The streets of Armath (Open)

OOC: Okay, I'm bored, and I haven't really had a chance to try out my newest character, Liya. I want a good, long fight, okay?

BIC:

Liya strolled easily through the streets of what had once been the bustling town of Armath. It was deathly silent in the now-abandoned town. Only the breeze moaned as it swept through the rickety buildings. Dust kicked up lazily as the breeze picked it up and dropped it somewhere entirely different.

Liya stayed alert as she continued to walk through the town. She searched every shadow, every nook and cranny, for any sign of life. Occasionally, she would stop, lean against a building, and sharpen one of her myriad daggers on a rock she would retrieve from the ground.

After one of these brief respites, she yawned and began strolling down what had once been the main street of the town. Suddenly, a flash of movement caught her eye. Swiftly, Liya slipped into the shadows and virtually disappeared. She followed the moving sillhouette through the back alleys until, finally, it stopped and turned around. Liya threw a question at it, while brandishing two of her daggers.

"Who are you, and what do you want?"

OOC: Been wanting to use Serj before I go. He hasn't really had an official battle yet!

"Who am I?" he replied. "I'm just a ghost in a world of mortals. I'm intangible non-existence among a sea of the living."

He stepped out of the shadows; his black denims and over sided sweatshirt hung from his body loosely.

"Non-existence has plagued me for too long, I'm a creation that shouldn't exist like many other things. What do I want? I want you to kill me and end this lethargic waltz in a pool blood. Or maybe, I want to kill you, and see how haunted I can make myself? My name is Serj, and yours? I don't need to know."

"It's Liya!" she replied to him, flexing her arms above her body and swiveling her blades in the air. He body moved fluidly in a perfectly performed dance of intimidation.

Ki-chank-chink.

Serj's scarred and worn right hand held a large, black pistol; his fingers nervously caressed the trigger. It was pointed precisely at her chest. He could almost envision the tantalizing jet of crimson blood that would ensue if he fired his shot. "Drop the blades, and I'll drop the gun. Can you trust me? I wouldn't be so rude as to kill you outright like this."

Liya grimaced as she decided on a gut instinct to drop her daggers. Serj, in turn, dropped his gun, and it clattered to the ground noisily, the sound echoing throughout their deserted surroundings. Both of them just stood there for a moment before Liya spoke.

"Well? Now what?"

OOC: I know. That was short. But I don't know anything about Serj's past, etc. I know I'm usually good at guessing what to do next in a fight, but I can't think right now. Sorry!

"What happens now? Now, the street ballroom dance begins. Sorry, girl, I did lie to you. You're just another nock in my list."

The skin on Serj's arm folded back, revealing a thin door. It also folded open, and a long, metallic tube protruded out. Serj aimed the weapon at Liya, and smiled insanely.

"Goodbye, you sweet little nothing."

An unseen knife hurdled to Serj's head. Liya had retrieved one from the hidden pockets in her clothes and thrown it. Serj's systems immediately picked it up and he dodged quickly, however, that was enough time for Liya to act. She rushed him, pulling two more blades from her sleeves.

Blat! Blat! Blat!

The first two bullets slammed into the concrete and exploded; they were no ordinary projectiles. However, the third round exploded dangerously close to Liya's foot, causing her to lunge back. A small nock of cement slammed into her ankle and made her to scream in terrible pain. She still remained focused and balanced, and then threw her body onto Serj.

He slid under her quickly and tried to get far enough away to place a shot into her body, but she kept running after him, stabbing at him with her knives. His gun folded back into his arm, and then a loud, metallic sound could be heard coming from his wrist.

A large, thin blade cut through his sweatshirt sleeve and poked out several feet.

"If you want to get personal with me, let me show you how to draw blood."

OOC: Pause! I have one question - can we make our own characters or are they assigned to us?

OOC: This isnt my thread but I will answer. Go to Character Approval thread in the Battle Arena and read the intro Kishin wrote. Follow those directions. If your approvedYOUR character that you made up can be used.

And Kishin, please delete this post, and the two above it. Clutter = bad!

Liya quickly sheathed the dagger she still held in her hand and smirked at Serj.

"Hm. You show me how to draw blood? I think not. I'm a trained assassin. I was the greatest assassin in my clan, the Zephnyr Clan, which was chock full of great assassins."

Serj yawned, if you could call it yawning, and replied. "You're an assassin? Please. You are no assassin with those pathetic pin-pricks hidden up your sleeves. I am - or was - an assassin equipped with the most innovative technology known to man. You call yourself an assassin? Where are you from, anyway?"

Throughout Serj's whole speech, Liya had grown increasingly angrier. In a flash of metal, she drew her strong, lightweight rapier from its sheath at her left hip. Serj looked at her, still with an expression of complete boredom painted on his face.

"I am from the ancestral lands of the Zephnyr Clan!"

"The what?"

"Well, it's a long story, but the ancestral lands of the Zephnyr Clan, my clan, existed hundreds of thousands of years in the past. I was sent here by a wizard who had warned me of an assassination plot against my family and me. I have never been exposed to any of this...what did you call it? Tech...no...lo...gy. My, but that is a strange word! But, anyway, enough of this talk!"

Liya's rapier moved with incredible speed as she slashed at Serj's left leg. Serj brought his own blade down in a sweeping diagonal to block Liya's attack. Liya spun like lightning and stabbed at Serj's right leg, but Serj used his incredible reflexes to block this attack, too. He smirked.

"You're going to have to do better than that, sweet thing."

Snarling, Liya lept on top of a nearby building, out of sight of Serj. Serj began scanning the surrounding area for signs of Liya, but, before he could locate her, she dropped out of nowhere on top of him, slamming him into the ground face first. Holding him in place with in a head-lock, Liya plunged her rapier into his back with all her strength behind it.

The blade stuck into Serj's back, but he didn't seem to even notice. His body contorted around, and his left arm unhinged and dislocated. The flesh seemed warped and wobbly to Liya; a sickening feeling overcame her. She slowly walked backwards away from Serj.

"What are you..." she whispered to him.
"I am a product. I am not one, but many. Millions of tiny creatures... nanomachines, all working in one communist fashion to keep me alive. They're microscopic and invisible, small enough to avoid sight."
"Nano... machines? Machines can never be that small! What are you saying?"

Serj reached behind him and yanked the rapier from his back. His arm then relocated back to normal position, then he gently tossed the rapier to Liya. He turned around, not facing her, and pulled the sweatshirt off his well-built body and threw it to the side.

The stab left by her blade did not bleed, and within a moment, it was gone. It healed itself instantly.

"No way. Without magic? How?"

"The machines, girl, I told you. They are me and I am them." Serj paused to turn around and face her. He showed her the palm of his hand, which opened up revealing a thin tube. The blade coming from his wrist snapped back into his arm and vanished.

"Whoever created me gave me the gift to not only kill, but capture. I think I'll let you stick around for a while."

With that, he darted to Liya and dived at her. She quickly stabbed at his head but missed. She attacked again, but soon realized he wasn't trying to kill her. He grabbed both her wrists and slammed them together, then a small, thin wire slid out of his palm. Her hands were instantly bound together. Liya desperately tried to stab him again, however her cumbersome hands dropped her blade on the ground. Serj darted under her and captured her ankles, binding them as well. Unable to stand, Liya fell to the ground beside her blade.

Serj walked to a nearby wall and propped himself up against it.

"What? At least give me the dignity to fight you! I don't want to sit here all day! Come on, even if I die, let me do it unhumiliated!"

Serj sighed. "I don't want to kill you, at least for now. I want to keep you around a bit. I like you. I think you're hot."

"What?!" Liya roared, struggling on the ground. "How dare you talk to me like that, you stupid pervert! Release me!"

"I speak my mind, who's going to stop me from doing so? What's the point of being polite? If you had lived my life, the life of lies, maybe you would know how it feels. What I think is what I voice, and maybe that's why you hear all this garbage. It's just my thoughts sifting out. Why don't you rest a while, maybe you can think of something to say to make me let you free? I'm not a valiant knight, I'm an *******. Deal with it."

Serj sat there in silence for a few minutes before making another noise. He laughed.

"I know you have a knife in your hands anyway, and you've just cut yourself out of this mess."

Liya untangled herself from the mess of wire she had just cut herself free from. In a burst of anger, she threw the wire at Serj's head, knowing full well that it wasn't going to do any harm. It just made her feel better.

Without even turning his head, Serj caught the wire with his right hand and let it fall to the ground. Liya stared at him, fuming, as he stayed leaning against the wall of the building. Her patience gave out, and she threw up her hands and stalked away to lean against her own bit of wall, opposite and facing away from Serj.

The two stayed, almost frozen, like this for a few minutes. After waiting in silence for almost ten minutes, Serj smiled and looked over at Liya, who was still leaning against her wall and grating her teeth. He strolled over to her side, only to be met by a kick to his face.

Liya tackled him and pummeled him with her fists. Before she knew it, a knife was instinctively in her hand and she stabbed Serj repeatedly. She didn't care if she wasn't drawing blood; she was fueled with anger at the machine before her.

Serj kicked Liya in the stomach and threw her off of him. Rolling to his feet, he revealed one of his guns and fired a burst of bullets at her. There was no way Liya could dodge. The bullets would impact with her body for sure.

Concentrating on the falcon spirit, Kyranak, she was bonded to, Liya was suddenly shielded by a huge, ethereal falcon that absorbed the bullets, causing them to disappear completely. Serj was visibly taken aback.

"Well, that certainly was impressive. And..." he added slyly, "you looked very hot while doing it." He licked his lips and gazed, almost sensuously, at her.

Liya walked up to him and raised her hand to slap him dead across the face. Serj grabbed her arm before she could execute the maneuver. He held her for a moment and looked into her now-frightened eyes. She was trembling visibly now. He pulled her closer to him and licked her right ear before whispering to her.

"Incredibly hot."

OOC: Uh...I may have gone a bit overboard, there... ^_^*

Liya struggled desperately to release herself, but his arms were too entangled around her. He squeezed her tightly, the moved his arm to the back of her neck and gripped it. He kissed her, fully probing her weakened mouth with his tongue. Liya groaned in half agony, half guilty pleasure.

She could barely even see, his body seemed to form a shadow over her that clouded her vision. But something caught her eye, behind him, lying on the ground, was his gun. It wasn't that far, and if she could just get him to turn around, she could reach down and grab it. But how...

Serj drank her drugging saliva hungrily and then released his mouth from hers. He slowly ran his tongue down to her neck, licking up it erotically and suckling the flesh under her chin.

"Your skin is like honey; smooth, warm, and delicious."

Liya's eyes widened in result of his compliment. She inched her body slowly, letting him turn with her. She had to do it carefully or he might realize what she was after. Letting herself stay in his embrace was so humiliating, but her goal was almost complete. She still couldn't get out of his reach to grab the weapon, though. Then, an idea came to her.

She slowly brought his finger up to her mouth and winked at him; his grin widened enormously. She slid it inside of her mouth, sucked it once, then bared down upon it with her teeth as strong as she could.

Serj roared a loud execration at her and recoiled immediately, gripping his finger in his hand and wincing. Liya made no hesitation to quickly backroll, grab the pistol, and point it right at him.

"Dodge this." she said saucily and fired the weapon. She was still close enough to him so that his defense systems would not react.

The bullet ripped through the right side of his upper pectoral, tearing the flesh along with it. He gulped and slapped his hand upon the wound. A loud, high-pitched shriek emanated from his head, causing the gun in Liya's hand to suddenly ignite with electricity. She yelped and dropped it to the floor.

"****!" Serj exclaimed loudly. She didn't know, but not only were his long-ranged weapons offline, but so was AADS. He would have to rely on skill for now, and it would be at least ten minutes before his wound could repair itself.

"Two-timing whore..." Serj mumbled under his breath. His wrist flipped back and the armblade was revealed again in its sharp, shimmering glory.

OOC: Hm...how much damage can I do in ten minutes... *rubs hands together and grins mishieviously before beginning to type* Hehe...

BIC:

Instead of rushing at Serj in an all-out attack, Liya backflipped onto the top of a low-lying building. Serj swore under his breath as he tried to scan all of the buildings at once. He heard the sound of a rock slipping on a nearby roof, and he swiftly lept on top of it. To his surprise, Liya wasn't there.

There was no sound before he got hit in the back and tackled to the roof surface. He felt two sharp stabs of pain as Liya plunged two of her knives in between his shoulder blades. He threw her off of him, but she rolled to her feet and launched two more daggers into Serj's chest before he could react.

"Guess that fancy evade technology isn't working for ya, huh?" She unsheathed her rapier slowly and held it beside her, point down. "Let's see how good your reflexes are without any help from your machines."

She aimed a vertical slash at Serj, but he managed to bring up his armblade to block it. They exchanged a few inquisitory blows, testing the other's skill.

Liya darted in under Serj's armblade and stabbed him in the stomach. She yanked it out and spun to deliver a roundhouse kick to Serj's left temple, followed by a knee to his already-wounded stomach. Serj keeled over onto the roof, coughing uncontrollably.

Liya lept backward from him and concentrated on Kryanak. The silvery form of a majestic falcon appeared before her. It was almost as big as her, and Liya commanded it to head straight for the form of Serj. The falcon shot at him, emitting its piercing cry, slammed full into his body, and passed through. Dozens of wounds gaped all over Serj's body, and Liya dropped into a defensive position, anticipating Serj's inevitable counterattack.

OOC: Well...that was okay, I guess. I could have done better, but I was pressed for time.

Serj groaned, his chest was torn with wounds and his pants were shredded from the fan of knives Liya had unleashed upon him. He sunk low, his legs were almost unable to let him stand.

“How did it come to this... I was ignorant.” he mumbled to himself. Suddenly, his armblade retracted halfway into his wrist; it was stuck. “****...” he mumbled again. “Damn malfunctions.”

Liya smirked, she was rather unscathed while Serj was nonfunctional. “Do you have anything to say, machine? I must be raging hot to you now!”

He coughed and nearly fell over. Serj's head raised to where he could barely see her, and all she could see was his sunken eyes.

”I just wish... that I could have touched you one more time. And that you tell me that it felt good.”

Liya stuttered at his comment. What was he trying to say? The more she thought, the more sympathy she felt for him. His whole life he had been abused and torn, with nobody to even talk to him. He was like a sick dog; she wouldn't deny him a last request. She walked to him, gripping her rapier tightly; she was ready if he tried anything stupid. Serj weakly smiled and stretched his battered arm out to touch her face.

“I didn't lie when I said that about your skin...” he said in a low voice. His finger ran down to her arm, where he caressed the inverse of her elbow with his index finger.

She almost hated to hurt him now, but he was a monster that needed to finally rest. She sighed, then suddenly, Serj gripped her elbow strongly.

“Hey!” she yelled, rearing her rapier back to strike him. She then felt a small prick in her arm, and then felt extraordinarily dizzy. Serj retracted from her and slammed his back against the wall, breathing heavily and gripping his chest. Liya's whole body suddenly felt warm, then hot, then a surging wave of pleasure coursed through her. Everything spun; she screamed and fell to the ground writhing in feeling...

********

It was some time before she awoke. She was still intact and lying on the street pavement. She sat up, to look around, trying to find out where Serj was. He was sitting with his back against the wall and his knees tucked against his chest. In each ear was a small plastic device that was connected with wires to a thin metal box. He seemed asleep, and Liya noticed something else, too: his body was in perfect condition.

“Serj.” she said to him, but he didn't respond. ”Serj!” she roared; he suddenly jumped and he looked up at her tiresomely. He pulled the plugs from his ears and put them in his pocket.

“What did you do to me?” she asked quietly. “Where did that feeling come from?”

Serj sighed into his palm and snorted; a little bit of blood dripped from his nose. “My creator gave me a small needle-like device in my middle finger; it's purpose was to inject a victim with poison. I never used it, so I put cyclone in it instead for those times when I was bored.”

“Cyclone?”

“Cyclone is a slang word for cyclotananine, an endorphin-accelerating drug. The first time you use it, it's greater than any orgasm that could be created. But after each use, the pleasure dwindles and the pain begins. It erases your memory and attacks your brain; after ten times, you won't even feel pleasure. But you'll be a slave to it like I am, and you won't care, because you'll be addicted. I've lost all my mind from it, but it is my friend.”

Serj's index finger resided in the flesh of his arm's joint and it was obvious that he had been using the drug. He reached behind his knees and revealed to Liya that he had found his lost pistol. Serj pointed it at her nervously, his hand shaking in tremors of pain.

“Can you say something that will make me save you? Or should I end both of our tormented lives right now? It's your choice.”

OOC: I don’t know why I’m doing this, but…here it goes. ^_^*

BIC:

Liya tensed herself for an attempt at disarming Serj. But…the more she lingered, the more she thought, she began to feel sympathy for the machine before her. He was alone in this world. He had no one to share his life with. She could…

Vehemently, she pushed the thought away. Serj had drugged her up and left her lying in the street. Of course, he hadn’t harmed or killed her. But…that didn’t matter! He had lied to her and led her on! But…he had said he hadn’t lied about her skin. He was a machine! So? He still needed a friend. He still had feelings.

Liya emerged from her emotional battle to find Serj still pointing his pistol at her. Clenching her teeth and making her decision, she slowly moved closer to him. Serj tensed visibly and gripped his pistol tighter. Liya kept her eyes not on the pistol but on Serj’s eyes. They held a frightened look, which became more prominent as Liya moved closer. Smoothly, she sat down beside Serj and pushed a strand of her ebony black hair out of her eyes. Serj began, ever-so-slowly, to lower his pistol until it finally rested in his lap. Liya’s hand moved to grip Serj’s hand.

“I understand that you’ve lived a tortured life alone. I understand how you long for companionship and how you think a drug will satisfy you. I understand how you have all this anger and resentment bottled up inside you. But…if you want, I can be a friend to you. I will listen to you when you need to unload all your tribulations.”

Liya squeezed Serj’s hand and stood to her feet. She turned her back to Serj and spoke again.

“So, shoot me, if you want. I am not so in love with life that I am afraid of dying. Do you still desire to kill me?”

OOC: Will that “save” me? :p

“I suppose I should start from the beginning,” Serj said drearily. “I'm an experiment, designed to kill. I know everything about me, I have a Thinwire 10 Logic Core with a Mimic-Emotion processor that allows me to feel and think like you, an Advanced Automated Defense Subsystem, and the list goes on with more jargon. I forgot the reason I was let loose in this world instead of being destroyed, but I was. They gave me false memories, but they forgot a fatal flaw, a vestigial residue of my creation.

Liya turned around to face him and slowly set down, propping her back on the wall. Serj looked at the black asphalt, and spoke again.

“Before I had realized the true life, the life I was created for, the police beat me and drugged me. I couldn't defend my self, until they injected me with another powerful truth serum. Apparently, I became on line because of it. And I killed everyone who threatened me. I escaped, and for the rest of my life I have walked the streets of every city, wondering who I really am. I don't even see like you; my entire vision is plagued with heads-up displays and informations. I know I have no soul, and that I'm just a golem of organic and inorganic matter... but I wish I was human. Like you.”

He choked and pushed his eyes against his forearms, clenching in tears. ”I just don't want to live with the lie, I wish I had never awoken. All those false memories of my family, and they didn't even exist. They didn't... even... exist...”

Serj fell against her, resting his head against her bosom; wrought with tears. His life, if you could call it one, never had any pleasure in it at all. He was so alone... He was just holding on to try to find someone to talk to.

Liya found herself gently stroking the top of his head. “It's... it's ok, sssh...” she said quietly. Serj suddenly stopped; his breathing stood still.

He looked up at her, distressed, and dropped the gun he had been holding to the pavement.

“Can... can I... have a kiss?”

Liya jumped, but before she could respond, Serj had softly pressed his lips onto hers. That was the only moment of kindness in his entire life.

He broke away from her, swiftly grabbing his pistol. “That was all I was living for, to find someone who actually cared.” He closed his eyes, shaking so hard that he could barely even stand up, much less hold the gun. With tears still streaming from his eyes, he stuck the barrel into his mouth and fired.

Maybe it was better he died that day and ended his miserable life. That is the story of the man nobody ever cared about, except one girl, who showed him the door to eternal rest.

ooc: Maybe this fight wasn't as long as you hoped, but, that's all I could do.

OOC: No, on the contrary, that was a good fight! I LOVE fighting with you! You go all into detail and get all emotional, and that's the best part about fighting! I have a question, though. Does this mean that Serj is no more? Will you ever use him again?

Yes I will use him again, this fight is independant, unlike the ones with Rembu. Those all chain into his story.

Believe me, if I as adhering to Serj's true nature... I don't think you could have stood any chance. In the story I am writing, he destroys 20 armed police officers at once.

This was a cool fight you guys! I've been reading through the whole thing! A draw if I am not mistaken?

Um, actually... she kind of won, if you can call it that. She's still alive, Serj isn't.

Uh...I don't know. I really don't care who won or if it was a draw. It was just plain fun!