Danny Goes Ham (Ask to Join)

Each one of the woman's nails curved out, capturing the glow and flicker of the flames within its edge. As the nail grew closer towards Danny and Mei the light encapsulated within its edge disappeared. As darkness swept crept into the cave, Danny let her hands do the seeing for her. No time for diplomacy; Danny just grabbed Mei's wrist and held them until she finally slipped Mei's hands free. "My wrists hurt!"

"Shut up." Danny pulled the ropes off of Mei's hand. "Get me out." A sharp pain drove into Danny's arm. A deep tension rose in her muscles as a sudden burst of blood shot out of her upper arm. "Mei! We're moving!" Danny pulled out of the invasive blade, swinging Mei to her feet. "Hold me up!" Mei held firm as Danny popped onto her back, throwing her bound feet into the chest of the attacker perpetrating the offensive against her. Too much force from her kick sent Mei off balance, landing both girls on their sides.

"My feet aren't free yet! You gotta stop being so reckless. You're going to get us killed!"

Feet scattered in the distance, charging for the downed girls. Without any sight, Danny could still make a safe bet on where that blade would stab towards. "Up!" Danny wasted no time waiting for Mei, but did find assistance in her elevation from behind. The ropes severed from their hard grasp around the girl's torso, allowing Danny and Mei to fall apart from each other. Mei scrambled to untie her feet while Danny still laid in a fairly helpless situation. Once the second stab came, Danny kept the ropes, but removed the helpless qualifier, throwing her feet up, betting the length of her legs against the length of the woman's arms. She rolled a hard six and heard the crack of a larynx a few feet above her. A thump sounded in front of her while a friendly assistant freed her hands.

Now freed, Danny sought out some revenge served up burning with rage. Shadows scrambled around in the darkness while combat raged in the distance. Danny kept her feet moving forward, listening for any sound of movement she could attest to. A blade scraped across her shoulder, letting Danny know where her opponent was in the darkened room. The exertion Danny put into her arm to pin the woman over exerted her wound, causing blood to seep out more pronounced than before. The snake woman threw a hand full of nails towards Danny, proud in her stature and knowing the frailty of her sacrifice. Frailty be damned- Danny pushed down on the woman's throat to lift herself into the air and connected her knee to the woman's jaw, dislodging it and putting her adversary face down on the ground.

Off in the distance, the large man pulled a column from the ground, dislodging a portion of the ceiling, but not enough to collapse it. Holding the large object like a bat, the beastly man lunged forward to attempt to bring it down upon the uninvited guest. The darkness took away his direct line of sight on his enemy, but his smell still pervaded through the area, calling out like a beacon for the brutal attack.

While the fight raged on, the man in back grabbed the diamond and began to scurry though the walls to try and find a back escape for himself.

Instinct told Jardin to look up.  And his eyes flew wide...

The young meta lunged aside, the giant's club pulverizing the mound of stone he had thought to use as cover.  He was soon standing upright.  The giant lashed out with his...stalagmite? (for the life of him, he had never learned the difference); Jardin cartwheeled, allowing the bludgeon to pass under his head.

Easily landing, Jardin raised his rifle, firing off in short bursts.  He had aimed low, aiming for the man's knees, his right thigh, his ankle.  He wanted to cripple the man, not kill him.

The rifle clicked, telling him the current mag was empty.  Jardin tore magazine free, turning it over.  As with most armies, the mercs had taped pairs of magazines together, making them easier to swap out.  The reverse mag slid into place.  30 shots left.

Looking past the (hopefully falling) giant, Jardin spotted the two women he had elected to help had managed to free themselves of both the bindings and the dangerous crone. They seemed to be having some trouble with the dark, though. Pulling a couple neon glowsticks from one of his pockets, snapped them on and tossed them into the cave. They bathed the chamber in green light...

Once the cave began to glow an eerie green Danny thought of the worst case scenarios that could play out, but given the past few minutes, everything seemed bad. Her eyes adjusted to the room. Nothing about the light tried to kill her. Good. Her adversary laid at her feet. Better. The target of her ire began making his escape towards the back of the room. Mixed feelings. "Mei, take care of the woman; I'm going after him!"

"Yeah, yeah, see you later." Mei crawled over to check to make sure the woman was in fact out, before scurrying off to find a safe hiding spot.

Danny closed in on the fleeing man as the wreckage of combat called out behind her. Etches of green light invaded the small tunnel the man escaped down. The ever so vigilant Danny shot right in after him, catching a flash of light off the diamond he kept in his hand. A turn in the tunnel proved to almost be the end of Danny as a savage clawed hand swept at her head. Danny spun out of the dangerous area and pressed her foot into his lower back, shoving the bald monk against the wall. Her next step would come when she could brace herself against the wall, but it would not come as easy as she hoped. The force of the man far exceeded his average build as he lunged back. He pinned Danny against the wall with his back, but the gleam of the glow sticks still shined down the tunnel, catching on the diamond in his hand.

Once the bracelet around Danny's arm got closer to the bracelet, it joined together with the same glow. No longer did the diamond flow with the tint of the green glow stick, but instead took on the teal tint of the bracelet. Together in a unison glow, a construct began to form out of Danny's bracelet. It launched forward, knocking out a large divot in the side of the wall. No longer did the monk wish to crush Danny. His scramble left her free to fall to the ground, but her diamond began to run away too.

The light faded from her vision, but Danny still had one ace up her sleeve. The sound of his steps grew louder as Danny's ears focused on each step. She shot through the tunnel and reached out to grab the man's back. They locked together, causing the man to try and swing Danny off, but failed to cover the diamond properly. The gem fell into Danny's hands, and her bracelet glowed a dark turquoise. A large energy construct grew out of bracelet, pinning the man to the wall. "I'm just as surprised as you are about this. You wouldn't tell me why I can do this would you?"

The staggering behemoth flung another swing at Jardin, missing its mark against the quicker opponent. Before he could always rely on speed and quickness, but the damage to his legs kept him slowed and unable to move quickly. Soon the armed man would defeat the larger foe, but it still remained a possibility to bury everyone here. With his grip on the stalagmite, the large man brought the plow into the ceiling above him, hoping to break the bearings and bring the Earth above them crashing down on everyone.

"Hey!" Mei ran to the silhouette Jardin left in the green lit room. "We need to grab White Danny and go. She went down here!" Mei grabbed at Jardin's arm to try and pull him towards the tunnel as rocks began to collapse around them.

Jardin looked up, seeing chunks of stone crumble and fall, clattering onto the ground.  He knew what the giant bear of a man intended to do.  He would pulverize the chamber, damning them all to this great tomb.

And, Jardin knew there was no reasoning with him.  Even the giant would die.  It was a desperate suicide technique...

"Damn you..." Jardin whispered in english.  "Damn you for making me do this."  He shook Mei's hand off.  He steadied his breathing.  He took aim...

And he emptied the accursed rifle into the man's body (or rather tried to)...

Weapon spent, Jardin tossed it aside. He soon rejoined the guide, saying, "Sorry. Lead the way." His expression was grim as the passed into the tunnel.

Pulling Jardin along did little about the darkness surrounding the area. Mei continued to follow the sound of Danny's scrambling fight, but since she began the trek with not much of a clue, she continued in darkness. The cave twisted and curved towards some teal light. Off in the distance the illumination bent around rocks, basking Mei in an uncertain light. Mei sidestepped and pushed Jardin forward. "You first."

Turquoise constructs shot out from Danny's bracelet, pinning her adversary against the wall. The rumbling of something terrible in the background echoed, letting Danny know trouble would soon find her. Her construct broke from her grip, pushing her against the wall as her foe took control of the grapple. "I'll bury you here! The gem is mine!"

"Oh yeah?" Danny shot her heel into his ankle. "Is that why it came to me?" She knew her attempt would fail with grappling the monk, so she let go of the obstacle. After letting go, a quarter staff formed in her hand. All the force her adversary exerted shot him towards the wall, allowing Danny to slip out and bring the quarterstaff down upon his head. Dust began to fill the halls, that terrible sound looked to be turning into a terrible feeling. And now a terrible taste. "We need to go! And probably time is of the essence!"

Stepping passed the guide, Jardin decided to pull another stick from his pocket. With a crack, he activated the green light and passed it to the woman. All the rapid light changes were starting to give him an "eye-ache."

Moving ahead, he soon saw a strange turquoise flash...diffuse by the twists in the tunnel.

Hurrying to investigate, Jardin soon found..."White girl," the small man unconscious at her feet, likely due to the magic staff she held.

"Nice hit," Jardin commented, though he had not actually seen it.

A stone came loose from the wall, tumbling down to land where Jardin's foot had just been. He had stepped back to avoid it, inadvertently bumping into the guide who was just rounding the corner, bathing the tunnel in green. Looking back to the young woman with the staff, he spoke before anyone else could interrupt him.

"I know you don't trust me now, but the big guy just tried to bring down the mountain. I think I bought some time, but..." Somewhere passed the woman, debris fell from the ceiling, sending dirt into the air. "Doesn't look like it'll stick," he muttered.

Jardin passed a dim chemical stick to the woman. He then reached for the small man, heaving the diminutive form over his shoulder. He did not want any more deaths on his conscience. "Follow me or don't but I can get us out of here."

Turning quickly, Jardin began a forced march, not giving either woman a chance to argue. They could kick his ass when they were safe...

Danny tempted fate enough today. She grabbed Mei's wrist and pulled behind Jardin. This guy no longer even flirted with being the lesser of several evils like most people Danny met in jungle ruins with evil mercenaries. "Yeah, lead on."

"Too tight, White Girl!"

Danny struggled to not turn back and hit Mei with all of her force, but found her control. She only smacked Mei with a little bit of force to get her back on track. "Where next? Wait, I have an idea." This new power might give her some way of getting out of this incident alive. Light brokered out from Danny's bracelet, creating a ceiling over the trio and their prisoner. "This looks good enough. I can't wait til someone- wait, wanting to go around fighting villains is probably a terrible thing for someone who fancies themselves a hero to say."

They followed the air. The thinner it got, the better Danny felt, but in the midst of a cave-in, everything not killing you felt thin enough in the air. Light made it better. The peaking light of the tunnel gave Danny more hope- but the sound of a lumbering beast of a man behind them took Danny away from positive thinking. "Get everyone out. I can take this guy." Purple and green light began to form in a fist around Danny's hand. "I've got a score to settle with this guy. Probably not the most heroic thing, but I don't like getting kidnapped and put on the platter as a sacrifice."

For a moment, Jardin hesitated.  Chivalry demanded that HE fight the giant, not the attractive young woman he happened to know nothing about.

Prudence and wisdom then reared up, reminding Jardin thathe was not the one with magic glowing weapons.  Not to mention, nothing he had done had managed to keep him down.

"Damn it," the young man cursed, turning away from the fight.  "Come on," he added, this time in Mandarin for the guide's benefit.

Jardin continued on, leading the Chinese woman and carrying their prisoner to reletive safety.

Feet from luminous safety, Jardin found a silhouette barring the way. The crone was alive, awake and angry...

Easing his burden to the floor, he passed a handful of zip ties to the guide, whispering, "Bind his hands and feet; I'll handle her."

Enraged to see one of her companions manhandled, the crone shrieked, rushing forward. Jardin advanced to meet her. Talons lashed out and Jardin found himself weaving and flowing around each strike.

Jardin was on the defensive, keeping his eyes one the hag's deadly hands. She was fast, and not just from being able to read him. Her strikes came unnaturally fast and the were unrelenting.

Jardin risked a glance up. A light sheen of sweat had appeared on the crone's forhead,he eyes expessing many things. Hatred, rage and frustration. And now even...fear? The young meta realized something. The old lady had never met a foe who could read her like Jardin. To Jardin, every motion was telegraphed; and she was tiring...

Soon, he movements began to seem sluggish. It was easy for Jardin to catch her wrist. With a twist, he levered the old woman to her knees. Then, without a word, he put his arm around her neck, supplying pressure to the chock. Soon, the woman would be out...