Adaline
Maverick Hunter
Posts: 26
Power: 3
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 10
Armor: 2
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Post by Adaline on Nov 8, 2013 21:23:55 GMT -6
Ada's eyes went wide for a moment as she saw the sudden scene of brutality, but only for the quickness of it. He had it coming as soon as he cast her offer aside to leave and end this scene peacefully. But of course more was waiting and though the throwing stars was aimed at Magnus, a couple of ones he dodged came after her. One she dodged, the other she deflected with her dagger. Just from that act, she didn't need to be told to take them all down, though knowing Ignus was bringing the rest out of hiding kept her mind alert for any other targets in the distance.
As Magnus worked with two attackers, she was left with three at the moment. They sure know how to treat a girl, don't they? "Die, human." As one tried to outright stab her through the chest with their weapon, she simply pivoted to the right and stabbed him in the gut followed by a round-house kick to the back to send him behind her and toward the other two who caught him. Unfortunately, he was still functioning.
"Believe me. I wish I was 'human'." That was the only thing she said as she went after the three, ready to impale the injured one in the head, but he moved away leaving her to engage the other two. One tried to slice her with a blade, causing her to duck and then roll past the other which had some sort of fist-weapon, but she couldn't get a good look at it. Still, she heard a strong impact against the ground, so it was best she didn't get hit by that guy at all. The injured one came up with a dagger similar to hers, only longer and tried for another stab, but again, she pivoted and this time impaled him through the jaw.
'Didn't you learn the first time?' Was her thought as the reploid hit the ground lifeless. The other two became more aggressive as a barrage of attacks came at her. She didn't have much time to counter, and it was tough getting any distance between two people. Then she saw what seemed to be an opening. Taking it, she missed the one with the strong punch, but the blade caught her on the arm. She could feel the skin being cut off, but the lack of pain reminded her what was underneath yet again. Once she was away, Ada tore off the cut sleeve as well as the cut exterior to show what her arm really was. A finely-crafted cybernetic limb all the way down to the tip of the finger.
Outside that moment, the attackers didn't let up. It took a moment, but another opportunity arose. One to counter. Once the blade missed, she stabbed the rogue through the chest before jumping up and kicking off of him to send her at the last reploid which she sliced through the neck, a bunch of sparks and even a few flames coming out as he fell to the ground. Once she recovered, she looked at the two broken-- Wait... Only two?
As she looked around for the third, he came out from a shadow and slashed at her, Ada only getting back far enough to only have the attack get her side, but deep enough to draw blood. The reaction to the pain was just enough time for the reploid to follow up with a kick to the stomach, which sent her into a tree.
Hitting the ground, she looked up to see the rogue run after her, ready to finish the job. Ada, however, threw her dagger at his shoulder joint to stop his advance and to disable his weapon arm. However, as she searched for her other dagger, she couldn't find it. Was it tossed when she hit the tree? Regardless, her weapon was in the reploid and she head no other way to disable him. She wasn't strong enough to take on a reploid bare-handed.
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Magnus
Mercenary (Admin)
Posts: 73
Power: 6
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 9
Armor: 3
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Post by Magnus on Nov 9, 2013 10:15:32 GMT -6
By the time Magnus arrived, two of them were already taken down. But he realized what had just unfolded between Ada and the reploid who was slowly approaching her with a disabled arm. Not hesitating in the slightest to help her out, Magnus kicked it into gear as he dashed forth, but his trained and nimble steps were low enough that the reploid didn't detect him until the very point of contact. When he dashed past the reploid, his Phoenix Edge sliced through the reploid's thigh, severing his entire leg from his body. He took advantage of his enemy falling on the ground with his permanent loss of balance and brought his single-edged blade down to behead him, allowing a swift and merciless end. At least the moment he felt the pain, he was already dead.
For now, it seemed like the ones that were planning on attacking head-on were all dead. Being able to focus now, his Hyper Sense was kicking in as he heard more movements in their surroundings. Since Ignius was also trained to have low sounding steps, he couldn't hear his partner out. But the movements did seem fast and a little desperate. Guess the canine did find some more. It was only a matter of time until he'd lure them out in the open.
So until then, he looked over to Adaline as he walked a bit closer to check up on her, but then noticed her bleeding. "Hey, you all right?!" The wound was definitely struck at a vital point of hers. With a wound like that, he knows it'd be difficult for her to fight normally. "...Sorry. I shouldn't have allowed myself to get separated. You can leave the rest to Ignius and I now. He's found the ones hiding...and judging from the sound of the movements I'm hearing, it's only a couple of them sneaking around."
As such, he turned around and tried to track exactly where he's hearing the movement. If Ignius could reveal them both, if there are only two, in rapid succession, he could wipe them both out in a matter of seconds without giving the other a chance of escaping. He took out three more shurikens as he cuffed them between his fingers and setting the stars ablaze, still keeping his sword in his right hand ready. Now it was just a waiting game to see if he was correct.
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Adaline
Maverick Hunter
Posts: 26
Power: 3
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 10
Armor: 2
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Post by Adaline on Nov 10, 2013 23:57:44 GMT -6
"I'm fine..."
Adaline tried to get up and make it seem like a simple flesh wound, but the pain kicked in and caused her to grab the wound in an attempt to stop the hurt. It was worse than she originally anticipated. Heck, she may even get a scar from this one. But she wasn't going to just stop here... Even if Magnus said otherwise.
"No, I'm finishing this!" The young hunter took her other sleeve and ripped it off, following ripping it in half and then using them as make-shift bandages to soak the bleeding from her side. She knew it wasn't the best method of treatment, but she wanted to prove her point. "I'm not gonna let a simple cut stop me."
Looking around, Ada found her other dagger actually under her leg hidden from immediate view. She grabbed it, then looked up to Magnus once again, a fierce look of resolve in her visible blue eye. "Now, are you going to help me up? Because I'm going to go after them too whether you like it or not."
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Magnus
Mercenary (Admin)
Posts: 73
Power: 6
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 9
Armor: 3
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Post by Magnus on Nov 11, 2013 14:54:01 GMT -6
Still not hearing anything other than the steps from earlier, he remained in position. That is until he dropped his focus for a bit when Adaline demanded to keep going. He didn't know what it was or what caused the feeling to begin forming up inside himself as she raised her voice, but hearing her trying to push herself when she was hit in a critical point of her body, he knew that she was risking her life much more dangerously compared to being in top form. He's seen it too many times...fallen comrades and such losing their lives because he was too weak to help them. He dropped the arm where he held the ablazed shurikens, but soon after, he clenched his fist while they were still cuffed in between his fingers, unaware that the sharp and reinforced throwing stars were stabbing through his hand due to what he was thinking about, the blood dripping down to the ground from his knuckles.
Since his inner power also responded to his feelings, the coated flame around the shurikens grew much larger to the point where his entire fist was on fire instead. He still kept his back turned, unsure what to do. "...Stop. Just...stop it. I refuse to see someone else die again because of me! With a wound like that, the enemy will take advantage. And..." His eyes shut from thinking back on those who died protecting him, feeling the absolute disgust with himself coming back to grate on him. "If you die in the same manner as those I failed to save, then I have no idea what I'd do...it'll be history repeating itself. And I refuse to repeat the same mistakes!"
However, he finally realized his fist on fire and didn't know he got so worked up until he stopped and thought about what he said. He managed to calm himself until the flames were coated just around the shurikens alone. Having three small holes in his hand that were still bleeding didn't feel too good, but that was his fault after all.
"...Sorry." He finally tilted his head towards her as he knew all of which he said was uncalled for. It had to be pent up anger against himself over the years and just took it out on someone who had nothing to do with it. Sheathing his blade temporarily, he walked closer, much to his uneasiness due to his phobia. But times like these was where he was always left with no choice to fight against his fear...and since he was still sort of in his merciless side of his personality due to battle, his gynophobic reactions were always controlled during. As such, he displayed agreement in helping her up by holding out his hand, but looked another way to distract his mind off of the fact that he was too close, deciding to focus his attention on re-tracking the sounds of the movements.
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Adaline
Maverick Hunter
Posts: 26
Power: 3
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 10
Armor: 2
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Post by Adaline on Nov 15, 2013 19:19:20 GMT -6
Watching the flames engulf his fist, Ada nearly lost her nerve. That was insane... Did she say something? That question was answered when he started to snap at her. He lost people that he wanted to protect? And he blames himself... That's one thing she was told to never do, but even though she hadn't went through such an experience, she knew it wasn't that easy. Magnus was proof of it right now.
Still, she didn't let it get to her as she took his offered hand with her exposed cybernetic one, using him to get up and take off a bulk of the strain on her side. But she didn't let go, not just yet. Fear of women or not, she had to tell him something and she wasn't going to let him run off. "I'm not going to die, Magnus. I may be stubborn, but I know my limits." Then she let go, the light hum of her arm sounding slightly as it slowly went down.
True, she was pretty much one of the most fragile cyborgs out there. Given when it came down to vital organs? She had most, if not all, of them. Even humans could afford to lose a leg or arm, given they were rushed to an ER quick enough, but one well placed shot at the head or the torso? Dead. She was possibly the most humanistic cyborg in the Maverick Hunters, last she checked anyway. In fact, that may be the reason why she was given jobs that usually kept her out of a fight instead of getting into one.
"So, how do we know when Iggy draws one out?"
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Magnus
Mercenary (Admin)
Posts: 73
Power: 6
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 9
Armor: 3
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Post by Magnus on Nov 17, 2013 22:24:03 GMT -6
Just as she kept hold of his hand, he nearly dropped his focus as a single sweat drop fell from the side of his face...however, what Ada said actually allowed him to not focus on his phobia for a change and listened carefully to her short, yet brief words before she finally released him. It was still an unbearable thought at the possibly no matter how he looked at it, but he came to realize that there was no true need for him to end up a little jumpy at the thought and thinking negatively about her survival. If he kept thinking something bad was going to happen, then chances are it will. He just had to keep it up in faith that she won't end up like those who protected him in the past. Besides, the fight was almost at it's end. As such, he merely nodded his head as a sign that he at least understood.
But his Hyper Sense picked back up on some movement really close to them...and from the sound of it, two pairs of footsteps from two directions were quickly meeting with each other. It must have been Ignius using his exterior color swap to blend in with the darkness and trees. It was a nifty strategy to lure them all out at once. If he kept making subtle movements while still camouflaged, they'd be forced to follow his intentionally revealing movements while unknowingly walking into a trap...or in this case, making them both come together to ensure both of their deaths and that none were left. If Ignuis was taking this long to lure even one out, then that obviously meant he scouted the surrounded small area already and that the two pairs of steps were those of the last two Forsaken members in the area.
"...From what my senses are picking up, he should be bringing the last two out right about..." Soon after, two beings of the same kind as the other destroyed reploids leaped out of the bushes, but due to Ignius jumping out suddenly and deactivating his color swap, he threw them off balance as one fell to the ground and the other tried to leap towards a tree. "...Now!"
With haste, Magnus chucked the flaming shurikens at the escaping reploid as they struck his back dead-on. As he fell back down, the ninja borg sped over towards him and with one leap in the air, he unsheathed his Phoenix Edge as he brought it down like bring down the wrath of the sun as the blade sliced cleanly through the reploid as he placed all his strength into it once it connected to a weak point. Since the other roid fell over, he figured he'd leave that one to Adaline.
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Adaline
Maverick Hunter
Posts: 26
Power: 3
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 10
Armor: 2
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Post by Adaline on Jan 4, 2014 22:16:00 GMT -6
Magnus was spot on as the other two reploids were brought out of hiding thanks to Iggy. As Magnus went to pursue the escaping one, Ada had no problems with taking care of the one that was having trouble. She ran over and tackled him, pinning him to the ground even though he was trying his best to throw her off. Once she got the chance, the young Hunter pulled out her dagger and raised it, intending to end it.
... But she hesitated. In that moment she saw his eyes. Shock, fear, hopelessness, all the things she would expect to see in a victim of a crime was right here in front of her. This wasn't what she expected from people like him. Everything she was told about Mavericks and their behavior said nothing about emotions being as clear and crisp as this. But if she let this one go, what would that mean for her as a Hunter? What about the position Magnus was in?
In the couple of seconds in thought, the reploid saw a chance to escape. He tried to take it too, but Ada was able to snap out of her trance and make a choice. The dagger came down, piercing the head and shutting down the reploid. As she looked it over, something came to mind. Wasn't there something she could get out of reploids and take to HQ for analysis? If so, she was obligated to do that, right?
However, this was Magnus' business. If the Hunters were going to get involved, it wasn't going to be by her. So, she just stood back up, retracting the weapon and putting it away. Speaking of which, she didn't see her other one nearby. How far away was the matching dagger tossed? "Crap... And those don't come cheap..."
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Magnus
Mercenary (Admin)
Posts: 73
Power: 6
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 9
Armor: 3
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Post by Magnus on Jan 5, 2014 19:39:03 GMT -6
As he finished off the enemy, he stared over to Adaline as he watched the struggle before it inevitably ended in the demise of the Forsaken reploid. He...probably knew what happened there. Since these guys were under some kind of puppet control program, they're released from the hacking the moment their lives were pretty much guaranteed to end. What Ada saw was the reploid being set free the moment he was about to be killed...but he guessed that whoever's the puppeteer didn't expect her to hesitate. It was tough at first for him when he released one of the reploids from the program...but after research he did, the poor reploids would either be destroyed later on, or just get taken over again if they happen to escape. The Forsaken were too cruel...and it seemed like once you were in, there's no getting out.
Walking over to the one Adaline finished off, he needed to prove something that he found out. While Ada had shut him down, it seemed like his control chip still wasn't completely destroyed...but when he yanked the thing out, it was fried nearly to a crisp...and he knew Adaline's dagger couldn't have burned it like that. "...So the info I researched the other day turned out true." He said to himself, though still loud enough to hear. "Once they're released from the hacking program, the control chip malfunctions after release and deletes all memory data via destroying it internally after it's apparently extracted. The burnt chip proves it. I don't know what their purpose is, but to go through so many lengths means that they're serious..." "I've got one hell of an opponent to face this time...just who are The Forsaken...and what are they trying to accomplish while working in the shadows like this? That reploid sure did leave me with one crazy dying request..."
He just remained there, crouched down and staring at the destroyed chip. How to go about this now? Well, today's job was definitely over now, for these were the remnants of the group he was chasing down all the way out here. He just knew that there had to be a way of destroying this organization without getting the hunters involved. Taking the group down would be much more harder since they seem to avoid confrontation with Maverick Hunters as much as possible. It'd just push them further into the shadows and he'd have no leads on tracking them down if they cower away, or find their potential strongholds. But he broke himself out of his trance as he looked across the area of the scattered corpses everywhere. They were all innocent victims, tied to a fate worse than death...and the only way to spare those unfortunate enough to be within the grasp of The Forsaken...was to set them free WITH death.
Adaline seemed distracted by something, so he didn't say anything to her just yet. He stood to his feet now, staring back at the palm of his hand as he saw the wounds he inflicted to himself earlier when his fist caught ablaze. He had to make sure that didn't happen again...but as long as he fought The Forsaken alone, he didn't have to worry about anyone dying in the crossfire. It was...a war he was willing to fight alone, despite having no idea how to win it at this point. But they declared war against him first, so he'll give them what they wanted.
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Adaline
Maverick Hunter
Posts: 26
Power: 3
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 10
Armor: 2
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Post by Adaline on Jan 6, 2014 22:00:16 GMT -6
As Ada went to trying to find her matching dagger, she overheard Magnus' open thoughts. They were underneath a hacking program, released when, from what she could gather, they were about to be eliminated. So they were victims from the get-go? That would explain the look in the reploid's eyes before she took it out. It... actually depressed her thinking about it. However, she shook it off by focusing on the other bit of information. The control chip, the one thing she would have needed to extract herself, was fried. Like a human crunching a suicide pill just to keep from telling any sensitive information in case they were interrogated. The very notion was extreme, but it just screamed that something was going on.
Looking through a bush, her dagger was found inside of it, hanging by a twig. Well, that was a pretty zenny that she didn't need to spend to get replaced. Walking back, she gave Iggy a quick pet of appreciation before walking up to Magnus. "You know, if anyone brings up anything about this Forsaken group back in HQ, I can't promise I'll be quiet about what I found out today." Ada checked the wound on her side. It stopped bleeding, plus it didn't hurt as much as before. "But that's only if they ask."
Again, she knew it was his business. Adaline wasn't sure exactly what all Magnus got himself into, but despite her desires, her gut told her to keep involvement down to a minimum. However... "But... if you need a bit of extra help outside of Iggy, just let me know, okay?" She ended it with a small smile, almost like this whole situation was a casual thing.
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Magnus
Mercenary (Admin)
Posts: 73
Power: 6
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 9
Armor: 3
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Post by Magnus on Jan 7, 2014 18:29:52 GMT -6
As he clenched his fist to test his hand, the bleeding from the three holes weren't as severe, so it was little to worry about. But as Adaline re-approach and spoke, he turned about halfway around to hear her out. It was true that it may be hard for her to hold back, as she had seem to realize this was something pretty difficult to approach. "...Don't worry about it. Telling anyone about this won't exactly do much anyways, so feel free if you really think you must. Besides, someone has to pick up these guys scattered all over the place too...and I can't imagine what sort of tall tale you'd have to come up with to explain what happened here just for my sake." He set his sights back to one of the dead as he frowned. "The Forsaken fear the hunters for reasons unknown, so involvement from any one of you would actually shove these guys back into the shadows to prevent confrontation...and they have the luxury of doing so without fear of getting caught if the ones pulling the strings can destroy evidence effortlessly. The only way I know to drag them out the shadows is to beat them at their own game..." And as a ninja, the shadows were where he worked best.
It was a helpless situation he wasn't expecting any assistance with, but nonetheless he knew things wouldn't be easy...and with the organization having a blacklist, there are others they were targeting, so maybe along the way, he might meet up with someone just as unfortunate as he. He tilted his head towards her again before passing off a small smile before sheathing his sword. "...Still, I appreciate the sentiment. While it's still a bit...tough to rely on help from hunters, I wouldn't deny your help if I do need it." Which, he actually did need help from the jump, but outright asking for help wasn't exactly something Magnus could do easily.
Finally deciding to ponder on what action to take now, he leaned on a nearby tree trunk as Ignius sat on his bum next to the cyborg's leg. "So, what're going to do from here? That wound of yours needs to be properly treated too, so grabbing lunch like we planned is out of the question now." He took a bit of damage on the shoulder too, though compared what he'd endured before and what hell he's in store for in the future, these were just baby cuts.
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Adaline
Maverick Hunter
Posts: 26
Power: 3
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 10
Armor: 2
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Post by Adaline on Jan 7, 2014 20:29:56 GMT -6
So, no pressure if she said anything. That was a slight relief, if anything. But if it wouldn't do any real good other than keep them in the shadows, which is what they've been doing anyway, then keeping quiet was still an option. It was likely that information like this might be best brought to the head Hunters and kept strictly classified. Since Ada currently didn't have such a luxury of going straight to the top, to her it made sense to let the Forsaken think that they had a little room to breath, whether they were lax enough to do that, though, was another matter. Regardless, at least he kept her offer in consideration.
But then came the next question. Yeah, with how things were now, a simple lunch at a restaurant was out of the question for sure. Her clothes were torn, which wasn't entirely decent. She was wounded, which she needed to treat. Plus her arm... The sooner she could get her arm coated, the more comfortable she would be. All three could be addressed either to her house or at HQ.
"True..." Ada took out her phone and looked at the time. Thankfully, her dad should still be at work, so it left an open window for her to take care of anything without any questions from anyone. Plus, home was much closer than HQ at the moment. "I guess I'll just head home to take care of everything." Putting her phone away, she hesitated for a second as her gaze locked on her arm. Even after two years, it was still alien to her when she saw it. But as she looked up at Magnus, something caught her eye.
She saw a cut on his shoulder. Ada pulled back the hair covering her other eye just to make sure it wasn't some shadow playing with her sight. Sure enough, there was no change. "... You could use a patch-up, too."
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Magnus
Mercenary (Admin)
Posts: 73
Power: 6
Speed: 10
Accuracy: 9
Armor: 3
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Post by Magnus on Jan 8, 2014 19:37:55 GMT -6
"...What, this? They're just scratches. I'll be fine. I can tend to these with some first aid supplies Ignius has on him." Though the claws of the enemy did tear that section of his favorite coat, which was something he had to patch up when he got home. Thankfully he also knew how to self-repair his synthetic parts when they weren't severely damaged. It would have been so lame if he had to go back and forth to an infirmary or something just to get minor or deep cuts on his limbs.
But her plan was sound. Which was why he needed to get a move on with what he needed to do after this. "I see. I'd suggest you also call someone up to pick these guys up if you can. As for me..." He turned his head away, gazing upwards at the skies themselves. "...I need to head back to Abel City asap. I've got something to look into when I get back home, and it was about time I got back anyway. I only came to this city to hunt these guys down prior to my job." Despite the fact that he was still hungry, he had more important things to worry about than to satisfy his monster of a stomach. He also had a whole plane ride to think things over as well, and airports usually had food, so that wasn't much to worry about.
Hopefully after today, he'd have a break though. It wouldn't hurt to sit down for once instead of getting chased down. He turned back to Ada though, having one last thing in mind. "But hey. If for some odd reason you happen to find out new info on the Forsaken, then please don't hesitate to tell me. I could use anything I could get to take them down. You could send said info through either two people within the hunters I know, Sean and Emilie. They're two of the organization that I make an exception for. They don't hunt though, as they're a part of an intelligence division within Far West HQ." ...Though he never did tell them the bare specifics about the Forsaken. If Adaline were to pass information like that, both of them would question him to death. Though if she sent it as a private digital letter, he knew that he could trust the two with his personal privacy.
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