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Summary: Kaji goes to an abandoned Stark facility in NY to lure Iron Man out of the Underground. The two men exchange words, and blows that result in Stark taking the Hound to a secured facility.
Date: August 6, 2020
Log Title Torn Asunder
Rating: R (LV)
New York City
Underneath the rubble that has become of Times Square, there're the basements of businesses that were once prospering. But there is one basement that this Hound is looking for, and it's one that he knows quite well. Kaji stands back as he has two sentinels dig the entrance to it out, they can see where it is. He can't. He only knows the approximate coordinates for it. Sure, he's borrowing a Hunter for this, as the little guy as a tech sensing ability. And by little, he means little. The Hunter's only about 4' compared to Kaji, who's in his anthro form.
Once the entrance has been uncovered, Kaji leaps down with the Hunter behind him; staying with the Sentinels. "Let's see if I'm still in the system." He presses his hand to the scanner, and puts in his code. And with a shuddering lurch! The elevator starts to move down. Albeit rather painfully slow for the Hound's tastes. But he'll get there.
The Underground had sparked with activity as people's hopes began to build with the slow trickle of Avengers showing up to assist them. Far off the most trafficked areas was a small room that had been used for storage but now doubled as Starks little corner of the world. Around him were the various computer bits that had been given to him by Rashmi, and a growing collection of weaponry and devices cobbled together from bits of spare parts. Most notably at the moment were the specialized arrows for Hawkeye that were leaned up against the small cot that Tony was sitting on going over details, until he came across someone accessing his system over in the run down buildings that used to be a Stark facility, the code itself only known to himself and one other. The work is set aside as Tony makes his way through the underground towards an exit to the surface. As he passes the guards his clothes blend seamlessly into the full armor, and without a pause to his gait he's in the air.
The Hound taps his claws against the ground, muttering to himself about how the time had made the elevator go so damn slow. He shakes his head, pacing back and forth in that small confined space as he lets out a few growls and mutters to himself.
The two Sentinels turn their heads towards the sky, actively scanning the area for anything that's not supposed to be there. Or something that they're looking for. One of them spots something in the air, and the Hunter looks up at the sky. 'HOSTILE TARGET AQUIRED! COMMENCING ATTACK!' That booming voice is the only warning that Iron Man gets as the two sentinels both fire twin palm lasers towards the man.
Iron Man was in no mood to toy around with the Sentinels today. Maneuvering away from the blasts he fires several softball sized plasma bolts at one of the Sentinels. The other has its communication network overhauled so that it appears to be a lifeless chunk of metal. Either way the impact of the plasma bolts would destroy the one Sentinel, and the other would take damage from being in the area as it keels over like a paper weight. The little fellow running around down below? That would take a moments thought.
Within the elevator, Kaji puts a hand to his ear as he listens to the comm squealing from the Hunter above ground. And he can only laugh and shake his head. "I figured that would draw him out of hiding." He looks up at the elevator's level indicator, and the doors open to reveal the Hound the basement as he slips out into the darkness and slips into hiding.
One of the Sentinels explodes with gusto due to the plasma bolts, the Hunter only have a second or so to get his rump out of there as he scrambles out of the way of the falling Sentinel. Then the second one tries to process all of the action going on and its brain just goes dead, and he falls down onto the ground. The Hunter looking up into the air at Iron Man as he starts to charge up lightning bolts to fire at the man.
Tony reads the information spilling across his HUD that is offered up by various scans. The man down below was a Hunter, which meant that he could react in one of two ways. The suit of armor lands about 10 feet away from the Hunter, a bolt of lightening sails past Tony as he leans back way from it. A single hand is raised with enough power to solidly knock the Hunter out cold. What to do with him later could be dealt with after other matters, particularly what drew him out of hiding. Into the rubble Iron Man walks till he reaches the elevator shaft. The doors are forced open, and he drops down the shaft in a controlled descent till his feet are atop the elevator. The lasers on board his armor cut a circle around him big enough to allow him to drop into the car. The open door button is pushed with the tip of a metal finger. As the doors part his hands seethe with a blue energy.
The comm going silent was something that the Hound was waiting for in the basement. Dressed in the black leather that all Hounds seem to love to wear, the anthro wolf drew the two blades from his back; their blue glow slightly illuminating the corner where he was hiding. The THud of Iron man on the elevator car's top. The cutting of the metal. And then the door opening. There's a moment before the wolf leaps from the shadows. One sword drawn back to slash down across Tony's face and shoulder.
Tony doesn't have much time to register the initial attack, only that he anticipated something happening when the doors opened. The glowing blade drags down across the outside edge of the helm, then down across the shoulder causing sparks to fly. It was kind of Kaji to step into range right off the bat allowing Tony to drive his repulsor powered fists right at the anthros chest. whether or not they drive Kaji back remains to be seen but when the wolf comes back around he'll notice that the armor no longer bears a slash mark from head to shoulder.
The repulsor fist to his gut does send him flying, the Hound being launched into the darkness of the lab. The only thing keeping him visible were the glowing blades and his eyes as he growls in the shadows. "Seems you've upgraded your armor. … Cute." The blue glow wavers once more as the swords are connected into one, and he rushes towards the man in armor. Bouncing from foot to foot as he keeps his path random. Once he's close enough, he goes for a slash from the right only to feign it for an attack from the left. Aiming to slam the man into the wall next to him.
There is a sigh from Iron Man that wouldn't register enough for the anthro to recognize. With the sensors keeping track of the wolfs whereabouts it was unlikely that Kaji would be able to hide anywhere. Tony deliberately takes the shot to end up thrown into the wall next to him. It could be considered an attempt to gauge what Kaji is capable of now, or it could simply be that Tony was going to allow the wolf to get cocky.
Kaji steps away from the man after he's planted him intot he wall and the sword is unhooked into two swords once more before he spins them. "You and I need to have a chat. But. That'll have to be for a different time." He grabs the swords midspin and goes to slash at Tony once more. Going for an X slash at his chest.
"Bring back memories from another time? Feeling the need for a challenge?" The voice responding is metallic in nature but clearly the tone is icy. The swords are annoying, and ineffective at best. Due to the fact that they are magically enhanced to have the durability of adamantium, Tony chooses to grab a hold of the blades causing both men to get jarred. Kaji would loose his grip as Tony rips the blades out of the wolfs hands then tosses them aside like they are nothing but rubbish. With the wolf right in front of him he drives his head downward to crack Kaji in the face. "Either stand down or I'll put you down, your choice." Even though the man before him was not the man he remembered, a part of Stark can't bring himself to take Kaji out.
Kaji grunts at his blades are caught and he lets go of them as Tony tosses them aside. "Let's just say that I mi-" His voice is cut short as Tony cracks his head against his face and causes him to stumble backwards. THe anthro growls low as he falls down to a knee and glares up at the man. He spits blood to the side and snarls as he leaps back up and goes for a forward slash down at the man's face!
Tony catches the wrist of the anthro's attacking arm, and slowly tightens the grip till its punishing enough to be this side of breaking bones. "You've betrayed everyone you ever knew. You've killed innocent people; and for what? Do you even know?" The grip on the captured wrist tightens even further as Tony fends off Kaji's free arm with his other hand then strikes a palm strike to the wolfs chest. Yeah, there is a bit of Tony there on the surface for the first time in over a year. It opens up a vulnerability that he can't afford but the man in the armored suit has to know what this thing thinks of what it has done.
Kaji lets out a yell of pain as his wrist is caught and the pressure brings it closer to breaking the bones. The anthro glares at Tony, and snarls out, "Those people were against Ahab! He's the one who's brought me into a new existence." Though his eyes are full of hate, and determination; there's a faint glimmer of the past Kaji. The one who doesn't like what he's become. He does take another slash at Tony's chest with his free arm, only to have that blocked and then slammed in the chest. Knocking out the air in his lungs, sending the wolf into a coughing fit to get air back into him.
It was just as it was with the other hounds, captured and controlled by a mad man following a destructive agenda. The weight of the situation considerably wears upon Tony. A deep breath is taken before Tony releases the punishing grip to drive his hands into the wolf in the intent to have Kaji wind up several feet away from him. "You let yourself be taken, controlled by him," Tony tells Kaji in a voice devoid of emotion. "How's it feel to be dom'd by a pathetic excuse of a man who seeks to kill everyone with an x-gene? I thought you were smarter than that. Hell, maybe you like being Ahab's errand bitch."
The only sounds that come from the darkness is more coughing as Kaji gets the air back into his lungs. Then he stands back up, those amber eyes glowing in the darkness as he lets out a laugh. "Let myself be turned? You left me and let Ahab turn me!" He spits out another mawful of blood before he lets out a laugh. "How does it feel to know that everyone of your friends is dead? Hm? That make ya feel good?" He lets out another bark of a laugh. "With Ahab releasing me from the torment that you were swirling me in. I finally feel free now that I don't have you holding me back!" Now that doesn't sound like Kaji at all.
The words spat at him strike home deep within the part of Tony that has been locked away in order to handle the war. The more the wolf spews forth the more Tony realizes that his friend is truly no longer there. "I can't even respond to most of the insanity you're spewing. I have no idea what planet you're on but here, on Earth, I never held you back. I never put you down and I certainly never used you!" He should have never come here as this was what Ahab wanted to happen. To open the gaping wound in his chest, and cause him to lose focus on things that were far more important than a lost friendship.
"You want to know how it feels to know that the majority of my friends are dead to me? You don't deserve to know a damn thing; but I'll tell you this," Tony says calmly and evenly. "I lost a man that I considered my best friend. A man that I trusted with my life, and I considered a brother. What does it feel like to lose him? You'll just have to look me in the eyes and see for yourself, hound of Ahab." The faceplate slides back over the top of his head revealing the unguarded expression for the hound. This would be the one and only time Tony would allow himself to reveal the depth of the pain he feels for the loss.
The words fall deaf on the Hound, Kaji only laughs at them. His brain and body edited to follow Ahab till the end or until he's dead. The anthro stands up, putting a hand to his head as he lets out another barking laugh. The sneer that's across his face is shot back at Tony as he slides that faceplate back. "Tell that to Ahab when I bring you to him!" He crosses the distance with a quick burst of speed, a hand drawn back to slam it into Tony's face.
Tony draws the power within the reactor in his chest and unleashes it at the wolf. The beam strikes sending the hound sailing across the room to land in a heap against an all ready fractured wall. As the wolf lay unmoving on the ground, Stark stares holes through the mass of fur before the faceplate slides back over the top of his head and locks into place. Iron Man walks over the rubble littered floor to easily heft up the unconscious wolf. Once he's hovered them up out of the basement level, Iron Man flies to the secured facility where he deposits the wolf in the holding cell.
Outside of the cell Iron Man looks over the wolf through the force field and relays the information to the human guards who are there heavily armed. "No one goes in there under any circumstances. If anyone other than myself arrives, use your judgment but do not hesitate to open fire on those that you have been informed of for they will not spare you a moments thought." With one last lingering look into the cell, Iron Man leaves what's left of Tony Stark behind. All that continues on from the secured facility is a man committed to his duty, a man who vowed to protect the people, at any cost.
