had no choice in the matter though, he went along with it. Knowing his only option now was to win...or die.

His feet propelled him once again and following the same pattern as before he'd made his way to the opposite ledge. Humming to himself this time as he landed. "Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, BATMAN."

[Kaden]

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

To Kaden, that seemed like a perfectly reasonable question. As if being in a deserted city with no idea where he was going wasn’t bad enough, he had just been randomly teleported to a completely different area of said deserted city. At least, before, Ashe had told him they were headed in the direction of the Mountain Sector. Now he… had no idea.

As the first sunlight of dawn broke between the city’s skyline, Kaden sighed and threw his back against the nearest building. As light slowly crept over him, Kaden closed his eyes and tried to simply clear his mind. Sadly, that had never gone well for the courier. His thoughts drifted from one place to another: the idea of fighting in Dante’s Abyss, worry over hurting someone he knew, trying to find another bunker before he exploded, whether or not being “dusted” would actually kill him, how much control Damon Dukes had over the event, what kind of person Dukes was, what kind of person he was for wanting to beat the living hell out of someone he had never met…

“Just… stop,” Kaden’s voice was barely more than a whimper as he brought a hand to his head. “Please.”

Though he wanted nothing more than to simply stare at the sidewalk below him, Kaden’s eyes found themselves drifting towards the hand hanging at his side. Small flecks of blood dotted his knuckles, sending another wave of grief, concern, and general misery through his mind. He could still feel the impact of his fist against Ashe’s features.

Before their “fight,” Kaden’s foremost concern had been that Dukes might simply “dust” him for not wanting to participate. Unfortunately for Dukes, Kaden would have given his life a hundred times over before hurting a friend for his amusement. Damon, however, had proved to be just as cunning as he was a vicious, cold-hearted son of a bitch.

While there was still a long way to go before Kaden claim mastery over manipulating his energy, he knew his own strengths. As Damon – as he held his hand before Ashe, poised to deliver a finishing blow, there had been no holding back. All of his power had been brought forth, and there had not been a single thing Kaden could do to stop it. His hand still tingled from the surge of power that had been channeled into it.

“Hey Damon!” Kaden screamed at the city. “FUCK YOOOOOOOOU!”

That was perfect. Throwing a fit would certainly teach Dukes a thing or two. He might as well hold his breath while he was at it. Angered at his own impotence, Kaden bashed the back of his head against the building behind him. The host of Dante’s Abyss had made himself perfectly clear, there was not a doubt in the courier’s mind. If he continually refused to fight, Damon would just do it for him. To be forced to watch his own body kill a friend against his will was more than Kaden’s increasingly fragile psyche would be able to withstand.

In the next several minutes, minutes which seemed to span for days, Kaden did not move. His breathing slowed, his eyelids drooped… he felt himself slowly go numb. Again. Normally Kaden found refuge in such numbness. Damon had managed to take even that from him. Now the courier found himself wondering what atrocious act would next pierce the foggy veil he had thrown over his mind. Certainly there would be one.

Bringing his hand up to his collar, Kaden let a finger trace around the edge of the lone button on its surface. The “game over” button. It had been described in the booklet Kaden had retrieved from the bunker. He could end everything as soon as he got to another bunker. It was far more tempting than it should have been. Doubt, however, would stay the courier’s hand. The booklet had described the button simply as a way to “leave” the tournament. Given what he had already experienced, Kaden was hesitant to think it would do anything other than kill him.

As thought of the booklet worked their way into his mind, Kaden let his eyes wander about his surroundings. Only a couple yards off, laying in the middle of the street, was the courier bag with supplies from the bunker. At the very least he would have something to eat and drink, though that prompted the concern that Ashe might not. Hopefully the girl had enough to be able to make it to another bunker.

“Another bunker…” Kaden silently reminded himself. “I… can’t stay here, can I?”

Asking himself answers he already knew the answers to seemed odd, but lifted his spirits slightly. Pushing off of the building, Kaden scooped up his courier’s bag and slung it over his shoulder. With no real direction in mind, he began walking. His steps felt heavy, and he moved slow, but he was moving nonetheless.

Kaden moves from City Sector to Forest Sector

[Mal Nova]

He landed with a soft thud, the hard soles of his boots, touching lightly with the concrete-made sidewalk. Flight had seemed to come easy with him, his ability to atune to, and manipulate the wind only seemed to further the ease-of-access method of transportation. Suzakau, reluctant to hold on to the Namek for longer then she had to and feeling more like a burden then anything else, let go of her grip. After they had taken to the skies and removed themselves from their previous position and away from potential predators, the Imperfect Namek had repositioned the native of Earth, letting her hug his upper torso with her arms and legs.

As she removed her body from his, she rubbed her hands together, trying to get the blood circulating back through her appendages. Nova looked about erring on the side of caution, scowering the area for any traps or ambushes. The sun had begun to rear it's head, bathing the area under it's scrutiny, revealing not only their location to any that were looking in their direction, but also leaving them blinded from the west. On Dante, the planet seemed to rotate on an axis that differed from that of earth because of that simple fact,

The Emerald Warrior turned and looked back at the female, noting that she, like him, seemed to be smoking as she exhaled; Their hot breath colliding with the cold air, creating steam that quickly dissipated as fast as it had assperated. It pained him to see her blue and white outfit, no matter how ridiculous it looked, blotched with orange and purple stains, from her dried life force. He again felt a rush of guilt, but quickly dismissed the thoughts that rushed into his head, trying to remind himself that he needed to concentrate on other matters at hand.

He turned, and strode forth, entering the structure, his collar giving the off a short beeping sequence to let him know that it was deactivated. A quick scan told him that the bunker wasn't much different from the previous one they had visited. His eyes fixated on the big red button, though, his last confrontation, making him pause and staring at it. He could go up to it, and press it now and end the torment he was feeling, as well he could force Tamsin to follow suite and get her proper treatment.

Perhaps it was a good idea, he thought. It was a simple move and there was always next year. He could be more ready and have a better understanding next ti

The thoughts quickly left his thoughts as he scolded himself, for the foolish thoughts. Even if he wanted to quit, something deep inside wouldn't let him. It was that fire of his heritage; The determined eagerness for excitement. But deep within, he felt regret of having to bring harm to the silver haired adolescent.

As his thoughts ventured to the comrade that had willingly followed him into the Abyss, entered, her collar deactivating as she passed through the portal, quickly bringing him back to the real world, he turned to face, the hardheaded girl, her face still shining with a smile.

Mal Nova and Tamsin enter the City Sector.

Mal Nova and Tamsin enter the City Sector Bunker

[Mal Nova]

He bit down hard upon the pillow, his fangs puncturing the cloth effortlessly. He knew the more lax his muscles were, the lesser quicker and less painful the make shift operation would take, but that wasn't going to happen, not when he imagined the pain he had felt from the initial intrusion of the jagged piece of timber. And that had happened during the heat of battle, when his threshold was at a larger capacity. Now, however, the flesh would have swollen about the wound making it all the more of a tighter fit.

Tamsin, trained in first aid, quickly when to work, taking one of her sharoened and previously sterilized knives and made an incision, just at the edge of the irritated flesh, in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure and create a secondary outlet for the blood to drain. The Namek did his best to hide the pain he felt, but it was evident from the sparatic deep breaths as well as the tensed, well corded neck muscles just beneath his flesh.

Her second and third incisions, came from a small scalpel like tool. They were cuts oftwo single slits, right at the edge, where the flesh and and wood met. She places the sharp blades on a tray that sat near the bed; She would have sat them on the bed, but she wasn't going to risk the Namek jumping and injuring himself even further but stabbing himself unintentionally with one of them. She grabbed a cloth, she had wet with with a germ killer, and quickly wiped the blood that had began to ooze out of the wound, yet again.

She had been smart to keep the blades out of reach, though, because not only had she forgot to warn him that it would sting, As soon as the rag touched the in-flared and opened flesh, his eyes went wide, and hit arched his back in a very awkward manner, his lips in a snarl as he sucked in air, making a gurgling wet hissing sound. Tamsin immediately began giving out a a repetition of apologies, but the Imperfect One, slouched back to the bunk, not even saying a word; She didn't need to apologize, this was a consequence he'd accept stoically for letting her join and get injured.

He had to wonder though, had it been Retane and another Horsemen like Tapion, before the betrayal on their last Abyss together, how would the the Reaper have felt if he had let a comrade get so injured to early? He closed his eyes as he remembered Retane's first trip to the Abyss, when a metallic changeling by the name of Metal Koola had appeared and had injured the Emerald Fiend and two others, Andoird 20 and Krillin. Retane had carried and helped the two out of harms way when Toma had showed up, giving them cover and a chance to escape.

The next year after thinking Tapion had been killed, the Reaper snapped ascending to the Legendary Super Namek, only to later find the injured comrade just to watch him die again. Retane had screamed at him not to die on him, but it had been inevitable. The Namek had then, seemingly lost it, succumbing to the Abyss and going numb, and began carrying the body of the Konat onward, to their planned destination, where he then buried the body. Not long after, the Emerald Fiend killed another out of pure rage only to drift into a dead zone.

The Namek gave a sigh as his mind wondered on.


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

He looked out into the night sky, staring at the stars, the sand biting at his face as the wind began to pick up. He stood there, clad in his usual black attire, his cowl pulled over his head, but not far enough to hinder his gaze.

"He's entered the Abyss", Came a call from above. Retane didn't have to look, knowing it was Enroshia, sitting or standing in an at ease fashion above the mouth of the cave that led to the Namek's home.

"The Abyss?" The renegade had many memories of the place, none really pleasent, and had nearly went insane from only three years of participation.

"Yeah. I have heard that your 'old buddy' had something to do with getting him an invitation. But I also heard that Maleficus didn't waste any time accepting."

Retane turned, knowing exactly who the 'old buddy' was and had been persuaded not to reveal anything to his son when they had met. Enro had explained that the 'higher powers' wanted to see where things went, and the Mercenary just went along with it for the time being.

"He's to young and inexperienced for Dante." Retane responded.

"He's trying to follow in your footsteps, if I gather things right. Trying to become as good as you. Kind of like what everyone expects of him, isn't it?" The white maned warrior stated, hopping down to the ground level near the Reaper.

"I wouldn't do what everyone expects of me. I do as I desire." He began moving for the entrance, of the underground cave, knowing that a sandstorm wold soon kick up

"And he desires to be as good as you", Came the obvious reply of the elvish warrior, a grin on his face as he followed the Dark Hunter.

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She looked down, the big tweezers in her hand she, as gently as possible, put the rods of the metallic object where she had cut the slits. Her focus remained on the over large splinter, as her hand, carefully tightened around the pair of tweezers to get a good grip of the alien object. Desiring to cause as little pain as she could, she began to pull, her inert abilities kicking in, gently spreading the flesh around the wood, allowing her to extract it.

Her eyes went wide as she lost concentration, overly shocked at the size of the piece she had just pulled out. He was a near cone shaped piece, the largest width being about an inch thick; The length though was nearly three inches. She quickly placed it down, and grabbed another cloth, one that wasn't soaked in alcohol, and wiped the blood. It was then though, that she noticed the flesh of his bicep. Part of his arm was silver, more silver then her own hair.

Her hand, quickly moved to it, the curiosity getting the better of her, as she mover the tips of her fingers from the jade flesh, to the shiny material, and back to the jade skin. She felt no lines and looked curiously at the back of his head, not understanding what was with the different color of flesh. The Imperfect Namekian seemed to notice where her hands had went, and his body tensed. Playing it off, though, she ran her fingers along his back in a gentle method, ready to use the excuse that she had learned that using the method took the the mind from the pain.

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He looked over the reports, a smile creeping upon his face as he saw how far Maleficus Nova was coming along. The Namek grew with strength, quickly learning his potential, much faster then he initially assumed. He showed to much emotion though, a bit more then he had even seen emit from the infamous Retane. He'd have to see if he could isolate that gene, and perhaps remove it when the time came. For now though, He'd continue to keep track of the Imperfect One, with far eyes.

Retane's 'old buddy' sat back in his chair, his smiling even bigger as he dreamt of the possibilities.

[Tamsin]

Tamsin was left curious by Mal`s peciluar anatomy. Tried as she might, she was unable to explain the Namekian`s unusual body structure. However, the girl quickly shrugged the thought away. She was hardly an expert on alien biology and even if it was not normal, it was not her place to wonder why it was so. If Nova wanted her to know, he would tell her himself.

With that thought in mind, the maid proceeded with treating her master`s wound. Although she was fairly well-versed in first aid, she was by no means a doctor and could not execute any complicated procedures. Considering the circumstances, the wound left from the oversized wooden object would have to heal through natural means. After making sure that the sterile gloves were tightly covering her hands, she started preparing the wound for the process of packing by rinsing it with aseptic water. The treatment was causing the rogue obvious discomfort as he would ocassionally tremble and wince in pain. Although the servant disliked causing her master pain and soreness, she was also aware she had no choice and forced herself to proceed.

As she observed the wound, while packing it with wet sterile gauze, Tamsin was reminded of the knife wounds she had inflicted herself upon her first opponent in the Abyss. Ironically, the very premise of survival that fueled the bloodsport that was Dante`s Abyss also lead the adolescent to spare her opponent and ensure her own survival for the sake of her master instead. But while the girl assumed that the warrior had survived their encounter, she was also convinced that the armour-clad Saiyan resented her for it and would seek to avenge his damaged pride. The silver-haired human never desired to have a foe....but considering the nature of the event, such a state of affairs seemed unavoidable.

Continuing her care, using the remainder of the roll of gauze as a topical dressing and securing it with surgical tape, the thoughts of her opponent also reminded her of an unusual event during their fight....when her Ki Knives launched themselves at her foeman before he was able to finish her off. Or did they launch at him by themselves? Although she was not sure, Tamsin had long suspected that something was not completely right about her...that she had some sort of ability to manipulate with objects. Even during her guild training, it would sometimes occur that when she needed an item to complete a specific task, she would move to get it only to realise it was already in her hand. And then, during her fight with the Saiyan soldier, her desperate desire for her weapons overwhelmed her...and they responded, right before her eyes.

Suzaku was suddenly filled with uncertainty:"What does it mean? Was it just a random occurence...or do I really have some special power? Should I tell Maleficus?" But as she looked at the hurting Namekian, while she was dressing the packed wound with a cellophane bandage and taping it`s edges, the adolescent decided not to do so...at least not yet. Her master was already pressured by his own affairs, he did not need the maid to make it worse for him. The silver-haired human had no choice, but to figure out the truth by herself.

With her medical aid completed, the prodigy immediatelly began cleaning the remains that were left over from the activity. The bunker held a special container for biotoxic waste, which was unsuprising considering that it held medical supplies and equipment in the first place. She left for the bunker kitchen, where she carefully cleaned and sterilised the equipment she had used. Finally, she filled a large jug with sugared water and brough it, along with a glass, to her master.

"Please rest now, Mas-...Maleficus. Here is some sugared water for you to drink later, if you get thirsty. If you need anything, I will be nearby," the girl said caringly as she observed the lying mercenary. Although he was facing away from her, Mal still nodded in order to signal that he understood. With that said, the adolescent walked off to find some ice packs. Although her leg still hurt, she was at least able to feel it and walk on it. After her fight, she first visited the Forest bunker, roughly patched herself up and took a painkiller before hastily leaving to find Nova.

Bringing some of the packs to her bunk, the girl lied down and covered the bruised sections of her body with them. She experienced a slight shiver as she did so, her body adjusting to the lowered temperature. Finally, as she set her pillows a bit higher, she also covered her still damaged eye. With still much to be done, she used one of her knives to cut a bit of thread from her sheets. Then, with a sharp object as a makeshift needle, she began to sew the cut on her outfit. Meanwhile, the Namekian slowly and painfully turned his head around, quietly observing his maid as she busied herself with more errands.