A Villain's Effigy

The day was like any other for the town of Rust. Rather unremarkable in any sense. However, it was a lovely day outside. The sun shined brightly in a blue sky practically devoid of clouds, rays of sunshine lightly flooding the streets below. People went about their business visiting the various shops and machine bazaars that scattered the developing scrap town or spent time in the vibrant field of flowers that bordered it, the people entirely unsuspecting of the dangers that concealed themselves within the very streets they walked. 

 Flak sat atop a nearby rooftop overlooking the most popular Bazaar in town, The Scrapbot Emporium. He hummed to himself sweetly, kicking his feet gleefully as they dangled off the ledge of the building. He looked down to the streets below, admiring the view as people looked in awe at the robots salvaged from Eggman Empire and G.U.N machines, repurposed into construction and public service robots by various local scavengers. For a brief moment he remembered his own sense of wonder as a child when tinkering with old robots. He smiled softly beneath his helmet as he reminisced, until a voice cut through on his communications device.

"Flak! What's the status on those explosives? Please tell me you didn't get distracted or are screwing around." 

"Negative, buddy! We are ready to rock!" Flak chuckled to himself, swinging his feet back over the other side of the ledge so he could stand up. "I got a little something planned for the encore as well!"

His conspirator growled through the microphone. "Ugh. How many times do I have to tell you to stop dropping last minute surprises into the plan?! What's this encore you've cooked up,?"

"It's a surprise." The avian replied, unzipping the large duffle bag he had set beside him, retrieving several rocket launcher parts from the bag and putting them together.

"I swear to-... Flak you better not screw this up! Please tell me it's not that stupid laser beam or whatever."

"Disintegration ray." Flak scoffed, mounting the optic sight onto the rocket launcher and completing the assembly. He popped open the lens cap with his thumb and hoisted the rocket launcher over his shoulder so that he could look through the sight at the crowd below.

"W-what?"

"It's a disintegration ray!"

"I-...Grrr. I don't give a shit, Flak! It doesn't work!"

"Oh, it works." Flak scanned the crowd, marking each of the robots through the scope of his weapon. "Uh, Ava? Still there?"

"Yes… I'm here…"

"Okay. Enough jibber jabber! It's time to get this show on the road. Meet me on top of the old church overlooking the scrap-bot bazaar."

 "Ugh… 'bout time." The viper said, practically hissing at the bird. With a press of a button the adrenaline pumps built into her bodysuit began to activate her powers, allowing her to warp onto the rooftop behind Flak. "Nice bazooka!"

"Rocket launcher." Flak replied, looking over his shoulder at the yellow scaled snake in the white bodysuit. He could see her tail started to flick with irritation the moment he corrected her, making him chuckle softly. 

"Detonator." The snake demanded as she moved beside him, holding out her hand. 

"Detonator… please?" Flak said in a playful tone that only irritated the snake more.

She didn't say a word, simply narrowing her vibrant pink eyes at the vulture. The same look she'd get right before getting stab happy in an entire room of people.

 "Fine. Here." Flak sighed. He gently gestured to the duffle bag beside him. "Side pocket."

Ava's eyes broke away from Flak and she retrieved the detonator from the bag, flipping open the safety cap. "Ready?"

"Ready!" 

Flak pulled the trigger and the sound of the rocket flying through the air pierced the sky. People among the crowd began to look up in confusion before screaming as they realized a rocket was heading right towards the Bazaar. People began to scatter and as they did the rocket split into multiple payloads, bombarding each robot on display with explosive ordinance, sending shrapnel and metal flying everywhere. 

While the crowd still struggled to understand what was even happening Ava pressed down on the detonator. Another loud explosion rang out through the small town as a nearby gas station went up in flames. Soon the sky became flooded with smoke and ash.

This was definitely one of the stranger towns he had found himself in. It was a place filled with workers because, as it had been explained to him, this whole town was dedicated to building.

It was mostly established around taking robots that had been damaged or broken down and repurposing them for other roles, generally non-combat roles, which was the opposite of what most of them had been created for in the first place. But while that was the central industry in this town, there were all sorts of other productions being undertaken with the resources that were available at hand.

But while the designing, building and programming of these devices was the central focus here, it was only made possible by the veritable army of individuals and robots that helped to support the process. Hauling and transport of the materials to the town and within it from distribution areas. Disassembly of what was brought in and reassembling it into new configurations, so long as they could be used as is. Otherwise materials would be taken to be melted down and reforged mechanically or smithed by hand for their new purposes. Then those products would actually be moved to the specific workshops that would churn out the refurbished or freshly constructed end products.

It was an amazing process to witness, and the wolf was awed by what he saw despite having little direct impact on much of what happened here.

He had been curious about what went on there shortly after his arrival about a week ago. This place had been very busy, even moreso than big cities that he'd occasionally travel through and by the end of his first day there, he wanted to know why that was. He had been able to find some of the 'grunt workers' who provided the general labour and inquired about what they did while they went about their work. After seeing what they did and because he'd take up odd jobs as he traveled to help make ends meet, he'd asked if he could help out. The people overseeing the grunts were always glad to get an extra pair of paws to help with the work around here so, after a quick interview process just to identify the wolf's skills set, he was assigned to the 'dumb labour' category. So for the last few days, he helped out mainly in moving materials in various states from one location to another throughout the town as needed as part of a crew.

Thus far, the current day had been very much like the last few that had gone by. Going from haulers to sorters, smelters to forgers, smiths to workshops, and occasionally helping move finished products out to shops in the bazaar. The camaraderie he had gotten from the work crew he had been with the last few days was something he wasn't used to... and it was something he wasn't looking forward to leaving behind. He was always worried about when trouble would arrive looking for him. So despite things having gone well in his time being there, he worried that he might've been here too long already.

It was getting close to the time that his crew would be taking their midday break, so he'd have to consider his thoughts in more depth then. Maybe even see about getting the opinions of others in regards to it. But before that, they still had their current job to attend to.

His crew was currently in the process of loading up some reforged alloy bars from one of the smelters so they could bring it to the local distribution area. From there, they were to transport an order of precision components to one of the workshops.

It was then that the silver furred wolf pauses in his work, with an armload of alloy bars resting against the front of his brown coveralls, and turns his head towards the center of town where he can hear a whistling sound.

"Does anyone else he--" he begins, before an explosion further into the town erupts in view. The sound of it, along with flames and debris, spreads out from the point of origin.

The wolf quickly turns to the cart he had been helping to load up and drops his load of alloy into it, moments before another explosion shakes the area, making everyone reflexively duck down and move towards the shelter of the building housing the smelters. The wolf turns towards the source of the second, closer explosion, seeing a cloud of ash and smoke billowing outward and swallowing everything it came across.

Trouble had arrived. His first instinct was to withdraw and leave. He was pretty sure that he could get back to where he'd been staying, gather his belongings and go before things got any worse, assuming there was more to come, which he did. But... he might be able to help with whatever was going on and he felt that he owed it to the people here that had taken him in and treated him well for the time he'd been here to do what he could.

With that in mind, and holding back the familiar feeling that he might be making a mistake, the wolf leaves the rest of his crew behind and hurries off into the expanding wall of smoke.

The town of Rust. A small vibrant out of the way settlement that often flew under the radar of many, it's location nestled away helped at least ensure some form of privacy from the eyes of the world at large. Tho the settlement was renown locally for its reconstruction effects for Robots salvaged from both the Empire and G.U.N respectively, once weapons of war built to destroy, were now being rebuilt to help construct.

For some it seemed like the perfect place to get away from the typical running's of everyday life, here was just good to honest folk trying to help one another in the best way they could, not really phased about the on goings of the world around them. 

On a day such as this one, with the weather as clear as one could ever ask for, it was of no surprise that a particular figure who had steadily began to take his new found drive of exploration would be traversing the territories around the two region points of Station square being up north and Mobotropolis being further south.

What he was exploring was not really clear, ever since his original role during the times of the Horizon incident had expired he had been pressing to find new purpose and meaning. However that was proving fair easier said then done, thus he tried to make use of his now abundant free time by exploring, getting a chance to see things he never did before and perhaps experience such, tho still called upon for the odd task or two by his oldest ally Lysander.

In the low brush Vista's just before the Great Woods the charcoal armoured figure who still bore the very same (Tho upgraded) fatigues as he once did in his old life was kneeling down among an array of oddly placed stone like structures, a hand held device in one gloved palm, lightly waving it side to side, to some he may of been just monitoring something as simple as air moisture but in fact he was scanning for a particular energy source...something he felt was not truly gone from those dark days.

In a moment, the peace was shattered, a air snapping crack was heard as it echoed violently, generating a light tremor at his position. As a knee jerk response the armour freelancer rose too his steel capped feet, viewing a plume of smoke raising higher into the bright blue sky, the distant collective panic of untold personal traveling across the landscape.

"That came from Rust!"

Forgoing any further energy readings, tucking said device into a webbed pouch, The masked figure took off in the direction of the town it self. Thankfully he was not too far from its location, nor would this be a first time encounter of the town, he had been to Rust once or twice during the Horizon days. 

Fires seem to be raging in various zones, debris both lay upon the ground and hung in the air, the thick smoke blanketing a portion of the town. Empire attack ? Dark Legion rebels ? Terrorists ? Taking a sharp inhale through his front vent he plunged into the towns confines himself, chaos and confusion was rife among the ranks of citizens. Aided by his helmets visual enhancing system. navigation did not prove too difficult, answers! He needed Answers but everyone so far seemed to just want to get the hell out of the town as fast as possible.

One figure was spotted moving further into the town, rather then away from it, like a specter in the mist the shape and outline of a Mobian of a stocky nature, weapon drawn at the ready the armoured freelancer gave chance pursuing the being deeper into the burning town.

The duo atop the church shared a sinister laugh as they watched the people panic on the streets below, exchanging a glance at one another, a smile plastered across Ava's lips and presumably one on Flak's beak beneath his helmet. 


"Woohoo! Hell yeah!" Flak celebrated, pumping his armor clad fist into the air. "Haha!"


"Nice work, Aetherbrand." Ava said with a smirk across her face, nudging the bird slightly with her elbow. "Did you remember to bring the megaphone?"


"Sure did, Thrillkill. It's in the duffel bag with the rest of our stuff. Be a sweetheart and hand me a high explosive rocket while you're rootin' around in there?" 


Ava tossed aside the detonator, now of not use to them, and knelt down beside the bag. She pulled out one rocket and handed it to Flak who immediately began to load it into the launcher as she retrieved the megaphone. She pushed the bag slightly to the side before standing back up and taking her place beside her partner in crime.


"Attention people of Rust!" She began, addressing the crowd of scrambling civilians. Her cold, sinister voice cut through the screaming and shouting, making people stop in their place. "Those of you still in the Scrapbot Bazaar must stay where you are! Any attempt to run will result in your death.” She gestured to Flak, his rocket launcher now loaded and trained on the crowd of people. “You are now hostages of the Coven. Our demands are simple! We request an audience with the vigilante calling herself the Cackler. Any other self-titled hero is welcome to join her. So… Anyone feeling heroic?”


 She let the arm holding the megaphone fall to her side as she scanned the crowd, all of them cowering in fear. "No takers… What a shame."


"Eh, hold up there! I wouldn't be so sure about that Av- uh, Thrillkill." 


"Oh?"


"One of my Fieser drones picked up two infrared signals heading towards us, not away."


"What do they look like? Is it the Cackler?!"


"Bit-... I DON'T KNOW!"


"What do you mean you don't know?!"


"I-it just freaking pinged me. It's not like I have a direct camera feed to it! Do you have any idea how distracting that would be?!"


Ava rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Ugh… Whatever dude. Just keep an eye on the hostages. I'll check it out." She tossed the megaphone to the side and drew both of her serrated daggers sheathed on her back just above her tail. With a drawn out deep breath Ava dives off the church, plummeting towards the concrete below. As her heart started to pump faster and that rush of adrenaline hit her veins she was able to vanish just before hitting the ground, warping to the four way intersection just beyond the smoke billowing from the gas station.

 Ava waited for whoever emerged from the smoke, twirling her daggers in her hands and expecting a challenge.

The wolf raises one arm to try and shield his eyes and also takes in a breath of air before he plunges into the cloud of smoke. The smoke and ash sting at his eyes as he enters the cloud, forcing him to squint as he follows the relatively clear paths between buildings towards the site of the exploded fuel depot. As he does that, many people pass by him heading in the opposite direction telling him to turn back as the way he was going was too dangerous.

Once he drew close to that area though, he saw that what people had told his was correct. Fires and collapsed buildings dominated the space ahead of him. He realizes that he'd need to try and find another way around.

*Gods... I wonder how many people were in this area... and if any of them survived whatever just happened.* he thinks to himself, as he decides to head to his right to look for a way around and also coughing from the smokey air.

As he continues along, the smoke and ash in the air thin out a bit, as everything that had been thrown into the air by the initial blast had had a chance to settle somewhat. The air was by no means clear, but it was at least a little bit easier to see through and just a bit easier on him to breathe in.

And then suddenly, he exits the cloud into a unexpectedly clear area, seemingly untouched by the smoke and ash, that was only a short distance from the meeting point of two roadways running through the area.

The wolf comes to a halt coughing to clear the air out of his lungs and doubling over in the process, before taking in a deep breath of the cleaner air. With all of his attention focused on that, he didn't notice that there was a dagger wielding viper only a short distance away from where he stood.

The crackling hisses and roars of flames were heard all around, the smoke taking on a much darker color as it burned through various objects in it's path. Visibility would be severely limited, it was as if a thick pea soup fog had fallen upon the entire town. 

The iconic helmet that had concealed the figures identity would ease breathing by its respirator based system, allowing him to operate almost indefinitely in this kind of condition. The thermal's however were having a difficult time given the heat radiating off of objects, actively identifying became guess work.

High volumes of ash settled across his charcoal colored armour turning it from its usual black into a smoke grey almost matching his clothing, a almost perfect camouflage against the background he was in. The careful jogging trudge of his boots had sense of oomph followed by the collective rattling of equipment he had strung about his body. Those foot steps became louder and louder to those ahead of him.

The helmets heads up display highlighting possible objects of personal as he moved through the claustrophobic levels of smoke and who knew what else. However the intensity of the fires and level of destruction were steadily increasing as he pressed on, indicating that he was closing in on ground zero of the detonation point.

Out of the dense fog like smoke he emerged like a ghost, the mint green visor cutting a faint glow through what little smog remained, his body was layered with ash giving off a very un easy silhouette only his visor remained untouched. The heavy footsteps came too a abrupt stopped at the eastern most intersection of the 4 way. The helmet singling out the one who stood dead in the middle of it. Another too his right. 

A Viper female with knife in hand ominously stood idle, unclear of whether one of the possible assailants but the fact they had a knife and were clearly waiting for something was cause enough for the ash ridden freelancer to slowly raise his rifle up into a braced shoulder position, training the crosshair directly onto her figure.

"You here! You need to get outta here! This whole place is burning down! Have you seen anyone else still inside the blast zone!? What the hell happened!?"

Ava twirled her daggers skillfully between her fingers, not once skipping a beat. Her pink eyes glowed with an ambient evil through the thinning smoke. A devilish little smirk that bared her fangs grew across her lips as the first figure emerged from the thicker smoke to catch his breath. "Oooh~ A little rugged looking for my tastes, yet, oddly handsome." She remarked to herself, she stopped twirling one of the knives and tapped it lightly against her chin as she gave the wolf a once-over.

"Eh... You not so much." Ava said, tipping her blade in the direction of the second figure that emerged for a moment before bringing it back to her chin. She inspected the soldier briefly. She didn't seem phased, even as he raised his weapon in her direction. The idle threat only seemed to make her smile grow wider. "Aetherbrand!" 

"Whats up?"

"If you hear a gunshot go ahead and blow up all the hostages." Ava spoke coldly, using her knife to gesture at the soldier to lower his weapon. 

"Hehehehehaha! With pleasure!" Flak replied, fidgeting the safety on the rocket launcher on and off as he grew impatient. 

"Hehe... Anyways. Oh! Right! You asked me a few questions." Ava leaned forward, her twisted smirk becoming somewhat playful. "Well~! There are plenty of people still in a blast zone." She snickered menacingly. "Long story short, this is what happens when hero types screw with some folk they shouldn't have messed with. We're waiting on that special someone now but... We can party without her, right?"

"So, boys... How do you wanna handle this while we wait for the guest of honor to arrive?" She said as she held her arms outstretched to the side. "I say put down the gun and we can play a little! Otherwise... well... boom! Hehehe."

The viper stood before the two without a semblance of fear or nervousness. Her glowing pink eyes contracted tightly, which gave her a crazed look. Her yellow scales and form fitting white bodysuit were coated in a light layer of soot by then. It wouldn't appear that her suit would grant her any form of protection, however the hoses running along the suit would indicate that it granted her some sort of benefit beyond being unrestrictive to her flexibility.

The wolf is startled by the voice of someone arriving off to his left, making him stand upright and quickly turn in the direction of the voice. There he sees an unknown figure hidden in dark clothing with some sort of large firearm and a female reptile holding a pair of short blades a bit further off in that general direction.

He inhales sharply in his moment of surprise at seeing them both so close and that he hadn't noticed them initially, and that sets off a coughing fit for him which makes him double over again. Due to that and his distance from the female reptile, the wolf misses many details of what she said in response to the dark clothed figure apart from her last question and comment to them.

He glances over at the two of them, still hunching over with his paws resting just above his knees to support himself.

"I think..." he says, before pausing to lower is head and cough once again. He then looks back over and tries again. "I think I'm not going to be able to play for a while. How about I just pass on this one?"

Un phased by the sheer quantity of ash layered over him, with a collective exhale of air a large cloud of said ash was blown off of his front vent, trailing too the floor at his foots. Peering off too his right for several moments. a Figure, keeled over trying to desperately regain his breath. A old face from a time back, while they two had no shared many of encounters they had indeed crossed paths more then once on the odd mishap here and there. There was a high chance Wolfgang probably could not recall who this mysterious armoured freelancer was but not really a important factor for now.

The overall sounds of panic had subsided, most of all those who could escape were now as far as one could be from the burning hell hole of this disaster site, visibility no more then a few meters, just enough to cover the intersection where the trio had arrived at.

From what little he gathered from the snarky comments made by the Viper, this entire event was to provoke someone to come in after them, and most likely had not counted on any one else showing up at this point. If they were trying to send a message, well they surely succeeded on that front, you could see that fireball miles away, not too mention the cracking explosion sound that ripped from it.

If the tallish Human wished to get further ahead and potentially locate the survivors being held captive...th the only way...was through. Denied his ranged ability, his true strength, the exterior armoured gloves with arched knuckled plating were still capable of some nasty blows....if one could land a hit.

Idly he stood using his right palm to lightly pat and sweep the ash from his trusted firearm, seemingly to at first ignore the Vipers so called challenge to fight. However the overall stance of his own being shifted. Calmly placing the rifle up and over onto the rear section locking it into place. The Ash covered figure began to pace in a clock wise rotation.

His focus remaining strictly upon the viper as he did so, lowly pitching himself vaguely between her and wolfgang, acting as a barrier until the stocking wolf could regain himself, in that state he was a easy target for her, thus naturally he moved in too cover him.

"Well, it seems you are not going to be co-operative....now I don't hit ladies, not my thing, fortunately for me I am not dealing with one but rather a bitch so that makes the situation.....sooooo much easier......Only way to get passed you is rearrange your facial structure....come and get it then."

Ava pouted a little as the wolf doubled over and declined her challenge. She huffed with disappointment, turned her head and spat onto the ground. "Hmph. You're not as tough as I pegged you for!" Something in Ava's tone told the wolf he likely wasn't going to get off the hook so easily.

"Luckily your friend here has more guts than you do." She taunted the other mobian, pointing her knife towards the soldier with a wicked smile. "Maybe I should open him up and take a look." She snickered to herself in amusement as she brandished her blades. A predatory look befell her eyes as her heart started to beat faster with excitement. A glance into her eyes was all it took to tell she was more than unhinged.

 Her long serpentine tail flicked against the ground, kicking up ash from the cracked concrete. She narrowed her eyes at the armored man. "Trust me, honey. I'm more woman lady than you'll ever meet. More bitch than you'll ever meet too..." Her lips twisted into a sadistic grin.

 She dashed in, stabbing wildly in the man's direction with the ferocity of a rabid predator trying to tear apart it's prey. Her blades clashed with his armor several times but failed to penetrate further into the man's body.

As the battle between Ava and her perceived prey began, Flak received a ping from one of his four Fieser drones secretly patrolling the smoke obscured skies of the town. It was another heat signature heading this way but this time from the east. It was much bigger than the other two, and much faster as well. It wasn't long before the sound of a roaring engine sundered the ambient crackling of flames and faint screams here and there.

Flak removed one of his hands from the rocket launcher to shoo away the crowd of hostages in the street below, no longer having a need for them. "Get lost, all of you! Don't wait until I change my mind." He shouted to the crowd before returning his hand to the launcher and readjusting his aim towards the direction of the approaching vehicle. "South, all of you." He clarified as he magnified the zoom of his scope onto the road.

 The heavily armored figure ignored the hostages as they stumbled to their feet and began to dash past the church to the safety of the flower fields towards the outskirts of town. He trained his aim on the street waiting for his target to appear, singing to himself. "♫Tell me~ Where You've been~ Hiding Out~ Safe and Sound~♫"

The wolf regards the figure in dark clothing in surprise as he insults and taunts the female reptile.

*Yeah... that's what you want to do with someone looking to fight.* he thinks, *She seems a bit... wild too.*

He sees the reptile as she mocks the wolf for his response to her challenge. He wasn't really bothered by her words. He wasn't looking for a fight, so if she was going to ignore him even for a while it was to his benefit. She then threw another barb at him as she accepted the other figure's offer to fight her. Then she dashed in and began fighting the other figure as the wolf watches and metallic clangs rang out from her blades against her foe. The wolf's eyes widen slightly at the display. She was a very good fighter and he didn't have any weapons on him. He hadn't been carrying his blades with him since he'd been working in town.

That was a problem. He didn't expect her to just let him walk away after all.

Now that he has some moments available to him, he began looking around the area. There was plenty of debris from the explosions around. Maybe he could find something of use... but he'd have to be quick about it.

The armoured figure was trying to buy time for Wolfgang to actually get too his feet and provide him with some much needed back up. The female snake would of dispatched him in a moments notice if he had not acted as a barrier between the pair. The chaotic air now embraced a more eerie silence, both sides stood waiting too see who would strike the first blow.

If there was one thing the armoured freelancer had recalled all too often, it was that to never underestimate your target, regardless of stature or perceived nature, it could be a one way ticket too a early grave. Ever so often the helmeted figure peered over his right shoulder inspecting Wolfgang, hoping he would be composing himself by now to join him in the inevitable show down. Light whispering through that vent of the helmet, his visor coming out as if some one quietly spoke through a radio

"Come on Wolfgang....get up.....get up on your feet...I don't know what she is cap-"

Before being able to complete that sentence the freelancer was beset by the serpent in a furious barrage of bladed strikes. Shrike desperately tried to use his armour to hold back the blows. Sparks leaped from his gear as each strike made contact.

However with the sheer relentlessness and speed to her strikes he could not have a hope to block every thing, blood was soon drawn as a few of the slashes found their marks on opened sections of armour, mostly around his fore arms and lower stomach. One was even a lucky light skim across his neck to the right. 

Any opening he could get the freelancer curled his armoured fists with the angled exterior knuckled plated section ready, drawing his fist back before retaliating with a powerful swing, using the momentum to follow up with a second. However the sheer speed she moved at was simply out classing him, Close quarters was not his strength and bit by bit he was being worn down, only his sheer stubbornness keeping him on his feet.

Backing off for a second to clench his right shoulder as trails of blood lightly ran down his exposed forearm, his breathing slowing in pace but only ever increasing his adrenaline. Unaware of yet another approaching heat source, was the situation about to turn in their favor....or further against them, things didn't look too hot for them....

Ava's onslaught against the armored figure was ruthless. Her slashes were savage and her stabs were precise, finding their way into gaps in his armor every now and then. Luckily for the man none of the wounds opened up by her blades were too deep, just deep enough to draw blood. She continued her barrage until one of her titanium carbon blades snapped against his armor due to the sheer force in which she was stabbing at it, likely leaving bruises beneath. She didn't spare a second glance, she simply tossed the broken dagger to the side and prepared to strike again with her remaining knife. It was clear snapping a blade on or in someone wasn't anything new for the snake by just how un-phased she was by it. 

 She raised her dagger and went for the plunge but before she could a fist struck her face, sending her stumbling backwards and causing her to drop her knife. Before she had the chance to react the second fist made contact, this punch knocking her off balance. She falls down onto her butt holding her right cheek. Her eyes dilated as she pulled her hand back to see blood smeared across her gloved hands. The brutal swings were more than enough to break through Ava's scales. Blood wept from her right cheek and her chin but she wiped the drops away. 

 A determined look crept across the woman's face, a look that spelled trouble. She started to push herself back onto her feet, her eyes contracting once again. The pair could almost swear they could hear her heart race in her chest just before she vanished with a faint crackling. There is a moment of short lived silence before the sound of shattering glass could be heard not too far down the street as the window of the local butcher shop blew out. Mere seconds later the figure warped back in front of them with another crackling sound, this time she dawned a pair of meat cleavers.

Luckily for the Wolf, her attention seemed locked on to her combatant at this point. "Can't wait to see you try that again..." She said, stumbling forward slightly as she still attempted to recover from the vertigo. She held the cleavers up defensively, ready to chop off anything the man threw her way. 


"Heads you live~ Tails you die~ Heart is a landmine!~" Flak continued to hum to himself, the sound of the roaring engine grew louder and louder with each second that passed. His finger lightly caressed the trigger. It wasn't much longer until the bird caught glimpse of their target in his scope. Her heavily modified, armored plated muscle car tore down the street several blocks away, weaving between the rubble that littered the streets from the initial explosions. "Av- Damn it! Thrillkill! Come in! The Cackler has arrived!" Flak awaited a response, tracing the vigilante's movement through his scope. But the snake was in the zone, hyper focused on her opponent's next move to notice anything else.

The wolf quickly glances around seeing lots of potential options for weapons, in the loosest possible sense at least. While looking away from the fight nearby, the wolf's gaze focuses on a decent sized chunk of metal some distance away.

Blowing out a breath, which would hopefully clear whatever was left of what had been making him cough, he stands up straight and quickly heads over towards it.

*Hmmm... this might do in this pinch... not sure I want to handle it with my bare paws though...* he thinks, *Wait...*

He slows his approach, and as he takes the last couple of steps over to the chunk of metal, which looks like a long jagged shard, with a relatively smooth outer surface and about the length of his forearm, seemingly broken off from a larger object, he withdraws a pair of work glove made of heavy material from his pockets. He hadn't had much reason to use them over the last couple of days. The stuff they'd been moving around didn't have much in terms of sharp edges. He was glad he hung onto them today though.

Pulling them on quickly, the wolf is then able to flip the chunk over and take a look at the other side of it. There was wiring and some sort of metal framework on this side of it. It looked like it was off some sort of piece of technology, like one of the towns robots. The wolf wasn't sure and at the moment he didn't care either. The wiring and frame made a decent enough grip for him, so he took hold of the metallic debris and lifted it up. It felt a bit heavier that a typical one handed sword and the way he was holding it, it only gave him about an extra paw's length in range. The end was fairly blunt in shape, even with the jagged uneven edge. Fortunately, it did reach back to about halfway between his wrist and elbow and it was wide enough to protect his arm from attacks.

Giving his left arm a once over, he figures it would do.

Turning his attention back to the two fighters, the wolf is surprised to see that the reptile was down, with one paw pressed to her face. He had noticed the sound of metal clashing had ceased a few moments prior, but he really hadn't been expecting to see such circumstances. He wonders why the other figure wasn't pressing their obvious advantage, instead having backed off from her. He then realizes that the figure appeared to be injured but to what extent was unclear.

The wolf is about to head over towards them, when the reptile stands back up and then vanishes without a trace.

*Oh good. A break in the action.* he thinks as he starts heading back over to the black clad figure.

Even as he approaches, the wolf is still glancing around for any other potentially useful debris. He still had a free paw after all.

"Hey... I guess you're not okay, but how badly are you hurt?" he asks, just before the sound of glass breaking echoes from the distance.

The wolf pauses and glances in the direction of the sound, but without any idea what had caused it, he wasn't sure how to react to it.

In the meantime, as he waits for his unexpected... partner or companion or whatever the stranger would be properly considered to reply, the wolf spots another piece of debris on the ground a short distance away with a vaguely ring shape to it, with one half of the ring much wider than the other.

As he takes a step in that direction, the reptile suddenly reappears. Now with a pair of meat cleavers.

*Huh... break's over I guess.* the wolf thinks, pivoting to face the reptile in case she did come his way.

Although from her statement, he figures that she might be more focused on finishing what she had started with the other person first.

Strike! One sucker punch successfully delivered with sufficient force, not only to knock over the Viper but to to break her otherwise robust scale like skin, drawing blood. Slowly withdrawing the clenched fist, while it could not be seen there was a grin slowly plastering over the freelancers own face, re orientating himself into a far more firm stance.

Before the armoured lancer could follow up his his new found advantage, in a mere instance of a minimal electrical discharge the being vanished entirely from view and even sensor readings, this only caused a greater sense of vigilance and tension, she revealed she was capable of instant relocation. Tracking the Serpent was going to be unpredictable.

With a break in the engagement, The tallish human began to now feel the full effects of her assault, while alone each strike did not really do all that much the combined effect had worn him down. Rips and tears in the clothing where the blade had carved into leaving gash marks across them, multiple across the arm and two too the right side of his neck. Trickles of blood scattered over his other wise blackened uniform.

Finally it seemed his fluffy ally had finally decided to pitch in, carrying some hefty make shift weapon from the debris of the busted up landscape, sure took his sweet time doing so, but better late then never the freelancer guessed. 

"Armour stopped most of the blows but some got through....Bleeding all over but I ain't got time to worry about it....Stay sharp...that bitch is capable of relocation.....While we got a moment we need to press ahead and fin-"



A explosion ripped down the Street to his immediate left drawing the attention for a few micro seconds, next thing before he could even finish his sentence the bruised and well...pissed off looking Snake was back for round 2...only this time she had come back with added weaponry...holy chaos where those meat cleavers....if shit didn't look back before it just did.

"No time for Plan A! I'll engage her from the front and keep her focused on me, you flank either left or right and bring the hurt! We gonna put her down ASAP I can hear vehicles approaching they may be calling in more of their goons!"

Rolling his neck to the left with a satisfying crack too it the Human pressed ahead with the intent to keep her occupied, he came charging in shoulder first. hopefully to allow the wolf to used some good old fashion blunt force against her, nothing quite says "Stop doing that." Like a solid bludgeon

Ava pushed forward, finally regaining her sense of balance. She held the cleavers out to her side, displaying them to her victims, taunting them with their pending butchery. Her twisted, sick smile returned to her face as she strutted forward like she owned these streets. By the way her gaze cut straight through the wolf towards the human told them that she likely hadn't even heard them discussing their plan of action, too consumed by the adrenaline and rage fueling her. It was like Wolfgang didn't even exist to her after she received that blow to the face.


"Ava! Come in!" Flak called for his partner over the radio to no response yet again. "Damn you, Ava... I see you fighting over there. Ugh. Screw it!" Flak said to himself, locking his scope onto the approaching vehicle and pulling the trigger. Yet again the whistling of a rocket splitting the sky was heard by all. The orange flash of the rocket light up through clouds of rising smoke, revealing to all the general location it had been fired from.


 "Shit shit shit!" Gauge shouted in the cabin of her vehicle as the sound drew her attention up to the sky where she could hear and slightly see a rocket heading towards her direction. The hyena stepped on the gas, trying to drive as fast as she could to out-speed the rocket heading her way. She swerved as the explosive got close, just barely evading a direct hit. The rocket collided with the building beside her and a large explosion shook the streets once more. Her car was pelted with debris, denting the armored plates and causing her to loose control of the steering, sending her fishtailing down the street until inevitably smashing into the side of another building just down the road from the now collapsing building.


The snake is tripped up by the blast, stumbling once again. Suddenly that look in her eyes faded as she seemed to snap out of her trance-like state. "Aetherbrand! What was that?!" She finally said, cautiously taking two steps back from her opponents. Looking over her shoulder she saw the car spin out and collide with the corner building an intersections down the way. 

 "Do I literally have to blow up buildings to get your damn attention?! The Cackler is here!" Flak said, irritation rife in his tone. The armored bird threw the rocket launcher down off to his side before leaping off the rooftop of the church, the thrusters on his armor carrying him in the direction of the crashed vehicle.

Ava looked back at the two men that stood before her with a dissatisfied look in her eyes. She stood still for a moment, pondering if she should dispatch them or go help her ally with their main target. Her eyes darted between the wolf and the man as her grip tightened around the handles of her new meat cleavers. "I'm not done with you two yet!" The she said, pointing a cleaver at each of them before falling into a defensive stance. It looked like she wasn't going to make the same mistake of striking first this time. "Warm her up a little, I'll be there after playing with these two a little longer."

"Oh come on! You're seriously going to waste your time with those nobodies right now?... Oh! You know what? Actually, let's make this interesting..." 

"Ugh, right now? What the hell are you plotting?"

"You'll see." Off in the distance the avian landed just several feet away from the car. He closed the rest of the distance on foot, delivering a powerful kick to the side of the vehicle further embedding it into the side of the building. "Come on out, Cackler!" He said, taking a step back, offering her enough room to exit the vehicle from her passenger seat.

As his reckless associate starts to race forward, and the reptile slips back into a steadier stance and then steps forward to meet him, the wolf shouts at him.

"Will you stop?!" he says, sounding exasperated.

Hopefully getting his attention and making him stop his rush, the wolf lowers his voice.

"Back off! She's already shown herself to be a better up close fighter than you." he says, "So do yourself a favour..."

At which point there was a third explosion in the distance. The reptile stumbles and then backs up, seemingly forgetting her two opponents for the moment. When she looks away from them, to where a vehicle in the distance came to a stop against a building, rather than trying to rush her for an attack, the wolf instead quickly moves over to snatch up the piece of debris he'd been eyeing just before the reptile had reappeared.

When the reptile turns her focus back to them, the wolf is already moving back over to his new associate while keeping an eye on her. He now had a good hold of the squarish 'ring' of metal, with his fingers wrapped around the narrower portion of it. The wider portion of the ring, the shape of which fanned outwards offering a surface that was about one and a half time as tall as his clenched fist and around three times as wide, was directed away from the wolf and looked as though it would serve as a passable blunt instrument.

Once the wolf has gotten close to his associate so that they could converse quietly he decides to finish his message from earlier.

"This isn't your kind of fight and those weapons she has will do a lot more damage if they hit you. So maybe you'd be better off seeing what has her friend's attention up ahead." the wolf says quietly, looking over to where another figure was flying down to the crashed vehicle, "Maybe that'll be help for us. You go find out. I can pay you back in kind for earlier and keep her away from you as long as I can."

He nods slightly towards the reptile who was hanging back with her cleavers at the ready, but wasn't rushing to attack now.

While the serpent seemed or would fall victim too a hyper focused like level when the adrenaline kicked in, fortunately it seemed the tallish human was still able to think beyond the current situation and no longer blinded by a unyielding rage to push on, thus it was no surprise when the Mobian wolf ordered him to stop in his second assault, that in fact he did just that.

Stopping himself with those rather thick enhanced boot grips clamped around his steel caps, remaining as steady as he possibly could be. The light rise and fall of his armoured chest were all that moved on his frame as of now. The wolfs words were right, in the long run the Mobian Snake would eventually wear him down to a point where he simply could not hold his own, even now he had suffered for it, lightly peering down at his forearms to see the redish trails coursing over his bare skin, he would forego any more attacks.

Quietly he stood as if being addressed by a superior officer, a memory from a time passed, his gaze never really falling short of her, he knew at any moment she could suddenly close the distance rapidly, the sense of tension was unnerving. As his fluffy associate decided to join him, shoulder to shoulder he would remind him that this was a fight he could not win, seeking the better side of valor was the correct choice. The wolf however assigned him a new task. Inspect the crashed vehicle near by, as it was evident the snake was not operating alone, among the smoke a silhouette of the second could be seen approaching the stricken vehicle. Wasting little time the armoured freelancer flashed a nod too his ally, trusting he could hold his own against the crazy psycho that was the snake.

"Yes sir- I-I mean...I'm on it"

 Drawing his rifle and flipping the switch off from safety the freelancer moved ahead, circumventing his way around the snake via the use of the thick smog, the sound of his boots thumping along with the rattling of gear was no doubt heared by the Avian as he closed upon their position, the faint mint green visor visible through the ash grey cloud, his outline followed before eventually breaking free into clear visible sight before the avian, firearm trained on and ready to act. Boy was he about to be shocked to realize he just appeared out of no where in front of him

"Step away from the vehicle! I ain't repeating myself!"

Ava's piecing eyes glared at the two as they conversed, a knowing look in her eyes. Truth is, she didn't care what they were plotting just so long as she got a real fight out of it. How many has she killed? How many just laid down and died? Too many. Far too many. She relished these moments. A smirk drew across her lips once more as the wolf nodded in her direction. She could already feel the excitement course through her, her tail practically flittering. The snake paid no mind to the freelancer breaking off and disappearing into the smoke. She simply flourished her cleavers with incredible co-ordination and took several steps forward.

"It's about time you joined the party, scruffy. I hope you have a bit more fight in you than your friend."

 Her posture opened up, becoming much more aggressive. She planned to test this one's limits. She dashed in, whipping her tail in the wolf's direction before following up with two wild swings of the cleavers. Her tail was swift but she was notably slower with the cleavers than the daggers, needing to follow through with her swings. 

Gauge took a deep breath as she slowly recovered from the crash. She pushed down the airbag with one paw and pulled her modified welding mask off her face with the other. She was still in a daze and felt sluggish when the side of her car is kicked by the bird, jostling the entire vehicle. "You're such a douche, Flak..." She muttered gloomily to herself, wiping blood from her mouth onto the sleeve of her leather jacket. The hyena reached for her USAS-12 in the gun-rack between the driver and passenger seat and racks a shell into the chamber. She's about to exit the vehicle until she heard a second voice outside. She looked through the cracked bulletproof window to see an armored figure with an assault rifle aiming at the bird.

Flak visibly jumped at the sound of the voice, taking a step back from the vehicle and aiming his wrist mounted flamethrower in the direction of the stranger. "Woah woah! What the fu- Where did you come from?!" He said, a startled tone in his voice. Though, once he takes a glance at the figure aiming at him he straightens out again, even chuckling a little. "I think you're out of rank and file, soldier." 

"Wait a moment..." Flak put a finger up to his beak, tilting his helmet slightly. He lowered his weapon and took a step forward to inspect the figure closer. "No way... You're the goon that helped that idiot Val steal my reverse engineered E-Series, aren't you? Aren't you supposed to be dead?" 

While Flak was distracted Gauge slowly scooted over to her passenger seat and quietly opened the door to the car. The bright green eyed hyena gazed at the soldier and put a finger up to her lips before trying to sneak up to the bird.

The wolf regards the reptile as the two of them were left alone. She looks quite eager to fight while he appears quietly indifferent to what was about to occur. He regards her weapons, the two cleavers, as she seems to handle them quite easily as she approaches. He remains at the ready, but doesn't adopt any sort of stance or position for fighting.

Then she offers another taunt and dashes in.

Now he lifts his arms, wielding the two pieces of scrap metal ahead of him as she attacks. Doing his best to not just focus on the cleavers, he observes her movement in its entirety as the gap between them disappears.

Her tail lashes out first and the wolf backs away from her as he bats her tail aside to his left with his improvised shield. His backpedaling gave him enough time to adjust from that blocking move to then bring both of his pieces of scrap up to block the reptile's two cleaver swings. He then shifts his stance, angle of his shield and also pushes with the metal ring in his right paw so that he can guide both of her cleavers off to his left and adds a slight push with his left arm to try and push both of her arms off towards her right and away from him. He pivots just enough to keep her in front of him as he does all this, readying for her follow up.

Silently the armoured lancer stoop eyeing the avian before him, oh he remembered him all to well, for it was not that long ago in fact he had the unfortunate event of having to encounter him during a different period in his life. He recognized that armour any where, he had heard the stories, see the carnage and chaos he had brought. 

A range of mixed emotions flowed through him, a uncommon sensation for a figure who usually did not show much in that way, then again the helmet did make it almost impossible to understand how he truly interpreted situations. Lightly his eyes shifted to movement from with in the crashed vehicle, there among the ruins the first thing he caught sight of were a pair of distinct green eyes, before a stocky fluffy face peered out from with in.

The attention promptly switches back too the Avian who at first seemed to mock the freelancer, mistaking him for a local law enforcement or perhaps member of the G.U.N, slowly his outlook shifted, a doubt first then realization. Indeed he would be correct of who it was that now stood before him. No it was not manifestation, not a ghostly image, it was indeed that very same soul standing at gun point, seemed like word had reached many of his "Apparent." Death.

"Sometimes, being dead in the eyes of the world has it's advantages......."

However with a quick flick of his eyes it appeared the new comer to the party was ever so gingerly approaching the Avian from his 6, indicating to Shrike to not give away her intention, he had to stall him long enough, perhaps a swift and less threatening move then trying to gun him down.

"Or maybe I've just come back to haunt you....Flak....maybe I am just here to take revenge on what you did and have done....what goes around....has finally come back around.."

He was playing the mental game here, giving Flak ample time to weigh up if maybe he was just hallucinating, he was already dangerously close as it was would he dare push it ?

The reptile recovers quickly from the wolf deflecting her first attacks, glaring back at him and offering another piece of commentary.

Again he offers no reply to her. He just continues to watch her with no change in expression.

Then when she dashes in with one cleaver raised above her head to strike, she does succeed in her objective to draw his gaze up towards it. But only briefly, as the wolf had no intention of blocking her head-on as he had previously. Instead, his gaze immediately drops back to meet hers as he quickly sidesteps to her right, since she had apparently left it unguarded and this would likely force her to pivot to throw any attack from her left side.

Keeping his left arm ready to block if needed, he draws back his own right arm in preparation to strike, seemingly waiting for the right moment and giving her a moment of her own to adjust as a result.

The avian's remark about the situation of G.U.N and the actions it had taken in the past and even present could not be understated. However, Shrike was in all due respect a mere grunt, he had no say in major matter revolving what G.U.N could or could not do, for back then he was merely a foot soldier, a faceless enforcer and a guy just like countless others under the banner who were just following instructions. The birds mention of it did carry a flow of memories of a by gone time.

Tho his little improvised tactic had indeed paid off, allowing this so called "Cackler" to close with in point blank distance of Flak aiming what appeared to be a large drum fed shotgun, something typically not found on the civilian market, maybe she was so kind of operative working under a organization ? Who knew, but if she was directing it towards the Avian and not himself then clearly they were on the same side...in theory.

The random chatter reveals this had not been the first time the "Cackler" And them had crossed swords, she even identified the Viper so there seemed to be some tense history going on before him. Just because she had her weapon trained on him didn't mean crap. What little Shrike knew is that this particular bird was known for wide spread chaos, a mere gun too the head would probably only give him time to figure a way out.

Suddenly the Hyena barked a statemented to the freelancer explaining rather promptly that she was going to require his "assistance" In this matter, which clearly he had already been doing so, his intervention stopped Flak from roasting her alive so yea.

The stocky Hyena ordered him to open the trunk of her car....Why ? Well he didn't understand himself. However now was not really the time to question much. That powerful weapon she held could do a great deal of damage at this range should she change her mind....thus he played along. Slowly strolling his way over too the vehicle it self, all the more flashing quick glances over too the bird ensuring he remained where he was.

The first attempt to open it didn't really get him any where, the second again yielded no results so thirdly he brought a fist down on the top with a bump, finally getting it too open.

"Don't let him out of your sight......Now...what the hell am I looking for.....Oh....and I must urge that...a ally of mine has engaged Ava....if possible I need to return to him when possible to give him extra support....so....what do you want from here ?"