Tempting Fate [Open][NR]

The goons surround the Vigilante kid when it looked like he punched the floor. They begin kicking and punching the kid even though his body was surrounded by some strange light. With all 10 of them kicking and punching the kid at the same time they were confident that he'd fall over and eventually get stomped to death.

_________________________


The Goon with his hand broken picked himself up out of the floor and moved away from Cala, moaning and grunting at all of the shattered bones in his hand and arm, which he now clutched like a wounded animal. All of the shit talk of gang raping the "helpless little girl" or tries to get her to show off her body were quiet now. A couple of them thought of pulling their pistols, but quickly decided against that. It was obvious now that she was some kind of creature. A Vampire? A Malkavian? None of them in the room knew what that was. Whatever it was, it was much farther up the food chain than they were, that much was for certain. It appeared that she knew the Boss too, from the way they were talking. All 4 Goons began to feel like they were exactly what they were... just Goons.

That last thing he wanted to be thinking about was that dick addicted bitch Karin. The picture of her in his head blew his buzz, so Xan set about the task of rolling the next of the bud to be inhaled. "...If your boyfriend comes up here and makes a mess, i'm gonna have to kick his ass, you do know this right," said Xan, licking the ends of the blunt before grabbing his Zippo to dry it. "I don't want to be the cause of him going emo and cutting himself, or huffing fumes, or whatever it is you kids do nowadays..."

Xan put the weed to his lips and lit it, taking a long inhale. The smoke could be seen rising from the joints and circuits underneath the black cloak, and the entire area around his body became clouded. "...Your boyfriend down there is gonna come up here eventually and rescue you... When you go back to that... Darkman Tower... tell Alec I said hi. Tell him I said he could even drop by sometime, for old time's sake, that's if your boyfriend downstairs doesn't tear my building down."

Her mismatched gaze went back over to the goons for a moment, that devilish grin of hers in place once more and all full of fang. She was glad they'd stopped talking, threatening to have their way with her, or trying to convince her to remove her clothing. Maybe they'd learn their lesson and change their ways... but she highly doubted that. When you spent too long with the same habits they became damn near impossible to break - they'd probably find some other female to have their way with later on at some point.

Cala shook her head, unhinged grin in place as she turned her attention back to Xan when he spoke to her again. "Just... do me a favor and don't kill him, he's only here because I let myself get kidnapped by those idiots... but I don't think he'll break your building too badly... maybe a few holes here and there, but I highly doubt he'd do structural damage with me sitting up here." She then tilted her head a bit, brow furrowing slightly. "Alec doesn't know you're here at all? I'll make sure I let him know... "

She then focused her attention back to V, listening to the fight once more, she could tell he had made it to the second floor... so once he had finished that floor he'd be almost to her. She was definitely giving him a kiss for his efforts, and not one of those short little shy ones either.. but a real kiss.

"She show you the goods yet?"

"No, man. I'm not all over her like some kind of horny dog."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You, man. You're like a dog, with that pink thing hanging out."

"Well maybe so man, go from being unnoticed dork to media sensation, you gonna start getting noticed. Some of 'em are gonna be girls willing to do anything to hang out with a star. Groupie love, they call it. Besides, what's wrong with lookin' at a girl? Most of 'em want us to look, you see how they dress."

"Cala's not like that at all."

"And that's what makes you wanna see under those clothes the most, isn't it. Think she might have some naughty tattoos somewhere?"

"I dunno, maybe..."

"What's her cup size?"

"I hadn't really measured."

"You said she was insane? She admitted it? Wow. You think she's into that pain stuff? You know, getting choked and spanked and tied up and stuff?"

"I dunno, man. Maybe...I'm not gonna hit her though."

"But she might like you even more, if she's the type. She has any piercings? The nipples. Maybe even down below too, wooo. How about the belly button? Innie or outie?"

"No clue. She seems like the type to have an outie---Uhhh, why am I discussing this with you? I gotta rescue her, quit distracting me you moron."

With all 10 in close proximity punching and kicking they were all victims of the EMP release, which would stun, burn and blind them somewhat. The EMP release was loud, and would cause all of the lights in the building to blink several times. This would be the opening V needed to launch punches and kicks that would not be blocked due to the stun. Punches and kicks that would knock those hit with them unconscious. The sounds of fists and feet meeting jaw, body and cranium, surely to be accompanied by the grunts and yelps of these goons, all of it could be heard by anyone who was listening.

With all of those Goons dealt with, V moved through the 2nd floor to make his way to the staircase that lead to the 3rd floor.

None of the Goons understood what was going on. One minute it looked like they had him, the next minute there were white lights and burning sensations. Like dominoes, all 10 Goons were on the ground after being hit by The Vigilante. This left the 4 Goons upstairs the last of the Goons still conscious.

___________

And these Goons were all too terrified to try anything on the girl Cala now, who made it known that she was obviously a Vampire from the way she kept flashing those fangs. They thought they'd done something good by bringing her in, but it was all a ruse. The girl crushed one of their hands as if is was nothing. If she wanted she could have killed any of them. It was all a joke. It made some of them mad, but, it wasn't like they could actually do about it, if the girl could casually break bones without breaking a sweat.

The lights blinked. There was nothing else to say now. The kid was going to burst in here all heroic-like and sweep the girl off of her feet, which is what she wanted according to her, probably beat up these 4 idiots, and fly off into the sunset to live happily every after with his Vampire lover. Whooptie do da day.

That's if he wasn't stupid enough to call himself trying to attack Xan. If the kid had any sense, he'd beat the shit out of these idiots and fly off with the girl. Xan didn't feel like getting back into the business of embarrassing young upstarts. He'd done so many times in the past. Humiliating people made them obsessed with getting one in on you, some kind of way.

Take the girl and get out, kid... if you know what's good for you...

Giggles randomly escaped Cala now as her conversation with Xan ended and she listened to the violence going on down below. She was beyond amused by the whole situation, and rather glad for the moment that she had decided to let herself get kidnapped instead of running away, or killing the goons who had done so. She wondered, as she listened to V move closer to the third floor, if they would end up trying it again anytime soon...

Or if they would all be far too broken by the end of this to do much of anything for a very long time... if not for forever.

Her gaze moved over to the door she had been brought through and she waited, unhinged grin on her face as it always was in anticipation of what was to come. Yup... this was all like watching her favorite comic come to life, or some sort of movie or something; and she was enjoying every moment of it. She just really hoped that V didn't do something that would cause Xan to want to break him, or kill him... she didn't doubt Xan was still capable of at least some of what he used to be able to in the days of Murder INC.

The Crippler was at the top of the stairs, lying in wait. He was perfectly hidden. It would be the second that this Vigilante kid was on the 3rd floor landing that the large arms of The Crippler would close around the kid's neck. He was going to find out why he got that name, aiming to close off the wind pipe in a side headlock and deprive the brain of oxygen, making him pass out. Joe was sure he was far more than a match for some kid in a fancy tin can suit.

"GOT'cho stupid ass! GO to sleep! GO to sleep!"

What looked like a gorilla was attacking him as he made his way to the third floor? A better looked revealed that it was Joe Crippler. Enhanced Reflexes let V see that the monster of a man was going to try and grab him.

Dodge and counter. Scanners let V see his movements even before he himself knew what he was going to do. He ducked and side-stepped to the left of Joe and the large tree trunk arms, letting him grab nothing but armfuls of air.

Spoiler:

While Joe would be off balance after trying to grab something that had moved out of the way, Vigilante was open to begin a series of rapid strikes to his back and mid-section. His arms began to move faster and faster until the sounds from the impact of his fists meeting Joe's flesh sounded like an earthquake, feeling like one as well, simply from the force. Joe would be forced back into the room beyond that contained the 4 thugs, the robot man sitting in the corner, and Cala. The blows being delivered would likely be visible to Cala, but to the goons, their eyes would only be able to see a cartoonish blur.

Spoiler:

His machine gun punch, designed to rattle his ribs and break several, shake up his insides and probably have him coughing up vast amounts of blood, would end with a sweeping low roundhouse kick. The intention was to hit Joe's ankle and cause him to fly into a cartwheel with Enhanced Strength. If this was successful, V then would continue to turn from the previous sweep kick and execute a right handed haymaker. The power punch would probably hit Joe right as he was upside down from being swept off of his feet, and knock him into the robot man in the back in another 2 for the price of 1 attack with the speed that no ordinary human could avoid.

Spoiler:

...Fuck that.

If this is what was really happening, a kid in some funny kind of suit, kicking the crap out of Joe Crippler? Joe, who was known for beating and breaking even the most hardened of thugs and scum, getting his ass worked over like this?

...Yeah. The 4 Goons all eased their way around the violence and out of the office...

[Exit unless stopped]

A bunch of noise behind him. He'd deal with that in a minute, this was the best part... when the weed is at the bottom of the lungs, and you slowly exhale while you turn your head upwards towards the ceiling to let the smoke just drift upward... It was great. It sort of feels like your soul is just being uplifted. It can't be described in words, it was just one of those weed things.

How long would this last? Until Joe came flying over toward him, unless Joe found some kind of way out of the shit he was in, which he doubted. With his own Enhanced Reflexes, Speed and Strength, the backhand blow that he sent toward the flying body that he was able to notice coming toward him would change the trajectory of it and send him into another direction, in this case the nearby wall.

Enhanced Reflexes:

Enhanced Speed:

Enhanced Strength:

Xan hoped that was gonna be it. He'd take the girl, have a short love scene, then fuck off. There was a lot of mess that had to be cleaned, and even more weed that needed to be smoked.

Cala's eyes suddenly matched in color as the door flew open, both now violet in color, indicating Auspex was awakened. This allowed her to watch each fist that V sent flying towards the asshole who had taken the picture of her to then do whatever he had done with it to get V to know she was here. And then Joe was flying into Xan.

Auspex:

'Oh god, I had a feeling this was going to turn ugly...', she thought to herself, wincing as Xan caused Joe to go flying into a wall as if he were batting away an annoying fly or something.

"Oh boy... ", she said softly.

She stood slowly from the couch, throwing another glance at Joe and then to Xan and then finally she turned her mismatched gaze to V. "I think it's time to go...Before we piss that man on the floor off..." She definitely didn't want to see Xan get pissed off and end up going after Matt, she especially didn't want to see V get that badly hurt just because she had allowed herself to get kidnapped.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...

Fuck.

After the grab was missed, it was the beginning of the end. It felt like a hundred people were attacking at once. There was no getting out of the way or dodging. Bones simultaneously started to break, veins were ruptured, and the blood dripped out. After being hit so many times there was a period where he felt like he was flying... before crash-landing into 2 mountains, one after the other.

Lights out.

[Unconscious, exit]

"Time to go? That guy is the Boss, right? He had you kidnapped, he's going down for this!"

Vigilante took his fighting stance. He felt like he'd reached the boss character at the end of a level in a video game. This man, whoever he was, had had his body heavily modified with bionics. If he could swat that guy aside like he did while sitting down, he had to be as strong, if not stronger than he was. A fight against this guy would probably be pretty interesting, and kicking his ass in front of Cala would be even better.

"You're going down, grandpa," he said, typical comic book talk.

He was trying to look tough in front of the girl. That was alright. He sounded young, green. His stance was solid. He was guarded on all sides, good. He looked like a child prodigy...Ahh. Very nice. Maybe he could play with this kid. Test him out. If he survived, then Xan figured he could do some good after all in this world and pass on an ability that may save his young headstrong ass one day.

He hadn't taken on any students since the days of Murder Inc. This kid...who had to be like, 14? 15 maybe? Fought his way through 3 floors to rescue this girl. Xan didn't need supernatural means to tell that the kid was strong even without that fancy armor of his.

"(Cough)I'm already down, how much farther do you expect me to go, kid?" Xan asked, shoving the pathetic carcass that was Joe a distance away from him to slide a distance across the floor. "And please... don't make some ridiculous speech about love and peace and the American way and 'defeating me' or any of that bullshit... I'm having a hard time digesting all of this as it stands."

There was going to be no talking to him; she saw this right away. He wanted to fight Xan, and she was already mentally kicking her own ass. She hadn't known Xan was even still alive; but she should have left the moment she had found out; instead of waiting to be saved. That had definitely been a bad idea... and now if Xan killed V it was going to be entirely her fault, and she would probably not forgive herself.

She bit her lip for a moment, fangs already gone since the goons had taken off and there really was no need for the scare-show she had been putting on for them. She looked between V and Xan and just folded her arms over her chest... She really figured no matter what she said it wasn't going to stop V from wanting to avenge her, she just hoped Xan went easy on the guy.

Maybe a plea would work. "Please V.. just leave him there and let's go...?"

"I can't believe you don't want me to kick this guy's ass! Are you having that condition where the kidnapped falls in love with the kidnapper? The hostage becomes friends with the terrorist? What's it called?... I know you said you were insane Cala, but come on! This is like, my moment right here! Beat up the super villain, save the princess, new high score! Y'know?"

He couldn't believe she was asking him to stand down in his moment of glory. What the hell? Was she serious? Why the hell did he just fight through all of those guys if he was gonna be asked to just give up at the best part? No way, no way. This wasn't really happening, was it?

"Stockholm Syndrome. It is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors or abusers, sometimes to the point of defending them, and sometimes the feeling of love for the captor shows...That's what you mean, right?" Xan re-lit the blunt and took from it a long drag. "I doubt she loves, or has any feelings toward me, kid. Let's say I knew her in a past life."

The area around Xan began to cloud with smoke once more. "...But if you really want to be this super hero I see standing there, come back here in a couple of days... I should have things cleaned up by then... you will be expected. Then we'll see if you can... 'defeat me' or whatever, since i'm the 'super villain'... Just not now."

If he attacked anyway, Xan was more than ready, even sitting down. If he was smart, he'd listen to his hormones, and go relish in the chance to rub lips with the tender young morsel for coming to the rescue.

Cala listened to V's response and knew she should have expected it: he had just fought his way up to her, it was only expected that he would want to go after the big boss himself. And she was acting a bit crazed... well, more so than she normally did, and in different ways. She was the sort to run head first into a situation, not waste time and try and bail out... so, she could completely understand why he thought the way he did.

Before she could open her mouth to explain however, Xan was talking, and explaining things, somewhat. "Yeah, what he said.. I knew him a long time ago..." She really had nothing else she could say: this was not the place to explain everything, especially when she was going to have to go explain things to Alec as well: might as well kill two birds with one stone if possible and just wait to let both of them hear it together, in Darkman Tower, in Alec's office... and away from this massage parlor.

Then she was listening to Xan offer to fight him in a few days, and she found herself feeling curious to know what he was up to: but she wasn't about to attempt to poke around in his head: god knew what he might have lurking in there, waiting for an unsuspecting person to trigger.

She moved over to the doorway and leaned against it, leaving V to decide what he wanted to do, but ready to leave if that was his choice.

...Okay. Cala knew this guy. Did she let herself get caught on purpose just so she could come see him? She had answers to a bunch of questions that he would ask later, she owed him that much.

A couple of days would be enough time to get ready for a proper battle. Make tweaks to the suit; refine his own skills. This guy had to be a master combatant. Testing his skills out against a real opponent was an opportunity he wasn't going to pass up. He'd play it his way.

"2 Days... alright. Let your guys know i'm coming so they don't end up like they are now, again. I'll be back, count on it." The Vigilante grabbed a hold of Cala and began to make his way out of the Massage Parlor.

/Exit/

Super heroes. Costumed Vigilantes. What the fuck.

Well, there was a big mess to clean up, and preparing of his own to do. Get up, get the rust out... literally. See if the kid is tough enough to learn what a fucked up old man can teach before he just one day malfunctioned, keeled over and died.

-Exit-

Cala let Vigilante whisk her away, glad that they were leaving instead of her having to watch V fight Xan. It wasn't that she thought he was incapable, but she wanted to at least prepare him for what Xan might or might not be able to do anymore. That, and she really didn't want to have to explain things twice.

Next stop: Alec's office.

Next action: Hopefully to give Vigilante that kiss she thought he deserved.

-Exit-