369/Target: Fight For The Factory

Target: Fight For The Factory
Date of Scene:	08 August 2014
Location:	TARGET: The Factory (TF)
Synopsis:	Gaius Van Baelsar and the Southern Demon lead a battle to try and take The Factory from the union. They run into some heavy resistance.
Cast of Characters:	38, 195, 494, 522

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Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Union and the Confederacy are both powerful factions that have been waging their war for some time, there are specific locations that are highly important to both sides and one such location has caught the Black Wolf's attention.

The confederacy calls it "The Factory" and its resources perhaps provide assistance on the technological level; even if minor it may be. Technology supremacy is something Gaius does understand fully, given in the world he is from, the Garlean Empire is the technological might and it is for this reason they have had such a extreme luck on winning the wars they age... at least until a force decided that was rather enough and eventually dropped them into the multiverse...

With eyes set on the prize, the Imperial Legatus moves his troops across the land into position, with him those of the confederacy who perhaps know the lay of the land better and those willing to aid in the conquest for the very Confederate banner. For this day, he does not wave the banner of the Garlean Empire-- but the Confederates and he will do the same honor as he does his own Emperor.

Once the time is right he then motions his hand forward, allowing his troops to move ahead and unleash their long distance weapons that fire off their bullets for the defense stations followed by that of more close range units who not only meet any basic defenses with sword and lance in hand, but also that of more ammo that scatters from the clips, as these weapons too have gun barrels.

Gaius Van Baelsar watches for a time, before he himself starts to move in. His foot steps calm and precise as he walks. He shows no fear of the battle that is starting to be waged to break past the defenses and he shows little concern as any form of attack goes by him.

His dark armor refuses to give to the light, while the gold trim glows ever so slightly. He can hear the alarms now going off. The call of assistance has been sent-- the true battle will soon begin and he holds some interest in just who will come to the aid of this facility.

Samar (494) has posed:
    It's not sinking ships, but it'll do for now.

    Assisting Gaius is a Capital Ship of the Abyssal Fleet: Leyte, the Southern Demon. Even though one would expect a ship to be best suited for naval combat, Leyte is one of the many members of the fleet who finds herself just as much at home on land as sea. Of course she's not nearly as strong as some of her sisters, but...well, maybe this will be a good opportunity to prove herself.

    The deathly pale woman stands on one of the rocky spires of the Factory, a clawed hand on her hip and her head canted to the side as she looks out at the Union defenses. This isn't what she's here for. No, the Southern Demon holds her own fire for some worthy opponent to come out and defend the area, someone she can match her skill against and help prove herself. Anyone can blast away some soldiers, after all. Only a true Capital Ship can succeed in one-on-one combat.

    If the narrowing of her one visible eye is a sign of anything, though, she might be getting impatient. The Union had better get here soon, or else she may decide to just start blowing away the defenses herself.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    Six was moving in alone, with a small force of UNSC ODSTs, loaded up into two Warthogs. The Factory's proximity alarms had been going off, and she hadn't had time to call for backup from the Union, so she called the closest free agent she could get. It would be a bit expensive, sure, but if they could retain control of the Factory it would pay for itself. Six is riding on the back of one of the Warthogs, on the gun, and as it crests the hill and they spot the attacking Garlean forces, she turns the weapon.

    The multi barreled machine gun aims downwards, and she presses the trigger, raking fire across the field of battle, trying to take down several of the troops, and aiming for the one who stands out among them with a different uniform and different armor. Some sort of leader, no doubt. A perfect target to try to take down.

Kasumi (195) has posed:
    The radio call, contract done and it isn't long until the Nekomata makes her apperance on the field. She tilts her head, holding her bow in hand, the large weapon being stuck into the ground. Kasumi's tail twitches, smiling. "Well now, operating on Union authority here. Now she didn't give me a target though, said two available..." Her eyes scan the area, looking around, ears twitching in curiosity. She eyes Six and her forces, but now where's hers?

    Arrow upon arrow flies at a few of the mooks charging at her, shaking her head as her eyes fall upon Leyte. "Well, she definately doesn't look Union." she chuckles, implanting her bow into the ground. She draws the string and loads herself up into it, "Welp, she didn't specify, so..." she twitches a bit, aiming herself at Leyte before letting go of the bow, firing herself off towards the woman with the turrets near her. Her bow follows along in a small ball of light as she moves to use herself as a living arrow!"

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
A few of the troops of the Garlean Empire note the rapid moving vehicles and a few actually go to get out of the way as the bullets start to fly in return, a few not so lucky. As for the Imperial Legatus, Gaius watched as the weapon was trained on him.

The dark armored boot swept ever so slightly behind him as he waited. Those void eyes in the full face helmet disguised if any man even was under all that armor of metal of leather-like cloth. When the bullets were fire he leaped himself straight up into the air several feet, while his sword hand reached for his Gunblade on back, his other hand generated a type of field in front of him.

The bullets battered across the field, but it was a defense not made to last forever and soon the magical constructed barrier collapsed in a shattering of like glass that faded into wisps of light. Several rounds clanked across the armor as he once more landed. A few scratching across the metal and nearly piercing the very edges deep crimson fabric, cutting a few strands loose.

Gaius Van Baelsar then flicked his feed hand as a gentle 'pop' could be heard as something moved into place. He watched the vehicle for a moment as he started to move, though it was more of a brisk jog then a full out run-- not seeming very phased by the armor at all. He aimed his gunblade at the vehicle, aiming for the tires, before he jumped back while speaking, "The machine you ride on will not protect you forever." There was a glow from the other gauntlet, a barrel of some kind as he brought in forward. Then firing from it was something akin to a bolt of blue plasma flame with mild explosive force heading right for Noble Six herself.

Samar (494) has posed:
    It's hard not to notice a nekomata flying at you at the speed of a loosed arrow. The question is whether or not Leyte can react in time.

    Her brow furrows as she hears that twang of the bow, and her red eye glances aside to follow the source of the sound just in time to see Kasumi flying right at her. She lifts her arm to block...but too late. Kasumi /slams/ into her, knocking Leyte off her perch and sending the Capital Ship skidding along the ground on her back for several feet.

    Yep. Didn't react in time.

    "...what the hell was /that/," Leyte hisses, pushing herself to her feet again before glaring at Kasumi. Her lip curls in irritation. "Tch. Well. I guess you'll do, if I have to fight someone. Come on, cat."

    Leyte's hand lifts, her clawed fingers spread open as the porthole in her palm opens up to what seems to be a burning red tunnel in her hand. No direct attack comes from her, however. Instead, about six small, bizarre planes (http://tinyurl.com/nt4ctx9) come flying from her palm, keening as they speed through the air toward Kasumi. The Abyssal Fighters immediately fly for Kasumi, and the guns mounted on them open fire, assaulting her with rapid-fire bursts of bullets. Sure, they may be small in this size, but those bullets are still likely to punch holes in any opponent.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The Warthog takes the hit, and while they're tough vehicles, this is an Elite firing at them. Six herself takes the explosive blast, and is knocked clear of the vehicle, landing with a hefty thud of a half ton of armor slamming into the ground. She is quick to get back to her feet, however, as the Warthog pulls away to the side and the ODSTs pile out, to begin to battle with the Garlean forces.

    Six turns her attention towards their commander, and grabs the weapon off of her back, the three round burst battle rifle. She angles the weapon up towards him and begins to move in, "I wouldn't hide from you or any other Confederate anyway." She says, as she advances, a slow, steady pace, so she can maintain her aim point through the weapon's scope, and put a three round burst center mass on her target.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
As the rounds come, Gaius shifts his stance as he lands and uses his gunsword in attempt to deflect the rounds. He was only slightly successful as maybe one or two of the bullets are deflected away, but another slams clear into his chest armor, staggering him back for a moment.

Gaius then crouches down as he then pushes off with his foot. His armor takes on a slight blue hue in some of the curvatures as he sprints himself right for Noble Six. He uses his sword once more to deflect a few more rounds, even though another clips the edge of his horn, scrapping off some of the metal.

The Imperial Legatus of the Garlean Empire quickly closes the gap not by just running at her, but suddenly teleporting with a flash of blue light, before appearing along side the Spartan. "I commend you on your bravery then." That sword of theirs comes down with a swift slash down, then another slash back upward with lightning speed.

Kasumi (195) has posed:
    Smashing right into Leyte, Kasumi grins, bouncing off and landing upon her feet, bow at ready again. "Ah, I love doing that, it's so FUN!" she cheers out, aiming her bow at the ship-lady again. "Name is Kasumi, not cat. I'm much better than those ordinary house pets you just compared me to!"

    Kasumi readies herself to dodge at an incoming swipe as that hand's lifted, however, what comes isn't a swipe... it's something airborne! Making a run around, she draws her bow and fires off a few arrows, peircing half the 'planes' coming at her, the others bullets manage to rip at her sides and arms, sending her wincing. "I'm going to need a new dress... again!" She hisses out and lets loose another arrow at Leyte.

    The arrow makes a large purple sphere around the remaining in air planes and attempts to encase Leyte in it as well! Kasumi hops up into the air and charges up an energy arrow, letting all the encased units, and maybe even Leyte, file up in a straight line for the arrow to skewer them and send them slamming back into the ground.

Samar (494) has posed:
    "Kasumi, fine. Well, I'm Leyte, the Southern Demon of the Abyssal Navy. And you're going to have a lot more to worry about than a new dress." The Capital Ship grins viciously, a trail of red beginning to seep from her visible eye as she watches Kasumi. Three of the planes are downed, sending them crashing to the ground with small explosions on impact, but there are still three in the air.

    At least for a few more moments. Leyte shifts to the side with a boost from the engines on her legs when that arrow is fired at her, but it seems the arrow wasn't a direct attack at all. Confusion comes over the spirit's expression as she looks at the sphere that appears around her and the remaining three planes. Still, it's just a barrier, right? Leyte smirks a little when she realizes she's not being attacked yet and lifts an arm again to point her guns at the structure. "If you think you can keep me in here-"

    Oh. There's the attack. An arrow flying through the three planes and then piercing Leyte right through the stomach. Her eye widens as the arrow skewers her moments before she suddenly finds herself on her back. That...was unexpected.

    There's no blood from the wound, strangely. It's another moment before Leyte pushes herself up again, and a clawed hand wraps around the arrow's shaft to yank it out and crush it into splinters. There's now a hole in the ship's stomach, but not a drop of blood is spilled.

    Leyte's other arm rises again, this time pointing straight at Kasumi. No time for a snarky comment: she just fires off both cannons with a loud report, launching two shells straight at Kasumi and jerking her body back slightly with the recoil.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    This guy is fast. Six is a bit surprised how quick he moves. Some kind of short range teleportation. She's not sure what, but her shields are not designed to engage in melee, so the cuts all and on her armor. She's just lucky her armor is built as tough as it is, because those blows cut large chunks right out of the plates that protect her.

    For a moment she wishes Enforcer were active, but since he's not, she'll have to do this without him. The battle rifle is pretty useless this close, so Six grabs her knife out of it's sheath, and swings it at the Garlean commander, her left hand pulling a magnum pistol out from behind her back and firing at close range on him.

Kasumi (195) has posed:
    Kasumi smirks a bit, "A pleasure, Leyte." and with a quick touch to her ear, she nods, placing her bow back upon her back and drawing a black bladed sword with what looks like demonic wings on the hilt. "I don't plan on keeping you anywhere, except away from here as my contract states." a smile as the woman walks close, tossing the sword up into the air and pulling an exact copy of it from her tail.

    She eyes the stomach and the hole, no blood? And she said Southern Demon. "Ooooh, a Demon? What Netherworld did you crawl out of! Somewhere with a lack of fashion sense it seems." Kasumi dashes forth only to skid to a stop as the loud BANG of shells firing which causes her to duck and let out a loud, shrill cry of something, maybe fear. The shells landing right nearby and exploding, sending the Nekomata spiraling away with burns and shrapnel cuts upon her exposed parts of her body and chainmail under the dress being exposed.

    She lays, splayed out on the ground and twitching a bit, slowly picking herself up. "Nnngh. How dare you fire something that loud at me!" Kasumi puts her blades to the side and dashes to get in close towards Leyte, launching herself up in the air only to come down to try and stab her with the two swords. She holds a bit before pulling one out and stabbing with the other, rapidly switching between stabbing and pulling with each blade. A few times of this, she tries to stab with both swords and bring them up in a X-like pattern and down once more before kicking off and pulling her swords up in a defensive posture.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius goes to actually meet the blow dead on with his open hand, coming to stop the wrist with the knife. the sheer force of the two meeting causes a distortion in the air and Gaius can feel the Magitek suit under stress as his own force meets the augmented force of the Spartan before him. The levels of the source of the suits power quickly draining under the strain. This armor-- this person-- he faced was no normal foe.

The armor perhaps like his own, but-- yet not. It was not Magitek he was facing, but sheer greater technology then that they have discovered from a suit. How interesting.. Could they make the modifications need to even match such?

"...Hm?" He barely catches the movements of the drawn out handgun and as such, the shots are clean and dead on. The force of the blast actually knocks Gaius back and away, though he does flip in the air before he comes down to a landing. The armor heavily clipped by the blow and some of the fabric torn. "Impressive."

The Imperial Legatus however does not seem to have plans to remain in the distance, instead he moves in once more with speed that someone should not posses normally in heavy armor. He swings his sword around in a whirlwind like blow before he steps back and then slams it into the ground, with a flash of blue, the ground suddenly starts to ignite with blue flames of explosions at different points, as the ground itself almost takes on a momentary flicker of blue during the explosions in a radius around Noble Six.

Though such tricks do not last long..

Samar (494) has posed:
    That vicious smirk returns to Leyte's expression when Kasumi reacts so poorly to the ship's gunfire. Leyte shrugs, metal shifting and rattling along her form with the gesture. "Look at me, cat. I'm nothing /but/ loud weapons. Maybe if you're that scared, you should go run and hide!"

    Ah, there's an attack. Leyte braces as Kasumi rushes toward her, but then the nekomata is leaping up into the air. Unfortunately, Leyte isn't nearly as durable as some of her sisters, and she isn't even able to react in time to the shift in position. Those blades stab into her again and again, piercing metal and "flesh" with equal effect before Leyte finds herself knocked back. This time, at least, she doesn't go flying: armored heels dig into the earth and thrusters spew red energy, ripping up a furrow as Leyte slows herself before she can be sent too far away. Still no blood shows in the ship's wounds, but they're certainly there. Kasumi even managed to cleave through a couple of guns on Leyte's upper arms.

    Any smugness quickly vanishes from the Southern Demon's expression, replaced by a snarl of annoyance. Seems like her only two settings are "pissed off" and "full of herself." "If you must know, I came from the bottom of the ocean. I only wish I could send /you/ there right now, but I'll make do with spreading your ashes over this field!"

    Again those boosters fire for a moment, launching Leyte into a leap at Kasumi. The Southern Demon shouts, drawing one arm back as her claws curl into fists. The moment she lands, that fist is sent straight at Kasumi in an attempt to break the nekomata's guard and maybe even punch right through to Kasumi herself. Whatever the result, she's quick to follow up, swinging her other fist up in an uppercut before the other follows through in a driving punch to Kasumi's core. The strength in her arms is remarkable; she may well have equal force between her physical strength and her cannons.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The ground pound maneuver is one Noble Six hasn't seen before. The ground in front of her roars upwards in flame, and she tries to get above it, but is too slow to react, instead getting hit by the blast. She should have stepped to the left or right out of the cone before it vanished. Too late for that and she takes the full brunt of it. When the fire clears, she's still standing, but her shields have flared and fallen, sending that annoying chime of warning into her helmet. Noble Six re-locks the pistol to her back, and grabs something off of her sides, one thing in each hand. The device in her right hand is a small, silver cylinder, while the left hand holds a blue ball. A button on the ball is pressed, and it bursts into bright blue flame.

    She turns and hucks the grenade in the direction of the Hyur she's battling, and should it get close enough, it'll stick right to his armor.

Kasumi (195) has posed:
    "Your voice is loud too." she retorts, Kasumi's ears perked up with a smug smile upon her face. "And it's Nekomata, get it right you overgrown rust bucket!" Kasumi readies up her guard a bit tighter, eyeing the expression changing from the Southern Demon. "Bottom of the ocean you say? So that's why you're so pale... Rusty!"

    She steels herself as Leyte leaps at her and arm smashes right into her guard, breaking through her crossed swords and slamming right into her before the uppercut sends her up into the air a ways. The last driving punch hits into her chest, Leyte able to feel chainmail under that dress of hers, and it sends her flying and skidding across the ground, tumbling rapidly until she slams right into a pillar.

    Cuts, scrapes and droplets of blood stain Kasumi's body and dark clothing, "The only thing I like about you is your choice of color for your... outfit. Black." She sheaths one of the two swords, the other sword just plain dissapearing. She curls her tail around her and pulls out an axe from the fluffy appendage, the axe head isn't an actual axe head but a paw shape. "Hmm. Why did I bring the Puppy Paw Stick here?" Kasumi shrugs and shakes her head, eyeing the Southern Demon with a smirk.

    Kasumi twirls around a bit and sends the axe FLYING in an arc, completely missing Leyte. "Hey, Leyte? I'll have to give you one thing!" Kasumi dashes forth towards the Demon, reaching back to attempt a punch to launch her into the now returning axe! "You're strong and I'm enjoying EVERY bit of this, rusty!" Assuming the punch lands, she'll send the Demon up into her axe that's spinning back towards Kasumi, hopefully making purchase and sending the demon back into the ground before Kasumi catches the axe.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius watches as the Spartan is caught by the attack, though he does step back and readies himself for the return attack that would shortly come once his opponent comes to their senses. When Noble Six activates the grenade he tilts his head ever so slightly to the side.

He has seen devices like those, something they have created, but not exactly the same. He can only take a gander what was to come when the Spartan then throws it.

He then rotates himself around to where his Gauntlet blaster to facing the grenade as it comes in. The plasma fire blasts are shot right at the Grenade itself. The impacts detonate the grenade right before him and the explosive force washes over him.

Once the air clears, Gaius Van Baelsar is standing back up from what seems like he got into a crouched position. "I do not know of whom I battle, beyond you stand behind that of the enemy of my ally." Gaius then points his gunblade toward Noble Six, "For this, 'Tis a shame we must battle as enemies, for I see greatness in you as a warrior."

"So I shall be clear to whom it is you fight." Gaius then lowers his gunblade as he goes to take a step back, also using the moment to check on the levels of the energy within his suit. "I am Imperial Legatus of the Fourteenth Legion, Gaius Van Baelsar.." As he speaks he starts to circle around, watching Noble Six closely. Taking in what he can in the moment before bullets fly once more. "Right hand to the Emperor of the Garlean Empire and Lieutenant of the Confederate military."

"Remember that well, for even when this battle is over-- I am sure our paths will cross once more." Gaius then suddenly charges yet again, before he suddenly kicks off to the side to go slightly airborne with a flip, as he comes back around he unleashes several rounds from his Gunblade right for the Noble Six.

Samar (494) has posed:
    "I'M NOT RUSTY!" Leyte snaps as Kasumi is sent flying into a pillar. She snarls quietly, curling her clawed fingers after that last punch. "Nekomata, whatever. You'll have bigger things to complain about once I'm done with you, /cat/."

    That axe definitely has a strange design, but after dealing with some of the Fleet Daughters, Leyte knows better than to spend too much time remarking on how ridiculous something looks in the heat of battle. Kasumi throws it, and Leyte braces-

    ...and...it misses. The Southern Demon blinks and looks back at the axe flying past her, then grins, turning back to Kasumi. "Missed me, fuzzball-gh?!"

    Or not.

    That smug grin is immediately wiped off Leyte's face as she's launched in the air, sending her up into the spinning axe that slams right into her back. The next thing the demon knows, she's face-down in the ground with a deep axe wound punched through her jacket and down her back. Still no blood, but boy does that look like it hurt.

    It takes a moment for Leyte to push herself up this time. Soon enough, her claws dig into the earth before she shoves herself to her knees, then rises to her feet. That scowl's right back on her face, even more spiteful than before, and her eye seems almost literally alight with a red glow. One hand lifts, bracing against her jaw before she twists her head to crack her neck and lets that hand fall again. "Stop...calling me...RUSTY."

    Again she raises her arm, angling the guns right at Kasumi. The nekomata's going to have to deal with another loud report as both cannons fire, but more dangerous is the pair of shells that are now flying at Kasumi, ready to explode like last time!

Kasumi (195) has posed:
    Kasumi grins a bit, finding a sore spot upon her. "Ooooh, that seemed to get you going." she laughs, only for her expression to be wiped off her face at the cannons bein leveled at her. "Well, this might not be good." the explosions from the cannon fire make Kasumi's ears pin down as she brings her axe up in defense, letting out a soft whimper as the shells smash right on her this time, exploding into a massive forcce that send the Nekomata flying backwards again and her axe thrown from her hands!

    Tumbling once more to a stop, the nekomata's dress is all but pristine, rips and tears everywhere, chainmail showing with holes showing off her stomach and sides. "I might have to up the pay on this contract next time... ow." she eyes the cannons and grumbles, oh how she hates those with a passion, the loud nosie, the explosion. The large paws of hers unsheath sharp claws and down on all fours she goes, running towards Leyte!

    No retort, no words, just an angry hiss from a damaged nekomata as she launches herself from her quadrupedal position, somersaulting in mid air to bring the large paws down upon the Demon, hoping claw hits face at least before launching into a high kick in hopes to send her into the air to follow along with rapid claw-augmented kicks and punches and to finish it off, grabbing onto one of the cannon barrels to twirl the Demon around and send flying to the ground!

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    Oh goodness. He's monologuing. Six is starting to prep herself for her next attack, letting him talk. Why do the bad guys always do this? Of course her next attack is put on hold as he finishes up his monologue and rushes at her with his gunblade firing.

    The shield is still down, and as a result the gunblade shots are able to blast straight into her armor. A few of them ping off plates, but a couple find their way between those plates and penetrate the bodysuit she wears underneith. Inside of her helmet, Six lets out a grunt of pain and stumbles back a step, the wounds filling with bio foam almost instantly, adding to the pain but steming the bleeding. But now he is coming right down towards her, and Six activates the weapon in her right hand. The energy sword ignites with a flash of plasma, and Six thrusts it upwards at him as he comes down towards her.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
No response is given back of a name to whom he fight, but Gaius is not surprised by this. As such things are lost on many. Once he lands down, he watches the tech-armored warrior come racing right in toward him. The Imperial Legatus goes to parry the plasma blade by his timing is short and the plasma blade rips into the armor, tearing into it and cutting in deeply.

Flickers of blue follow the strike, as some type of energy is for that moment released from it. Yet the Legion commander does not falter, though he is knocked back by the impact, he is quick to steady himself. "So be it." He simply states to her before he then allows to keep this in close combat.

As he steps in, he goes to do a hard upper cleave with his Gunblade, if he catches the Spartan, he attempts to use that momentum to send them up into the air, before leaping up and using the back heel of his boot to actually send them right back down for the ground below.

Samar (494) has posed:
    Just seeing Kasumi being blown away by her firepower is enough to put Leyte in a better mood. Her head lifts proudly, that smirk returning to her expression as she punches one metal fist into her other clawed hand. "Good job, Kasumi. You pissed me off. Now you get to see why that's a /bad/ idea!"

    She's prepared when the nekomata braces on the ground. That initial swipe of claws is met with a raised arm: Kasumi won't get a clawed ghost's face, but she does kick up a spray of sparks as those claws cleave through the guns on Leyte's arm and dig a little into her actual arm. Unfortunately, Leyte doesn't seem that good on catching up with attacks that follow.

    The Southern Demon is knocked into the air, and she suffers the flurry of attacks that follow. Claws, kicks, punches; they all strike Leyte until the Demon finds one of her larger cannons grabbed as a support before she's hurled into the ground, knocking up dust and debris with her impact.

    When the cloud of dust settles, Leyte has managed to get to her feet again. She's shakey, and a few of her cannon barrels have been twisted in bad positions, but if the glare in her burning eye is a sign of anything, she's not letting up just yet.

    "You REALLY need..." Leyte rushes up to Kasumi, reaching out a hand to try and grab the nekomata by the leg. "...to SLOW..." Up Kasumi is lifted, and at the same time Leyte crouches slightly to build momentum. ".../DOWN/!"

    At that last shout, Leyte yanks Kasumi down again, and at the same time fires the boosters on her left leg as she leaps into the air. It's all to build force for a single attack: her armored knee slamming into Kasumi's back with extreme force.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The gunblade again comes in, and strikes Six hard on the chest, carving a gash out of her chestplate as she is knocked upwards. The distance she gets as she goes up into the air is a bit surprising, but as he jumps above her, she reaches out and grabs his foot. She yanks him downwards, so she's face to face...Or rather helmet to helmet with him. The faceless visor stares back at him, and then a female voice speaks.

"They call me Noble Six."

    She shifts her weight to put him below her, and then her own position, so that when they hit the ground, five hundred pounds of SPARTAN lands on top of him elbow first.

Kasumi (195) has posed:
    Kasumi nods a bit. "Good, I get to see you at your fullest then Rusty." her eyes gleam a bright red, her sword at the ready as she lands from her attack. She looks at the twisted cannon barrels and grins, giving another scan across Leyte's body. She gives a nod and gets into a sword stance here only...

    She seems to be held up by her leg right now. "He... hey! LET GO RUST BUCKET!" she shouts, flailing about as she's lifted up into the air. "Slow down? Me? NEVER! GOTTA GO FA... wait, no I can't use that line." she deadpans and curls her tail around her. She twists herself a bit in that grip as the knee connects into the twisting body, glancing off the tail and sending a loud shrill yowl at the pain from tail being smacked! Swinging around a bit, she reaches in and feels around inside of whatever Leyte's wearing, pulling something out quickly and shoving it into her tail before kicking off the Demon and hopping back a few paces.

    "I think I'll use that for later..." she smirked, looking up towards Leyte with a mischievous grin upon her face, pointing her sword right at the Demon. "Here, let's have a bit of fun, try to escape this!" she fires a yellow beam of energy to the side of Leyte, encircling a decent sized space around her that continues to expand towards the sky, only small thin holes in the layers upon layers of rune-text can be noticed. She holds her sword to the sky and suddenly, it bursts into a glowing beam of green energy in which she takes a slice at the runic cylinder, explosions happening with each runic layer she cuts down to the floor!

Samar (494) has posed:
    A baffled expression abruptly comes over Leyte as Kasumi slips a hand into her jacket and pulls /something/ free. She doesn't have a moment to express her surprise, though, because Kasumi is immediately leaping off her and away, making Leyte stagger back a couple of steps. The Southern Demon glares once she finds her footing again, her gaze burning enough that she may well blaze a hole straight through Kasumi. Or at least she /wants/ to. "What was that about?! Keep your dirty little paws off me, cat!"

    Another snarl from Leyte as that sword is pointed at her. She knows she has to prepare for another attack, but it's hard to tell exactly what Kasumi's going to do, with the unpredictable tactics she's shown already. And this time...it's a beam of energy. Leyte shifts to the side to avoid it, but even in that moment she can tell the beam wasn't supposed to hit her. And now it's circling her. This isn't good.

    And then everything is explosions.

    A cry of pain is the only sign of Leyte as those explosions engulf her, sending up a cloud of debris that blocks her from view. It's oddly silent after those flashes and bursts fade away; was Kasumi's last attack successful? Is the Southern Demon finally defeated?

    The blazing mark of a single red flame flaring to life in the cloud of debris says "no."

    Kasumi is only given a moment's warning before the air is filled with report after report of cannon fire. Shells fly out from the cloud, knocking it away as Leyte opens fire with every remaining gun she has. The explosive munitions almost literally rain down on Kasumi, tearing into the earth with each impact, and through it all Leyte shouts loud enough to make a saiyan proud. Seems like she's just going to empty all she has on the nekomata at this rate, until finally she relents, hunching over slightly and breathing heavily, her guns steaming from the outburst and surrounding her in a new cloud of smoke.

Kasumi (195) has posed:
    Everything is explosions, especially when Kasumi's not on the reciving end of said explosions. "Oh, that? I just took something of yours that's all." she smiles innocently, "You might not need to worry about it though." as the explosions continue, Kasumi starts to walk away. Until a chill comes up her spine and fur starts to frizz everywhere. "Why do I get the feeling that something is going to hurt me very bad right now..." Kasumi lets out a light sigh and turns around only to be faced with incoming shells. "Oh sardines..."

    Explosions, more explosions and even more explosions encircle the poor nekomata, the demon-cat is curled up into a ball as each shell pounds down at the ground by her, ripping her clothes and the chainmail apart, shards of shrapnel slicing at her body and burns... oh the burns from the explosions marring her face and fur. She stays like this for a good couple minutes, was she defeated?

    The glint of something shiny comes through as the smoke starts to clear... a single artillery shell is poking out of her frizzed up and mangled tail. Kasumi slowly picks herself up and drags a bow out from under her tail...turning around slowly and steadily, limping as part of her body is coated red from the wounds that last attack gave.

    She stays wordless, pulling the artillery shell into her bow, nocking it like an arrow. "I can do that too." she yells, angling her bow up a bit before launching the shell out! She waits a bit and draws back on an ammo-less bow once more, energy slowly filling up into an arrow-like shape in it. "RETURNING FIRE, RUSTY!" she exclaims once more before she lets loose the energy arrow, the arrow splitting up into many arcing lasers all aiming for Leyte and one following the shell that's in mid air! The only thing Kasumi sees right now is ground, dropping to a knee after her attack. "Ow... my everything..."

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Noble Six speaks and gives her name to Gaius. The faceless visor looking upon the full faced helm of the Legatus. The fact that the warrior he faced was female was mildly surprising, but at the same time respected in his mind. For in the Garlean Empire culture, man and women were of equals in the battlefield. Neither was better or greater then the other in their society.

What /did/ surprise him was the fact she caught his foot and then the sheer speed was equal to his own once more-- including how quickly it turned. The much heavier armored frame slams down onto of Gaius, the armor cracks and some of it shatters under the sheer impact-- yet it somehow remains. Gaius can sense the power drain from the very materia within the armor he wears.

But he was not one to run from a battle, nor was he one to simply give up a fight when the odds were starting to shift. The wage of battle may be swinging, but like all swings-- perhaps it can be moved back onto his side.

Yet as soon as Noble Six goes to move, the Imperial Legatus quickly follows her. "Grraagh!" He rolls over to his feet and on his hand, before he shoves off to actually slam his fist right into her visor. Then as he steps around once his foot touches the ground, his Gunblade is already remounted to his back side and he then throws another punch aimed for her abdominal, before the glow of blue can be seen from his gauntlet and it goes to fire at near blank range.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    It seems that Noble Six isn't ready to go down without a fight. As she comes down on top of him, she feels his armor crack under the impact...But it is remarkably well constructed. Perhaps even more so than her MJOLNIR armor. She really needs to requisition a new set.

    The fist slams into her visor and knocks her back as she was starting to get up. The second blow comes in and strikes against the armored plate. She catches the glimpse of that blue flash when he moves to fire at her, and she rolls out of the way, managing to evade the brunt of the blast. Still in close quarters range, she decides to stick with it for the moment, as trying to move out to gun range would just put her at risk. It's not like she's untrained in hand to hand combat. She pulls her knife free again, shifting the blade in her hand, as she tries to bring it down into the top of his shoulder. This thing can penetrate Sanghelli Zealot armor, she might be able to get through his.

Samar (494) has posed:
    Leyte's panting is probably brought on more by pain and anger than exhaustion. It's hard to tell if a ship ghost even /can/ get exhausted, though she certainly looks like she should be at this point. Burned, scorched, cut, armor broken, turrets twisted, jacket torn; Leyte looks like she's taken just as much as she's dished out by now, and that's saying something.

    Now all that's left is to finish this, because otherwise she won't hear the end of it back at the Fleet.

    Leyte stares at the downed Kasumi as the nekomata remains prone, hoping that that last attack finally took her out. But then...no. She's standing up. She's /still/ standing up. A low growl rumbles up from Leyte's chest, her eye narrows into an enraged slit, her claws curl into tight, shuddering fists, and she just...screams. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST STAY DOWN?!"

    The bow is loaded, and Leyte finds one of her own shells flying down at her. Even before the lasers follow, an explosion engulfs the Southern Demon, most assuredly blasting a crater where the Demon stands. Lasers follow, blasting down again and again in a powerful rain that no doubt causes even more damage through that cloud of debris. It is, by all rights, a hail of destruction that should send any sane person to their knees.

    Leyte, unfortunately, is by no means sane.

    Metal clanks and rattles, and soon Leyte reappears, dragging herself out of the small crater she was blasted into and looking even worse than before. Hunched over, stumbling, one arm blasted off at the elbow, several large holes punched through her torso, nearly all her cannons broken or twisted in some way. It's a wonder she's even standing, but it seems the only thing pushing her now is pure rage, judging by the furious look she levels at Kasumi as she staggers toward her.

    No strength is wasted on enraged words. Leyte simply grabs Kasumi by the neck, whirls around and attempts to /hurl/ the nekomata into a nearby spire with whatever strength she has left.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Melee battle continues and Gaius is showing some signs of stamina strain as he is slightly breathing a bit more heavily then he was moments ago before the heavy impact tom his armor by Noble Six's elbow of doom.

Yet there was no time to catch one's breath or really asses the next attack, as the female warrior was coming at him yet again and with the battle afoot-- he would not stop until a victor was declared-- and that would be him... at least in his own mind's eye.

Though Noble Six has an advantage over him, weather she realizes this or not. For all of Gaius above average strength, greater speed, and ability to withstand such blows all comes from the very armor he wears over his body. Garlean engineering at its finest and its now being put to the test against another universe's own super-tech.

When she comes with the knife, the Legatus attempts to move himself, but the blade finds away in past his armor and digs into the skin. He actually bends slightly on that side with the impact. A hiss of pain could be heard with the strange reverb the helm gives his voice.

He then reaches across with his other arm and goes to /force/ her hand to lift up the blade. A slight tinge of blue can be seen through the lines of the armor as the Magitek feeds the strength being requested to do this very thing. The Garlean commander barely does it at that, but once he does get free, he then steps in quickly and actually goes to back hand her.

Before pulling out the Gunblade once more and then moving to repay the favor in king as he goes to impale the very blade of the sword in one of the joint points. Ignoring all the pain his arm is giving him and the trickle of blood that escapes and falls to the ground below him.

Kasumi (195) has posed:
    "I'm being paid... that's why." she retorts with the screamed question. "I'm a sellsword. Should have just bought my services!" she groans out and tries to stand up, "Remind me to treat you to a drink, Rusty..." she comments before hurking at being grabbed at the neck and sent flying, smashing into the spire with a loud thud, a gasp and... slumping over. She pants heavily, still breathing as she lifts up her hand...

    She coughs hard, the Nekomata's eyes are glossy, fur is in shambles, body is wrecked and the only thing on her now is chainmail and even thats wrecked. She pins her ears back, a brief smile upon her face. "I'm... still... up."

    She claws her way up to standing, wavering and wobbling as she does so, her hand still pointed at Leyte, an aura of energy surrounding the hand. "Leave." she comments, "That's an order." and with a thrust of her hand, an impossibly large laser beam shoots out, white in light as she tries to aim it to hit Leyte with it, hoping to sear her and blast her away from her!

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The blade strikes true on Noble Six, and pierces her armor with quite a force, as she feels pain surging through her. The suit is about to run out of bio foam to fill all of her wounds with. This is going to end badly for her if she doesn't find a way to put her target down quickly. She pulls away from Gaius, and stumbles a bit, before falling to the ground. However, she notices something to her right.

    She reaches over and grabs the silver cylinder, igniting the energy blade again, and turning around, rolling back up to her feet and slashing at Gaius with it. She moves in again, delivering several slashes with the blade, before trying to finish him off by ramming the blade at a downward angle towards his chest. If this can't take out his armor, she might not be able to.

Samar (494) has posed:
    Leyte visibly twitches and shivers with barely-repressed fury when she sees Kasumi /still/ enduring everything she throws at her. Or maybe she's simply too worn out to express that fury properly. Either way, she still has enough strength to drag herself toward Kasumi again, though it's going to take her a moment. That spire wasn't terribly far away, but Leyte has been slowed to a stumble. More than enough time for Kasumi to push herself up again.

    The snarling Southern Demon comes dangerously close once the nekomata raises her hand, though. If Kasumi doesn't act soon... "I'm not...taking /orders/...FROM-"

    Whatever Leyte was about to call Kasumi is abruptly blotted out by a wave of energy engulfing her.

    When it at last fades, Leyte stumbles back, her body steaming from the impact and her mechanical segments starting to smoke and burn as if they were ships ready to sink. Her arm moves across her hunched body to grasp her severed limb, and she looks as if she can barely stand. Still, considering how she's acted up to this point...

    It's only an order from Samar that makes her retreat. As stubborn and spiteful as Leyte may be, she knows full well that she's the lowest of the Capital Ships. She's not going to argue with her admiral's orders, particularly when she's aware that they're going to keep her from going down to a /cat/. Still, she snarls at Kasumi, even as she staggers back to remove herself from the area. "...this...isn't over, cat. You won /now/, but...you're not going to next time! I /swear/!"

    With that, the Southern Demon retreats, making her way to the nearest point of extraction so she can recover back at Iron Bottom Sound.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius almost loses his foot when Noble Six pulls away. Though he can see her just as quickly go for the cylinder and then produce the energy sword once more as the Spartan goes in for the kill. The Legatus attempts to match the blow for blow with his own sword, but her own strength was now overpowering him.

Sparks from the blade fly off as the two forces do make impact, but the sheer force actually jams his arm down, leaving him open for one of the slashes, that rips of f his shoulder pauldron. The next blow he comes back around to block, but it knocks his arm clear to the side and actually cuts open the very leather-like cloth.

The plasma blade biting into the skin as it passed over, but due to its heat level it cauterizes the cut almost right away. This mean when the cleave comes, he only has one option left. There was a quick 'click' from his gauntly and he throws up his hand.

As the plasma blade comes down, it makes impact with a magical barrier, which explodes from the force, also knock the Imperial Legatus right over by the sheer force and exploding him back a bit. He slides back and rolls on the ground, before he manages to catch himself and continue to slide back just a bit more in a three prong stance, though once he does finish sliding back. He falls to his one knee as his arm doesn't really want to support the weight.

The piece of armor near Noble Six was that of one of the 'horns' on the helm. Cut off and now lying there at her feet. His voice had a hint of fatigue in it, but yet was still ever as calm. "You are truly a worthy opponent." He then glances up ever so slightly, "In that-- I am honored to have faced you."

Gaius then inhales deeply, before he finds the strength in him to launch back to his feet and then rush right for Noble Six. His sword then glows with blue aura, before he goes to strike with everything he has left in him, as he brings down the blade in the swing it goes short.

As it is not the swing Noble Six has to worry about, it is the Blast that comes from the swing from the magical aura generated by the sword that explodes out in an X format with a heft knock back force that even kicks up the ground around it.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The battle has been waged between the two armor clad soldiers. The area around theb oth of them is completely devestated, and it's not getting any better. Noble Six drops to a knee, the blows with the blade having taken a lot out of her. She's not able to dodge the X slash from her opponent, the force of it picking her up off the ground, tossing her through the air. She tumbles and falls over herself, before she comes to a stop.

    There's a lot of dust and debris kicked up into the air by the blow. It looks like the Garlean commander may have taken out his opponent. But as the dust begins to clear, there's a glint of something in the dust. Noble Six has not gone down, and has pulled her pistol from it's position on her back. Despite laying prone, she still has the strength to level her shot.

    She sights in on her target, thinking about going for the headshot, but deciding there's too much risk of missing. She can't miss this shot. The weapon lowers ever so slightly, and she squeezes the trigger, firing the explosive tipped round at center mass of her target.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius lowers his gunblade, he is breathing heavily by any indication of his body gives. Blood is still dripping from his shoulder, though it has slowed and though a good deal of the Garlean troops have pulled back by now to cover the retreat of their ally.

The Legatus remains stead fast, for this was no longer a battle of the claim of this territory. It was now a battle of personal interest. Noble Six has made themselves a worthy opponent and Gaius was going to see this to the end at which would be standing by the end of this day.

Yet the commander did not see his opponent at first, and that battle seemed all but over between the two power houses-- but as the dust settled he caught the glimpse. "..so you live.." He says softly, words barely heard. "..excellent."

Gaius didn't have much time to reveal in the fact that his opponent still stood. He even didn't care that he was finding himself wrapped up in the moment of grand enjoyment of this little dual between the two. When Noble Six fired off the rounds, the Imperial Legatus raised up his Gunblade and opened fire as well.

The explosive round was met by one of the bullets and blasted shrapnel right toward him from the blast, cutting into his leather-like cloth armor and bits into his armor. Yet two more bullets continued to fly-- two more bullets with Noble Six's possible name on then..

Yet Gaius himself after the explosion and the force being so close, was back down on his knee and leaning to one side. Though he continued to hold the Gunblade at ready-- just encase.. just encase the battle was still not over.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    It seems that in a battle of bullets, two bullets beats out one. Six doesn't hit her shot, surprised by this, and then the bullet from her opponent strikes her. She goes down from the impact, passed out. Her armor does what it can with herself being out to patch her up, as the ODSTs move in to try to pull her out of the combat zone.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius watches as his opponent goes down and then gets pulled out by her own men. He grunts softly as he forces himself to stand and starts to walk away from the battlefield. "..We will meet again.. Noble Six." He says perhaps to himself more then anything.

But he was going to find out now what he could about her-- and just how well the Garlean Empire engineers can not only repair the armor but perhaps-- look into approving upon it. Cause if this battle taught him anything-- the armor needed some upgrades.