|
Post by Kiryu on Sept 19, 2019 21:00:44 GMT -8
Company Always on the run Destiny is the rising sun Oh I was born 6-gun in my hand Behind a gun I'll make my final stand That's why they call me Bad CompanyKiryu resisted the urge, strong as it was, to sing along with the classic rock that he had grown up with. After all, Caffey might not appreciate it.
It was a testament to the design of the motorcycle that even at this speed, with the engine roaring sand and gravel and dust being blown in it's wake, the song could still be heard. The melodic notes of the keyboard gave me to a bit of drums, and then a sonorous voice came in paired with guitar, heralding the beginning of one of the most excellent classic rock power ballads of all time. Kiryu sang along for a bit enthusiastically, then turned slightly behind to ask a question.
Kiryu as driving his motorcycle, cutting across a canyon to a highway road. Seated behind him was Caffey. The two had struck up a friendship after their match in Caffey's village, and the Cobra Master had decided to accompany Kiryu on his journey, at least for a while. The two had already fallen into an easy rhythm, their energetic enthusiasm infecting one another. They had continued to spar while on the road, testing each other's limits and slowly becoming stronger and stronger. Kiryu and Caffey had already both completely eclipsed where they had been when they first fought, and they were getting stronger every day.
"This is one of my favorites, but I've heard it a million times. Mind if I switch over to the local radio and see if they've got anything interesting on?"
Caffey shrugged, nonchalant, and Kiryu fiddled with some buttons, changing the station. To his surprise, he did not hear any music, but came in to the middle of a breaking news report.
"-local authorities have no leads. Once again, this is Nasuke Toten for Southwest News, reporting that a short while ago, the notorious Professor Poblano blew up a Capsule Corporation facility in an act of corporate terrorism. Early information indicates that a powerful incendiary device was detonated at their robotics facility in the Southern Desert. No one was harmed, as it was an unmanned facility, but initial estimates indicate that Capsule Crop will lose at least ten million zeni from this attack.
After the attack, Professor Poblano published a video to numerous social media websites, claiming credit for the attack. The infamous former founder of Pepper Corp, Professor Poblano was forced out by his board of directors after the giant Capsule Corp offered to buy them out for three hundred million zeni. Professor Poblano was an outspoken opponent, wishing to control his company and brand, but eventually the board turned against him and accepted Capsule Corp's offer. Professor Poblano retreated from the public eye. After several months of seclusion he emerged in what can only be described as an unhinged, villainous persona, waging a private war against Capsule Corporation. So far no life has been lost, but one has to wonder if the attacks are going to get worse, and when this will all end.
Capsule Corp, it seems, shares this mindset. They have offered a bounty to anyone willing and able to bring Professor Poblano to justice. There is evidence that he has created advanced robotic soldiers and utilizes them-"
Kiryu turned the radio down and came to a stop. He turned back to Caffey, frowning.
"I was just at a place that did some research and development, and some bandits were harassing them. I wonder if there's any way these two are linked. Want to go check it out? If the reports are true it would probably be good for us to try to face some mechanical opponents. We'll have to deal with them in different ways. And it'll at least be an adventure and get some prestige for the Cobra School! What do you say? Should we check this out?"
Kiryu was definitely hoping that Caffey would be on board.
[WC=651] Caffey
|
|
Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
|
Post by Caffey on Sept 19, 2019 22:15:03 GMT -8
Caffey had a new assessment of the world outside the dojo. Amazing. Since her first encounter with Kiryu, she’d seen so many jaw droppingly cool things, things that she’d never dreamed of seeing within her dojo. After her fight with Kiryu, they’d agreed that it would be best for both of their futures to team up, at least for the time being, and explore together. Kiryu had a motorcycle, which Caffey thought was one of the coolest things she’d seen since leaving the dojo, and she’d grown accustomed to riding on it, behind Kiryu. The world outside the dojo, she’d decided, was beautiful, and she had no idea how she’d ever manage to go back to living the way she had before. Riding with Kiryu, with her jacket around her waist and happily singing along to a song she was only half-listening to, even in her short time on the road she’d heard it a half dozen times, this was the life she’d been missing all along, she just didn’t know it. So preoccupied with the surrounding landscape was she that she didn’t really register the question Kiryu had asked her, only giving a non-committal shrug in response. The world was a wonderous and beautiful place, and she couldn’t wait to see more of it, and she hoped Kiryu would join her for that, too. This lack of focus continued until she suddenly started registering what the radio was saying. She had a passing familiarity with Capsule Corp, even in the middle of the desert they were the biggest name around, and while she had personally mixed feelings on a business like that, someone carving a path of destruction of that size, with seemingly no regard for innocent life, simply could not be allowed to continue, it went against every moral teaching she’d learned since she was young. Before she could voice her concern, however, Kiryu beat her to it. She nodded at his words and returned his frown. “I was going to say we have to get over there before you said anything. Glad I don’t have to tell you that. If he’s making this a habit, we’ve got a duty to stop him, y’know. Or, uh, I do, as a Cobra Master. Which means we do, right?” Her frown turned into an eager grin. “Let’s go teach this Professor Poblano to behave himself in the future.”Kiryu gave her an affirmative nod, and the motorcycle started moving again, in search of the Professor. Caffey had never fought anything mechanical before, or anything other than the typical human and occasional animal person. Far beyond the moral obligation she felt to deal with this, her driving instinct to fight new and interesting things was taking over, and she looked forward to this new challenge. As they drove, she raised her voice enough to be heard over the motorcycle, trying to talk to Kiryu. “You said you ran into bandits that might be connected right? How much do we know? And the place that just got attacked, what about that, do we know where that is? I mean, I’m from around here, but I can’t think of a Capsule Corp factory… I never really left the area around the dojo.”
She trailed off, deep in thought again, and realized that even more than the drive to fight new opponents, danger in the desert was potential danger to her home, and her dojo, and her friends. The desert was a big place but there was always the risk that it would spill over in that direction. Her desire to stop this Professor Poblano was redoubled, now approaching something closer to desperation. They had to stop this guy, before his crazed crusade went in the direction of her homeland, or she’d be kept up at night worrying about the state of affairs back home. She reached behind herself to tie her hair up as they drove, which proved more challenging than expected, and started speaking again. “Hey, if we spot any bandits wandering around, try to make yourself seem weak, maybe they’ll attack us and we can get some info out of them about this guy.”
[WC=691]
|
|
|
Post by Kiryu on Sept 20, 2019 15:48:25 GMT -8
Kiryu rubbed his chin, thinking a bit about Caffey’s questions. As she spoke, he pulled out his smart phone. ”Well, I don’t know where it is, but I can figure it out.”As Caffey continued to speak, Kiryu composed a swift text and sent it off to Laguto. Awaiting a response, Kiryu turned his full attention back to Caffey. ”I think there definitely could be a link. After I rescued them from the bandits, I stayed and talked a bit with Laguto and his father. It looks like Poblano has been even worse than the news is letting on. Apparently, about six months back, he was able to hack into the Capsule Corp databases. He got kicked out before too long, but it seems he was able to pull a lot of information out while he had access. Could be that he found the locations of some of Capsule Corp’s secret research facilities.
If he had, I wouldn’t put it past this guy to have turned the Desert Demons on to the prototype motorcycle that Rance and Laguto were developing. It actually feels that that would fit. They say this guy is acting like a villain; directing an independent group to assault employees of Capsule Corp to try to hurt them in a roundabout way that would be difficult to trace seems like a classic super villain move to me.”At that moment, Kiryu’s phone buzzed. He glanced at Caffey, then read the contents of the text. ”It looks like Laguto was able to use their Capsule Corp computer clearance to at least get a location for us. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like it’s too far. Which is good because to be honest, I’m not going to know a whole heck of a lot more about the surrounding area than you do. Most of my travel has been from small village to small village, and almost always for a fight. At least, until I was able to link up with Laguto and Rance a couple of years ago. Man,” he laughed, shaking his head as he remembered, ”The first time I was in a city… I’ll never forget it. The sights, the sounds… the smells, sometimes. It seemed crazy to be. Like, how can people even live so close together? After a while, though, I got used to it, and there are some incredible things to be seen.”Both of them agreeing on their course of action, Kiryu set off in the direction that Laguto had indicated. It didn’t take long before Caffey’s words became prophetic. As they traveled, they spotted a large plume of dust heading their way. It could only be a group of bandits. They had clearly spotted Kiryu and Caffey already, likely with a pair of binoculars. And Kiryu couldn’t blame the bandits thought process, really. A young man and woman, traveling alone in the desert? Easy prey… or so the gang of bikers would think. Just like Crush and his lackeys had, when Kiryu had used a similar tactic. It was interesting to him that Caffey had the same thought. Kiryu turned and smiled towards Caffey. ”Well, then. Let’s go make some new friends.”As Kiryu continued to ride towards the oncoming wave of bandits, he flipped the audio back to his playlist and skipped ahead a couple of songs.When he heard what was playing, his lips pulled themselves into a feral grin. Make his fight on the hill in the early day Constant chill deep inside Shouting gun, on they run through the endless grey On the fight, for they are right, yes, by who's to say? For a hill men would kill, why? They do not know Stiffened wounds test there their pride Men of five, still alive through the raging glow Gone insane from the pain that they surely know For whom the bell tolls
|
|
Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
|
Post by Caffey on Sept 21, 2019 13:56:09 GMT -8
Caffey nodded intently, now making sure she caught everything Kiryu said to her. There wasn’t much connection to go on, but her gut feeling told her that these things had to be connected. She might be naïve about the world at large, but she’d dealt with village disputes, and occasional village defense, often enough to know that things like this were almost never coincidental. If there was a pattern here, things were related, no matter how loose the connection might seem. “ It seems way too convenient to just be a coincidence.” The girl said after Kiryu noted his experience with the bandits and employees. She continued to hang onto his words as he spoke about his friends, giving a beaming smile at his happy and energetic mood as he went through his memories. She liked seeing him happy and energetic like this, and it always rubbed off on her when he was, not that she really needed anyone’s help to be energetic, she always had too much energy to burn as-is. As the dust cloud rapidly approached, Caffey prepared herself for a fight. Being right was of little importance to Caffey at this point. It was a nice consolation, sure, but more important to her right now was tracking down the crazed Professor, everything else had moved to secondary in her mind. In a rare occurrence, all of her boundless energy was focused in one place. Unfortunately for the now approaching gang of bikers, that focus had now become them. Cracking her knuckles and pulling her jacket up and on, she urged Kiryu to continue driving, right into the approaching gang. “ Let’s just make sure at least some of them can answer our questions afterwards, yeah?” She said, a smile breaking across her face again. She might not have been happy to be right – but she was still looking forward to this fight more than she’d care to admit. Then she winked at Kiryu, and spoke up again while preparing to jump from their bike into the crowd of bandits. “ I’ll try to leave a few behind for you.” And with that, the Cobra Master leapt from their bike, towards the bandits. As she leapt from Kiryu’s bike towards one of the attacking gangsters, she could see plain as day on his face that he realized the mistake they’d made in assuming that Kiryu and Caffey were just ordinary people they could shake down. His expression quickly became meaningless, as Caffey’s outstretched foot impacted his face, and he was thrown from his bike, which spun off behind the group. Pushing off of the bandit, Caffey leapt again, over one of the other bandits, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and tossing him off his bike. It was then that Caffey realized she’d had no plan for how to proceed if she hit the ground. She was fast, but not as fast as the bikes. Quickly adapting, she made sure her trajectory would take her to land upon the next bike, instead of the biker himself. Quickly and wordless, she threw the biker off, and grabbed the handlebars. She’d never driven a motorcycle before, but she’d seen Kiryu do it, and she was smart, she’d surely be able to figure it out, or so she assured herself. For now she found herself riding in sequence with the remaining bikers, she felt, as she often did during a fight, that this was the only time she was well and truly alive. She let out a loud cheer as the bikers surrounded her bike and tried to knock her off, her quickly honed reflexes and comparative strength making their attempts futile. Still, she hoped Kiryu could hand the last of these guys before they gave up and steered her into something dangerous.
[WC=636] [TWC=1327]
|
|
|
Post by Kiryu on Sept 23, 2019 17:30:18 GMT -8
Kiryu was, once again, impressed with Caffey’s physicality. To be able to contort and alter your trajectory while jumping from bandit to bandit, while said bandits were seated atop roaring motorcycles… Like Kiryu was saying more and more. It was breathtaking. A group of them started to make their presence a bit more known, attempting to harass Caffey, and Kiryu gunned his engine. He made straight for them, and at the last moment, pulled off an incredibly complex maneuver. Using his greater than human strength, he forced the nose of his vehic downward. This lifted the rear part of the motorcycle up, and it swiftly slowed as the front wheel spun without the back. Timing the maneuver perfectly, Kiryu torqued his body and turned, flipping the motorcycle around like a spinning top. The rear wheel swung around, colliding with the chest of one of the Desert Demons. It connected with a crunch, and the man was blasted free of his motorcycle by the force of the blow. Once he landed, he groaned in pain and tried to get up, but he was too injured. Kiryu landed adroitly, managing to keep his balance despite the stunt he had just pulled. He didn’t waste any time pressing the advantage. Kiryu powered up a few weak ki blasts and lobbed them at the bandits. One was quick and perceptive enough to accelerate sharply and evade the attack; the other was not so lucky. Kiryu’s blast hit his target; the bandit’s motorcycle. The blast severely damage the front wheel, causing the bike to go out of control. It’s rider was violently thrown from the motorcycle and hit the ground hard. When he didn’t rise, Kiryu assumed the man was unconscious. The bandit that had avoided Kiryu’s attack turned his motorcycle to face the young martial artist. From a hip holster, he produced an automatic pistol and took aim at Kiryu. Knowing what was about to happen, Kiryu concentrated. Using his psychic abilities, he reached out to the world around him and concentrated. He telekinetically grabbed a huge chunk of rock from the earth and wrenched it into place between him and his assailant. The machine pistol thundered, spraying bullets towards Kiryu, but his makeshift shield held. Large chunks of stone were shattered and rolled free, but so too did the bullets bounce off of the rock, flattened and harmless. After perhaps three seconds, the machine pistol clicked, it’s ammunition spent. Kiryu could hear frenzied cursing as his opponent struggled to reload. Kiryu released his hold on the rock, and instead telekinetically took hold of the man’s motorcycle, lifting it into the air and suddenly turning it upside down. The sudden movement dumped the man unceremoniously to the ground. It wasn’t a far drop, and the man sprang up and started to scramble for his dropped pistol. Kiryu decided it was too good an opportunity to waste. With a grunt of effort, he psychically bent the bandit’s motorcycle, twisting it around the man too quickly for him to escape. Kiryu looked him over with a satisfied expression; that would hold. It was far too heavy for a normal human to move, and the man’s arms were trapped against his sides by Kiryu’s makeshift prison. Well, Kiryu thought to himself, that’s one that will be conscious and easy to interrogate.There were a few more goons for Caffey to deal with. Kiryu’s gut instinct was to rush in and try to protect her, but the last thing Caffey needed was Kiryu playing hero. She was more than capable of taking care of herself, and Kiryu relegated himself to the role of observer, keeping an eye out and making sure that no targets had eluded them, and no hidden dangers would threaten their plans.
[WC=642] [TWC=1,945] Caffey
|
|
Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
|
Post by Caffey on Sept 25, 2019 19:21:05 GMT -8
It seemed that every new adventure Caffey went on with Kiryu gave her another reason to be impressed by his skills. The precision, timing, strength and skill to pull off a maneuver like the one he’d just done was impressive, and it didn’t go unnoticed that he’d done it to help her out. As always, his control of his ki blasts impressed her as well. The biggest shock she’d had was yet to come, apparently, as she watched Kiryu dispatch the next opponent without lifting a hand at all. How had he done that? The Cobra Master was once again reminded that being a master of her own martial art didn’t mean she had nothing to learn. Despite her curiosity, Caffey forced herself to refocus on her own problems. It turned out driving a motorcycle through the desert at high speeds may in fact not be something you can do with ease and no previous experience, as Caffey was now learning. Between her own inexperience and the remaining goons, she found herself unable to control the bike. Quietly cursing to herself, she prepared to once again leap from the bike in order to take out the bandits harassing her. She stood on top of the bike for a short moment, and leapt. Just as before, she found it almost effortless to take out the remaining bandits. As she kicked the last one from his bike, she took the handlebars, slowing it to a stop before getting off. She made a mental note to ask Kiryu to teach her how to actually drive his bike later, then swiftly made her return to where he was watching. “ That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!” Caffey stated with her usual overflowing enthusiasm, once she’d returned to Kiryu’s side. “ Just, like, you picked it up with your MIND! That’s awesome!” Her energy distracted her, her fascination with this skill of Kiryu’s she’d never seen preventing her from focusing on the matter at hand. A frequent problem for her, and one she’d never quite found a good way to deal with. Her eyes fell on the bandit Kiryu had captured, who she quietly approached, hands clenched in fists and resting on her hips. The man was, clearly, afraid of both of the young martial artists, and the girl could scarcely blame him. He’d just seen the duo take down an entire team of bandits seemingly effortlessly, and she could only imagine what he was expecting from her. Whatever he was expecting, it was almost certainly not what she provided. With her usual friendly enthusiasm and, as always, non-threatening body language, she bent the motorcycle trapping him enough for him to free himself. The man immediately tried to grab for his gun again, but Caffey’s finely honed speed beat him there, and she kicked it aside. “ Oooh, sorry.” She said, still keeping her enthusiasm. “ I can’t have you going for that. Now, my friend and I are going to ask you a few questions about your uh… Employer? I think. Maybe he is. We’ll find out, I guess.” The girl looked briefly confused, then shook her head and refocused on the situation. “H-Hey, no problem man, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.” The man said, now crawling away from Caffey. Apparently, her general friendly attitude and attempt to come off as someone who would no longer hurt the man hadn’t worked. She looked to Kiryu, then motioned to the man, allowing him to take over the questioning.
[WC=591] [TWC=1918]
|
|
|
Post by Kiryu on Sept 25, 2019 21:34:23 GMT -8
Kiryu grinned over at Caffey, then winced a little bit as his head began to throb. It had been a while since telekinesis had caused Kiryu any strain, but he had never attempted as intense a feat of psychic manipulation as he just had, and Kiryu was feeling it. "Yeah," he responded, "New trick I've been working on. It's just a different way of... focusing, I guess. It's similar to the ki attacks I use, it's just a little more finely tuned, I guess. I've never tried anything that big before, thought. It was almost too much for me to handle! Luckily for me it was 'almost', huh? I'll give you a crash course on some motorcycle stuff after this, just in case this crops up again."
Kiryu looked over the man they had captured. He wasn't wearing the exact same clothing as the Desert Demons that Kiryu defeated alongside Zero, but it was still a similar method of dress. Kiryu squatted down next to him.
"This might sound weird to you, but this doesn't have to actually end too badly for you. I don't much care for bandits, but we've already beaten you. There's no need for me to shatter your knee... or remove your hands.
Not like what happened with Blaster, anyway."
The prisoner went pale.
"Oh? You heard about that? Well, I happen to have the inside line on exactly what happened, and the being that did that? Yeah, I don't think she's going to rest easy. She's got a certain set of operating parameters, you see, and I think she might be coming for every low life bandit out in the Desert. So if you tell us what we want to know, well, you can actually just think of this as an intervention. Saving you from yourselves, turning you towards an honest life before an avenging angel sweeps down on you in the night and ends you."
The bandit was stricken with fear. He nodded shakily, swallowing past a lump in his throat. "And if not, maybe you tell her where we hang our hats. I get it, I'm out, no need to convince me any more. What do you want to know?"
Kiryu quirked an eyebrow, somewhat surprised at the swift acquiescence. Kiryu had been expecting someone like Crush or Blaster, some roided up meat head that would be dumb enough to spout some nonsense about honor among thieves and never selling out their brothers. In Kiryu's experience, that lasted about as long as someone started applying a bit of pressure, but this bandit apparently had a far more active sense of self preservation.
"There has been way too much bandit activity lately. You've been too organized, too opportunistic. That probably means that somebody a whole hell of a lot smarter than whatever waste of oxygen leads your crew has been giving you instructions... or, at least, profitable targets. They suggests that these leaders somehow receive instructions... maybe they know where they meet.
What might you know about that?"
"Yeah, look, we didn't go in on the meetings, but over the past few months, our bosses have been going to meetings. Some old, abandoned Capsule Corp facility in the desert. I think I've seen some lookouts, but it was never more than a couple at a time. I couldn't really make them out, they were too far away. I can tell you where it was... just let me and my guys out of here, and I swear, we'll never bother anyone again."
Kiryu sensed no deception from the man. He provided a location for an old, abandoned base. It was a bit far from their current location; they would have to ride the rest of the day, and as long at night as they were comfortable with, if they wanted to get to the place by tomorrow. They would camp for the night, as they had done before. Kiryu confiscated and destroyed the bandit's weapons before allowing them to leave, though he did take one of the motorcycles from one of the men who were too injured to ride anyway. He watched them ride away, towards civilization, and hopefully a more virtuous existence.
Kiryu was glad that the seeds of fear he had planted had come to bear some fruit, though he wished there was a better way. Still, they had accomplished what they wished to. Kiryu took a bit of time to teach Caffey the basics of riding a motorcycle before the two road off together, racing the sunset over the dunes of the desert.
[WC=762] [TWC=2,707]
|
|
Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
|
Post by Caffey on Sept 28, 2019 18:14:41 GMT -8
Caffey had never been a fan of using fear as a weapon, though her slight appearance would almost certainly have precluded her from doing so even if she’d wanted to. Seeing Kiryu do so came as something of a shock to her; While she had no idea what he was referring to, it was clear that he had been present for some event that had the Desert Demon before them absolutely terrified by his presence. That… Made her a little uncomfortable, if she was honest with herself, but she decided that she wouldn’t ask Kiryu for any more details, especially as she might not enjoy the answers she was given. Their path seemed straightforward now; They would go to this abandoned Capsule Corp building, take out whatever lookouts they needed to, and interrogate whoever was in charge of these bandits. Speaking from experience, Caffey could say confidently that organized groups of bandits were one of the biggest dangers the desert had, whenever they cropped up, and so even beyond the desire to punish Poblano, she now found her drive to stop this group of people redoubled; The desert was her home, even if the dojo and her village were weeks away, this was still close enough to home to hit her hard. The Cobra Master was quick to pick up on the lessons Kiryu gave, as per usual when learning a new skill, finding it almost effortless to ride alongside him on the newly stolen bike. She found the driving to be less enjoyable than riding behind Kiryu had been, and resolved that in the future she’d continue to ride behind him, despite her newfound skills. While the duo rode well into the night, they simply couldn’t make the journey in one go, and eventually were forced to stop and camp, something that had become routine at this point. Despite that routine nature, the circumstances had never been quite like this, the anticipation of the following day and the encounter that awaited them weighed heavily on Caffey’s mind. She found little sleep that night. As they rode the following morning, she strategized with Kiryu on how best to handle the upcoming encounter, to get into the building in the quickest and safest way possible, even before worrying about Poblano. If there were lookouts, they should either sneak around or take them down quietly. “ So, what do you think? What’s the best strategy here?” She shouted over the sound of the bikes, “ Stealth or smash? I think we’ll end up fighting Poblano regardless, but if he doesn’t know we’re coming we’re probably much better off. I can probably take the guards out pretty quietly, if they’re like the bikers from yesterday, but I’m not exactly dressed for stealth.” Caffey wasn’t exactly the most stealthy person, with her overabundant energy constantly spilling out, but she could do either. Regardless, they were swiftly approaching, and needed to make a decision. At Kiryu’s encouragement, Caffey chose the option she’d been leaning towards originally; Silent violence. As they approached the old facility, she once again tied her hair up and donned her jacket, before making a swift run for one of the makeshift guard towers that had been set up. She could see three of them, all facing different directions, but she didn’t know how many people were on each. She managed to scale the closest one through a combination of jumping and climbing, and did it without being seen. Once on top, she quickly knocked out the two guards stationed atop it, who were distracted by a card game, and started on her way to another guard tower.
[WC=621] [TWC=2566]
|
|
|
Post by Kiryu on Sept 28, 2019 22:58:27 GMT -8
Kiryu hated to show any kind of negative side of himself to Caffey, but it was what it was. If Kiryu could trade on a bit of fear and reputation to get the information they needed without unduly injuring people, well, then so be it. Kiryu was impressed with how quickly Caffey was able to pick up how to ride a motorcycle... but he did enjoy the trip less after that. He had grown accustomed to having her riding behind him. He enjoyed it, in ways that he did not possess the skill or experience to elucidate. Still, they made good time.
The next morning, when they reached the compound, Kiryu's already slightly confused feelings went off when Caffey asked about stealth or smash. Somewhere in the back of his head was an immature, pervy teenager that wanted to make a lewd comment, because though Kiryu had been in many ways sheltered, and was woefully inexperienced in matters of romance, even he couldn't miss a softball lobbed over the heart of the plate like that. Still, he decided it was probably better to say nothing, at least for the moment.
The compound they reached reminded Kiryu of an amalgamation of Rance's research facility and the Bandit compound where he had met Zero and fought the Desert Demons. The buildings were not as ramshackle as that bandit compound had been, but they did have watchtowers and armed guards.
Moving quickly, Caffey went to neutralize one tower. Kiryu matched her speed, scrambling up one of the towers and quickly dispatching the guards with a pair of chops to the back of their necks. Kiryu turned to move to the next tower, but Caffey had already done so. Trusting that she could handle it, Kiryu instead scanned the area, readying ki blasts to fire if anyone noticed their presence.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like anyone noticed, and Kiryu used a bit of ki to leap through the air to the tower that Caffey had alighted on.
"Look down there," said Kiryu. "That big center building has a door on the roof. We could jump over and enter that way. Maybe we'll find what we're looking for inside."
[WC=364] [TWC=3,071]
|
|
Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
|
Post by Caffey on Sept 29, 2019 21:19:08 GMT -8
Neutralizing the towers was trivial for the two, as expected, and Kiryu had managed to take down his by the time Caffey had finished her second one. Flawlessly stealthy, or at least she hoped so, no had seen them for long enough to raise an alarm, and she didn’t see any movement from atop the tower, so she assumed that things had gone fine, and that they’d have the element of surprise… Assuming Poblano was really in there, of course, and that this wasn’t an elaborate trap he’d laid for them. She quickly shook those thoughts out of her head, there was no use worrying about something like that unless it was actually a problem, that would only distract her. At Kiryu’s words, the Cobra Master turned to the roof, noting the entrance he’d pointed out.
“Sounds like a good plan. Let’s hope Poblano is in there.” She nodded in agreement before leaping onto the roof. Predictably, the bandits had been rather unprofessional and left the roof entrance unlocked, and the door swung open to reveal… Nothing. Also unprofessional. Clearly, the bandits were only posted where they’d been told to go, and were taking no initiative of their own to ensure the structure was properly guarded. She counted herself lucky that Poblano – or whoever he was working with – hadn’t seen fit to invest in better security than this.
Suppressing her energy, though she doubted there were any among them who would have been able to sense her approach regardless, she began to make her way through the facility with Kiryu. It was surprisingly well-kept inside, much more-so than the outer façade would have led her to believe, but more striking was how well patrolled the hallways were. Heavily contrasting the unprotected roof access, the duo came across several patrols of bandits, all heavily armed, and all trivial to their skills. While they were making short work of each of the guard patrols they came across, she still noted how strange the contrast was – and also noted how heavily the density began to increase the closer they got to the center of the building. She gathered that if there was anything in the building, such as Poblano himself, he’d be in that central area they were slowly making their way towards.
The number of guards continued to steadily increase as expected. While they still proved relatively trivial to the duo’s combined efforts, they certainly seemed individually stronger than any of the previous bandits that they’d fought, which served only to redouble her conviction that awaiting them was none other than the professor himself. As they finally reached the, wide, open, central chamber of the building, they finally laid eyes upon the man she assumed to be Professor Poblano for the first time, albeit with his back turned. She tapped Kiryu on the arm, pointed at the man, then silently entered a battle stance in preparation.
[WC=486] [TWC=3053]
|
|