[img]https://i.imgur.com/OHUGSD0.jpg[/img] Southern Northbridge. Beneath a skyline of shipping crates, in the shadows of tangled wires and rust-scarred slums. Temujin sat perched atop a lamp post, the snarl of his mask directed straight ahead. His night's eyes revealed what was too dark for most to see, a trail of charring and snuffed embers, wounded deep into the pavement. It twisted with a serpentine flair, leading to a hole blasted through foot-thick concrete. A warehouse. Longer than it was tall, with an orgy of neon words and images graffitied onto the walls. Temujin dropped from his perch, his form stretched and his landing silent as a cat's, then slinked towards the hole. Nine feet tall and eight feet wide. The concrete was still hot to the touch. A rumble came from within, snarling low with a giggle-like undertone. Temujin pressed his back against the wall and peered. Red coils twisted and floated above the floor. The air wobbled and blurred with heat around them. The serpent's head was close to the ground. There was the snap of bone and tearing of meat as the thresher feasted on another - a crustacean, toppled onto its back and twitching with the vestiges of life, its azure shell blackened by char and casting smoke. Temujin moved amongst the shadows. Slowly, behind a forklift, up stacks of containers, towards the rafters. What little sound he made disappeared along his body into rippling air. He couldn't afford to use his eyes again… but the cyberware fused into his body made for a useful backup. Temujin leapt - with hands outstretched - and grabbed onto a rafter beam. He swung forward, back, and forward, building momentum which he released as he vaulted atop the beam. He approached above the creature, every crouched step secured by his soles' magnetic grip. The cyber ninja ignited a blade. The green light was a colourless shimmer beneath his cloak. Temujin set his eyes upon its stinger; glowing crimson at the tip of thin black coils. [i]One good cut.[/i] Temujin's blade expanded atop the struts as he channeled the focused totality of his power core. It was now or never. He jumped. The air rushed over his falling body like the wind. Time slowed in his mind as the snake seemed closer, and bigger, and closer, and bigger, until- A clean hit. The green blade plunged right through the base of the stinger, drawing blood that burned and steamed before it could spray. A rattling scream spread through the warehouse. The serpent raised its head, black blood dripping from black teeth. Slowly, it looked right at Temujin. [color=DC091C][b][i]Shit,[/i][/b][/color] the ninja thought to himself. He extinguished his blade and flipped away - just as the snake whipped its tail, slamming into a wall of containers and crushing them like tin. He had cut it deep. Deep enough to injure - and seriously piss off - but not enough to sever. Temujin disengaged, sprinting around a bend and behind stacks of crates. The serpent let out its giggle-like chitters, as if amused by its quarry. Heat radiated from its bioluminescent body, heat that blurred the air and scattered embers from its wings. It's mouth opened with blinding light. [b][i]FWOOOOOOOOOSH![/i][/b] Heat, light, and fire. [b][i]FWOOOSH! FWOOOOOOSH![/i][/b] Again, and again, blackening the concrete and melting the containers into misshapen slag. Temujin dashed and rolled, using shadows and surroundings to mitigate the flaws of his cloak. Firelight bathed the warehouse in a blood red glow. Temujin skidded to a halt and hid behind cover. He could hear the low rumble of the snake, its coils swaying eerily through the air. The ninja stared forward. The hole where he came through was a mere dash away. Success seemed unlikely now. He could flee to try another day. Temujin peeked over the wall. The serpent had ceased its scorched-earth tactics, choosing instead to rear up and search amongst the flames. Perhaps to conserve its energy. Perhaps to try something else. [color=DC091C]"..."[/color] It didn't matter. After all the destruction it wrought, all the damage it survived, Temujin couldn't allow such a dangerous creature to run amuck around Northbridge. Smoke rose from the fire. Smoke that flew high above the rafters and disturbed long-rusted mechanisms. The shrill screech of alarm cut through the crackle of flames, and then… Water. Pouring from all across the rafters, in high-pressured sprays like the fabled rain of the upper city. Rain that doused the fire and silenced the flames. Slowly at first, then all at once, until all that was left were thick gusts of steam. Static shorted across the Temujin-shaped distortion of air. Red and black rippled back into view, along with that ever-snarling, bone white mask. The snake tilted its head. A low purr came between its jagged teeth, its ear-wings pricked at the static amidst the downpour. Temujin extended both his blades. He slinked out of the shadows, his armour wet and glossy from the water, his jet black eyes staring down the serpent for their final confrontation.