@Balthazar007 I think our stuff needs to be added and THEN displaced among the group, so that's what I'm gonna do. Speed, out of them all, MAY not translate as well as Attack and Defense in this format. Something to think on as this system evolves.
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@DoubleI'm going to use great speed to dodge out of the way of these guys and hit them when they're clumped together.
I wouldn't see why not.
NERO KAYAKOS
So, at the moment, there were basically two camps in this meet-'n-greet that was their initial gathering. On one side, you have people talking about getting the Xuanzang - What the hell's wrong with just calling it by name, Ave? It doesn't need a nickname. - past an area with high levels of Ascendancy presence, a full military cordon. Most people were already agreeing that even though it was pretty dangerous, time was of the essence. The longer it took for them to get there, the more chance their enemy had to gather enough people to get to Realist first. This was especially important because the people of Plenty were actually on the side of Moonstrike, and this would be the Ascendancy's big chance to push back. Couldn't let that happen, now could they? Think of all those poor starving assholes that'd get their lunch on time.
The other camp was...not one that Nero really wanted to be a part of. Narvia was feeling homesick, terribly so. She'd been betrayed by at least part of her own family - It's come up a few times in conversation. Navi's rather talkative. - and yet she missed seeing them and her home back on Mars. Others, like Tarak and Amy, tried to comfort her. Nero was...not in that circle. He wanted to pay more attention to the part about the mission. He wasn't really longing for his home on Earth. He and the old homefront had a love/hate relationship. It was a good enough planet, but not for all the people on it. It was a difficult thing, trying to figure out what he wanted. He supposed he wanted to be away from people, so he couldn't be given a hard time, but people are funny, sometimes, so maybe just a few are alright. Anyway, they seemed to be making headway on that, so he went back to the first camp.
Things were just about wrapping up, there. Natasha was mentioning a particularly-nasty piece of work who could be in charge of the cordon they were gonna run, and then Ash and Flame were wondering about quarters. Yeah, there ya go! Priorities! Where do we sleep? Well, fortunately, the Xuanzang had a large amount of rooms, plenty of space to oneself. Perfect. However, after that, Natasha said that they were now all officially crew, which meant that they'd have to help out doing jobs around the place. At that, Nero let out sort of a deadpan "Fuuuuuuck.", at least until he heard that - of all things - accounting was on the list. What a boring task! Oh wait, they had someone to look after the numbers already: Flame Brooks. Probably with Ash on the side for the technical stuff, but Flame was Big Brain Mode about alot of things. Nero clapped him on the back.
"Good luck with the numbers game, buddy. I'll be finding something more my speed."
It was probably gonna be maintenance. The way he could get around, it was pretty on-point, there. Either that, or the cook was gonna have him chop everything edible in the kitchen to bits. Diced everything. Nero took this opportunity to wander off and get what you might call some sighting laps of his new territory. No, not his quarters. He was gonna make some rounds in the Xuanzang and get familiar with the place, all of its nooks and crannies, and see if there was any duct work he could fit into. Getting around ventilation was one of the ways he did his stealth work.
I'm good here. How's everyone else?
NERO KAYAKOS
So, alot of the votes were apparently going towards a swift campaign to hit the planet of Plenty sooner than later, handling all of the dangers therein so they could make it to that prison ship in a hurry. Good to know and great to he- What the hell, man? Nero started giving Fin a look like 'What's your problem?' after the boy gave him a nudge. What was he objecting to? They were agreeing on shit here and he didn't even say anything weird. They all knew what they were getting into, what they were signed up for. Geez, give it a rest... Aaand no sooner did he think it than Fin decided - purely at random - to be a cat, and to settle on Tarak's shoulder. Okaaay... Let's move on, huh? Moving on right to a...man who was very definitely drunk, who just sauntered in, wondering what's up.
"Dunno. Kind of a show-stopping number walked in the door."
Always with the sass... Nero was the savage here, one way or another. Maybe this guy was a die-hard mercenary when he was on the clock, but this? This was clearly happy hour, for him. Nero watched things unfold while taking bites of the lemon bar he'd been offered. He was about halfway through it as somebody else made their way in. Geez, seriously, how many more people are gonna...what? That...that was different. The person who walked in and greeted them all was a being Nero had never seen or read about before. He was taken by surprise, because of her appearance. She was obviously an alien, but...as far as she looked...not bad. Nero was caught up staring for a moment, so he almost missed the part where she was in adoration of the cute feline perched on Tarak's shoulder, and as she proceeded to pet it, Nero facepalmed, thinking...
Fin, you lucky son of a bitch.
That shapeshifting power had been good OR bad for him, given circumstances. Well, at the moment, it had to be more of a highpoint, in his case. That girl - Amy, she called herself - was all over him. Tarak wasn't even trying to stop her, which made it kinda' funny, but Nero decided not to tease this one. There was something about her that was...better. Maybe she was being a bit doting, aaand maybe she didn't realize they were teens and not kids, but this didn't look like a bad thing, you know? Anyway, she started asking for introductions, and of course Fin decided to change back. All this amidst Ariel taking the bottle of alcohol off of the drunken soldier. And then, as she brought up information on the Ascendancy's movements in regard to their mission, Nero snapped his fingers, remembering something.
"Yeah, that reminds me: I was gonna ask if we had to worry about any prisoners on the ship besides the Realist."
It was always possible that the prison ship was full of nutjobs who either wanna get out or wanna fix the ship and take it away. You never know. Annyway, though, Nero would be listening for an answer while keeping an eye on other events in the room.
NERO KAYAKOS
A funny thing happened while people were introducing themselves. Actually, it was fucking hilarious. You see, a doctor had come into the room and Ariel couldn't stop staring at him. Happened every time the doctor puffed on his cigarette. Finally, she went over to basically demand - in her own way - that he hand the thing over, and...well...cue the barely-held snort-and-guffaw ensemble from Nero. She was kinda' their unofficial medic, since she wasn't exactly a combat expert, so seeing her act that way here and now was just funny as hell. He laughed out loud a bit when the doctor actually gave her the smokes!
Oh my god, that's priceless!
He was still chortling somewhat when Natasha spoke up, saying she was gonna contact the big boss of their rebellion if nobody had anything more to bring up. It finally stifled once Moonstrike One went 'Ahem'. The hologram had no face - only a symbol - and the voice was obviously a fake, like the sample voice people use for their translators when they wanna talk English in one end and out comes another language from the Omni-Tool. Nero couldn't get his to speak in any other voice than that of John Cleese. In any case, the voice was female, so for now...we'll assume that Moonstrike One is, as well. I mean, for all we know, it could really be Natasha making a very good recording and just playing along with it. Anyway, she talked about tyranny and the struggle for freedom, but these were minor things to Nero, really. He wasn't in this for anything as big and bold as that. At the end of the day, whoever won this fight, he was still gonna get bossed around by someone who was too busybodied to mind their own business and leave him to his own devices. It was the mission itself that mattered to Nero. The journey, not the payoff. What could you really offer him more than a good time?
Speaking of which, their first actual mission was actually pretty good. So, there was a big ole' farming world with big Fuck You cannons to defend itself against the Ascendancy that just had something interesting drop in their laps. It took them a minute to get to it, but once the interruptions ceased, he got the picture. They knocked a prison vessel out of the sky and it hit the planet, where - maybe - nobody survived...but apparently somebody did. They were transporting an AI called Realist, and Moonstrike wanted them to get this guy out of there before the President-For-Life - probably some jerk named Calvin - sent in his people to go get it. They needed to get to the planet of Plenty in plenty of time to do this, or they risked a non-standard game over. No no no... It meant there'd be a terrible setback and the lot of them wouldn't get paid. Then, the question was asked 'Do you want the long route of the short route?'. One was more dangerous, but saved time. The other was safer, but slower. You could see what Nero was gonna pick a mile away.
"I say we do the short route. Nobody even knows we're around here. It's not like they'll be prepared for the likes of us, so we can catch anyone thinkin' they can take us unawares and end their sorry existence quick."
He didn't want to take forever to get to this thing and possibly fall behind the Ascendancy on this. Better to get there in a hurry, pull out their new robot pal, and be one with it. They could recover from shit, anyway, right?
"Now, what ! wanna know is- What the fuck?"
Abaddon the Cake-Maker! He was offering them...lemon bars?!
"I uhh...yeah, I guess..."
He lost his train of thought completely. Whatever it is that he was gonna ask about was...just gone, banished by the weird sight of this Kaisoken in an apron. It was only when someone new spoke up that he noticed there were more people in the room that hadn't been before.
When the hell did THEY get here? And hey, just how many people are ON this mission?
Not the question he was going to ask before, but pertenant nonetheless. He didn't voice them, though. Not yet.
All totally understandable.
They had their man dead to rights, but then another man...just had him dead.
He was evasive at first, but since neither of them would be deterred, the mouthpiece had no alternative but to confess who it was at the center of it. Niko was waiting for the vindication he desired to exit the man's lips, but instead there was this sudden motorcycle coming in, and Wu Han taking a dive at him. Taken off-guard, Niko was almost flailing a bit as he went "Wait, no no no!" as their source of information was cut down by a mysterious bike rider with a katana. Dammit! They were so close, and Wu had tackled him, instead of maybe dragging the man in the suit to safety, or letting him do same! Instead, the two of them were unharmed, sure, but back to square one, pretty much. Well, unless this man, Goda, was worth anything.
It seemed obvious that they were both a part of the same organization, every one of them trained assassins. However, as the conversation continued, Niko picked up on the nuance: Wu Han's father was the head of their group, which meant that his willingness to help was more than perhaps ruffling the feathers of his fellow assassins, but also in apparent defiance of his own father. There was a story there to tell, no doubt, but first Niko was preparing to fight, as well, because Goda was bringing to attention that he was still their target, and that if Han wouldn't take care of him...this handful of ninjas will! Yes, Goda wasn't sticking around, claiming to be busy. Niko wondered if that was really all, when it would've been seven versus two. Well, no matter. They were getting surrounded, and as Wu apologized, Niko shook his head.
"Don't worry. We'll sort it out. For now, let's handle this. I've never fought against ninjas before..."
Strictly speaking, that's not what they were, but a team of assassins who lived in the shadows, waiting to strike. It's like...everyone calls Subzero a ninja, but he's strictly a Lin Kuei assassin. You follow? No? Nevermind... So, they had these guys to deal with, all of them masked and in gis like Wu, all of them clearly martial artists. They weren't armed like Goda, which was actually kind of fortunate. Nobody here knew like Niko how a simple weapon could turn the tide of a crazy battle. And so, with that, they were on the move!
They weren't attacking directly. They were being evasive, trying to feint and distract with their movements. Half were for Wu, half were for him. The problem with a fight like this was...who would throw the first punch? The reason people don't generally charge in at once is due to the need for coordination and not to hit each other by accident. So, they were moving around like the pieces of a con man's shell game, switching positions, and then after what seemed longer than the few seconds it was, the attack came! The middle one shot forwards, slipping past his colleagues as they were changing position, his fist thrust like a striking cobra. Niko's immediate was to meet his ribs first with his leg and drive him back, and then suddenly realized that he was between the two other men as they snapped back at him like rubber bands he'd dared to pluck. One brought in his fist towards his face, the other was kicking at his knee. Niko had to twist and duck into a crouch to try and avoid this while essentially bracing for impact, grabbing at the kicker's leg to pull him off-balance and to the ground.
Niko VS Three Assassins
Health: 121
Power Level: 121
Intercepting Thrust Kick, followed by 'Oh Shit' Ducking Maneuver with a quick Grab-and-Pull on the side.
Assassin-1
--Attack: 20
---Speed: 30
-Defense: 10
Assassin-2
--Attack: 0
---Speed: 25
-Defense: 5
Assassin-3
--Attack: 1
---Speed: 25
-Defense: 5
He was evasive at first, but since neither of them would be deterred, the mouthpiece had no alternative but to confess who it was at the center of it. Niko was waiting for the vindication he desired to exit the man's lips, but instead there was this sudden motorcycle coming in, and Wu Han taking a dive at him. Taken off-guard, Niko was almost flailing a bit as he went "Wait, no no no!" as their source of information was cut down by a mysterious bike rider with a katana. Dammit! They were so close, and Wu had tackled him, instead of maybe dragging the man in the suit to safety, or letting him do same! Instead, the two of them were unharmed, sure, but back to square one, pretty much. Well, unless this man, Goda, was worth anything.
It seemed obvious that they were both a part of the same organization, every one of them trained assassins. However, as the conversation continued, Niko picked up on the nuance: Wu Han's father was the head of their group, which meant that his willingness to help was more than perhaps ruffling the feathers of his fellow assassins, but also in apparent defiance of his own father. There was a story there to tell, no doubt, but first Niko was preparing to fight, as well, because Goda was bringing to attention that he was still their target, and that if Han wouldn't take care of him...this handful of ninjas will! Yes, Goda wasn't sticking around, claiming to be busy. Niko wondered if that was really all, when it would've been seven versus two. Well, no matter. They were getting surrounded, and as Wu apologized, Niko shook his head.
"Don't worry. We'll sort it out. For now, let's handle this. I've never fought against ninjas before..."
Strictly speaking, that's not what they were, but a team of assassins who lived in the shadows, waiting to strike. It's like...everyone calls Subzero a ninja, but he's strictly a Lin Kuei assassin. You follow? No? Nevermind... So, they had these guys to deal with, all of them masked and in gis like Wu, all of them clearly martial artists. They weren't armed like Goda, which was actually kind of fortunate. Nobody here knew like Niko how a simple weapon could turn the tide of a crazy battle. And so, with that, they were on the move!
They weren't attacking directly. They were being evasive, trying to feint and distract with their movements. Half were for Wu, half were for him. The problem with a fight like this was...who would throw the first punch? The reason people don't generally charge in at once is due to the need for coordination and not to hit each other by accident. So, they were moving around like the pieces of a con man's shell game, switching positions, and then after what seemed longer than the few seconds it was, the attack came! The middle one shot forwards, slipping past his colleagues as they were changing position, his fist thrust like a striking cobra. Niko's immediate was to meet his ribs first with his leg and drive him back, and then suddenly realized that he was between the two other men as they snapped back at him like rubber bands he'd dared to pluck. One brought in his fist towards his face, the other was kicking at his knee. Niko had to twist and duck into a crouch to try and avoid this while essentially bracing for impact, grabbing at the kicker's leg to pull him off-balance and to the ground.
Niko VS Three Assassins
Health: 121
Power Level: 121
Intercepting Thrust Kick, followed by 'Oh Shit' Ducking Maneuver with a quick Grab-and-Pull on the side.
Assassin-1
--Attack: 20
---Speed: 30
-Defense: 10
Assassin-2
--Attack: 0
---Speed: 25
-Defense: 5
Assassin-3
--Attack: 1
---Speed: 25
-Defense: 5
NERO KAYAKOS
So, his shopping experience had gone like this... Nero had asked the Korta clerk for recommendations, since he wasn't a gunnery dude, and while the alien was going down the long list of melee toys, Ash and Flame were also looking into this and Flame had a few suggestions. To which the dedicated slashy said "You heard the man. I'm into handheld cutting power, so bring on the knives 'n stuff. The selection was pretty good on that front. There were monomoleculars like he had, there were the hybrid-metals with the plasma-heated edges, there were electro-daggers, there were what had to basically be miniature light sabers that were basically plasma cutters, and...
"Eh? What're these things?"
"Ah, your friend just bought these. Rau've poison blades, grown from thistle trees of their home planet. They exude a deadly poison when they detect blood, causing most species to lapse into a feverish coma, and then death. Most effective...but you have to take care of them. They're alive. I keep mine suspended in a nutrition fluid for longterm storage."
"What? I gotta water these things? I never had a pet or a plant or nothing at home, 'cause I never had a proper home. That's a pass on that one. So, here's what I want. Gonna have two extra mono-knives, so I got extras an' disposables on me. Gimme the hybrid-metals, two of 'em. And gimme a pair of the electricals. Let's see...don't want the plasma beam cutter things... That garroting wire any good?"
"It's monofilament."
"Mmm...nah. I'm getting enough shit, as is. Gonna need a better belt to hold it all, though. Ya got anything for that?"
"I do, indeed."
He ended up getting a utility belt with alot of slots for his knives, which now numbered in eight. It was fine, though, because he wasn't going to put anything else in there. Nero had what he needed to be a light killing machine, to armor himself up and improve his fighting power. These weapons would make him stronger in attack without the need to power his weapons up. It would work out nicely. Very nicely... But getting back to the present moment, the thing with the Omni-Tool Narvia was using was that she was decoding a secret mission from her...godfather? He was pretty sure he heard her mention that this Dragon guy - Zahn - was decent stuff, and Nero was pretty sure someone mentioned that Dragon Fleet he was in command of. Nero kinda' wondered what it was the guy wanted. Maybe he was on their side for putting down the Ascendancy? That'd be sweet. Well, eight-and-a-half hours to go, now that Ariel offered her own OT to sync. Nero was kinda' anxious to learn now, but he could wait the hours if they got plenty of shit to do, anyway.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
They arrived at the hangar of the Xuanzang and...well, that's a ship, alright. It wasn't anything special to look at, but then again, maybe it wasn't suppose to be. As someone who understood doing things on the sly and keeping out of view while pulling sneaky shit, Nero could see that a ship that didn't seem like it could do much would be ultimately perfect. That Dragon Brigade that Narvia's godfather ran was so famous that it had its own entry in the Omni-Tool's database. This? Nobody knew that Moonstrike used this. It was just another ship. It was therefore perfect for their needs. If nobody ever knew they were operating from it, nobody would ever give it a second look. Just like how nobody outside of their little group really knew what he could do to your face.
They finally met Natasha and Abaddon the Limb-Seeker, though she was doing the talking for the moment. She wanted to know about them, of course. Ehh, this was that socializing thing that Nero didn't exactly like. He didn't mind talking, but...he and other people weren't like best mates or anything. He got along with the others here, but they were umm...whadyacallem? Collagues? Associates? Partners in crime? Even back at the Rau've place, he wasn't super-close to people. These guys were alright, but Nero kept going off on his own. It was hard to really feel like they were more to him than anyone in Moonstrike, with the exception of the fact that they all were linked by one big eyesore: Earth. They needed to get back to Earth, get back at Earth. And let's be honest here. That's what linked them here, or at least Nero to the rest of 'em. Sam and Iris may be sibs while close to Tarak, Flame and Ash had a thing for each other, and all the rest may be friendly enough, given the chance, but...this was about them sticking it to the Man, the Ascendancy pf Man.
A bunch of 'em introduced themselves, some kind of showing off or explaining what they do and where they come from. Nero looked at Natasha and Abbadon with a shrug and said, "Nero Kayakos. I kill people.", in just a blunt matter-of-fact sort of tone. It's all the assholes back home ever wanted from him. They didn't give a shit about anything else, and it's something he was good at. He didn't want to kid them here. It's what Moonstrike wanted from him too. Sure, they had things where they talk it out, but you all know what Nero is about, and so did they.
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