Serious: Meeting on Io Island (Closed)

"Is he dead?"
"He smells dead"
"Dare you to poke him with a stick!"
"Your on!"
Stan awoke lazily to the chatter of childrens voices with a grunt with the feeling of something prodding his side. He sat upright startling the trio of little kids and yawned. He turned sleepishly to one of them and asked bluntly;"Do you know where the docks are?"
The child almost wet himself in fear of the creepy tall stranger, "Down the street there! Please don't hurt me!" He beggged, with Stan walking past the children, only leaving with; "I don't like going near kids, ends up in a lot of hassel." and went at a lesuriley pace to the docks.

Nick crossed over to the warehouse, walking confidently like he had every reason to be there. He went up to the door and tried to open it. As he expected: it was locked. So, instead, he knocked. Unfortunately, it seemed that only people who had keys were expected to come to the door, since no one answered his knock. So, Nick instead ducked around the building into a small alley that was packed between two of the warehouses. Nick was a large guy and he found it difficult to move down the alleyway. Even with his back pressed to the wall behind him, he only had about an inch of wiggle room in front.

Once he had put some distance between him and the main street, he began to climb. It was fairly difficult because of his lack of room, but Nick had done stuff like this before and soon he was looking in a window. Beyond the window was a room. No one was in the room, but there were several large boxes scattered throughout. A storage room. Perfect. Nick pulled himself through the window and took a moment to rest. He would be needing all his strength for what came next.

"Where is that place? What was it called? Its too much of a hassel to remember." Stan complainned to himself, wandering aimlessly around the docks.
After a while of walking around and one power nap, he gave up and asked a large man carrying a crate where he could find the Worthington family.
"You looking for those scum eh?" the man replied, and in turn Stan replied with a lazy nod.
"Well there in a warehouse called Red Coral, its just east of here, it's got a huge sign outside and it's one of the biggest around so you can't miss it!" The large man told him.
"Okay, I'd thank you but it'd be too much hasssel." Stan said bluntly and shuffled off to his destination, not paying attention to the man's look of annoyance on his face.
If Stan bothered to look back, he would of saw the large man but down his crate and took out a baby den den mushi, and quickly called his allies. "Hey some wierd dude's heading your way, keep an eye out for him, he was almost as tall as me." he whispered down the line, answered with a quick, "Gotch'a!" before hanging up.

Nick tried the door to the storage room. Not surprisingly, it too was locked. He pulled out a small wire from his pocket and fed it into the lock. After a minute of jiggling around, he managed to unlock the door. Before opening the door, he put away the wire and pulled out both of his pistols. Then he reached over and turned the door handle slowly. When it wouldn’t go any further, he pushed it open forcefully and dove through the opening, rolling forward and coming up into a crouch, a gun pointed in each direction. After checking and seeing that there was no one around him, he set off to his right.

Stan eventualy made it to the warehouse, and just sat in front of it, as if he was waiting for a way in to just appear. He then had a short nap in that postion and when he awoke he had an idea.
"I''l just get myself up to a high window and break in, though that is a hassel." He then ran round the warehouse looking for where there was two parallel walls to make his plan go more smoothly, which he eventualy found. He then jumped against one side of the wall, and quickly leaped back and forth on an upward diagonal direction until he stabbed on each side of the window to stop himself from falling, and noisly kicked the window the in, the sound of shattered glass echoing in the seemingly empty building.
He then awkwardly climbed through the window , trying his best not to bump his head due to his tall frame, and heard someone runing towards where he was, which caused him to quickly retrive his knives from the wall, and whispered to himself, "Looks like some hassel already."

There was a sound like breaking glass somewhere nearby and Nick heard the sound of footsteps as at least one person ran towards the disturbance. This was both good and bad for Nick. If someone was breaking into the base that person or persons could distract the guards for a while and make it easier for Nick to get around. However, it also meant that they would be on the alert and if he made one mistake he could bring the entire base’s personnel crashing down on his head.

Nick moved away from the disturbance, wanting to put some distance between him and the coming battle. He was forced to duck to down into rooms or side passages a couple of times to avoid guards, most of whom seemed almost bored. It looked like these guys hadn’t heard the breaking glass. Nick made his way along slowly and carefully. However, for all that he did to keep unnoticed, it still wasn’t enough. Momentarily distracted by a coming guard, Nick pulled open a door and stepped into the room to hide…only to find the room filled with armed men and women, who all looked up at him in surprise as he stepped in.

Stan hid right against the wall next to the corner, and as the person went round, confused that there was no-one there, stabbed him in the back of the head. He then stood there and pondered for a moment, staring at the dead body before moving on and muttering under his breath, "To much of a hassel to move it."
He then heard a loud noise of gunfire and weapons clashing, probaly on the same floor. "Such a hassel, the guards have found someone else." he complained in his usual blunt emotionless tone, before plodding towards the source of the sound.

Nick stepped back, pulling the door with him and unclipping a grenade from under his trenchcoat. The nearest person to him, a man, ran at him while reaching a sword. Nick quickly pulled the pin from the grenade with his teeth and tossed it to the man. Instinctively, the man caught it. He realized a second later what it was and hesitated, giving Nick enough time to pull the door completely shut. The bounty hunter flung himself away from the door and lay on the ground, trying to make himself a smaller target. There was a loud, but slightly muffled, explosion from behind him. A moment later, after Nick had figured out that nothing large and heavy was flying at his back, he stood back up. It seemed the metal door and the surrounding walls had held. This was good, at least for him. It wasn’t so good for the people in the room. With nowhere else to go, the contained explosion had probably killed most, if not all, of the people in the room. Not a very pleasant thought, but one that Nick preferred too getting himself killed.

The sound of footsteps just around the corner reminded Nick of the reason he had been going into the room in the first place. A guard ran around the corner only to be mowed down by several shots from Nick’s guns. The bounty hunter would have punched the guard and knocked him out, but with no way of knowing how tall his opponent was, the likelihood of taking him out with the first punch was slight. The sound of the guns wasn’t an issue. Nick would be surprised if every guard in the facility was not on their way now.

Nick began to run. The sooner he got away from his current position, the better.

Stan actually started running now. After all, he was being chased down by a large number of guards, who also heard the battle sounds, but they thought he was the cause.
"Slow down you bastard so we can kill you already!" Stan heard one of the guards call out to him, to which he replied simply; "Too much hassel.", and picked up the pace slightly.
He then began to wonder if Nick was here, and if he was the one who caused the up roar and if he would team up with him. There was one thing he was sure of though. "He caused a lot of hassel if he did." Stan said to himself, skidding round a corner.

Nick

Nick dodged an oncoming knife thrust and backhanded the owner into the wall. Following through with a devastating jab in the gut, Nick brought the man to his knees before finishing him with a kick to the chin. Nick found himself a little out of breath. He had not been able to avoid the guards as easily as before, owing mostly to the fact that their guard was up. With things going as they were, he would be forced to leave without ever finding his quarry. It was galling to say the least.

Kyle

A large, red haired man sat facing his three top subordinates across a small, round table. The red haired man’s face was marred by many scars. He wore a yellow, sleeveless shirt and gray shorts. The man stood and began to pace, clomping along in his heavy boots. He wore two, large, metal weights on each of his arms. The group of four was sitting in a room that had only one door, which was made of steel and was locked from the inside.

“So let me get this straight,” the red haired man was saying. “A small group of people have broken into the warehouse and are taking out my guards, is that it?”

“Yes sir, Mr. Worthington,” one of the subordinates, a woman, said. “All except for one thing. This does not appear to be a group, but rather a couple individuals, at least that’s what our people on the outside claim.”

“Of course they’re a group,” Kyle Worthington snapped. “What are the chances that two completely unconnected people are going to break into my warehouse at the same time?”

Another of the subordinates, this one a man, cleared his throat nervously. “Actually, sir, the chances are very high,” he said. “It is unlikely that this is the work of pirates or Marines. Both of those factions are not quite this subtle. They would probably have surrounded the building before attacking from the ground level. It seems to me that these people are probably bounty hunters or assassins. It would not have taken much for someone to track you down after the whole bar fight incident.”

“I don’t care who they are!” Kyle roared. He lifted the round table and flung it against the wall with all his might. It shattered on impact and his three subordinates winced. “Find them!” Kyle continued. “Find them and kill them now!”

Stan kept runing through the hallways, with the platoon of guards not too far behind, until something unexpected happened.
"Now this is a super hassel." Stan stated simply, facing a dead end.
As the guards caught up to him he took out his extra knife and activated his heel flick knives. "Ha! the idiot got himself trapped!" one of the guards gloated. "Heh. He's planing on fighting back the fool!" another commented, seeing Stan with his knives.
"It's a hassel but it's time to be unfair." Stan replied, much to the mocking laughter of the guards, and one retaliating;"Unfair? your outnumbered idiot!"
Stan then stretched out his neck, arms and legs in a star jump position, pointed all his knives in the direction his limbs were pointing, turned to his side, and cartwheeled towards the guards.
"Five knife style: Killer cartwheel!" Stan sheepishly announced before rolling after the guards, who were now fleeing from him after mowing down a few in the front row.

Nick

Nick was running past through another hallway when a person stepped out in front of him. It was the woman who had been speaking to Kyle, though of course Nick didn’t know that. She was tall and willowy, and attractive, at least in Nick’s eyes. She had short red hair and green eyes.

[Presentation Box]
Marissa Locklen
Gang Lieutenant
Bounty: 0

“What do you want?” Nick asked, though he thought he had a pretty good idea already.

The woman gave no reply. Instead he ran towards him and before he could really prepare himself, she spun, landing a kick on Nick’s chest and throwing him back.

Stan

Another of Kyle’s top subordinates was moving in on Stan. This one was one of the men. He was a littler shorter than the woman, but bigger in both muscle mass and weight. He had blond hair and brown eyes. At each of his sides he carried a cutlass.

[Presentation Box]
Derek Jennings
Gang Lieutenant
Bounty: 0

Derek came just in time to watch the bounty hunter spinning along, slashing through the other guards. He frowned and drew both of his swords before jumping in to help. He caught Stan’s blades with his swords and slowed him to a stop.

As stan was stopped by the mysterious swordsman, he merely stared at the guards quickly fleeing and dragging away there comrades from him.
"That's much less of a hassel now that im just against one guy," He blabed bluntly, still in his cartwheel postion, "Though you do seem strong so this could be a pretty big hassel."
He then leapt back to keep some distance, before wobbling around dizzily. "Such a hassel to use the killer cartwheel. Anyways, you look young how old are you?" Stan asked, trying to recover from his dizzyness.

Nick

“Okay…that hurt a little,” Nick said as he climbed back to his feet. Marissa dashed towards him and threw a punch at his face. He blocked with one arm, pushing her hand up and to the side, and then he aimed a punch of his own at her gut. The hit connected, but as it did, Marissa pulled back slightly, absorbing most of the blow. Before she could respond with a new attack, Nick was already jabbing at her jaw, going for a quick knock out, but she twisted backwards and the punch went over her head.

Stan

“What does it matter?” Derek asked. He held both of his swords over his head and jumped at Stan, flipping through the air once as he did to deliver a devastating double bladed blow.

" It's too much of a hassel to explain." Stan stated, just managing to block the cutlasses from a fatal blow with the flats of his knives, yet couldn't halt the slash completely and ended up with a pair small rips in his coat and and two light scratches. He struggled to push back the pair of cutlasses and then went into a flurry of slashes with all five knives, commenting; "This is a really big hassel, just tell me if your not 18 already, then I can kill you to make things easier."

Nick

Nick ducked under a kick and blocked a second one with his arms before catching it in his hands. He pulled the lady forward and managed to strike her across the face with the back of his hand. However, since she was so close, she responded with a flurry of her own punches.

“Valkyrie Wave!” the woman shouted.

Nick was pummeled by many of the blows and he was forced to release his grip on her foot. He danced back lightly, wincing from the bruises he had aquired, as he tried to avoid the still oncoming punches. Nick plunged one hand into his trenchcoat and reached for one of his guns, deciding that maybe a drawn out close range fight wasn’t such a good idea, but when he pulled out his gun, the woman knocked it out of his hand before he could try to take aim.

“Not good…” Nick thought. “Really not good…”

Stan

Derek’s arms became twin blurs as he tried to protect himself from all of Stan’s attacks. However, he was slowly backing away as he did, unable to keep up from such a close range because of his swords’ longer reach.

“As if I’m going to tell you how old I am!” Derek snapped. “It doesn’t even matter! You’re never going to get the chance to kill me anyway!”

"You might be right, it might be less hassel to knock you out." Stan replied, leaping from the air after his onslaught, and then pointed all his knives at Derek after pushing himself towards Derek from the wall. "It's a hassel but lets see you defend from my five knife style; deadly drop!" he gloated.

Nick

Nick sprang backwards and pulled another weapon out from his trenchcoat. This one was a grenade and since he was too far back for the woman to knock it out of his hands, she stopped where she was.

“You wouldn’t dare use that,” she said after a moment’s silence.

“Wouldn’t I?” Nick asked lightly. “Why don’t you try me?” He gripped the pin with other hand, ready to pull it at any second.

The woman took a step back, unnerved by the maniacal gleam in his eye. “You’re insane!” she shouted.

“So glad you figured that out,” Nick said. “Goodbye now!” And he pulled the pin.

The woman spun away and fled down the hall, trying to put as much distance between her and Nick. The bounty hunter watched calmly as she ran. He counted down a couple of seconds and then hurled the grenade after the woman. It didn’t quite reach her, she was too far away, but Nick knew he didn’t need it to be right on top of her. He quickly swept his trenchcoat up in front of his face and closed his eyes as he backed up. There was an explosion, but it was no where near as big as a real grenade.

The woman’s eyes began to water as smoke filled the hallway. It was teargas, she realized. He hadn’t been trying to commit suicide after all. She turned, about to head back when something hit both of her ankles and her side, missing her vital points. She collapsed as a wave of pain overtook her.

Nick stood at the other end of the corridor. His eyes were still closed, but he had drawn his gun, equipped the silencer, and fired after the woman. He had already memorized her height and judged the distance she had probably run before he fired. He had no intention of killing her, or knocking her out. Nick recognized that she was tougher then the average flunkies. The information she could provide would be too valuable to waste.

Stan

Derek crossed his swords in front of him and managed to protect his upper body from the attack, but he still took a cut on his leg. He also was driven back into the wall behind him by the force of Stan’s attack. Derek’s expression twisted into one of pain, but he forced himself to remain focused and pulled his swords back before slashing both of them at Stan’s waist from opposite sides in an attempt to bisect him.

Stan got back on his feet after being parried by Derek, and then suddenly realised that he was trying to slice him in half. He quickly lifted his lanky arms enough to block the cutlasses with the flats of his knives, but couldn't stop the momentem and ended up scratching his legs a bit.
"Thats a real hassel, ah well better ge this over with." Stan complained, before pushing back the gauntlets and then going to a series of stabs at derek, hoping to catch him off guard.

Nick

“Hey, lady! I need some answers,” Nick said, crouching in front of the woman, “Where’s Kyle Worthington?” Marissa just glared at him. Then she threw a punch at him. Nick caught her fist and twisted it back. “Try that again and I’ll break it,” he warned her. “Now, where’s Kyle?”

“Why do you think I would know?” Marissa asked him.

“You’re too strong to just be a run-of-the-mill criminal,” Nick said. “In fact, Kyle might have personally sent you to kill me. Did he?”

Marissa didn’t reply. Nick sighed.

“I’m not heartless, so I’ll leave this with you,” he placed a bottle next to Marissa. “It’s alcohol, for your wounds to keep them from getting infected until someone comes along to get you.” When Marissa shifted her attention to the bottle, Nick grabbed her head and banged it against the wall behind her. “Can’t have you calling for guards as soon as I’m out of sight,” Nick said.

Stan

Derek did his best to stop the stabs, but they were too quick for him. One hit his side, another connected with one of his arms, and a third slashed his cheek. The wounds were not especially deep, but the pain from the one to his arm forced him to drop one of his swords and now he was hard pressed to do anything with his other remaining weapon.

Watching the man drop his cutlass he contuniude to stab at him, and then seeing there was an opening, Stanley then attempted kick the man in the head in hopes of knocking him out. "It's a hassel but this might knock you out cold." He said bluntly.

Nick

“Now what?” Nick thought to himself as he ran. “I’ve got no idea where Kyle is and this whole base is on alert, but I can’t leave now! I might not get another chance like this one. I’ll just have to keep searching.”

Stan

Derek took the kick in the head, unable to stop it in time. He fell to the ground, hard. He still wasn’t knocked out, but he was barely conscious. This left him unable to move even an inch. His second sword slipped from his hand.

Kyle

Kyle’s third subordinate was still in the hidden room with his boss. He was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed in front of him. His eyes were closed. One of his hands rested on his knee, but the other was touching a crystal, which he wore on a necklace. The crystal was glowing softly.

[Presentation Box]
Philip Diamond
Bounty: 3,000,000

When Derek collapsed, Philip’s eyes snapped open and he gasped, releasing his grip on the crystal. The glow faded from the crystal.

“Marissa and Derek have been defeated,” Philip said.

“WHAT?” Kyle punched the wall next to him, denting it. “Useless fools. I’ll have to deal with this myself!” He crossed over to a nearby door and pulled it open, slipping out in to the hallway beyond.

Philip watched him go, but then he turned away. “You do that,” he said. He reached down and pulled open a trapdoor that had been hidden as a floor panel. Beneath the trapdoor was a staircase that led down into darkness. Philip started down the steps, closing the trapdoor behind him.

Stan sat down next to the defeated swordsman, put away his weapons, and casually asked him; "It's a really big hassel to ask but is there any other guys stronger than you? plus I want to find Kyle Worthington. Please tell me." He stared over him waiting for an answer, picking his ear while he waited for an answer.

Stan

“Guys…tougher…then…me?” Derek tried to laugh, but it turned into a cough. “You…have…no…” He hesitated, his eyes widening in shock as he looked past Stan. “Boss…” Then he passed out before he could finish.

“Looking for me?” It was Kyle, who was standing directly behind Stan. He followed up his words with a punch to the back of Stan’s head.

As Stan was punched forwards, he fell and rolled forwards a bit, and as he picked himself up he noticed quiite a bit of blood was starting to drip down his head. "Such a hassel, more injuries," Stan moaned, "But at least I don't have to go through the hassel of looking for you." He then once again activated his heel flick knife shoes and took out his knives, and dashed straight at Kyle, knives aimed for the sides of his stomache.