Players:
Summary: James and Lucas meet for a showdown; Connor does his best to reason with both.
Date: June 17, 2020
Log Title Assault n Battery Park
Rating: R
The Future - NYC - Battery Park
With the ruined remains of NYCs Financial District serving as a backdrop, Battery Park offers a stunning contrast to the city that nearly surrounds it. Left mostly untouched by the ongoing war, its flora and fauna have run amuck, reclaiming several of the sites New Yorkers once looked at from the multitude of windows above. Situated at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, this park still provides easy access to a network of subway tunnels, naval piers, and more. A short distance away, The Sphere continues to stand proudly, serving as a reminder of peaceand resistance. One just need know where to look to find either.
James appears in a flash of electric-blue light and ozone. Setting down right on top of The Sphere, the hyena takes a moment to adjust to the sensory feedback his Teleports cause, leaving his non-sight based senses virtually blind for a second or two. Tapping a claw on the metal surface of the sculpture, Tooth gives the area a quick survey. Sunset soon. And enough time to do what he came for—tracking the Resistance.
Lucas slowly raises his head up from the burned husk of an old station wagon. He keeps the two mutant escapees pressed down to the floorboard, looking around. When he spots James, he swallows, and opens the car door, lighting up his hands in a humming glow. "Jimmy," he says, flatly.
James snaps his head towards the sound, lips pulling back for a rather guttural sounding, "Lucas." Crouched low on the representation the representation of peace, James lets out a rather loud 'woop' sound in an attempt to frighten his ex-roommates tag-alongs, "I can smell them from here. Bad night to be involving your friends. I'm in an awful mood and I might toy with them for a bit."
Lucas furrows his brow a little, "No room for distractions tonight, Jimmy." He then spins, and tosses a giant blast of energy at the car. The steel explodes in a brilliant burst of shrapnel and fire and incinerated, hiding mutants. Breathing a little heavier, Luke leans forward some, turning his attention back to James.
James laughs, a real laugh, getting 'into character,' "Robyn was right, I 'dun fucked you up." With a headshake, the hyena continues, "At least they could have trusted me for a proper burial. You..well…hell. One moment you're rescuing them…the next you're cooking them—inside a Buick! Could have at least picked a Caddy." His muscles flex, waiting for the moment he needs to evade. Until then, he's just sitting there.
Lucas furrows his brow, slowly circling the hyena. "Robyn don't know nothin'…" He begins flexing his right hand, the energy in the nuclear reaction on that hand fluctuating strangely, and producing a humming sound. The radio on his belt squeals and then goes dead as the electromagnetic pulses fill the area around them, otherwise imperceptibly. He holds his right hand charged, ready to throw. He remains silent, his face intense, staring hard at the hyena.
It's practically a Mexican standoff; James still unmoving, Lucas standing still…the 2 mutants that the Resistance fighter fried for reasons of his own… Tooth narrows his eyes, "After last night I hope he knows enough to leave me the fuck alone. These little trips of his have ruined it for everyone. That noose around your neck starts feeling tighter? You can blame one of your own for that."
Lucas slowly comes to a stop. He gets a little smile on his face, and then he shoves energy into his free hand, blasting it at James as fast and hard as he can, his other hand still clenching and unclenching.
James leaps from the statue, not bothering to look if the mad-man-mutant struck the sculpture or not. With the park somewhat overgrown, the hyena rolls into the bushes and does his best to disappear. Staying still, he powers up his teleport, eyes slightly glowing and then…nothing. Another try…and nothing. Smirking to himself, the hyena peers above the weeds, wondering if Lucas is up to his old 'port blocking tricks. "Well…I guess we'll have to settle this the old fashioned way."
Lucas smiles a bit more, "Trouble with your bamf, dog?" He spits, widening his stance and powering up his left hand once more. "There's nothing to settle. Let's get it over with." And then he begins to run towards James, throwing ball after ball of explosive nuclear energy at the hyena.
The sound and barrage of light is enough to draw attention, and outside of the immediate battle zone there's a distortion of air and gravity before a familiar but unseen form pops into exist. On patrol against the encroaching gangs and hunter patrols, Volk walks slowly to the edge of the building, and then kneels down while taking up a pair of small binoculars. Adjusting them for the light and distance, he starts to get a bead in on the fight, and who the combatants might be.
James ears lift, front teeth displayed, "Dog?! DOG?! Well..you should know…you married one!" He'll apologize for that one later. Right now, he's trying to get Luke unreasonably pissed. Lucas aims and fires, James ducks and runs, letting out a sharp, shrill laugh. "You couldn't hit you mother with an aim like. And she's dead!"
Lucas growls a little, and just continues to toss the blasts of energy, leaving a trail of explosions and destruction in the wake of the small nuclear explosions aimed at James. As James runs, Luke shifts his aim, and blasts at the base of the giant sphere, attempting to explode it off its base and roll over on the other mutant.
After watching and seeing who's involved, there's a grunt and a sigh from Volk, and then as he ports down towards the battle, he actually ends up short by a bit. Stopping for a moment, he feels out to a point, and then pulls back, nodding once before taking a breath, and removing the HUD-eye, and turning it off, then turning off the PDA as well. Even so far as to disconnect the power-source from both and pocketing them. That done, he unshoulders the FAMAS rifle and begins to move in towards the fracas… showing uncommon stealth in his standard movement. Using the blasts as muffling for his boots, he moves from cover to cover, gaining ground in feet on the pair.
James gets flanked, his path cut off my the sudden, unexpected destruction of the monument to World Peace, "On man, Cap's gonna kick your ass." He turns, heads straight for Lucas, an easy target if there was one, "Time to make sure he gets the chance." It's suicidal at best. Deadman walking. And one that's shouting, "I'm gonna kill you all kinds'a dead!" as he sprints at his ex-friend.
Lucas watches the animal as it charges at him. His anger fades from his face, and he simply stands up straight. He lifts his chest and chin a bit, proud but relaxed, and his hands power down to just bare flesh as he closes his eyes and slowly inhales the smokey air.
The pair's seeming double-suicide is interrupted mid-stride for James… as the muzzle flash of an assault rifle followed by a stitching set of fire that penetrates James' right hip and calf, sending blood through both sides from the wounds, one of the bullets hitting into the calf of the right leg and lodging in the muscle. Standing up not thirty feet from the pair in the tableau now is Volk… and for some reason the weapon is levelled at LUCAS…
James never sees the shots coming, his world focused on making sure Lucas joins his daughter. He leg betrays him suddenly, causing him to fall forward with a surprised, pained, "Yelp." Hitting the ground with his shoulder, he rolls and disappears in a flash of blue. A split second later, he reappears…20' higher than he was. He hits the ground hard, the wind knocked out of his lungs.
Lucas opens his eyes at the sound of gunfire, and he sees James land. He glances at Volk, and sees the gun leveled his way. He just stares at Volk then, unmoving, though, his left fingers twitch a bit.
For a moment, it almost looks like Volk might actually pull the trigger. Instead… he just lowers the weapon and shakes his head. Looking up and tracking, other senses being applied, he makes to port up where James is, not a word spoken to his friend. Close by, but not precisely on the hyena's position, he takes out his pad and paper, beginning to scribble something down.
James lays still in the small crater he made some 15' away. He watches the pair with wide eyes as his lungs fight to recover from the fall—and subsequent cracked ribs. He manages a '"Fuck you both," as his healing factor begins to work on his wounds, leaving his teleport seemingly disabled for the moment.
Lucas grits his teeth, "Damnit, Ringo…" he mutters quietly, and then turns to look for James. He begins walking towards the hyena. "You already did that, Jim." His left hand fires up. "Put your paper away, Ringo. We're done talkin'." His right hand powers on. And then he begins tossing energy balls again.
The note doesn't seem to be intended for Lucas' eyes, and the former merc leaps from his spot as the first of the bolts goes flying out, landing on top of the Hyena before he can recover too much… even going so heinously far as the stab the pencil into one of the bullet wounds as Volk and James teleport a couple hundred feet away, and back behind the cover where he removed his gear in the first place. The paper is held in front of James' eyes, for him to read only, -You can't answer my questions dead. Read carefully. I am having a long talk with Robyn about you. And when I am done, I am going to hurt you where everyone can see. All your Hunter buddies. I will drive you until you bring their best after us. Then when they're dead, you'll answer my questions. Honor and Blood.-
James does the obvious thing when he feels he's being attached at close range and lets his claws do the work—mouth if close enough. Connected or not, he'll see the note and take the opportunity to give Volk a pleasant dose of Hyena spit, aiming for the face. "You can't hurt me without using your friend over there, you flake." Yeah…he called him a flake. "Robyn's the reason we're all in this mess…he's bringing the whole army down on you all. And I'm gonna sit back and laugh as you all burn." He smiles toothfully, doing his best to give Connor a rise too.
Riding the blow from the hand that strikes so the claws catch to the back of his head where the balaklava bunches and takes the hit, turning it into a hard slap, Volk's face turns to the side and the note goes fluttering off. Spittle hitting on the cheek and soaking into the balaklava, he pushes up and ports at the same moment, resolving a mere foot away and landing in a standing position. The jab might have worked two weeks ago… even two days ago. But the eyes that look back at James have a different cast to them. Instead of going into a fighting stance, he just walks back forward and holds his hand out for the hyena, turning his head to motion towards where Lucas is.
James raises an eye ridge and looks at the hand for a long moment. He offers his and, thanks in part to his healing factor and Connor, stands. He narrows his eyes at Connor and looks over towards Lucas, "He's not powering down." The second Connor looks over, James drives his claws in as hard and as deep as he can into Connor's ribcage, "Fuck you, Connor. Fuck you! Have you taken a look around you ass hat?! We're in a goddamned war. And you're in the middle of your enemy’s territory, offering me your hand? You a big of a fool as Robyn." He makes an attempt to kick the man's legs out from under him, his eyes on Lucas, "You are the ONLY one that ever got me, Luke." His eyes glow blue as he gets ready to teleport.
Lucas begins to walk towards James now that he can see him again. He begins to pulse his right hand once more, emitting the energy disrupting electromagnetic radiation pulses. He lifts his left hand, still charged. "Then maybe you shouldn't have abandoned me," and he throws a single, larger blast of explosive energy.
The EM tingle going around him is sign enough, Volk grabs the arm that's shoved into the jacket, causing his body to start and as the legs-sweep goes through, he tucks and rolls back, cushioning it, but also using his weight-momentum to pull free by forcing the arm down and pulling back, sliding the claws out before more damage can be done. Four points of blood well out of the wounds given as the man tucks back, and at the same time he kicks forwards, sending himself one direction, and James the other… just before the blast can strike both, and sending both out of view again. The concussive blast wave of the strike sends a grenade intended to disorient and distract Tooth bouncing and rolling down the building towards Lucas. A Flash-Bang.
James rolls with the toss, hitting the ground and righting himself on his feet almost immediately. He never turns his head to see what happened. He's seeking cover, and when he finds it he'll call out, "Damn, Connor…you bleed like a Stuck Pig. Taste like one too." The bravado fades quickly as he starts to power up once again and then *flash* disappears from his position. Further away, another one, then another one…until Tooth is gone.
Lucas sees the grenade, and responds by quickly blasting directly in front of himself, a giant explosion hiding him for a few moments as the grenade bursts to light, showering sparks and a loud bang across the area. At the same moment, behind the cover of the explosion, Luke leaps into the old car he set ablaze when he first found James, rolling into the flames and keeping his hands powered to maintain the car burning. To anyone else, it would look like he simply vanished in the explosion, gone like James.
Pushing and checking the wounds through the jacket, there's a grunt and a grumble from Volk as he closes his eyes and just commits a direct port back to the base…
