ic Tyger Tyger, burning bright (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Neither Owain nor Neko seemed keen to stay in the room with the seer, making a quick exit up to the bathroom door, then disappearing out through another illusion as Neko did her best to make it appear the door had never actually been opened. "I suggest we make our departure quickly," murmured Owain as they headed out quietly into the corridor, keeping his voice low. Lacking any better ideas, the two of them headed out into the corridor. "The Tyger has hidden himself beyond even your eyes," he told Neko. "And if there are enchanters here, they may yet see through mine own or Neko's works. I would say flee now but I would not simply leave these people to the dark magic of this place." 

 

Neko kept her own council at that, then said, "Your man? Have you see him?" to Chimera. 

[Nerdzul]

"It's time for a double header!" The Mistress of Mayhem proclaimed. "Welcome The Fiery Fury! And her partner the Gentleman! Ready for the big league!" 

 

The crowd cheered.  Meanwhile, the woman with the big sword and her companion had left the small backstage area and waltzed in the middle of the arena. She landing with a burst of flames while he gracefully floating in the air, with his eyes closed and hands raised to the sky. 

 

"And on the other side..." She paused for a short while for added suspense. "Since it's a special night. A little surprise, directly from the Tyger's private Managerie..."

 

The lights in the whole warehouse began to dim, the unpleasant feeling of being observed by a stalker in the darkness spreading among the crowd, padded footfall echoed in the room, somehow, both quiet and loud at the same time. 

 

With a powerful roar, a massive tiger-like creature emerged from the shadows, unseen until mere moments before, it was almost like it was fading into reality as its powerful muscles lead it to land on the opposite side of the arena. Large as a buffalo, with two heads and a somewhat unnaturally symmetrical pattern of dark stripes that felt like they were stolen from the night sky, it's two pairs of eyes burned with an unnatural fire.

 

"Be fast to place your bets, my friends. Someone is hungry tonight..."

 

----

 

The gorilla grinned at Davyd grim joke. "He better not. For his own sake." He paused to let the two contestants navigate out of the backstage and into the arena.

 

Meanwhile, from the opposite side of the room, two more goons carried in a young man, bruised and barely conscious, with what looked like electric burn on his flesh, although a pair of attentive eyes could spot that they were quickly healing, dressed only in a pair of tattered jeans and a set military dog tags around his neck. They brought him inside one of the empty containers and disappeared from sight.

 

The door of the Shadow guy 'room' wasn't locked, however, from the feeling of it while in the hands of the goon, it seemed to be quite heavy.

 

Within, the container was illuminated by a small set of candles, whose shadows however, appeared to be way more expansive that what should have been projected by such tiny sources of light. Sitting on a metallic bench opposite to the entrance, was a boy, in his late teens, early twenties at most, wearing a stylish leather jacket, pale skin, eyes fully black, both the iris and the cornea and with blue neon colored hair, he was absent mindedly playing with what looked like a baseball made by some ebony, oily substance.

 

He turned toward Davyd and the guard.  

 

"Finally... It's my freakin' turn already?"

 

The Gorilla gave him a puzzled look, before shifting his attention toward the shapeshifter. "What is going on here?"

 

----

 

Seemingly without hurry, the jackal masked Mr. Tak emerged from the restrooms, with his two gorillas in tow. Now neither of the heroes could be sure if he was actually able to see them, but from the look of it, he was headed in their direction.

 

"Come on ladies and gents, it's unpolite to sneak around like that don't you know?" The man teased.

 

"Don't worry, I don't bite." His grin though, with its crowd of white teeth, seemed to suggest otherwise.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Nerdzul

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

Jennifer would have been happy to leave after finding Jacob. But things were quickly spiraling out of hand. Also, she couldn’t leave these two alone now, never mind the fact they had helped her with a reason, it just wasn’t in her to leave them now that they too were in danger. Possibly because they helped her.

 

On 12/20/2021 at 11:19 PM, Avenger Assembled said:

Neko kept her own council at that, then said, "Your man? Have you see him?" to Chimera. 

 

Jennifer gave a short nod.

“I just saw him. And he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do later.”

She replied as the announcer started the run down for the next match. At the unexpected roar she jumped a little and looked towards the pit, but her attention was quickly pulled back as the jackal-masked, Mr. Tak, emerged from the restroom on what appeared to be a direct line for them.

Instinctively, Jennifer placed herself between her two… companions? Cohorts? Accomplices? She placed herself between the two teens and the approaching threat.

The symbiote writhed under her skin in seeming anticipation. Or was it just responding to her fear and adrenaline? Whatever it was, Jennifer couldn’t think of a good reason hold it back anymore.

Silvery grey tendrils twine down her arms and legs as more tendrils wrapped around her chest and abdomen. She left the bear mask as it was, it did enough to hide her identity.

Chimera had no idea what the two teens were capable of, but she didn’t want to chance anything.

“Stay behind me.”

She said, trying to sound confident as she assumed what Neko could easily tell is a basic defensive martial arts stance. She had good mussel tone thanks to her track history, but was clearly only yellow or orange judging from her stance.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko blinked and stepped away from Owain and Chimera, incidentally leaving the spell that hid her from view. She faced the jackal-headed man and cocked her head, her eyes reflecting golden fire from the light in front of her - exactly like a giant cat's. 

 

"You see me?" she hissed. There was now a steady drip-drip-drip from the walls and Chimera could see a red fluid dripping from them that pooled and flowed like blood. Neko herself seemed to be undergoing a metamorphosis as she stalked towards Mr. Tak, her limbs distending and hands turning into claws, eyes bulging with madness. What Neko was thinking was that her teachers had been right and that dark magic had dark consequences, but lacking the ability to say that in English, she said "You see me?" She floated suddenly in the air, dark hair obscuring one eye, fingers extended into talons as she reached for them. "YOU SEE ME YANKEE!?" she demanded as suddenly a terrible wailing sound came from her mouth as if the screaming of a giant horribly starved infant, and all around them and out into the corridors, a vast illusion that penetrated even onto the stands, came the sound of men screaming for mercy in English and Japanese, a cacophony of slaughter.  

 

Meanwhile, the real Neko dropped to all fours and ran like Hell for the door. For his part, Owain appeared again, his form collapsing again to that of a wolf, and interposed himself between Chimera and the thugs, giving a menacing growl to back up Neko's terrifying illusion. 

[Dr Archeville]

Horrorshow

 

Fiery Fury and The Gentleman?, Davyd mentally repeated the names to himself.  Well, at least that's two less to worry about.  And now I know he can fly.

 

And then he reached the end of where his deception would take him.  "Oh, well, y'see," he started, trying to think of some way to salvage and extend his ruse, but then he just shrugged and went to action.  His arms stretched ever so slightly as he grabbed the gorilla goon before him, spun around and flung him at the monitor-watching gorilla, hoping to knock the two out in one go.

 

"I got no problem with fight clubs," he grunted at the shadowy teen, "I'm just here to get out anyone who doesn't want to be here.  You got a problem with that?"  He was pressed for time, so didn't give his question the 'oomph' he might otherwise have tried.

 

[Nerdzul]

Mr. Tak clearly winced as the terrifying illusion unfolded. "Woah. Woah. Woah. There is no need to..." He took a step back or two, as his guards gave him a disapproving look, seemingly unfazed by the display. He didn't seem to register Neko's quick dash, but he definitely couldn't miss Chimera and Owain's sudden appearance.

 

"And who  the - are you two?" The jackal masked man tilted his head slightly, giving Chimera's metallic symbiont a worried look. 

 

"What are you two waiting for! Get them!" Mr. Tak shouted to his guards that quickly assumed a fighting stance. 

 

Meanwhile, the same sense of dread began to spread among the crowd and cries of confusion  filled the warehouse.

 

--- 

 

"My dearest guests. No need to worry. We just have some new challengers..." The ringleader voice boomed again, overpowering even the screams coming from the Neko's illusion.

 

"What a surprise." She continued, as what seemed like spotlights, although they lacked a clear source, manifested to illuminate Chimera and Owain, the hellish glare of the bonfires that lit the arena seemingly dimming as well, plunging the rest of the room almost into darkness.

 

"Fiery Fury! Gentleman! Please demonstrate your talents to the newcomers. I'm sure that the Tyger will appreciate your dedication to the cause..."  She added playfully. The monstrous tiger in the arena gave her a displeased growl, but didn't seem that interested in the two modern gladiators anymore, choosing instead to rest in the makeshift arena. 

 

"And for those who don't mind a little bit of business... My brother is eager for your bets!" The woman grinned as the bookie with the fox mask nodded approvingly from his stand.

 

 ---

 

Still unaware of what was going on, the gorilla got caught completely off guard, he struggled against Davyd's grip, with almost unnatural strength, but it was not enough to overpower the young shapeshifter nor to avoid being used as a projectile against his companion at the monitors, who in turn, didn't have the time to react as well and crashed against the metallic wall of the container.

 

The shadowy teen, stood up from his perch. "What the-" He clenched his fists, although, the grin on his lips betrayed more than a hint on amusement as he saw Davyd make short work of the two guards. 

 

"Who the hell are you dude?" The shadows of the room twisted unnaturally around him forming a protective shell of sort around their master. "And yeah I have a problem man, tonight is my only shot at-" He objected, his voice now distorted with otherworldly echoes. He did not attack however, or dash toward Davyd, in fact, the shapeshifter could have guessed that his words might have had an effect on him. 

 

He was interrupted however, by one the two guards that had been carrying Jacob inside. "You have made a mistake buddy." They unceremoniously dumped the young man unconscious form on the ground and quickly got ready to charge...

 

--- 

 

As Neko dashes toward the door, she sees a few more figures, that however don't seem that interested in the confusion happening at the time. A tall man, in jeans and sneakers, with a jacket on, but no shirt, showing off his well muscled chest and an half mask with wolf-like features concealing most of his face, not unlike the Ringleader or Mr. Tak.

He has a greasy paper bag in his hands and is intent in chewing on what look like a fried chicken. With him are two goons, one on each side, who are on alert, but don't seem like they are going to join the fray against Chimera and Owain anytime soon.

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by Nerdzul

[Nerdzul]

Chaos is beginning to break lose in the arena, as many among the audience are still definitely on edge, despite the attempts of the Mistress of Mayhem to keep things under control. There is a significant group however, that finds the prospect of this new and unexpected round of bets pretty enticing and have began to swarm the Bookie as the confrontation unfolds. 

 

Mr. Tak, most of his bravado (if there ever was any) lost, simply witness the scene, staying back from the girl with the dangerous looking metallic symbiont and the massive wolf, letting his minions and the fighters do the job.

 

"Of course. People, do you want them raw or crisp?" Fiery Fury boasts, while the Gentleman simply gives an annoyed scoff as the two fighters prepare to confront our heroes.

 

Meanwhile, in the backstage, the two gorillas who had just dropped the bruised and semiconscious wolf-man on the ground waste no time in charging toward Horrorshow. The first one manages to throw a sudden jab toward the young shapeshifter, impressing plenty of his momentum in the attack, while the other, hindered perhaps by his large frame and the relatively limited cramped conditions of the area, could only muster to swing widely at the air. 

 

The Shadowy Teen gives them a worried look, he seems hesitant and does not interfere, for now at least.

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Nerdzul

[Avenger Assembled]

On hands and feet, flat on the ground, Neko listened to the power of the place and tried a new tactic, even as she stopped in her running to look back for Owain, who was firmly guarding the hallway. 

 

Abruptly, the eerie wailing and terrifying screaming came to an end and was replaced by a hissing, accented voice that seemed to come from everywhere, the noise a cat would make if it could speak and were wrathful. 

 

"Fools! This place make you - ash! Begone!" The warning repeated itself, over and over again, echoing through the entire building.  

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

Chimera resisted taking a step back as Neko’s illusions took shape. Behind them, she could hear the announcer as she riled up the crowd and it didn’t sound like Chimera wanted to hang around for long.

She saw Neko attempt to rush for the doors as her illusions distracted the jackal-masked man and his goons, but the wolf-boy had stayed by her side. When the goons got too close the wolf attacked, dragging one man down. Unfortunately, as the first goon fell unconscious the second managed to land a hit squarely.

“No!”

Chimera found herself yelling as she quickly stepped up and drove a fist into the attacker’s side.

[Nerdzul]

"Ohohhh... The newcomers are hard hitters it seems. The fight is gonna be fun people."  The ringleader comments playfully as Chimera and Owain took down the goons with relative ease. Both of the big guys quickly finding themselves on the floor after the attack of the two heroes. 

 

The crowd though, seem to have a moment of uncertainty as Neko's illusion seed some doubt in their ears. 

 

--- 

 

Mr. Tak gives the two heroes a bit of a worried look as they easily dispatch his escort and takes more than a few steps back.

 

"Fine..." He mutters, seemingly in response to some unseen counterparty. He opens his arms, somewhat theatrically and a ring of dark flames sprouts from the ground, surrounding Chimera and Owain, but giving them both plenty of space to move if they wanted to. The downed gorillas themselves seem to disappear into smoke as the Jackal masked man performs his stunt. 

 

--- 

 

The finely dressed man hovers on top of the ring of fire. "It is my pleasure to make your acquaintances, good madam and young sir. Please sit. Will you?" Owain feels like there was some kind of force trying to pull him toward the ground, but he manages to jump out of the way. The Gentleman simply nods. "As you wish." 

 

With a powerful roar, Fiery Fury jumps into the arena, an explosion bursts out as she lands like a small meteor in between Owain and Chimera. 

 

--- 

 

Meanwhile, confusion reins in the 'gladiator's pen' the Shadowy teen, still unsure about what to do takes a few steps toward the goons. "Wait! What the hell are you doing?"

 

One of the goons goes to confront him. "Stay out of the way. And do not worry. This is just an internal matter you see..." Davyd couldn't miss a hint of threat in the towering man's voice. The boy though, didn't look particularly intimidated. 

 

The young shapeshifter can also sense steps in the other containers, like if some of the fighters are approaching to see what is going on. 

 

The remaining goon does not wait for his companion to calm down the kid and instead he tries to tackle Davyd. This time though, the reflexes of the young shapeshifter kick in before the man could connect, leaving him grasping the air. 

 

--- 

 

As Neko's illusion seems to be affecting the crowd, the wolf-masked man by the door stops paying attention to his bag of fried chicken and instead turns to address her.

 

"That's quite a show you are making..." He smiles, like with his other compatriots, Neko gets the feeling that somehow he has too many teeth.

 

"The master could use someone of your talents... Although, I must say that messing with our little show here would not be appreciated." He continued, grabbing another chicken wing from his bag.

 

---

 

[Avenger Assembled]

"No!" Neko hissed, tail flashing behind her and ears high on her head. She bared her pointed front teeth and shaped her fingers into claws, yellow eyes blazing as she hissed at the wolf-man. "No masters!" She turned and ran for where she'd last seen Owain, head down and on all fours. 

 

For his part, Owain gave a yelp of pain like a wounded dog, but didn't fall as he rallied besides Chimera. "Villain!" he called in a voice that shook just a little, not at their tormenter but at that tormentor's invisible master. "Are you afraid to come face us?" 

[Dr Archeville]

Horrorshow

 

The 'rogue' Gorilla Goon lashed out at the one who had tried tackling him, knocking him down and out with his meaty fist.

 

Alright, one down, who knows how many more to go...

 

He quickly turned to face the other Gorilla, who was threatening the Shadowy Teen.  "I'll say it one.  More.  Time," he growled, "I'm just here for the ones who don't want to be here.  Let me take 'em out, that'll be it.  I won't come back, I won't call the cops, or the capes.  But if you try to stop me," he glanced over to the one he' just knocked out, "you'll all end up like that one."

[Nerdzul]

It was clear that Neko's second illusion was having a greater impact on the crowd, the amount of those who were enthusiastically turning toward the new spectacle had greatly decreased, new bets had mostly died out and in fact, frightful murmurs were beginning to spread. Sure, there were still some diehard fans, but the seed of doubt had definitely been planted among the majority of the guests.  Although she was distracted by the wolf-maked man words, the young hero could feel that the supernatural effect that seemed like it was feeding on the crowd in a way was growing weaker this time, like if somewhat deprived of sustenance.

 

The wolf by the door however, although definitely a bit puzzled by her behavior, still didn't seem interested in retaliation, or in running after the young cat-like hero, preferring instead to keep his place by the door. 

"Live and learn..." He shook his  head and went back to his meal. 

 

The ringleader however, had definitely registered her intrusion. "Do not listen to these lies, my friends. We all know that from time to time, heroes like to get involved in our line of business... This is just one of their tricks. Rest assured, it is all going to be taken care off... The show will go on!" Although the woman pretended to remain somewhat calm, the young heroes could definitely feel the irritation in her voice, especially since, while her words seemed to reassure some of the audience, especially among the masked individuals, who seemed to feel like the intrusion was still part of the entertainment, there were still plenty left unconvinced, particularly among the more general crowd.

 

As Neko darted through the room to reach Owain, she quickly realized that her path was now barred by the ring of fire conjured by Mr. Tak. Who, while keeping a safe distance from the fight, still turned to face her. "I figured we had an illusionist among us..." 

 

--- 

 

Meanwhile, in the backstage Davyd had made short work of the goon, who quickly joined his two companions on the floor. 

"You don't get it man... We need this stuff..." Objected the teen.

 

While the remaining guard seemed unimpressed.

 

"If I win, the Tyger is gonna..." Then the boy seemed to metaphorically bite his tongue, like if telling out loud what he was after would spoil his chances of making it real.

 

"Indeed." A voice came from the 'entrance' of the container. It was a woman, in a well tailored suit, clad in a cobra mask, the one that the heroes had seen mingling with the crowd before.

 

"I appreciate the felling and I can ensure you, there is no one here who is not participating against their volition." Now, Davyd couldn't be sure, but he could tell at least that her words were probably technically true, but that there was definitely more to it.

 

"Who might you be, I wonder? Certainly, you are not one of our men..."  She continued. "You don't feel as if you are one of the young capes that are disturbing our little show..."

Edited January 23, 2022 by Nerdzul

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

Chimera’s attention was on the jackal-masked man as he created a ring of fire around her and the wolf-boy. This presented a problem when one of the fighters made a rather dramatic entrance, catching her off guard.

The explosion caught her full force, causing her to stumble aside a step. Her ears rang and the skin on that side was scorched as a result. Chimera grunted as she shook her head trying to clear it.

[Nerdzul]

Reluctantly, Mr. Tak advanced to confront Neko. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you join your friends, three versus two would be unfair don't you think?" He didn't exactly place himself in her way though and neither he did look that eager to get into a fight with a superhero.

 

He snapped his fingers and two leashes materialized out of thin air, darting like snakes toward the Neko, but ultimately the attack proven to be clumsy and she could easily dodge.

 

... 

 

"I thought you'd be tougher Capes." Fiery Fury boasted, mostly oblivious about what was going on beyond the wall of fire. "Time to cut short this fight. Taste my Meteor Strike!" She unsheathed the massive sword from her back and landed it powerfully toward Chimera, that however, managed to get out of the way as the blade planted itself in the ground, cutting deep through the concrete like if it was just butter. 

 

Meanwhile, her companion surveyed the scene from above, seeming somewhat annoyed that Nek's whispers had disrupted the attention of the crowd from what was their moment under the spotlight. He appeared to concentrate for a moment, as nearly a dozen knives made of neon blue force appeared to float in the air close to him. "Be a good dog and lay down, will you?" The knives darted in the air toward Owain like if wielded by some invisible hand, only a few of them however managed to reach the time displaced knight. 

... 

 

The remaining gorilla was ready to throw himself at Davyd, but the well dressed woman with the Cobra mask stopped him with a simple gesture of her hand. 

 

"It might seem to be counter-intuitive, as after all this is a fighting ring, but personally, I do not love violence and I was wondering, if maybe we could come to an agreement that will not require us to resort to barbaric means to settle our differences." She explained.

 

"I am Miss Nagi and trust me, any grievance you have with us, or with the Tyger can be discussed with me."

Edited January 23, 2022 by Nerdzul

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko did a crouching leap upward that no human girl her size could have hoped to make, bounding over the leash as an animalistic growl escaped her throat. She only understood part of what the masked man was saying but she advanced on him, ears up and tail puffed out behind her, as the voice urging evacuation inside the arena faded. "Fair? Fair?" She slashed the air with her outstretched fingers and to Tak's eyes things began to spill out of the slashes she made, flaming cats riding terrible chariots of fire, hissing things that madly circled and hissed at Mr. Tak as the cat-girl looked him in the eye and declared in a voice that dripped blood and fire from every syllabus and thundered like the boom of Hell itself "You see them!? You will see them always, yankee dog! Unless!" She pointed the other way, back the way she had come, away from the fight. 

[Dr Archeville]

Horrorshow

 

Okay, okay, might be able to salvage this without having to fight everyone.  And find out what Uncle Sasha's up to.  Gotta finesse this, though...

 

Davyd!Gorilla cocked his head, "we negotiatin'?," he snorted, then twitched a bit.  "I- alright, hold on, the other guy wants t'talk."

 

The "Gorilla Goon"'s body shifted and shrank, as did its outfit.  In moments, he had shifted into a thin middle-aged man with delicate features, sharply dressed and with hands covered in white gloves... and the gorilla mask was clearly not a mask, for it had smoothed and resolved into his face!

 

He gave a small bow, "Dr. Genadyevich*," he said in a crisp, Russian-accented voice, "and you have already met my counterpart, Mr. Egorov**.  He had heard of your organization," he folded his arms behind his back, "and wanted to check it out, perhaps join in for a few matches.  I eventually agreed, with some caveats, first being that this place operates in a way that I would not take issue with."  He sniffed, looked around, "I can certainly appreciate the need to 'let off some steam' once in a while, in ways that genteel society may not find acceptable, but I would object to any fighters being held here against their will.  Can you, Miss Nagi, offer assurances that all participants here do so of their own free will, without coercion -- physical, mental, or otherwise -- and are free to leave at any time they choose?"

 

* gee-nah-d'yay-vitch

** eh-gor-ahv

 

[Spacefurry]

Chimera 

 

Chimera shook off the shock of Fury’s initial attack. She looked up in time to see her draw a nasty looking blade. The woman raised it and brought it down in a powerful swing but Chimera was ready. She quickly side stepped the swing, letting it carve out a piece of the floor as she made a fist and drew back.

“You’re right, let’s cut this short.”

Electricity crackled across her fist, leaving a slight trail behind as she swung. Her fist connected, the electrical aura around it cushioning the impact but sending a shock into her opponent. Unfortunately thou it seemed to do little to faze the woman and Chimera quickly wondered if the blade in the floor had grounded out the attack.

Before the woman could retaliate Chimera stepped back and assumed a defensive stance. Off-handedly, she thought to herself that she needed to practice her ‘smack talk’. That had been a terrible come back.

[Avenger Assembled]

The time for talk was over. Growling furiously, Owain bounded on the 'Gentleman' (who seemed nothing of the sort to his mind) and bit deep, sinking his powerful teeth into the man's thigh and worrying at him like a dog with the bone before bounding away. He was learning to respect those blades and had no desire to find himself in close proximity to the man for any longer than it took to bring him down. 

[Nerdzul]

"You are an impressive man Dr. Genadyevich. And from what I have learned about your skills, or rather the ones of Mr. Egorov, we would be honored to have you join us in the arena..." She smiled from under her mask as her eyes shifted toward the pile of goons that Davyd had managed to take down.

 

"The public would approve and much likely so would my boss." Again she gestured the guard to relax and the remaining Gorilla abandoned his aggressive stance almost immediately.

 

"Although, admittedly, right now we are having a small issues with some local capes and I was wondering if you can lend us your talents in dealing with them."

 

"And of course I can. I mean, we are not animals here." She smirked. "No coercion, supernatural or otherwise, but, to be completely transparent with a perceptive individual such as yourself, some of them are here not just for the thrill. They seek rewards that few, but my master, are willing or able to provide."

 

The teen boy lowered his eyes and clenched his fists a little. 

 

---

 

"Wait! Wait! Stop!" Mr. Tak, startled by Neko's display. For a few moments he tries to somehow shake the images away from him, his hands clawing at the empty air, until finally managing to recover some resolve to strike back.

 

"You... You are not running away..." He muttered angrily between breaths, sniffing the air for any trace of the young cat-girl.

 

"There." He remarks, the malice in his voice barely concealing his tension as conjured a ring of flames, not unlike the ones that now surround the fighters, albeit much smaller in size around her position. 

 

---

 

The Gentleman winced under his mask. "Rab-" He metaphorically bit his tongue. "Bad doggie..." Doing his best to pretend like if he was unaffected by the wolf biting in (not exactly successfully all things considered), before unleashing a burst of telekinetic energy aimed at Owain, the blast missing the time displaced knight only by a few inches as the man hovered higher over the arena to put some more distance between himself and the danger.

 

"Nice try. I give you that darlin'" Fiery Fury shrugged off the burst of electricity much better than her companion had with Owain's fangs. She was still unable to liberate her massive sword from the ground however, but that didn't seem to deter her. Instead, a weave of heat ratidated from her, flowing through the blade and into the ground, melting the concrete into a line of boiling 'quicksands' that snaked dangeroursly toward  Chimera. 

 

 

[Spacefurry]

Chimera 

 

Molten cement licked across her side as Chimera dodged out of the way, leaving scorched flesh visible through the hole burned through her dress. Smaller, splashes spotted her arm and one even hit her cheek. Chimera grimaced and sucked in air through gritted teeth.

Just the air on her wounds hurt. She could feel the blood pounding through her heart as it raced through her. This woman was more dangerous then she thought.

“I liked this dress.”

She growled as she stared the woman down, considering her options. The symbiote inside her took the opportunity and techno-organic nanites spread to wounded flesh. Before her opponent’s eyes the burnt flesh started to flake off, revealing under it already healing, fresh pink skin untouched by the super heated attack.

[Dr Archeville]

Horrorshow

 

"Your 'master' sounds like someone I would be very interested in meeting," "Dr. Genadyevich" replied, "and I take it that assisting you in dealing with the," he turned his head towards the passageway to the arena, "local disturbances would expedite that.  So, yes," he nodded, "I would be wiling to assist you in this matter."

 

Crap crap crap crap crap okay think okay I'll go out and see who's out there, maybe I can get a message to them, get them to back off.  But what if they're here looking for someone, someone who is -- despite what Miss Cobra says -- here against their will?

 

The slim Russian man walked out to the arena and quickly looked around, reminding himself not to sprout any eyestalks for an increased arc of vision.  Davyd first looked for his Uncle Sasha, then for the powered fighters he'd already seen (Chain Lightning, Tak, Fiery Fury, Gentleman) and who they were fighting.

 

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko put her hands on the side of Mr. Tak's face, pointy tips digging into the skin, and laughed without a trace of humor: "kekekeke" 

 

Then she spoke to him like this, as the illusions faded and he gazed into her blazing eyes as she spoke in a voice like death itself: 

 

"I told you, fool.

You will suffer, Yankee dog!

Whimper for me!" 

 

And when she left him there, whimpering, she turned and strode through the barriers that blocked her from the arena, even as inside Owain snapped and bit at the Gentleman without actually penetrating flesh. 

[Nerdzul]

Terrified for his life and blinded by nightmarish Illusions Mr. Tak couldn't do much, but whimper, it was hard to miss the other Masked sneering at him from their positions. 

 

The ring of fire that he had conjured appeared to flicker out of existence and as she safely walked in, Neko noticed that it had failed to burn anything on the ground, unlike the meteoric descent of Fiery Fury moments before. However, it didn't take much for the ring to reform itself once she had crossed it. Her senses picking up a magic similar to Tak in nature asserting itself, much likely from another one of the Masked.

 

"Look, people! We have another contender! How unexpected!" The ringmaster booming voice echoed again in the makeshift arena as Neko herself joined the fray. "Perhaps it's time for master's surprise to get into the fray..." She smiled as the three headed tiger creature that have been waiting at her feet growled menacingly. 

 

"No need hon. We got them." Fiery Fury boasted from within the ring as she finally succeeded in liberating her massive sword from the now half molten ground and took a powerful swing toward the feline superhero. 

 

Still soaring in the sky, the Gentleman decided to shift the target of his offensive, conjuring another storm of knives and aiming the deadly swarm of telekinetic projections at Chimera. "It'm sorry miss, but it's impolite to distract one-selves from a fight." He quipped. 

 

---

 

"I'm sure that the master would be intrigued to meet you as well, Doctor." Ms. Nagi smiled at the young Russian shapeshifter.

 

"And I am glad that you have chosen to assist. When this is all settled I'll provide you with an invitation to a more... shall we say... exclusive event, the Master will be there as well as plenty among the city 'notables'." She smirked.

 

She waved at him as Horrorshow left the backstage, while her own goons moved in to assist the ones that he had easily taken down not long before. 

 

Once outside, it was hard to miss the circle of flames and the spotlights that illuminated the area where fight was taking place. Meanwhile Chain Lightning seemed to show little interest in the confrontation, busy as she was with a drink and a small crowd of admirers. Uncle Sasha on the other side was watching the 'match' from a safe distance among the crowd.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Nerdzul

[Avenger Assembled]

The flaming sword whipped towards Neko's face and she bent at the waist, impossibly agile for a human girl, the blade passing by over her face so close she could feel its heat. 

 

That sword cannot frighten me! 

 

When she came back up, her hands were behind her back as she leaped backwards, landing on her feet as her tail switched back and forth behind her. "Pathetic," she sneered, drawing on the lessons she'd learned about how to taunt on the battlefield from both Crimson Katana and Jack of all Blades. She dodged another strike, bounding backwards with every move as her ears twitched atop her head, finding her target as she shifted her weight to her left foot. "You are clumsy fool, Yankee! Come and get me if you can!" She leaped backwards again and this time leaped high in the air as she went, twisting away around her flexible spine as the Fiery Fury leaped for her, blade extended.