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Post by choongsung on Jun 9, 2013 16:15:04 GMT -8
Vincent found himself walking along a beachhead west of Los Angeles International Airport. The ocean breeze felt quite nice, a bit more liberating than the winds that blew over the hills of Southern California. He had been in Dragon territory for a while but never really bothered to go into the urban centers just yet. Vincent had no reason to really expose himself to a large number of people who could probably point him out as an outsider. That would just become unnecessary trouble. The young man looked out towards the ocean and watched the waves crash onto the dunes. It was a peaceful sight and the sounds of the waves put his heart at ease for a little bit. He found himself getting lost in the familiar sounds that marked the happy times before the bombs fell. Vincent was so distracted that he did not notice a small figure darting in and around the beach grass until they were about twenty feet behind him.
"Freeze" came the voice. It sounded shaky. Almost scared. Vincent turned his head to see a teenage boy walking towards him with a knife drawn. The boy spoke again, this time with a little bit more confidence but still nervous. "Drop the bag"
Vincent looked at the boy. Then the knife. His hand was shaking while his face put up a brave front. He replied, "Don't think you want to do this kid.." The young man dropped his bag next to his feet and took his hands out of his pockets. Vincent spoke again, "You really should think about what you're doing."
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Post by Your Mom~ on Jun 9, 2013 16:57:55 GMT -8
Olesya was on border patrol tonight, and she'd been given the shore duty. It was her favorite of the shifts, much more aesthetic than watching from the guard tower or reinforcing the border to Barker's territory. The sun was just beginning to set, streaking the sky with pinks and oranges, ricocheting off the clouds and the water. It was a sight to behold, and if you looked out to the sea long enough, you could almost pretend the bombs didn't fall. Almost.
She was dressed in her normal 'business' attire: Black tank top with her Skyforce jacket half-zipped beneath her long white jacket given to her by David almost a year ago. The hem fell to her shins, and there were flames on the back, his name emblazoned across her shoulderblades. Black leggings ended at her knees, giving way to criss-crossed ribbons that ended in ballet shoes on her feet. Fingerless gloves adorned her hands, the leather stretching over her knuckles when she flexed her fingers.
The young woman stood on the pier, her kaleidoscope eyes scanning the surrounding beach for any sign of disturbance. There was a figure in the distance walking slowly along the beach, their posture not indicating any sort of trouble. Her gaze was about to move on when she noticed a second figure pop out from the wild grass, their posture aggressive yet inexperienced. The first figure faced the second, taking a defensive stance. Well, hello, disturbance. She was too far away to step in at that exact moment, but with everything else quiet on this front, there was no way she couldn't intervene.
Kicking off from the ground, she utilized the power given to her by the Skyforce jacket to take flight. It was the easiest and swiftest way to travel in this situation, much faster than running, and would provide the element of surprise because who would expect a Dragon to come from the mother trucking sky?!
[Item activated - Skyforce jacket. Will land next turn, and ability for jacket is disabled for the rest of the thread.]
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Post by choongsung on Jun 9, 2013 17:41:25 GMT -8
The teenager kept creeping forward with his blade pointed towards Vincent. Sure he could have ran, but where to? The cliffs or into the water. Plus, the boy might even become more aggressive. "Just like that. Leave the bag there and slowly walk away. I won't hurt you," the boy said shakily. Vincent sighed. It was too bad that kids these days had to resort to threats and violence in order to survive. Either that or join a gang. A gang. Could this kid be affiliated with the Dragons? Either that or he was not alone. There was probably someone hiding in the brush or behind some random defilade.
Once the boy got close enough, he quickly reached out in an attempt to grab Vincent's bag with his left arm. Anticipating some sort of defensive strike from Vincent, he lashed out with his blade as well. Unfortunately, this movement caused the boy to load all of his weight forward leaving him vulnerable to a relatively easy take down. Vincent side stepped with a forward left angle of movement. He then guarded himself with both arms protecting his vital organs. Using both his hands, Vincent pulled the aggressor towards the water. The aggressor stumbled into the shallow water and lost his footing which caused him to take a knee. Vincent then slid his right hand towards the back of the boy's hand and the flat portion of the blade. In an attempt to disarm and submit the kid, Vincent stepped back towards where he was previously standing "tracing the C" while torquing the boy's wrist and hitting the blade away at the same time.
Feeling immense amounts of pain and pressure on the wrist, the teen toppled over onto his back and let go of the weapon. Vincent then rolled him over onto his stomach, placed one knee on the back of his head while the other trapped kid's arm on the middle of his back in order to prevent him from moving.
"Like I said... you don't want to do this", said Vincent as he made sure the boy was complying to his will. As soon as those words came out of Vincent's mouth, another figure popped out from underneath the brush. This time, this individual was wearing a ghilly suit of sorts. It was terribly made but it did do the job... somewhat. He had a pellet gun pointed at Vincent.
Just as I thought, he was not alone. Just then, Vincent saw the second aggressor's shadow getting larger and larger and larger.
"What the.."
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Post by Your Mom~ on Jun 9, 2013 18:13:31 GMT -8
As Olesya approached from the air, she watched the first figure take down the second rather impressively. Small, calculated, and skilled moves found the aggressor face first in the sand. She closed in just as a second individual hopped out of the trees, pointing a pellet gun at the first figure, who Olesya recognized as a young man as she approached. The first young man was stuck between a rock and hard place, as he was busy pinning the first aggressor that he couldn't move to defend himself from the second without letting the first free.
Well that just wasn't fair, was it? It was time to even the odds.
Les pulled her limbs close to her body, rocketing into the fray aimed at the boy with the pellet gun. At the last minute she tucked her body and turned midair so that she was coming at him feet first. One foot connected with his gun hand, the other with his torso with a deafening boom, the boy getting knocked back a good ten feet from where he was standing a moment before. Olesya landed at a sprint, chasing the boy to where he subsequently landed, her steps slowing as her feet dug into the sand.
Another choice kick to the cranium struck the aggressor unconscious, sprawled out on the ground. Les dug in her pocket, bending over the boy and zip-tying his hands behind his back in one swift motion. He wasn't going anywhere, even if he woke up.
Her kaleidoscope eyes scanned the grasses and surrounding rocks for any more signs of attack before striding up to the young man and his pinned aggressor. She dug her knife out of her pocket, ignoring the first young man for a second as she bent down toward the aggressor, her knife right in his face.
"Anyone else with you?"
She demanded, poking at his nostril with her sharp blade.
[Item activated: Sonic Boom
(+5 Strength, +5 Dexterity, +5 All Statistic Capacities, Sonic Boom Effect)
Sonic Boom Effect Is Loosely Intepreted (Short-Range Projectile Of An Inch, Increased Impact, Deafening Sounds, Etcetera, Or Lack Of, At The User's Discretion), And Is To Encourage XIN-Type Fighting.]
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Post by choongsung on Jun 9, 2013 18:49:52 GMT -8
Out of the sky came a woman. Seriously. She flew out of the air. And then came a extremely loud "boom" when she kicked the other kid in the chest. Whoever that was, she was amazingly fast to the point where Vincent's eyes could barely keep up with her movements. When that woman kicked the other boy in the head one last time knocking him out, he slightly cringed. It was one thing to kick someone in the face, but it was another thing to watch.
Yeah... that kid is not waking up for a while thought Vincent as the woman zip tied the wanna-be sniper up. To his surprise, the woman seemed to know what she was doing. Not many people really knew what to do with zip ties except play with them until they became useless. And then she came towards Vincent. Or at least he thought she was. So naturally, Vincent did not feel like moving because he felt that any movement on his part would cause her to act defensively towards him. The white haired woman pulled out a knife proceeded to interrogate the teen underneath Vincent's knee.
"I-i-i-it was only us!!.. I sw-sw-swear!!" cried the boy as he felt the sharp blade tickling the insides of his nose.
Up close, Vincent could tell that she was pretty athletic. Of course, he could not figure out how for one, she flew and two, how she knocked the kid back with such a powerful kick. Everything was just alien to him.
"Do you want to take him or..", asked Vincent. He was not sure how to deal with this individual. She seemed extremely authoritative, as if she was entitled to act a certain way.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Jun 9, 2013 19:05:09 GMT -8
Olesya narrowed her kaleidoscope eyes at the sputtering boy, prodding him once more before tucking the knife in her belt. She pulled out another zip tie and zipped his hands together where Vincent had pinned them behind his back.
"You just won yourself a night in the slammer. Congrats, kid."
Sarcasm dripped from her tone, tugging the zip-tie extra tight to cause a small whimper from the little punk. Kids these days didn't understand the severity of their actions. Sure, times were tough, but people were resilient. They picked themselves up by their bootstraps and carried on, not attacking strangers at dusk and taking their money.
The young woman looked up to the initial person she'd spotted, giving him a once over to determine his threat level. He seemed to pass her flash of an inspection, weighing his words.
"I could use a hand bringing them back to the pen. I'll take this one while you take the sleeping beauty?"
She asked, nodding her head over to the unconscious kid. If he declined, she could always take in the one kid and return for the unconscious one, but it would make her life easier if she had a hand.
"I'm Olesya by the way. I'm with the Dragons, as I'm sure you may have guessed. Who are you?
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Post by choongsung on Jun 9, 2013 19:34:58 GMT -8
"Sure I'll take the sleeping beauty." Vincent chuckled at her sense of humor. He supposed that you needed such coping mechanisms in order to survive in this world. Very reminiscent of the men he went to war and various other deployments with. When you're always fighting battles, you sometimes need a twisted, sarcastic, and constantly evolving sense of humor or you just might go crazy.
As he bent over to pick up the unconscious boy, Vincent felt a sharp pain in his hand. There was blood. Adrenaline must have worn off. While disarming his aggressor, Vincent seemed to have cut his hand open on accident. It was a risk you had to be willing to take when you were disarming someone with a knife. Disregarding the sharp pain on his right hand, he hoisted the limp boy across his shoulders in a fireman's carry position. He was definitely a LOT lighter than the 180lb males he was used to carrying that way.
"Olesya of the Dragons, nice to meet you." Honestly, she was the first "Dragon" Vincent had met. Sure he met civilians here and there, but they were the ones living in the suburbs tending to their fields. In his head, Vincent began assuming that the ones who actually called themselves "Dragons" were more like her. Combative and mostly likely very lethal. He had avoided cities on purpose but now, there was probably no avoiding it. "My name's Vincent." he replied. The young man looked back at the white haired woman named Olesya and noticed some unique features. Especially her eyes. She could not be too much older than him as far as he could tell. "What brings you all the way out here to my rescue, Olesya?" Vincent asked.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Jun 10, 2013 4:51:04 GMT -8
Les wrapped her hand arouns the zip tie, hauling the punk up by his hands, causing another yelp from the youth. Hopefully if they scared him enough, he'd think twice before trying to jump a lone innocent person again. She didn't even know if they were Dragon territory citizens, she didn't see any identification on them. They'd probably come up from Barker territory where everything was far more...animalistic. If they processed them and realized they weren't Dragon civilians, they would be detained and reprimanded, but given an option. Either join the Dragon army to work off their misdemeanor, or they'd be kicked out and blacklisted, never allowed to enter the territory limits again.
"Vincent, likewise."
The two of them would begin the long trek back to town, hauling the two miscreants who had fallen silent. One because he was still out cold, and the second because he'd realized the gravity of his situation, and was just sniffling slightly.
"I was on patrol, lucky for you."
She stated simply, shrugging it off. Olesya wasn't much of a damsel saver (except for Maddie, and that girl Kari, and the other children from the orphanage)...okay, well, so maybe she was. But she wasn't the kind of person to just sit there and watch something happen and not do anything about it. She could have stayed at her perch and watch the kids mug Vincent and run away, but what good would that do the world? There were two types of evil in the world; Those who do bad things, and those who watched bad things happen and didn't do anything about it.
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Post by choongsung on Jun 10, 2013 10:55:12 GMT -8
"Ah, I see." replied Vincent. "Glad that luck was on my side for once" He chuckled a bit. "And sorry to take you away from your walk down the beach. It's a beautiful and peaceful place." It was not like Vincent was always unlucky. The young man did have some luck here and there but bad things just happened to seek him out. All he could do was prepare himself for when such things appeared in his life. There was one thing that was egging at him though. Olesya's abilities. She not only "flew" but knocked the other kid back with what sounded like a sonic boom.
"If I may ask..." Vincent started. He was not sure how to go about asking the question. Of course, the young man did not want to come across as rude in any way. Was her ability something she did not talk about? Or did it have to do with her being a "Dragon."
"What was the thing you did back there?" As he carefully asked her that question, Vincent replayed Olesya's movements in his head. One foot connecting with the gun and the other connecting with a solid blow to the torso. She definitely was not a normal person patrolling her property. There was probably something else.
The wanna-be sniper started making low groaning noises. He appeared to be coming to, but remained fairly lifeless on Vincent's shoulders.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Jun 10, 2013 12:55:02 GMT -8
Olesya shrugged at his apology to reassure him that it wasn't a big deal. She'd seen hundreds of these sunsets, having lived in Long Beach for a goo portion of her life. On nights when she couldn't sleep, she'd sit on her roof and watch the sky. It was peaceful, she had to agree with him there.
"Just doing my job."
Olesya wasn't one for words with people she didn't know. She was more withdrawn than she was back in high school, much less trusting. This made her come off as kind of cold when you first meet her. Granted, she'd made a lot of progress since returning to Long Beach, but she was still a long way from being everyone's best friend forever.
The beach gave way to a cracked road, the asphalt dotted with thin reedy grass sneaking up through the cracks. The painted lines were nearly gone, having been washed away from two years of disuse. The roads still made up the major travel-ways in the territory though, so that's the route they'd take to the Dragon's penitentiary.
At his question, Olesya looked at him quizzically. She took a moment to mull over his question in her head, rerunning the scenario in her head before drawing a blank.
"What thing?"
She asked, genuinely unsure of what he was talking about.
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Post by choongsung on Jun 10, 2013 17:34:26 GMT -8
Vincent could understand a little bit why Olesya acted the way she did. After all, he too was fairly withdrawn from the outside world and very much introverted unless he was dealing with people he knew or cared about. Ever since he joined the Marine Corps, Vincent had struggled to break out of that shell, purely because his job description demanded that he do so. Even though he did not enjoy acting like someone he was not, Vincent could see some positive aspects of living that way. It was just a part of surviving in an unknown world. As much as or even more so than trusting only one's self.
And then out came the road. A cracked highway that seemed to appear from underneath the sand and stretch out towards an urban complex a little bit further out on the horizon. This picture was highly reminiscent of Vincent's deployment in Iraq where patches of pavement seemed to appear underneath a sea of sand, not the other way around.
When Vincent's question drew a blank stare from Olesya, the young man stopped to think for a second before responding. As much as he tried, Vincent was not very good with words. Sure, he was able to write out his thoughts in a clear and concise manner, but asking direct questions was a bit of a challenge to him. Once again, it probably traced back to his traditional upbringing where people asked round-about questions in order to not appear to be rude.
"Your kick. You flying in out of the blue. It felt different.. like I experienced a mini sonic boom" replied Vincent softly. He was still trying to make sense of what had happened back there.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Jun 10, 2013 18:05:18 GMT -8
"Oh."
Recognition lit up the girl's features as she remembered kicking down the still half-unconscious boy over Vincent's shoulders, a small shadow of a grin flashing over her features.
"That. Well...I'm one of Barker's failed super soldiers. An experiment, as they like to call us. So my abilities are a bit...erm...heightened. Extremely."
She explained, slightly awkwardly. She'd never had to explain her abilities to an outside before. People she happened upon usually knew about her, or about the experiments. It was an odd sensation, as Les found it difficult to describe without going into an utter tyraid about it.
The little punk was starting to fall behind, stretching Olesya's arm slightly from where she held the zip-tie. With a hard yank, she pulled him forward, momentarily off his feet as he yelped, catching up though still walking a half step behind her like a kicked puppy.
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Post by choongsung on Jun 10, 2013 19:15:15 GMT -8
It was always nice to see people smile. There was something about the human smile that enhanced the world around them. Even those with the hardest exteriors looked that much more beautiful, both men and women. Then she mentioned Barker. That name again. The name that everyone he met either hated or feared. Vincent too had a bone to pick with that man obviously for different reasons.
"Experiment, Super-soldiers.." Vincent raised an eye brow. Things were either stranger than he thought or a completely different world from when he left the California coast. "I guess we're similar in some ways except the experiment and heightened ability part" he mused as he stared off into the distance. From the tone of Olesya's voice Vincent could tell that she was slightly uncomfortable explaining what had happened. He turned slightly to look at her as Olesya forcefully tugged on the kid's flexi-cuffs.
"I hope I'm not asking you anything I should not ask.. Though, I did have a strange incident several years ago." Vincent started trailing off. He shifted the weight of the half-conscious kid on his back to prevent him from slipping and falling on the ground. No matter where you were in the world, war was always present. Soldiers of some kind were always being created. Sometimes for power, sometimes for defense. Either way the ones who usually suffered, were the ones fighting the battles on the ground.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Jun 11, 2013 16:32:06 GMT -8
"Experiment, Super-soldiers..I guess we're similar in some ways except the experiment and heightened ability part." Take away the experiment, take away the super, and what have you got left?
"Soldier."
Olesya commented, stating the obvious. That opened up a lot of questions about this young man. Certainly his posture and the way he carried himself would have given it away had Olesya been better at recognizing that sort of thing. Socially retarded, remember? Anyway, the thought finally occurred to her, and she pondered it, rolling the word around on her tongue like a marble.
She shrugged when he said he hoped he wasn't asking what he shouldn't ask. There were too many words in there...would not, should not, can not, not not not. Honestly at this point the actual experimentation didn't phase her. Doctor Twist told her that the past was in the past, you can't change it no matter how much you try. The only thing you are in control of is the here and now, and that was where she needed to live. Talking about the past wouldn't change it, so why should it bother her?
When Vincent trailed off, she fixed him with her multicolored eyes, slight interest in the cliffhanger.
"And?"
She prompted, not bothering to return the wouldn't-couldn't-shouldn't's. In her mind, if he didn't want to talk about it he wouldn't have mentioned it.
When he began to speak again and then trailed off, Les fixed her kaleidoscope eyes on him, a slender white eyebrow quirking slightly.
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Post by choongsung on Jun 11, 2013 18:37:33 GMT -8
"I was shot in the head." replied Vincent. He then pulled out a somewhat flattened piece of brass, no larger than a nickel, attached to a necklace bearing his dog tags. It was a peculiar shaped looking item. The back end looked like the back end of any bullet. The front end however, was flattened and had a slight curve in it, as if it was hammered against something round. Such objects were quite common amongst service members who should have been shot fatally, but survived that bout with death. Almost like a talisman of sorts. "The very first time I deployed to Iraq, I took a bullet to the head. Should have been a clean shot straight through the helmet into my skull, but the round flattened as you can see here." He held the distorted bullet for Olesya to see.
Vincent normally did not like talking about the events that happened that day, especially because he got a good talking to from his squad leader after the incident. It was not that he was showing off about his war stories. He felt like it was some what connected to Olesya's abilities to fight the way she did earlier.
"It was not just that one time either. When Barker bombed my ship as it was pulling into San Diego, I took shrapnel in the arm and leg." Vincent pulled up the sleeve of his jacket to show Olesya long jagged scars that peppered his left arm. "Shrapnel wounds like that should have penetrated an artery. It only hit the surface and gouged some of the outer muscle tissue. Similar to what happened earlier."
He had not thought much about it until now. Back then, his mind was preoccupied with something else. A lot of other things which at the time was more important. Vincent looked down at the scars and then at the flattened piece of lead. It could not have been just luck. He waited for Olesya's response.
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