ic Growth Rings

[Gizmo]

Erik made a grumbling sound in the back of his throat as Min invited his father to their home but didn't disagree outright. Jean, for his part looked almost stricken for an instant at the mention of his granddaughter before quickly schooling his features into a muted if somber expression. "I... would very much like that, Minerva, if you thought it appropriate," he answered her finally, the words a little stiff as though he were having to concentrate more on translating them from his mother tongue than before. Clearing his throat, he regained a measure of his previous smoothness. "However, I might suggest answering this attack at its root before risking leading anyone back to your home, hm?"

"I'm thinking they don't get a free pass 'cause of the season, yeah," Erik agreed, reaching out to take Min's hand in his own. "You have some idea of where they're working out of?"

A vaguely predatory grin that the dryad found very familiar spread across Jean's face. "Haha, well! Let us just say while I have the benefit of many, many years evading notice by la Maison d'Épées, the reverse is not so very true!" Looking the younger couple up and down, he added, "Do you wish to assume your more colourful attire d'avance? Your city, your rules."

Considering briefly, Erik shook his head. "They already know what we look like anyway. This isn't hero business anyway. It's a family matter."

[April]

"It is probably just as well, you know how I can be during winter."

Minerva gave Erik's hand a gentle squeeze, getting as much enjoyment out of her husbands warmth and presence that their interrupted anniversary would allow, allowing herself to forget for a moment that they were just attacked by those who had some unknown designs toward her husband and daughter.

A moment of peace.

A moment or two later, though, the ancient guardian put her war face on. The hulking armor she wore, and discarded, just moments before was replaced with something a little sleeker, elegant and predatory. The light scattering of flowers remained, a reflection of her seasonal disposition.

"Let's go hunting."

[Gizmo]

Erik grinned and bowed low over Min's armored hand, planting a light kiss on the smooth bark covering her knuckles. "You say the most romantic things, florecita." He turned back around to face his father and the dryad was able to see a certain energy common to the two men now that they had a clear goal, a mutual target. Erik stood with his posture a little looser, limbs made of perfectly coiled springs ready to explode while the subdued wince Jean had been sporting since being hit by the Katanarchist melted from his face. "Where are we headed?"

Pique gesturing for the younger couple to follow him as he took a moment to shove the ensnared ninja who'd hit him with his boot. "Not too terribly far, worry not! You do tend to advertize your location somewhat, you know. They have commandeered an office space in the city's west end." He flashed a smile over his shoulder. "I believe they may have even rented it legitimately, which seemed a touch of class."

His son snorted as they skirted along the edge of the woods, sticking to its cover for as long as they could. "The idea is letting them know who's protecting the neighbourhood so they stay away."

"Ah yes. How is that working out, incidentally?"

Before too long they'd made their out of the forest and down a few side streets before scaling the building across from the one Jean assured them was staffed by an alliance of Katanarchists and House of Swords members. "Now then," the Frenchman asked his son and daughter in law, stroking his chin, "what is our plan of attack, hm?" Something in the way he said it suggested a test as much as deferring to the locals for direction.

[April]

Willow observed the building from their perch.

 

"I am not filled with an abundance of patience at the moment," she admitted.  "And the overwhelming urge I have to protect my family is screaming at me to collapse the building on them all as an object lesson."

 

The dryad's armor encased hands creaked as she subconsciously flexed her fingers, subtly emphasizing her words.

 

"But such a thing, while satisfying, would not be right, would it?"  The armor peeled back from her face some as she shot a questioning look at Jack.  "It is still your city, my love, how would you prefer to remind them of that?"

[Gizmo]

"Our city. I keep saying, Min, it's our city. Let's keep the unscheduled demolition as Plan B for now, though," Erik suggested with a narrow eyed look toward the building in question. He was less concerned with showing the Katanarchists and their partners mercy than with avoiding any undue attention while they were handling their business. "I wouldn't mind giving them that object lesson up close and personal. We'll take them head on." Folding his arms, the fencer looked to the other two individuals on the rooftop. "They probably already know their ambush didn't pan out but they won't be expecting us to have come right here. We take them harder and faster than they can handle, no tricks, no showboating. Focus on anybody with powers but don't let the small fry swarm you. Clear?"

The last was directed much more at his father than his wife. "Crystal!" Jean agreed with a faint smirk, keeping his serious assessment of the decided approach to himself.

[April]

Min kissed her husband and lightly brushed her nose against his, the last thing he saw of her face was an impish smile before it was concealed behind a layer of living armor. "OK then," the ancient Guardian said, her melodic contralto slightly muffled, "I'm going to go knock on the door, make sure you bring the 'welcome to the neighborhood' gifts."

Then she leaped off the building.

Willow hit the ground hard, the sound of the heavy impact was unmistakable, but she already met her stride and before the building's occupants had a moment to react (if they were, indeed, alert and waiting to react to something) she slammed full force into the entryway. Glass flew everywhere as the building's set of double doors was smashed open and damaged beyond repair and an armored figure stood glaring about the lobby.

"Knock, knock."

[Gizmo]

The three dozen or so Katanarchists gathered about the first floor lobby of the disused office building and the overlooking second floor balconies that ran around three of its walls gaped from behind their masks for a beat at the demolished double doors, frozen briefly as they tried to figure out how to possibly respond to the armored dryad's bombastic arrival. The woman at the top of the stairs, standing out from the stealthy ninjas in her pristine white leathers, flared pants matching a fringed jacket and bleach blonde hair, seemed more amused than surprised, a grin too wide to be anything but manic playing across cherry red lips. "Haha! 'Knock knock,' she says!" the scimitar wielding woman whooped with a noticeable cockney accent, one hand on her hip. "That's fantastic! I practically don't want to kill you now!"

 

Moving almost in unison, Erik and his father swung into the building behind Min, the younger man back-flipping as he landed while the older performed a tighter somersault before coming up to his feet. "You. You were there the last time you morons tried to hurt my family," Erik growled in recognition, eyes narrowed and mouth curling in a snarl. "I told you last time that if I saw you in Freedom again you'd be leaving on a stretcher. What part of that was too complicated for you?"

"Maybe it's just that you're not so intimidating as you think, cuz!" the woman in white responded with an even wider grin. "Oi, you lot," she called to the Katanachists, "I did say 'practically'!" In response, the refocused ninjas filled the air with flashing steel.

[Gizmo]

Erik had enough time to dimly recall one of the other members of the House of Swords referring to the scimitar user as 'Patricia' in their last encounter before she'd clear the stairs in a single leap and was upon him, blade slicing though the air with furious speed. He took a nasty gash across one forearm as he regained his footing in the face of her assault and could push back. "Hhn, better than these meatheads you brought with you," he congratulated before blocking her next strike with the fiery construct in his hand, "but this time you don't have a witch backing you up and messing with my mojo." A flurry of thrusts rocketed past her defense, burning sizzling holes in her leather jacket and landing cuts along her sword arm.

"I'll leave you youngsters to the kids' table, then," Jean quipped while sprinting past and toward the first group of Katanarchists. Age had barely slowed the fencer down at all and two of the ninja were knocked unconscious to the floor before their brothers were able to react. Just like in the forest, the ninja with the higher ground did their best to dog him with barrages of shuriken while those on the first floor took advantage of his hampered movements and their superior numbers to attack at close range. Each katana strike was met with a ready parry from his rapier, however, the older man dancing about the battlefield as if choreographed. The remaining assassins focused on Min, some surrounding her while others took shots from above.