"Finally!" Edward roared in a mixture of frustration and building jubilation as he stopped right before the large tower of the Kobushi Corporation. Already, his eyes picked up action in the front doors, seeing what appeared to be a man carrying two other people, a female and another male, through the front doors while apparently being shot at. He seemed to recognized two of them, but he wasn't quite sure from where. "Looks like the party started without us," Edward stated, pointing a finger at the three individuals that had just burst through the front doors.
Edward wasn't the only one who recognized the two-- and Lotte brightened at the sight of her real pack mule- er, Vance. But the sight of her battered and bloodied captain swept the excitement off her face as fast as it had come, glancing between him and Vance with questioning eyes. "You guys-- what--" Before she'd even gotten a question in edgewise however, the third of their company whom Lotte didn't recognize had already begun storming away-- and it sounded like Kuzo was sending Vance after her.
"Are you alright?" She asked, hurrying up to Kuzo without batting another eyelash-- putting aside her bags to give his wounds a once over with a serious look. "What happened? Where's everyone else?"
Kuzo looked up, surprised to see Lotte. He gave her a smile, as he pulled out another bullet from his side "I'll be fine," He murmured, taking out another bullet. Each one was left in his hand, with him eventually dropping them all down onto the floor simultaneously, watching each one fall and roll across the floor. He sighed deeply, and stood up with a bit of effort. "Vance went ahead with Selena...she's our new cook!" He added with a smirk, before gritting his teeth at the reminded pain across his body. "Skellen and Bass are here too somewhere...I don't know where."
"Morgan's here too," Edward pipped in, mostly ignoring Kuzo's weakened state or the whereabouts of any of the others.
"Oh hey, you were with those guys earlier, Sky Pirates? Joining us now?" Kuzo asked Edward.
"Like hell I am! I'm just here to make sure Morgan doesn't die before I kill him," He gruffed.
"Oh, alright then," Kuzo replied simply. His eyes then traveled over to the other companions with Lotte, Joshua and Firenze. "What about them, who're they?" He said, his eyes traveling between Lotte, Firenze and Joshua.
"Oh she's a friend I made in town," Lotte pointed at Firenze, "I'm not sure who the other two are though."
"A moron and an idiot," Edward grumbled, crossing his arms referring to Joshua.
Joshua gave Kuzo a slight bow and held out his hand for a shake. "I'm Nokam F. Joshua if it please you, dear Firenze and I are looking for a crew and have decided to help miss Lotte -and by extension - you. We just didn't...feel at home with the Sky Pirates so we had to respectfully depart them."
Firenze stuck her thumb out to point at Joshua. "What he said. I'm Firenze."
"I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE, YOU PIECE OF SH*T!" Edward roared at Joshua.
Lotte glanced between them before smiling at Kuzo, holding up her hand in a 'there you have it' sort of way as if how they'd ended up in this group was now crystal clear.
"Oh, I see," Kuzo responded to Joshua and Firenze, taking his hand and hers after and shaking them enthusiastically, forgetting his injuries and ignoring Edward beside him yelling loud enough to blow his bandanna and long hair as if they were caught in the wind. "I'm Kuzo. You can come with us!"
"Well I can't speak for my friend here." Joshua answered, also ignoring Edward as he shook Kuzo's hand just as enthusiastically and gestured towards Firenze. "But personally I would be delighted to join your crew."
Oh boy. With that thought, Lotte elected to ignore the sudden development, instead inserting herself into Kuzo's line of view with a sort of pouty face, "Before that, you should think about patching yourself up Mr. Captain!"
"I would Lotte, but..." Kuzo's face suddenly became more somber. He pulled out one of the few remaining bullets lodged inside him, gritting his teeth as he recalled Selena's story about her past, and what happened to her mentor, Marta. "Selena," He uttered, pointing to the direction the fiery woman had run off to. "Her mentor was badly injured, so we need Skellen to help cure her. If we don't get help for her soon..." He lowered his face, his voice trailing off as he shook his head. "We have to find Skellen soon. And the man who did this," He declared determinedly.
It was clear from Lotte's expression that she didn't understand-- Selena's mentor? What did that have to do with them? Selena had only just joined, so why did it matter? If she died or something then it didn't really make much difference because Selena was leaving anyway, right? With a sigh, she let it go as usual however, chalking it up to Kuzo's nonsensical whims and frowning, "Okayyy? But how? When you're in a state like this how are we supposed to go anywhere?"
"I think I can answer that my dear." At Lotte's question Kuzo was lifted up into the air with no warning whatsoever and Joshua's smile grew wide as he hefted the large man over his head with one arm. "Let's get moving shall we? Seeing my new captain pulling casings from his flesh leaves me feeling slightly distressed, we should start towards whoever it is we need to help. You can explain to us just what's going on along the way."
Seeing himself get lifted, Kuzo resisted at first, unsure of the man's intentions, before relaxing when he figured them out. He thought of suggesting that he was alright to walk himself, but he supposed saving his strength for now might be a sound move. "Alright, sounds good then!" He stated with a smile. "Onwards!" He declared, pointing forward further into the tower.
"Nuh, uh, uhh!" A voice echoed through the main room. It was impossible to pinpoint where exactly it was coming from, but the voice sounded female. "I'd say sorry for ruining your little party, but to be honest, you already ruined my day by somehow getting past me!" The voice got louder as it continued to bounce across the walls. "Now unless I counted wrong, which is entirely possible, I got about five targets. Including one injured one. And even if I was wrong, I'll be rid of whatever number of low end pirates you pathetic bunch are in a matter of minutes. In other words, you are all target practice."
While she'd followed without complaint, a new development was clearly brewing. A voice was now threatening to shoot in one manner or another, and she had no patience for it. "Excuse me, I think you counted wrong!" She called back to the voice, "There are actually zero targets in here, and there are no low end pirates or pathetic bunches. We'll bring some back with us if you let us pass so-- thanks, we'll just be on our way!"
"Oh please. Trying to trick me? You'd have better luck trying to convince Millionth that cats aren't just furry babies. That whole logic part of his brain is always acting up and taking the fun out of everything," the voice called back. "Perhaps you all need a reminder of who exactly you are messing with: I'm Faora. I'm a Unit member and I carry a really big sniper rifle. You are trapped in an enclosed space and I am fresh out of warnings. So all I got left for you is something of a, I don't know, consolation prize. A single phrase to plant all degrees of false hope. Because a disheartened target just isn't fun. Well, here it is...Good luck." From there a series of bullets came flying around the group of pirates, purposefully narrowly missing all of them.
"Shoot!" Kuzo shouted from the shoulder of Joshua. "Don't let her hit you with those. I got hit over a hundred times by her shots. They packed a punch, even if I'm a Devil Fruit user!" He yelled, trying to avoid the ones coming nearby them. He wondered for a moment if he would be able to try changing the bones in just his butt to the hardened form of Tank Mode, so that if he were shot while on the move, it wouldn't be as bad. Then the rest of his body he could try to make lighter with the hybrid 'Cross Mode' he used. He still hadn't had enough success easily getting into Cross Mode yet, but he decided to give it a try.
Kuzo took in a deep breath, clenching his fists. He focused on the area around his behind, trying to increase the density of the bones in just that area, while making the rest of his body more hollow and therefore lighter. He opened his eyes, and shouted. "Cross Mode!"
Instantly, a part of his body did react, but it wasn't the part he wanted. His shoulder and and upper arm section suddenly expanded wildly, becoming twice the size it was previous, which sent his beefed up arm straight into Joshua's cheek.
Meanwhile Lotte had taken cover behind shelter-- this time the nearest being Edward, and she thanked the stars that she hadn't made the mistake of choosing Kuzo. Being shot at was not something she was accustomed to, and while she was distressed over how close those bullets were coming towards her (and her new boots damn it!), she was surprised that she still found it in her somewhere to let out a puff of laughter at Kuzo's mishap. Typical Kuzo-- but it quickly turned into a sharp yelp as a bullet zinged past her temple-- and she ducked back down behind Edward, trying whatever angle seemed to be the most out-of-range...
"Hey, go find somewhere else to hide, I'm not your shield!" Edward barked at the crouching Lotte behind him. He ducked his head himself, but was surprised to see the bullets not aim directly for them. "Maybe a warning shot or somethin'?" He thought out loud.
Shots ringing out, but not clear enough to tell where from, a voice, but too spread out to locate, some deformed arm hitting him in the face like the end of a steel pole. Joshua rubbed his nose and smiled a pained smile at Kuzo. "Please, don't try that again, I could carry ten of you just fine, but I'm not so immune to being struck in the face." He looked at some of the bullet holes scattered about the floor and noticed they had come in at some sort of angle, but he quickly looked back up. The sniper must be able to see them from wherever she was, and she probably wouldn't just let him examine possible evidence of her whereabouts, but she
did seem pretty sure of herself.
"Miss Faora was it?" He called out. "I can't really say I'm certain I know what is going on here, or why you're shooting at us. But surely such a talented, and professional lady such as yourself could spare the time to share some of your exploits? After all it's not like we could hope to escape from your rifle, so why not tell us just who it is we're dealing with before you finish us off?" There was no way of knowing just how far her ego could go, but if she was lazy enough about the whole thing to even fire warning shots after already filling the captain full of holes, maybe he could delay her long enough to get something out of the holes in the floor, or even get her to screw up and reveal her location. At the very least they might eventually discern the direction of her voice if she blabbed enough.
"Now, now, aren't you the little chatterbox?" Faora chuckled, her voice echoing throughout the grand room. "Well, I guess I could spare you a story or two, but I'm going to be completely honest, most of my stories are pretty boring. It was just a matter of waiting around for a target to show up and...POP! Head go boom! I've done it countless times and each time gets more boring than the last. I mean really, it would almost be a shame to kill the lot of you since for the first time ever, I am actually challenged but then again, my employer is a pretty scary lady and I don't wanna...ya know, die? I mean, sure, I'll have to kill you guys to preserve my life so I am sure you understand if I have to riddle your pirate-y selves full of bullets." Faora then suddenly grew quiet. "Oh, right. I should be shooting you shouldn't I?" As the last syllable echoed, another series of bullets rained down on the pirates, locking them in whatever hiding spots they tucked themselves in.
After quite nearly being hit by multiple bullets, Firenze had joined Lotte behind Edward, not really caring much about his protests. She wasn't really much use against a far-ranged opponent, so best to hide for now, at least until they figured out where Faora was hiding. Firenze could practically feel the sniper's eyes on them, but she was having as much trouble as Joshua figuring out just where she was. "If she finds her own stories so boring, why doesn't she just find a more interesting job?" she muttered to herself.
"Good pay?" Edward suggested, barely ducking in time as the next set of bullets aimed for them. "DAMN IT!" He yelled, charging forward in an attempt to get out of range of the bullets, but still being unsure which direction it was coming from. He looked at Joshua. "Hey, if you got some kinda plan goin' in the pee-sized brain of yours, you better put it to work quick, because apparently now I'm a shield for these losers!" He roared, pointing behind his back at both Lotte and Firenze, who had decided to take shelter behind him.
"We're
resourceful, get it right!" Lotte pointed out indignantly from behind him, ducking in time to dodge one of the new round of bullets with an 'eeek!'. It would've been nice if Morgan could just magically appear-- anytime now.
Kuzo meanwhile apologized to Joshua from his shoulder, transforming back into his normal form and shaking his head. "Still don't have it yet," He muttered. He observed the tower, then looked across his shoulder at the area one of the bullets had hit him earlier. From what it looked like, the wound seemed slightly angled, which meant she was on higher ground. He didn't really have the capability or skill to determine more than that. One thing was for sure, the longer they remained out in the open without trying to figure out where she was, the more he would get shot. And Kuzo didn't want to get shot anymore, especially by Faora. It hurt.
"Sorry about this, Joshua," Kuzo stated, before clenching his fists again. "Tank Mode!" He cried, which caused his body to bulk up to his larger form. He leaped off of Joshua's shoulders. Kuzo figured that if he had a bigger target, and he got another bullet inside him, maybe they might be able to figure out where she was shooting from.
As Kuzo began to change form, Lotte huffed at Joshua and Edward with a whiny voice, stamping her foot impatiently as she insisted: "Would
somebody please
do something already?!"
As if on command, Faora shot Kuzo, planting a bullet in his other shoulder, hoping to level the captain in a single instance. "Aw, I missed the heart. Or did I? You know if I kill you, I won't have the chance to try out some of my trick shots. Want to see one? I've been practicing this one where I bounce a bullet off something. In fact...I could try it now if you want me to. It may get you all out of hiding like the useless cowards you are." The voice kept echoing, but it was apparent to anyone paying attention that Faora had not moved from her initial spot, clearly having a good enough vantage point to pinpoint where the pirates were at. Another magazine of bullets were fired, with most of the bullets ricocheting off some of the walls and pillars in the room, inching closer to where the pirates end. A few lucky (or unlucky) bullets had bounced closer to Edward's group, but nothing hit them. Faora seemed to realize that and cursed under her breath before reloading her rifle, giving everyone a moment to think.
Kuzo grunted in pain as another bullet was lodged into his shoulder. He grasped it, and muttered harsh words under his breath. Looking at the bullet, he could see the angle it was in, enough to determine that she had a vantage point, but also slightly angled. Kuzo looked over at the others, removing the bullet from his shoulder, and pointing quietly toward the upper left section of the tower. Edward cocked his eyebrow. "You mea-"
Suddenly, bullets rained again from different angles because of Faora bouncing them off the walls, which threw them off a bit. "Damn it!" Edward yelled, thankful that none had hit them. "She's somewhere there!" He roared, pointing to the upper-left section of the tower, then at Kuzo. "Right?"
Kuzo nodded. "If we go now, we can move the non-fighters out of her range, and the rest of us can make a break for her, but we have to go now!"
Joshua had had enough of them all being at Faora's mercy, and simply starting to climb in an attempt to get to her was no good. Once he'd seen the angle of the first shot that had hit Kuzo after he went tank mode he got a general idea of where it had come from and just scanned the area. She was still showing off, and now she was more concerned about Kuzo for a bullet sponge, he stayed completely still while the bullets whizzed around them. Finally he clearly saw some of the bullets coming through a small group of openings higher up. Joshua gathered as much strength as he could muster in his legs and shouted "If you want to make a break for it than I would suggest doing it now!" before springing and flying in almost a straight line to one of the pillars, bouncing from pillar to pillar and finally jumping on the staircase to one of the tower's many platforms.
Once he finally had somewhere stable to stand again without fighting against gravity Joshua sized up the area he figured Faora to be in once again, he was still on the right track. She had no good angle on his new position, and he was far enough away from the others that she could only shoot at one group at a time, leaving the other free to move. Whether it would be him getting shot at or not he decided he couldn't waste the opportunity and sprinted up the stairs at his full speed, actually leaving a smoke trail behind him. After going over one more platform Joshua felt a strange twinge in his head and felt almost like he knew exactly where Faora was, and used his momentum to leap off of the stairs and rebound off of the wall, flying to the underside of the next platform and smashing right through it's floor with his fist.
The platform seemed to shatter at the impact of Joshua's hefty punch and debris rained down to the ground, with Faora among it. As she fell, Faora was forced to make a number of midair adjustments as she was more than aware that the fall itself would crush just about every bone in her body. She reached into one of the dozens of pouches she was wearing and pulled out one of her convenient grapple guns and fired at one of the nearby pillars. It locked in and she swung out of the raining remnants of the platform and collided with the pillar with a thud and a curse as she smacked her face into the pillar. She then rappelled down to the main floor, more than several meters away from the rest of the pirates. As she was in sight, everyone finally caught their first sight of the cocky sniper that had been a pain in their sides for so long.
She was clearly in her mid to late twenties, though her dull golden eyes portrayed the look of an apathetic teenager more than anything. Her purple hair reached her shoulders but now seem unkempt, likely a result from the sudden attack from Joshua. She was covered in tactical gear and dozens of pouches, housing more than enough equipment to take down a small squad. Which is what she found herself fighting. The odds were hardly in her favor now, losing her lone advantage. "Man, that was unexpected. Messed up my hair too. Well, I guess playtime is over. I'm going to have to kill you now and I'd rather not miss my favorite show so I'm just going to blow you up and take it from there!" Faora spouted and she took a couple of grenades from her belt and tossed them at the pirates, hoping to either blow them all up or at least flush them out of their hiding spots.
There! Finally Firenze could do something! Or, she would be able to once she got closer. But now that Faora was in plain sight, closing the distance between them would be a heck of a lot easier. Time to be useful! Springing away and to the side of Lotte and Edward, Firenze put some distance between her and them, and in turn the grenades that Faora had thrown towards the group. By the time the grenades exploded, Firenze had made it just out of range of the explosions and was running towards Faora as quickly as her legs would carry her. As she ran, she slipped her right hand into the pouch on her belt, pulling out the brass knuckles and putting them on. The blades glinted hungrily in the light as Firenze clenched her fists, darting frequently to one side or the other in case Faora were to shoot at her before she reached her. When she reached her - if she reached her - she'd throw a punch straight for her face.
Firenze's move indicated to Lotte that it was high time that she got her butt moving too-- but in the opposite direction of Faora and her grenades. That was dangerous!! The explosion of grenades shook her to the bone, rattling her head and leaving her dizzy for a moment. One minute longer of dawdling and she might not have made it out of range of the grenades by that hair-thin margin...
Whirling around, she watched Firenze attack Faora headfirst-- glancing up at Joshua and back down at Kuzo and Edward respectively before assuming they too would soon make their move. If she was preoccupied by the four against one, then...! Lotte took a few more steps backwards, waiting for Faora to turn her attention onto her attackers before the blonde little noble dashed behind one of the pillars to hide... or so it would have seemed, but golden eyes scanned the room around them, trying to pick out a safe passage where she might conveniently slip right past the battle and move onwards to find Skellen for Kuzo. Or whatever the name of the person Kuzo was trying to help.
Edward meanwhile watched the battle unfold between Joshua and Faora, and then with Firenze. While he did want to get back at the b*tch for shooting at him earlier, and since Joshua was preoccupied with fighting her to begin with, he figured now would be as good a time as any to slip by the same way Lotte was. He had bigger fish to fry. Although it was likely that fish would try to fry him instead.
Faora couldn't do much as Firenze bolted towards her. She lacked the speed and composure of Sarah. She lacked the ferocity and natural love of battle that Narro had. She lacked the strength and durability of Millionth. She was nothing like the others and with that in mind, she had little choice but to take Firenze's fierce punch to the face, falling back from the impact. Losing her balance, Faora collapsed to the ground and hunched over in pain, spitting frequently to get the bad taste out of her mouth. "Owww," she moaned. "Why would you hit me in the face of all places? How else am I supposed to flirt with your boyfriend over there?" She gestured over in Joshua's direction. There was something of a playful tone in her voice, despite the fact she seemed to be totally outmatched by the physical prowess of the assorted pirates.
But then Faora suddenly turned around and fired her rifle in the direction of Firenze. However instead of a bullet, a large net swarmed the female, tying her in a thick webbing. While Faora lacked the staunch physical abilities, there was one thing she did have. She was resourceful. She was tactical. The highest compliment she ever received was from Kasumi: Faora always seemed like she could adjust on the fly. She was never overwhelmed.
"Ah, come on!" Firenze whined, trying to wriggle free of the net. When that didn't seem to work, she huffed in annoyance and started the time-consuming process of cutting at the net with one of the blades of her brass knuckles.
Joshua had been left floating in the air for a few seconds as his upward momentum battled with gravity, and he angled himself so he could just barely reach one of the pillars after he started to fall. As soon as he was close enough he rebounded off of the pillar and flew down towards Faora as fast as he could to try slamming into her fist-first. Along the way down he shouted, "I'm afraid you're mistaken dear Faora, while Firenze is a lovely lady there is nothing romantic between us! And my quest would inhibit any chances you could have of winning my heart, so for now you'll have to make due with my appreciation of your own beauty!"
Kuzo gritted his teeth together, finally pulling out the bullet from his shoulder that was recently lodged in by Faora. If his figures were correct, he was pretty sure he was shot over eight hundred times by the Unit member, which was surprising because he was pretty sure normal weapons didn't contain more than several thousand bullets to begin with. Clearly, she had some kind of special holster to account for all the additional bullets.
Faora seemed to be high up but soon falling toward the ground. Joshua was crashing down. Firenze meanwhile was cutting herself out of a web of some sort. Deciding to help her get free, Kuzo clenched his fists. "Lightning Mode!" He cried out, reverting to his skinny, smaller form. He then leaped into the air, his smaller and lighter form allowing him to jump high into the air. He landed on a higher platform, about the same level as where Firenze was trapped in her webs. "Try moving to one side of the web!" Kuzo called out to her. He then backed up a good distance, preparing to get a running start to where she was. He took off, jumping as far as he could to try and get to where she was, although trying to aim a bit higher to account for what he was going to do next. In mid-air, he suddenly clenched his fists again, and called out, "Tank Mode!" At the call, his body suddenly became quite heavy, and bulked up to his larger form. His extended weight suddenly caused his body to fall much faster, but he managed to jump far enough so that he was right next to Firenze. He then lifted an arm back, and brought his fist to the right side of the web she was stuck in. "Cannon Arm!" Kuzo yelled, as he connected his fist with the web and tore it apart, hopefully freeing Firenze from her predicament. Kuzo kept gliding through the air behind the web trap and crashed loudly into an adjacent platform.
Faora grinned as Joshua came barreling down back into the battle. "Aw, what a shame, babe!" She said, putting on a facade of disappointment. Moments before he could make contact, she reached into one of the many pouches and pulled out a small gun. She fired it, knowing its range was poor and a small wire latched on to Joshua, sending a small current of electricity through his system. It wouldn't render him unconscious but at the very least, it would cancel out his attack.
Her attention than turned to Kuzo. "Still alive, I see! You are something else. Well, playing with your friends is far more entertaining so I am going to just finish you off and call it day!" Faora took aim with her rifle, this time taking care to get the perfect shot. A headshot.
The wire didn't have enough force behind it to stop Joshua's descent, but it did manage to divert him so that he missed Faora and tumbled a few feet away from her.
Eyeing left and right, there was just no way Lotte could get by this commotion both unscathed and unnoticed. She'd started skirting closer, past the web and almost had a good view of the hall beyond-- but as she made her way further from the others, the realization began to dawn on her-- even if she went ahead of everyone else, what if she met someone like Faora? It would be a disaster beyond disaster, as her general inability to do anything to fight or defend had been clear thus far to not just those around her, but herself.
"Eep--!!" She smacked her hands against her mouth to stifle the noise when Kuzo smashed into the platform behind her. So much for sneaking out unnoticed. When she turned to look at her captain, she also caught sight of Faora-- and her steady aim, following the pointed gun straight to-- "Stop!!"
Grinding the toe of her boot into the ground, Lotte dashed forward before Faora could pull the trigger, twisting to lock a determined gaze with their assailant's. And though her face was brave, the arms she'd thrown out to shield her Captain from the finishing blow trembled in the face of the first barrel she'd stared down.
In the meantime, Firenze had managed to get out of the web thanks to Kuzo's help and was now back on her feet. It took her but a moment to realize what was happening as she saw where Faora was aiming, and who was standing in the way of her shot. Well, while she could admire Lotte wanting to protect her captain - and, well, Firenze supposed he was
her captain now too - and though Firenze probably would have done the same had she been in the blonde girl's shoes, she wasn't about to let either of her new friends get shot.
Firenze swept up the torn net that she had been entangled in just moments before and threw it at Faora. The net wouldn't really serve to do much in its ruined state, but it was her hope that the projectile would at least distract and somewhat hinder Faora's movement, even if just for a moment. In that moment of distraction, Firenze would bolt right for her once again and swing her fist down towards the gunner's right arm, this time with the blade side; and if she had time for another swing, she'd deliver another punch to the face. She felt kinda bad for leaving Joshua to fend for himself, but he wasn't the one about to get shot in the head so she figured he wouldn't really mind.
Kuzo was still recovering from the impact he made to try and free Firenze, so he was unable to get up in time to try and prevent the shot from Faora. He was lucky to have crewmates who came to his aid, even someone who wasn't a fighting type like Lotte. But now he felt he had to return the favor. Joshua appeared to have missed Faora, but maybe if he could someone coordinate with all of them, they could put Faora in a position she couldn't get out of. "If only I could use Cross Mode more easily..." Kuzo muttered. He placed a fist flat on the ground and inhaled a sharp breath. "Ah well, Lightning Mode!" He called out, his body once more reverting to the small form. He then leaped forward, jumping into the air as high and far as he could so he was high above, but also right beside Faora.
When he believed he was close enough to her, he clenched his fists in the air, and called out again. "Tank Mode!" He exclaimed, causing his body to expand and come crashing down toward Faora. He spread his arms out to his sides and let gravity take its course, trying to body slam into the Unit Member. "Canon Body!"
The shot veered dramatically to the left, missing entirely, as the net latched itself onto Faora. She freed herself easily enough, but Firenze was all over her and she took another punch from the pirate. Frustrated at the simple tactic working so well, Faora returned the favor with a quick rifle butt. However, even if it was not intended, Firenze offered an even better distraction as Kuzo came barreling down with a hefty body slam. Faora only sensed the suicidal attack moments before it struck, able to dive out the way well enough to avoid the brunt of the impact. Yet the residual shockwave was more than enough to knock her away and do a fair amount of damage.
She was barely able to get up initially, yet spat out of some blood as she finally rose. Whether it was from the second punch or Kuzo's body slam, she couldn't tell. Either way, she was getting pissed. Playtime was over. It was time to get serious.
The shock had scrambled the signals in Joshua's body and confused his movements for a minute, leaving him mostly immobile just a few feet away from Faora. Once he finally stood up again he'd reached much the same conclusion as Faora, he'd have to swallow his pride and do whatever it took to stop her, even if she was a lady. Watching her preparing to shoot Kuzo and then Lotte, - a non combatant! - had been the last straw. Joshua's feet pounded the first floor of the tower when he ran the short distance between himself and Faora as fast as he could and swung at her midsection with all the strength he could muster dramatically shouting "Don't ever point a weapon at someone who can't fight back! Especially a lady!"
Faora jumped back and dodged the attack by the skin of her teeth. "Oh, I guess I can't point a gun at you then!" She said, before sweeping his legs from underneath him. She drew a gun from her holster and pointed it at Joshua. "Then again, I'm not picky about who my targets are. After all, you aren't much more than a paycheck as far as I am concerned."
When Faora avoided Joshua's punch he decided to try what had been the most useful against Faora so far: feeding her ego. He let his legs go limps instead of trying to stand his ground and was knocked over rather easily. When Faora pointed her gun at him his left hand shot out and grasped her forearm, yanking her down to the ground with him and squeezing her arm between his left arm and his side so the gun was underneath him and pointed at the ground. "Then I suppose you'll be going hungry tonight!" The second he felt he had her more or less stuck he clenched his right hand into a fist once again and slammed it towards her gut.
"Oof!" Faora yelped. "Look, babe, if you wanted to get this close all you had to do was ask," she said seductively. Using her free hand, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a knife, jabbing into the leg of Joshua.
"Always a pleasure to become closer to a lovely lady. But I regret, sweet Faora, to inform you -" Joshua grunted at the pain of the knife in his leg, but he didn't let go of Faora's other arm. He punched Faora in the stomach again, speaking with every few words punctuated by another punch as he tried to disable her as quickly as possible so she wouldn't be killed or disfigured. " - that despite your beauty, after a better look into your being I'd have to say even a loathsome reprobate such as myself could do better! Than some harpie who would do anything for money and point a gun at a man who can't fight back and harmless girl! Obviously someone needs to 'educate' you."
As Joshua punched her, she returned every favor with a stab into the leg. Though she did pause for a moment. "Harmless girl?" Faora blinked, twisting the knife instead of simply stabbing him. "Going to have to be more specific. Not the red one right? She's not that innocent. And the blonde one? Well, I never really pointed my gun at her either. Now your tank of a friend, he's awfully fun. He's a sucker for my charms. Or bullets." Faora shrugged the best she could, but then suddenly brought the knife to Joshua's throat. "But if you are really going to dwell on the past, then you are hardly my type."
Joshua wasn't exactly in a position to knock the knife away, before it had seemed like Faora wasn't much without distance and her weapons, that clearly wasn't the case. He allowed himself one grim smile at the realization of the hole he'd dug himself into. "I'm an expert in forgiving and forgetting if you
did learn your lesson, but somehow I don't see that happening."
Firenze hadn't really found the chance, nor seen the need, to jump in until that point. Josh had been handling things alright on his own, after all, but now with a knife to his neck and all, she figured he could use a hand. Coming up behind Faora, she reached around her in what could have been hug. Except, Firenze didn't squeeze her tightly and cuddle her. Instead, she set the blades of both brass knuckles against Faora's neck and said in a fairly pleasant voice, "Excuse me, miss, but I'd prefer my friends
alive, thank you. I believe the best course of action here would be for you to put the knife down." Firenze had never killed before; she'd never had reason to, really. And she couldn't say killing was something she wanted to do, but more important than upholding her morality right now was Joshua's life.
Faora sighed and rolled her eyes. "You suck the joy out of everything." Dropping the knife and raising her one hand up, Faora released her grip on Joshua. "Well, I guess you guys got me. Whoopie do. Now what?"
Kuzo rejoined the group, picking himself off the ground from the point he impacted when he dropped down. He was impressed that the others were able to take down Faora well enough on their own. He sure knew how to choose them. Kuzo walked in front of the woman who had shot at him many times before and stared her in the eye. "We're looking for two of ours. Skellen and Bass. You brought them in earlier. Where are they?"
Her face twisted. "Who? I have no idea what you are talking about." Faora looked around at all of them. "Heck, I don't even know who you people are. I guard the tower. And occasionally, assassinate people. I don't go out of my way to chase you people down."
"My name's Kuzo, and you've been messing with my crew," Kuzo explained sternly. His tone was much more serious than usual. "We're the Skull Pirates, and I'm looking for the rest of us, as well as whoever messed with my cook's mentor. So tell me, where do you keep your prisoners, and where's this 'Billionth' guy?"
Faora sarcastically gaped her mouth open at Kuzo's proclamation about being the 'Skull Pirates.' She then smirked, rolled her tongue in her mouth. "The prisoners are in prison and...what time is it? Because depending on that, Billionth could be in one place or several. Also, catch." In a sly move, Faora dropped a number of pellets from her hand that stirred up a massive smoke screen. She used the opportunity to knock Joshua clean in the mouth and free herself from his grip and grabbed whatever supplies she could to bolt away from the crowd. However, her steps were more than a half a step slow, the damage she received between the three of them more than enough to seriously wound her.
It was damn lucky that their enemy was so outnumbered-- or so Lotte thought along those lines as she peered out from behind the pillar she'd taken refuge behind after Firenze and Joshua had distracted Faora long enough to avoid her or Kuzo getting a bullet to the head. But with things looking as if they were finally getting under control, she looked ahead down the hall, impatient to find the others.....
Firenze coughed as the smoke stung not only her eyes but her lungs as well, and she quickly covered her mouth with a hand so she at least wouldn't breath in
as much smoke. The others were vaguely visible through the haze, but Faora wasn't to be seen. Well, as long as Firenze got out of the smoke, she would be able to see her... Setting herself straight ahead, Firenze barreled forward and shortly came out of the smoke. Now where was- there, ahead of her! "Hey, we're not done with you yet!" ...Well, she didn't think they were, anyways. But, even if they were, it
would still be nice to stop her so she wouldn't be able to find some spot to snipe them from again.
"Oh, come on! Don't you people ever give up!" Faora called out. She laid down some suppressing fire with her rifle, emptying a clip into the smoke with the hopes of creating some distance. She did slid across the ground, reloaded her gun and took aim at Firenze. "Go ahead. I dare you, babe! Take one more step and I will burst your head open like a watermelon dropped from the top of this tower."
"Rgh!" Joshua gritted his teeth when Faora hit him and wriggled loose from his grip.
Why is it that I still haven't given it my all?! While he berated himself inside for not using all of his strength against Faora he swung his fist through the air and a burst of wind blew a large swath of the smoke away. He must have underestimated how fast he could punch to fail to notice how much his attacks displaced the air before, that gave him an idea and he put it in his mental vault. He saw Faora trying to make her escape through the disturbance he'd made in the smoke and shot out of the cloud from the left.
As soon as Joshua was fully clear of the smoke he saw Firenze running after Faora as well, so he decided to move at a different angle from her so they would be harder to avoid. He sprinted at Faora as hard as he could in an attempt to make up for the lead Firenze had on him, a few spots on the floor cracking underneath his feet as he ran. "My apologies, you won't find any quitters here!" His eyes widened when he saw the firearm leveled at Firenze, and he quickened his pace even more. "However I'm not too bad at returning favors!"
Kuzo coughed through the smoke Faora created.
Dang. Just when he thought they had gotten her, she slipped through again. This time, they better take her out. He watched Joshua impressively dismiss the smoke across the battlefield, then just as Firenze and Joshua headed for the sniper, Kuzo decided to do the same. He ran forward in his Lightning Mode, trying to avoid any bullets Faora would send their way. Because of his fast form, he shot ahead of the others. He figured he'd try laying the foundation for the attacks and as she was distracted with him, they would take her out.
Kuzo extended his arms to his sides and clenched his fists. "Tank Mode!" He cried, just as he was right beside Faora. He moved both of his large hands backward behind his body, then thrust them forward right at the sniper. "Double Cannon Arms!"
Faora's eyes widened as Kuzo closed in with such speed. Had she predicted that the pin cushion of bullets had so much fight left in him, perhaps then she would have been able to pull off one of her many escape moves. But alas, she couldn't pull off anything too fancy. She was, however, capable of a simple dodge. "Soru!" Faora was then suddenly in the air. She flinched as she leapt, barely getting any air.
Definitely pushing it a bit too much, she thought to herself. She seemed to be floating in the air and took aim at Kuzo, firing a shot that just skid across his body. Clearly, aiming was a bit difficult in midair, but the recoil was enough to put her on a small platform on the floor directly above them.
After refining his idea a bit in his head Joshua had stopped chasing Faora, and stood in place tensing all the muscles in his arm and focusing as much strength as he could in one spot. He wasn't quite sure of the scientific reliability of his silly thought, but the smoke being blasted away so well convinced him to try it. Once he felt like the tendons in his fingers would snap if he held on any longer he thrust his fist out in a perfectly straight line as hard and fast as he could imagine, the air couldn't even keep up with Joshua's arm when it tried to part. A small burst of air seemed to rocket out from him, and moments later Faora's stomach indented and rebounded, feeling just as if she'd just been punched by Joshua's actual hand. "Well, I suppose that was something." He muttered to himself. He'd have to work on that later, it had real potential.
The brunt impact knocked her onto back, winded from the bolt of air. Again caught off guard, Faora cursed herself for being so ineffective. Was she really so helpless against this ragtag group? Mustering what little strength she had left, she picked herself off the ground, wiping sweat and blood from her brow and face. "Well, I'll give you some credit...I didn't see that coming." She tore into her pouches and fiddled around with things. The silence that transpired was unsettling even for her. She racked her brain for the right combination, but she then simply tossed common sense aside.
A series of explosions soon followed, rattling the building. The platform she stood on collapsed to the ground with a rain of other smaller explosions. She rappelled herself up and perched herself near her initial hiding spot, rummaging through her supplies she left near there, hoping that the distraction strategy was enough to buy some time.
Kuzo ended up attacking air as Faora disappeared before he had a chance to get to her. He could have probably gotten to her in time in his Lightning Mode, but there was no way he would be able to do any kind of damage without breaking his hand in that stage. However, Cross Mode would be more effective... if only he could master how to get into that one. He tried concentrating for a moment, but suddenly saw a bullet pass right by him. Thankfully, it had missed even with him being in Tank Mode. He looked up again and then opened his eyes wide, seeing a large explosion shake the room.
"Move out of the way!" He exclaimed to the others, trying to move in time to secure the platform before it fell on any of the others. He reached for it, using his titanic strength and bulk to try and stop it before it fell down. As he did this, he saw Faora from the side of his vision, seeming to be searching for something. "Joshua!" Kuzo yelled to his crewmate. He pointed at Faora with his head, while he tried to focus on keeping the entire platform from crushing everything around.
"Right!" Joshua leaped towards a pillar that hadn't collapsed yet and repeated his path up from earlier, this time sprinting up the last stretch of stairs. As soon as he could see Faora he jumped up to her old hiding spot and charged at her full steam. He was determined not to hold back in the least this time, Faora had to be stopped. He neared her while she fished through her things for some last-ditch attack or escape attempt and thrust his arm out at an inhuman speed. The air split before his fist on it's way to Faora; Joshua wasn't looking at Faora though, he was looking at the pillar behind her. If he could knock her off the platform and go down with her she'd be down for the count.
About halfway to Faora it occurred to Joshua that she couldn't be allowed to just run away or pull out her weapons anymore, and charging right at her played into her style too well. Before he could even stop skidding the few feet from his sudden halt, Joshua shifted his punch downward to smash a huge chunk of the platform in Faora's direction. He'd destroy that entire tower to stop her if he had to.
Faora took the chunk of rubble directly knocking her off the platform entirely, but it would work to her advantage. Despite the obvious damage she took, she was able to spin herself around and pop off a number of shots with her rifle at Joshua. She was not aiming explicitly but was hoping to drown a few bullets into his limbs, taking him out of the fight rather than killing him. However, she was close to striking the ground, she shot another hook to latch on to something. The latch hooked on to a pillar, but the rope snapped and she crashed to the ground with a loud thud.
