The light in the distance was fading rapidly into the darkness most common to Noxus. Vast, and rich with atmosphere that seemed to consume everything in its wake. It was chilled, with hints of dark snow floating down from the sky, tainted by the black clouds looming over the east and ever creeping closer to their destination over the urban market.
It felt like a foreboding captivating the very thing that drove the residents of Noxus into a frenzy, anticipating the night to come.
Among them, a lone Ionian woman would cross the urban pathways, freerunning the cluster of buildings in her path as if they were nothing more than simple steps to be taken. A long, ebony braid trailed behind her as she rushed along, her breaths were timed and calculated to work with every movement she executed. Her body left the rooftop, and slowly fell towards her next destination - a shorter building a slightly further distance from the one she had leapt from. As she fell, her body relaxed and prepared for the inevitable impact she'd face. As her feet touched down, her body curled into a roll allowing her to gracefully land and climb quickly up to a stand again to start running.
Beneath her on the streets, and atop rooftops, a group of men would follow after. Rage-filled, shoving people out of their way as they bulldozed through the marketplace with every intention of catching her and killing her. This was not the first cell of bandits she had angered. There were others, and they were out for blood. Some fell off the roofs, and would meet a painful death if not severe injury having little knowledge of how to maneuver like the Ionian did. Others would find themselves tangled in market stands and groups of less then favorable situations with bigger, stronger and far more irritable civilians making their way through the market.
Mai's clothing could be said to be far too worn for someone who's lived a relatively normal life. Too used to suggest she had any place to call home. She was clearly a traveler; someone who'd seen her share of things in the world both good and bad. Her calloused fingers gripped with her feet pressing to the wall, pushing her further up as she started to climb with the cracks scattered along the side of the building. Gunfire went off, the bullet nearly missing her as it tore a hole into the wall beside her head giving her even more incentive to go faster. Another went off, this time closer to her legs just barely managing to miss as she scrambled her way over the edge.
She'd take only a second to drop an origami dragon just beyond the edge before dashing off like before, jumping towards the next building to grab the ledge and scramble her way up.
As the men atop the roof pursued her, an explosion of flames would ignite two of them upon reaching the paper dragon. The men screamed loudly as they frantically stumbled about trying to kill the fire that burned across their bodies relentlessly. Three more continued their chase, leaving the less than fortunate two to slowly burn to death. The group on the ground that followed, continued to do so but with all the more determination to find and catch the thief.
Post by The Blade's Shadow on Jan 8, 2013 18:46:22 GMT -5
Noxus. It had always been a darker shade of gray, morally, though through the time Talon had been alive it had only gotten worse. Thieving was nothing new, nor was death, but weakness was rife these days. There was no sense of empowerment, not even as a boy had it been there. It was only because of his drive to power that he hadn't lost himself, the will to take a life when it had to happen. Life was only taken here on a whim, potential wasted for no reason other than selfish profit.
It disgusted him, such waste. Mere days after his escapade at the League he had returned to Noxus, darting through dark alleys and using the underground waterways to his advantage. Disappearances that no one would bother reporting, if there was even someone to report them to had started happening. No one knew where the people had vanished to, dropped casually in the moat like any other Noxian corpse of Talon's. It wasn't something he had thought of doing, more of an unspoken compulsion.
It brought him to the roofs of Noxus, trailing a group of lesser thugs that were hot on someone's trail. It was only then that he saw two of them erupt into flames. From the shadows of the lingering sun he flicked his wrist, a pair of blades imbedding themselves in the two flailing men to end their suffering. The closest to a kindness he had. He left the shadows as he was sure they would not turn on him, retrieving the blades from the smoldering bodies as carefully as he could to continue along their trail.
He knew he could end any of them simply. Each was distracted and their fellows below would think nothing of a caped body following them, yet stayed his killer instinct for a moment. He was curious why they were after the other person, what they had done, as much as he was curious if they would be eluded. Perhaps two birds could be felled in one strike.
The darkness seemed to consume the landscape instantly as the sun fully set on the far horizon leaving the place blanketed in darkness. Another origami animal dropped from her hand, and coiled itself into a small ball in wait. Mai quickly jumped off the ledge, and allowed herself to fall a short distance to the next building before she'd be forced to scale a series of pipes jutting up from the ground. More gunfire rang out as the three men grew closer, a cluster of five forming around the base of the pipes.
"Get her!" The tallest yelled with a net grappled in his hold. Two of the men would start to climb the pipe, far more clumsily then Mai. A bullet rang out shortly after, and cut through her back before embedding itself into the wall. She'd practically lose her hold, but managed to cling on just long enough regain her hold. Every bit of effort went into climbing the pipes to the rooftop again, narrowly dodging the bullets as she moved. Though many came uncomfortably close, sending chips of brick flying away from the wall.
One girl. Ten men. What could she have done to draw so much attention? She climbed over the edge as she felt another bullet skirt passed her, leaving a bloody trail across the back of her leg before staggering to a stand. She'd drop another origami creature, this time a snail before dashing off once again. A trail of blood following in her wake, making it all the more difficult for her to escape the grouping of men.
With a sudden cry, one of the men would look back to find his comrade held in the grip of a giant anaconda, coiled about his body and crushing the life out of him. It was now down to seven men, three on the ground and four on the roof now in pursuit. Each second that passed, they grew more anxious and filled with rage at the small Ionian woman.
As the two from the ground made it to the top, one found the snail with his foot and felt himself instantly slowed. He'd let out a long, slow cry as if in slow motion, cursing wildly under its effect. He too would be left, but his life was spared for the moment.
Post by The Blade's Shadow on Jan 8, 2013 22:02:05 GMT -5
A moment was all Talon needed, closing the distance of the buildings in the same blindingly fast movement he'd use on the fields, the point of his armblade parting the man's spine completely, very nearly removing his head from his shoulders as it cleaved through it. There was no outcry, no reaction of fear, the man was dead before he'd known it. The other spared a moment of confusion, which sealed his fate as swiftly, a flicked wrist burying a blade in the middle of his skull.
He'd need to dispose of the bodies later, but knew they wouldn't be going anywhere. A quick tug of his cape rendered him invisible to the eye, leaving nothing but a few quick, silent steps to betray his presence. He still hadn't known what they were after, though the thrill of the chase was becoming a brilliant distraction from anything other than the mission at hand. The grin that covered his face was a sadistic one, leaving a spray of blood across the unworn roof as his armblade opened another throat. He didn't care who, simply that they were his targets and that they had to die.
A bird chirped overhead, nothing more than a simple songbird, but a rare sight in Noxus. For some reason, it stuck in his mind, repeating over and over as he marked each of his next targets. He tossed the corpse he had just created to the floor and continued on, shimmering back into visibility in the fading light. He called out harshly, his voice carrying an oddly commanding tone, telling them to turn. However many turned he would fight.
One slowed and turned, exhausted from running after the petite Ionian. He would be the first to turn, and find the blade from Talon to end his life. Two more from the bottom would ascend the building by steps or ladders, making their way rapidly up. They would end up behind Talon unknowingly and begin to chase the girl as the others fell.
That is - until they noticed Talon. One man drew a gun and took aim on Talon while the other would draw a large blade, flipping it around with a crooked grin, "Wrong place, buddy." He muttered with a widening grin.
Mai was starting to reach her breaking point. She could feel her entire body start to wane under the stress as she pounded her feet against the rooftops trying to make her escape. Two more shots fired, one slicing across the side of her neck, and the other narrowly missing her side as she made for another leap towards a taller rooftop. Blood left in every step would be an easy trail for the men to follow and take aim whenever she came into sight. Another shot rang out, this one louder then the last and striking true as Mai held to the ledge of the building. She'd start to pull herself up, adrenaline fueled giving her the strength to get going until - her hands simply let go. Her body started to fall, racing faster towards the ground with blood seeping from central body. A strange ringing in her ears, the sky darkening as she gazed up upon it as her breath sharply pulled in. Was she... falling? Was this the end?
"P-Papa.." She whispered, her fingers curling towards the sky. An origami koi would slip free of her kimono, and glow brightly causing her form to be consumed in light briefly with intense healing magic unleashed. It was enough to pull her back from the potentially fatal wound, but not enough to stop her from falling. More gunshots rang out, slicing through her shoulder, another through her leg crippling her enough to not be able to keep going. The two remaining men atop the roof would glare down towards the man left on the bottom as he'd catch Mai and grapple her within the net like an animal that had escaped.
"Damn brat." The man grunted as he curled his arms around her to secure her small frame against himself. His eyes flicked up to the two men standing at the edge, all of them unaware of Talon with only the two further back contending with him now. He had five left if he wanted to learn the truth. Five bandits, corrupted humans who thrived on destroying everything. Five more if he intended to succeed at his mission.
The two who confronted him would stand their ground. One firing off several bursts of bullets towards Talon, while the other rushed in shortly after with the knife swung wide trying to cut into Talon's gut.
Post by The Blade's Shadow on Jan 8, 2013 23:35:19 GMT -5
The man's words were nothing, the delicate coo of the songbird washing the slate of his mind clean of everything but the sight of them dying on his blade. The gunshots were his next focus, hurling his body forward into a roll, ignorant to the bullets that tore pieces from his thick clothing, grazing his skin. The pain propelled him forward, finishing the roll with his armblade slipping between the brutish swordsman's ribs and into his heart. Talon's palm came to rest on his chest and grab his shirt, pulling his body in front of his own to use a shield.
The lithe assassin faded from view once more, obscured though he was already by the body that out-sized him by quite a bit. His impressive speed brought him behind the second man, a single wave of Talon's arm sending a rush of circular blades through the gun-wielding thug once from behind, only to turn abruptly and make another vicious set of gory holes in him as they returned to his grasp. Even the thin razor wires left their marks on the man's body. It was a liberating feeling.
Talon hefted the shredded man with both arms and violently threw his corpse down on the men below, doing the same with the other only a few seconds later, aiming to at least incapacitate the men. When that was done, he followed swiftly and skillfully, leaping from window ledges and rain gutters to land conspicuously in front of the men in a kneel. His eyes slipped open once more while he looked up, expression once again grim. His blades bristled and gleamed in the light of the rising moon, his purpose clear as the words came out in what could only be described as a harsh growl.
There was a gurgling, the sound of death filling the air as blood spilled across his blade and the ground gutting the men with such ease it was almost too simple. The two bodies deftly destroyed by the assassin would fly forward and hit the two men standing on the ledge sending them forward over its edge and to a most gruesome death below. Bones crushing under the weight of the other two bodies, suffocating them if they hadn't died upon immediate impact.
There was a lingering silence as the assassin made his way down, muffled in his skillful descent towards the ground where the remaining man lingered with Mai held tight in his grip. His hand had snaked around to the front of her forehead, and positioned himself in a way that he might easily break her neck if he wanted to.
"Come any closer, mate... And yer lil' princess dies."
Mai was conscious, though her injuries would need mending after the fight was over. The healing only helped to stave off the bleeding long enough to seek treatment. She'd slip her bloodied fingers into the edge of her kimono, and grip something slowly trying not to alert the thug to her intentions. Noting he was distracted by Talon, she'd suddenly cup one hand around the man's arm and bit down as hard as she could on his arm causing him to let out a painful cry. His hand moved from her head aiming to punch her, only to find a cluster of swallows rushing up into his face frantically. It was enough of a distraction, but the man stubbornly kept his arm around her neck even as she'd start to stomp her heel down on his toes.
Post by The Blade's Shadow on Jan 9, 2013 1:00:55 GMT -5
The distraction was all Talon needed to finish his mission, stepping out of his kneeling position to drive his armblade into the man's throat, his momentum propelling him forward quickly enough to remove the man's head from his shoulders completely. One mission lead seamlessly into the next, turning quickly to grab the girl by her shoulder and force her roughly to the wall, the point of his blade pressed menacingly to her throat.
His glare was not angry but demanding, jaw tightly clenched until he spoke. "I need a name and a reason not to kill you. You have seconds left before I reunite you with your enemies."
The chirping in his head had only just now begun to subside, the disgusted look on his face subsiding slowly until there was nothing in its place. No hint of feeling, nothing. All that was left was a hollowness, waiting for an answer. There was strength in her, whomever she was, but he didn't know if it was misplaced and needed to find out. He'd stolen in his life, more times than he could bother to count, that it was not something inherently weak or wrong. To lie, deceive, misdirect for the furthering of one's own goals, that was weakness. Never once had Talon lied. Every man and woman who died had known what they were, why they had to be killed. Never once had Talon appeared and lied to kill someone. If a fight was what was needed, he did it.
His blade, which was all that seemed to exist anymore, was what left them dead. It was by that strength that he made his life what it was. It was by that strength that he would bleed the weakness from Noxus.
The rain of blood spilled across her form as the man's head was lopped off giving Mai that brief moment of freedom. She spit softly to push the blood from her mouth and went to turn, already exhausted from the running and fighting she had done. When she felt his hand rest upon her shoulder, ethereal violet orbs would flick up and suddenly shut hitting the wall with force. Freedom was given, and taken so quickly.
Mai's body tensed, her head lifted from the sensation of the sharp blade pressed against her throat. Eyes, filled briefly with courage would sink into fear as she stared up towards the shadowed visage held by Talon. Her teeth clenched ever so lightly with her hands raising, showing submission to his force, "M-Mai." She said quickly, feeling her heart racing; pounding painfully in her chest. Every second it felt like it grew louder in her ears.
"I-I--" She tried to speak, but she found it more difficult to speak the longer the blade pressed against her throat. Her hand slowly lowered, and tried to grip the backside of his knife where it was less likely to cause her harm. As if it'd give her some sense of desperate security and reassurance to know she might have a chance to survive.
"Y-You're not with them." She pointed out, "Y-You have no reason t-to kill me." Her voice was slightly husky, and easy to listen to. Though her dialect proved a bit harsh laced with street-smarts.
Post by The Blade's Shadow on Jan 9, 2013 1:45:14 GMT -5
"I could have any number of reasons to kill you." His words interjected between hers sharply, cutting her short and drowning them out, quiet but laced with an unflinching sense of dominance, possessed of enough presence to cull the resistance in most men, yet silently enough not to draw the attention of the people milling about at the alley's entrance.
He did not spare a glance to the shuffling of feet hustling along the Ivory Ward's streets echoing down the darkened alley, training his steel gaze instead upon his captive, knowing just how ignorant and evasive of dark alleys the general Noxian populace tended to be. They were his domain, his kingdom, one of shadows. Already he could hear the subtle burble of water flowing from a nearby access to the waterways. It reassured him, though he didn't require it.
"This is the only chance you will ever receive. Tell me why I should spare you." The words were spat from his lips, steely and unflinching, just as his eyes, though it was impossible to see from the shadow his hood cast over his face, obscuring everything but the firmly set line of his lips.
She was young in appearance, but her eyes whispered of a harsh life as they hardened even against his dark visage. Still they filled with a sense of fear, begging to be set free and live another day. Her lips pinched together with a harsh gulp, trying to pull the courage she had only briefly back to the surface. But he was terribly frightening, and every bit of her screamed to submit and just answer his questions. To not face the cold hand of death if unnecessary.
"I-I don't..." It couldn't be helped. There were tears starting to brim within her eyes, twinkling against the dim lights that settled a distance from the pair, "..there's.. nothing I can give you." She finally said, "I don't have money.. I don't have possessions.."
But she had her spells. Her little origami nestled within her obi for easy access should she encounter situations like this. But she couldn't reach them. The man had her frozen in fear beneath the edge of his blade, and that unbreakable gaze set solid upon her. Her hand slowly moved down the blade towards his hand. It was the only thing she could think to do - to touch, and try to coax out some sense of humanity in the man. She was trembling none the less, even as her hand might find his fingers.
Post by The Blade's Shadow on Jan 9, 2013 2:30:27 GMT -5
The point of Talon's vicious armblade turned slowly against the skin of her neck to bring a pinprick of blood to the surface of her skin with a faint growl of irritation. She wasn't Noxian and it was abundantly clear. Any true Noxian would know exactly what he was trying to ask and it was most certainly not for what money or things she had on her. The harsh look on his face faded completely, though his blade did not so much as budge from its position.
"Where are you from, girl, and what business do you have in the Noxus?" He spoke once more without inflection, taking stock of exactly where the bodies were in the alley, unoccupied hand dropping to take hold of another round, easily thrown blade. After a moment of unspoken hesitation, he dropped his arm back to his side, hoping that she was smart enough not to break for it, for surely she had seen his work against her pursuers.
The fact that conversation, a weak point of his, was now a necessity, irked him. Rage, anger, frustration, all emotions that had been almost bored into his skull by now and replaced the others, resurfaced, however inward they may have been directed. There was a flicker of his annoyance on his face, a twitch of his lips into a snarling frown, to indicate it to the world.
Was she so unlucky to find herself in another bad situation? It seemed to follow her like a disease constantly on her trail. Something she failed to get rid of time, and time again. She felt the tiny cut in her neck, and let out a tiny gasp from the sharp pain it caused her. The growl from him only caused her eyes to flicker to the ground briefly, brought back up to his features shortly after. There the harsh look faded, causing her mild confusion - and a slight sense of relief.
Where? Could she tell him? Would he kill her? "..the-the sky." She said. It wasn't a lie. She was born in the sky, and that's where she had lived for the first part of her life. A gulp followed, before a sharp breath, trying to call up the strength she needed, "...skies of.. Ionia.. "
Oh she indeed saw his handywork, and had the blood of his latest foe on her body, soaked into that long, ebony braid and muting the soft look of her features in red stains and droplets of life essence. When he'd pull back, Mai let out a tiny sigh of relief. Her next response coming a tiny bit easier, though she was clearly spooked and looked ready to run at the drop of a hat.
"Th-Those bandits chased me here.." Which was true. She had been tracked like an animal by a group of hunters/bandits into the urban location.
Mai had pushed off the wall, though she still felt weakened from the chase and the various wounds she had sustained during it. Her movements were slow at first, but just as suddenly she'd seem to dash towards him, "LOOK OUT!" Trying to force her shoulder into him to knock him back while attempting to shield him. It would seem sudden, and perhaps viewed as an attack - though one hopes the call to danger would be enough to prove it wasn't the case.
The sound of gunfire would cause nearby people to scatter, and send birds flocking into the night sky from startle. One of the men on the ground was alive, and laying atop the corpse of another. He'd stare up at Talon with a murderous gaze while Mai clung against Talon's shoulder, or wherever she may be standing with her fingers curled tightly. She'd tremble as blood dripped from her lips suddenly with a light cough, and slowly sank to the ground exposing the new wound where the bullet had clearly torn through her chest likely puncturing a lung on its path through. Talon would be safe however. The only sign of injury from it was her blood dripping onto his clothing.
Post by The Blade's Shadow on Jan 9, 2013 3:29:14 GMT -5
An Ionian in Noxus. The world truly had gone mad. Did she not know? Did she not care? Was it desperation? His confusion over the motive clouded his focus, though a snap of his arm left the circular blade he'd been holding buried in his aggressor's eye before anything else had begun to form in his head. An irritated sigh escaped him as the fool girl began to pathetically crumple to the floor, stopped only by an arm of his hooked carelessly under hers.
The trickle of the waterways and the promise of freedom tugged at the scared child within him. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone official had to come looking for the source of all this mayhem. Of the five bodies on the ground, he could easily have them stored in the sewer system before they showed their face. Another noise of annoyance passed his lips as quietly as the first. Six bodies. There were six bodies at ground level that he needed to dispose of.
"I will remember you." He whispered while his arm moved mechanically, the blade once again pressing to the girl's throat to allow her the mercy of a quick death, free from suffering. Yet once the bloodied steel found its place against her skin it froze there and refused to move anywhere but back. Something in him stopped him, almost like a voice, similar to his own. It was quickly identified, his own voice, like some rogue memory of his early years, of a time before his death-filled teens.
Through gritted teeth, he lifted the battered woman slightly to check her for the latest of her wounds. If his unbidden conscience had returned and demanded she be allowed life, the flow of her blood out of her body had to be stopped before she could be moved. He was deft, having learned to treat most non-lethal wounds by his mentor/employer to make him more effective, applying pressure and a quick bandage to the wound, though his clothing would miss the strip of fabric he'd needed to use to do so.
Without ceremony, he lifted her onto his shoulder much like a sack of potatoes, shoving the bodies roughly into the sewer with his foot. he followed with the girl in tow not long after, blind and deaf to any objections she may have had against his choice.
"I'll need to go back" He thought. "The blood trail leads to my home and I cannot risk being found out." He placed her against the wall and pulled himself back out from the rank waterways to scrub the blood from the ground as best and quickly as he could. It would have to suffice. Returning to the safety of his sprawling home, he once more hid the entrance to them and pushed the corpses to float freely with the rest of the Noxian refuse.
Finally, he turned his gaze to the girl, resolving to carry her if she had not remained conscious while he worked.
The question had a simple answer - There were no boundaries to the places she may explore. She had her freedom, and wherever it took her would be where she'd call home if only temporarily. There was little more than a brief cry from the man as his life was ended by Talon's blade. So much more blood to stain the sheen of metal that once, long ago, had been clean. But what did any of it matter to an assassin? As he placed the blade to her throat, and beckoned her farewell, her hand weakly trailed up to the wound and trembled from the pain it caused her. Every breath pained her so, and made her crave that full, unhindered breath she so desperately needed. But it was cut short by the sharp pulsations through her chest from the bullet wound.
She didn't seem to realize he had pulled it away as she coughed a bit more, spilling more blood from her lips. When she was lifted, there'd be little more then a grunt of pain from her. She didn't fight him as he carried her, or try to cause him any harm. Oddly, when he set her down her fingers would latch onto his clothing briefly but weakly drop away from them just as easily.
As he tended to the bodies, more origami would be drawn from her kimono. Two in fact. One a black koi, and one a gold koi. As she set them onto her knee, they'd begin to circle and dance around each other as if courting, chasing and delightfully playing until they'd begin to circle faster and faster. As they blurred into a yin yang, the much stronger healing spell would begin to overflow, focusing on the wound in her chest to begin knitting the flesh that needed it. Though given the severity, it would still require some level of treatment. The remnants of the bullet would suddenly be coughed up, coated in her blood as it tumbled onto the ground beside her. The two koi vanishing with the slowed bleeding. It closed her lung, which was the more vital necessity at the moment, allowing her greater chance of survival.
She'd press a bloodied hand back against the wall, and stubbornly start to try to stand. Though every bit of her shook with the attempt, only just managing to find the strength to stand before Talon returned to her. As she saw him, she'd sink back down leaving a smear of blood against the wall. She'd let out another grunt of pain upon being lifted again, her eyes growing heavy as she began to blink in and out of consciousness before falling into the abyss of her mind and growing limp in his hold.
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