Shadowy Plight [Mission RP]

First topic message reminder :

(dunno how this stuff works im making a new topic if thats not what you do then welp)

Dawn paced their meeting area, arms kept behind her, hands linked. Clasped in one of her fists was a torn piece of poster, reguarding their mission and all details needed. She knew her team consisted of three members, two not counting herself, one of them which she hadn't ever heard of before. The other was Sly, a useful team member, albeit not combat oriented. She made sure her breathing was level, slow and steady. Her belt had recently been restocked with looted ammo, and even a few communication devices from a lucking finding in the HQ. She hadn't though about who they'd belonged to in the first place, though she doubted they would miss them, nor make a big fuss either.
The clearing she was in was a secluded part of the forest, a place she often visited to calm down, or when home base became too rowdy, which was too often for her liking.
Reddening leaves drifted to the ground with the sway of the branches, autumn clearly in full swing. It was kind of ironic, how in a world filled eith war, fighting and bloodshed, there was a place where not even the gods could disturb. How the serene atmosphere was a clear juxtoposition of the outside world, cruel and merciless.
She realised how walking and fretting about her first team mission was not the greatest thing to to, so she took a deep breath and hopped up onto a rock in the center of the field, legs swinging ever so slightly. She stared up at the sky, a mixture of pinks, yellows and oranges, with white streaks resembling clouds. It was a beautiful sight, but she was snapped out of her thoughts with a rustle of bushes as she saw a familiar figure approach.
"Sly! Nice to see you again."

With a simple thought, the knives returned as gear pieces flying back to the sentries. As they hadn't hit anything, they didn't reward Sly with any false pieces. No matter. Sly kept both sentries focused on Liana.

She zipped towards the fire falcon Sly had just created. As she attempted to claw it with those purple-flame lit fingers, it was a mistake of hers to hit it up front. The falcon soared past her successfully, breaking and destroying the claws, but was then met with tentacles piercing it in the chest. The falcon screeched again, distorted, before shattering, the gear pieces fluttering back towards Sly.

Sly cursed between his teeth. Though he would have gotten some false pieces out of that, destroying the falcon would eliminate those pieces. He waited for Liana to stop, to hurl even more fireballs, and Sly fired the sentries. 6 white knives and 6 normal gold metallic ones flew towards her on opposite ends of the clearing just as she launched her fireballs.

Sly pulled out a piece of the white sentry next to him, and it repaired itself with its false pieces. As for those he pulled out, they shifted around his hand and formed a long white rapier, but with a small flintlock mechanism on the hilt.

Controlling the pieces from the destroyed falcon, Sly formed a pair of large fiery red wings on his back. They were feathered wings, but still metallic and clockwork style, as he used them to fly around and navigate across the trees, around the fireballs, bringing himself up out in the open and on Liana's level.

The wolf that exploded below had turned into its individual gears and Sly formed 4 floating clockwork rapiers all around him. One in his other hand, the other 3 floating in a circle around him.

--

Health: 100%

True pieces available: 0%
False pieces available: +20% (wolf explosion on ground and Ben)

As Liana destroyed the falcon, and blasted the bolts of fire, something leaped from the trees. A dozen knives were thrown at her from that general direction. One managed to stab her in the back, and her eyes widened. Another caught her in the tail, and she hissed in pain, tucking her wings, and falling down to earth at a quick speed. Then, while the other knives were thrown, she would aim a blast of fire at them, attempting to destroy them.

Spreading her wings out once again, she would land on the ground, a tentacle coming out of her back and pulling the knife out. Damnit, where was Ben when you needed him. She would fall to her side, blood oozing from her tail, panting. Man, who ever was attacking her was experienced. But she wouldn't allow herself to be conquered so easily.

As she would regain a bit of balance back from the attack, blood still oozing from her back and tail, she would glance up, just in time to notice the pieces of the wolf heading towards a man, as he revealed himself from the trees. Liana would growl at him. A mere human! How dare he! What right did he have to attack her? She wondered with a snarl. Such injustice must be punished!

Liana would once again summon her tentacles, purple flames engulfing them. There were six in total. She had landed about five meters away from the stranger and his mechanical wings. But as he started to flap his wings, Liana would not allow him to catch flight.

With a quick lunge, Liana would run forward to meet the man. However, once she had reached within ten feet of him, she would stop, crouching, and rolling, in order to avoid any blasts, as her flaming tentacles would lunge forward. One would aim for his chest, while the other would aim at one of his wings. The three other tentacles would aim to destroy the swords that were floating behind him, and the last would aim at his leg.

----
Health: 67% |Magic: 50%

(Meh, I wanna get this fight over with quickly )

Sly didn’t expect his sentries were to land a direct hit. The strike on her back made him wince a little, but she was still alive at least. He was meant to capture her alive. As Sly flew to where she was, Liana dropped back onto the ground and pulled the dagger off her. She then slumped onto the ground. The dagger would disintegrate into gears again and return to the sentries to recharge. Sly himself was unfazed when he stared back at the rage-filled demon that glared back up at him. Though his heart was racing. This was the first time, after a long while, where he had to hunt a crook alone.

Sorry Liana, but I am taking you in.

Things were now getting a lot more difficult, now that he revealed himself. Hiding in the forest wasn’t an option, as her flames burned the entire border of the clearing. He figured it was pure confidence that got him this far. Or it could very well be his ego getting the better of him. More of her tentacles sprung from her black, now flaring in her purple flames.

Sly frowned a little as he cocked the flintlock on the white rapier and took aim at her. In the same time, the sentries were armed and ready, shooting a total of 16 knives, having earned some false pieces from direct hits at Liana. Sly held the trigger as he fired knives from his rapier as well. From the guard of his rapier, knives were formed and fired every second, just like the other 2 sentries. Although he was firing knives in 3 directions, he struggled to land a hit as Liana ducked, dashed and rolled from the knives. Those that missed would land in the dirt, which would at least give Sly some false pieces.

After firing 6 white knives from his rapier, Sly’s blade had shrunk, down to the size of a small dagger as he had expended his charges and had to wait for the knives to return to him.

Just as she stopped and fired her tentacles towards him, Sly flapped and charged down towards her. He deflected away the tentacle going for his chest with the rapier in his other hand, broke through the one going for his fiery wing as it attacked the front, and grazed his leg against the third as it missed when he soared down. He allowed the other three to hit is floating blades, not that they could be destroyed like that. The floating rapiers clanged against the tentacles, rewarding Sly with false pieces from the impact, and Sly lunged his rapier forward, aiming to pierce her shoulder, now that her tentacles stretched too far forward for her to defend.

--

Health: 99%
True pieces available: 0%
False pieces available: +45%
Structures in play:
-2x Sentries (1 Light)
-Wings (Fire)
-4x rapiers
-Gun-rapier (light)

As Liana would lunge forward, running towards the stranger with whom she'd never found out the name of, the she demon would manage to sway back and forth, out of danger of the knives. Damn, she had to destroy those somehow, she thought with a growl, glancing only momentarily over at the shadows. Ben had disappeared from the battlefield, as he often does. With his smart mind, and invisibility, surely he would be able to destroy what ever these things were. Only problem was, Liana didn't know how to destroy them.

She had, however, managed to destroy the bird, so that was a plus. As Liana shot her tentacles forward, she would notice that he managed to dodge them, and was able to deflect some of them, and destroyed the three swords behind him, turning them once again into gears. But she did manage to scratch his leg, even if it was just barely.

He would then lunge at her, aiming to stab into her. From the way his body was positioned, she assumed shoulder. But she merely had a split second to react. With a quick glow, she would redirect her tentacles, causing them to cave in, coiling around the stranger, and rushing him towards her with a thrust. This would allow her to cause him to become dissoriented, as the tentacles moved much faster than his wings.

She would quickly unsheathe her sword, as well, its ebony blade shining a brilliant black in the sunlight. Another tentacle would form near her shoulder, protecting it were he to somehow still keep his aim. She would then lunge her sword, aiming it at his stomach as she held her grip on him.

----

Health: 67%
Tentacles: 7 active
Sword unsheathed

The world seemed to have stopped as all his focus was drawn on sending the rapier right into her shoulder. Just before he did, it turned black, bulging out, and a tentacle spawned. Sly’s blade sunk into that appendage, but it was shallow. That thing was pretty tough. The tentacles around him stirred and closed around him like a prison. His wings were crushed, but closed protectively around Sly to cushion him from the impact. It was rather terrible, and still felt like rocks were thrown all over him.

Before him, Liana drew her blade and, pulling Sly forward, attempted to sink it towards his stomach.

He had to activate that now!

Sly took a quick breath, eyes closed, and concentrated on his pocketwatch. Immediately the sounds of the world went silent, and the wind stopped blowing against him. The tentacles holding him also froze, and Sly reopened his eyes to the focused and stern face of Liana, the moment before she sent her blade straight up his stomach. He quickly disintegrated his wings, turning into flaming red gears as he freed some space between him and the tentacles, and weaved himself out of the ‘cage’ like it was a statue.

His sentries and gun-rapier had restored its charges and were ready to fire. After piercing nothing but the ground, they collected their false pieces. Now, each sentry had 12 knives, and Sly’s gun-rapier, 9 knives. With time still frozen around a small dome around himself in a 5m radius, the sentries took aim at Liana’s shoulders and thighs and fired. The knives, once they entered the dome, all froze around the edges. Sly fired his 9 knives from another direction, and all the knives were stuck around the edge of the dome, ready to converge all at once at Liana.

Sly ran until he was 7metres behind Liana, and there he squeezed his pocketwatch, indicating it to retract the dome. He observed from his location as all the knives that were fired moved again and struck her on 3 directions, while she was distracted with the ‘phantom’ Sly that no longer was there. Liana would not know that Sly had ‘teleported’ until she turned around and met the knives.

In case it failed, Sly took a battle stance, both rapiers pointing towards Liana and the 3 floating rapiers forming a circle behind him and also facing their blades. His shattered wings had split and formed 4 red rapiers, all stabbed into the ground around Sly as they seemed to be set alight by fire.

--

Health: 80% [Time magic: 40%]
True pieces Available: 0%
False pieces Available: +60%
Structures Active:
2x Sentries (1 light)
1x Gun-rapier (light)
4x grounded rapiers (fire)
4x floating rapiers

(Short post is short because shortness )

Just when Liana thought she was about to pierce the combatant, her eyes widened as, seemingly out of nowhere, he disappeared. This greatly confused Liana, and made Ben almost face palm. He should interfere somehow, but what were he to do? He couldn't reveal himself to this human, otherwise bloodshed might ensure. And lots of it. So, what was the best way to get this man out of their hair?

Ben, since he had been outside of the field, had seen the stranger activate it. This man, although human, was clearly able to master outstanding technologies. But still. Ben was sure he could disable the man's pocketwatch, in which he had used to create the time freezing field, he was sure. But Ben wanted these authorities out of their hair. So perhaps it would be a better decision to just give themselves up, then escape into the night. Do something to make it look like the two had killed themselves, perhaps. Then the authorities would be out of their hair.

From Liana's bounty of 30,000 if alive, 10,00 if she were dead, Ben would guess she would be rated around a 6 on her danger level to the government. God damn it Liana. Making things difficult. If only she could be like an actual assassin and kill without being seen. Nonetheless, Ben should wait and see.

As Liana would freeze, the tentacles pausing for a moment, she would quickly turn around. However, she was not fast enough, as the blades suddenly pierced her shoulders and thighs. One would catch her wing, preventing her from flight. She would let out a high pitched scream of agony, and fell to her knees, blood oozing from the various wounds. Her scales on her breast and arms had protected her, but the bare skin had various knives poking out of it, the blood running down them. Liana continued to pant, her eyes closed.

Damn it! Humans had to be so difficult! She thought, her claws digging into the soft earthen soil. The tentacles would retract from the pain. From their sheer size, they had managed to deflect a few of the 21 knives, but five had still managed to pierce her, with the other ones scratching her skin.

Even moving was agonizing. And she had no idea what would happen if she tried to pull them out. She tentatively touched one on her shoulder. If she pulled any of these out, she could die of blood loss. She could feel herself losing consciousness. Her mind was growing hazy from the pain. She looked up at the stranger. He was standing about seven meters away from her. She could try activating her fire once again, but she'd probably just end up passing out. She had dropped her sword on the ground after the blow.

A pool of blood had formed around her hands and where she had fallen to her knees. It coiled around her arms like a crimson snake, reading to leave her body as quickly as it had came. She panted, feel the hot mess run down her neck and drip down her chest.

Ben would growl. He didn't like watching Liana in pain. He needed to reveal himself soon. He just needed to find a good time to do it. He couldn't tell if the one attacking her was sent out to kill. Though he guessed the man was in it for the cash, so he would obviously try to capture her alive....

-
Health: 20%

He tensed his arms, swallowing his anxiety as the tentacles moved in time and flailed all about her. Although they moved fast enough to even becoming a huge blur before him, they still couldn’t knock back all of the knives. Of all that came in the same time in different directions, only a few managed to slip through unnoticed and struck her appendages, her wing included.

Sly lowered his blades, but kept them in his grip as he watched her. From the moment the knives sunk into her, to how she carefully slumped over and toppled onto the ground. It was done. At least he thought so. She was still breathing, and still conscious despite the blood pooling beneath her arms. Sly guessed she could take one or two more strikes with his knives before she would pass out. Instead of making the knives disappear into their individual gears and components, he kept them together. Disappearing now would be pulling the plug that was keeping her blood inside her.

But then he remembered there were two. Sly turned his head slightly around him, but the adversary was nowhere in his sights. He could have fled. If not, he would have jumped in to save Liana by now. Sly couldn’t afford to disintegrate his structures now. It would leave an opening for him to attack—if he was here at all.

He marched forward, slowly and cautiously. His gun-rapier, he used the false pieces he gained to load it, and a total of six knives merged into the blade, elongating it again to a standard rapier’s length. He then pointed it towards her. When he was within grabbing distance, he brought the rapier in his other hand around, pommel facing the back of Liana’s head and brought it down, attempting to knock her unconscious. She wouldn’t try anything sneaky, as Sly could easily dash to the grounded rapiers behind him and escape.

--

Health: 80% [Pocketwatch magic: 40%]
True pieces available: 0%
False pieces available: +80%
Active structures:
2x Sentries (1 light)
1x Gun-rapier (light)
4x rapiers
4x grounded rapiers (Fire)

Suddenly, a shot of lightning would zip forward, its electric charge attempting to zap the rapier before it could make contact with Liana. The she demon's eyes narrowed at this, and with what little strength she had left, she would roll out of the way. Liana would then watch as Ben stepped forward, his eyes glowing a maleficent dark red, as he glared over at Sly. He, however, did not appear like he wanted to fight.

Raising a hand, he would say, "My, have humans really stooped low enough to try and kill someone, even while their bleeding and on their knees?" he would ask with a laugh. Liana was glaring at him, but he was ignoring her. Instead, Ben would simply shake his head.

"Continuing to fight with you would be a waste of my breath. And hers. So I would say that we end this silly squabling, and turn ourselves in without a fight?" the poltergeist would say calmly. Liana looked like she wanted to say something, but Ben would merely flick his wrist.

"Besides, don't you think carrying her to the government would be a pain in the ass? She can walk for herself," he would say, glaring over at the demon. If she hadn't been so arrogant, she might have gotten out of this without having a variety of wounds.

---
Health: 15%

(Short post is short, deal with it )

The second his arm descended, something like a needle pierced his thumb, and the rapier jumped from his grip. He hissed, balling his hand to a fist and bringing it towards his chest. There was nothing. Just a small spot of red. The rapier thudded on the grass next to Liana, still breathing slowly on the ground. It couldn’t have been her.

The bushes rustled behind him. Sly whipped towards it, his gun-rapier ready and pointing at the green figure. Just as his back was turned, the 3 floating rapiers levitated behind Sly and pointed down towards Liana. The one which this assailant knocked out also began to float, and joined with the other 3. Sly cocked the flintlock mechanism and exhaled through his nose. He first listened at how this man criticised Sly of attempting to kill Liana, despite it not being his intention to do so. But he could guess why he would think that.

It was a surrender. This man was asking to surrender.

Sly didn’t really know how to answer to that, even if the assailant finished speaking. There was an awkward pause for a moment. Why would the two, with their rather high bounties, wanted to bring themselves before the government? It could be a trap. Sly was planning to knock Liana unconscious, create a clockwork horse to carry her, and be on their way. But he supposed him predicting Liana could stand on her own could help. Sly may had suffered a lot of bruises here and there, but with the amount of false pieces he had gathered, it wouldn’t be likely they could escape from him.

Fine. But don’t try anything stupid. You know I have you on a leash as well. When Sly said ‘leash’, his floating rapiers neared at Liana, but not in a manner to impede her from standing. With a command in his mind, his sentries and grounded rapiers disintegrated, leaving the gun-rapier and the 4 floating rapiers. Sly also kept some knives stuck in Liana, in case removing them would kill her. He then stepped aside, allowing Liana to move forward if she stood.

--

Health: 80% [Pocketwatch magic: 45%]
True pieces Available: 25%
False pieces Available: +150%
Structures Active:
1x Gun-rapier (light)
4x floating rapiers
5x knives (light; embedded in Liana)