Cleaning up the docks

The aged Homunculus found himself once more sent out to active duty, not that he minded it in the slightest, after all it was a good chance to 'stretch the limbs', a saying that he appreciated. This was a good chance to prove his worth by cracking down on the local scum, as he'd heard the term fly around. In truth it was nothing personal, just him doing his duty to the N.O.L., this left little room for anything that wasn't a complete mission. He felt the drive to prove himself, as to his creator who sent him back to sleep once he had a better model; this did not surprise E'thale when he had researched briefly the records of those succeeding him. All were either destroyed or retired and used for spare parts, he had been put to rest due to the unique system he housed, and to his fortune was subsequently forgotten.

"As they say, fortune can smile upon the lucky and the foolish, it did for me. But just the same I'll prove myself one way or another, by completing tasks; both simple and complex. First the easier of the lot, to save time with all of these trashy miscreants." as if by his fortune, he stumbled upon the area of gathering, where several dozen of these low level bounties were actively destroying the pier. The chance had presented himself to him, he was lucky indeed! Even as the men had either not noticed him or didn't care, E'thale wasted no time calling his time honored weapon; the Schwarzvald's Reach into action. Drawing the claw hands to action, with a calm smile he asserted himself to the men.

"Good Day gentlemen, I am afraid I'll have to ask you to stop trashing this sector immediately, otherwise face me in combat and meet a swift defeat. I'll be carting those of you who do not comply off to the cells for holding and judgment. Your response to this?" no sooner had he finished his wording, did the men start to glare, draw weapons, return negatively with profanity: all well expected responses. Well this would be a fun little warm up for him indeed.

"Come one, come all...the house of pain welcomes all patrons." with his polite nod to them, the gesture was simple to draw a charge of the numerous men; just as he hoped for...he'd bring them all down to justice.

E´thale was long gone, and it didn´t take long for new thugs to come out of thier holes. Tia´s presence wasn´t exactly subtle, but she never cared for that anyway. If someone was looking for a fight, he would fight without bothering with names or attire.
The cold, fresh breezes of the night, the silent waves of the ocean, and a goon playing with a switchblade. Classy.
She just wanted to get to a pub, but it seemed they wanted things this way.

"Hahah, look whos pokeing around in our hood, boys!" The man exclaimed, with an american accent, calling out his five buddies from around the corner. Tia sighed silently, watching them unpack knives of thier own, probably illegal Armagus.
"Now, Toots, you know the drill, eh.. you give us your money, you strip down and stand next to the wall, don´t make a move or i´ll shi-"

His voice was cut short by the blade, attached to her revolver, cutting his face open. He didn´t have the breath to scream, but the blood pouring out of the two halves of his nose screamed for him.
One thug went out to run, although a singluar bullet took him down swiftly and accurately, while the remaining four ganged up on her.

You aren´t even worth the bullets.. She groaned, although she had little choice in this matter.. within the next second, her arm whipped around, pulling the trigger four times, the blade knocking the four knives out of the way, the gun smashing thier faces with a bullet each.
Boredly, she opened the breech in the same moment the corpses hit the floor, and loaded fresh cartridges into the gun, then snapping it shut.

"That wasn´t all of them... there are more. I can feel that clearly."

Jerudo quickly followed behind Tia with a bored manner, his arms behind the back of his head as he looked down at all the poor souls he killed, he sighed as he placed his guns back in there respective holsters and sighed of annoyance. "Tia what's your problem? You didn't give me any of the small fries to deal with! Your no fun at all!" Secretely Jerudo gave a small prayer to the ones Tia had killed, despite their criminal ways, everybody needed some form of forgiveness in his eyes.

But Tia was right, he could sense more people from the shadows Jerudo quickly took out Yamigakure and Hikarigakure and took aim as he sighed with boredom. Firing a series opf Light Shots and Darkness Shots frm his guns into several directions, watching as a few more of the criminals fell, however the shots pierced through there shoulders which didn't kill them. However there was no way for them to continue fighting with the injuries the blasts caused.

"Ugh are you serious? I finally get to pull my triggers and I end up hurting people who aren't having any fun at all! This is sooooo BORING! However I won't kill you poor souls, I'll let you sit there and grieve as you see your friends dead bodies as the NOL come and get you. Miss Tia....where are we going nhow?" Jerudo saId as the surviving criminals passed out...bunch of wimps.

"CRIMINALS!"
As quirky noises started to sound in nearby ears, the robot vigilante named #41 stepped in, his metal boots making a screeching upon stepping on the cobblestoned ground.
"YOU_ARE_GUILTY_OF_ORGANIZED_MURDER! SURRENDER_NOW_OR_YOU_WILL_HAVE_YOUR_CASE_BE_TREATED_WORSE_BY_THE_PROPER_AUTHORITIES!" The eyelights of the robot glowed for a little time before he asked his ultimatum to the two gunslingers. "WHAT_IS_YOUR_CHOICE?"

Tia grumbled at the intruder, raiseing her weapon again. All five chambers were loaded, and she gave the cylinder a gentle stroke to make it spin, locking it when the striker and one of the bullets were in line, then slowly lowering it towards RJ`s chest.

"We only do what the NOL doesn`t feel like doing. Sympathy for the Library will not be tolerated."

With that, she pressed the trigger, unleashing one of her explosive enchanted .500 caliber bullets at his metal chest.

Jerudo was surprised by RJ's sudden appearance, but at the same time he was happy when he saw this...."Guy". He looked really strong...something Jerudo always tried to look for in someone, he chuckled a bit as he charged up his guns and pointed them at the loud speaking one.

"Hey, you know your talking to us really loud right? I swearI might have busted an ear drum from you talking but hey you look strong so I'll let it slide. Come on and let's play for a little! These small fries almost made me fall to sleep in boredom before even shooting them." Jerudo charged energy and fired a Skull Shot from Yamigakure, which was a blast of darkness energy in the shape of a skull, the wide spreading energy blast would heavily damage RJ if he was hit. Jerudo knew his shot most likely wouldn't kill him though in fact he was worried about Tia's attacks. She always went to the kill in the beginning, taking away all of his fun.

When he saw the female gunslinger Tia firing special shots at him along with the guy accompanying her, the robot charged his right hand with electricity as he measured the distances to time his counter well. When Tia and Jerudo's bullets were close enough to him, his eyes sparked: it was time. In a fraction of a second, he reacted, and passed his sword to his left hand.
"TEILER_FUNKE!", he shouted as he unleashed an electric burst from his right hand. Though the range was short, by the time the sparks went off, the two bullets once aimed to RJ were nothing but a memory.
"PROTON_RAND!", he screamed to follow the counter with an electric projectile fired to Tia.
That electric charge projectile would paralyse anyone that it touched. While in its time it was designed to shut off enemy robots from a distance, in the present time it worked its effect even on human nerves, or even those of homunculi, thanks to his powerful battery. Now was the matter of dealing with Jerudo, but he seemed less intended to kill than Tia... and that is a human weakness; one that gave RJ an advantage.

Tia had no problem dodging the projectile comeing from the awkward looking and slow moveing robot. A roll to the side, and she was in a croutch, fireing at his torso with the remaining four bullets in a rapid sucession.
By the time the fourth bullet left the chamber, the breech opened and the five shell caseings were ejected, quickly being replaced by five new ones from a speedloader.

He uses a lot of electric current.. means he`s protected against his own electric shock somehow. EMP won`t harm him that way, either. So i have to take him out in a different way...

Jerudo was surprised that this robot didn't try to attack him...what was he planning? It wasn't a matter though because now he was trying to harm Tia...something that he would not approve of. He pointed his guns towards the screaming robot with a somewhat happy look on his face

"You know it's not polite to ignore someone like that...especially if that person is me!" Jerudo charged up some energy within his guns and fired a Skull Shot from Yamigakure the giant blast of darkness was shaped like a skull and if hit by the blunt wave of energy then the damage would be incredible and would even send the cyborg slamming back first into one of the walls of a building around the Port.

When he saw both his enemies were trying to struggle from a distance, his new strategy became to close the gap with one as fast as possible. Though both were firing at him: Tia was using several simple rounds, with nothing to them besides being bullets; and Jerudo seemed to fire one single but powerful Ars bullet at a time. RJ's answer to that was pretty simple: "ELECTRON_SCHWUNG" the so-named attack was a long slide followed by a knee-height slash. Boasting unusual movement speed, RJ could avoid Tia's bullets, slide under the Skull Shot, and attack Jerudo. Killing the weak-intended one first was a good option for RJ, neither willing nor suited to face 2 opponents at a time.

Now that Jerudo entered the fight, it would become much more simple... plus, the robot seemed to loose its interest in Tia, so, as she reloaded with a speedloader, she just backed away a few steps and decided to watch... for now.

Maybe he can exploit some weaknesses of his...

However, after a short time, she already became bored of it. RJ was moveing slow and sluggish, but with powerful attacks, and Jerudo was moveing fast with powerful attacks that didn´t hit anything. Neither seemed to be able to win, and she didn´t feel like intervening anymore. Jerudo would probably follow and nag her soon enough, anyways...

----->Exit, out of the storyline

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> (From 'Embracing the Revanant Sire')

The docks seemed to be a pretty good place to hide out he thought at first, considering that he might be able to keep thing under wraps. While he looked for Lord Valkenhayn, he could keep himself out of the public eye. Sure he was against NOL, but he wasn't looking to gain a bad reputation just yet. As he adjusted the cloak over his armor, he tried his best not to make any out of gesture actions. Though he could not help but notice the outright battle going along the docks.

'What the hell did I get myself into now?' Maybe if he kept out of the way he wouldn't get involved? The chances of that were a little rabid at best, he might just have to make his judgments based upon what he saw. Well hell, what else was he to do? The Half-Nightwalker drew the serrated rod from beneath the cloak and kept it hidden at his side; preparing to make a move if he had to. "Amazing...what I manage to stumble upon these days..." he grumbled softly, moving in the direction of the battle while trying to stay out of sight, he had something to observe first.

The black-clad robot had actually managed to score the first hit in this fight. It was very welcome luck since his repertoire would have allowed only one surprise dodging maneuver before being predictable... But that one wasn't going to escape. Once the slash hit, RJ didn't lose any time. Even a fraction of a second was too much: the robot immediately hit Jerudo's chest with the charged hilt of his sword to earn himself one more second since Jerudo would be paralyzed by the stroke. During that time, the robot made a cross sign with the sword and the hand that didn't hold the weapon, while charging it, and slashing Jerudo two times, drawing a deep burning scar in the shape of a Christian cross on the bandit's chest.
"ONE_GOOD_DEED_DONE."
But once done with the fur-dressed gunslinger, he turned his back to another figure that attracted his attention (being much more powerful than the average stupid running on the docks): a strange person he recognized as a former NOL officer. That was in his files. And a betrayer to the order deserved nothing but to be gotten rid of before he could become a nuisance.
"HEY_YOU!", the robot pointed his sword to Tamurai. He was obviously charging it, trying to rush the battle in a death-or-glory strike... the most viable option to him given how much battery he did use before to ward off Tia and finish Jerudo... How was the self-proclaimed "tool of justice" going to handle the rest of the incoming battle?
"STURMDRANG!", the robotic voice shouted as the dangerous electric sword poke hit... or maybe it did not?

(Heh no problem with the attack, but as I've got it, Tamurai left quietly and is not yet a listed offender of any kind. merely that he was let go for an 'episode' though its kept quiet, since he had a stellar record with them until his mental collapse. So that's just to say that he's no traitor to the NOL, just yet lol. He's my only dude that isn't outright an enemy of theirs just yet.)

Having been watching the fight to this point, Tamurai was surprised that this foe had spied him so easily hidden at the side of one of the many trashed buildings. But having ample time to dodge, the half-nightwalker's senses flared to life as he flawlessly rose from the tumble and stood somewhat in the open with his serrated rod still hidden at his back. All that he now showed was the spiked shield gripped by his right hand, with rod hidden in left. "What quarrel have you with me robot? State your case and make it good, lest I am forced to defend myself."

Given his purpose here was not battle at first, he was still not opposed to it, if this robot wished a battle, then it would get one. He made note of the electricity, this meant that this strange bot had some level of electricity in use; he would be sure to use brute force then...should this robot's electricity come his way, he imagined that he'd have a means of canceling it out. He would had some brief time to trial and error once the battle really started.

"YOU_LEFT_THE_NOL. THIS_MEANS_YOU_ARE_AN_ENEMY.", the robot said while giving the pointer finger to the half-nightwalker. "YOU_HAVE_TWO_OPTIONS:_RE-JOIN_THE_NOL_OR_DIE."
While giving its "instructions", the robot engaged its emergency battery. There wasn't much time left before having to replenish: with the prowess it could achieve by moving effortlessly its more than 300 pounds, it couldn't sustain a fight really long before having to retreat either to Lost Town or fall in the lower plains of the world, where seithr could easily be found and consumed.

[Post -5 before de-activation]

Hearing the foolishness from the robot had annoyed him slightly, though not nearly enough to lose his cool. Simply he regarded the action as a threat. "Very well robot, then you will feel the resistance as it sits strongly." As he knelt into stance, revealing the shield's spikes gaining a discharge of something strange, a blue static tint that ignited into wild sparks as he spoke the full words of release. "Striking in the name of Loyalty, I invoke the reach of the Static strength. Makgai Suibou Awaken!" Calmly activating his Ars armagus and gesturing with the shield towards the robot. "Come fiend, I will show you the error of your ways."

He would finish this in one blow if he could goad the robot into a close ranged attack, or so his plan was to hit with his physical might and discharge into the center of the robot. He figured the magical force of static, which was more akin to electric plasma, might short the robot's system. The fact that it was magical in nature should have far lessened the chance that the robot might be able to refute the attack with ease; even so he was going to act.

As he noticed his declared opponent charge his weapons with electricity, he noticed the similarity in their choice of elements. And in their fight for loyalty. But it stopped there. For the robot, the nightwalker's reasoning was distort beyond understanding.
"IN_THE_NAME_OF_LOYALTY? LOYALTY_TO_WHAT? I_AM_SHOWING_YOU_THE_ERROR_OF_YOUR_WAYS! YOU_ARE_THE_FIEND!", the black-clad bot, despite his words, kept his mechanical tone.
Engaging the fight again, he took momentum for a wide-arcing frontflip attack with his sword, which could make Tamurai bounce to the air by the sheer force of the impact if he was hit. IF he got hit. RJ's time was running short, and finishing this fast would have been a great option. However, executing the most powerful moves of his repertoire was impossible given the robot was using its emergency battery, and using too much power would disable RJ right away.
He didn't even call out the name of his "Sturmrad" attack out loud: and that could easily show its minutes were numbered if it didn't replenish soon.

[Post - 4 before de-activation]

As the half-Nightwalker had given him all his attention, the ability to dodge the front-flipping strike came with ease; as Tamurai shot to the right of the well aimed move. While he would not deny the aim of the shot was true, he made sure that it was well dodged. Tam kept himself about 40 feet from the sweep of his attack, Tamurai whipped around and released an arc of the charge ars static in a thick binding wave. "Soul's Menace!" at this range he imagined the robot would wonder where the attack came from with his shield still the only thing visible. All he'd swept to the right was his cloak, which was aglow with a strange blue static-charge...was it the weapon?

The true form of it was directly beneath the cloak, and would be likely revealed with Tamurai's second move. "You could not understand what true loyalty is robot, it is simply a mass of orders to you I imagine." he did not presume much, wasting only a few words on it while watching him for but a moment before throwing himself backwards from the robot, keeping the distance while he analyzed his next actions. Observation was very important and one of the ground rules he never let himself break.

The robot couldn't care less than about being hit by a static charge, so he tried to charge right through it. Tried, because though it was almost immune to electric shock (being able to dish some big one out itself), it wasn't immune to ars and that was a big error, since he got hit head-on by the attack. "BZZZT! YOU...DIRTY...TRAITOR...", he said while trembling due to the effects of the attack.
As the simple standard view came out to seemingly reveal that the source of this strike was the cloak, he decided to analyze his enemy before going to attack again. And apparently, the power source was a hidden weapon...
RJ got on the defensive, because it was best to see the enemy's weapon before being exposed to any kind of counterattack... strange given it was minutes from total discharge.

[Post -3 before de-activation]

Tamurai ducked low...perhaps it was time to trash this robot, his aura suddenly flaring to life...this robot had no sense, no honor, and no mind of its own. He was going to smash this thing if it could work out. He flared the hidden studded rod to life and sent a vital shockwave forward towards him, still using the shield to hide the weapon; as his speed increased from the lowness to the ground that he held. "Then we can see if you can take this!" the feint was pushing the shield forward as a large field surrounding its form in a circular shape struck; he would test the robot's agility, while saving his last swing with his studded rod, the aim would be true in this shot.

As the robot saw Tamurai getting offensive steps and charging energy, a counter was prepared. "NOW!", it exclamied as it fired sparks low to the ground that formed a protective shield against all sort of straight advance or projecile Tamurai may send. Though it was less effective as intended because it only dissipated the shockwave and could not hop away in time to avoid the rod. Instead the robot just took the full strike...
ALERT! EMERGENCY_BATTERY_RUNNING_LOW! TACTICAL_RETREAT_ENGAGED. The robot began to run away at high speed, trying to reach a highly seithr concentration zone, like Lost Town or Area 28 ASAP.
Though he was rather fast for a robot this heavy, his haste and straight running ended with the robot hitting people in its trace, making it easy for Tamurai to track it.
-------------(To Area 28)---------->

He gave off a soft growl and watched the robot go. "This business is not mine...the beast will take me to a place of its favor, tch. Well I cannot wander blindly into a trap now can I?" the half-nightwalker decided not to give chase, he could not allow this robot to rampage anymore, but he could not afford to rush right into a trap that would get him on the receiving end of an ass whupping so harshly. Sure enough he was not willing to expose himself to the dangers of chasing such a defective piece of tin.

-------------(From Akitsu)----------------->
A ship from Akitsu just arrived in Kagutsuchi. It would have been yet another one not worth noticing if not for one strange passenger that stepped off it.
Slowly advancing at the Port, Jin made his way among the crowd, failing to detect potential harmful presences... one aside. A stupid thug who thought robotic pieces could make a bit of money.The lonesome thug attacked from behind like the coward he was, but Jin had already predicted the movement. He turned swiftly to block the enemy's wrist with his sword, then quickly slided behind his opponent, slashing at his legs. As the thug was down (and in a bit of a pain, thought Jin), Jin lifted him up.
"Before anything, I have a question for you: Did you see a robot that looks like me?", Jin asked. Who knows, he maybe mistook me for one of those pieces of trash..., he thought. He didn't expect to have a potential track of any of his mimics that soon, but it was worth a shot.

Finding that the robot had gone and fled from the combat zone, with cloak back on and weapons well hidden once more, Tamurai found his way deeper into the dock area, residing at one of the bars with the hood of his cloak down, he appeared casual; an outsider at best even though he knew Kagatsuchi fairly well. Having mapped the city in his mind from his days in the NOL, he chose to keep a low profile and just listened to the rabble talk: revealing things that he had not been presently aware of.

-Random Scum-: "You know the word is that some weird ass NOL robot or something was out there killing our own."

-Random Scum 2-: "Tch. You'd figure that those government dogs would have better things to do than trying to hurt the real wild side of things out here. We're too good for 'em! They are afraid of us, pah! We should rise and take'em out!"

-Random Scum 3-: "Only an idiot talks like that, besides its not like it was just a weird robot, there was some human-guy with these crazy claws ripping into guys I knew out there! I ran flat away, they have crazy powers; we have to be more careful."

Though all of this was of no surprise to him, the quick study in changes of things kept this in mind: the robot was likely the one he'd been dueling and the strange guy with claws? That could've been anything from a cyborg, perhaps a man with a special armagus? It didn't sound human, that was what his gut told him.

'Seems like I'll have to keep real careful, I don't have a record...yet, but soon enough NOL will pick me up on their radar. For right now, I've done nothing wrong; but I know...father's death and all secrets he held will lead me against it. As have what they've done to our beloved Ikaruga...thank you Lady Rachel...' just mulling over various thoughts, he ordered a simple scotch with ice; something to briefly relax his nerves before his physiology burned it away.

The Half-Nightwalker would make his move soon, to find more information about his father's true face.

"Yeah, yeah, there's a creepy robot thing that killed my buddies."
"Where is it?"
" 'dunno. Every time that piece of scrap shows up, it slashes off guys in the zone and leaves when everybody's out. I saw it just last hour, and it left to the lower city. Another guy fought it off."
"Where's that guy?"
"He disappeared in the zone. 'can't say where he is."
"Fine.", he said before leaving the mob alone.

Sure, he would stay around here if one of his foul creations was kicking people around this place. That would allow Jin to have it coming at him so he could destroy it without even having to do the tracking part of the thing.
Since he didn't like just wait, he decided to look for the one who defeated his contraption; if he was still here. The person who forced an RJ away must be a skilled combatant at least, and Jin himself could get a clue of how RJs could have developed since they were released... That aside, he would like to gauge the abilities of that man, interested in how he defeated them. Finding out the flaws of his creations would help him in destroying them.