[center][h1][color=96EACE]Joseph[/color][/h1][/center]
[@DarkRecon][@Hitman]

Joseph barely managed to stifle a growl of frustration as he watched the ice manipulator easily avoid all his runes, cutting down any he didn't manage to shoot from the sky. He'd at least managed to get his attention, but at this point he wasn't sure if Alien Angel was in any position to make use of it, having just been thrown into the wall somehow. It had to have been something Winterfall had done with his powers, but what? Maybe he'd somehow weighed her down using miniscule particles of snow and then used them to have her throw herself into the wall somehow? Did that even make sense?

Despite the thoughts swirling around in his head though, what he said next immediately silenced them.

Winterfall knew about magi. 

About the code, and if the term 'one or two folds' was any indication, he had a fairly good grasp on how it all worked too. That meant he must have learnt it from a magus. Even though Winterfall had just mentioned Egypt, the sheer abject terror that Joseph felt spread throughout his body was enough to make him tremble, just from the small possibility that he might be connected to [i]him.[/i]

In his fear, he almost failed to react to the mans next volley of ice, just barely managing to rip a rune out from his sleeve and hurl it to the ground before him in time.

[color=96EACE][i]"Raise!"[/i][/color] He shouted, and the floor around the rune flowed towards it as if it were water, collecting around it and rising into a wall that stood just above the height of his head. It wasn't fast enough however. If not for the fact that he'd brought his arms up to cover his face and neck, he would have died then and there. Instead, he was mearly thrown backwards, the sheer force of the attack smashing him painfully into the side of the minijet. As he tried to get back up, an unnervingly sharp pain shot through his body, and he looked down to realise that even with the multiple layers of defensive runic arrays in his coat, a number of needles had managed to pierce through, digging into his flesh. Thankfully, the arrays had done their job well enough that they hadn't gotten deep enough to cause any real damage. However, the mere fact that they'd broken through in the first place meant the coat was now little more than unecessary extra weight. Not only that, but he could feel something warm running down the back of his neck, and a quick brush with his fingers showed that he was bleeding quite badly.

All in all, he wasn't really in any condition to fight. He could vaguely hear Alien Angel shouting to him, but what she was saying he couldn't really tell. It was almost as if it was muffled. It sounded important though. He finally caught sight of her from around his wall, but barely a second later he watched her run back out of sight, to where Winterfall was. She was fighting him alone, a stupid decision, but she probably thought he was going to back her up soon. Winterfall too. He'd asked him to show him something that wasn't just a 'parlour trick', to 'prove himself'.

Maybe it was the concussion he probably had. Maybe it was his anger to the frost wielder for [i]daring[/i] to threaten the people he cared about. Or maybe he just didn't like this guys attitude.

Whatever it was, Joseph decide that just this once, he wasn't going to disappoint.

Forcing himself back to his feet, he brushed the needles away, a few of them snapping rather than just falling out. He'd deal with them later though, instead removing his now all but useless jacket. Using one of the knives he had on him, he quickly cut it open, and grabbed a number of runic tags that had been stored within the lining. 

[color=96EACE][i]"Follow."[/i][/color] He said, eight of the tags glowing faintly before rising into the air to surround him. [color=96EACE][i]"Brace. Guard. Hone."[/i][/color] Through his commands, he felt the tags change. Where before they had been mere paper, they might as well be floating knives at this stage. They would handle the defence, now for the attack. 

Gathering as many of his leftover runes as he could fit in his hands, he dashed out from the cover of his wall. Out of cover, he made a beeline for the pair, hurling the tags he'd grabbed into the air. Rather than targeting Winterfall however, they flew towards various spots on the floor and the ceiling above them. 

[color=96EACE]"Move Angel!"[/color] He shouted to his pink teammate, before sweeping a hand out in front of him, each and every tag glowing a bright purple as it passed them. [color=96EACE][i]"Shatter!"[/i][/color]

As one, the tags exploded, upending large chunks of the floor to limit Winterfall's strangely high mobility while simultaneously bringing the roof down above the three of them. While he was concentrating on dodging the falling rubble, Joseph drew his pistol, the only gun that still looked to be in reliable condition after everything that had happened so far, and fired at the ground around the villain. Even as he did, he was moving ever closer. 

[color=96EACE][i]"Burn!"[/i][/color]

Twelve small gouts of flame rose from the ground where the bullets had impacted, the result of nearly twenty three hours of very careful painting. They weren't particularly powerful, definitely not enough to cause any real damage, but it was an extra layer of distraction to keep their enemy in place for those last few seconds.

And then he was upon the man, combat knife in hand and on it's way towards Winterfalls neck. He was out of tags, out of ammo, and on the brink of collapsing from his injuries. If this didn't work, he had nothing left.