"How do you even know if it's a motherland or a fatherland?"

Noel's face smushed against the lacquered, yellowish wood of a most authentic German bar, Vaterland. Or maybe it was a Biergarten. She hadn't been choosey. She didn't even know the difference, actually. She'd walked in on impulse after seeing that they served schnitzel until 1 am (thank you New York, for never sleeping!) and had stayed for the pretty, frothy amber liquids. After all, she never did these kinds of things. It was against her rules.

Now, emboldened by her conquest of a beer sampler, she'd moved on to harder stuff. The stuff that burned all the way down.

"I mean... is it shape...? Or...?" A quick gesture of her hand almost sent her drink flying. Not that there was much liquid left in her tumbler.

The bartender caught her fingers and cup both in his larger hand, an adept move that seemed magic in Noel's foggy state. "Yeah. I'm going to have to cut you off." He drew her hand toward him, well, actually he was trying to pry the glass from Noel's hand. She might not have had her full faculties, but she had a mean grip. Came from years of swordplay.

"I already paid for this one." Pouting was also against the rules, but it was sort of one of those days.

She'd had her concealed carry license revoked. Okay. Worse. She'd had her identity dragged through the legal system then she'd had her identity's licence revoked. Noel's real, true identity was kaput. She couldn't even remember if her name actually was Noel. But that wasn't the real problem. The real issue was that the memorymancer hadn't a clue what to do with herself now.

Her legal identity was a fabrication maintained by her employers.

Without a license, she could hardly perform her typical duty.

That meant she probably wasn't going to be useful enough to keep around. Not that they'd kill her off or anything. They were a somewhat disreputable company, not the mob. But the disreputable stuff was where she really shined. The kinds of places she sometimes went... well, tasers and swords weren't enough of a deterrent.

Not that disreputable people checked for licenses. And the swords were technically illegal. It was just the problem of her cascading morality. Yeah. And she just wanted to hold on —Noel gripped the tumbler tighter— to something —The bartender gave the cup a bit of a tug.— like a real life. —Noel tugged back. Only, she wasn't really gauging her strength properly so when she meant she tug, she actually YANKED the glass backwards.

Her hand lost grip and the cup kept going.

Noel had ample slow-motion time to lift her head from the bar and follow its sparkling crystal progress right into some beefy bro's ball cap.

'Ooooooooh fuuuuuuudge.'

His head snapped forward with the force of the impact ('My God. His neck's as thick as his head!') the cup cracked, spraying a few large splinters as it crashed to the ground. Liquid seeped into the hat and after a brief pause the man raised his head and turned slowly to face his attacker.

Eyes round as saucers, Noel did something else she'd promised herself she wouldn't.

She passed the buck.

The man grunted as he stood, a bit woozy on his feet, but he followed where she pointed to a wiry, tan, bald guy. It was far more believable that a guy thrashed him with his drink than a woman, no matter how stocky. That was just how he rolled.

"You got somn' to say to me?"

His friends stood up to show they had bro's back.

Hades was relaxing. He was in a good bar which he had frequencted before. In fact a while ago he had introduced a rather wealthy deaf friend to the place. The deaf friend in question had become a loyal patron Vaterland ever since and as Simon tipped well, Hades by association was liked in Vaterland.

One thing Hades enjoyed about Vaterland was that they sold an excellent 20 year old aged burbon called Pappr Van Winkle . He was relaxing and treating himself. He had come back after 5 years of being incorpreal after all. His musings of various memories was interupted by a sudden movement that he spied from the corner of his eye. He turned in time to witness a tumbler bounce and fragment off the head of a stocky character. He backtracked the trajectory and found the culprit and was in time to see her point to him. Apparently he was the scapegoat of tonight.

Hades turned to regard the victium who was built like a wrestler and wearing a Harley Davidson leather jacket. There was a large Harley Davidson ralley in NY, with riders coming from all over the USA to attend. Thankfully this bar was small so all in all there were about 20-30 bikers at Vaterland. As the victium stood up, Hades caught the name "DAVE" stencelled on the back of the jacket. As Dave turned in his direction, directed by the oh so guilty female who looked to be about 30 or so and seemed to have a profussion of pericings on each ear, Hades noted with a sigh that Dave's T-shirt read "Proud to be a 1%er" followed by an impressive list of bars and clubs that he had been banned from.Time seemed to slow down as Hades analysed the situation. With osmeone less agressive, Hades would consider playing the scared cowering patron, who offered to buy the offenede a round of drinks or two. With the look in Dave's eyes and as evidenced from his shitr, he would try to punch Hades anyway and judging by his current state of inebriation he would not know when to stop. There were situations where it would better to take a hit but this was not one of them. Hades also did not fancy going to the other extreme. Oh sure he could probably kill most of the people here, but he did not like calling that sort of attention from the authourities and besides he did want to return to this bar again. He would need to go to option C.

Having analysed the situation, which had taken a second or two and observing that Dave and his friends wobbly progress would take a minute or so to get to him Hades flicked his hand at the bartender to catch his attention and started to rapidly sign. "Will try to keep damage minimal. Apologies." The bartender's reply surprised him. "These ******** have been harassing my staff all evening, take care of them without demolishing my bar and next time drinks are on me." Hades allowed himself a smile, the offer was generous especially considering Hades taste in drinks was not cheap. He signed back "Very well, I need some towels, if anything happens to me the girl picks up my tab." "As it should be." came the reply.

By this time Dave and two of his friends hand lumbered over and a few more of the biker gang were starting to look round. "You got somn' to say to me?" Hades did not reply and took another sip of the fine bourbon. It would be shame to waste it, and ironically if things played out how he suspected they would the extra alcohol would help. Dave was right behind Hades now, Hades still sipping his drink. Dave reached out one beefy hand and put it on Hades head, his fingers splayed on top of Hades head as if he was contemplating crushing it. "I said..." He never finished. In one smooth motion Hades reached both hands to grip Dave's wrist, stood, spun and sat again. The next thing Dave knew he was sitting straight (Probably the best posture in all of his existence) and stiffly next to the bald guy with one of his arms behind his back in a very painful arm lock.

"I have nothing to say to you, I did not throw that glass, although i doubt you believe me. What say I buy you a round of drinks or tow and we forget about this whole incident eh?" as Dave contemplated Hades words through his alcohol fogged brain, Hades glanced around to see how Dave's two friends and the rest of the gang were taking the situation.

'Oh crud. Oh crumb. Oh crapcrapcrap.'

Noel stood when Dave's friends stood. Her hands were shaking and her brain was just too foggy to think much in advance. This was not her style. This wasn't what she did.

The man next to her handled Dave. Like literally. He had him sitting at the bar and had his hand and arm twisted behind his back. When did that happen?

Bro's buddies surged forward and instinct took hold of her. Noel put herself bodily between the group and the man, Dave. She swallowed hard and raised her chin until she could catch the front man's eyes with her own.

"Move it, chickie, I got-"

'Forget it.' Noel didn't let him finish talking before her pupils began to vibrate back and forth in their sockets. This was a trick that would only work once for this situation, but it was better to remove some of the numbers from this fight without violence. 'Whatever you owe Dave. Whatever you think you saw happen. Forget it. It never happened.' She thought the thoughts as hard as she could. Whether that made her power work or not, she never knew. It was just the best way to direct those dangerous eyes of hers.

Whatever the frontman was about to say, he simply stopped. The next guy's leathers creaked as he grabbed his pal's arm and looked between Noel and his friend. Frontman looked around clearly confused at what was happening.

"Friggin' mutie." He shook his pal by both arms.
"What?" The first guy was starting to look a bit freaked out.

A third man brushed past the first two and grabbed Noel by the front of her button up shirt, lifting her to her tippy toes as he practically spat words into her face. "What'd you do to him?" He yanked Noel around, which really wasn't conducive to answering. Not that any answer she could provide would spare her his wrath.

"Take it back, b***!"

Noel had no idea. That was how this worked. She did know, however, that any more manhandling and she would be revisiting that schnitzel.

She hooked her foot backwards intending to get a bit of leverage from a barstool or something, but all she could reach was that magnificent, authentic German wood bar.

Good enough.

Noel arched her back to tip the hilt of her weapon up over her shoulder and out from behind her long braid. She then pushed off the grounded bar with both feet and angled her upper body to the side as much as her enemy's grip would allow. The sudden movement wasn't in a direction he was prepared to handle and Noel closed the distance between them easily, directing the hilt of her still stowed weapon to smash into her captor's nose.

It was not enough force to break anything, unfortunately, but enough to bloody and surprise. She used that surprise to drive the heel of her hand up to his chin. His head slammed backward as she used his jaw to push herself down his body and completely out of his grip.

Instinct. Totally useful when the world was spinning a bit too fast.

From her crouch by the man's knees Noel made a sloppy break for the door. This was just about the best Noel could do to make up for earlier. She owed the bald stranger at least this distraction.

While Hades was manhandling Dave, literally, it appeared the girl did have a bit of a conscience. She stepped in front of Dave's friends. Hades could respect that, that took guts, the alcohol helped but the lady had guts. then something interesting happened. from what transpired next it was apparent that the lady was also a mutant, perhaps memory manipulation, or perhaps neurological disruption. Hades made a note to himself to see if could find out what. He was always open to potential assets and/or threats.

Apparently the lady's mutation could only work once or perhaps one at a time, although apparently she could handle herself. From the way she took down the goons, she apparently had some martial arts training and probably sword training. Advanced sword training as well, for a good swordsmen knows how to use all parts of his weapon as a weapon, the hilt, the back, the sheathe. Hades wondered if he could recognize the technique but returned to the present as he sensed that Dave had come up with an answer to his offer.

Hades shook his head and nodded at the bartender. The bartender nodded and made a gesture to the servers. Immediately a wall of bouncers formed between the VIP back rooms and the lounge. The remaining serving staff retreated to cover after depositing a bundle of cloth next to Hades which he promptly pocketed. Then Dave made the move that Hades had been expecting. He tried to kick Hades, who responded by promptly slamming Dave's head solidly into the counter. Hades turned in time to see the lady go streaking out the door althrough past her he saw there was already a ring of bikers in the alley and they seemed to be armed with chains and knives and the like. Oh well, that was a problem that would have to be dealt with when he got there, currently there were a few of Dave;s friends Hades had to deal with now that good old Dve was out of the fight.

The first biker came at Hades with a shattered bottle. With the size of the bikers Hades could not just simply throw them around, but once they lashed out, they put themselves off balance, from that point on they might as well be puppets on a string to Hades, he could make them go wherever he wanted them to. he caught the attackers wrist in the cloth and spun him around like a unsightly, ugly ballerina. During one spin Hades kneed-ed the thug in the genitals. As the bicker bent over Hades punched him in the solar plexus. Well that was what it looked like. In reality what Hades did was to phase his hand in a concealed manner into the biker. Now where was that nerve, Ah! There it was. Hades gave the appropriate nerve a vigorous contact with his phased hand then drew his arm out. All this time his actions were concealed by the body of the biker. Then he spun the biker to face the next biker to come charging along.

The second unfortunate attacker got the full force of the first biker's "Hades induced", shotgun style, projectile vomit.You see when Hades phased any part of his body and swept it through people they could experience waves of vertigo and pain, by concentrating Hades could "stimulate" certain nerves in the human body, Hades had perfected it into a very effective and brutal torture technique and near the stomach area was a cluster of nerves that if stimulated would induce spectacular projectile vomit. Although fir the best show stopping results it was preferable that the victim have a heavy meal as opposed to just snacks and alcohol but beggars cannot be choosers.

Having expended his one shot human vomit cannon, Hades knocked him out and dealt with the next next biker by tripping him up with a towel. Now came the time for a change of tactics. Hades stood up and suddenly started swaying and stumbling. Holding a silly grin on his face he made the come and get me sign while slowly backing in a stumbling fashion towards the door and where the lady appeared to be ringed by a growing group of bikers. Hades could play drunk very convincingly when he needed to.

Noel did not have to pretend to be drunk. Her adrenaline was fast burning through the fog, but her stomach was making vomitous overtures. She scrabbled out the door, hand over her mouth, and bumped into someone.

The only reason she knew that she ran into a person rather than a brick wall was the 'oof' she heard. Brick walls did not say oof. Of course, people were not usually so... solid.

"Sorry." She murmured through her fingers, but a solid ( and heavy!) hand landed on her shoulder all the same.

"Saw what you did in there."

Oh? Noel looked up. The man was a brick wall. Day old stubble, flying colors and a diamond patch, and eyes that said he was going to squish her like a bug.

Noel heard shuffling behind her as some of his pals formed up between her and any conceivable escape.

So. diamond patches that said 1% denoted the ring leaders, it seemed. Noel's brain was oddly detached from the moment, making analytical observations rather than acknowledging the beatdown she was about to endure. There was no way she was going to cut through this many bigger and stronger people even if she did draw her weapon.

The man smiled and ran the back of his calloused hand along her cheek before backhanding Noel hard enough to whip her head to the side. Her unsteady world went spinning again. The brunette turned her face back and opened her mouth to say... well, it didn't matter what she wanted to say because words were not what came out.

Apparently, she could make a vomit cannon as well.

It was not her most proud moment.

Hades seemed to stumble out the door and sway unsteadily from side to side. Some one laughed in the darkness and took a swing at him. Just by change Hades seemed to stumble out of the way, at the same time he lost his balance and spun, one of his feet flying up. Just by chance that foot impacted the genitals of an attacker. Hades promptly fell over one one foot and two hands, his other foot flying up in the air, and miraculously hit another attacker on this chin. Hades was making effective use of the much dramatized Chinese martial art the drunken fist. He looked over and saw the girl who was the cause of all of this get slapped and hurl, apparently she was not faking her drunkenness. Sigh, discipline and restraint, where were they these days. Hades wondered at that point if he was too old. He also saw a biker built like a tank with arms like pile-drivers and probably the strength to match slowly lumber towards the girl, grinning and holding up ridiculously studded knuckledusters. If he hit her, she would be history.

Why was he caring, Hades wondered to himself. Time was when he would have casually used her as a diversion then just vanished. He did not get involved with passersby as a rule. Was she that attractive? He was not sure, did she intrigue him so? Perhaps. Was he getting soft? Perhaps he had been alone far too long. All these thoughts and more were going through his head, it turns out that he was slightly relaxed and mellowed by the whisky. Once you had the drunken fist down, not much thought was needed, you just.. reacted. All that came crashing to a halt when a stray fist struck him on the side of the face, spinning him round and snapping him back to the present. Instead of stunning him, it actually cleared his head. he stood shaking his head as yet another biker tried to stab him. the situation came rushing back to his previously alcohol relaxed brain. Girl, knuckle duster, man with knife. He whipped out a towel and trapped the mans knife arm and deftly disarmed him. then spinning him on the end of the towel he swung he would be stabber into another and then used that very same thug as a pivot, to spin himself round. Flipping the knife in his hand with practiced ease Hades used the extra velocity to hurl the dagger at said tank/pile driver combo. Crucifying the descending wrist that was about to mash fair lady's head into pulp, nailing it between the bikers radius and ulna. Well that was the girl safe for the moment.

Taking advantage of a slight lull in the fighting, Hades quickly tied a know in the long towel he was holding and dunked the whole thing in a nearby bucked of ice water that had previously held champagne. The situation was becoming challenging. He did have a hidden weapon, the scorpions tail but once that came out, body parts inevitably started flying and he did not want the attention that would bring. He was trying to keep a LOW profile having just recently returned from, well... the dead. He would be at an advantage the more of his enemies that thought him dead there were. On the other hand he had at some point decided that he would not leave the troublemaker, the girl, to the mercy of the bikers. At the same time he needed to end the conflict as soon as possible before more bikers came and joined the fight. Training was all well and good, but even the best killer in the world could be mobbed and killed. He would have to improvise. He hoped that the lady would come to her senses, if he had to carry her away that would make the situation most inconvenient.

There was a legend that long ago a seamstress had returned from buying cloth to find a burglar breaking into her house and threatening her kids, in a fit of rage she threw a roll of cloth into a nearby stream, picked it up and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of the would be burglar. True or not, there were a number of martial arts that used cloth as a weapon. With the now wet towel held in his hand, Hades lashed out with the knotted end. Recalling the five basics strikes of a cloth or fabric based weapon. He rapidly cleared a circle around him, the knotted end leaving bruises and welts wherever it struck. Suddenly Hades crumpled up the towel and threw it at one of his attackers and used the distraction to close the distance so he could start using more of his martial arts skills. The biker ducked his towel and it ended up gently falling on the face of the Girl. But at this point Hades had closed to striking range, his now black gloved fists a blur and he started to thin out the numbers of the attacking bikers.

For a brief moment Brick Wall Man stood with disbelief in his eyes. Noel met his eyes and honestly felt the same way. She was mortified. Worse than mortified, she was left in a semi-crouch right in front of someone much bigger and stronger than herself. Someone who had started the fight angry and now was furious.

She was, in a word, vulnerable.

How could she have let herself be so stupid? The big guy moved and their moment of understanding was over. He was going to end her. Plain and simple.

He might have been slow, but Noel's brain was slower. She moved to take a step backward and tripped on her own braid, falling back on her butt. Yeah. Not making any great first impressions here. The brunette looked around for some resource, something other than the sword that she kept sheathed along her spine. She didn't want to kill anyone. She would rather just keep from dying herself.

If the bald man wasn't so distracting, she wouldn't have had a chance. He drew the majority of the crowds attention, bobbing and swaying through the fight like a real life Jackie Chan. He took command of limbs and knives without it seeming like it was a big deal at all.

Fwip!

Noel's head turned to follow a fast tossed dagger that went right past her cheek and into the oncoming Brick Wall Man's wrist.

Crud. She had to stop gawking and do something.

A guy wearing a most unflattering brown grabbed hold of the cloth at Noel's shoulder and started to haul her up and into a better position for face punching with his up-raised fist. Rather than meet that fist, Noel rabbit punched out to the side on her way up. She'd been aiming for the side of the knee. It totally wasn't her fault that the guy hefted her up faster than she was expecting and she got in a lucky crotch shot.

It was an awkward shuffle to get her feet back under her, but she used the man in front of her as leverage. That left a foot of hers between her crotch-shot victim's feet and since he was doubled over and off balance, it was a simple matter to hook her heel backward to catch one of his feet at the ankle as she shoved his upper body backward.

Timber! But there was no time. Someone caught her braid and yanked her backward. It actually pulled her out of the way of a body that baldy sent flying. But she couldn't see who was reeling her in by the hair and since her only ally seemed to be beating people up with a towel, it was safe to assume she didn't want to go with whoever had her hair.

Noel caught hold of her hair at the base of her skull with one hand to lessen the pull before she pitched herself forward. She used the tether of her braid between them and her body's weight to pull her unseen assailant forward and into her donkey kick. She felt the kick hit home in the fleshy part of a belly, knocking the air out of someone in a loud grunt.

And of course quick movement wasn't exactly her favorite thing right now. It was a good thing that maneuver had put her in a crouch on the ground.

Someone slashed at her and she launched one leg sideways, taking a slice mostly at the shoulder rather than full in the neck, thought it was a close call. The brunette then used her coiled legs to launch herself upward and in close past the knifeman's guard. Her fist led all that moment so that she slugged him full in the face so hard that Noel felt the impact all the way down through the bones of her arm.

She stepped back, rubbing her hand and turned to meet her next attacker when that stupid towel baldy had flew right past its target and instead smacked loosely into Noel's face.

She gasped at the freezing shock of wet, all but inhaling one corner of the cloth when someone punched her in the gut.

It was a shame she didn't know how to fight like him.

As soon as she'd thought it, memories started pouring in. Noel coughed and staggered under the cloth, pulling it free from her face with one hand and pushing the dampened hair from her face with her other.

There was a legend that long ago a seamstress had returned from buying cloth...

Noel could see the fight, but she could also see other fights. Other times when a cloth had been weapon enough. She made a rolling motion with her wrist and the cloth responded, rolling in on itself before the knot end whipped out to knock an oncoming knife slash off its course. Her aim wasn't perfect, after all she'd never actually done this before. But it didn't have to be. It was enough.

Good the lady was slowly approaching the level of being an effective fighter. The way she carried her concealed blade spoke of experience, training and probably a very good teacher. Hades idly wondered if she might be better than him. If so there might be a chance to learn. Since discovering that the Kabal seemed to be no more Hades had run short of effective sparring partners. From Shogun he learned the finer points of the samurai style, from Hunter, well Hunter was a veritable fount of knowledge but back to the present.

It was time for a sit-rep. He and a slightly inebriated ally (yes he considered the girl, which he designated as Alpha for lack of anything better, an ally for reasons that were currently a mystery to him) were heavily out numbered, in neutral territory with the opposing side gradually growing in strength. Hades himself was also not currently at his peak and his reserves could not run forever. Slowly but surely they would get mobbed. He did have a backup weapon but would not use it unless backed into a corner. The use of the weapon he called the "scorpion's Tail" tended to leave any targets rather badly mutilated if not eviscerated. For now they seemed to be holding their own but he suspected that it would not last for long. As if to add to the situation, Hades fancied he saw movement on one of the nearby rooftops. Damn! he had heard that the Davronski Group was passing through NY but he did not expect to see them. He could not be 100% certain but better safe than sorry. If that was a Davronski then he needed to get him and Alpha out ASAP.

It was at this time that one of the bikers swinging a chain caught Hades with a lucky strike on the left shin. Hades silently cursed. It was not broken but it was another reminder that the sooner they vacated the area the better. Catching the chain in both hands, Hades promptly relieved the wielder of in and laid about him with a vengeance. All the while he was searching, the nearby store names. Trusting that Alpha would be OK for a little while he fought his way towards a darkened store. Hades cleared some room around himself then, with knife in one hand, he launched himself bodily at one of the bikers and rode him through the storefront window to disappear into the darkness of the store. He only hoped that it carried what he needed.

Baldy was moving. Yeah. Moving was good. She'd been too focused on keeping her attackers away to even think about making forward progress. But, then, she needed to get out of here. Keeping her attackers at bay was a loosing strategy.

How were there even this many people? They couldn't ALL know what she'd done. Maybe they just all loved a good brawl.

Feet shuffling, Noel executed a series of strikes that would have made baldy proud. She made good progress through the crowd, nearly half the distance she needed, spinning and whipping her towel in an absolute flurry. Consumed as she was with her forward progress, she did not properly defend and got hit full on the side with a chain from someone behind.

Noel let out a guttural cry, something akin to what a power lifter might make when giving their one last push.

It was good she hadn't gone with her sword. Chain was good for disarming the sword. She had to stay up. She had to keep moving.

The sound was so unexpected that the fight took the briefest of moments to stop and take a collective breath. Right. Now she was hurting, sweaty, and tired on top of her own foolishness. Baldy was nowhere to be seen, but Noel had heard glass breaking. She hoped to God that she didn't get an innocent guy killed.

No more Ms. Nice Guy.

Noel whipped her braid around her neck like a scarf to keep it from being a good hand hold and whipped the towel out to hit the knot into a guy's eye.

"Where's the bald guy?" They laughed at her. Scoffed and jeered. She responded with a crotch shot. An ear. An eye. She caught a chain with the towel and tried to take it while the two were tangled, but the other guy was stronger. She was lucky to have kept her grip on the towel. "Where's the BALD GUY!?" She started taking memories in conjunction with her strikes. When she was tired and at her limit, it just happened. She tried to direct it and all the while asked about the bald man just to keep the memory fresh in her mind.

She started losing time, but then again so did they.

Hades glanced out of the broken store window to see Alpha in some kind of battle frenzy, grabbing people and doing something to them, all the while screaming about where was "the bald guy". It took Hades a moment to realize she was referring to him. She was calling him baldy? Really? Baldy? that would be like going up to a female on the street and saying "Hey woman". Well to be fair he had mentally designated her as "Alpha", not that he had ever said it out loud. He had almost finished his preperations. Just as he was pushing the last box into place and aligning things up a biker who had observed his companion's fateful collision with the unfortunate shop window blundered in. Outside was bright compared to the interior of the sho and said biker had not had time for his eyes to adjust, nor was Hades going to give him that chance. The biker promptly received a vigorous Thwack to the head, and when that did not fell him, it was repeated, and repeated and repeated. Till the unconcious form collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. You see up to this point Hades had restricted himself. He had tried to garentee that any blows landed on the bikers would seem reasonable for a bar fight and not the work of a trained killer, but with the possability of the Davronski's, all that went out the window. Speaking of defenistration, another biker was lumbering towards the window. They just did not know when to quit. Hades promptly heaved the object that he had used to deal with the previous biker at the current one. If anyone had been able to see the whole scene clearly, they would have been astonished to see a gold painted lucky cat fly out of the shattered store front to hit the biker square in the genitals. Another accurately struck the top of his head and down he went like a sack of potatoes. Hades mused that lucky cats did come in handy after all. Not that they seemed to be effective in bringing luck to their new owners, unless it was bad luck. He idly wondered if there were such things as unlucky cats.

Having finished his preperations, Hades stepped back and threw the switch. Atr this point time was of the essence. The longer they delayed the mroe bikers would come and the worse their odds would become, of course their chances of survival would plummet if a Davronski team was dispatched so it was time to do away with the subtle and impliment a change in tactics. Hades could be flamboyant and obv ert if needed, he prefered not to as he compared it to being a street magician using cheap parlour tricks but needs must. In the previousely mostly dark alley, the sign above the store light up brightly proclaiming boldy to the world that this store, this store with the smashed in front window was "CHAN'S CHINESE EMPORIOUM". Slightly dazzled by the light, a large group of bikers broke off and headed towards the store, especially once they caught sight of a number of their own lying unconcious on the ground nearby among a number of waving lucky cat statues. This was calculated to lighten the pressure on Alpha and to corral a large group of targets together. Hades made a mental note to get one of his shell companies to reimburse Mr Chan for the damages. The bikers slowed as they neared the darkened interior. A small flame flickered in the darkness, it seemed to follow a looping path towards some boxes. A few of the closest bikers could read the word "Fireworks" on the side. "Ohhh Shi..." the expletive was never completed before all manner of hell broke loose. Hades had positioned and aimed the fireworks well and they shot out of the window and into the crowd of bikers, exploding at eye level, buring, dazzling, disoritetating with bright flashing lights, loud explosions and searing heat.

Through the smoke of the cacophony, Hades, armed with two knives liberated from some bikers, charged towards the tank lunging at Alpha. Stepping off a biker that was falling, Hades launched himself at the the tank, striking him feet first and then plunging his knives into his chest, deflating both of his lungs. As Hades rode the collapsing body down he yanked the knives from the soon-to-be corpse. As he hit the ground he rolled coming up and spinning to trow each of the knives at a thug. One knife to deflate one lung. Having cleared a space around Alpha and with the main bulk of the bikers dealing with the attacking barrage of fireworks, Hades yelled "Come!" at Alpha and without turning to see if she followed started running down an alley

Noel wasn't sure when she'd lost her cloth. Or when she'd managed to get her sword free of its hiding place in the sheath that ran along her spine. The weapon, a late-era gladius, was short by modern day standards, but it was her most trained and most effective weapon. Sebastian's shadow. That's what they called her. The shadow of a god.

Her forward movement had been arrested by sheer numbers and her non-lethal strikes were doing nothing to thin those numbers. Mostly it was just insulting and angering an already volatile crowd. They jeered and cheered at each other as much as at her.

She swung her weapon in a shallow arc with her typical battle cry about a bald man. Her experience was so complete that Noel was able to accurately control the depth of her slice so that she sheered through a man's belt and jeans without damaging the skin underneath.

The cronie lunged at her as she turned her back to him. She was busy slapping with the flat of her wide sword at a hand that came too close to her. The first man tripped over his own falling pants and landed at her feet. She stepped back onto one of the first man's hands as she slapped another attacker on the cheek, leaving a small trickle of blood below his eye.

She was precise and quick, only able to keep the crowd at bay by falling back on what her muscles remembered and ignoring the pull of pain from her ribs and shoulder when she stretched to her longest reach. If she'd stopped to think about it, she'd be dead. So she didn't think. She just acted.

Of course, she wasn't making any progress either.

Still a losing tactic.

"Bald." Noel caught a chain with her off forearm rather than her sword or sword arm. "Tan." She missed some time, her eyes making accidental contact with the man who had once held a chain. Now the chain was on the ground at their feet and then man's jacket had a gaping hole at the elbow, his whole arm hung at an unnatural angle. She must have stabbed into the cloth there and used it as leverage against the bone.

Now. What was she looking for again? "Bald." Right. "Tan. Wiry." She didn't even know his name. How was she supposed to find him?

A flood of neons lit the streetfront. Noel was not the only one who paused to shade her eyes against the brightness and look. Fireworks shot out a moment later and someone took the distraction as an invitation to grapple Noel from behind.

He squeezed her torso, lifting her from the ground with a grunt so she loosened her hand and let her weapon rotate in her grip so that she dropped it point first onto her grappler's foot.

With a howl, she was released. Her head was spinning. She needed that blade. Had to keep them away.

The big guy made another lunge for her despite his foot being skewered and a knife sprouted from his chest.

Had she lost time again? How odd.

The man choked, a thick seep of blood bubbled through his growling lips. Noel grabbed her sword and turned to ready herself for the next one, but instead of a biker she saw a man. No leathers. No patch. Bald. Tan. Wiry.

> "Come!"

She jumped at the command, too surprised that the one she'd been searching for was right there.

Bald man left. Oh. That was her exit too. She took a swing not unlike a golf swing going from low to high in order to slice through a charging man's front, just as she had before. Belt, jeans, and this time boxers slithered down to halt his progress. He had a thin line of red that would be just deep enough to ooze. She would have been disappointed that she'd cut skin if she'd been anywhere nearby. As it was, she scrambled to keep up with Baldy.

Was he her partner? She rarely worked without one. And the sheer numbers here spoke of a job gone wrong. Her head must have been throbbing because of her continued mutation use. It was taking quite a bit of concentration to focus through her shifting vision.

"Ah." Noel put her free hand on her aching ribs, panting after so much continued exertion. She wouldn't complain more than that until they were out of reach of the enemy.

Hades reached his black motorcycle. He turned as he heard Alpha's footsteps. He turned and asked her "Can you ride?" Well he was asking if she was too wounded to ride but not in so many words. After receiving the affirmative he spoke again "This will be close. Hold on tight. I am Hades by the way." He handed her his spare that he always kept with him when he rode.

As he passed it to her he thought of the many people who had worn it. He only offered rides to friends or people who had been through the crucible with him. This girl would be a first who he did not really know, but needs must. Many of the people who had worn it were no longer here. The lucky ones dies of old age, the others in missions. Believe it or not there were two generations of the same family who had worn that helmet. He had gone on missions with both Mac and his father, and throughout their association had pulled their backsides out of the fire, sometimes literally. They joked that he was their family's guardian angel. Then there were the others who did not make it. The parade of faces began. Hades shook himself out of his reverie. and put on his own helmet. He could hear shouts at the other end of the alley and stray gunshots. evidently his little light show had done nothing for the tempers of the some the bikers. He also heard the revving noises of Harley's. It could either be more bikers to join the fray or pursuers. If it was the latter that would be better as they all had been drinking heavily for a while. If it was the former, well Harley's were not known for their speed, and Hades had ridden this night on a Lightning LS-218.

He had recently been sent this bike by one of the companies he owned to test it. After Handing Alpha the helmet he also handed her a pouch. "When we turn sharp corners in dark streets or if they are getting too close, toss a handful of these behind us." They were spike balls designed to cause tire blowout.

Once both were seated comfortably and with the throaty roar of Harley's growing louder and the shining of headlamps growing brighter and the sound of pistols echoing. They took off. One thing you can say for electric superbikes. The acceleration was brutal. 0-60 in 1-2 seconds was something that had to be experienced to be believed.

[OCC feel free to Gmod some of the chase scene. Also not mentioned yet but there is a two way comm system built into the helmets that activates when ever one starts talking. Have fun]

Could she ride? "I can avoid falling off." She flicked her eyes down and away from his because her power was potent and currently off its leash. Hades? Hades. Hades. Her lips mouthed the word as she repeated the name to herself. She had a higher chance of remembering if she actually tried to commit her memory to the task.

And if she was going to get onto a death trap with someone who was just introducing himself, her sword couldn't stay in hand. She wiped the weapon on her sleeve once, flipped it and wiped again. Then, reaching behind her back with her off hand, she caught the tip of the sheath to better position the mouth. Noel sucked in a quick breath then flipped her weapon up, over, and into its proper seating in a quick, practiced move.

Cruuuuud that hurt. If she was hunched a bit when she accepted the helmet, it was because of those ribs. She sure as heck wasn't about to complain, though. No time.

"Caltrops." So, she was getting onto a deathtrap motorcycle with a ninja? She'd had weirder escapes. She plopped the helmet in place, tucked her brad into the back of her pants, grabbed the spiked weapons and molded herself to Hades' back. She hated motorcycles. She'd refused the last person to offer and she'd actually trusted... who had it been again?

Didn't matter. Noel held on tight.

"Geezus!" She held on tighter once they were actually going.

It wasn't until she noticed the sound of the other motorcycles, that Noel realized she'd been closing her eyes. These things were SERIOUSLY DANGEROUS!

And apparently it was more dangerous to do nothing. She didn't bother talking and didn't DARE distract Hades as he was navigating already dark streets. He wove through traffic when there was any, taking turns tight enough to make Noel feel ill. At least she felt like he was in control of the vehicle.

He knew what he was doing, but it still wasn't enough to shake all of the others. When someone chucked a pipe at their back wheel, Noel decided it was time. They were too close. She tried to be casual about releasing about half the caltrops as they speed between two buildings in a space no car would ever fit. Quickly she snaked her arm back around Hades' middle.

This crazy ride had to end sometime.

In the city he could not seem to shake them, it was not that they were fast, he was much faster. It was that they were many and evidently when they wanted to be, they could be well coordinated. They must be in communication. Well there was only one thing for it then. Hades turned onto a long stretch of highway, it was relatively empty. Mentally apologizing to Alpha, he opened the throttle, ALL the way. This was one of the fastest production bikes that money could buy, and when it went, it WENT. Hades concentrated on becoming one with the machine.

It was times like this where time and the world seemed to slow down. He had always suspected that he had undergone genetic modifications, probably giving him faster reflexes, tougher constitution, greater strength. Not to significant levels but enough to give him and edge. It was little wonder that occasionally other merc groups put out a bounty for him. One reason the Russian Davronski's might be in town. If they could get a sample of his blood... Well plenty of people would give good money to study that.

It was as if time slowed down. He wove among the other vehicles on the road with ease. It was almost as if they were going in slow motion. All of his senses were engaged. He pushed the bike to the very edge and the bike responded. He opened up a huge lead over the bikers, leaving them in the dust. Looking at his "fuel tank" he observed that he was starting to run low, but that did not worry him as they were nearing one of his "residences" that he had dotted around the city. He had increased the number in NY since his return not too long ago. Anticipating that as he was going to be here for a while he might conceivably need a larger number of safe houses than usual. Slowing down in the shadow of a large lorry, Hades turned off the highway and made his way at a leisurely pace into a gated community, using a key fob to open and close the gate. Soon he drove the bike into a garage and closed the door.

Dismounting, he plugged the bike in. It would be ready in about 30 minutes thanks to a new fast charge system. He hung up his helmet and waited for his passenger to dismount.

Noel's grip on Hades was in direct proportion to their current speed. Considering how very FAST they had gone, it probably wasn't only her ribs that would be hurting tonight.

Eventually they did slow and exit the highway. Eventually they slowed more on residential streets. Eventually they even came to a stop.

Hades was off the bike and had already plugged it in before Noel had the chance to loosen her fear stiffened muscles. Well. This was a bit embarrassing. She considered how awkward it would be to keep the helmet on.

"Uh. These are yours." Noel held out her hand with the few caltrops there were left. Only after he'd taken them did she nervously tug off the helmet and dismount from the bike. Nope. Still not a fan of the things. "Glad you're not dead." Hades. Not someone she knew before since he had introduced himself. Also. She was still pretty convinced he was a ninja.

Her legs were rubber. She had a slash in the shoulder of her shirt that gaped enough to expose tattoo covered skin. The ribs, of course, were of minor concern. She stood like it didn't matter and looked him square in the eyes, trying her hardest not to let her mutation slip.

"We're not going to fight, are we? I mean. We're okay?" Because considering her state versus his, she was pretty sure she'd lose. Didn't mean that she hadn't given herself room to react, though.