Nest 629 [CVnU Location]

@virtuoso_viper:

Warned the instant the Viper's somatic system activated Ivana snapped into motion, ripping her blade from the sheath, whirling and hacking through the early morning sky. The biometrically effictiant draw and cut, reminicent of Iaijustu, combined with the prior warning, are enough to allow Ivana's peak human body to outrace the action of the firearm and the rate-of-burn of the powder. Due to the strained angle and distance between the blade and the target Ivana is only capable of clipping the rear of the round, sending it tumbling off into the ground with a white puff of snow.

Ivana stood with her blade extended to her right, the metal singing with the 'innnnng' of fine steel; pitch perfect. The steel song filled the courtyard and echoed from the mountains. Ivana waited until the last note faded away and sheathed the blade with a snap. "Insult me again 'brother' and I'll be DNA testing your severed head."

As they say, "badass."

That's my master.

Worst...Siblings...Ever.

Looks like I reached my post limit LOL.

@virtuoso_viper: [ Flood protection is the enemy of every RPGer with a soul lol. ]

Again pre-warned by her somatic reading Ivana had time to react as her brothers superhuman pink muscle groups begin to fire. However his angular misdirection caused her a great deal of confusion, as her eyes saw him directing his weapons toward one target, but her somatic indicated the other target. She chose to trust her eyes. She chose wrong.

The hollow point rounds slammed into her knee with supersonic power. Fortunately the Strigidae suit was generally highly resistant to small arms fire, and the controlled disintegration of a hollow point, which caused terrible damage inside a living being, roughly doubled the effectiveness of bodyarmor as it deformed against the armor, losing the majority of its energy. Still, the impact was serious enough to knock Ivana's leg from under her, causing her to fall into a roll...

...into the shadow of a nearby building, wherein the 23rd Strigidae vanished; her supernatural stealth skills on full display.

Emerging from the shadows across the courtyard she drew her bow and unleashed a single arrow, tachyon infused and loaded with a plethora of energy coils; a penetrating neuro-muscular device flying toward his right leg. Similar to the taser except the NMD was designed to override the brains signals to the body by way of timed powerful electrical shocks. They essentially sent their targets into a seizure.

Initially totally unaccustomed to the particular rigor of Ivana’s training, for the first quite a few tries, Alyssa’s regiment resulted in absolute failure, and relatively quickly. One could attribute it in part to her eagerness to give it all right out the gate, combined with the fact that, for all her natural built athleticism, her body was not conditioned for so much of that kind of activity, and those kinds of conditions. Her start was marked by being easily carried away, going way too hard and far too often. Such that her first attempt was constant, like a madwoman, for six days straight.

She was so sore that she had to take a whole week off.

Her return saw her full of apprehension, but she gritted her teeth and trained hard anyway. After three more days with Ivana, she had injured herself and needed more time off.

She was almost sure she’d be abandoned.

But Ivana was patient, thankfully, and after an adequate recovery, she was allowed more of an adjustment before training resumed as usual. And still, it was hard.

But she developed. Her eager enthusiasm remained great, perhaps due to a particular loyalty held toward the woman who trained her. And while she remained mentally strong, her body eventually began to catch up. It pleased her to be able to satisfy Ivana, continually pushed by internal and external motivators.

And, finally, at the end of it all…

@quintus_knightfall: Don't mess with my blood >.>

@asherah:

The initial training period was, in reality, only the warm-up for the intensive Arcani exercises. Born from a core of renegade gladiators in the far future they had developed from a martial culture with the advantage of psychological and medical knowledge that was thousands of years more advanced than the earth. Then they honed their knowledge by creating generation after generation of warriors for nearly three hundred thousand years.

Even the basic Arcani physical exercise was monstrously difficult. However they were also monstrously effective. They would hone a practitioners muscular strength, cardiovascular fitness, explosiveness, speed, agility and coordination at rates only freaks of nature with tremendous athletic talent.. and performance enhancing drugs, could match.

Ivana is careful not to push Alyssa too hard at this point. The hydro-kinetic is worked until she can no longer continue, then given ample rest and nutrition. During these down times Ivana instructs the younger mutant on tactics and martial strategies.

Only the warm-up? O_O

Ivana stood barefoot in the snow. The wind piled it against her ankles. She could feel ice form between her toes where snow melted against her skin and ran down to freeze again. The howl of the wind filled her ears. Keen eyes pierced the whirling snow for her target; a red leaf nailed to the trunk of an oak.

Her compound bow was drawn taunt. A frozen thumb touched the right corner of her mouth, the string drawn back in a trigger release built into her glove. Eight/twenty vision stared past one of the six color coded illuminated studs of the archery site. A carbon arrow lay knocked on the bowstring.

She squeezed the trigger. THWANG-

An arrow exploded from the compound. It speared through wind and snow. The bodkin head slammed into the red leaf -THUNK.

Her hand blurred. Arrows tore from the bow as if hurled from a hurricane. Little spears of titanium and carbon made a mockery of Achilles's darts. The roaring winds screamed all the louder, as if outraged by the intrusion. A dozen deadly darts made their homes in read leaves upon a dozen trees.

Ivana's quiver was empty. Two Orochi clansmen collected the arrows; their payment for the privilege of observing her practice. She turned and set about the long climb up the icy mountain.

@strigidae_23:

Climbing the hazardous, wintry landscape of the geographically remote mountain, the Guerrilla Goliath's climatically inappropriate adornments inarticulately expressed his absent requirement for protection against extreme temperatures. His accumulative quantity of body fat veiled by an elephantine mass of muscle coupled with a thick hide and unrelenting tenacity provided him all the warmth required to force his way through the niveous environment without mitigation. Frigid winds accomplished nothing in functioning as a deterrent, the gelid snow compiling around his moving feet and atop his gargantuan shoulders incited no response.

Silent as he marches through the hyperborean environment with the unmitigated force of a sentient juggernaut, the Brahma Bull, following hours and hours of an unpleasant peregrination, stands before the grandiose entrance to the fabled Nest 629. Ceaselessly luminous, rubicund, unearthly eyes glare at the positioned clansmen in his vicinity. He need not speak, his arrival heralded only one thing, that which any of the Arcani should know. He had aided the Babylon Tiger during the Siege of Kamelot. They were in debt. And he had come to collect.

Son of a jerk.

@schlampe: LOL

@brahma_bull:

The twenty third of her temple threw wide the ornate wooden gates. The tattoos about her partially shaven head glittered in the harsh sunlight. Wind whipped her pony tail. Her mask was tucked into her utility belt and her bow was securely attached to a hardpoint under her ebony cape. A black katana hung from its titanium rigging at her left hip. Grenades and knives adorned her belt.

She smiled.

"Lets go."

@strigidae_23:

Inherently indignant, vermilion eyes met the 23rd Strigidae's emergence as the Brahma Bull's taciturn, ocular evaluation commenced. Athletically built. Appropriately armed. A posture of expressed self-certainty, and a radical appearance deliberately scoffing at the controlling shackles of societal regulations. Exceptional. She knew the purpose of his ingress, an ally was to be recruited for the imminent assault on his political opposition, she was to be that very ally. "Then come", he temperately instructed, the growling, deep registers of his voice piercing the settled fabric of silence as he turned away from the Nest's gates, initiating their laborious return to the mountain's base. "Our enemy, you know them yes? The Stark Regime. The American Government".

@brahma_bull:

A bitter wind sliced through the air as its desolate howl filled the empty sky. Armored feet thumped through thick snow as Ivana's serpentine frame joined her gigantic companion.

She could not help but notice he lived up to the legend. No one would ever say of the Brahma Bull that they 'thought he'd be taller'. Every aspect of his frame was tremendous, a leviathan of muscle and bone. Muscles rolled like cables of steel under his skin. Some men stared into the horizon. Ivana thought the Bull must stare into the sky.

The genetic factors that crafted such a titanic frame had cared little for proportion, rationality or reasonableness. They had simply built the largest man that could be built.

Her mind turned to his questions. "Of course. The whole world knows of the new American leader."

Strigidae and Bull, now thats a death dealing duo if ever there was one.

@last_american_hero: 'The Beast and The Best' ;-)

@strigidae_23: Posting here soon. Noah and Ivana!

@closure: Coolness.

@strigidae_23:

"Then you know why we must remove the American from power", the Brahma Bull began, subtle vibrational tremors accompanying his every footstep as they traverse the frigid, wintry terrain of the hyperborean mountain. "He promises only to psychologically colonize the populace. His nation, their government, a political asylum. His death and his government's destruction is imperative". Resuming, he opts to inform his martially lethal companion of their opposition's resources. "The White House, I destroyed it. The democratic dogs must have surely fortified their security. There will be more blood to spill once we attack them", he paused, "Another will also assist us", he cabalistically alerts, implicitly referring to Asami, a teenage girl, acquired from Grace Knightfall, and indoctrinated, taught to embrace the Brahma Bull's political ideology.

As they continued their demanding trek, the Gothic City Nightmare and the Lethal Lioness would gradually come to a pause, a camo-themed Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma transport helicopter piloted by Bois constituents several feet from their grounded position. Gesturing for the 23rd Strigidae to follow, the Brazilian Behemoth mutely boarded the arrived helicopter, ready to depart with the Preternatural Predator for the impending commencement of his planned assault on Stark.

@brahma_bull:

The peerless shinobi listens to Brahma speak. Ironically the Bull seemed to her a moderate; concerned with the actions of one human nation against another. Ivana was at heart far more extreme; she would see them all burn. If America wished to do the work of the Arcani.. so be it.

Still, a strike against America was a powerful propaganda victory. And truth be told the American military dominance had prevented more wars than it had caused. To chip away at it was to bring the world closer to a violent showdown where only the strong, the mutant, would survive. Ivana had faith humanity would fail its final test. Nature purged the weak.

Climbing aboard the helicopter she merely nods her accent, keeping the true extremism of her thoughts to herself for now. "I see."

@strigidae_22: Don't be modest, BB shares your views :P Beautiful post bella.

@thee_champion: [ Haha, thank you :-) ]

@strigidae_22: (Hahaha, I quoted myself back there, my av is too magnetic :P)

De nada ;)

@connoisseur: [ Haha, well, when you're that awesome sometimes you've just gotta talk with yourself ;-P ]

@strigidae_22: And of course, someone equally awesome understands that ;)

@connoisseur: [ Of course, its why I have like ten PM's to myself. Only I understand my own genius ;-p ]

@strigidae_22: Only ten? Don't aim low LL ;)

@connoisseur: [ I loled hehehe. ]

@strigidae_22: Hehe, besos.

@connoisseur: [ Aww, smoochies :-) ]

@strigidae_22:

It had been months since The Lost Arashikage had been returned to humanity after being located away within the Agiad'coda islands, quickly venturing off into the big wide world, coming to stay in the City of Sin, Gothic. Alas, once again, the adopted Knightfall had ventured into the exotic unknown; this time, with the objective to find the almost clandestinely kept Nest 629. Zain had located the enigmatic Nest due to ancient scrolls within the Agiad'coda island hinting of its whereabouts.

Deciding he needed to learn the ways of something to further his combat prowess, Zain had ventured off into the world and found the Nest, after an nauseatingly taxing ascension having braved the harsh terrain and perennial pressure of the mountain range which had threatened to end his young life before it had even started, through an amazing amount of mental solitude combined with his esoteric blood bending being used to keep his body warm enough to survive the mountains extreme temperatures, Zain had arrived, his fingers frostbitten and his lips terrifyingly pale, barely managing to knock onto the fabled Nest's courtyard doors, hoping his journey had not been an entire waste.

@zain_:

Two Orochi clansmen grasped brass handles upon the ornate wooden gates and hauled them wide for Zain. Snow dusted the cobblestones of the courtyard; the lower ranking Orochi assigned to sweeping it were unable to keep it entirely clean.

A dark haired woman clad in Orochi red strode across the courtyard toward Zain. Lithe and coiled she moved with the grace of a tiger. A pair of sais were tucked into the red sash about her waist and a katana lay across her back. "Welcome."

@strigidae_22:

As his subtle shivers turned into relentless shudders, his almost frozen fingers feverishly shaking as though he had seen a ghost, the adopted Knightfalls body had nearly succumbed to the shock of the blistering cold. His dark, wavy hair had already frozen over, glazed like ice as though he had failed and put too much styling wax in. As theOrochi clansmen hauled open the gates, Zain graciously fell onto his knees, a sigh of relief escaping his wintry looking lips.

His dark eyes caught sight of a vibrantly colored figure, using the last of his strength, Zain relentlessly stood, marching into the location while paying mind to the womans presence with a feeble but thankful smile. As the young man entered the Nest with his understandably slow pace, he turned, bowed his head down and stared towards the ground, directing his words to the crimson colored woman, "M-My name...Name is Zain, I reques..Request...Or beg, to be trained.." he humbly admitted, trying to stay composed, but needing time to rejuvenate.

@zain_:

"Siren." She introduced herself. "If you have survived the journy you have proven your resolve. And resolve is all the Orochi require. Mental resolve. Physical resolve." Turning away she walked toward the dojo. "Join me. Our training hall is warm."

@strigidae_22:

Gladly accepting her proposed destination with a few hurried shuffles wanting to escape the blistering cold, "Nice name, Siren" he casually chanted, "G..got a nice ring t..to it," conveying his habitual use of compliments, even if dying of frostbite. Pacing forwards and meeting the woman in the dojo without much delay, he admiringly stared all around, and then back to Siren. "I..I'm only 17, is that a problem?" Zain was unsure if a technical minor would be allowed into the Orochi.

@zain_:

"No." She said with a glance over her shoulder. "The younger you start the better." The merciless Orochi felt a young child was easier to mold into a remorseless killer.

Walking to the rear of the dojo she gestures to a rack of wooden weaponry. "Do you have a preference?" As she waved to the plethora of training tools.

Robs nest 1-628

@strigidae_22:

As the woman spoke her cold words. Zain had initiated his bodily healing process, utilizing his inherently gifted blood bending and heating up his internal fluids, instantly dissipating his torturous shivers into a few sporadic shudders as changes in bodily heat randomly stimulated nerves. Thoughtfully looking up towards the plethora of wooden tools, instinctively smirking and raising a darkly gloved finger, pointing towards a single katana-esq training blade, his eyes widening in awe, "That?" his tone of voice more composed than before, his body heat almost back to optimum levels.

@surkit: Beats you back to Hell.

@surkit: [ Haha I see what you did there!

@zain_:

Selecting the wooden blade she tossed it to Zain. Taking note of his rapidly improved condition as she walked out onto the training floor once more. "Do you have mutant powers?"

@strigidae_22:

Catching the blade with nimble fingers, Zain inspected its weight and balance, not really knowing what he was doing but it did make him feel kinda good. Briefly paying mind to the woman and nodding in her direction, "Yeah, nothing extraordinary though, the usual..." not wanting to reveal his esoteric blood bending abilities just yet, "Speed, Strength and durability...That kinda stuff" looking down at the blade again and swirling it around in an arc.

@zain_:

"I see. Those will serve you well with a blade." Then she drew her own blade and begin to instruct Zain in the basics of swordplay, creating a foundation for the Orochi's style of patience, evasiveness, and explosive attacks.

Insert training montage here ;-)

@strigidae_22: [Of course :P]

After a grueling few weeks of tireless training and unrelenting Orochi techniques being hammered into his young mind, Zain rapidly grew accustomed to the way of the blade due to his unorthodox training abilities during lucid dreaming combined with his muscle memory building five times faster than the average human, all of these factors fueling his skillful adoption of the blade. Having grown accustomed to the blade far faster than usual and ascended through the Orochi ranks with uncanny speed, Zain had been gifted a squad of five warriors, his personal entourage, or so he called it.