KoV R2 Cly and Dark Huntress VS Overkill and Decoy Elite

Face down on warm stone bricks, covered in a sweat was a young man. He wore a black, short sleeved, light Kevlar mesh shirt, with the white letters CoP on the back. Covering the shirt, were numerous pockets, filled with all kinds of surprises. A leather belt was around his waist, with a sheathed sword hanging off of his right hip. Matching pants covered his legs, leading to his bare feet. This was Cly, the Dragon Rider, member of the Champions of Peace, and he was...asleep. Turning his head over on the hard, warm stone, he brought his arm towards his head, and tucked his chin and lifted his head up. Sweeping along the ground with his fingertips, following the cracks in the stone, his hand appeared as though it was searching for something. In fact, he was searching for something, his pillow, Esmeralda's tail. Not finding it, he turned his head back over, and slowly cracked open one of his eyes. "Where am I?" He looked around.

He saw twelve ancient stone pillars standing in a circle, each topped with an undying fire. Where the pillars stopped, a foundation of individually placed stones began. He felt the heat in the air, not from the twelve fires, but from the massive ball of burning gas far below it. Scorching the bottom of the arena, the stone floor was warm and heating up, soon to be hot enough to burn skin by touch. The air along the sides of the circular arena rose up and crawled over the weathered stone walls, giving the arena a temperature as hot as the hottest desert on Earth. The air smelled of sulfur, and the humidity in the air was next to nothing. It felt as if the platform he was on was in motion, but he couldn't tell which way he was moving. Lowering his gaze back onto the floor level of the arena, his eyes stopped.

A figure, no, two figures were visible on the other side of the circle. Looking closer, he saw that the two figures were chained together. Moving his left arm out to help himself off the ground, he felt his arm stop. Around his left wrist, was a shackle of metal, one that he did not recognize right away. His eyes traced from his wrist, to a chain connected to it, to the other shackle. This shackle was much larger, and secured around a green scaled forefoot. The Rider was chained to his Dragon, Esmeralda. Suddenly he realized that his other wrist was chained. Turning his head, he saw that there was another chain, of equal length, about six feet long, from his right wrist to the wrist of a woman. Cly didn't know what to make of the situation, and tried to think past his last night's dreams and remember what had happened the previous day. It came to him all at once. He had taken a nap at the Champions of Peace building, then he had woken up at a beautiful castle built on a giant waterfall. Slight. The Hydro Hero had said that this was a tournament. That battle had been rough, he glanced at both of his hands. They were healed as he had slept, but he remembered the water drill that had torn up his right arm and the lightning bolt that had punched a hole through his left hand.

Rising to his feet, fully awake, he motioned for Esmeralda to come closer to him, and took a few steps back, so that Dragon, Rider, and the woman were in a close group. Looking at her longer, Cly recognized her. She was the one known as the Dark Huntress. He couldn't remember her real name, and didn't remember meeting her, but had seen her around Champion Tower from time to time. Breathing in the hot air, he said with a joking tone in his voice, "Either I'm a prisoner or this must be the next battle in the tournament..." Esmeralda responded with a special voice device, >>The latter.<< The Dark Huntress looked at both of them, and the Knight thought that she looked like she didn't know them. He extended his right hand, which was chained to her left wrist. "I'm Cly, and this is Esmeralda, we're are on the Champions of Peace, but we don't really hang out." >>Pleasure to meet you.<< He gave the woman a chance to reply, then said, "Looks like we are in this together. Got any ideas for a plan of attack?"

Peter was walking down a dark alley.  This wasn't right.  He was just at the King of the Vine Tournament.  Why would he be in an alley in New York City?  He felt odd, like he wasn't moving when he actually was.  Oh, I see.  I'm dreaming.  But why am I here?  He continued moving.  After a few steps he felt a great surge of electricity in his back.  When he fell to the ground, a large man began hitting him with a club.  On the verge of unconsiousness, he heard another man wrestling the first off of him saying "Stop!  Geez, don't you think that's a little overkill?"  That night?  The night this all began?  Why am I seeing this again?  His vision faded to black and he woke up on an operating table just as a scientist emptied a vial labeled "GIFT 254" into his bloodstream.  This too?  I'm just going through my memories.  Why?  Why would I be dreaming this now?  The memories continued.  The explosion that led to his escape, coming home to his parents and their accidental death from his new powers, training in a junkyard so that it would never happen again, his battle with who he now knew as Eclipse which led to him joining the Champions of Peace, the Skrull Invasion and his near death experience, then working with Mistress Redhead to create his new suit of armor.  He heard about the KOV and decided that there was no better way to test his new armor and himself.  It all came back to him.  Even his fight with Gearo not even one day before.  Ok, now that we've gone over my entire life story, can I know why we did that?  He appeared in a bright white room.  Two figures appeared before him.  As they began to take shape, there was no mistaking who they were.  "Mom? ...Dad?  What are you... How? I... I kil-"  "Don't worry about it Peter."  His mother's calm voice somehow brought his mind to ease.  "We know it was an accident.  It wasn't your fault."  A tear rolled down his cheek.  He always knew it was just an accident so it never bothered him too much.  But, his parents telling him that it wasn't his fault put his mind at ease about them not understanding.  They did.  His dad spoke next.  "Look how much you've grown son.  The memories you just saw.  It was to let you know just how far you've come in such a small amount of time.  You've made us proud Peter.  Never give up."  His father smiled at him and Peter smiled back.  "Thank you.  I love you both, and I'll never forget you."  "We know.  Now wake up, you've got a tournament to win."   
 
His eyes slowly opened as their images faded away.  He was laying on his right side with his hand under his head.  He looked forward and only saw black sky and the stone floor he was sleeping on.  However, this isn't the same spot he fell asleep in.  He turned his head and looked straight up and saw stars.  Like the last round, they weren't the same as the ones back on earth.  He shook his head to help wake himself up.  The nap did him good.  It replenished the energy he lost in the last round.  He started to sit up when he noticed something odd.  A silver band wrapped around his left wrist.  A chain was coming off of it, but he did not look to see where it led yet.  It was just loose enough that it could spin around his wrist.  At least it wouldn't be uncomfortable.  He sat up straight and brought his right knee up.  His left hand was on the ground for balance and his right arm rested horizontally on his right knee.  He looked around and saw that the arena would be a large stone circle, seemingly floating in the air.  It was slowly moving or spinning.  He couldn't tell which.  It made him feel strange, but once he got moving it shouldn't matter.  Twelve large pillars were evenly spaced around the arena, torches raging at the top of each of them.  He had another weird feeling.  Not from the moving platform, something else.  It was his energy absorbtion ability.  He was absorbing something that felt like solar energy.  It was coming from beneath them, a large mass of it.  Solar energy never really recharged him a lot, but now he was getting more than usual.  There was a high concentration of it in the air around them.  They were darn close to whatever was emiting it.  His nap had him at about 105% total energy, and the time he spent here raised it almost 3% already!  It may not seem like much, but normal solar energy would give him 5% every half hour.   
 
He then turned his attention to the figures sitting across the arena.  Suprisingly, he recognized them.  The one on the left was a young girl.  Peter had seen her around Champion Tower before and although they have had a small conversation, he knew nothing about her.  He had reseearched all of his team mates in his spare time to familiarize himself with them.  She wasn't a member of the staff or the Champions either.  She had no file that he could access.  So who was she really?  And why was she in the tower all the time?  He turned his attention to the figure in the middle.  This was Cly, master combatant and swordsman, perfect balance under most if not any circumstances, extremely inteligent, member of the Champions of Peace:  Core Team, and leader of the hero team We Are Legend.  He possessed a marvelous sword, one that was essentially as sharp as he wanted it to be.  It had never met an object it couldn't cut.  This had Overkill semi-worried.  He wore armor and carried a claymore made of infraglium, a metal that becomes indestructible when infused with his energy.  He tested it as much as he could and it survived his last match without a scratch.  This sword could cut things on the atomic level, but the energy fills in the space between the subatomic particles of infraglium.  The energy was made of superheated gravitons which are gravity particles.  Seeing as these gravity particles gave off the effect of nearly 5 times earth's gravity upon contact with an object, Peter wondered if the energy would keep the sword from passing inbetween atoms.  Could this sword cut gravity?  Logically?  That feat is impossible.  But so is pretty much everything else that Peter had been through.  Also, Overkill had just defeated Gearo, a rookie member of WAL.  He thought of the slight bit of humor in the fact that he goes from the rookie to the leader in one round.  Last in the line up, chained to Cly's right wrist, was someone that anyone who knew Cly would guess.  None other than his magnificent drgon, Esmeralda.  A large creature with a dual layer of tough dragon scales that made it very hard to penetrate.  Sharp claws and fangs for attack, and of course, dragon fire.  Esmeralda had a file in the CoP database attached to Cly's.  Anything that database had to offer, Peter knew.   
 
After seeing the competition, he knew that the chain on his wrist would lead to his partner.  But, before he examined his partner, he wanted to examine the chain.  He picked up about six links worth of chain.  It was about as heavy as a chain should be.  He grabbed it with both hands and tugged slightly to see if there was a chance at breaking it.  No cracking or anything.  Overkill enhanced his strength a small amount and tried again.  Nothing.  He wasn't going to try his full strength potential unless he had to try and get it off.  For now, he'd play the game.  He followed the six feet of chain over to the man he assumed was his partner.  He was average size and wore a black cloak over his clothes.  Peter had never seen this man before, in person or on the CoP database.  But, if he was going to work with him, he needed every bit of information he could get before the fight started.  He made sure that the opposing team hadn't moved yet, then made his way to the sleeping man.   
 
"Hey, you awake?"  The man didn't move.  "Come on homie, wake up.  You gotta help me win this."  The man slightly stirred.  "That's it, wake up."  Overkill lightly tapped the man on the cheek a few times and his eyes opened.  "Nice nap sleeping beauty?  Come on, sit up."  Peter helped the man to a sitting position and then proceeded to question him, his voice quiet so that the opponents wouldn't hear them.  "Ok, we don't got much time before this gets started so I'll keep this simple and we can learn more on the move.  I'm Overkill."  The man turned to him and answered.  "You can call me Elite."  "Ok, Elite it is then.  All I'll ask for now is where do you wanna keep this fight to start with?  Close, mid, or long range."  The Blood-red Brawler quickly asked the man knowing an attack would surely follow his answer if not a moment or two afterwards.  Elite had seen his opponents and was startled at the sight.  "Is that a freakin dragon?!"  "What's your range!"  "Oh, long.  Yeah, long range is best."  Overkill nodded, "Ok, I can work with that for now.  Come on."  Overkill and the man known as Elite stood and faced their opponents.  Overkill got into a fighting stance as his eyes glowed a bright red, ready for the incoming attack, whatever it may be.  "Stand behind me and get your guard up.  We'll let them come at us first.  See how they wanna play it.  Any information you wanna tell me, keep it as quiet as possible.  Don't wanna give them any advantages."  With a nod from Elite, they waited. 

Cass let out a little moan as she started coming to. Her head was pounding and her body was sore from all the healing it had had to undergo. Laying on what felt like a warm stone ground, her last battle started replaying through her head. She had finally had the chance to kill the man who had ruined her life and she hadn't been able to do it. He had played her well, playing on her emotions, on what was once her loyalty. He knew her weaknesses and had exploited them and she had fought him tooth and nailboth physically and mentally. He was for all intents and purposes her father. He had made her who she was today and she was going to embrace that. She may be his legacy, he may have pinned some of his hopes and dreams on her, but she wasn't going to be obligated to him in any way shape or form. She was going to take his legacy and turn it into something that he was going to hate. Cass was going to do good, or as good as she was capable of doing. She was going to take all the skills that he had taught her and eventually, she was going to turn them back on him. This fight had been a warm-up, a prelude to the one day that she would end his life. She was determined to.  
 
Opening her eyes, she looked straight up from her prone position on the ground and then around, trying to focus on the details. Great. Another high platform, she could definitely use that to her advantage, she was at home up in the sky. There were twelve pillars all carved of stone and pretty darn high, each with a burning fire lit on the top of them, the flames tapering and blowing in the unseen winds. It was then that she noticed the warmth beneath her back. Rolling over to her side and using her right arm to push herself up, she looked around, surveying her surroundings a little more. There were tears in the clothing that she wore, one over her stomach, showing part of the seven inch scar she had sustained from a past exerienceand one over her left thigh as well. They weren't major tears and even if they were, she really couldn't care less. This was about fighting and winning, it wasn't about beauty or looking pretty. It was never about that for her. It was always about being better, being the best. Proving her worth both to herself and to Gambler.  
 
It was as she pulled on her left arm that she noticed the restraints. There was something resembling a handcuff latched around her wrist. She recognized the metal immediately, it was adamantium and unbreakable, but there were ways to get around that. Her eyes following the length of the chain, she took in the appearance of the man who it was attached to. She stood up and saw the dragon out of her peripheral vision. It was her and the gorgeously crafted sword that caught her attention. Leading her to subconsciously place her hands by her hips, reaching for her kukris. "I'm Cly and this is Esmeralda, we're on the Champions of Peace, but we don't really hang out." >>Pleasure to meet you.<<  
 
Cass smiled at him and gave a slight nod to the dragon, where she let her gaze linger for a moment. She was a beautiful, majestic creature and from all that she had heard from the pair, the two of them were an extremely well-matched team. Taking her gaze around from the dragon she re-surveyed her surroundings, now taking notice of the pair who stood across the arena from them. Narrowing her eyes and focusing her keen sight on them she was able to identify one of them as Overkill, one of COPs newest members. He was on the team per Eclipse's suggestion and had shown great bravery and great skill during the Skrull Invasion. The other one was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place him. She smiled to herself as she looked back over at Cly. One of the things that she loved about being on Shadow Squad was the fact that it let her fly under the radar, allowing her to do her job better. She snapped to attention as he asked her if she had a course of action. "I don't have a plan, per say as much as I have ideas. First idea? We get rid of these chains. I don't like being restrained or bound against my will." Her eyes went dark as memories of being in a dungeon flashed through her mind. Pushing the thoughts out, she used her right hand to grab one of her kukris. Holding her left arm straight out. Bringing the extremely sharp edge of the kukri down quick and fast, she cut through with enough force behind the blow to cut through the bone. Cass let out a small painful grunting noise. This was a first for her. She had dislocated fingers and limbs to get out of restraints before, but never had she severed one. Her severed hand fell to the ground and blood poured out for a few seconds before it started healing and regenerating. A few minutes later she stood before him, her hand regrown and flexed her fingers, making sure that she had a full range of motion. "Second idea? We win this fight."   

The blood covered face of a madman grinned at Decoy. The Knives Man, in all his horrific glory stood just a few inches away from Decoy. The monster's teeth were made of broken blades that cut his mouth as he spoke, filling his mouth with blood, which overflowed onto Decoy's bare feet. "You're almost there, Decoy. So close to the edge that you'll fall. Victory will come, revenge, everything, but you will lose your pathetic little soul. A fair trade, no?" The Knives Man taunted, with a chuckle. Decoy could not say or do anything as the monster pulled out a large knife. "Don't worry." The Knives Man said with a sly blood covered grin. "You won't die again. Not today." And with that he plunged the knife into Decoy chest.
 
Decoy opened his eyes as the nightmare ended.  "That's it wake up."  Someone spoke from beside Decoy. The smell of fire and brimstone filled the room, filling Decoy's mind with thoughts of hell. He could hardly believe he was alive, let alone that he'd somehow won his match against the mysterious swordsman in the black desert. He briefly entertained the thought that he had lost and that this strange new arena was his own personal hell, but his new teammate quickly snapped him out of his trance.  "Nice nap sleeping beauty?  Come on, sit up."  The man spoke, poking Decoy. As Decoy opened his eyes the man helped him into a sitting position. Decoy's eyes widened as he stared at the new arena. Twelve large pillars surrounded the middle of the large hot metal circle of the arena. Strange shadows of a red tint surrounded the area, making it seem as the if the air itself where on fire. Decoy could not help but feel that he was very close to hell itself as the arena slowly moved around in a disorientating manner. 
 
Decoy turned to his partner who began to whisper.  "Ok, we don't got much time before this gets started so I'll keep this simple and we can learn more on the move.  I'm Overkill." Overkill was a rather tall, noble looking man, clad in red armor with a sword kept on his back and a simple black mask covering part of his face. He seemed trustworthy enough. "You can call me Elite." Decoy said, standing up.  "Ok, Elite it is then.  All I'll ask for now is where do you wanna keep this fight to start with?  Close, mid, or long range." Overkill asked, but before Decoy could respond he spotted his opponent. It was a large dragon, which dwarfed the figured the two figures that seem to be his true opponents. "Is that a freakin' dragon!?" Decoy yelped in fear. "What's your range!?" Overkill demanded, snapping Decoy out of his fear. "Oh, long range. Yeah, Long range is the best..." Decoy said, still staring at the imposing dragon.  "Ok, I can work with that for now.  Come on."  Overkill said, going into a fighting stance. Decoy sighed as he pulled out his gun.  "Stand behind me and get your guard up.  We'll let them come at us first.  See how they wanna play it.  Any information you wanna tell me, keep it as quiet as possible.  Don't wanna give them any advantages." Decoy nodded, going behind overkill. 
 
Decoy began to send a mental signal into Overkill's mind. "Listen up, I can't hear you thoughts but I can send you mine. Here's the plan, we keep out distance and try and make those guys take themselves out." Decoy explained as he cloaked himself and Overkill from their opponents' minds. As he did so, he felt a familiar mental presence. "Damn..........Huntress..." Decoy mumbled to himself as adrenaline pumped through his body. The Dark Huntress was one of the traitors from Warsman's attacks, one of Decoy's targets from so long ago. According to all the info he'd gotten she was a powerful and skilled opponent to say the least. "New plan." Decoy said to Overkill via mental signals. "You take on the dragon and it's rider. The girl is mine." Decoy slowly began to build up a very special mental bomb to use on Dark Huntress. She'd been though a lot of bad things, probably had a lot of bad memories. Memories Decoy planned to bring back the surface of her mind. Decoy gave a savage grin as he prepared to attack, he was so battle ready that he didn't even notice as the ring began to glow. He didn't notice at all the power he was gaining, nor what he was losing.

Cly listened as the Dark Huntress spoke. "I don't have a plan, per say as much as I have ideas. First idea? We get rid of these chains. I don't like being restrained or bound against my will." He was about to offer to cut her free when she withdrew a large knife and swung it toward her own hand. Slice! Her hand was cut clean off and fell down to the stone floor of the floating ring. Spurting blood, he watched as her cut arm easily slipped out of the metal cuff. Surprised with her unexpected action, he said, "If you had waited a second, I could have..." The exposed bone in her wrist began to extend out, then split into five parts, forming fingers. "Never mind." He pulled the loose chain on his right towards him, analyzing the make of the metal as the chains moved across the stone. "Oh, it's adamantium." He grabbed hold of the loose chain and spun it around his right arm. Watching as the skin covered the newly healed flesh on her hand, it appeared to him that her hand was fully healed. She said, "Second idea? We win this fight." He smiled. "As long as there is the faintest bit of life left in me, I’ll stay fighting."

He jumped up on Esmeralda's back. The chain between Dragon and Rider remained, along with the loose chain from the Dark Huntress. Esmeralda looked at the chains. >>Cly, the...chains?<< He spun a few feet of chain with his right hand. "I'll cut them later." >>Procrastinator.<< He leaned close to her and whispered some words. The green scaled Dragon looked at him with her glowing yellow eyes. >>That's crazy…you’re crazy!<< He smiled at the compliment. The Knight's peripheral vision changed, he turned to see that both Overkill and Decoy Elite had vanished. "HOLY ACTIVE CAMO!" He said loudly. "They cheated!" Esmeralda rolled her eyes. >>They are allowed to do that.<< Spinning the chain with his right hand, he took in a deep breath. “In that case, time for action!” Esmeralda took a few steps back, and wrapped her tail around one of the twelve pillars.

Crush! The pillar broke into hundreds of pieces from the crushing force of her tail. Some fragments fell down to the stone floor of the circular arena, while others toppled over the edge, forever lost. Moving the end of her tail around through the rubble, she grabbed tens of pieces of rubble of baseball size. On her back, the Rider swung the six foot chain previously attached to the Dark Huntress’ wrist, with a smile on his face. Esmeralda attempted to see where Overkill and Decoy Elite were using her full spectrum vision, which included radio, micro, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma waves. If she was able to see them, she would tell her Rider where they were so he would have a greater chance of success. Whether or not she was able to find them, Cly, with or without aiming help, flung the chain back and grabbed hold of one of the fragmented stones.

Sling! The rock was thrown out of the empty cuff like a sling shot, heading towards the side of the ring that Overkill and Decoy Elite were on. Continuing on, he threw all thirty one of the stone fragments that Esmeralda had found, hoping to at least get a single hit in. Swinging the chain back around his arm, he wiped some sweat from his forehead. His strategy had not been to hit Overkill or Decoy Elite (but would gladly appreciate any bonus hits), instead it was to produce a cloud of dust from the stone fragments as they shattered upon impact. This would hopefully allow Cly, Esmeralda, and the Dark Huntress to see parts of the air that were not thick with the stone dust, the places where an invisible body might hide. Looking for them in the dust, Cly said, “Can’t hide forever.”

Overkill watched as his opponents began to move about.  The man known only as Elite stood behind him with his pistol drawn.  An unbreakable chain connecting the two.  A large flying platform above a giant ball of celestial gas.  This was it, the beginning of his second match in this tournament.  The calm before the storm.  It seemed that everything went silent and all he had was the sound of his own voice in his head, except, he wasn't alone in there.  "Listen up, I can't hear your thoughts but I can send you mine.  We keep our distance and let those guys take themselves out."  Peter was slightly shocked.  He got paired with a telepath of some sort?  But not just that.  This was the first time someone else's words were activly being spoken in his head.  Not owning any mental abilities whatsoever, he spoke quietly.  "Weird, but I like it.  It'll cut down on time for you to relay information to me."   
 
He focused on the task at hand.  More specifically, he focused on the girl.  His thoughts drifted from the battle.  Wow.  That is one fine specimen of a lady.  Whew, I could fall in love with a girl like that.  Not to be corny, but if her looks could kill then she's got this tourney in the bag.  Ah, who am I kidding.  She's probably got a boyfriend...Or she'd just tell me she did to avoid talking to me...Or she'd just tell me to f#ck off.  Eh, toe-may-toe toe-mah-toe.  He watched as the enchanting young woman spoke words he couldn't hear before drawing a kukiri and chopping her own hand off to release her from her restraints.  WOAH!  Talk about your psycho ex's!  Jeez! Nevermind her telling me off, I'd be lucky to leave with my d#ck still attached!  D#mn!  As he watched her hand grow back, he remembered that he must fight her in just a few moments.  Oh great.  Healing factor.  God, I hate it when they don't stay down after I hit them with non-lethal force!  And that's an impressive one too.  Regrowing lost limbs?  Not your everyday, bargain bag healing there.  Also, slightly on the disgusting side.  Well, good part about this is I know if I hit her hard she wont die.  And I gotta fight my natural reactions to competition with women.  I can't go easy on her, she'll take my head off.  And I know that Mom would roll over in her grave if she knew I severly hurt a lady.  But it's a fighting tournament!  AND a matter of life and death!  She'll understand. At that moment, he heard Elite in his head again.  "D#mn... Huntress."  So the lady had a name?  Huntress.  Now, Peter wouldn't have to risk getting her mad during mid-fight banter by calling her Babe.  Nothing bad or sexist or perverted about it, he called girls Babe just like he called guys Homie.  He liked them better than dude.  Although, this has gotten him in trouble with some possesive boyfriends in the past.   
 
"New plan."  His cloaked partner spoke again.  "You take on the dragon and it's rider.  The girl is mine."  Peter could see a grin on his partners face after these words.  "Old girlfriend?  Just kidding of course.  You seem like you know what you're talking about."  Overkill watched as Cly climbed onto Esmeralda's back and began swinging the now loose chain.  He obviously was going to use it as a weapon.  "I know the dragon and rider pretty well.  I don't know how well he knows me however.  But, I'll stick with your plan Elite."  He watched as Esmeralda swung her mighty tail and crumbled one of the twelve stone pillars in a single hit, creating a large pile of rubble behind her.  Impressive Esmeralda.  Gunna have to see if I can hit harder than a dragon.  I welcome the challenge.  Before he could smile at the thought of tangling with a dragon, Cly flicked the chain backward collecting a baseball sized rock in the shackle.  Then, he brought his hand forward like a sling and sent the stone flying through the air across the platform.  Much to Overkill's amazement, the shot missed him by about twenty feet.  The second shot was even further away.  The third, however, was within five feet of the Crimson Crusader.   
 
He turned his head with a confused look on his face.  "Um... Can he see us?"  His answer was sent back to him mentally.  "Nope.  I've pretty much erased us from this arena from their point of view.  They don't sense us in any way. Sight, sound, all of it."  He was very intrigued at this fact.  "Wow.  Can't sense us at all huh?  Well, what about that?  Overkill indicated the large dust cloud that was forming from Cly's makeshift projectiles smashing upon the ground and slowly moving towards them.  "If that gets to us, wont they see the displacement of the dust around us?"  "No.  As far as they're concerned, we physically aren't here."  "But they know we are.  Which is why they're trying to flush us out."  "Exactly."  This was a nice experience for Peter.  He was usually very out in the open and his tactics suffered due to his opponents being able to react to his movements.  Now, he was invisible.  "I see.  So you're the cloak and I'm the cannon hidden by it."   
 
Overkill wanted to see just how effective this disguise was.  Esmeralda had exceptional eyes, able to see in many different spectrums of light.  Now that he was technically not there, light wouldn't reflect off of him in any spectrum rendering her sight useless.  "Make sure this attack stays invisible too."  A nod from his ally told him he was good to proceed.  He raised his uncuffed right hand and pointed it directly at the dragon's neck.  He knew she used a vocal device to communicate and although he was sure Cly was somehow able to understand her without it, Huntress wouldn't be able to.  It was all figurative, shuting down Esmeralda's ability to communicate with Cly and Huntress.  If it didn't work, it didn't matter.  Making sure the attack hit was the main objective.  It was sure to work.  How could it not? 

Cass continued to flex her fingers, ensuring that her hand had regenerated properly. This would be a bad time to find out that she had lost some of the range of motion in her hand upon it's regrowth or anything like that. Looking over at her teammates and new partners, her eyes widened in surprise at Cly's words. Her actions had been unnecessary. Too late. Mulling over her habit of acting first and asking questions later she shrugged slightly and watched and listened to his interactions with Esmeralda. They were so in sync with each other, had such an easy-going camaraderie. It was both a pleasure and amusing to see them interact. They had clearly been a team for a while and trusted each other without question. A small smile graced her face as she hoped that one day she would have that with somebody. Following that train of thought, her mind started drifting towards Ethan as Cly said something about adamantium. Snapping back to attention, Cass smiled at his words. "As long as there is the faintest bit of life left in me, I’ll stay fighting." 
 
"That is what I like to hear." Cass' hands went to the kukris sheathed at her hips, making sure that they were in place and position. Next she slid each of her guns out of the dual should holster, checking them to make sure that they were both fully loaded and ready to go. Satisfied with their condition, she slid them back into her holsters and turned to Cly, watching as he mounted the dragon. Cass watched as he took to the air and worked out her own little game plan. She had flight capabilities, she just chose not to use them. She was at home on the ground and close quarter combat was her specialty. All of a sudden her opponents disappeared into thin air. There was something hinky going on. It was either invisible forcefields like Rebbecca used or one of them had psionic capabilities. If it was the latter...it would make for quite an interesting fight. She had a little resistance and a few tricks of her own. Her eyes widened and her head snapped around as she heard a large crashing noise and she ended up whipping herself in the face with her hair. Smooth move, there. Real smooth. Pushing her hair out of her face, she watched as Esmeralda demolished the pillars. The rocky pieces cascaded down, some spilling into the battle arena as others fell off the edge and into oblivion. Cass refrained from looking over the edge, knowing that it could very well result in some form of vertigo, something that she couldn't afford right now.   
 
They were fast and they were sneaky, she would definitely give them credit for that. But they'd never dealt with somebody like her before. She had been trained in every sneaky and underhanded method that there was and she wasn't above putting them to use to win a fight. And apparently Cly had tactics as well. The throwing of stone fragments and dust was innovative and creative and impressive. She was all ready to use her enhanced senses to track them down and follow their movements. She had found that you could fool every radar system in the world but you could never really become truly invisible. There was always some trace left behind, whether it was a heat signature, the impression that footsteps made in the dirt or the little pitter patter of feet on the ground. Scenting the wind to try and track them, she was both amazed and worried to only find the scents of Cly and Esmeralda. That was new. Listening carefully, she couldn't hear their movements, either. That was...that was not good. She felt deaf and she didn't like it one single bit. Cass had never realized how much she relied on her senses until they were of no use to her at all. She found herself dependent on the dust left from the impact of the stone fragments to track her opponents at this point. Very little had made contact with them, but it was just enough for her keen eyesight to be able to notice.  "Can't hide forever."  
 
Her eyes narrowed as they caught movements in the air. She didn't like what she thought that she was seeing. There were weird voids, shapes that she couldn't quite make out. She thought that she saw what looked vaguely like an arm and she followed the direction that it seemed to be pointed in, her eyes landing on Esmeralda. Having no idea what may or may not be happening, she went with her gut. "Cly, Esmeralda, get clear, now!" She had no idea what attack was coming, only the general vicinity that it was coming from. Not waiting to see if it connected or not or even if they had heard her, she grabbed her guns and aimed them, letting loose a barrage of shot in the general direction of their foes. She didn't know if they were going to be able to protect themselves from the bullets and frankly, she didn't care. Her objective wasn't to hit them, it was to corral them. Cass wanted them away from Cly and Esmeralda and she wanted their exact location. Hopefully the gunfire would scare or jolt them enough to disconcert them, which she was hoping resulted in whatever was keeping them invisible from every sense stopping. If it was a mental power, there was a small likelihood that if the gunfire did jolt him, it would disrupt his abilities, resulting in her ascertaining their exact location.     

 "Old girlfriend?  Just kidding of course.  You seem like you know what you're talking about." Overkill asked with a chuckle as Decoy stood behind him glaring at Huntress.  "I know the dragon and rider pretty well.  I don't know how well he knows me however.  But, I'll stick with your plan Elite." Overkill said watching the dragon rider mount his steed. Decoy nodded as he savagely grinned to himself. He would use this tournament to make Huntress pay for her past crimes, he would make her suffer before this battle's end. Suddenly there was a loud crash as the dragon slammed down on of the pillars with it's tail. Decoy tried to ignore the beast, focusing more on preparing his mental attack against Huntress. But then a slab of rock slammed into the ground a few feet from Decoy, then another slammed a few more feet away. Decoy frowned as he quickly realized the rider's plan, the dust would fill the air and then Decoy and Overkill's "camouflage" would be useless. A good plan against any method of stealth besides Decoy's. There lack of appearance was all in his opponents heads, a  perfect illusion that wouldn't be hampered by something as simple as a cloud of dust.  Decoy grinned as he brought his attention to Huntress once more. 
 
She looked a tad bit confused as she strolled around looking for Decoy and Overkill. Decoy silently chuckled to himself as he watched her try and spot them. Clearly she, like her teammate, thought the source of Decoy's invisibility was some sort of cloaking system."Um... Can he see us?"  Overkill nervously chimed in. Decoy sighed as he sent a message to Overkill's mind.  "Nope.  I've pretty much erased us from this arena from their point of view.  They don't sense us in any way. Sight, sound, all of it."   Decoy calmly explained.  "Wow.  Can't sense us at all huh?  Well, what about that? If that gets to us, wont they see the displacement of the dust around us?" Overkill asked motioning towards the ever growing dust cloud. Decoy shook his head in response.  "No.  As far as they're concerned, we physically aren't here."   "But they know we are.  Which is why they're trying to flush us out."  "Exactly."   Overkill seemed to grin at that, as if he just realized the implications of being unseen by their opponents.  "I see.  So you're the cloak and I'm the cannon hidden by it."  
 
Before Decoy could respond Overkill suddenly moved, preparing for some kind of attack.  "Make sure this attack stays invisible too." Decoy frowned, attacks were much harder to hide them people. They usually involved flashes of light, sparks, and other things that the mind naturally tended not to ignore. As Decoy began buffing up the cloaking around himself and Overkill he noticed Huntress creeping ever closer. He cursed to himself as Overkill prepared to let louse his attack.  "Cly, Esmeralda, get clear, now!" Huntress yelled sending a barrage of bullets at Decoy's general vicinity. Decoy cursed as he ducked to the ground, bullets whizzing past him. He glared at Huntress, focusing on her head. "Time to pay for your crimes, you crazy little..." Decoy mumbled as to himself as he had a Decoy appear behind Huntress firing it's own barrage of bullets at the back of her head. It was time to go on the offensive. 
 
"Did you honestly think you were the only one who had a way to get out of the chains?" The Decoy asked with a gran over the sound of his gunfire. "Honestly, you're out of your league here." The Decoy quickly disappeared and reappeared behind Huntress once more. Decoy made sure to shield the Decoy's presence from the dragon and rider, he couldn't have them interfere with his plans. "You see," The Decoy taunted further. "For all the training you've gotten, for all the people you've killed, you're still human......Cass." Decoy grinned at Huntress's glaring face.  "Human..quite possibly. Humane? Not a bit."  She shot back, clearly about to attack. "You're wondering how I know your name right? Well, I've got bad news, that's not all I know." The Decoy commented as the real Decoy Elite let loose his mental attack at Huntress. 
 
It's so much easier to bring up a horrible memory when you know what it is. Decoy had read Huntress's file, he knew all about how her family had been murdered, how it had effected Huntress's mind. The mental bomb he sent at Huntress was far different from the one he had used to defeat his last opponent. This bomb targeted one certain memory, trying to drag it to the forefront of Huntress's mind. The memory of her family, the memory of their horrible deaths. "The screams won't end until you give up." The Decoy said savagely grinning at Huntress. "I'll make sure of it."  The ring on Decoy's finger glowed ever so slightly as he pushed against Huntress's mental defenses.

Searching for Overkill and his partner was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Near impossible, unless the searcher had a magnet. Cly felt around in one of his pockets, and remembered that he had left all of his magnets on the refrigerator back in his room. He shook his head side to side, and thought about plan B. Let himself step on the needle. With each step, the green Dragon moved lightly on her clawed feet, and was nearing the center of the circular arena. Esmeralda said to Cly, >>Can you cut the chains now?<< He twirled the loose chain around his wrist. "Not yet." Looking back over his shoulder at Huntress, he saw that she was looking in the dust and debris that had been thrown by the Knight's make-shift slingshot. Also looking in the dust, but having no progress, was Esmeralda. She thought it very strange that she was not able to see either of them, using her full spectrum vision. The teenage Dragon slowed her walk, and said, in her native tongue, in case the two were listening, [[All my senses tell me that those two are not here, but I know they are, I can feel the faint presence of darkness in my light infused blood.]] Her native tongue consisted of growls, screeches, hisses, and roars. Riding on her back, Cly started was about to respond when he heard the Huntress shout.

"Cly, Esmeralda, get clear, now!" Taking evase of action, Esmeralda thrust her wings out, and propelled herself up into the air. Only a few feet off the ground, she felt a few of her scales take a powerful blunt force, which sent a strong pain through her neck, and missed smashing her communication device by a hair. The attack had been strong enough to make the mighty Dragon's neck move to the side a considerable amount. On her back, the Rider heard her pain and could tell that she had taken some sort of attack directly. Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound of bullets filled the air, as the Huntress began to open fire near where she thought the attacker could be. The critical question was, did the attack come from long range, or was it a close range attack? He looked at the direction her head was moving back, and made a perpendicular line in his mind from the side of her neck to gauge the possible path of the foe, assuming the attack had been delievered in a straight line. He didn't have much time to think about how he would respond, so he came to a decision in less than a second.

Throw! Moving in a slight arc throw the air to the ground, feet below, a small, tubular grenade hit the stone floor and exploded. Flash! Both Dragon and Rider covered their eyes for a moment, cautious to not get caught in the blinding flash. What Cly had thrown was a flashbang. According to tests, the flash created by this non-lethal grenade could, at point blank range, cause temporary blindness for up to twenty minutes or more. Esmeralda had tucked the tip of her right wing down, creating a wall in between the flash and the Huntress, so as not to blind his own team mate, even if the blinding from the flash would be much less at that range. The reason he had thrown the flashbang so close to Esmeralda is that he thought that the attacker was more likely to perform a physical attack, being over confident in his cloaking ability. Hurt, Esmeralda saw a hand signal from her Rider, and spun around in a three sixty, in mid-air. She would attempt to smash one or both of the foes with her tail, swinging in excess of two hundred miles per hour. If successful, the Dragon would not feel her tail make contact with Overkill.

Hovering tens of feet above the arena, Esmeralda said to Cly, >>I didn't feel anything with my tail.<< The Dragon turned her neck, and said painfully, >>My neck...it feels like I was hit by a truck.<< She chewed on the adamantium shackle with her white, razor sharp teeth. >>Please could you cut this off, it is driving me insane.<< He unsheathed his sword. "Here it goes." Moving the tip of the double edged sword to the shackle, he cleared his mind of thoughts, and focused only on how sharp the blade was. He told himself that his sword was sharp enough to cut through anything, and he believed it with all of his heart. The edge of the blade became thinner, and thinner, without losing any strength. Cut! One swift motion, and the adamantium shackle was cut in half. While he was at it, Cly cut both of the shackles on his wrists, but kept the chains. He thought they might come in handy later. Only spending a few moments airborne, Cly looked at the Dark Huntress, and tried to remember her name. "What is her name...?" >>It starts with a C, and it's not Cly.<< "Come on, that was going to be my first guess! Is it Crystal?" >>No.<< "Catherine?" >>No.<< "I give up." >>Cass.<< "Got it." He looked toward Cass, and she was standing still. [[Time to light it up?]] "Affirmative."

Esmeralda dove down toward the Huntress, and landed to the ground behind her. Cly let himself down, and stood close to Cass. She seemed to be in thought. Behind them, the green Dragon lit the spark inside her lungs, and ignited her flame. Breathing out a long, blazing hot pillar of fire, she turned her head and neck in an attempt to cover the entire arena in two thousand five hundred degree fire. Cly said to Cass, "Don't breathe." To protect them from the fire, Esmeralda attempted to suck all the oxygen out of the air around them, so that the fire could not burn them. If her attack was a success, the twelve fires that once lit the ring would be lost within single, blazing fire covering the entire arena. The circular arena was stable, or was it? The ring began to rotate, and would be upside down in less than thirty seconds. 

Being invisible was an odd feeling for Overkill.  But, it was a feeling he was planing to use to he advantage as much as possible.  He raised his hand to give a single energy blast to the neck of the mighty dragon Esmeralda.  As he was aiming his shot, he heard something that he wasn't expecting.  The woman known as Huntress somehow saw something that gave him away and yelled to warn Cly.  "Cly, Esmeralda, get clear, now!"  Sh!t.  As the dragon began to take flight, Peter knew he would miss his chance to get his hit off if she got away.  He quickly let loose his shot and it made contact with it's target.  The red beam of energy hit the dragon's neck like a fast moving truck and she recoiled in the opposite direction showing signs of much pain.  Before Peter could attack again, he was forced on the defensive.  Huntress began firing a barrage of bullets in his direction.  The first two hit his infraglium chestplate and bounced off, although she would see it as the bullets hitting nothing.  He noticed Elite, his partner, duck to avoid the bullets, but it didn't matter.  She saw Overkill move.  She was aiming at him.  Or where she thought he was.   
 
He raised his left arm to his face and the adamantium shackle deflected another bullet.  As he looked at Elite, he noticed he had no protective clothing whatsoever.  Crap, I need him alive.  Overkill positioned himself between Elite and Huntress, down on one knee with his forearms crossed in a x shape in front of his face.  Several bullets bounced off of his armor in various areas, but one managed to make contact.  His thighs were exposed and a shot grazed the outside part of his right one.  He was bleeding, not too bad, but it hurt like hell.  He then saw something that was very weird.  Huntress clearly had knowledge of where he was, but she turned around and began shooting behind herself like there was someone else there.  She continued to spin and fire in seemingly random directions until she just stopped moving altogether.  The look on her face, it was like she just witnessed something horrible... Like a box of kittens in a blender... Or maybe she would think that was funny?  Whatever, it was something bad though.  He then remembered he was working with a telepath.  No doubt, it was one of his tricks, or several.   
 
He became too focused on one enemy, he barely saw that Cly was throwing something in his direction.  As it hit the ground and bounced, Peter knew exactly what it was.  "GRENADE!"  He turned around quickly and dove, tackling Elite and carrying him off the edge of the platform.  They fell just below the ground as the grenade exploded.  Flash grenade?  Good thing I got us out of there.  We'd be blind right now and that's NEVER a good situation.  Wait.  Falling.  That's my job.  As he remembered that he had to save himself and his partner from falling into a ball of fire and gas, he began flying, making a wide arc to position himself at a higher angle to look down at the platform from about 100 feet away.   
 
He was carrying Elite in his arms and knew this would restrict him from battle, so he thought of the only way that he could keep him safe while not just dangling him by the chain.  "Ok, don't worry.  I'm not gunna drop you, but I need you to get on my back.  I need my hands."  He helped Elite rotate around his body so that he was hanging on with his arms around Peter's neck and his legs around his midsection.  Overkill thought to himself, This is so gay.  But, it's either this or I'm in this fight alone.  It doesn't matter.  We're invisible.  No one will know.  He made a noise while gasping for air.  "Elite!  Easy on the throat!"  "Oh!  Sorry!"  Elite loosened his grip and Peter could breath freely again.  He turned to see that the platform had become a swirling pillar of fire.  Obviously it was Esmeralda.  Cly and Huntress would somehow be safe from the effects of being in a tornado of flame.   
 
He watched as something very peculiar began to happen.  The platform began to flip!  Slowly, but it was going to flip over.  Overkill smiled as he spoke to Elite again.  "You a good shot with that pistol of yours?"  Elite seemed offended as he mentally spoke to Peter.  "Would I have it if I wasn't?"  "Good point.  Well, shoot when I tell you to, got it?"  Elite nodded.  "Ok.  Hang on-BUT DON'T CHOKE ME!"  Elite drew his pistol and Overkill began flying to the side of the platform that was rising.  "What do you say we help this, huh?"  He flew towards the platform's underside and once he was in range... BOOM!  He delivered a right handed uppercut with all his strength to the platform and  darted away so the flipping platform wouldn't hit him.  As he was flying away from the stone platform, he flew a little below it and turned to face it.  The sudden flip would no dount make his opponents fall towards the gas giant below.  Esmeralda would fly and probably catch Cly.  If Huntress could, she would fly as well.  "Now! Shoot! Shoot 'em now!"  He yelled as Elite took aim over Peter's shoulder and began firing.  Overkill would do the same with short bursts of energy.  His target?  Esmeralda's wings. 

 Cass stood there, her arm extended as she fired a blaze of gunfire around the arena, hoping to tag or at least surprise her opponents. She didn't take the time to check to see if Esmeralda and Cly had listened to her and gotten clear, she kept all of her focused attention on spraying as many bullets across the arena in as small an amount of time as possible. Her arm was held straight and steady barely moving with each recoil of the gun as she continued spraying the arena with bullets. Her ears perked up when she heard a voice. "Did you honestly think you were the only one who had a way to get out of the chains?" Cass pointed the gun to where she thought that the sound was coming from and suddenly somebody appeared in front of her. It took a split second for her mind to process what was happening. Why would he suddenly give up the charade? What was this? It had to be some sort of trick. "Honestly, you're out of your league here." Before she could get a bead on him he disappeared, reappearing nearly as quickly in a different position. "You see, for all the training you've gotten, for all the people you've killed, you're still human......Cass."  She glared at him, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. She had no idea who, or what, this person was but he thought he knew who she was. He may know her name, he may know some of her past, but he would never truly know her. She came back with a slightly witty retort to try and buy her time as she attempted to figure out what exactly was going on. How the hell did he know her name? The reason she was so good at her job, one of the many reasons she functioned so well withing Shadow Squad was because very few people in the hero community actually knew who she was. Sure they may have heard her name bandied about, but she made very few actual appearances. So how the hell did this guy know who she was without her having any idea about him? "Human..quite possibly. Humane? Not a bit." Gambler had programmed that into her. The instinct to kill had always been deep within her and he had honed it to a fine sharp edge.  "You're wondering how I know your name right? Well, I've got bad news, that's not all I know." 
 
 Before she could react at all, she found herself being mentally attacked. She continued shooting aimlessly for about ten seconds before she gained enough control over herself to drop the gun. The force of the attack was too much for her limited resistance and it cut through her mind like a hot knife through butter. She fell down to her knees, the rocky stone floor of the arena biting into them. Her eyes were blank, staring straight ahead but not seeing anything other than the memory that was replaying itself in her head. It was as if it was happening all over again, she was literally re-living the memory. Cass was transported back to the age of nine. It was Sunday night and her entire family was there. Her father was sitting at the head of the enormous table, her mother at his right hand side. Her Uncle Roger was to his right and his wife Alice was sitting next to him. Her Aunt Kate was sitting next to her mom and her husband Jeremy was next to her.  Ashley, her mother's "hip" young sister who had just enrolled in the Police Academy was sitting next to Alice and across from Jeremy, who was Cassidy's father's brother. Next to Ashley was Jake, her mother's younger brother and across from him was was his fiancee, Heather. That was it for the adults. At the other end of the table were the children and teenagers. They were ranging in age from Aidan, her older brother who was seventeen to Meg, Kate and Jeremy's baby daughter. In between all that was Patrick, her other brother who was sitting next to Jake. The rest of the kids were moving around the table, restless as usual. There were six others, seven if you counted Kate's pregnancy. Five-year-old Cat was playing under the table with seven-year-old Sean and you could hear her squeal as he pulled a pigtail. Their family was used to shenanigans like this and didn't pay it any mind. Cass was sitting next to Aidan and kicked his leg under the table. "What was that for?" He asked her, his mouth full of spaghetti. "I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't do anything," she answered, her voice clear and innocent. She caught a look out of the corner of her eye. It was her mother and she was trying to hold back the grin on her face. She was about to turn and say something to her mother when everything fell apart.  
 
Cass heard the front door slam open and everybody's heads snapped up. It was a tall man draped in shadows. Her keen eyes immediately picked up the fact that he was wearing some sort of body armor. He had a gun in each hand, her eyes saw it and immediately identified them as some sort of semi-automatic. They had serious firepower. What...what was he doing here? The second that her family saw the weapons the majority of them pulled their's. It may be a Sunday family dinner but they were cops at heart and by trade, the didn't go many places unarmed and that included the dinner table. Guns were raised and Cass jumped in alarm as a few shots were fired, but it was too little, too late. He had already opened fire. The first one down was Ashley with a bullet clean through the forehead. Panic erupted at that point. People made moves to get to their children and protect them, others made moves to protect their spouses. It was all for naught as the mysterious assassin took them out one by one, sometimes two by two. He was a remarkable shot. Aidan burst into action, grabbing Cass from around the waist and running with her, trying to get her to the panic room that their parents had set up in case something like this were to ever happen. She was looking over his shoulder when she saw it coming. She opened her mouth to yell a warning at him but it was too late. The bullet went through the back of his head, exiting out the front and blowing blood and brain matter everywhere, the blood spraying all over her face, her eyes wide in shock. Her brother's dead body fell to the ground with her still trapped in his arms. Cass lay there, pinned underneath him, not moving. She struggled to breathe, shock setting in and his dead weight crushing her. She lay there for five minutes, listening to gunshots in the background, before the man came back. He crouched down next to her brother's dead body and gently pushed it off of her. She could breathe at last and took in deep gasps of air.  
 
Her eyes shot open as she snapped back to the here and now. What the f@ck had just happened? She was groggy and stunned and the first words that she heard were "Don't breathe." Without thinking, she immediately wrapped herself in a telekinetic bubble. There was a huge fireball rolling around the arena, sucking up oxygen and growing in size. And that wasn't the only thing. The arena was slowly but surely starting to turn. That was a clever little twist. She sat up, her head in her hands and realized where she was. Her eyes narrowing in anger as she closed everything out and concentrated. She sent out a large telepathic burst, the strongest one that she was capable of, in the hopes that it would be able to break through whatever illusion was being cast at least for a moment. She was in luck. For a brief second she was able to glimpse her teammate Overkill and the unknown man whom he was teamed up with. "Cly! Over there!" She yelled, pointing to the two of them in mid-air. Her eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of metal gleaming in the light of the fire. "They have a gun! Watch yourself!"

 
Decoy laughed victoriously as Huntress stopped moving, caught in her own past. Decoy gave a savage grin as his illusion walked behind Huntress, gun in hand. The decoy leaned down and whispered into Huntress's ear, full well knowing she couldn't hear him. "I can't let a traitor like you win. I won't have it. I'll meet up with you in Hell, traitor." The illusion stood up and placed his gun against Cass's head. "You won't know it's fake. It'll feel all too real for you. At least it will be quick, more than you deserve."
 
"GRENADE!" Overkill yelled, snapping Decoy out of his revenge induced trance. Overkill tackled Decoy, pushing him over the edge of the platform. Decoy suddenly became aware of his new found fear of heights. Just as doom filled Decoy's mind Overkill lifted him into the air, flying him to safety. They stopped 100 feet away from the platform as Overkill stood in silent thought. Decoy frowned, the sudden jerk in motions had nearly destroyed his illusion of invisibility. He'd barely been able to keep it stable. But before Decoy could buff the shield up, Overkill spoke once more.  "Ok, don't worry.  I'm not gunna drop you, but I need you to get on my back.  I need my hands." Decoy nodded flipping onto Overkill's back, grasping his neck. Decoy looked down and fear filled his mind. It was quite a fall. Decoy quickly clamped onto Overkill's neck even harder.  "Elite!  Easy on the throat!"  "Oh!  Sorry!"  Decoy loosened his grip as he stared down at the platform, which was now covered in towering flames, except for one point. Huntress and the dragon rider seemed to be completely shielded from the flames. Decoy let out a muffled curse as he watched Huntress begin to stir. It seemed that she had broken through his illusion after all. 
 
Then, suddenly the platform began to move, slowly beginning to  flip completely over, threatening to send Decoy's opponents into the whirling vortex below. Overkill gave a grin as he turned his head towards Decoy.  "You a good shot with that pistol of yours?" He asked.  "Would I have it if I wasn't?"  Decoy sent his message to Overkill's mind as he pulled out his pistol.  "Good point.  Well, shoot when I tell you to, got it?"  Decoy nodded.  "Ok.  Hang on-BUT DON'T CHOKE ME!" Decoy let out a sigh as he took aim. Overkill began flying towards the platform as Decoy continued to focus on his enemies positions.  "What do you say we help this, huh?" Overkill said, slamming into the platform flipping it completely upside down, sending their opponents towards the vortex at quick speed.  "Now! Shoot! Shoot 'em now!"  Overkill yelled as he sent his own blast of energy at the dragon's flapping wings. "If this doesn't work." Decoy sent to Overkill. "Then get the heck out of here, I've got a new plan." A savage grin covered Decoy's face as he fired at the dragon's neck, his bullets cloaked by his illusions.

Blaze! The burning inferno covered the entire arena, burning anything and everything, that is, except for the small area where Esmeralda had sucked the oxygen out of the air. In that area, stood Cly and Cass, their clothes not even singed from the heat. With one breath, the mighty Dragon took in all the flames, and the fire covering the arena was gone. The Knight breathed in fresh air, and felt revived as the new oxygen rushed to his brain. All three looked over the circle, and saw no signs of two burning bodies. Shift! The arena began to turn, the side that the three were standing on lowering, the angle of slope increasing. Esmeralda and Cass immediately noticed the movement, but Cly did not take notice, as his natural balance adjusted without him thinking about it. "I'm guessing they took the fire escape?" Before anyone could respond, the ground beneath their feet dropped.

Slam! On the other side of the arena, a blunt force struck the underside of the arena with great force, causing the slope that was increasing on the three to dramatically increase, taking the platform out beneath their feet. With no footing to stand, the gravity from the gas giant beneath them pulled them down. Catch! The green scaled Dragon caught her Rider, and offered to catch Cass if she was not able to fly on her own. Reaching into one of his numerous pockets, he pulled out a small video-camera, and turned it on, thinking to himself how many hits on Youtube this footage could get. Making her way back towards the circular arena, Esmeralda circled around the circular arena, keeping her eyes peeled.

Riding on Esmeralda's back or near her, Cass yelled out, " Cly, over there!" He looked, and didn't see anything. Cass called out, "They have a gun! Watch yourself!" Flash! Light from incoming blasts were not fully cloaked, and the Rider made a mental image, tracing the paths back to where they came from. Simultaneously, Esmeralda analyzed the partially exposed attack, and thought about protecting what could prove to be the most important tool in this fight, her wings. She withdrew them falling down through the air, and wasn't hit. Pierce! Sharp pain hit her neck, and she winced in pain. She felt blood trickle down her throat. Bullets, it must have been cloaked bullets, and the only way one could have gotten through was hit the area that had already been damaged earlier. Esmeralda knew that she should have protected her neck better, but why hadn't she? Zap! Inside her throat, the blood had covered her communication device. >>Cly...Cass...my voice device...is damag...<< She could no longer use her device, cutting off her communications to the Dark Huntress.

Standing on his Dragon's back, Cly ran his right hand along her head. "It's okay girl, we'll make it through. I have another plan." He turned to Cass, "Thanks for warning me of their attacks." He paused, then continued. "Help me triangulate their position, and follow Esmeralda's lead." The three of them quickly combined all three of their views on the positions of Overkill and Decoy. [[And what is it I do?]] The Knight said in her native tongue, [[Under and behind.]] He jumped off of her back towards her tail, and cried out, "Throw me!" Fling! Shot through the air similar to the rocks before, Cly flew towards where the three of them best thought Overkill and Decoy Elite were. In his left hand, was the video-camera, still recording. Glance! The camera came between his line of sight and the two opponents. Cly was surprised, thinking to himself, 'Dude! The camera shows all!' Thinking quick, he pulled out a small roll of duct tape, and ripped a piece off with his teeth. Wrapping the piece around his head, he secured the video-camera to his head, having less than a second until he reached Overkill and Decoy.

"Surprise!" Pepper spray shot towards the two challengers, hoping to get in their eyes. Using this as a distraction, Cly would look through the camera to locate them, and use the adamantium chains wrapped around his body to try and grab hold of them. He thought that he would have a good chance at grabbing onto them with the chains because they would not expect for him to be able to see them. If the Knight managed to grab hold of one, or both of them, he would launch off a series of close range attacks. First, he would use his momentum and attempt to drive both of his knees into the solar plexus of Overkill and Decoy. After, he would send two cross jabs towards each of their faces, with enough force to knock a normal human out. Whether or not these attacks hit, this would surely cause a distraction.

Rise! Coming up behind where Overkill and Decoy Elite were, based on where Cly was, were Esmeralda and Cass. Grabbing a hold of the tape and camera with his right hand, he ripped it off his head, taking off some of his hair. Tossing it to Cass, he then swung his sword with his left hand, ready to take off any pesky fingers that may try to grab it along the way. "Take them down!"

Sometimes when you're a hero, you find yourself in a situation where you think to yourself that stopping a bank robbery would be great.  Or that a pesky purse snatcher would just light up your day.  Some mundane little crimes that kind of make the days go by when there's nothing else to do.  When do you wish for boring things?  In messed up, ridiculous,  who-thought-up-this-crap? kind of situations.  For instance, being shackled to a man you've never met and told to fight your own team mates, one being a telepath and the other being a super tough SOB with a dragon, on a platform that is floating about 500 feet above a random gas planet that would ultimately mean death to whomever should fall into it.  Yep... Purse snatchers sound PARTICULARLY lovely right about now. 

 
A barrage of energy blasts and bullets fell upon the dragon Esmeralda, her rider Cly, and their partner only known as Huntress.  Their opponents?  The Blood-red Brawler of the Champions of Peace and earth's Mightiest Mortal, Overkill.  Oh, and this guy Elite who's particularly good with illusions.  All joking aside, however, if it wasn't for Elite, Overkill might be dead.   Overkill rained down energy blasts aiming for the dragon's wings which became difficult when she folded them in and began to dive.  He thought he saw blood flowing from her neck.  Could it have been from his shot earlier?  No way of knowing now.  Overkill lost sight of Huntress in Elite's muzzle flash as he fired a lot of rounds at her.  A smile found it's way onto Overkill's face.  He looked back at Elite and said "See that?! We got 'em on the run! WOOO!!"   

His celebration was cut short when he saw Esmeralda's tail whip suddenly.  He was confused until he saw the unmistakable form of Cly flying at him at an alarming speed.  "Suprise!"  F#ck.  Overkill put his hands up to block a possible attack.  Unfortunately, this wasn't an attack that could be blocked so easily.  The dead give away was the smell.  Pepper spray.  Son of a-D#MN THAT SUCKS!  Although it wasn't a direct hit, the after effect of being around recently fired pepper spray began to effect Overkill.  The invisible cloud of mace caused his eyes to water, his nose to sting, and a unbearable scratchy feeling in the back of his throat.  Being that close, Elite would suffer the same effects and so would Cly if he ended up lingering around.  A thought that was confirmed be a sudden knee to Peter's solar plexus.   
 
The knee wasn't as bad as it could have been seeing as it had dragon tail whip momentum.  But Overkill's infraglium breastplate covered about half of his solar plexus.  Goes to show what a good designer Peter is that he wouldn't protect the whole thing.  Cly's knee should be hurting, that's a plus.  But, as always with Cly, any celebration is short lived.  A sudden punch to the jaw nearly put Overkill down for the count.  To use a UFC term, he was slightly "rocked" from the sudden strike.  Overkill had also noticed that his right hand was randomly wrapped up in another adamantium chain.  This was probably Cly ensuring his ability to stay with Overkill and Elite.   
 
"Take them down!"  Cly's voice rang out in the endless space that they were floating in.  Overkill heard one wing beat from behind him that gave his plan away.  Oh God d#mn this tournament.  Peter saw a black blurr being thrown by Cly over to the dragon and possibly Huntress.  The ring of Cly drawing his sword and swinging at the air caused Overkill to do the first thing that came to mind.  As Cly's hand came down from his swing, Overkill made an attempt to catch his wrist and perform a simple Hapkido joint lock that could have one of two effects.  1:  Make Cly drop his sword. 2:  Break Cly's wrist.   
 
Peter had to somehow stop whatever Esmeralda and/or Huntress were planning.  He tried to put Cly in a full Nelson and used him as a shield.  "Elite! Calling an audible!  Gun!  Head!"  Hoping that Elite would put his gun up to Cly's head.  He then whispered to him. "If you pull the trigger, you're gone."  Overkill started flying backwards towards the platform with Cly in hand.  "What's that plan you had in mind and will it still work?" 

 She was still trying to collect herself, glad that she had been able to get the warning off in time, hoping that she had been able to get the warning off in time, hoping that it had been fast enough for Cly and Esmeralda to react. Her upper lip curled in an automatic reaction of distaste. Her empath had for some reason just flared, her head and heart filled with thoughts and feelings of utter revulsion....for her. This unknown man, he hated her to her very core. Hated everything that she was, everything that she stood for, everything that she did. The feelings of complete and utter disgust that he felt for her, they were worrisome. It meant that it was personal for him, although the mental bomb loaded with the memory of the night her family was massacred in front of her should have been a hint. He was privy to classified information, which meant that not only was he determined, but he had some pretty vast resources. He was intent on destroying her in one way or another and that was something that she wouldn't stand for. Cass didn't fight fire with fire, she fought it in turn with sneaky underhanded methods and with what was tantamount to nuclear explosions. She took fire and she raised it to a new degree. She didn't know who he was but she would do everything in her power to find out after this. And once she did find out, well, things would go from there. It was quite obvious that he was a threat though, and she didn't take kindly to threats.  
 
Snapping out of her thoughts, Cass stood up, looking over to her teammate. t that moment that an ominous creaking noise started sounding throughout the arena."What the..." Her words were cut short as the arena started slowly rotating. "Well....this is going to be interesting, to say the least." She gave Cly a slight nod and a quick wave of her hand as he offered her a ride on Esmeralda; it was time to test out rusty and unused skills.She didn't have a lot of experience using her telekinesis to fly, she never really needed it, her enhanced reflexes suited her needs quite well. But it was times like this when she was grateful for not only the added ability to fly, but the impenetrable shield that it provided her with. Grinning, she felt the energy coursing through her, making her feel more alive then ever as she started levitating above the floor of the arena, slowly gaining altitude as Esmeralda flew around her, circling.  It was then that she was snapped out of her reverie as she heard a thudding noise mixed with some squishing.   >>Cly...Cass...my voice device...is damag...<< Oh. Well, that's not good, was all she could think to herself.  
 
"Thanks for warning me of their attacks." She gave him a slight nod, indicating that it was no problem at all. "Help me triangulate their position, and follow Esmeralda's lead." Cass went up a little higher in the air, trying to get a better bead on where exactly her opponents were and knowing that it was a mostly futile effort. Her eyes narrowed as she felt..something and she pointed her finger to a spot towards the side of the arena as she met Cly's eyes. A look of mutual understanding passed between the two of them and Cly and Esmeralda executed a nearly flawless sort of human/dragon slingshot attack. It was visually dynamic and she prayed that it was effective. This fight, it was not what she had been expecting at all. Never mind the being chained to somebody, no matter how short lived that was, but she had been expecting brawlers, big physical fighters. Her comforts lay with physical fighting, she wasn't completely used to her limited mental abilities and didn't care for using them in battle. Close quarter combat was her specialty and it was what she was most comfortable doing. She watched in awe as he improvised with the video camera, her eyes narrowing as she paid close attention from her spot up in the sky. It was brilliant. That matched with the numerous attacks he launched in short consecutive order made her take stock for a second. She had never really noticed him before. That sounded horrible in her head, but it was the truth. This battle had opened her eyes. He and his dragon were both great combatants, able to think outside of the box and calm under stressful situations. She would be happy to fight by his side again.  "Take them down!" 
 
"Consider it done." Smiling at her cue, she lowered herself so that she was hovering about ten feet above where Cly was, Esmeralda close to her. Cly meant business and so did she. It was time to whip out some of the big guns. Cass automatically checked to make sure her guns were secure, it was force of habit. You never went anywhere with weapons just dangling around, that was poor form. Unless of course they were swords or the like. She closed her eyes and concentrated, envisioning the arena and where Cly was currently positioned. This was one of the larger-scale attacks that she had tried and she was going to do her best to direct it around Cly and Esmeralda, saving them from any potential damage. But there was always a slight risk. She sent out an enormous telekinetic burst, possibly the largest that she had ever used. She did her best to direct it around where Cly was and towards the invisible men who were somewhere on the platform. She had no idea where the tricky one was but she knew that the one Cly was fighting must be Overkill. He could take damage and this was about winning, it wasn't about being friends with people you happened to be on the same team with. The burst was spread low and wide and would hopefully, at the very least, knock their sense of balance off. She was hoping it would do more than that, but she knew that making them trip over themselves would be both useful and amusing.     

Decoy was silent in thought, his eyes closed as he thought of his next move. It would be dangerous, more so than everything else he’d pulled today. It might not even work, but if it did victory would be one step closer. Decoy opened his eyes as Overkill’s cheering snapped him out of his dark thoughts. See that?! We got 'em on the run! WOOO!!" Overkill yelled happily. It seemed that their attacks had been on target and the dragon had been injured. Suddenly the dragon whipped back into the air and flew strait at Decoy and Overkill. "Surprise!"   The dragon rider said with glee as he sent a cloud of mace Decoy and Overkill’s way. Decoy tried covering his eyes in vain but was hit right in the eye. Before he could react he felt a knee slam into his stomach. How did they…. Is all Decoy could think as a fist slammed towards his face. Decoy ducked just in time, barely dodging the fist. "Take them down!" The rider yelled as he struggled again Overkill. Decoy smartly, dodged to the side, hanging onto Overkill’s back using him as a human shield . "Elite! Calling an audible!  Gun!  Head!"  Overkill yelled as the dragon and Huntress started flying up behind the trio. Decoy reacted rather quickly, pointing his gun at the rider’s head.   "If you pull the trigger, you're gone." Overkill whispered to Decoy. Decoy sighed to himself, this was why he avoided making friends, they complicated things.   "What's that plan you had in mind and will it still work?"  Overkill asked as he tried to flee, Huntress and the dragon looming ever closer. Decoy gave a savage grin as he sent a message into Overkill ’ s mind. “ Yes, and better than ever, fly low and don ’ t go near the dragon. ”

Before Decoy could put his plan into action he was pulled away from his mental preparation by the feeling of a telepathic charge, someone was preparing something, something big. Decoy turned to Huntress just in time to watch her send out the pulse. An enormous telekinetic burst blasted towards Decoy and Overkill. Decoy cursed as he tried to block it with his new mental shielding. The shield was weak, but then again, he had just learned it. It took the most off the pulse, but quickly shattered. Decoy screamed in pain as his arm was hit, slicing it open, blood flowing outward. Decoy grimaced and held back the pain as he ripped apart his shirt what was left to his bloody wound. The blood flow had lessoned but it would clearly be taking its toll later on. Decoy glared at Huntress from across the arena, her confident face filled him with rage. “I’m ending this.” Decoy said as he created an illusion of himself in front of the dragon and Huntress.

Decoy’s powers were quite confusing to understand, even before he’d gained the ring which increased them significantly. It was always assumed that Decoy was a one trick pony, an illusionist and only an illusionist. But this assumption was the one thing Decoy himself held onto in order to keep his greatest power under wraps. His mental duplication ability. Even Decoy wasn’t quite sure how it worked, but every time he was around another person who used mental powers for an extended period of time he began to mimic some of their powers. The longer he was around the person the more powerful the mimic was. In other words the more deadly his old opponents, the more deadly Decoy himself would become. This would be very apparent as Decoy brought to the field the powers of the most dangerous man he’d ever fought.

“I once knew a monster.” The decoy said as it floated in front of Huntress, a dark grin on its face. “They called him the Knives Man, because he loved to use knives and he had a tendency of hiding them on his person at all the times. He didn’t need them to fight, oh no his powers were all he needed. That’s what made him a monster, his powers that is. You see, he made people snap, anyone around him would suddenly just crack. He’d made people rip each other apart with their bare hands. But I’m rambling. The reason I’m telling you all this is because I picked up a few tricks from him and right now I’m using them on that dragon pal of yours. Hope you like barbeque.” During the entire speech Decoy had been hammering at the dragons mental defenses, sending waves and waves of madness it’s way. If it worked, the plan would surely prove to be quite a problem for Huntress and Cly.  

Pepper spray covered the Rider's eyes, not affecting him in the least. Unblinking, Cly had exposed his eyes to pepper spray on a daily basis, learning to grow a reistance to the gas. Very few people did he know that would even attempt the feat. Hovering in mid-air, high above a burning ball of fire and gas, he held onto Overkill and Decoy Elite. Even though he was unable to sense them in any way without aid, he was sure that at least some of his attacks had met their mark, having seen the two directly in front of him with the video camera. After tossing the camera to Cass, he immediately felt his wrist caught and put in some kind of lock. Not able to see how Overkill had caught him, Cly did not know how to get out of the lock. Snap! The sound of bones breaking cracked through the air. The Knight held back a scream of pain. Feeling his strength leave his left hand, he knew that his left wrist had been broken and now was basically useless. Slip! The double edged sword fell from his hand, ready to be snatched up by one of the cloaked figures... Grab! Raising his right knee while pushing off with his left foot, he caught the handle of his impossibly sharp sword between his big right toe and the next toe. He was glad that his sword could be recovered, for he had not even used it in this fight yet. The thought pushed the pain from his wrist to the back of his mind, and brought a thin smile to his face.

His attention was caught as the Huntress answered him, "Consider it done." Unsure of what she was about to do, he braced himself. Burst! An invisible wave of power spread all around Cass, bypassing Esmeralda completely, and mostly bypassing Cly. Happy with her effort to not catch him in the telekinesis, he did feel a little shaken up by the force that did hit him. Holding on to the invisible figure or figures, he was carried back with them, in the direction of the starting circular ring. As he was thrust backward by holding onto whoever he may be, Cly thought about the fight so far. It had started off normal enough, aside from those adamantium chains, they must have been on Limited Edition at the Home Depot. Then the whole cloaking action happened, and as far as the Rider was concerned, that move was cheating. He thought about how hard it was to fight something he couldn't see, and beyond that, feel, hear, smell, or even taste... Light bulb! He got an idea, one that involved a certain sharp weapon, as many of his ideas did.

Roar! Changing his attention to his Dragon, he could hear that her roar was not normal. Actually, listening to her feral tone, it sounded like she said the word, 'Kill,' but why would she...? Seconds earlier, Esmeralda had flown up with Cass flying alongside her. She thought it was so unnatural to fly without wings, and the teenage Dragon knew that she would never get used to seeing a wingless flier. "Your wings are so large and clumsy, if only you could fly like me." The thought entered her mind, but it appeared to enter her ears, and it was the voice of the Dark Huntress, a cruel tactic by Decoy Elite. Esmeralda was surprised by the comment, and eyed the Huntress with one of her glowing yellow eyes. She tried to speak with her voice device, but all that came out were growls. As Esmeralda turned her gaze, she heard Cass again, "A real Dragon could have ended this fight before it started." And the insults continued for seconds, until the Mighty Dragon lost her cool, and exploded in a rage. Clawing, biting, and breathing fire at Cass, she threw her right forefoot with the attempt to destroy the Dark Huntress...

Pierce! In between the Dark Huntress and the blood lusted Dragon, was the Knight. He had pushed away from whoever he had been holding on, and had managed to grab a hold of Esmeralda's tail. She didn't notice due to her rage. Razor sharp claws protruded out the back of Cly. He said in a calm voice, spitting out blood, [[Remember who you are...Esmeralda.]] Roaring in his face, she was about to take a bite out of it when the rage in her eyes subsided. She froze, her tail shaking with fear. Her rage was calmed by the voice of her Rider, along with the mixture of light in her blood flowing through her brain, killing her dark impulses. [[C...Cly...I...I didn't mean...NO!!!]] She started to cry, and carefully pulled out her claws from his chest, revealing the damage. His stomach, liver, kidneys, and intestines were all mutilated. Her claws had missed his lungs by an inch, and weren't too far from his heart. Something else had happened along with his internal organs getting diced. The tip of one of her claws had cut through part of his spine, paralyzing him from the waist down. A few tears ran down his face from the incredible pain. He was barely able to respond. "Don't cry girl, you are forgiven. I...I am not out of this...fight yet." She watched as he tried to climb on her back, not using his legs whatsoever. He spoke softly, "Will you be my wheelchair?"

Esmeralda let out smoke from her nostrils, and helped him on her back. He looked over to Cass, blood running down the open hole in his chest and running down his mouth. "I don't know...what happened to cause her to...attack you like that...but I know you wouldn't cause...something like that." He reached out his still good right hand, and grabbed the Dark Huntress' right hand. "Together we fight...no matter if we win or fall...it is an honor fighting with you Cass." He let go of her hand, and reached into his pocket. Handing a piece of cloth to her, he said, "Can you blindfold me?" She nodded, and secured the cloth around his head. He spat out a mouthful of blood. "Thanks." He unsheathed his sword with his right hand, and held it up high proudly. "The Grim Reaper is after me...but he can't have me yet, because I still have this...sword in my hand." Straddling Esmeralda with his unusable legs, he held on to her neck with his damaged left arm, and she took off with wings beating.

She followed his commands based on the pressure he applied with his left arm to her neck. Weaving around through the air, blindfolded, Cly focused with all willpower into his sword. This was his time of need, and he knew that his sword, the sharpest sword in existence, could find it's mark, even if the target was said to not exist. If these attacks hit, they would be non-lethal, aiming for shallow cuts, tendon severs, limb chops, etc. Slash! Striking seven times as he passed along through the air, he believed with all his spirit that his sword would be that magnet to find the two needles in the haystack.

Snap.  Such a little sound could mean all the difference in a fight like this.  And when Overkill heard that sound from Cly's left wrist, he couldn't help but feel accomplished.  He held onto Cly as Elite put his gun over Peter's shoulder and up against the dragon rider's head.  Cly's words before this moment were 'Take them down!'  And to the ears of earth's mightiest mortal, they were just words.  Until he heard the cold voice of Huntress being carried over astral winds.  "Consider it done."  It was terrifying.  It was as though she knew her next move was the finishing blow and being visually impared from an indirect burst of pepper spray, Overkill was inclined to think the same thing.   
 
A violent push is what it felt like.  A sudden force hitting Peter from the front.  Several small cuts formed on the unprotected areas of his body.  Along with the wound from the bullet which grazed him earlier, his whole body was in pain.  Not pain like getting hit by a truck.  Pain like a bad papercut that just so happened to hit your whole body.  It wouldn't put him down, but it was sure as hell distracting him.  The push that he felt was strange.  His first thought was a big gust of wind.  But, it didn't feel right and there was a strange feeling about it.  An unnatural feeling.  It's gotta be telekinesis.  Sh!t! This fight just got a lot tougher.  The telekinetic attack lossened his grip and Cly got free and flung himself toward where Huntress and Esmeralda were.  Peter's eyes were watering so he couldn't really see what was going on, but he heard a lot of what sounded like growls and roars from Esmeralda.  Even a burst of flame was heard and confirmed by a large orange blob where they were.   
 
Since his hands were free, he tried wiping some of the tears out of his eyes so he could see better.  He continued his path towards the platform, keeping low and away from Esmeralda as Elite had told him to do.  Overkill wasn't even sure that the two of them were still cloaked by Elite's illusion powers.  His mind slightly drifted as he thought about Elite's abilities.  It's an underestimated power.  Even Peter didn't think much about it when Elite said he could do so.  But the truth of the matter is that it is extremely deadly when used correctly.  Like the current situation.  Cloak oneself and throw a few distractions for your enemy or enemies.  Then, wait for the perfect moment to strike and boom.  That's another win under your belt.  Overkill once again thanked whatever higher power that was watching for Elite being his partner.   
 
Snapping back to reality, he suddenly realized that he had distracted himself.  Esmeralda was gaining on them fast with Cly and Huntress on her back.  "Sh!t... Hang on!"  He turned again and made the final distance to place himself and Elite over the platform which had returned to it's normal position right side up.  He turned back around and saw that Cly was close and making a swing with his sword.  Peter kept himself away dodging the first three slashes.  But, Esmeralda was flying faster than he was.  Cly got just close enough so that his fourth slash made contact with Peter's armor.  The armor, the indestructible infraglium breastplate that the Crimson Crusader depended on so much to keep him alive, now had a slice right across it.  Only deep enough to cut half way through it's thinkness, Cly's sword proved once again that magic trumps science.  But as Cly began a fifth slash, Peter got an idea.   
 
Just as the slash began, the Blood-red Brawler yelled to his partner.  "Let go now!!!"  Thankfully, without hesitation, Elite let go of Overkill's shoulders and began falling to the platform below.  Overkill raise his elevation a few feet and spun in the air so his right hand was below him.  A slight tug assured that the chain connecting the two was pulled tight.  With Elite hanging roughly 6 feet above the ground, Cly's sword cut smoothly through the adamantium chain.  Elite, now free of his connection to Overkill, fell safely to the platform below.  Peter felt good about not having him attached anymore.  A feeling that was destroyed by another feeling.  One of the sharpest balde in existance cutting through the his left forearm.   
 
The blade made a cut right through the inward facing side of the gauntlet and one of the straps keeping it on.  More importantly, it cut right down to the bone cutting important pieces of soft tissue and blood vessels along the way.  One last slash caught Overkill starting on his forehead and coming down through his left eyebrow.  It wasn't deep enough to hit the eye, but it continued part way down his cheek.  The blood made sure he couldn't see past what the mace missed.  Technically working off of half an eye's sight now, he would have let out a scream of pain if he didn't know he had to act right away.   
 
In a desperate attempt of retaliation, he reached for the two large horns on Esmeralda's head.  If he missed he would end up flying a foot or two above Cly and Huntress' heads as he passed right over them.  Upon grabbing the two horns, he'd start doing a front flip over her scaly body as he pulled her with him making her do a backflip.  Pulling with all his might through the strain of using his wounded left arm, he would pull the dragon over his own head until he slammed her head first into the platform.  The force would be enough to destroy a city bus if he did the same manuver on it.  The riders may also suffer some damage, but to an unknown extent.  It was meant to take out Esmeralda.  Anyone else would be a bonus. 

She stayed there, suspended in the air as she watched the consequences of her attack, Esmeralda by her side. It was aimed true and met it's mark for the most part. Cass hadn't expected it to be as effective as it was. They were still invisible to her eyes but she could now smell the blood on the air. The illusion was starting to fail just a little bit, the pressure of attacks helping wear it down. She grinned as she heard the scream of pain. Every now and then her bloodthirsty side shown through. Now was one of those times. She couldn't help it, she was in the midst of battle and letting her baser instincts take over. It was all about the win now and hearing that scream of agony echo on the wind? It was music to her ears. It meant that she was doing something right.