Battle Of Honor rpg

Honor City

Softly, almost tenderly the wind caressed her skin and blew through her hair. The breeze still carried a bit of toxicity with it, testifying of the poison gas that had plagued the city not so long ago. Above her the sky rolled in black and green clouds, normal weather that fought with the biological warfare agent. Even in the outskirts clouds of the green gas were still carried around by the wind like leaves and promised certain death to everyone unfortunate enough to cross their path. Somehow symbolic and prophetic at the same time.                    

It had been a long time since she had stood here, on this roof, and had watched the big floodlight with pride. Back then she had stood next to a great man, guardian, sentry of this city. When he had conversed with the now dead Commissioner on how to make this city a safer place, how to fight the raging petty crimes and how to bring villains like the Enigma and the Kidder behind bars.

Oh indeed, it had been a long time since then, a long time since she had stood here, a long time since the Commissioner had been alive and a long time since the Honor Signal had cast the ephemeral H above the city the last time. Another time, another era, another life.

How many lives she had lived in the meantime she did not know. She had been so many people. Orphan. Bully. Street thug. Student. Stalwart protector. Armoured scourge. Every time someone had told her who she was. Not this time. Now she exactly knew who she was. No false pretending, no lying anymore. She was a predator, nothing more, nothing less and denying it would be a crime.

Scenes of the last few years, victories, defeats, friends, allies and opponents, people alive and dead, flashed before her inner eye as she made her way over the roof. Almost mechanically her dextrous fingers reconnected cables and wires severed during her last life. Red to red, blue to blue, yellow to yellow and green to green. A rainbow of colour strands was created till the life giving spark of electricity revived the Honor Signal again. In a flash of light it sprang into action again and the familiar faithful H hovered over the run-down skyline of Honor City again. There it hovered in the starless dark sky like a new moon, symbol for hope and security. With a smile Honor Avenger put on her helmet again, sat down and waited.

Several hours later:

He had come. Like a demon from a bad dream he had descended on that roof. Like the police precinct they stood upon he had seen better days, the visible decay of his loved city had affected him as well. He looked thinner, darker, surrounded by a deep melancholy. If she had not known him as intimately as she did she could have even confused him. But no, it was him and no one different. Honor Guard. Her mentor, her trainer… some even assumed him to be her father.

For five minutes he stood there looking at her with an indescribable pain in the eyes. What it was she could not tell. Disappointment? Sadness? Regret? Weariness? All those and more feelings mixed in his stern gaze as he   took the whole scenery in and did not say a single word. From the first moment on it had been clear to him why he had set foot on this housetop. A fight. A decision.

Slowly to pay this moment the respect it deserved Honor Avenger rose to her feet. Their eyes met. His under the black mask that had become a synonym for justice in this city and hers behind cold red lenses that broke everything down into its essential parts. Subjective eternities passed while they stood there just staring at each other, father   and his once most loved daughter. None dared to speak in fear of breaking that moment an initializing what inevitably had to come. Silence spoke instead. Louder than a thunderstorm and more than a thousand books could have ever told. Unspoken pain and disappointment on both sides. For being let alone, for being let down, for being left. More eternities passed in silent communication till the Arcane Knight finally spoke up to break the spell.

“Guess it had to come to this, Jessica…”

“Don’t call me that. You know I am not that person anymore.”

“No matter how you call yourself, Jessica, Jazz, Honor Avenger, you a re still the same person.”

“No, I was made into something different. Someone who I was not. By you. I have only returned to my roots.”

“Please, stop that madness. How could I have made such a strong person as you into someone that you were not?”

“You know it as well as me. We copy. That is all we can do. Like little monkeys we see something and reproduce it. There is no invention in us, just the ability to mimic real people. You are who you are because of the Army and Chaos Agent. I am who I am because of the street and you. I simply forgot that. But now it is time to start anew. You are my ancestor in this cowl. Zen Buddhism says: If you meet an ancestor, kill him.”

“You talk to me about stop copying and now you quote someone who lived nearly a thousand years ago?”

“No, I did not talk about stop copying, I talked about starting something new. And to begin this new life I have another quote for you that you might cherish a lot: Finally the student has surpassed the master. I am the master now.”

“But only a master of evil… Please… Jessica…. Stop this! You know how it ended with Darth Vader and…”

He did never finish that sentence. The next moment she was at him dishing out punches and kicks faster and harder than ever before thanks to her new advanced armour. A barrage of hits hailed down on him and he blocked every single one of them. Metal slapped against flesh and left bruises but he did not flinch once. He had seen each of her moves and studied every martial art on this planet. Nothing that she could bring up was new to him. He knew her fighting style too well, he knew her too well. But something inside him prevented him from a counterattack. Yes, he was faster than her, a lot stronger than her and had other superpowers that made hum superior to her even with her powered high tech armour but deep inside him he did not want to hurt her. Again.

So the battle raged on and on in a replay of their first meeting when they had fought on another building over the rooftops of Honor City till the morning sun had risen. A stealing street girl named Jazz and the legendary Honor Guard. When she had not killed for god knows how often…

And then it dawned to him. This was not really Jazz anymore. This was not Jessica. This was not even Honor Avenger. None of them had ever killed. Maybe the flesh inside the armour was the same but she was right when she had said she was a different person now. She was a cold blooded killer now, abeing who murdered without remorse just to get what she wanted, who swooped down from the sky to bring death and chaos in her wake. A monster that had to be stopped.

With that sudden enlightenment he turned to counterattack. His blows came hard and cunning but as it seemed he was not the only one to have learned something in his long absence. Much like he knew everything about her she knew everything about him. With an agility not thinkable for such a heavily armoured woman she dodged his blows knowing that a block was useless considering his enormous strength.

But still he was superior. When she was just about to deliver a breathtaking punch to his solar plexus he turned away like he had intended to do from the very beginning of this maneuver as he had started this apparent attack. Her gauntlet with the razor sharp claws flew past him in bullet time as he evaded her strike and closed in to her. An arm length of distance suddenly became a brutal infight. With vicious force he delivered a knee hit to her stomach that dented her metal protection over that place and forced all air out of her lungs. To his super sensitive ears her coughing as his knee broke her a few ribs was obvious and broke his heart. He did not want to do this. He had said that in the beginning and it was still true. But no time to regret that or more honest citizens of this once wonderful city would fall prey to the beast he had helped to create.

Her perplexity was enough to buy him the one second he needed. Arms strong enough to bend steel bars interlocked in her neck and forced her down, ready to do what was necessary if she should try to wriggle her way out. Knowing what a fighter she was he was sure it would come to the worst.

But to this surprise she let him force her to the knees. He stood behind her in a nearly unbreakable double nelson and although she should have known how to escape it she did nothing like that. For a moment there was only his heavy breathing in the air that condensed into little vapour clouds that were quickly carried away. Had his knee kick hit her so hard? Or was there something else behind it?

“Jazz… Honor Avenger… I’m sorry it had to come to this… Lets end this now…”

And just as he began to flex his arms he heard her words. Silent. Almost a whisper thanks to the poor supply of oxygen she got in this pose. Be they as silent as they were, her words shook him to the core.

“James… Honor Guard… I’m sorry it had to come to this… lets end this now…”

And then, as she copied him for the last time, his   error became clear to her. As the thousands of volts ran through the armour and set his neurons afire, made him unable to do anything but twitch like a fish on land he noticed his biggest mistake ever. He had taught her too well. She knew very well she could never beat him in a fair fight so she had prepared very well. Like he would have done. She had chosen the battle field and had prepared her equipment to give of shocks lethal to normal mortals. To him it may not have been deadly but it immobilized him, made him helpless.

Even as he lay on the concrete and was completely helpless he could not help but feel proud of her. Even as she picked him up he could not do different than smile. Even as she walked over to the edge of the roof he could not suppress his deep love for her like a father feels for his daughter. Even as she lifted him over hear head could he not stop to admire her for what a great tactician and fighter she had become. And even as she threw him down all the way down on the street to his certain death did he not break eye contact with her. In Honor Guard’s last fall the two were finally reunited again and as he looked closer he saw a single tear being shed behind those unforgiving red lenses. This contact was only broken when he arrived the boardwalk and his body was smashed to nearly unrecognizable proportions. Those were the last few moments of one of the greatest heroes of all times Honor Guard.

The hero of Honor City lay dead, a hero had literally fallen from grace and a gigantic crowd quickly gathered around his corpse to weep. Now Honor City was truly dead, its soul had died, its last and greatest protector. Its symbol. The terrorists who had detonated that bomb could not have succeeded at it but with this action a single woman had finally killed the city.

The picture of Honor Avenger though, as she stood on the roof of the police precinct and lifted her hands towards the poison riddled sky and a two forked lightning illuminated her silhouette, became legendary. With this pose she confirmed her possession of this city and at the same time she extended a challenge to everyone to try to take it from her if he or she felt able to do it. The bystanders would never forget this day and the picture would go around the world. And as even the Honor City Metro News proclaimed it it was finally clear to everyone:

Her blue eyes stared across the dimly lit room that stunk of death and chaos. Bodies laid scattered along the crimson stained ground as the young hero tried to keep her concentration, she had to find the one responsible for this... as much as she seriously wanted to scream out in complete horror and get her @ss OUT... she knew she couldn't let her emotions get the best of her... she couldn't. But omg... the smell... now THAT was the worst part so far... using her cape to try and filter the stink out, she placed it against her nose as she carefully stepped over the unrecognizable bodies. There was just ONE woman who would kill THIS many people in such a short amount of time with such... stealth.

The sound of a creaking floorboard swept through the air, Honor Girl quickly spun around only to catch sight the shadow of the one responsible for the deaths of these innocent people. Rushing towards the obscure figure and upon turning the corner she was met to met with the tip of a blade. With a yelp she was coming too fast to stop in time, just inches before her face would ram into the blade, the blood on the bottom of her shoes caused her to slip, falling backwards and completely missing the blade and landing on her back. 'UMPH!" squinting her eyes from the pain she looked up to see a pair of blood thirsty eyes staring back at her.

"Homicide" she spoke just above a whisper as the silent assassin sliced the blade downward towards the teenager’s chest. With a gasp of fear Nicole rolled quickly to the side, the sword slicing into the floor as the hero tumble rolled onto her feet in a crouching position, throwing out her arms as four Honor-rangs flew from her fingers. A small glisten of light reflected off of them as the deadly villain simply stood still, the rangs phasing right through her body and sticking to the wall behind her. UGH she had the power to freaken phase! Like a goddamn ghost! How could she forget!?

But in a blink of an eye... the assassin was gone! How-?! She felt a pressure on the back of her skull... crap... crap... was that a gun barrel? She heard a 'click'. Yup... its a freaken gun. Crap. Last time she checked... she WASNT bullet proof. The woman had her weapon right in the back of her freaken head, ready to blow her brains out and splatter them all over the wall, wtf was she suppose to do!? Then like an annoying conscious, the voice of the one who first gave her the mantel of Honor girl rang through her head.

"It's a mistake to rely on any one weapon in a fight, Nicole. You might lose it, and that gives your opponent the advantage. Your best weapon is to rely on yourself."

Honor Guard, he was always giving her lectures when they first started... kinda like Sarah does now. Even though it had been YEARS since she had been trained by her first mentor, his words of wisdom still stuck with her.

She could hear Homicide's trigger finger slowly tightening over the leaver that would end her life. Then, in an instant, Nicole quickly moved her head to the right, a bullet escaping from its chamber, making a hole in the ground. Split of a second later, Nicole's left hand grabbed a hold of the gun and pulled forward, causing the assassin to sloppily stumble forward , and with her right hand, slammed into the wrist of the hand that Homicide held the gun with, forcing her to let go and stumble back.

With a quick sweep kick, the Assassin fell to the ground on her back, allowing Honor Girl to quickly get up, now having the upper hand... or she hopped. "Don't you know? Guns kill, and last time I checked, killing is against the LAW." she unloaded the gun and tossed it to the side. With her cape hanging around her body she looked at Homicide who was already standing and looking directly at Honor Girl, if looks could kill.... Nicole would have exploded into itty-bitty pieces two seconds ago. The two where in a stair off, no one moving a single muscle, but then... "AH-ACHOO!" Nicole's head flopped forward, OMG DID SHE JUST SNEEZE IN FRONT OF AN ASSASSIN WHO COULD TELEPORT AND SLICE HER HEAD OFF IN LESS THAN HALF A SECOND!? Quickly raising her head back up her, her eyes widen in fear, Homicide was gone.

"NOOO! GODDAMNIT!" Nicole yelled out in frustration, STUPID HAY-FEVER! OUT OF ALL THE TIMES FOR IT ACT UP IT HAD TO START NOW!

MISSION FAILED

Honor City

The last night had been contradictory to understate.

She had beat Honor Guard. THE Honor Guard. Guardian of this city, her former mentor and idol. This had probably been pinnacle of her life. Honor City now belonged to her. She could not say it often enough constantly looking at the headlines of the Honor City Gazette and other newspapers and reading them out aloud.

And while those epic words reverberated in her ears the view of Honor Guard how he plunged to his death kept replaying and replaying before her inner eye again and again. Every single detail of it was burned into her memory forever. His charred cape flowing in the wind and surrounding him like an angel’s wings in the fall wind, his tattered uniform reminiscent of better times and great triumphs but most of all she remembered the look on his face. Somewhat detached, happy even he had looked from under that cowl. Not at the asphalt. Not at the gathering crowd. No, at her and her alone. Eyes full of love, forgiving and not judging what she had done. Understanding. The water rose to her eyes again?

What was this???

It had started one eternal second before he had hit the concrete and became nothing more than a mistreated piece of dead flesh. Then the first tear had appeared and it had not stopped until one hour later. She could do nothing against it. Although she was smiling the biggest smile of her life now that she was finally the biggest predator of the city she was weeping like crazy, the salty liquid seemed to force itself through her heartstrings with a strange power just to get out. Since then it had gone and returned like a tide. Smiling and weeping had become a gruesome routine through the whole night for reasons unknown to her. She was caught in a purgatory of conflicting body signals without being to identify where it came from. As much control she normally had over her body it played pranks on her this time. Probably just the stress.

While she wiped her eyes with the left hand she raised a wineglass full of   dark blood red wine with the right. Only hours ago she had stolen this exquisite bottle out of the Wilson mansion. Now that he himself did not reside there anymore it was nothing but an empty husk and as she had sneaked through the wine cellar between giant, venerable but at the same time somehow darkly menacing oak barrels she felt that. With trembling hands she had taken the bottle out of the shelf like a baby out of its crib. What caused all that? Why was she feeling like desecrating a crypt just by stealing the most expensive bottle of wine in a dead man’s house.

The movement of the red fluid in the glass took her once more to that special moment, how his blood had pooled on the sidewalk, crimson, full and rich. The life had flown out of him so quickly. And as he had lain there stared on by those urban jackals the still glowing Honor Signal had been reflected in his blood. Just like now…

Wait… What?

With disturbing clarity the Honor Signal was shown in her wine glass and cast its familiar sign on her wine. Who dared to do that? Who dared to turn on the same signal that she had used to lure her former mentor to his certain doom? The rage already began to consume her. Whoever was foolish enough to commit this sacrilege would soon feel her wrath. Time to suit up. It did not need more than a few minutes to don her armour before she swung through the slack jawed skyline again.

Several minutes later:

All, be they citizen, thief, hooker or bum, had hid from her shadow as it glided over the streets. She was a predator, a dangerous thing to be feared and like mice fled the eagle they had left the street at her sight. Honor Avenger was enraged and some poor fool would have to take the consequences, it could clearly be seen by the way she used her cables to swing over their heads.

Breathing hot steam from her helmet she descended down in a nightmarish vision similiiar to how Honor Guard had done it yesterday. Only to be surprised who stood there. Nicole. Honor Girl. The youngest of their “family”. Her anger swung to amusement. While she lifted herself from her knees she spoke.

“Look, look who it is. The lost daughter has finally returned…”

Staring intently upward towards the sky, the young hero awaited for the one she challenged, to arrive. Many things began to run through her mind, such as… Why the hell didn’t she listen to Sarah and WAIT for next week!? She knew why though, she couldn’t let Jessica think what she did was ok, it wasn’t, she KILLED Honor Guard, the man that gave them all a second chance at life, a chance to become someone they weren’t worthy to be. A protector to the defenseless, strength for the weak, and justice for the unjust.
 
“Look, look who it is. The lost daughter has finally returned…”
 
Nicole almost jumped up from surprise and fear of the spin chilling voice that came from behind her. Spinning around she was face to face with the one who hunted Honor City, who tainted the name ‘Honor’, and who killed… their father like figure.
 
Fear left her and rage began to set in as she stood before the one who killed Honor Guard, tears of frustration began to build in her eyes. She wanted to do ONE thing and ONE thing only right now, and that was to spill the blood of Jessica all over the roof of this building with her own hands. She wanted to beat this woman to a pulp, and spit at her face as she begged for mercy…. aaaannnndddddd then she woke up from her little daydream, and reality began to settle in.
 
She KNEW she couldn’t beat Jessica in hand to hand combat, that wasn’t an question and yes, she knew that Jessica was… a tad bit smarter than Nicole, AND had some nifty gadgets that she didn’t have. BUT that wasn’t going to stop her, she came too far and built up WAY too much courage to back away now. She just had to pray for a miracle that Honor Avenger was still hecka sore from yesterday and totally didn’t want to beat the young teenager to a pulp for standing up to her.
 
Still glaring at the woman, Nicole stepped forward, her eyes never leaving from Honor Avenger. Now she just had to come up witty to say that WOULDN’T get her killed. “I’ve NEVER been lost Jessica, YOU are the one who’s lost. You’ve lost your way, and veered from everything Honor Gar-… Jason, taught you… me… all of us.” She paused for a moment, damn… this was harder than she thought, she was starting to get chocked up. Clearing her voice she continued. “But, that’s why I’m here. I’m here to give you a map back to reality.” She pulled out a pair of honor-cuffs. Oh crap… ok… now she was going to get her @ss at least beat to a pulp. “Now you can either take the map.” She looked at the cuffs. “OR I can simply drag your @ss back to reality myself.” She held a single Honor-Rang in hand.  Now she just had to finish off with something that wouldn’t totally get her killed. “Its your choice. But trust me, you don’t want ME to force you back, because if I do… you’re in a world of hurt.” Idiot…yeah… she was totally dead….

Like an evil giant from a dark fairy tale Jessica towered against the clouded night sky above her former team member Honor Girl. A remake of the old clash of David and Goliath in a modern all out cage match. No holds barred. A decision would be made today and this decision would determine the fate of Honor City.

Nicole on the other hand encountered the seemingly twice as big opponent valiantly. Her cape blew in the wind and its flapping delivered a parallel rhythm to the beating of Honor Avenger’s own heart. Her first attempt to defend her claim to the city. And certainly not the last. Nervosity gripped her with an iron fist and the damaged ribs from her fight with her former mentor did not help either. Honor Girl was just the first, others would come. Honor Woman, Honor Knight, Honor Legend. And if that was not enough whole teams would invade the city, We Are Legend, Champions Of Peace and maybe even Wolf Pack. Yet none of them was as important as the young girl before her. Nicole had always been the youngest, the runt of the litter, the smallest “daughter”. To everyone it had been clear that if the formerly unthinkable would happen and Honor Guard would not be able to carry his duty out one of his two daughters, either Nicole or Jessica, would be the next in the Honor Legacy. So this was more than the simple fight for revenge that Nicole saw it to be. It was a battle for the cowl.

The wind blew between them both with a cold intensity, stinging in the eyes and biting at exposed flesh while still carrying that special fragrance of biological death with it. Words had been said, gestures had been used, now the was only the thing to do both of them were afraid of. Old memories crossed Honor Avenger’s mind, of nights during a happier era, of nightly patrols over the rooftops of Honor City together with the person who had appeared to stop her now. How they had cheeringly swung through the urban canyons on their steel lines, had jumped from roof to roof and sometimes had taken a short break to sit down on a terrace with their legs dangling over the edge between chatting and some snacks. Lives, ages ago.   All the talking, the fun, the shared task of crime fighting was long gone now. Buried in her mind next to the moves in those nights and other precious moments she had saved in the mysterious part of her brain that allowed her to remember everything she had ever seen. What remained was the helplessness what to do.

One part of Jazz wanted to do nothing, to prolong this moment into all eternity just not to have to hurt her little sister, to return to that time when it had been so simple between them, when they had maybe not been friends but comrades at least. Another part wanted to take this intruder into her territory and break her in her bladed gauntlets, make an example of her and let her suffer for luring her here with the same trick she had used to confront Honor Guard. As she stood there and neither her nor Nicole moved those two parts fought like wild beasts with each other in a mirror image of the fight both of them knew would inevitably come. Metal produced disharmonious tones as Nicole’s Honor cuffs dangled in the wind and Jessica’s claws scratched over the inside of her gauntlets. And then finally a part of Honor Avenger won. A decision was made. The fate of Honor City was settled. One sentence, whispered and almost inaudible, started everything.

“I’m sorry Nicole… You wouldn’t listen.”

With her eyes still fixed on the Honorang Jessica brought her arm up in a blurring motion to deliver a brutal backhand strike with the left. From her experience she knew Honor Girl to be right handed and speaking from experience she had with right handers they tended to dodge to their strong side. But although she hoped that this would end the fight quickly she knew Nicole was too tough to be taken out by a simple maneuver like this.

She couldn’t tell what was going to happen next, Jessica… her style had become so feral and unpredictable since the last time she worked alongside with her, that she felt lost on what to expect now. Was she going to attack? Talk? Or just scare the living crap out of her by simply standing there, and play mind games with the teenager. 

She then began to wonder… what if she DIDN’T survive this fight? What if she did die here and now? How would Sarah find out? Who would tell her? Jessica? Maybe she would send her head in a nice little box with a pretty pink bow on top to her mentor… or if she’s lucky, she’ll be on tomorrow 6am news. She could see it now. ‘Wannabe teenage hero is killed by Honor Avenger.’ Why was she here alone again? Oh right… her pride… she swore that was going to get her killed one day, actually surprised it hadn’t… or maybe today was the day. 

Distracting herself with her thoughts, she felt a sharp pain go across her face, forcing her to stumble to the right as she dropped both the honor cuffs and honor rang. Did Jessica just b!tch slap her!? Oh no she didn’t! 

‘CHEAP SHOT!’ she wanted to yell out at Jessica, only to know that would probably piss her off even more than she was already with her… and wouldn’t be a good idea. Her eyes widen, in shock, should she be surprised that she attacked first? She had to remember, this wasn’t the same Jessica, the same woman she once looked up to for help and advice, this was a blood cold killer. Her head looked back at Honor Avenger, her hand over the slightly tender area where Avengers hand met her face. 

“Ok… now that I GAVE you the first hit.” She tried to play it off, trying to keep her cool, she couldn’t let Jessica know that inside, she was screaming her head off like the little teenage girl she was. “Its my turn!” With a flick of her wrist two yellow lenses suddenly covered her eyes as she threw two smoke pellets on the ground. A thick gray cloud of smoke suddenly encased the area as Nicole used the heat vision to seek out Jessica. 

“Remember Nicole… she’s a cold blooded killer… she killed Jason… killed him, don’t show mercy… no mercy.” She whispered to herself over and over again as she began her assault.

Pulling out her Bo staff she extended out as she rushed towards Honor Avenger, leaping into the air as she attempted a jumping reverse roundhouse kick. Her body soared through the air as her body began to spin clockwise, lifting her right leg as her back was towards Jessica and thrusting to her as she came back around to face her. As this happened she also held her bo staff horizontal to her body, extending it out so the ends of the staff could also hit Avenger if her kicks didn’t… maybe… if she was fast enough anyways. Landing back on the floor she then dropped closer the ground as she then attempted a low spinning sweep kick to try and knock Jessica to the ground.

All the attacks came at Honor Avenger with a fluid motion within a couple of seconds of each other. Getting back on her feet she took a leap back as she twirled her staff in her hands and got into a defensive position, her still yellow lenses covered her blue eyes as she waited to see what Jessica would come up to do next. 

She KNEW that wouldn’t even phase the rouge hero, she was always stronger… tougher and more skillful than Nicole could ever dream of. But she had to keep going, it was too late to go back now, she had to move forward and pay that the outcome wouldn’t be death by massive @ss kicking.

With bittersweet feelings she watched Honor Girl stumble away. Jazz’s armoured gauntlet had hit her in the face, right under the eye where a colourful black spot now began to take shape. Still the two parts of her were in struggle. One part wanted to punish her, destroy her for the insolence of coming here, break her apart and make her the new flag of her personal kingdom, dismantle her on a basic level till nothing of her remained to demonstrate the monster that Honor Avenger had become. Another part wanted to stop this madness, storm at the side of her adopted little sister and use the incredible strength of this masterwork she was wearing to carry her to safety. The monster part won for now.

The lenses in her helmet told her everything, from the speed of the wind that blew around them over the soft smell of toxicity that it brought with it and how many steps Nicole made to the exact amount of decibel her surprised little shriek had when she had been hit. Deep inside, hidden even more from herself than from others, Jessica hoped Honor Girl would take the warning, this slap and return to Champion City, leave this blighted hellhole named Honor City and return to a place where she was safe, where it was warm, where she had friends that watched out for her. Honor City was not the same anymore. It had changed, its soul ripped out by cruel people and thus it was transformed. Ugly, vicious, merciless. And as the city had changed inevitably Honor Avenger as its guardian had changed as well. Nicole had experienced nothing of that. While the rest of the Honor Family had shed blood, sweat and tears to keep this city alive somehow Nicole had undergone a training in a protected area, a safe haven and shelter. As she realized that, anger grew in Jazz.

It were those feelings that nearly ripped her apart. Changing from one second to the other they vexed her since she had thrown Honor Guard from exactly the same roof they were fighting on now. Jumping from one emotional state to the next between seconds drove her mad, she didn’t understand it and she didn’t understand herself. Her body was crazy, her eyes teared one moment, the other she could not stop smiling. What was this madness? She could not trust her feelings, could not trust her body, the only thing she always had had trust in. Her morals, her character were in constant flux, so much that she was already used to it. Her body had always been the one true constant she could trust on. Contrary to her emotions, her intellect, her temper it always did was it was supposed to do. Now that even this was seemingly taken from her how could she be sure of anything? Most of all of what she was doing now?

With odd interest she noticed that the Honor Signal was still active. High above them the legendary H, once symbol for law and justice now forever linked to the tragic death of Honor Guard, shone in the night sky and coloured everything in a pale almost eerie light. Both of them were covered in it, Jazz standing there upright and Nicole lying on the ground. Covered in Honor Guard’s death? Out of pure coincidence she noticed that the famous H was reflected on her gauntlet. From high above it found its reflection where James had found his death. But what else she found there where the slim bridge connected the two vertical beams of the H shook her to the core. A tingling ran through her whole body like an electric shock. Every hair on her trained body stood upright. How could that be?

Right there on her own gauntlet it sat like an evil imp and mocked her. A single crusted drop of blood. Its origin was clear. Since her last fight she had not cleaned her armour, the joy about winning had been to great, in her euphoria she had simply forgotten it. It was James’s blood. In a brown spot it clung there, fatefully united with the symbol that James himself had created. This was more than irony, more than adequate, this was pure horror. It crept so deep into her torn mind that she missed Honor Girl’s sudden counterattack.

A blurring motion and a whirling cape was all that she witnessed from the corner of her eye as the young girl disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Like the grim reaper’s cloak the black substance engulfed her in surprise. She needed a moment to readjust her vision to infrared and more was not necessary for her cunning opponent.

In vibrant red she witnessed how Honor Girl descended upon her like an avenging angel. Out of nothing a foot hit her breastplate. No problem, she could take it. Several more kicks produced nothing more than a dull “Thud” on the metal of her armour. No problem again. But obviously Nicole had learned a lot since her apprenticeship in the bright and glorious Champion City. None of these moves had been in her repertoire before and Honor Avenger greedily sucked them in and made links to iconic heroes. Nighthunter, Eclipse, Sovereign Son, Mistress Redhead… Interesting. Nicole blended the styles of several celebrities into something entirely new and iconic Jazz had never encountered before. Like a gourmet appreciates the fragrance of an excellent wine she took every single move in, analyzed it, made it hers. There was no way the strikes of a young girl could harm her in her armour. That was when the staff came into play. With all the force Honor Girl could muster the adamantium came down on the iron plating of her artificial shell and as the higher density met the smaller one,   one had to give up. Little surprise it was the armour. Maltreated it dented and pressed against Jessica’s just broken ribs what forced a painful cough out of her lungs. Even more surprised she stumbled back to evade the sweeping kick and held her arm protectively infront of her torso. The vibrations of that hit still reverberated through the metal and only served to heighten the pain.

As her voice resounded from her helmet again it was deep and guttural, interrupted by small painful coughs.

“Okay, you wanted it that way. Time to play is over...”

Using the smoke and her ragged cape as cover she made a turn towards Honor Girl to land a hit with her elbow right into Nicole’s face. Well knowing it was easy to dodge such a hit by simply ducking under it to land a hit towards an opponent’s vulnerable belly she brought up her knee with full force as the main attack. Ready to deal more damage Honor Avenger began another turn for a roundhouse kick that would meet a hit opponent or one lucky enough to avoid the first two blows right between the hip and the ribs.

Honor Avenger had announced it. Time to play was over. No there was no way back. Only one of them would leave that roof upright.