[centre][h2]The Zenith - Xoxi's Super Cool Fortress of Awesome[/h2]
[h1]Above Boston[/h1]
[sub]21st January, 2011[/sub][/centre]

“I guess so,” Marwa agreed with a shrug. “It’s all the same to me.”

The others sat, almost transfixed by the display. “It’s more brutal than I imagined it’s be,” Aedan said with a look of disdain. “Dunno what I expected from Wonderland, though.”

“Well, the Protectorate match is up next. Let’s see our mentors kick some ass out there.” The Ward Leader reached over and turned up the volume a few notches with an eager smirk.

[@Gardevoiran]

[hr]

[centre][h2]The Circus Maximus[/h2]
[h1]Victory Road[/h1]
[sub]21st January, 2011[/sub][/centre]

Pipeline’s glare fell upon the woman who had so rudely interrupted his speaker. “And what do you think you are doing?”

Conflux’s grin was wide and sweet, dripping with a sensual femininity. “I apologise for the intrusion, but my fighter needed a drop of motivation to really get going. For the time being, I promise to refrain from interfering further.”

His eyes met the flat of her helmet where her eyes would be, beneath. “Very well,” he declared after a moment’s pause. “I shall allow you to return to spectating, but make no mistake - I shall not tolerate another stunt like that.”

“Duly noted,” she said with a nod.

[hr]

Meanwhile, Black Kaze was in motion the second Ifrit’s arm moved in her direction. In the space of a second, she had blinked up to the top of the cage with the sound of clattering and scraped metal deafening the room around them. As the black smoke rolled out below, she lost sight of her targets and sneered. It was a perfect environment for both hunter and hunted, so she locked her legs through the top bars of the metal cage and waited, poised to strike the second an opportunity presented itself.

Talion, on the other hand, didn’t show the slightest interest in the dart. It pierced into his skin without even provoking a grunt of acknowledgement. His eyes had tracked it’s arc, however, and he knew he’d been hit. The contents of it may have been unknown, but as he monitored his internal mechanisms, only a slight slowdown was noted. It appeared not to contain any lethal drugs. 

Which was a shame, he thought, as it would have made things so much [i]easier[/i].

Nevertheless, he soon found himself blind by the rolling fog. Zabaniya reacted out of instinct and immediately drew in the shadows to her aid, forming them into a typhoon of whipping blades around her. They branched out at random arcs in an attempt to blow away the smoke and gain some form of visibility. Talion noted her location from the wind blowing across his arm. 

Ahead, he noticed a faint blue light - a wall of stopped time. Knight. She’d left a number of tiny cracks on its surface, however, and the man smiled. “Zabainya!” he cried out, as she used her shadow-tendrils to clear a line of sight to him. He pointed out one of the gaps in the light. “Skewer her.”

With a wicked grin, the shadow-bender’s whips quested out across the wall, revealing the locations of the tiny gaps - before they formed pinpoint spears and screeched through them. She felt like a magician pulling off a magic sword trick, which would make Knight her glamorous assistant.

It was too bad she wasn’t a very good magician.

Before Talion could fully appreciate the spectacle, however, a fist rather rudely hammered across his face. The man stumbled - mildly disorientated - until he could make sense of where the attack had come from in the smoky haze surrounding him. From Zabaniya's efforts, however, he could make out a figure a little distance away seemingly flailing his arms about wildly. Narrowing his eyes, he drew a short dagger with a curved blade from the belt behind his back, holding it in a military stance with one arm atop the other. Watching for a break in the figure's antics, he swished the blade towards their throat.

And under the guise of the faint, launched his free hand to grasp their face.

[@Migyudon][@Lasrever][@Old Amsterdam][@SkinnyTy][@PlatinumSkink][@Duoya]