Dennis used gyo and widend his eyes in amazment of the wolf. he then listened over the plan and nodded.
"Hm... sounds like a good plan, I'm good with it." Dennis said as he smirked. "and it looks like I may even have a chance to take down that boss. But then again, If I do try to take him out, I may take out more than just his brain... guess I'll let this play out."
"Fine by me, I'll take Marconi out of everyone's sight as soon as I touch him" Scyre said looking at no one in particular -Of course, when we get back, he's gonna be completely under my control- he thought to himself "However, once I disappear with him, there's no way of knowing how long will it take for us to get back, but I'll try to be as fast as possible."
There's a million things that could go wrong here, and Scyre knew, but if he let Sora and Random take care of the small fry, then he might be able to do it. -Besides, I need to test my new idea- he added in his mind.
"There's one more thing I need you guys to know, as soon as I disappear, our part is over, go help the others, or get away as fast as you can, whatever you want to do. I can't give you any more details, but the less details I give you, the safer it is for me. So...do you guys agree on playing this way?"
Random was alarmed at Scyre's suggestion. He's basically messing up Random's plan with Marconi's brain if they are to leave once Scyre disappears. But Random didn't say anything.
"If this guy is planning to mess up my plan then I'm gonna mess his' first, since I'm gonna be the first to act."
"Ok guys. Here's what I will use so that the guy could enter the mansion paratrooper-style." Random then emitted a levitating flat disc of nen around the size of a cymbal.
"It's not an attack. You can stand on this disc and I can make it fly around." Random was moving the disc around in the air like a low-flying kite. "The more discs I make, the lower the maximum height they can fly up to the sky. This is why I asked only one person to ride this, so that I can ensure that that guy gets as high into the air without being detected."
"The one who's gonna ride this cannot be assured a safe landing. So the guy who will be riding this must assure me that he's going to have no problems in case he crash-lands."
Random paused.
"Dietrich, do you have the ability to know how many vehicles are currently parked in the garage? Or how many vehicles would at least be present in the area we're penetrating?"
"Cool wolf!" Sora told Lukannon with a smile. That will sure be useful.
Sora listened to Random's plan and everyone's input. "Huh... that's a surprisingly good plan! I thought Random wasn't that smart, but he seems to know his stuff. He's won some points in my book." He thought.
Sora was secretly a bit bummed by the fact that almost everyone's abilities were being directly useful to the plan in some way but his weren't. As he heard Random saying "...So the guy who will be riding this must assure me that he's going to have no problems in case he crash-lands.", he knew it was his call.
"I volunteer to be the one to ride Random's disc. I can use this..." Sora makes his Blue Board appear underneath him as he speaks "...to lessen the impact of the fall." Sora finished. "I can also try THAT out in combination with this if the Blue Board is not enough, or if I'm attacked mid-air." He thought.
"Using this is also faster than running, so even if I'm the last one to go, I'll catch up quick." Sora said "If I'm not attacked by a Nen user before, that is." He added.
'Awesome,' Thos commented as Random and Sora displayed their abilities. The combination of them was perfect for their needs. He also liked the way they and Lukannon were displaying their trust by demonstrating their abilities, unlike Scyre, who was being deliberately mysterious about his in order to protect himself. He decided to display similar trust in his comrades. Holding up his left hand, he increased the flow of his nen through it, making it glow blue-green. 'Well, since we're all being so friendly with our abilities, I should share mine. I can heal any wound, so if you get hurt, come find me. But I can't cure poisons, and I can't remove nen-curses.'
'Good, having a medic's always useful,' said Dietrich, realising that his ability was the reason Thos had volunteered to find Twisp.
'Unfortunately, I don't know how many vehicles will be there.
So, going by Random's plan, he and Ash will go in first. Then Thos and Lukannon will head in behind them. Use the confusion to get inside the house and get after Twisp. Scyre and Dennis and I will follow them; Scyre, you go after Random, Dennis, you go after the 'Rescue Twisp' group. I'll break off from you and head off to find the office. Then Sora will fly in on Random's disc from above.'
'Death from above...' muttered Thos to himself.
After that Dietrich returned to the controls of the ship, guiding it towards their destination. The others fell into relative silence, each occupied by his own thoughts. After some time Thos, who had been slouched in his seat, legs outstretched across the cabin, staring up at the ceiling, suddenly sat up with a shout.
'Hey Dietrich, do you know a guy called Clarence Braig?!'
'Sure, he's on the board of directors for Atlas,' Dietrich replied casually, glancing over his shoulder. 'Why, do you know him?'
'I knew it! Yeah, I met him a couple of days ago.' The young man addressed the whole group enthusiastically. 'I had a meeting with him - that's why I was at the Hunter HQ. He called me up out of the blue and asked to meet with him, so naturally I did a bakground check on him. I found out that he's one of the directors for Atlas, but I only remembered just now. He's also the head of an organisation called Panacea that does medical research and provides health care. At the top of the organisation are a group of Hunters with medical- and healing-based abilities, hand-hunted and hand-picked by Braig himself.'
'And Braig asked you to join?'
Thos nodded and told them of what had happened two days before.
He had arrived on that sunny day at the Panacea office, wondering what a big-wig like Braig wanted with him. Would he really want to recruit him? The Panacea building was a modest size, but big enough to hold many different labs and rooms for all their needs.
Thos walked into the entrance hall and after speaking to the receptionist, was directed up to the top floor. Walking across the hallway he passed several people, some in lab coats, one odd-looking man with thick, reflective glasses, a top know and a face mask on. Minutes later, Thos was knocking on the door of Braig's spacious office. Seconds later, he was standing before the man himself.
'Take a seat,' the pleasant-looking man said to him, gesturing to the extremely confortable chair that sat in front of his desk, which Thos sank into appreciatively.
'Thanks,' he replied politely.
'It's a pleasure to meet you, Thos.'
'You two, Mr. Braig.'
'Please, call me Clarence. Well Thos, I've heard a lot about you. I got your details from Lorenzio Tasker. He speaks highly of you. He told me of your ability.' Lorenzio was an old friend of Thos' who he hadn't seen for some time, and made a mental note to catch up with him, and to chastise him for blabbing about his Hatsu to strangers. 'We do good work here at Panacea.'
'I know,' replied Thos with a knowing smile. 'You provide health care and aid to third world countries, funded by money from rich clients.'
'Ah, so you've heard about our efforts?'
'I checked up on you when you asked to see me,' Thos said dryly.
'So you know that leading our efforts is my team of Hunters?'
'All with medical abilities, yep.' Thos' expression had returned to his usual, rather blank one. Though my no means stupid, he wasn't the most animated of people, facially.
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. An extremely good-looking woman with long, flowing auburn hair poked her head round the door.
'Hey Dad!' she said enthusiastically. 'Uwashuma just called, he says he can see you Friday! Oh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt!'
'Not at all, come in in dear,' said Braig, gesturing for his daughter to enter. She did so, and Thos tried and failed not to stare too obviously at her shapely and... ample figure as she approached. She looked to be in her mid to late twenties, and was extremely good-looking. 'This is my daughter, Penelope. Penelope, this is Thos Hrodrolf, who I told you about.'
'Oh, is this our new teammate?'
'Well, I'm hoping so,' Braig replied as Thos rose to shake his daughter's hand. Penelope stood smiling at Thos sweetly (and he blushed back) as Braig explained to him in more detail what Panacea did, what kind of work he could expect, and how much pay. At the end of ten minutes, he finally concluded. 'So there you have it. I won't ask you for your decision now - think it over, call me in a few days.'
'That's okay,' Thos replied cheerily. 'I'm sorry - it sounds like you're doing great work here, but I'm going to respectfully decline.'
'Are you sure? As a doctor, there's no better work you could do than here at Panacea,' Braig said persuasively.
'But I'm not a doctor,' said Thos as he got to his feet. 'I prefer to work out in the field. Sorry.' The two men shook hands, and Thos shook Penelope's hand once more (blushing again), and Braig told him that if ever he needed their services, they'd love to help. Back out in the street, Thos thought about his reasons for declining.
'It does sound like a good job for someone less damn selfish than me. But I'd rather do work as and when I like than be cooped up in an office all day. Besides, I'm not sure if I want to work for a guy who uses his own daughter as a honey trap.'
'What did you think of Braig?' asked Dietrich when Thos had finished his story.
'He seemed like a good guy - upstanding, honest, all that.'
'It's hard to find a person who'll say otherwise. If it weren't for Zaltzman and Chapman, he'd be the favourite to win this election.
"I understand plan, but when Ash rejoin me? How long he need to protect Ran-dum?" The name sounded strange in his head and Lukannon only hoped it didn't sound too strangely to the others.
Being in the flying thing, Lukannon thought he remembered the word blimp, or maybe it was diggable, for so long was starting to make him antsy. He needed to be outside again. He needed to be out running with pack, wind blowing in his face, the smells making his nostrils flare. He wanted, needed to get this started as soon as possible. Lukannon had only flown once before, with Noa. That memory was very foggy in his mind. Noa explained that Lukannon got something called "cabin feever," something Lukannon still did not understand. Noa said he had to use his nen ability to get settle Lukannon down.
That trapped in feeling was happening once again and Lukannon was trying to focus on the plan in order to avoid what happened last time.
-Hmmm....so that's Random's ability...then why does he want Marconi's brain?...a friend maybe?- Scyre thought looking at him, thinking things over -I can't really show them my ability...can I?
"Well, the plan is fine by me...."
"And guys, to tell you the truth, I can't show you my ability...at least, not here...you see, since it involves disappearing for a moment, when we reappear, we'll be in the exact same spot, and being on an airship, that's in the middle of the air, several thousand feet above ground, and I wouldn't like to die in such a stupid way" Scyre said with a hint of a smile -Plus, would you really trust me if you knew I'm able to turn them into my slaves or kill them right on the spot?-. There was a hint of sadness in this last thought, something that always happened when this idea came to his mind.
He felt his cell phone vibrate, so he took it out. It was an email from Maria Lurk.
No fucking way...she wouldn't
As he watches Thos leave with Deitrich and the group fall into an uncomfortable silece, he decided to ask them a simple question "So guys...since we still have some time left...why don't we play some games?"
"Not wanting to interrupt anything..." Sora quickly said, "... but I forgot to say something else that will be really useful to the plan." Sora instantly made his Ice Mirror appear on his right hand, that was pointing to his right, then he wavered it a bit to everyone present. "Seems like a simple mirror, right? "Well..." , Sora placed the mirror directly to his front, and suddenly, to whoever was looking at the mirror, it seemed as if the mirror was showing what was behind it, except Sora wasn't there.
"The mirror adapts its image to fit the environment. I can make 2 at once, one for each hand. When I'm at Random's board, if I use one of them sideways -crouching to fit under the mirror, of course- it will fully cover my front, and I can use the mirror from the other hand to either cover my below, my right or left." Sora stated. "Also, even if I were in danger of losing balance - which I'm confident I won't be - I can make the board I showed earlier - Blue Board - fix itself to the ground, or, in this case, to Random's disc. I can only use those mirrors when I'm in place, so it'll be perfect for this situation."
"With a bit of luck, I could make it a lot farther than we previously thought." He stated with some confidence. "Thoughts?" He finally added.
"Ash can go back to you after I'm done my job being the distraction for a couple of minutes," Random answered Lukannon. "I'm gonna do my best to make this quick, so that you can save Twisp as fast as you can."
Lukannon didn't seem to hear Random's answer, since he started having this 'far-away' look on his face. Longing for something familiar, perhaps?
Random sorted out some stuff in his head quickly. So far he had witnessed a couple of abilities, all of them suited for what he thought might be applicable for his blitzkrieg infiltration.
One by one, Random looked at the guys who had shown sneak peeks of their abilities. He first looked at Sora.
"I can't judge Sora's ability just yet. None of what he showed looked like offensive abilities, so an air-to-ground assault might not be feasible... although I did intend for the guy playing as paratrooper to sneak in effortlessly. I did intend that position to be given to Dietrich anyways, but..."
Then gave Thos a quick glance before the guy caught up to Dietrich.
"Good thing Thos will come in right after me. If in case I get blasted for stupid reasons, he'll be right there going for back-up. Nice... Too bad Dietrich can't confirm if there were any vehicles immediately present... It would have made my job much more easier. But well, I gotta test the Bullseye Theory* anyways..."
Then Random switched to Lukannon.
"The wolf abilities are far too sweet... He's really suited tracking Twisp down. I just hope that the Save Twisp group saves Twisp before I go 'all out'..."
Then he looked at Denis, who was being silent most of the time. Random thought that weird for some reason.
"I'm unable to bait this guy to at least show us a part of his ability. Smart... But the indications he gave earlier might suggest he's really a fighting type. I gotta monitor this guy."
Sora asked a little question after showing another facet of his ability. Random answered.
"That's more like it. It'll help you lot, more than you'll ever know, with what you're going to do." Random gave Sora a confident and warm smile.
Random then turned to Scyre.
"As for this guy... He keeps on teasing us with his ability, yet he does not show us what it's about... Is he playing a game with us or something? But hey, let me sort out what he said so far in accordance to what I just said..."
"When I asked him to 'immediately use his ability upon spotting Marconi', he complied. And he says something about a fake teleportation, or something to that effect. He's making it plain obvious he's gonna do something to Marconi other than just kill him right away. I mean, why would he have to 'fake-'port' Marconi when he could just kill him right away if he wanted to do it so bad? So... what can he do to Marconi once they get 'ported...? Well, I'll just have to see once things start..."
Random thought about himself for a couple of seconds.
"My condition's not so good. Haven't had a decent sleep since the day Dietrich summoned us. It might affect Sora's infiltration. I gotta keep my strength up..."
After answering Sora's question and hearing Scyre say something about 'a game', Random fell asleep in the middle of thinking hard, succumbing to tiredness, the cozy couch and the smooth ride.
---
ooc: *The Bullseye Theory states that you will hit the Bullseye if you shot enough arrows.
The space felt like it was getting smaller and smaller. Lukannon tried to just focus on the plan. "Understand."
He was used to being the Alpha, he was used to taking control of the group and listening to his orders. Taking a back seat to these other people combined with the feeling of the small space was becoming overwhelming. Lukannon took on a vacant look in his eyes, truly focusing on his hands and feet touching the ground once again.
Unfortunately, it wasn't working. Lukannon started to measure up these potential threats or companions, to hopefully delay this oncoming sense that the walls were enclosing around him.
The stick man talked a lot and was another emission user. The floating disc showed that. He also seemed confident in creating a distraction for the others. With Ash watching his back, it should go smoothly. He gave off a good aura; Ash would be fine. Ash would definitely be fine.
Sora's (yes! first time!) ice aura was interesting. If he ever went to the the tundra, Lukannon would have to have the Arctic packs welcome him.
The others were still a mystery to him. The one who often mentioned games seemed to have a big bark with out the bite to back it up. That or his bite was something indirect and sneaky, a good survival quality.
Lukannon was going to be paired with the man who could heal, Tos. Lukannon did not want to reveal Midnight's ability, but having both healing capabilities on one team seemed like a waste. He would have to think this over. If he were not getting so fidgety, he would talk directly to the man. That would have to wait.
Sora waved his hand dismissively at Scyre's "game". He was more concerned about Lukannon. He seems a bit disturbed, and everyone needs to be at their best conditions. He had an idea about what it was all about though... he wasn't used to this kind of situations. Anyone could easily tell that.
"Lukannon!" Sora walked over to him and patted him on the back.
"We don't really know each other that much, but... I can easily tell you're troubled." Sora was trying to be as friendly as possible. "Don't worry about things too much. To tell you the truth... I was never really too much into cities. At least, not until some years ago ." Sora said with a smile at the last sentence.
"Just know that we all trust you, and trust us too, alright?" Saying that, Sora felt he did what he could and left Lukannon's side to sit on a nearby couch. He was feeling tired, but not quite sleepy...
'So Scyre's ability is a nen-space ability,' thought Thos as he put his hands behind his head and stretched out lazily. 'Pretty obvious... don't know why he doesn't just come out and say it...'
Dietrich glanced over at Random's sleeping form. 'Not a bad idea,' he said to the others. 'If anyone wants some shut-eye, I suggest you get it now. We'll be landing in a couple of hours and once we touch down there won't be a chance to sleep until the mission is over.' He turned back to the controls and thought the plan over once more. Once the diversion began, he'd slip inside alone and race for the office under the cover of the attack. After he'd got hold of the evidence he'd go after help Lukannon's group.
He, like Lukannon, as getting antsy. He wanted to land... he wanted to get on with it... He grabbed the acceleration lever and pushed it as far forward as it would safely go.
On the flat roof of Marconi's mansion, a young man lay on his back, his hands behind his head. His legs were crossed, his eyes closed and heavy metal music was playing from from a pair of speakers beside him. He had wild, blonde hair that lay around him messily, a tight, sleeveless black shirt and equally tight black jeans. Though not asleep, he was dozing lazily, despite the music.
'Hey Lars, sleeping on the job again?' Lars opened an eye, glanced at who was addressing him, and sat up slowly.
'Oh, it's you, Fiorella,' he said, uninterestedly, looking at the pink-haired girl who had disturbed him.
'Yeah it's me,' she said, perched on the low wall that ran round the edge of the roof. 'And you're meant to be on guard duty. No falling asleep!'
'I wasn't asleep,' he said. 'Nothing gets past me,' he added, tapping his right temple. He lay back down and closed his eyes again. 'But damn, this is one boring job. Nothing's happened since we picked up that one guy.'
'Yeah, it is kinda dull...' she agreed quietly. They feel into a relaxed silence for a few minutes, broken only by the constant thump of the music.
'Hey Fi...' said Lars hesitantly. 'Wanna go away with me?'
'Huh? What do ya mean? Like, run away with you?'
'Sure,' he replied simply. A few more seconds of silence.
'I don't think that's a good idea,' Fiorella said at last. Regaining her usual chirpiness, she continued. 'The boss'll be here a in a few hours, and you knoooow my heart belongs to him!!'
'Yeah,' said Lars, shuffling awkwardly.
'Oh yeah! I knew I came up here to tell you something! Marconi wants the music turned down!'
Lars sat up and looked down at where their employer was lying by his full-length pool, glaring up at him. Lars glared back, flipped him off, and lay back down.
Marconi grumbled audibly and lay back down. He ran his fingers through his moustache irritably. The weather was great, he had his own mansion, he had an attactive woman in a bikini lying to either side of him, but he was far from content. These bodyguards were proving more trouble than they were worth. But, he had insisted that he hire them, and they were being paid for by the one who had recommended them. And they had captured the intruder, despite not being able to get a word out of him since.
Meanwhile one of his women was eyeing up the guard that stood a little way off, a tall, slender, good-looking young man with a loose-fitting top, white-blonde hair and cold eyes. He was ignoring the young lady that was trying to catch his eye.
'You,' Marconi said, addressing the guard. 'Get me another beer.' The youth turned his cold eyes upon the arms dealer.
'Go fuck yourself.'
'Hehehe, you better not cross my brother,' chuckled the other of the guards that was nearby. He was a little older than the first bodyguard, and where his brother was tall and good-looking, he was short and unattractive. His eyes held a sharp, mischievious quality. The only similarity he shared with his brother was the same shock of white hair. 'He doesn't take kindly to being told what to do,' he went on, looking not at Marconi but leering at the woman that had been looking at his brother. She caught his eye and recoiled visibly.
'You, get me a beer,' Marconi said to the girl, who got up and hurried off quickly. 'And how dare you talk to [/i]me[/i] like that?' challenged Marconi, turning on his gaurds.
'Listen,' said the younger brother slowly and arrogantly. 'Me, Scroobious here, all your other guards, we're just that: guards. We protect you from the guys who bust in and try to kill you. We capture them and torture the fuck out of them. We find out who sent them and then we fucking kill them. What we're not is your fucking butlers, right?'
'Oh, and the guy who "bust in here" - do you know who sent him yet?' retorted the older man.
'We're working on it,' the short man said, nodding and winking.
In the darkened dungeon, the beaten form of Twisp still lay slumped against the wall. Attached to the other end of the chains that were wrapped around him was a large, shaggy-haired man. He sat against the opposite wall, staring at the prisoner. He scratched a crooked nose and spoke in the same slow, calm voice that Twisp had heard saying the same thing over and over since his capture.
'Who sent you?'
Raising his head just enough to look his captor in the eye, Twisp swore under his breath. Then he spat blood at the man. It hit him in the chest and stained his maroon shirt.
'You know, you are going to die,' the captor went on. At midnight, two people are going to arrive at this mansion. One has a nen ability that will make you talk, quite painlessly. She will make you talk, and then we will kill you. The other... is far, far more terrifying... He will also make you talk, and then he will kill you. But the pain you will feel will be unlike anything you have felt yet. So, one way or another, you will talk. But I can't guarantee that it'll be because of the first method or the second, so... I suggest you talk to me, now. You tell me everything I ask, and I'll kill you, quickly and painlessly. And then you don't have to run the risk of talking 'cos of the second method, right?'
-Hmm...one "No" and two "Ignores"...well, that's as good as it gets I suppose. Too bad it's one of the kids, I hope I don't need to resort to him- Scyre thought. His mind drifted to the others. Most of them had noble hero complexes, but not him. He was selfish and only became a Hunter to satisfy his curiosity, not saving people or catching bad guys. He didn't mind working with criminals (well, except child molesters and rapists).
He laughed a little. How in the world did he became so fucked up? -Well...to be honest, your own mother beheading a hitman on your 5th birthday and having his head fall on top of your bunny birthday cake is not a good thing for a growing child.-
Scyre stood up and walked a little away from the group. he jumped doing a double backflip and landing in one hand. -Heh...it's been a while- he thought. Unlike the others, he wasn't sleepy. In fact, he wasn't going to be able to sleep even if he tried. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins and it was hard to be just sitting there.
Walking on his hands he approached his back pack. Went back to his feet and took out his portable game console. It was the newest model and he always had the newest (and some oldies but good) games, that was the good part of being rich.
Scyre turned it on and soon the sounds of an adventure game could be heard. He no longer had the serious look from minutes ago, this was the childish Scyre, who enjoyed games, chocolate and beer. -I really need to stop being so stuck up-
Scyre's in screwball mode again... Dennis thought. At this point Dennis was wide awake, Ready to get the mission going already. Thinking about it, I just got into this job on a whim. Its not like I'm somd hero going around to stop crime or all that gay s**t, unless a pretty girl was involved of course, but either way I wonder If I'll find something REALLY worth hunting here... He grabbed his shirt, which concealed his locket.
Either way, however... this will be the perfect time to test my new skills... Dennis grabbed a drink and a straw, walking over to scyre and obnoxiously blowing air into his drink, causing it to errupt bubbles very loudly. "Yo, sup? Whatcha playin?" Dennis asked. Considering he was the only person he knew better than anyone else, bugging with him for a bit would be more easy.
Random woke up to a white space with two coin-operated arcade machines in front of him. Playing enthusiastically on those machines were one person each.
Random walked up to the first machine, the one to his left side, where a long-haired guy was playing. The guy was playing a gory, yet cartoony, fighting game, where cute infants were the characters. The graphics were exceptionally bad, in Random's mind. The game was a "2D-fighting game", but it was seemingly created using crayons. "What the hell...? Is this the in thing amongst arcade-goers these days?"
"Wow, this guy sucks...", thought Random. The guy was just mashing on the buttons and he was losing badly. He couldn't make it past the first enemy. But for some reason, the guy had a lot of coins with him, and just kept continuing the game.
Random tried to look at the long-haired guy's face, but for some reason, when he tries to take a look, all he sees is what you'll see when you look at the guy from behind him. "What the...?"
Random lost interest at the guy after painfully watching him for 10 more games. Then he tried to go to the next machine.
On the next machine sat a young girl whose face was covered in tattoos. So basically, Random couldn't make out what see really looks like. But she was some hot girl, for sure.
This girl was playing what could possibly be a curmudgeonly lawyer's dating sim. The game made you go through some cases in the court, and after that you had the chance to date someone sexy woman you saw in the courtroom.
The girl who was playing the game was especially enthusiastic. She was even tapping her feet so fast you'd think she was a better drummer than Random.
"Hey! Excuse me miss, you seem to be a drummer, can I get your name or something?", yelled Random.
The girl did not respond. She was into the game so much she was sweating. For Random it was something on the erotic side. On that note, Random thought there weren't many hot girls, or girls that piqued his interest at some level, in the Hunter community. Random thought this was pretty weird.
"What the hell is goin' on in this world, man?"
Random walked away from the two arcades machines and decided he should just play the air drums. He recalled he was supposed to be on a mission - a hunt - or something. And the mission required him to be as concentrated as possible to succeed.
Random started to sit in mid-air, his butt supported by a floating nen-pad, similar to the one he showed to the members of the mission earlier on the plane.
Then Random started stomping on his feet rhythmically, starting out very slow, then gradually increasing speed.
Once his feet got into rhythm, Random summoned another nen-pad before him. This became his snare drum.
He started out his pattern. Left-right-left-left-right-right, Right-left-right-right-left-left. He mixed the pattern up as he sped his way forward.
As Random climbed higher beats per minute, he created more and more nen-pads around him, until these started resembling a drum set.
Random heard some noise though. He looked behind him.
The long-haired guy and the tattoo-covered girl were standing behind him, wielding the arcade machines like baseball bats, and mauled him face with them. This started an epic fight that had some repercussions in reality.
---
In the plane, Random acted like he was grappling with two or more people, but he was still asleep. He also muttered various oaths. His fellow Hunters were confused because of this.
On the airship, hours passed. Dietrich looked serious as he piloted the ship, Random slept fitfully, occassionally waving his arms and legs around, Lukannon fretted and the most of the others joined in with Scyre's game.
At last, they prepared to land in Brahm. As the ship descended, they woke Random and all of them prepared to disembark. The airport they arrived at was very small - there was noly one other ship there, and it only consisted of one small building, little more than a shack, which served as central control.
As they walked outside, breathing in the taste of fresh air again, they were greeted by a nervous-looking steward who led them across the tarmaced ground towards the control tower. Dietrich, who was at the front of the group, observed the man, as was his habit of doing. 'His hands and legs are shaking...' he noted. 'Wonder why that is? He could just be a booze-hound, but maybe not...' He glanced around, looking for anything suspicious.
He needn't have done so; the trap was already sprung. Three men sprang from the other airship, and three more burst from the door of the building. Hurrying into position, they had surrounded the Hunters in an instant.
'I'm sorry!' cried the steward, swivelling round to face Dietrich, tears in his eyes. 'They somehow heard of your arrival and forced me play along! They were going to kill - ' The man's cried were cut short as the sound of a gun rang out. A bullet piecred his back and went straight to his heart. He fell dead instantly. They all looked up to see a man, lean and rat-like with greasy black hair, standing atop the central control building, holding a smoking gun.
'Hehe, when we heard they were Hunters due to arrive, we couldn't pass up the opportunity,' he sniggered. 'You guys are pretty rich, huh? So, hand over your cash and we might let you go.'
'You think half a dozen thugs and a gun is a match for seven professional Hunters?' challenged Dietrich. The man replied with a cackle and tossed the gun aside.
'Haha, nah, that was just for our friend down there,' he said, nodding at the body of the man he'd just murdered. 'We know you Hunters' secret - nen!!' At this word, the ringleader and all six of his henchmen seemed to glow with some powerful energy. They had moved from Zetsu into Ren. 'And as you can see, we can use it, too! All of us are experts at it! And since we have you surrounded, you may as well hand over your cash right now!!'
The man was ecstatic, drunk on power. However, everyone in Dietrich's group could tell that the man's nen was weak, as was the nen of all of his henchmen. They glanced round at the circle of men round them. Most of them were physically-imposing, and some carried weapons, but they were no match for any experienced nen-user.
'Seven on seven...' muttered Dietrich to his comrades. 'Well, I said I wouldn't test you guys, but it'd be a shame to let a chance like this to go to waste. So, I'm changing the rules slightly; anyone who can't beat one of these mooks one-on-one can go right back home, got it?'
OOC: Read my latest post in the OOC thread before replying here.
"Hm~?" Dennis said still drinking his soda, acctually bringing it outside with him as he watched the whole scene unviel itself.
"He He He, Guess they let any ol chump off the streets be a hunter, theres a friggin kid here!" A Overly muscular man with a giant axe said mockingly. "Listen brat! Between my Emission abilities and my supieror strength, I can tell you now theres no chance of winning against me!"
"...Hm? I'm sorry was that spposed to intimidate me? sorry, normally I'm good at just going along with a situation, but its hard to follow your signs you see..." This remark by dennis succussfully agitated the mucular man.
"IS THAT SO? Then take this!" The man threw down his axe and a shockwave flew at him, which Dennis easily sidestepped. " Hey you do realize emmitters have to know how to aim right?"
"Shut up brat!" The man said swinging his axe in many diffrent directions, which Dennis both easily and mockingly dodged.
"Geez man you're gonna make me spill my drink here." The muscular man then began charging at him and pulled his axe back for a side swing. "Oops." Dennis simpy splashed the contents of his glass into the opponents eyes, causing Him to miss Dennis as he ducked and allowed for him to get in closer.
"Emmiters don't usually fight like this I take it, buuuuut....Bubble" A feint glow of nen appeared in his right hand and from it came what appeared to be a red bubble filled with nen. As it moved closer to the mans torso, Dennis pulled back his left hand, bawled it into a fist an applied Ken, striking the bubble along with the man and...
*POWH!!!* A loud popping like sound rang, before the man was sent flying back and skidding along the ground. The Giant axe made a loud thud to the ground mid way and Dennis grinned at his work. "That should have done the trick...!!" He was surpised to see the Guy still up, but he was fairly exasuted.
"Shit... So I lied about being a emmiter and was only using shockwaves... I don't know what you did, but I'll block it as enhancer, as for now though..." He then pulled out a machine gun. "DI-!?" for whatever reason, he couldn't pull back the trigger, and even stranger, was that he was instantly shot up into the air.
Since he wasn't using gyo, he didn't even realize that a blue bubble had surrounded his weapon beforehand. As he flew through the air, Dennis appeared in front of him with a fake smile on his face.
"You know pal... I really don't like it...WHEN GUNS ARE POINTED AT ME!" With a ryu charged fist, he slammed the mans face and forced him to fall downward, the man however didn't seemed bothered.
"Hah, I don't know what type you are, but you're no enhancer! someone of my type can block a punch like that!"
"True... just hope you can block whats comming next..." Dennis said as he made another small bubble underneath him and kicked it to move away. The man confused and still looking upward, failed to see that there was a much larger bubble nearly the size of him below him.
*BOOOM!* The man's body flopped through the air like a rag doll and fell into part of the control tower, completly unconsious.
"Not even a reinforcer can completly get away from that unharmed." Dennis said as he landed. "well guess I can keep my job huh?"
As Scyre watched this whole new situation he took a second to measure the strenght of this guys -uh? They just leasrned Nen....their abilities are quite undeveloped...man, this is no fun.
Since there was one for each, he took out his tanto blades and dashed towards the guy closest to him. It was a fairly handsome man and not the typical thug. Using Ken on his blade, he slashed three times (being right handed made his left hand a little slower). Not to his surprise, the thug blocked one and dodged the other two. -Ok, so this guys aren't completely useless...too bad I'll kill him now-
"SO THIS IS THE BEST A HUNTER CAN DO?" the guy yelled at Scyre...he certainly had a squeaky voice.
"You know" Scyre began putting away his blades "I already got bored, so, why don't we make thing more fun. Wanna play a game? If you win, I'll let you live a little longer" he said, with a sadistic look on his face, the kind of look that preceded murder.
He didn't really wanted to resort to "Our War Game", but it was the easiest way to show the guys what he can do...plus, he was in the mood for it, and it would be another count in case of emergency.
"YOU LETTING ME LIVE? I PLAY BY MY RULES, YOU ARE THE ONE THAT'S GONNA BE DEAD AT THE END OF THIS GAME BOY" another yell from the thug
"God, you don't need to scream...you don't have a particulary pleasent voice, you know? Anyway, I'll take that a yes" Scyre said using his speed and appearing behind the guy before he could even react. He grabbed his neck and said "So let's begin Our War Game"
The space shifted as the two left the known reality and reappearing again inside a place that looked like a white room.
"WHAT THEN HELL, WHERE ARE WE?" The thug yelled and grabbed his gun and shot Scyre...who didn't even blinked as the bullet hit him...and fell on the ground. "WHAT THE FUCK??? WHAT ARE YOU?"
"Uhm...you didn't let me explain. First of all, welcome to my domain. Let me warn you, as you just saw, trying to hurt me here won't do, as long as we stay here, we can't be harmed in any way, and the reason I brought you here is, as I told you, to play some games. The rules are simple: we play a series of games, the first of us to win 3 points, is the winner, and can put a penalty to the loser. As you are my target, you can choose the first game." he explained.
"GAMES HUH? NOW THIS IS FUN...SO IF I WIN I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT WITH YOU?"
"Again, you don't have to yell, but yeah...so choose the game already, I'm getting impatient." Scyre said moving his hands. This was his territory, he never lost to anyone but one person here, and he was going to be sure he never lost again.
"OK, I CHOOSE TIC-TAC-TOE" the thug said as a giant tic-tac-toe board appeard out of nowhere. "YOU CAN START"
-Tic-tac-toe? Seriously?-
"So polite....ok, then....Upper Left Corner" Scyre said as an X appeared on the Upper Left corner
"UPPER RIGHT CORNER!"
"Lower right corner"
"CENTER"
"Lower left Corner" -I won-
"LOWER CENTER"
"I won" Scyre said as an X appeared and a line was crossed giving Scyre his first point. "Now it's my turn...let's see...I feel like running"-
A huge track field materialized underneath their feet. They were at the start line. "So rules are simple, as soon as you hear BANG, we start, the first toget back here, wins". Only a grunt came in response. -Ok, I can live with that-
As soon as the bang was heard, the thug pushed Scyre to the ground and start running. He wasn't even 10 feet away when the track field vanished, and Scyre got his second point.
"WHAT THE.."
"Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you...cheating will grant the opponent one point and end the game...so you lose, plus, I get to choose again, fun huh?" Scyre said. "Well...let's jump through hoops to get to the other side. The first to reach there wins. By the way, the hoops will be hanging from the roof so...." Two platforms raised, one with Scyre and the thug and another one with a door a lot oh hoops were hanging by chains on a newly materialized ceiling. "Shall we start?"
This one was an easy one. Being an elite acrobat, jumping through hoops was aprt of his everyday training. He had to grant it, though, the thug was doing his best, even if he almost fell more than once. It only took less than a minute for Scyre to reach the door and be declared winner. With this, he had 3 point and won the War Game. It also made his total on consecutive wins, to 7.
"From now on, you'll be under my control" he started as the room returned to it's white state "whatever I say, it will be done, if I want an answer, you will give it to me, if I have any kind of whine or whatever, you will do it, understood?"
With those finals words, they went back to reality. The truth is, Scyre wanted to show off a bit. "Besides you, is there any more of your pathetic group?" he asked the thug as soon as the reappeared back at the landing spot.
"NO, WE ARE ALL"
"Ok...so...why don't you drop dead? Your voice disgust me" he ordered.
In front of everybody, the thug grabbed his chest and fell to the ground as his heart stopped by itself.
Scyre knew that during his absence, the guys would have his opponents killed, and only Dennis knew what he could do to people, since he had to use his ability during the Exam. -Well....here goes nothing-
As Random woke up (he was actually forced by his comrades to wake up) from that very strange dream, he somehow felt inspired to compose a song starting with those five words and some vocal melodies. He couldn't help but sing out loud and disturb the hell out of his allies. Random was so focused that he stopped being aware of the people around him, who were trying their best not to cringe openly out of being polite. He really seemed enthusiastic about the song he was creating, and it didn't seem to bother him that he was brutally killed in his dream, in a manner that would perfectly feel at home in a gory "horror" movie that involved rusty instruments of torture.
As the plane landed, a small chain of events occurred. For some reason, their arrival had been anticipated by a small group and their appearance resulted in a needless death.
Dietrich said something about 'beating some mooks'. Random saw the dead body and lost half of his enthusiasm for a split-second.
Random's good mood died.
-----
The air-drummer put his "game face" on. It was always that same expression everyone in his hometown of Saint Vesalius knew and feared.
He fixed his gaze on a pony-tailed thug who looked like he's supposed to have a job interview at a very prestigious company that sold cars.
"Hey man, I don't know what they put in your coffee, but don't glare at me like that. It's annoying. And it's rude," said the thug.
Random said nothing, but he pulled out his drumsticks.
"As the gentlemanly gentleman that I am, let me introduce myself. My name's Cash. Money P. Cash*. Here's my ability. Enjoy."
On the other hand, Random started tapping his drumsticks on each other. A breeze that was being chased by a tumbleweed dropped by and made the drummer's hair billow.
The man named Cash focused his nen on his right hand and materialized a chainsaw. It was weird that the chainsaw did not produce that obnoxiously loud machine purr as it revved up, but this fact did not elicit any reaction whatsoever from Random.
"Whatever, man. Stare all you want, 'cuz this'll be the last thing you'll see!"
Cash rushed at Random, with an agility that no one expected from a nameless thug. As he stepped into cutting distance, Cash abruptly stomped with his leading foot, pivoted on it, then made a whirling motion as he made a sweeping diagonal slash that started from the bottom upwards.
"Chainsaw Style - Fang of the Cloud Devil**!"
The chainsaw caught the tarmac and the latter burst into a cloud of dust, accompanied with a loud and sharp grinding sound. This was probably intentional, to confuse the opponent. Cash knew he had struck something and thought he had dealt the finishing blow, though there was a nagging feeling that he struck something earlier than he was supposed to... There was something else that was out of place, too...
"It's over! Hahahaha!" declared Cash.
Cash heard the faint rumbling of wood tapping down hard on meat. Fapfapfapfapfapflappityflapfap...
"Wha...?"
Cash was still in that post-slashing pose that reminded one of a samurai who was just waiting for his opponent to fall and make that lifeless thump on the ground to punctuate his victory. Meanwhile, Random was just clicking his drumsticks on each other - behind Cash.
"Ugh... when did you get there? Why can't I... move?"
Random was still wordlessly clicking away at his drumsticks.
"Don't tell me... that tapping sound... your drumsticks...?"
Random was still clicking away, scanning the horizon with a blank expression. One could hear he was humming something, if one listened carefully enough.
"Ahahaha... I see... You just waited for the Kou-powered slash... made a very subtle dodge, and then snuck in with-"
Cash violently hacked up blood, which stopped him from completing his sentence. Random, on the other hand, faced his opponent and sat on a nen-pad.
The breeze told the tumbleweed to do several ollies until they paused at the scent of blood in the air.
A sudden gust of wind finally swept away the small cloud of dust whipped by the Fang of the Cloud Devil, revealing several circular nen pads in front of Cash. Cash saw that some of the nen-pads were sliced by his chainsaw attack and were slowly dissipating. That they were still somehow holding onto their original form despite getting severely damaged was a clear sign that the one who emitted them had a very strong force of "Ten"**. This kind of Ten was the Ten of someone who was obsessed with training. Perhaps he trained daily, to the extent that this regimen spilled over to his daily life, melding it with his passion...
"I guess I was wrong about one detail or two," mused the thug.
Cash was now sweating profusely, mouth dripping with a muck that is a combination of spit, blood, his lunch, and perhaps bits of the upper and middle regions of his alimentary canal - such wonderful things to add to any omelet to be served to any smug, blissfully unsuspecting ex. Seeing this, Cash realized that that 'something else that was out of place' was the fact that his opponent's blood and guts hadn't sprayed out as soon as he felt his chainsaw find its way home.
Money P. Cash glanced at his torso and saw it peppered with bruises and craters, all of which were around the size of an adult's fist. The attack ruined the sick demon tattoo that he just got two weeks ago. A shame. The girls really dug the tatt. Tattoos aside, Cash was the subject of an extremely fast flurry involving drumsticks.
"Ack... I really shouldn't have used Kou that time," thought Cash.
Random stopped clicking his sticks together and started stomping his feet rhythmically. A foot landed heel first, then the toes, lifting that foot. The same was done on the other foot, and both feet alternated seamlessly. As opposed to his practice regimen, Random didn't waste time starting out slow and just pounded away as two nen-discs appeared right before each of his feet. Since Cash was still facing away from Random, he couldn't see what was going on, but he knew that it was over. Dozens of nen-balls struck the chainsaw wielder rapidly as his world swam towards the blackness to the sound of his body being mercilessly pummeled by projectiles over and over again.
The breeze approached Cash to caress his still face and then waltzed back to the tumbleweed to continue their merry frolicking after discerning that the thug was still breathing.
"Maybe I ought to drop the song for now. I can't find a decent melody for it," murmured Random after finishing with his double-bass drum assault.
-----
ooc: *Money P. Cash. The "P" stands for "Paper". You guys saw that coming, didn't'cha? Yes, I know, stupid name.
ooc: **Fang of the Cloud Devil: f~N,d~d/f+2. Unfamiliar with this? Playing Tekken should help.
ooc: ***See HxH Chapter 148 Page 2.
ooc: In fairness, the whole 'Fang of the Cloud Devil' series of motions is a relatively slow one. It's also kind of 'telegraphed'. Cash got quasi-blocked, didn't recover in time, and got punished hard. So no, Random wasn't moving at Killua's speed. I bet Tekken players will have an easy time visualizing this.
Lukannon exited the flying thing quickly and gratefully, Ash nonchalantly jogging at a slow pace right behind. A few quick yet deep breaths brought Lukannon back to his senses.
This pack's current alpha, Dee-Trick (he was working on saying the names more and more), noticed the servant shaking, but failed to notice their surroundings. Lukannon knew there were a few presences not too far off, but they gave off more of a prey-like feel than the predator that was him and Ash. Not wanting to miss seeing the others reveal their abilities, Lukannon quickly eyed up the man with two weapons to his sides. He thought Noa called him a cowboy, yet he was most definitely not part human, part cow.
"You threaten pack. You have to die for our safety." Lukannon had already set Ash to circle around to the left. He knew the man had not seen Ash take off as he was too busy focusing his nen on his hands and those silver weapons.
"Hunters' licenses have such a nice price on them. Getting to actually kill a hunter is just a nice lil' bonus to go along wit' that, par'ner."
Lukannon had a hard time understanding the man's speech. Each word was too long and drawn out. It didn't help that he had a strange cloth basically over his mouth. Lukannon only responded by gripping his metal fang, blade down, acting as a forearm guard.
"Draw!" The man shouted as if he intended both of them to use the worthless junk at his sides. Lukannon didn't even bother dodging. Before the stranger fired a single shot, Ash soared in from the flank, fangs bared, ripping up the back of the man's heel. The sudden pain forced the man's arms to shoot up. Lukannon then shifted speed to seemingly materialize in front of the man with a hat.
Not even uttering a single word on this worthless creature, Lukannon slashed the man's head clean off. He didn't mean to, he only wanted to deeply claw the man's neck. However, seeing guns, the very things that constantly threatened his home and family, always made him angrier. Not in a lose your mind to the frenzy, just in a cold murderous method.
Ash walked over to the meal and began eating a bit. Lukannon didn't think it had been so long without a meal for Ash. Lukannon rather liked eating cow meat, but he figured cowboy was not something he would find too appealing.
After snacking on their prey, Ash returned to Lukannon's side while Lukannon turned to see the others. To the one side the loud stick man was in the middle of a dust storm. No use trying to see through it, but he now had a better idea of the man's ability.
Not to far off, the one who kept discussing games disappeared for a short time, then reappeared suddenly with his prey. The prey dropped dead shortly after, leaving Lukannon a bit surprised as nothing actually touched the dead creature. Lukannon knew it could not be a speed thing; there was no way anyone could move fast enough to fool his and Ash's eyes.
Lukannon turned to see the others, but was only received by a loud, booming "pop!" A third prey fell. None of the others gave off an overwhelming power, but everyone seemed to be somewhat skilled with Mother's energy.
Finally Lukannon turned to see his friend, (no, to call him a friend now felt too odd) his not-enemy, SOR-A, prepare to kill his own prey.
))