Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[Hotfoot]

As Argent fell back into her human form, Hotfoot knew something was wrong. He scanned the room, looking at everyone assembled there, his eyes finally falling on an unfamiliar face. An unfamiliar face with circles of sand in front of him. It wasn't hard to put two and two together, and in a fraction of a second, he swept his foot across the sand to destroy the circles.

The next thing he would do was simple, grab the man's clothes and throw him into the room, making sure not to burn him, though he would feel the heat from Hotfoot's shield as he was brought into melee range. The throw would put him further into the room for the rest of the team to see.

[B4UTRUST]

When Kyosuke was thrown further into the gym he executed a few deft movements while airborne, twisting and landing on his feet, facing Hotfoot.
"And the untried warrior seeks to undo that which he does not understand."

Kyosuke traced a symbol in the air, it hanging there for a few brief seconds written upon nothing. The floor surrounding Kyosuke became adhessive, viscous, trapping all who would dare to close in on him.

[Dark Silver]

"Agent Kyosuke...Attache' and liason to Ultima from Japan."

While WARpath may be immobilized by whatever spell he had cast, Stone's mind was still free to wander the datanet. He fund the information pretty quickly, once he knew what to look for.

"My name is Dr Jeffery Stone, Reserve Ultima Agent and recently assigned to fill in a hole in Mirage Team - that's who these two young people are assigned to. If you would please release whatever hold you put on my Armor...perhaps we could talk like gentlemen."

[B4UTRUST]

"That's Agent Shingure, Dr. Stone. Kyosuke is my first name."

Kyosuke made a gesture, the sand and blood disolving, releasing the binding.
"There. Two down, several to go. Or do you wish a stronger test Dr. Stone?"

[Dark Silver]

Stone cleared his throat, of course he had screwed up the man's name - of course only thing he could do was apologize to him and not make the error again.

With freedom of movement restored to the armor, WARpath bowed to the Japanese agent, "Of course, my apologies Agent Shingure. And no thank you, that was a excellent demonstration."

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost reached into a pocket, pulling out a collapsible baton and extended it. "It is good to see you again, Agent Shingure. I take it your here to test us?" With that, Ghost cloaked himself, shifting to his left as quietly as possible.

[B4UTRUST]

"As you wish Dr. Stone. Agent Ghost, I take it you wish to be next?"

Kyosuke's eyes flicked from side to side, searching for any sign of the invisble man. His grip tightned on his bokken as he moved into a defensive stance.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost smiled. He kept his baton in his right hand and thought about his next move. Perhaps a bit of taunting?

"So, Agent, are you going to stand there or do something?" He asked, as he kept shifting ot his left, now at Kyosuke's 3 O'clock position.

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke pivoted to face the sound of Ghost's voice.
"If I do something, it will result in the swift and complete defeat of you. And at the same time, it costs me energy and unncessary action. Here I may but wait and you will eventually come to me, or tire out and reappear. But if you insist."

Kysouke leveled his sword in Ghost's direction, holding it with one hand. With his other he transcribed another symbol in the air, his fingers deftly flexing and moving through the complex patterns. Once more the symbol hung suspended, burning and then fading. A second later a trio of small fireballs launched in rapid succession from the tip of the sword.

[LadyTevar]

Argent shivered as the binding around her was released. She was surprised that Bowman had contacted Shingure-san so quickly ....

Or had he? They should still be in a meeting with Gravitas. Therefore, she had either surprised Kyosuke on his way to his own training by bringing Mirage team here, or Kyosuke had been looking for them.

Either one was possible. "Hotfoot, great job getting him out in the open," Argent said, leaving Ghost to deal with Kyosuke and his fireballs for the moment. "Agent Shingure is a Shinto priest and mystic, as well as a demon hunter." The information was given casually to the team as a whole. "His skills will mimic some of what we may encounter at RCE."

They came to practice team-work. "I believe he's just volunteered to be the target," she finished. Time to see if the team could pull together again.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost's eyes widened. He quickly moved out of the way fireballs, letting them pass by him. "Nice." He said and then started digging through his pockets, looking for something to throw. He came up with a pair of handcuffs. 'Eh, why not.' Ghost tossed the cuffs up and down in his hand for a second before throwing them as hard as he could at the other agent.

[LadyTevar]

Argent knew Ghost was well trained for this. Trying to coordinate her actions to his was going to be nearly impossible, for even her empathy couldn't give an exact fix on his location. If Ghost could do something to distract Kyosuke, just for a moment, she could make her own move.

She readied herself, watching Kyosuke, waiting for the moment he would not be looking at his feet. The shadows were already there. All she had to do was time the moment right to knock him off balance, and hope Ghost was in position to take advantage.

When the moment came, the shadows would rise up like grasping claws...

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke turned away from the handcuffs, letting them hit him on his weaker arm. He winced for a brief second as they stung the flesh. It probably wouldn't do anything worse then bruise. When he was distracted shadowy tendrils rose up and tried to envelop his feet and legs.

He tried to pull his feet up from the shadows but they seemed to be clawing their way up. He reversed his grip on his bokken and stabbed it downwards into the shadow. The blessed weapon glowed softly as it contacted the shadows, driving them away from his legs. Crouching and then leaping he hurled himself over the shadowy claws and adhessive patch.

Executing a presice flip and turn in the air he landed on his feet.
"Time to even the odds then. Kami Kubira!"

He stabbed the tip of his sword down against the ground and held it. Fog escape from the sword's edge and flowed out, followed by a glowing light that solidifed in the form of a ghost wolf. Kyosuke stood and indicated with his sword towards the handcuffs laying on the ground. Kubira sniffed at them then growled softly.
"Seek him."

Kubira sniffed the air and bounded off towards Ghost.



-------------
Bowman turned to Blackheart.
"Well on that note, any thoughts on my suggestion of a recon mission to RCE?"

[LadyTevar]

"Here, puppy...," Argent muttered, stabbing at the spirit wolf from the closest shadows, trying to force it away from wherever Ghost could be hiding. She didn't know if Ghost also hid his scent, but with a spirit it didn't much matter.

At least she'd managed to force Kyosuke to move out from whatever magic he'd done to that patch of floor. Maybe later she could learn how to identify what she was seeing, so she knew what the magic did. Might be useful ... if he'd teach her. For now, she would play tag with the spirit wolf, and let Ghost or Hotfoot take out Kyosuke. "Warpath? Got anything for Shingure-San?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Sounds good," said Blackheart. "Argent would be a good choice for that."

[Dark Silver]

"fortunately, my armor's a bit limited in offensive capabilities, but I'm sure I can come up with something.." he replied, as he brought up his right arm, the repulsor emmiter charging up silently.

His arm shifted just a bit, taking in targetting information from the suits sensors, before he launched a series of low power repulsor beams - only powerful enough to make the impact felt, like a insect bite - at the approximate location from where Ghost had thrown the handcuffs, the pattern of the shots meant to reveal if the opponent was in the location still, or moved on.

[B4UTRUST]

Kubira paused and growled at Argent, shifting direction in mid-stride and launching herself at Argent.

Kyosuke stabbed his sword down again, more fog issuing forth.
"Basara, Makora, come!"

From the sword edge came a ape and a bull.
"Basara, take the woman. Makora, stay here."

The bull snorted then charged towards Argent, hooves stamping and pounding along the floor. The ape moved into a defensive position in front of Kyosuke. Kyosuke himself fell to one knee, breathing hard, his grip on his sword still strong.
"Kubira, find the man."

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot took in the situation and watched the team move in slow motion. Given that Argent didn't immediately fly into a rage over the weird guy with the wooden sword, he didn't attack right away. As the sparring match started, he watched, not sure of what to do next. As Warpath fired...something into the nothingness where Ghost had been, he looked at the powersuit and frowned. Anything he could do to show off with HIM could end up actually wrecking something on that fancy suit, and he couldn't overpower him from the looks of it.

"Argent, take Warpath!" He called out over his radio link. He rushed towards Kyosuke, unaware of the adhesive nature of the floor around him, or if it had been released to allow his pets to move away from him, or if they could just simply move freely. If he made it through, his next move would be to toss Kyosuke again, then again, then again, effectively juggling him in midair until he yeilded.

[LadyTevar]

"Little bus-y," Argent singsonged to Hotfoot, having been forced to avoid the bull by sinking into the shadows and moving away from the charging Spirit animal. She reappeared on the other side of the room ... only to see the bull change course and bear down on her again.

However, she also noted that Kyosuke was weakening from using so much of his magic. It was a bit annoying that she, Hotfoot, and Ghost were the only teammates playing in this little fight, but if Warpath wanted to play on Kyosuke's side, that was fine. As the bull neared her, she shadowstepped again, right behind the mecha.

Let's see if the bull would run over Warpath on its way to her....

[Dark Silver]

His blasts peppered the air, filling it with thin streams of bluish-white energy, and motion in his peripheral caused him to cease bombardment, and look.

The spirit bull was bearing down on him, and while he could take a normal beast, he wasn't sure if his armor could out strength a spirit animal.

His rockets flared as he went into the air, the nuclear engines making little sound thanks to the built in bafflers. He lifted off above the charging bull, and turned in mid-air to see the shadow Argent, and three bolts of the low power energy shot at her.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost had made his move as Argent distracted the ghost wolf. He moved around the gym and then straight in to Kyosuke. He placed the baton on the shoulder of the Japanese agent. "Gotcha." Ghost said.

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke stopped breathing hard, a hard edge in his eye. His free hand shot up like lightning, grabbing the baton. His other hand, gripping the bokken, snapped back and up into Ghost's stomach. He pulled the baton and executed a shoulder throw then moved Ghost's baton holding arm into a joint lock.
"All warfare is based on deception. When you are able to attack, you must seem unable. When using force, appear inactive. Pretend inferiority and encourage arrogence."

Kubira trotted up and shifted from the spirit wolf form to a young attractive japanese female. It was immediatly evident that she was one of those hyperactive bubbily and overly happy types.
"Maaassster!"
"Kubira, watch this one. Don't fail me."
"Awwww, but I wanna help!"
"Please, Kubira. Just do as I ask."
"Yes, sir," she replied grumpily.

With a huff Kubira crossed her arms and promptly sat down heavily on Ghost's back. Kyosuke released the joint lock. He stood and looked around. He saw Hotfoot start running then slow to a sticky halt near him.
"Makora, cover me."

Kyosuke's sword went point down to the floor again. His fingers transcribed a symbol over the floor. A lightning bolt sparked and shot out towards Hotfoot.

Basara continued to charge Argent, hellbent on spearing her on one of his sharp horns.

-----------
Bowman looked at Blackheart, holding back his disbelief.
"While I agree Argent would be an excellent choice for recon, you don't mean to tell me she's going to go by herself do you?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Of course not," said Blackheart. "But she can travel with and cloak a heavy hitter, which makes her very useful for recon."

[B4UTRUST]

Bowman let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Alright. I suggest she takes Ghost as well, his invisibility will come in handy. I've got another agent I'll requisition for the team. He has previous experiance in that area of the country. He may be of some use. He's also got some offensive powers as well as some limited conveyance abilities. Nothing on Argent's scale but might be useful in a pinch.

"Anyone else you want to send in? Gravitas might be in medical for awhile so he might be out for this op. Blast, yourself?"

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost groaned, his face still laying on the floor. "Next time, I club the fucker." He tried to sit up, hoping to shift whoever it was on his back, off him.