Durem Clocktower

Clocktower

After two years of absence, Durem's Clocktower has returned in all of its past glory. What better way to celebrate the tower's resurgence than to cut the ribbon with a fever-pitched battle?!

Terrain

General - Reduced balance due to constant rotating gears. Fights may also take place on narrow, spiraling walkways that line the innards of the tower.

Weapons - None

Natural Element Resource - None

Bonus Effects - Exiting the tower constitutes a ring out. Fortunately the only readily available exit is the clock face itself.

((Will edit for content. Just a placeholder to say "I'M HERE!" 8D In class, will edit later.))

8:51 AM Durem Clocktower-

Izette Wrote:

Where the hell was everyone?

Tick Tock Whump.

Tick Tock Whump Wump.

Tick Whump Tock Whump Wump.

Whump Wump Whump Wump~.

The steady repetition of sound intensified as the blades of a Bell 212 helicopter also known colloquially as a ‘Huey’ rose steadily into view of the clock face. Painted jet black with the white Alpha through Epsilon logo the helicopter was silhouetted by the light of the still rising sun in the background. Its open passenger compartment allowing a strong ray of light to pass through the shadoedw form. A silhouette of a large crouching form finally coming into focus as it passed the blurry image of Izette behind the wall of glass that made up the clock face. The helicopter continued to climb coming to a hover slightly above the middle point of the minute hand and lingered there. Sol slowly mouthed the full name of his opponent to himself and the winds that whipped past him.

Izette Asis Prechtl

Sol had learned her full name only minutes before when his FIGHTER had informed him of the name of Team Awesome’s members, for such a small device such a handy piece of technology, he wondered just who built the darn things and why they weren’t sold on every street corner yet to curious fans. He figured it was due to possibility of tampering but really, they would sell like hotcakes… Well except for the needle and forced DNA extraction but some people just can’t handle being on the cutting edge.

Sol clenched his teeth and licked the back of his teeth forming the glob of chewed formerly grape gum into an improvised mouth guard to keep his teeth from chattering together during his intended dismount. He had hoped this was how things would end up but when all was said and done it seemed fate was smiling on the two fighters for they were now within spitting range of one another.

Spitting range was an appropriate term as well considering the two of them had traded barbs and aggression for over a month now, and though Sols blood still boiled from their first encounter he was destined to make this time count. No amount of outside interference would keep him from finishing this fight regardless of who won.

To say Sol was a vengeful man is perhaps not the best way to describe the bodyguard, he simply has very specific points of contention that tend to put him over the edge, and if Izette had not pushed those buttons with such precision perhaps he would have laughed the whole string of events off. This was different, for reasons even Sol didn’t quite understand Izette seemed to embody everything he saw as impure and volatile, the heavy drinking, chain-smoking, kool-aid defiling woman was now on Sol’s list.

The ‘List’ was quite short actually; including primarily acts of nature, and shoulder fired Surface to Air missiles, but still every item on this ‘List’ filled Sol with such rage that there was little concourse but to bleed and break that ‘thing’ till whatever bad blood stood between them was poured all over the floor before them.

“Bleed it all out…”

He said letting the words out slowly as he stared at the clock face and the woman’s distorted from behind it. The clock face, ah yes that marvel of semi-opaque glass work pieced together in sections larger than most of the vehicles sol had driven in his life time that spanned across the massive face of the clock. It was certainly a sight to be hold, and a right shame what Sol was about to do to it.

Sol ginned widely at the thought, enjoying the flowing adrenaline rush that was his body’s standard way of telling him ‘this is probably a bad idea‘. It was perhaps for the best then that Sol was completely ignoring most of the instincts in his body as his brain screamed for vengeance. Sol leaned forward over the edge of the passenger compartment put one hand on the side of the compartment leaned back and physically threw himself forward out of the Helicopter. Throwing his hands back wide so as to grab onto the edge of the massive minute hand that continued to move inexorably onwards.

His hands slipped and then finally grasped onto the edge of the minute hand his arm socks preventing the hard angular form keeping him from outright breaking his hands on impact. Allowing him to adjust his trajectory and bring his legs out ahead of him instead of just smashing body-long through the glass all willy-nilly.

He pumped his legs up and forward to accelerate himself, releasing his grip from the time piece and plowed feet first through the Clocktower face towards his opponent. His dynamic entry throwing javelin sized and smaller shards of glass forward of his body as he soared towards her as if piloting an invisible airplane aiming to smash his reinforced boots square into the chest of the punker. His body already compacting slowly to allow him to roll with the impact of landing on the platform behind her should he miss or the much less likely possibility of his two hundred and thirty-eight pound frame bouncing off of her.

Was it subtle? No.

Was it cost effective? No.

Was it an efficient means of entering a building by any definition? No.

Was it fun? Oh hell yes...

You only live once after all.

“Stand up Blinkey! Your time has come!’’

Sol smiled after calling his opponent out, standing there ready for the punker to come to her senses and strike back, He fully intended to make this as painful for her in as many ways as possible his previous pun -fully- intended. Secured tightly in their sheaths on his belt, Sols two Balisongs stayed fully sheathed, the chains wrapped around his arms adding an impressive girth to his already muscular forearms. He tucked his left arm against his side and curled his hands into a fists. Blood slowly dripped from several minor cuts along his upper arms and body, coating him with a thin sheen of blood and sweat as he waited for their final fight to begin.

“Let us bleed the bad blood out…”

Wump.

Wump.

Wumpwumpwump.

Huh...

That really didn't sound very much like the sound that a giant clock would make. Slowly, the woman reached behind her and reached for something different than her usual trademark weapon. On her back, it almost seemed as though she had a sheath of some sort, she almost looked as intense as a knight of the square table like the ones in the story books she would read to her nieces.

And then it came...

CRAAAAAAAAASH~

Tiny sparkling gems surrounded her and the woman did nothing more than twist her body and swing. It was almost as though it were in slow motion as the two of them moved, Sol Nipples was flying towards her and she herself was moving to face them. However, she wasn’t unarmed as he may have thought. In her right hand (the one that was swinging), there seemed to be a long metal contraption within it. No, it wasn’t a sword. But rather, it was none other than a crowbar!

As his foot made contact with her chest, her swing made contact to whatever she managed to hit first. But she was swinging, and this was definitely not a love tap either. Judging by the closeness the two of them were at, she probably would have managed to either hit his face or his collarbone. Either way it was definitely going to hurt.

Izette may have managed some damage on the shirtless man, but she wasn’t going to be let go so easily. His foot managed to still hit her in the chest causing her to tumble a great deal backwards and causing her to be severely winded.

The nice thing was...

She did manage to get him to shut up at least.

-1/17-

Sol really didn’t have much option but to take a hit while he was piloting the invisible airplane that was his continued momentum. His eyes were more on his body position than Izette as he came crashing through the clock face, the resulting shivers of glass scattering light from inside the clock tower and the image ahead of him, Sol closed his eyes as his body began to contract to take the force of the coming impact with the woman and protect his body so that he could roll on landing with the fairly rough industrial catwalk that he was going to end up on shortly.. That was the idea anyways, his hands which had been above him when he did the monkey swing off of the minute hand were in the process of coming down to protect his face from the glass and coming impact with the platform when he felt ‘it‘.

‘It’ hit mere seconds before his feet impacted with the chest of the punker and was certainly much further north than he expected such an impact to come from. At first he’d assumed he been struck by a piece of glass or a part of the support frame that held the clock face in place but since he was still in mid air its actual origin was irrelevant. Unbeknownst to Sol Izettes attempt to strike at his upper torso/face had saved him a lot of pain, the crowbar striking off of the only partially protected part of his upper body, the arm socks and the over wrapped chain that covered his forearms

His reinforced combat boots struck their target sending Izette tumbling several feet beyond him, while the impact from the crowbar with his left fore arms severely ******** up his angular momentum and he landed at a bad angle rolling to a stop on his side, not winded, but not exactly at a hundred percent either. The rough catwalk style metal platform tore at his exposed skin, his upper left arm now sported several length wise lacerations which were bleeding freely but slowly, the thick red heavily oxygenated fluid dripping through the metal catwalk onto the gears below.

Though now bleeding and recovering from the throbbing on his left forearm from the blunted but not completely stopped crowbar strike. Sol tucked the injured arm up against his scratched up left side and pushed up off the ground with his right. Sol knew Izette was fast and though he knew he had struck her hard, he didn’t know how long he would have to recover himself. He stood up and drew his left side balisong a frustrated look on his face, the prior grin had been wiped off his face, replaced with a more pensive stare the pain on his upper arm more of a frustration than a true hindrance but frustration none-the-less.

“Ow… Stupid gravity.”

He responded in a sarcastic and somewhat bemused tone trying to buy himself enough time to fully recover. Sol didn’t want to waste any time however, he knew he had precious little of it against a quicker opponent like Blinkey, and now that he could actually see her clearly the fact that she was carrying something a bit more potent than a mean right hook gave Sol all the justification he needed to up the ante.

“I'm not sure if you need to loose some weight Blinkey of if this place just desperately needs some softer carpet…”

His left arm was still slightly injured but at least it was functional, tucked up against his left side it however was left intentionally exposed towards his opponent. His right hand back slightly in a higher guard position was armed with one of his balisongs in a reverse-grip both hands curled into firsts with the blade of his balisong pointing towards the aforementioned floor of the catwalk. Sol slid his right leg back, leaving his left side forward and adjusted his balance so that he had most of his weight on the heal of left foot.

“ I say lets redecorate this ********…”

The grin returned to sols face as he watched her start to pick herself up off the floor.

(OOC: edited for spelling error due to typing @ 1 am EST.)

Man...

That was going to leave one nasty bruise.

With the hit of the boot against her chest the punker took a deep breath in, yeah it hurt. But when Izette was in fighter mode as she was in now, there was no time for recovery. With a quick cough, she stood back up to her feet with her crowbar tightly in hand.

And than she noticed something.

The man was talking...

AGAIN.

With an angry growl, the woman grabbed onto the rail for the added support with her left and launched herself off of it to cause some momentum to her speed. It wasn’t much of a boost, but it was enough to allow herself to get closer to the man that was more than a foot taller than her. Whether Nipples was ready for her or not was an entirely different story. Since the man seemed to spend more time monologueing to himself than paying attention to the fight perhaps it would give her the edge she needed.

Dante Decker Wrote:

“I'm not sure if you need to loose some weight Blinkey of if this place just desperately needs some softer carpet…”

At that moment he seemed to slowly prepare himself to face her and be more prepared. Except he would only realize that she was now a lot closer, and she wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. But...she did.

About half a foot infront of him she leapt towards him again with her crowbar at hand ready to strike. This time she was aiming for the face, she wanted to wipe that over confident smirk right off his face. And this would be just the right time as he seemed to only want to continue in his lovely chat.

Dante Decker Wrote:

“ I say lets redecorate this fuc-

-SMACK-

Perhaps...

That was Izzy’s way to tell him to shut the ********> up.

There was still a flaw to her plan of action. Since she did jump towards him rather than stay planted, she was at the whim of gravity and force. Where she was going to land was really hard to say, especially if Nipples would have anything to say about it.

Ah well..

The price to pay for a match in silence.

-2/17-

‘Too close’

Sol thought to himself as a distinct feeling of déjà vu flashed through his mind. It wasn’t that Sol was talking for the hell of it, he just seemed to get such a nice level of irritation from his opponent, and if he couldn’t outright anger her he could at least progressively annoy her until such time as she came to know the level of rage she had instilled in him.

As Izzy closed in Sol leaned back slightly, sliding his left leg even with his right so as to give him just a touch more room between the two of them as she leaped towards him. He half expected her to attempt what she had tried to accomplish the first time they met, but unfortunately for Sol it wasn’t her fist he had to worry about this time, it was a crowbar.

He was not entirely certain why she had stopped short through, the reach on the crowbar should have been sufficient to make up for her shorter stature. She could have just as easily bowled him over and started wailing on him, but apparently his shin, torso and arms were not good enough targets for her, she was going to go for his face. That’s was fine with him, it meant shed make it quite easy for him to get revenge for that strike with the crowbar earlier.

He would let her come to him as her arm began to move to strike him with the crowbar he would reach out and with his left and grab for a good handful of her clothing, unfortunately the height of his left arm at his side and the woman’s height meant he would most likely end up grabbing her in a fairly sensitive area.

Sol’s right hand was already occupied holding onto his knife so he so he had very little recourse but to position its blade so that as she jumped towards him the blade would sink into her left shoulder, the seven inch exposed blade only propelled into her by her forward momentum alone, which luckily for her wouldn’t be a whole lot just yet as Sol began to fall backwards to match her speed

With at least one hand holding onto the punker, Sol would seem to shrink as he began to fall back his leg bending at the knee so that he would roll and push the woman up over his body with his legs, adding his hefty weight and the strength of his legs to her momentum so as to physically throw the lighter woman over himself towards a freshly undisturbed pane of glass and the conveniently near horizontal hour hand beyond. The knife which may not have penetrated much before (or at all) would be remain still up against her shoulder and as Sol’s momentum stopped and Izettes continued would be driven deeper into her shoulder just before she was flung off of him.

"Restoration? I heard the place has been through a lot...Well, 'they' did a fine job. It's a magnificent building."

Connor stopped turning on the spot to face Joseph fully. "Shame it's been chosen for Heaven or Hell again, I really don't like to hurt a place like this." Then he laughed. " 'course, judging by the party upstairs my teammates don't share my feelings." He jerked a thumb upwards, indicating the sounds of fighting.

I wonder if it's Zandra...or Izzy. Ah s**t, if it's Izette, gods help the person facing her...

Joseph Brown Wrote:

He turned to the member of the other team and held out his hand for a shake.

"Joseph."

Connor readily accepted the offered hand, shaking it firmly. "Connor. Mr. Brown, I'd say your reputation precedes you...but to be honest I never cared for the business world."

It was true, the only reason Connor recognized the name and not the face was because he never did much research. He only knew Joseph Brown via hearsay and snatches of conversation here and there. And of course, the bracket announcement.

" So I assume you're sponsoring Never Knows Best? What confuses me is why you'd want to put yourself on the team." A grin. "To be entirely frank, you don't look like a fighter."

"Oh? Seems to be a lot of that going around, people just...falling into powerful roles and positions," Connor said, mostly to himself. Joseph was stretching and Connor had an idea as to why.

The brawler rose an eyebrow at Joseph's activity. Why did he look like he was about to...

Hiss gaze strayed to the edge, overlooking the complicated mechanisms of the tower, and it clicked. "Uh...well I'm always up for meeting new people-- You sure that's a good i--!!" Joseph took off and leapt over the edge, vanishing from sight. Instinctively Connor stumbled forward. Mr. Brown's voice drifted up to him, sounding just as firm as ever. He looked over.

"...Huh." He didn't have a response to that leap of faith Joseph had taken, so instead he considered the businessman's proposal.

Gotta admit, that was pretty neat.

So, in reply...Connor grinned and gave JB a wave, walking back towards the front doors. He vanished from view. Moments later, enough time to give Joseph the idea that maybe Connor had brushed him off, there came a series of heavy footsteps and Connor came sailing out into space. "Whooo!!" He hit the gear hard, rolling and skidding to a stop crazily. For a moment he sat there, then scrambled to his feet, attempting to adjust to the central gear's slow spin.

As casually as you please, " Sure Mr. Brown, Let's see how this goes." And he sprinted towards the man. The wrench clattered to the gear face, forgotten. Withing range of Joseph, Connor'd hop forward and start this thing off with a right to Joseph's chin and following, if allowed, a left to the man's ribs. In the back of the brawler's mind, he felt the parasite squirming, sensing a fight.

One.

Sol was in no real rush to follow up on his opponents tracks he had actually laid there on his back for a second resting and watching his opponents flight path with a wide grin on his face as she smacked dead center into a nice untouched section of the clock face after which Sol rolled over on his side and stood up casually he flicked the Balisong blade to the side and watched as the blood sprayed off its edge . He moved his left arm testing its sensitivity and after making sure it was functional withdrew his second and flipped them both as he walked towards the clock face, their lengths changing from the seven inch boot knife styled blades to a thirteen inch short sword and back again in the blink of an eye as the mechanical bearings rotated effortlessly, Sols wrists loose and his mood excellent.

Blood had been spilled, they were getting closer to the sort of reckoning he had hoped for.

“ Oh~ Blinkey~…”

He said in a sing-song sort of tone, his voice echoing from the jagged hole in the glass she had just plowed through, though the dark interior and its maze of gears obscured his body from her view as he slowly took an alternate angle towards the clock face watching her position by the position of her shadow on the remaining clock face glass. He quickly clicked both of his blades out so that he was holding them like a pair of short swords and smiled as he continued his slow walk forward.

Coming to the clock face a few feet from Izettes position Sol quickly approached another still intact glass pane, shifted his weight to the heal of his left foot and of this right forward rotating his hip so as to strike the pane with the heel of his right foot turned to the side shattering the glass. The sudden crash of glass to one side of her followed by Sol exiting the shadows of the clocktowere itself now wielding two short swords must have been a bit of a shock to her system, that is if anything shocked Izette these days…

The meter-wide black steel hour hand was not exactly the most stable platform to fight on, but the view was… breathtaking, to say the least…

High above all the mechanisms, there was a female huff of deep annoyance as Sol Blackwell launched himself into, and then with just as much enthusiam, out of, the clockface. Somewhere in the middle the noise took on a strangled tone as Joseph Brown also decided to take a running leap out into the middle of the Cogworks that worked the mechanism. She wish her mind hadn't instantly reacted in panic at seeing that.

"I'm working for a lunatic..." Alison Harmony spoke viciously under her breath, clouded with a good amount of worry for her pay package. She had tucked herself into the belltower platform, great huge pieces of metal hung on beams made of the same material, ready to rotate and chime in the new hour, half hour, and quarter hours, all at different sizes, and of course weights. Luckily, she was high enough to watch through the gaps to see what everyone else was doing. Unluckily, she could also see what everyone else was doing. At least until Sol ended up out on the actual clockface, and JB had taken a running jump into space and hopefully, down into the gears without breaking his ruddy neck.

Her green jacket spread out the back of her as she hunkered down, the bag that she always wore beside her, hanging long from one shoulder to the next. Alison didn't seem armed, but the feminine duster jacket (mach 2) could cover many things. She'd gotten the replacement jacket with a little note that had kisses all over it and the words in italics For you, Miss Harmony...Daaarling. She was still burning over that. Even though she was wearing it still, in defiance was what she was telling herself. And it would be a shame to let a good jacket go to waste, specially when it matched her eyes. b*****d.

And there it was again.

That damn knife was coming at her... AGAIN!

But this time there was a plan of attack! Turning slightly, the woman allowed herself to shift body so that the blade was going for his left instead of her original destination. Yeah, it was a great distance of a move. But with some like Josie, his left arm could practically become unusable. That was a one up for he, especially considering that the damage count was more for him than for her at the moment.

And than finally he decided to move himself downwards. Which really wasn’t her problem, with her grip still on Josie; he would physically cause the blade to be removed by itself, which wasn’t pleasant since her girl had a lovely barb on it which would definitely catch on some muscle or something. This was something she was talking about.

However, there was something unpleasant down on Izette’s foot that no one would have noticed before. On the toe, the punker had a little trick of her own. There, a small 2 inch blade sat sticking out of the toe, this was Noah. As soon, as he went down, she only lifted her foot ever so slightly so that as he decided to attempt his move, he was going straight into the blade rather than breaking a leg. As soon as they made contact however Izette could feel herself tumble backwards onto the hour hand. Which was all fine considering that only meant that her knife in his leg was going to wiggle now too.

At least now, the two of them were going to be both on the same level.

[5/17]

"Where's your sense of ad... There it is." And then Joseph grinned as he watched Connor jump down. In spite of temptations, he didn't want to do anything without this officially being a fight, "And there goes your sense of pipe wrench."

Then as Connor charged sans wrench, looks like he was angling for a fistfight. Hell, Joseph could oblige. Especially since he could cheat if necessary.

It's hard to get good footing on a moving surface, even one as slow moving as this gear. Dodging wasn't the best of options unless you had a lot of room to prepare, everything after that was blow for blow. Luckily with the charge he had a chance to step and lean away from, the body blow he wasn't so lucky with taking it hard to the ribs.

A hiss of air, but Joseph could take it.

He fought back by stepping in and attempting to use his right forearm against Connor's right to prevent too much follow through. Hoping to exploit this he gave a underhanded left hook to Connor's stomach.

Diagnostics_

BAT 100% [^0% V0%]_

VIT Norm_

M/O/B Light/Fire/Air_

1/17_

"Fu..."

Always with the headbutts! Connor hit Joseph with the strength of a bad hangover. Which, at the very least, was something that Joseph was used to working through. While Connor was stumbling it gave Joseph just a few moments.

"Wind." Joseph spoke with the nasal sound of someone being hit in the head.

That in turn caused two of the transistor turbines on Joseph's air attuned back equipment to hum to life. Joseph wasn't going to let Connor get that clearance he needed to do the sweeping kick, instead he was going to take a few steps forward into a shoulder tackle. Now logic would dictate that one needed much more room than Joseph had to make a shoulder tackle count. Joseph however could cheat. Most people didn't have the power of two miniature jet turbines behind them, so the CEO was able to deleive the blow as if he had a good running start.

And then the turbines switched directions, blowing at Connor and helping Joseph backpedal a bit after his tackles follow through. Holding his left fist out in front of himself, bent at the elbow. It was like the worlds slowest DBZ fight, two dudes hitting against each other and then backing up.

Diagnostics_

BAT 93% [^2% V9%]_

VIT Norm_

M/O/B Light/Fire/Air_

1/17_

For a moment, there were two Joseph's. Connor grinned at the man's funny voice. " You sound like you've gotta--"

Blink. Why was Joseph suddenly...

"...What?"

WHUD

His feet left the ground, and what breath he'd managed to re-gain left his lungs. Instinctively, Connor flailed weakly at Joseph's back and head. Suddenly, he felt Joseph let go and a strong breeze blew across his face and he hit the gear hard again and his head struck the gear's surface with a faint clang.

Now, the gear was somewhere along the lines of thirty feet in diameter. Rather large, seeing as it was the central gear for the Clocktower. That gave the two fighters plenty of room to maneuver and more than enough surface area to pummel each other into. By some twist of fate, or perhaps the whim of an enthusiastic entertainment god (or something), Connor ended up no more than five feet from the edge of the rotating gear. As he struggled upright, shaking his head to get his senses back, loud thumps behind him let him know that a few feet further and some bit of his body would have been crushed between the grinding of the central gear and its partner that assisted in its slow rotation.

"Quite the uh..." A groan escaped Connor. His head hurt a bit from where it smacked into the gear, but that'd go away once he got his blood pumping again. On the bright side, the smack had driven away the parasite's growing urgings. "Quite the party trick you have there." The smile returned to his face.

There was nothing to pick up, and the wrench was on the other side of the gear, behind Joseph. Guess it would have to be another charge then. So, provided Mr. Brown hadn't done anything to interrupt anything Connor did or said since hitting the ground, he'd move in. This time however, he was wary and did not recklessly charge; moving in cautiously and paying more attention to the devices Joseph had strapped to his body. Connor's right side led and he held both arms close to his body, right hand hovering at chest level and left arm hanging loosely at his side. While his right hand clenched and unclenched, Connor's left hand was entirely loose as if nerveless. If Joseph bothered to notice, as Connor walked towards him and adjusted for the gear's spin, a faint trail of black dots extended behind the man, dripping from his left hand. Splatter marks.

[Manifestation: Stage One]

Three.

(( Multiple Edits: Haha! Compulsive proof-reading. Corrected some spelling and grammatical mistakes, completed a sentence I forgot to put a word in, yada yada.

.___.;; ))

Joseph grinned as Connor got back up.

"Good thing I've got a few more tricks then." Perhaps goofily he then spoke strange words, "Pew, pew, pew."

With that he shot his left fist forwards... As a distraction, the real threat would be from his right hand which was still nestled long his side and making an making a children's "finger gun" with his right hand. However as he spoke the words the tips of the middle and pointer finger making the barrel of the gun took on a glow, and soon shot off three pulses of energy. Now they would have a mild burning sensation, but as they were uncharged and rapidly shot they would be more long distance punches. Moreover, they were fired from the hip and while they had a bit of a bigger profile than a bullet Joseph would be lucky if one or two of the three pulses hit. They honestly could hit Connor anywhere, but their bright blue through the dark tower was awful pretty. They were meant to slow, more than damage, keep him close to the edge.

"Shift." He spoke to himself as he continued to backtrack and dropped his left fist, "Offhand, force."

Connor was likely still charging, Joseph was at a defencive ready. Something was up, Connor hid his toys longer than Joseph did. He wasn't sure he liked that.

Diagnostics_

BAT 86% [^2% V9%]_

VIT Norm_

M/O/B Light/Fire >>> Force/Air_

3/17_

Sol’s former sympathy for the woman was quickly fading. He couldn’t even imagine the pain she just endured being run through, weapon twisted in the wound, kneed to the same entry wound and then had the weapon pulled out violently, she was a stubborn b***h and he was starting to become a touch frustrated. His rage however had subsided slightly and his mind had cleared enough for him to notice her wandering away from the edge. He didn’t quite understand why she obviously had excellent balance and him striking outwards had repeatedly left him vulnerable to a counter attack but as it was she was now she was now up against the clock face bleeding rightly all over the place.

Indignant Sol took a few steps toward the woman avoiding the slick blood she was getting all over the perilous hour hand and stopped a few feet from her. He brought his right hand up flicking the balisong into its shorter arrangement held in a reverse grip as he had earlier in the fight his injured left arm pressed up against his side to keep it out of the way and protect his left side as well as he could. His chest and upper arm were covered in blood by this point, some of it his, some of it hers, regardless of its origin it began to slowly coagulate into a sticky mess in the early heat of the morning.

Dark Conspiracy Wrote:

“Got your--”

NO.

Sol didn’t hesitate, as soon as she started to gloat Sol kicked his right leg forward, twisting his hips so as to add to the foots acceleration and snapped his knee outwards over his knee so as to strike her square in the chest with the tip of his steel toed boot with as much force as his powerful legs could muster. Aiming to further complicate her injuries by rattling her rib cage again and force her through the thin glass plate behind her and into the clock proper.

The b***h was not going to get any satisfaction from his pain, she was only going to get more pain. As he walked towards her his weapon up and ready his feet slightly apart as he walked, just in case. He was so much more comfortable with kicking towards the clock, so much less fear of loosing his balance and going over the edge.

((edit: missing word))

"Wouldn't be a great party without 'em."

And then pewpewlazers. Shiny.

He should have kept his mouth shut. He had just altered his path slightly to begin circling Joseph, so as to drive the man backwards and get at the wrench when Joseph punched his hand forward. Connor's focus shifted to the left hand...and missed the first two shots from the right hand.

"Shi--!" Clever clever.

The first shot hit him square in the chest. Unprepared for it, Connor took a step back and looked over his shoulder, eyeing the shortening distance between him and the edge. In that second it took to glance over his shoulder and turn back to recover from the first force-bolt, the second bolt smacked him in the left shoulder. Connor grunted, the first sign of pain he'd shown the entire fight.

That left arm...

He managed to twist not-entirely out of the way of the third bolt, left arm flapping nervelessly as the force-bolt snagged Connor's jacket. Surprisingly, the uncharged bolt ripped the cloth, revealing the fiber wasn't all that strong. Connor tended to go through clothing quite often, so it only stood to reason he'd buy the cheap stuff.

Choice in fashion aside, that last bolt revealed a hint of what Connor had been hiding. Pink skin showed through the tear on his arm and, depending on how good your eyesight was, odd black protuberances poking through in places. Only a couple could be seen covering his arm, but it was likely the entire arm had similar objects protruding from the flesh.

Connor didn't stop to cover up the jacket-wound, nor did he bother checking out the damage of the other strikes. The strikes felt like punches and on top of that, burned slightly. He wasn't on fire, so he pushed it from his mind. He'd dealt with worse.

Contrary to what Joseph was trying to do, Connor didn't slow down, instead explosively reacting to the long ranged attack. "Pretty lightshow, that all you got?" The thought of grabbing the wrench disappeared from his mind as he pushed off hard, eager to get away from the edge and bring the fight to Joseph. He wouldn't let the man get another chance for that kind of attack, or a more powerful version. The black liquid seeped from his left arm more rapidly, now it was apparent that something was happening under the creamy jacket sleeve. The limb was no longer stiff either and he had formed the hand into a claw. To add to that, Connor's eyes shifted from the normal brown to a yellow the color of urine. Clearly, something was indeed up.

Now for the actual combat-related retaliation. Provided Connor was allowed his sudden, explosive charge, Joseph would find he was moving fast. Not nearly twice as fast as he had sprinted before, but it was a marked increase in speed. Joseph would still have plenty of room to react, but would he have the time? Foreshadowing his plan of attack, Connor's right fist was cocked back, shoulder height.

[Manifestation: Stage One - Partial Parasite Circulation: Stage One]

[Charge: Tier One]

Summary: Connor takes two force-bolts, barely dodges the last. A visible change in the left arm and eyes can be seen, as well as sudden speed boost. Connor charges Joseph, right arm raised and ready to strike while the left arm is kept close, clawed.

Four

Edits: Put in a Summary and note of the parasite's influence on his body.

Late edit: forgot to put in the stage one slight speed boost notifier.

Sol watched her fly back shifting forms as he did so, he really wasn’t excited to see what she was changing into as it really didn’t matter too much him, she was flying still, it was somewhat surprising that such a massive body could fly that far, oh well as he watched it soar he moved forward meticulously driven by determination to wipe that grin from her face… or well.. What? His face?

Sol watched as she came into final form as a duplicate of Sol himself., normally about this time in a cartoon a group of people holding guns would run in and ask who the real one was, but thankfully this was not a cartoon though the whole situation was becoming quite comical in its own right. Sol smiled, his first real smile in quite awhile, others may have been incited to rage by seeing an imitation of themselves, but pride really wasn’t one of Sols deadly sins… now greed that was definitely one, lust, oh and wrath… those were all good ones but pride was not something he really built his personality on so he simply smiled and walked forward closing the distance between the two Sol‘s.

‘Alright so you’re too ashamed of your own form to fight me in your own flesh…”

Sol shook off the blood that had built up on his left arm the blood flowing from the wound had begun to slow down his body naturally clotting the blood that had pooled in the wound. He still couldn’t use it for much and it stung to move it but he still wanted it up and ready in case he really needed it. So both hands up right had with the remaining knife in reverse grip in his right.

Yeah he was ready for her.

“I have to admit though, the thought is a bit flattering, but its about time you actually brought the thunder Blinkey.“

Sol smiled broadly at Sol 2 and waited for her, err him?, himself? Whoever… To make the first move.

"Oof~ Oww. s**t. AH CRAP NO-" Shouting, plus an assortment of sounds, crashing, rustling and the like served as announcement enough that Zandra Ryke, Vice-captain of Team AWESOME, had finally made her way to the Clocktower where two of her teammates were already dueling.

Sporting a head of of unbelievably messy and noticeably tousled ginger-red hair, the 5'7" tomboy stumbled into the arena with a multitude of curses and elicited grumbles, suggesting that the bounty hunter had just rolled out of bed...

Which wasn't terribly far from the truth.

After sort of coming to the realization she had better pull herself together, Ryke stumbled in attempt to maintain strong footing, but there were like, four other people up in this clock beating the snot out of each other after all.

Maximos Wrote:

"STOP BEING SO WINKY! YOUR HITTING LIKE A GIRL!"

What the-

Quote: "DAMNIT DIZZY YOU CANNOT DIE! YOU STILL OWE ME FOR THOSE DRINKS!"

Nearly tripping on her way over towards the Clockface, the only exit, Ryke traveled in search of the noisy spectator, and subsequently stumbled on the sounds of a scuffle taking place just outside.

Peering out, she caught the tail end of a shift it seemed, Izzy had taken on her opponent's visage and there was a dark clothed man way down below shouting into a megaphone...

Hey wait a second. Wasn't he the guy that...nahh, couldn't be.

Ryke teetered her way back over to someplace a bit more stable and just sort of looked around in dismay. Where the heck was her opponent? And who's bright idea was it to have them fight in a CLOCK? She supposed the only option she had right now was to plant her rear on a collection of non-moving gears and wait. It wasn't the most comfortable of spots, but it's not like there were any chairs in sight...

It's funny how Ryke had gone completely unaware that her opponent was there the entire time. It just played further testament to the somewhat still sleep-addled state she had arrived in but a little relaxation time had certainly sobered her up...

-WHUMP-

OHSHI-

She practically leapt to her feet when something dropped from above and landed right in front of her like a goddamned cat or something to that effect. Fortunately, she wasn't too easily startled. Sure got her attention though! Ryke rose to her feet with a fair amount of quickness to greet who she obviously guessed was the guy here to kick her a**.

The sound of metal sliding into place, clinking clicks did draw her eye to the baton in his hand, and a rusty colored eyebrow rose with piqued intrigue. However, she looked back to the man in front of her.

Snoogins Wrote:

"Hello, I'm your battle buddy for the evening. Nice to meet you."

Ryke reached around with her right hand to slide her bat out from it's holster on her belt and held it loosely while responding. "Well alright then, let's get this shi-"

-Flick-

That was the burning hot cancer stick headed right for her, and it served as a decent distraction considering she almost didn't see the baton while swatting the nasty thing away until it was a real threat. Still though, she reacted quickly by stepping back and brandishing the bat with both hands to take the full blow from the baton.

The sound of steel on steel was pretty awesome, but the thought that it could have been her damn face wasn't so pleasant. She gave a push, as to maybe force her opponent back a little and kind of grinned at him, one of those ridiculous, nonsensical grins peering over at him. "Mine's cooler."

The bat that is.

What?

[1/17]

Snoogins Wrote:

He smiled and with his left hand pulled the other baton off his belt. This one was a little smaller, about fourteen and a half inches with a black rubber handle with a guard and a shimmering metal surface. While it was not like the colapsable baton it had it's own unique surprise as well if he got close enough to use it.

"Yeah, but I got two"

What?

Sure enough, he whipped out another shiny new toy, Ryke balked, slightly surprised to see him pull another a similar looking baton to the one he had already tried to hit her with. "Hey wait a minute-"

However, before she could really finish her complaint, the man had gone and bum-rushed her again, swinging the original baton around with intent to hopefully nail her proper this time. She reacted on instinct, and that was to dodge the hell out of that thing - or at least duck.

And duck she did.

Ryke dropped under the attack and swung the bat right for his left knee, simultaneously turning herself into the swing. Unfortunately, that also meant putting herself right into the way of the other baton. Two layers of thin clothing didn't really offer her a lot of protection against the jolt, but it was better than against bare skin. She cussed loudly on contact and her form locked up, bringing her down for a brief few moments

Oh but it was a small price to pay for sweet sweet potential for inflicting some nasty damage on her opponent so early on in the game.

[2/17]

Snoogins Wrote:

"Oh fu..."

Oh good. The sound of pain!

Recovery from being zapped was brief fortunately, and Ryke laughed at her opponent's misfortune.

"Ahaha!"

She might have pointed as well if it wasn't really freaking urgent that she move before he recovered too. The minute he went down she acted and rose to her feet, making an upward swinging arc right for the downed man's jaw as she did so.

Once again Ryke wasn't in the position to stop the baton, especially not when it kissed the bat just at the end of it's travels (her opponent's chin). It was a smart move on his part but she was desperate to see the attack follow through to the end. She bit the bullet at least for a second long enough to taunt him.

"T-THAT's WHAT YA GET FOR TRYNA SHOW OFF!"

The sleeves of her bracers (that covered her hands up to just past her knuckles) were leather and not rubber but they helped lessen some of the severity of the shock. Regardless, she dropped the damn bat and staggered back. It was gonna take a while to get rid of the new and very uncomfortable tingly feeling.

Whoo.

[3/17]

Ryke had been in a rush, so much that she misjudged and charged right in without realizing the man had already been in motion by the time she was up in his personal bubble ready to strike. Still though, while she didn't manage to nail him in the intended underside of his jaw, she still earned a fairly decent body blow.

GOOD ENOUGH!

Feeling less awkward now, she took a good look at her opponent and saw the man had lost his sweet shades and was now staring her down like something out of a Science Fiction film.

Woah now.

He had that look on his face - you know the one that basically said I'm gonna mess your s**t up good now? Machine man meant business now it seemed like. Fortunately for Ryke, he had lost his stun baton, even giving it a good kick to make sure she didn't get any funny ideas about snatching it up.

Fine fine, her bat was still laying on the ground just ahead anyway. Seeing it, she made a quick dive for her dropped weapon -

-CLANG-

only for her opponent to kick it away. What a jerk!

"HEY! That wasn't very nice!" Ryke made a sudden grab for crazy eyes' bling, as in the chain dangling around his neck - before he could get too far away from her. Once and if she had a good hold on him, she cocked her fist back before thrusting it point blank at his unprotected face - or hauled off and slugged him. However you wanna look at it.

[4/17]

Sins of an Angel Wrote:

Ryke made a sudden grab for crazy eyes' bling, as in the chain dangling around his neck - before he could get too far away from her. Once and if she had a good hold on him, she cocked her fist back before thrusting it point blank at his unprotected face - or hauled off and slugged him. However you wanna look at it.

Mistake one: Grabbing the dog tags.

As soon as he felt her hand around them he went with his first reaction, grab her hand with his free left hand and put pressure on. Now with his cybernetics online this meant literally bone crushing pressure. Enough to hopefully distract her.

As he did this though he saw the fist coming towards him and tried to tilt his head to the side to avoid it but even with his new found speed a blow this close still struck him on the side of his head, even grazing along his ear. He didn't make a sound this time, just looked really really angry. Plus the studs on the damn bracers didn't help... probably leave a mark on his pretty pretty face.

Mistake two: making him angry.

As soon as he felt her fist conect with the side of his face he swung his right hand, steel baton still firmly in his grip, at her jaw again. With his enhanced speed his arm would look like a blurr and it would hurt. Not tear her jaw off hurt but serious dislocation hurt. Enchanced strength and a bit of metal could be a deadly combination.

If this strike is lucky enough to hit he hoped she would be dazed enough and attempt to shove her hard enough to send her halfway across the gear.

[Mussecel enhancements Two of Six]

[Medical Scan four of six]

{Five of Seventeen}

Surge protectors were standard parts in high end electronics. However they were meant to protect the equipment itself, not necessarily the user themselves. So while there would be no scrambling of delicate instruments, hell between that and the METAtec it may have absorbed some of the shock, but Joseph was certainly gonna feel the electricity. Combine this with the fact that speedy ******** fist protectors were standard parts in no electronics, this was likely going to suck for Joseph.

"That sucked..."

He seized up and gritted his teeth, everything going tight. This wasn't the first time he was hit by electricity, and at least he wasn't carrying live ammo this time. But it still hurt like all hell, and could feel chafing burns along the edges of his gear where electricity could jump easily. Then there was his stomach. A stiff exhale. He was stumbling. He'd go to the ground if this continued, or worse, with all the ground he was loosing he could go over the edge.

Man up Joseph. Connor was trying to do a lot at once. Shock, barrel through, grab his gut, grab the wrench. Each one it's own motion, and compartment. Joseph needed efficiency in his actions.

First. Brace up against, push back. Joseph couldn't win in festivus feat of strength, but he could delay for enough time. Two, the way Connor grabbed two things meant there was still some distance between the two, enough to manage some fancy arm work. Let him think he had the wrench. Connor would grip and grab easily as Joseph had let go with his good right hand. To contort it to the shape of a gun.

"Bam." He muttered, signal telling the machine to shoot out a blast of energy guided by the length of the wrench to hit Connor's wrist and hand. Then some good old corporate synergy. With that same arm Joseph slammed his elbow against the clawed hand as hard as he could. Which honestly considering the distance wasn't very hard. However, since Connor was taller the force was mostly meant as a pivot, Joseph's arm moving quickly to aim his finger gun up below Connor's chin, "Bam."

Now there was a difference between Bam and Pews. Bams took more battery, but in turn were more powerful. It was a much harder punch with a much greater burn. If it hit his chin square on Joseph's machinery had just pulled off the equivalent of a flaming uppercut with very little wind up. Shotgun shoyruken.

Still. He had to hope that did something. His bracing would turn to backpeddling, an the gear wasn't getting bigger.

Diagnostics_

BAT 77% [^2% V10%]_

VIT Norm_

M/O/B Light/Force/Air_

LIGHT: x2 MID

5/17_

Connor couldn't see everything, and felt more than saw his hand close around the wrench. For a moment he wanted to grab the thing tight and yank hard, but instead twisted his right hand, pushing the wrench away from his body. At the same time, he twisted his left hand into Joseph's gut and kept pace with the man, his momentum still going forward and nearly making him lose his balance.

Keep him moving, the edge isn't that far away. Too much room up here, gotta keep him close.

His plan had been to turn his next step into a teep kick; Joseph and Connor were still some fifteen feet away from the edge and, though Connor could feel the parasite's influence spreading more fully throughout his body, granting him strength, he'd never be able to kick the man over from here. But he wanted Joseph on the ground so his movement would be severely limited. With that in mind, Connor grinned, his smile spreading wider if that were possible and he shoved the wrench away with his right hand, gave Joseph a hard shove with his left hand and then...

Joseph Brown Wrote:

"Bam."

It felt like a hammer blow to his hand. Unprotected, Connor felt the full strength of the force-blast to his right hand. He gave a surprised shout that turned into the sharp clicking of teeth as...

Joseph Brown Wrote:

"Bam."

...Joseph's second force-blast forcibly smashed into his chin, slamming his jaw closed. He could almost feel his brain rattling about in his head as his mouth filled with the hot taste of copper. Along with a few teeth, he realized he must have bitten his tongue. Probably chopped the tip of it off, he thought with a grimace. In the space of a second or so, Connor's forward momentum had halted with that shotgun shoryuken, and he stepped back a few feet, trying to recover. The world spun, he stumbled and for once, he was wide open and unable to retaliate for the next few seconds.

[Manifestation: Stage One - Parasite Circulation: Stage Two]

Six.

Sins of an Angel Wrote:

"OHFFFFFFFFFFF-" She practically cussed, turning into a teeth clenched, lip pursed hiss as her opponent's grip on her hand (namely the fingers) tightened, successfully dislocating at least two fingers and likely breaking one.

Music to his ears. It was time to bring the pain.

Sins of an Angel Wrote:

"Woah now!" Immediately Ryke grabbed at the front of the man's shirt with her free and un-injured (right) arm just as she started to stumble back.

This was unexpected. She was going back, and trying to take him with her... well there was only one thing he could do, go with her then. He gripped both her forearms in his hands tightly and squeezed hard, enough to hopefully prevent her from moving them and possibly even cause some brusing, and at the same time brought up a leg and pressed his knee firmly into her stomach as the flew back and down. This of course meant that his baton clattered to the floor, temporarily forgotten.

HIs intentions where to keep her from being able to hit him with her fists and get his leg in the way to not only hopefully make it hard for her to kick him as they fell but with his knee firmly against her stomach when they hit the ground, which should be soon with his own added momentum in there, it would be ground to her back and a very very unpleasant knee into the stomach.

[Medical Scan Six of Six]

A whirring could be heard from his eyes again and a few clicks. The scanning process had finally finished, from now on he would get a full read out of vitals, x-rays and all that sort of nifty information.

[Mussecel Enhancements Four of Six]

{Seven of Seventeen}

{Edited for a minor fix}

Connor coughed, spitting out a mixture of blood, spittle and a black substance like that which had dripped from Connor's arm earlier during their match. He frowned at the little puddle on the gear face in front of him, breathing deeply and shaking his head. For just a moment, a thought crossed his mind.

Not enough, no where near enough red.

He turned his head to Joseph, just in time to catch the bright glare of the energy tether flash and the wrench launched at him. With a loud grunt he threw himself to the right in a sloppy roll, more like a toppling motion in the opposite direction of the gear's rotation. An impact along his side and the bolt of pain shooting through his ribs elicited a groan and a curse.

"Motherfu-- I'm really..."

He would get to to his feet, steady but slow in the standing up. He winced, absently putting his left hand to his ribs. They felt bruised, not broken, but Joseph was right. He was putting that wrench to good use. Connor needed to get the weapon away from the man.

Or maybe get the two of them to someplace where swinging that wrench wouldn't be an option. Connor had done enough running to Joseph, maybe it was time for Joseph to come to Connor.

"...going to hate myself for this."

All around them spun, rose and clanked the clockwork innards of the tower. Above, the gears ground together and worked the hands of the great clockface. Below, gears, gears, gears, these much larger and interspersed with smaller connecting cogs that led up and around the central gear Joseph and Connor now fought.

Connor didn't give Joseph a second chance to swing that wrench. He probably could have caught it the second time around, but he'd made up his mind. Joseph would come to him, on his terms, and on much closer grounds than before. With a strangled cry, halfway between jubilant shout and pain-filled cough, Connor took several quick steps and threw himself over the gear's edge, hands outstretched to grasp the jutting edges of a cog rotating upwards. As he grabbed a hold, his right hand slipped and he groaned as his ribs screamed at him for putting his weight on his left arm. Over the outstretched fingers of his left hand, a layer of black covered the skin and he scrabbled for a moment, his feet finally gaining purchase as the section of the gear he'd grabbed reached it's zenith. With a huff he pulled himself up and hopped over to a smaller, faster rotating gear to the side.

Connor looked down and grinned, waving at Joseph who was a good ten feet below him. Situated on a ten foot rotating gear connected to another cog ten feet in diameter, which in turn was connected to a gear spinning counterclockwise downward, Connor grinned and called down to Joseph.

" What's that they say in the business world? To get anywhere, or become anyone noticeable, first you have to climb the corporate ladder?"

Joseph was probably on the move now, but Connor had time.

"Well, outside you might be a bigshot businessman, but in here...we're both nobodies!" Connor stood up, wincing, and jerked off his jacket, letting it flutter down, back to the central gear. The undershirt he had on was short-sleeved and revealed the nasty bruise on his right bicep and shoulder and the black protrusions jutting along the length of his left arm, only now they had taken the form of flat plates like armour on his skin, extending to the left hand.

Connor grabbed the gearshaft in the middle of the cog with his left hand, spinning round and round and shouting amidst laughter. "Let's really rumble now, Mr. Brown!" Sparks of bright blue lighting crackled the length of his left arm, skittering across the metal. Connor's grin was eerily lit by the strobing display.

[Manifestation Stage One - Parasite Circulation: Stage Two]

[Charge: Tier One]

Seven.

Edit: Ahahaha...apparently I'm more eager than I thought. Post seven, not ten.

Ahaha, nice. Ryke was at least satisfied that she managed to grab her opponent and drag him along for the ride, grinning like a fool.

The only problem was, he had grabbed both her arms to keep her from trying to beat on him some more while they fell back. "Hey hey, I don't do that whole hand holding thing until after the first date!"

Quote: It would be ground to her back and a very very unpleasant knee into the stomach.

OOF

-THUD-

They fell, and rightfully so - her back hit the ground and Ryke exhaled sharply and suddenly as her opponent's knee drove itself home right into her stomach as they landed. Winded, she groaned - painfully at that considering the impact of hitting the ground so roughly and with a however many hundred or two hundred pound man on top of her to boot. She could already feel the delightful bruising and soreness that would hit her come morning. It was time to suck it up and take it like Izzy. Yes, Izzy.

"Now - waitasec - who - said - youcouldbeontop" Even in her position, she still taunted her opponent with a noticeable strain to her voice. Not that it took away from what she said.

Ryke took advantage of the fact that while his knee was trapped between them and he held fast to her arms, both of her legs were free. She used them to wrap around her opponent as much as she could and simultaneously rocked her head forward into his for another headbutt.

[7/17]

You spin me right round, baby, right round.

From his position at the center of the gear Connor didn't have the best view of Joseph's climb, so he kept a hand on the gearshaft and walked against the rotation, trying to keep an eye on the man. He stopped letting the bioelectric charge channel through the metal of the gear and stockpiled the energy.

"Well then I guess it's time for us to become somebodies!"

Connor narrowed his eyes, watching Joseph. What's he doing with his hand...

!!

The glob of fire caught Connor off-guard. For a brief moment, he considered avoiding the flame entirely, ducking down and letting it splash harmlessly against the cog. Then a twisted thought came to mind, one he imagined Izzy would have been proud of and one he knew the crowd would go wild over. The pain would be well worth it.

Along his left arm, the black plating became more uniform, flowing over his skin like something alive and fusing into matte black armour dotted with bony protrusions. Blue sparks danced across the protrusions like power nodes and Connor grinned.

What was better than a fist full of lightning? Why, a fist full of lightning...and fire.

Connor clenched his left hand, allowing the Carapace to form a thin gauntlet of biomaterial over the fist. Then he shifted his weight, punched the fireball.

His view of Joseph vanished in a bloom of fire. The ball of goop literally exploded around his fist, showering the man. His left arm was uninjured, though he could feel the heat through the Carapace as the flames burned cheerily on the biomaterial. Bits of goop hit his chest and legs, burning through the cloth there to get to his skin. "Ahhh, s**t! Hahaha!"

On second thought, maybe not the brightest idea after all. He'd managed to keep his arm from burning, but the Carapace's fusing with his skin had earned him some nasty abrasions, hidden by the armour's formation.

By the time Joseph got to Connor's platform, he looked happy...albeit a bit charred. He raised his left arm, still smoldering and sporting a few goop-fueled flames. He waved goofily at Joseph with the armoured limb.

"Thanks for the upgrade, mate."

He stepped forward and Connor's left hand, sparking and on fire would punch upwards, an attempt to uppercut Joseph, right on the kisser. This time, the discharge would be a minor shock, like from static electricity, weaker than the previous shock. If he did manage to connect, Connor'd follow up by grabbing the man's shirt with his right hand, more to prevent Joseph from toppling back over the edge than anything else.

Not quite the gut punch Joseph was expecting, and not as sudden either. Connor's left uppercut was a heavy hit, but it was slower than his other attacks.

[Manifestation: Stage Two - Parasitic Circulation: Stage Two]

[Charge: Tier One]

Eight.

Sins of an Angel Wrote:

She used them to wrap around her opponent as much as she could and simultaneously rocked her head forward into his for another headbutt.

His medical scan was done and should give him a complete read out of her vitals though before he could take not of this he seemed to have gotten a bit tangled up. Unfortunate, he should have seen this coming. At least this time when he saw her head coming for him he had reacted in kind. In other words he moved his head down to meet hers, head-butt to head-butt, though he currently had the speed and strength bonus to add into his. His own head-butt though seemed to go off kilter a bit though thanks to another unforeseen circumstance only a slight thump giving him any warning...

Schwarz Spiegel Wrote:

On his last step, his other leg swung back, then forth. The toe of his boot would be driven into the man's side with the force of Lionel's strong legs and momentum.

He let out a curse suggesting this other man had partaken in lewd acts with various farm animals. It also caused him to grip his oppoent's arms even tighter, though this time not hard enough to break bones.

With little time to think of what to do, using his enhanced speed while he still had it, he quickly moved his right hand from his opponent's arm to her throat, squeezing down hard enough to partially cut off her oxygen supply. She should be able to breath, but just so.

His left hand quickly snaked out in an attampt to grab the other man's leg or pant leg before his foot retreated from the kick in order to give him a shove and get him out of the way.

[Musecel Enhancements Five of Six]

{Eight of Seventeen}

{Edited for post counters and minor fixes.}

[color=darkgreen]Lionel watched the man shift as the weight of his blow laid in.

Afterward, his leg came back.

Lionel threw Ryke a thumbs-up before dashing off to avoid receiving a penalty.

Lionel made it safely out of the designated fighting area and while Ryke appreciated his intervention and might have given him a thumbs up, she was a little pre-occupied with beating up the guy on top of her.

Her strike with the flashlight hadn't been perfect, and didn't hit it's intended target, catching him on the top side of his head instead of right into the side of his face.

She pulled her hand back to safety.

Snoogins Wrote:

"Pucker up..."

"Wha-OHSH-" A slightly confused Ryke looked back just in time to see her opponent's fist coming straight at her (or so it appeared) and the instinctual reaction for her was to jerk away - or she might have without his hand still on her throat. Luckily, he wasn't aiming to hit her and his fist collided with a gear just beside her head. The sound it made was loud and annoying, but certainly not enough to deafen, the cog was far too dense for that.

When he started to push up, Ryke did the intelligent thing and let go, using that arm to grab at the hand on her throat instead. There would be no bouncing back into her - at least not that fast and before he could even think of headbutting her again, she hocked a concoction of spit and who knows what else at him and jammed the maglite right back into his incoming face with violent force.

If she managed to really hurt him, boy that was going to feel great.

[9/17]

[Edited slightly.]

Well crap.

The maglite scraped across her opponent's cheek and didn't award her the glorious potentiality of breaking his nose or something equally awesome. That made her sad! He sat up now, essentially shifting into a straddled position over her chest but to hell with trying to get him off. Finally, the hand removed itself from around her throat. allowing her full lung capacity of air again - but there was a fist a flying.

Ryke shifted to the left quickly to avoid getting pummeled while her left hand yanked something free from the belt. His fist kissed her cheek as it zipped past, splitting skin in it's wake. That was going to bruise something serious, cause it sure felt like it.

His right came down, and she shifted again, barely catching her just as the left punch had as she slipped away. When his left came back for a second try - catching her just beneath her eye (effectively cracking the side of her cheekbone even) Ryke shifted her body again - and took action, thrusting something sharp and pointy at the man's left armpit.

It was a somewhat awkward action, for two main reasons: The way she was holding it was effected by the injuries sustained to the fingers earlier on in the fight and the amazing amount of pain from even attempting to use the busted up digits.

And of course she couldn't really sit up too much to accommodate better for the space between them.

But hey, it was worth a shot right?

Hell yeah it was!

Quote: Machete - Pretty basic here, the blade is carbon steel, full tang, 20 inches in length with a weight of 1 pound and 3 ounces. This weapon is not so much incredibly sharp than it's damn good for hacking and can easily knock of a limb with a good few strokes.

[10/17]

Despite himself, Connor laughed at the complement, at the same time cocking his left fist back, down near his waist. It was obvious he prepared to gut punch Joseph. The flames sputtered on the black armour, if the goop didn't burn off soon the fire would get through the few-millimeter thick biomaterial. So he intended to make the most of the moment.

"Yeah well, I pride myself for thinking on my feet."

Unfortunately, Joseph had thought a few moves ahead. All of a sudden there was a terrible grating noise that caused Connor to furrow his brow, and then the gear shuddered and shifted under his feet erratically, halting as the wrench stuck the gear's rotation up tight. He was thrown off his balance. Already stumbling away from Joseph, his hand still full of the man's shirt, Connor wasn't able to resist that shoulder check.

"Wha- Ah, damn!"

He toppled over the edge of the small gear, his left hand flung out, gripping the side. What followed was much cursing, swearing and surprised shouting as Connor dangled some twenty feet about the mass of gears that ran the clocktower.

Just lovely.

He gave a groan at the pain shooting through his ribs, almost losing his breath, and grabbed at the edge with his other hand, trying to pull himself up before the gear began to spin again. He really didn't want to be hanging over the edge when the rotation brought the side he clung to around to meet its larger cousin. Thanks to the parasite's influence on his body as it ran amok through his system, he could easily pull himself up, the problem was did he have the time?

[Manifestation: Stage One - Parasite Circulation: Stage Two]

Nine.

"Hey, whoa!" The fire surprised him and he nearly lost his grip.

"Ugghh!" He pulled himself up, and not a moment too soon. The two cogs met, edges nipping at the soles of his boots. Connor let out a sigh and scrambled to his feet and surveyed the fire blocking his path.

"s**t." His blackened arm shielded his face and he adjusted his center of balance to cope with the gear's unsteady spinning, nearly falling over the edge again. For a moment he windmilled, then regained his balance.

"You think a little fire's gonna stop me Joseph?" Connor waved his left arm, presenting Joseph with the view of the burnt-looking black armour. The last of the goop was sputtering out.

"In case you forgot, I'm not gonna shy away..." Mid sentence, Connor leapt through the flames, right arm reaching for Joseph's left wrist, obviously trying to tie up the man's hands. Or at least one of them.

"...a little heat!" Like an apparition he appeared through the flames. Should he manage to grab Joseph's hand, Connor wouldn't punch the man, instead attempting a vicious kick with his left leg to Joseph's right. He wanted the man on the ground where, flaming pants or not, Connor could finally let loose. He excelled at close quarters combat and judging by the way Joseph kept trying to keep him away, the CEO didn't have many close range capabilities in his machine.

[Manifestation: Stage One - Parasite Circulation: Stage Two]

Ten.

Thankfully, Connor's boots did go up to his shin. However, the shin was not armoured. With a wince, Connor reminded himself to find a few bits of metal to sew into the shin area for his next fight.

But Joseph was down, which was the whole point of going through fire to knock him to the ground. "Hah!" Connor's left fist came down...and Joseph pulled away, yanking himself from Connor's right handed grip and skewing his left handed punch.

The armoured fist hit the gear with a resounding clang and the biomaterial covering the fist cracked. Even through the armour, Connor had to cry out in sudden surprise and pain. "Ow! Damn!" With a hiss, he followed after Joseph.

Without thinking, Connor shouted, leaping at Joseph's retreating figure, just trying to grab a hold. Unfortunately, the gear's edge was rather close and Connor didn't take into account the fact that his momentum would send the two of them flying over the edge. All he saw was Joseph, all he heard was the pumping of blood in his ears. This fight had lasted too long already. As Connor's thoughts pointed towards unadultered violence from here on, the parasite within squirmed in response to the sudden violent impulse. Along Connor's left arm, the armour came alive, plating shifting around like they could not decide an arrangement and the fingers becoming taloned. Along Connor's right arm, the biomaterial pierced through his skin, eliciting a growl from the brawler. Creeping up his neckline were fine tendrils that seemed to bite into his skin.

Was he losing control, or was he simply becoming something less than human, rather than more?

[Manifestation: Stage Two - Parasite Circulation: Stage Two]

Eleven.

Snoogins Wrote:

"WOAH NOW!"

He leaned back quickly, trying to get the blade away from his armpit and instead having it slice through his jacket and shirt, leaving a nasty cut on the front of his shoulder. Of course she was aiming for all the areas he DIDN'T have body armour.

Ryke felt the machete veer off course and slice clean through her opponent's shirt and the top most layer of skin it seemed. Hell, it was better than nothing, and she still was grinning, highly amused with her attempts to injure him.

Of course, that grin disappeared pretty ******** quick when he tried to make a grab for the striking hand, likely with intent to just hurt her some more. Like hell he was. Thanks to the awkward position he was trying to grab from, Ryke grabbed the offending hand, and drew her machete arm back suddenly with all intent to pull the bladed edge across his reaching arm. She was desperate to make him bleed, again, even just a little. It was one of those obligatory last minute acts of revenge for all that he had put her through.

"HEY! NO! Bad." She scolded him, mockingly like a bad dog who just pissed on the carpet.

[11/17]

((Obligatory final post XD))

"Shoulda..." Joseph coughed tried to get up, and then fell back to his knees, "Shoulda took Agent up on his... Offer."

He climbed back up to his feet, his head was ringing and so were his gloves. Lotta good the punching contraptions did for him. He tried to move his left arm. Sore as all hell, he winced at just moving it and he clearly didn't have a full range of motion again. He surveyed the battle scene and stumbled back and forth. Connor was lying down and... Oh ********.

He thought. And he was going to let it go. All common sense said he should have let it go, just let it go and victory would be gaurenteed. But no. That would be the clocktower winning, not Joseph.

His bones screamed as he took off into a run, and then dived straight at Connor. Grabbing under both his arms before shouting.

"Burst!"

The engines on his back came to life, and between his jumping momentum and the jets it pushed him and Connor forward. The resonating gloves likely shaking sore shoulders to the bone. Connor likely taking the brunt of the friction burns as Joseph pushed him against the ground as they slid forward.

Just then the huge pendulum swung by just behind them. It's path where Connor was once lying.

Diagnostics_

BAT 37% [^2% V14%]_

VIT Injured_

M/O/B Earth/Force/Air_

12/17_