The Mortal Strain

[Kerrigan_dragon]

Angie sat on the earthen ground in the shadow of an almond tree, lost in thought as she started contemplatively at the salty waves crashing against the shore. She had a good life, considering. Most prostitutes had an abusive pimp, she'd heard. She lived on the streets, yes, but she wasn't in poverty. The pants she had now were brand spanking new - minus the spanking, as no one had actually spanked her in them... yet. And even the "whoring" wasn't so bad. She always made sure to use a condom - "no glove, no love" she'd tell people - and she got pretty good money, especially she was the only prostitute on this island. She stood up and turned her back to the ocean to look over the town that sprawled over the island. She'd always loved the colors; bright whites and gorgeous blues that fought with the sea and sky for attention. And it was far away from... her past. Her expression darkened momentarily, but quickly went back to being merely contemplative. She loved the people, the weather, the food, everything...

If her life was so good here, why did she want to leave so bad? It's not that she wanted to leave off being a prostitute - she was good at it, and it felt good, and she wasn't good at anything else - just, she wanted to leave. She felt like there was an invisible wire in her stomach tugging her, pulling at her to leave this all behind, just for the sake of leaving. She sighed as she glanced at her watch. It was almost time for her to get back and - she grimaced at the term - start whoring again.  

[Red Glacier]

he came up and grabbed Angie "Yeah , you are the one" his eyes glowed "i've come to give you a new path. i'm sure you'll enjoy it" he gave a bit of a laugh

Haze: he gets his large sword and smacks the creature off of Angie.

Creature: "Haze, its been a while" he gets up and puts up his shield and spear

Haze: "Spartan....." he looks back at Angie "Run"

Spartan: "Her destiny lies with us"

Haze: "Thats for her to decide" he morphs into a new form


he fires a few shots at the Spartan and takes Angies hand gently and begins running "I'm sorry about this"  

[xDarkPisces]

"Sparring, huh?" Rex felt his mood begin to lighten, which was odd for him. He hadn't felt lively or bright in quite a time now. His thoughts drifted, as usual, to a long past afternoon when he had spent a long time scaring people away from a dark alley by contorting their shadows into hideous forms. He chuckled inwardly as he came back to the present, now fully ready to test his abilities. There was only one problem left to face...

"Er... I haven't ever had any martial arts training or anything. I'd just be in the way, really," he said, a bit glumly, but he had other things he could do instead. "Though I suppose there's no better time to start, right?" He was addressing the mercenary. "By the way, what'd you say your name was?" he didn't extend a hand, knowing his party wouldn't shake it anyway. He remembered from a past experience that their kind were never very trusting.  

[Kerrigan_dragon]

Angie stood still for a moment, blinking, then began to say, "What the fu-" before Haze grabbed her hand and they began to run. "What the hell is going on?" she yelled at him, looking back in confusion. "Who the hell are you?"  

[Roland Karloseth]

Roland thought for a quick second, then said "Ehh, what the hell. No sense keeping secrets, at least as far as names are concerned. Names Roland." He figured it wouldn't be a problem. After all, Haze had already addressed him by his name, so they already knew who he was. "Not quite sure I caught your either... and as far as martial arts goes, I can teach you a bit if you would like. I am a black belt, tenth degree. I am certified to teach as well, though in order to do that, I had to register my hands as lethal weapons. Under an assumed name, of course, but you get the point..." Roland smirked.  

[Red Glacier]

Kerrigan_dragon

Angie stood still for a moment, blinking, then began to say, "What the fu-" before Haze grabbed her hand and they began to run. "What the hell is going on?" she yelled at him, looking back in confusion. "Who the hell are you?"

Haze: "My name is Haze. I'm here to help you." He takes her into an alley way between 4 buildings and he takes her into a hallway. the Spartan could be seen and heard outside destroying everything looking for them. dumpsters were stabbed into and thrown everywhere. Haze morphs into his original form.

"I'll get you out of here. Whats your name?" now take into consideration that in Hazes original form has a glowing blue orb at the center of the chest right under the rib cage, well thats more or less his heart and body.

The Spartans spear bursts through the wall cutting into Hazes orb and Haze falls to the ground yelling in pain having difficulty moving

Spartan: "There you are" he busts his hand through and grabs Hazes ankle then throws him across the alley. he approaches Haze with his spear and shield raised.

Haze: he slowly gets up and charges at the Spartan with his large sword and with a mighty crash his sword met the Spartans shield and then the spartan thrusted his spear forward, Haze spins to the side dodging it and swings again but is met by the shield. he tosses a grenade under the shield and runs. he gets Angie and hides behind a wall as the grenade exploded. parts of the wall came down and Haze was holding a supporting beam above Angie. The spartan was soon pounding on the beam trying to reach them. Haze looks at Angie "Don't be afraid"

_________________________________________________

Man: he looks at Rex and Roland "My name is Josh. I am the sparring room co-manager, welcome" he shows them into the arena where there were huge mats and punching bags as well as strange machines to measure how hard someone can hit by MPH.

Josh: "You all can use this first mat and you are welcomed to use anything in the room."  

[xDarkPisces]

"Rex," he said with a brief smile and a nod, now eying Roland with a curious respect for his obvious lethality. "Rex Landon. And... a tenth degree, you say? Aren't there only a handful of those... in the world?" He couldn't help but feel a certain amount of awe, for, in essence, he was standing in the presence of a living legend. Only this legend was the discreet kind.

He cracked his knuckles and smiled again, a genuinely excited smile. "You... you really think you could teach me a thing or two?" He'd never really had anyone offer to help him before... except, of course, for the priest... 'No,' he shut his mind to the thought.  

[Kerrigan_dragon]

"Angie," she told Haze, just before he got stabbed. "Oh god!" Everything was happening so fast.. who the hell were these people? Next thing she knew, they were under a support beam, with the creature pounding on it. "I'm only slightly afraid," she told Haze, surprised at her honestly. "Now whoever it is out there, would you kindly STOP IT! If you want me, killing me won't really help with that, now will it?"  

[Roland Karloseth]

"It's a lot more common than you may think, honestly. It is incredibly hard to achieve, it takes years of training, and many failures. A lot of people give up on it. But there are those that are so stubborn, they will do it just to say they did. I did it so I can survive in instances where I may be unarmed, like I am now. If anything were to happen now, with me being without a gun, I could fare against any weapon other than a gun, in which case I'm probably screwed. Then again, I'm unsure about these 'powers' that were spoken of earlier, so..." Roland shook his head. "So, you interested in learning a bit? I can teach you some basic blocks, as well as some pressure points on the body and how to hit them."  

[Red Glacier]

"He just wants me dead. We're not the best of friends i'm afraid" he said jokingly a bit. The sound of a small plane arrives near and haze throws the beam back on the Spartan and grabs Angie and runs for the plane that was hovering between the buildings. X was sitting inside as the doors opened and Haze let Angie go ahead and get on the plane, a copilot comes in and helps strap Angie in.

Spartan: he gets up and gets his shield up

Haze: he gets his desert eagles and shoots at the Spartan only getting blocked by the shield. he backs up onto the plane still shooting to keep the Spartan busy.

Spartan: he gets a pistol and with 4 shots hits Hazes heart and Haze slowly falls on his back. the orb was damaged and looked weak at the moment. the ship closed and they started ascending. Haze was unable to get up.

X: "You can take off the straps now that we are in air." he starts examining Haze and his orb.  

[xDarkPisces]

"I want to be evasive, but I want to know a few key strikes that'll at least, you know... Incapacitate a foe, if I need it." He looked at the floor, waving his hand idly, almost subconsciously, causing Roland's shadow to dance and shimmer in the light of the crystal chandelier overhead. "I want to be useful..." His last statement was broad and vague, but he expected Roland would understand... Then, out of curiosity, a bit of madness, and impulse, he lunged forward, throwing his quickest, hardest jab straight at Roland's face, a fierce grin spreading across his face.  

[Roland Karloseth]

Roland grinned, and he used his left hand to knock the blow aside, so Rex lunged past the place he was aiming. He then spun and landed a blow with the side of his open right hand right on Rex's back, hard enough to sting but gentle enough so that he didn't paralyze him from the chest down, as he could have easily done. "That was good, the face is a good weakspot, especially the nose. Even better if you can land a hit on the spot under the nose but above the lip. drive the skin and tissue into the teeth, crushing it. Hurts like a b***h. Also, one of the quickest ways to make a foe crumple if you come up behind them," Roland said, and made a scissoring movement with his hands, right over the left. "If you can put enough force behind it, land this right on either side of their neck, hitting both pressure points simultaneously. The sides are good too." Roland pointed at the spot on himself, right above the hips. "Fingertip jabs, on both sides. Also hurts like a b***h"  

[Kerrigan_dragon]

Angie looked around uneasily as she got strapped in, glancing from Haze to the pilot who was strapping her in to the other mysterious guy. She didn't know what on earth was going on, but she wanted some answers, dammi- Her train of thought broke off as Haze got shot. She didn't know him, but still. she didn't like to see people get shot. She took off her straps as the man advised and went over to Haze. "What's happening? I don't understand any of this. Will Haze be ok? Who was that? And why was he after me? And who are you and why did you people save me?"  

[Red Glacier]

X: "Calm down. Haze will be fine, he just needs time to recover, and a little plasma, put a hand on that orb, might make him feel better. but anyway. We are here because we know you have been the holder of some uncanny abilities. We wish to offer you a chance to leave your past life behind you and start a new one."  

[Kerrigan_dragon]

She blinked for a moment. Put a hand on the orb? she thought, looking down at Haze. How would that help? Wouldn't that make it worse? She tentatively reached her hand forward and stroked the orb delicately. "Uncanny abilities? Look, I can't do anything special, I think you have the wrong girl."