Log:Lizard Dawn, Scene 2

Lizard Dawn 2017/05/19 	 Chen Yuki Natasha Kuroko Ss'lisk

2

This is suburbia: no towering buildings as to the east, but laid out as far as the eye can see thousands of lower to higher middle income houses. There are strip malls, grocery stores, and other commercial buildings, schools and hospitals, none over three storeys tall, all with parking lots. And there is more green space than in the city, but there's little sense of a heart.

Creekfield, however, is something of an exception. If you know where to look, you can still find a trace of the old village, with a couple of churches and some older houses, and even the ancient schoolhouse, still used as a meeting hall, clustered about the creek which gave the town its name.

Another typical day in Colonial Bay: Sirens sound through the suburbs as a truck has overturned outside of a strip mall. The police are reporting that a meta may be involved in the accident. At least one policeman has noticed a biohazard symbol on the truck, and they're being cautious.

Police cars have cordoned off an area, and weapons fire is being exchanged between them and a small group of men with plasma rifles.

Natasha has been exploring further afield now she's a big dragon. Or an older dragon. Or an older dragon than, say, last year, anyway. Today she's exploring Creekfield! But the sound of the siren catches her ears, and she flies in to save some humans from whatever peril they're in, or defeat some villains, or something like that;

Chen is informed of the incident while working out in the Gym. She doesn't have much in the way of ultra fast personal movement, so she 'borrows' one of the hoverbikes parked at the Gym. She'll explain it to Jennifer later. Racing through the city traffic with scant regard for traffic laws she heads to Cheekfield.

Wouldn't you know it, here Megumi was just enjoying exploring Colonial Bay and the wide variety of shopping available to it when not to far away there is the loud sounds of a crash of nastyness. Sure, she could just continue her shopping but that doesn't sit right with her and so Megumi waits for everyone else to turn away before she ducks behind a display, out of sight of any camera's, and embraces her inner fox. Literally. In practically no time at all where a dark haired japanese woman was, is now the much different shape of Yuki.

At the sound of gunfire and plasma weaponry though most people proceed to hide away from the windows where they might get shot. At least the smart ones do. Yuki on the other hand rushes out of the shop and towards the sounds of battle with a smile hidden behind her mask, crimsin eyes alive now. .oO(Finally something to doooooo!) she thinks to herself as she bolts towards the battle, hair, clothes, and tail streaming behind her as she runs at speed to the altercation.

Kuroko had been driving along in her late model black sedan. She pulls over out of the traffic jam, shouldering her carrying case. She flicks off her sunglasses and tucks them into her jacket pocket as she walks toward the scene.

Stepping out of the fallen truck is a large lizard man, whom some of the heroes may recognize. "Chargessss are ssset. I have the package."

Ss'lisk(#1370TOn)

A reptilian looking creature....about 12 feet long. On two powerful legs. It's arms are huge, with claws, it has very sharp teeth, and slitted predatory looking eyes.The oddest thing is that it appears to be wearing...tattered clothing. The remains of a shirt, and a bandolier that appears to be empty.

Ss'lisk shoulders his satchel and easily pulls off a manhole cover with one hand. Does the Colonial Bay sewer system come out this far? Perhaps. He drops down into the manhole, disappearing from sight.

Chen has wolfguard hearing. The combination of a bio-hazard sign and the word 'charges' is potentially terrifying. Dismounting from the borrowed bike with slowing she rolls along the roadway to the overturned truck, and spreads her torso out in a blanket to envelop the vehicle. Her head and a pair or arms entends to enter the rear of the truck to look for explosive charges. She has a plan. Will she have time to execute it. Tune in next phase to find out.

Yuki continues on her known trajectory, zipping into the field where plasma blasts and bullets fly but she doesn't stop instead she was focusing on the obvious leader... That is until she see's the obvious leader head down into the sewers. Like a truly inexperienced hero she does the obvious as well, she goes to follow. That's when she see's Chen do her thing and it almost causes her to falter .oO(Wow... haven't seen that kind of thing before...) She thinks to herself before she dives into the manhole, grabbing onto the edge of it with one hand and then descends into darkness and nastyness if this sewer is anything like a sewer... maybe she'll get lucky and it's just a spillway for flooding? Not likely.

Natasha is rather sad the reptilian being has disappeared without even saying hello! But there are people shooting at the police who are presumably villains who need to be stopped. So she swoops in and tries to bite into one of those plasma rifles.

The weapon crunches and starts to smoke as plasma vents into the air.

Kuroko steps out of one of the gunmen's shadow and clears her throat, "I recommend that you consider surrendering. Between myself, the dragon, and the morphing girl, you do not stand a chance." She sways back and forth slightly, ready to evade.

A couple of the gunmen near Kuroko do put their guns down. One says, "Uh...can we get away from the explosives, at least?" The third drops the weapon that Natasha broke, and he and the remaining two bolt, heading toward a nearby car.

The police hold their fire as the gunmen are intermingled with heroes now. One says, "What was that about explosives?"

Yuki pauses for only half a second when she gets into the sewer, taking a look around as her crimson eyes allow her to see in the dark. She wasn't expecting the giant lizard man to be /right there/ though and she panics a bit because, fox, bigger predator, and she does what comes instinctively. She pivots there on the roof like some sort of wu xing movie star and plants a foot before her right arm lashes out. She twists her wrist, trying to put the palm of her hand into Ss'lisk's chest and impart force into him to try and slam him into the wall and create a little bit of distance!

Ss'lisk is...quicker than he initially appears, given the creature's size. He twists, avoiding hte strike, "Sssso, you leave the mammalssss up there to their fate to become the chossssen? You are after my own heartsssss."

Ss'lisk grins, "By all meansss...follow me. We'll resssolve thisss elssswhere." He bolts down the tunnel, moving at full speed. Apparently the dark isn't much of deterrent for him either, which likely explains his choice of escape route.

Yuki pulls her hand back quickly so as to not leave the limb outstretched to be macked on by lizard boy, "I do not think you know what occurs above. Many heroes already move to disable explosives hai?" She bolts along the roof and wall, staying out of the muck as she goes but she does note how old the surroundings are. "I have faith they will disable your men and explosives with no harm done to any but your ego." The kitsune runs and keeps up with the lizard through the tunnel, "And when I bring you back, you will pay for your crimes!"

With the truck enclosed inside her stretched out form, Chen sniffs. Explosives. Two explosive devices. Attached to a pair of cases. Time to get to work. A mouth forms on her exterior, "There's explosives in here." she warns. Meanwhile she attempts to disarm the devices. Selecting the first to attempt randomly since both timers read the same. And thanking the bomb builder. That's enough light for her wolfguard eyes to see as clearly as in daylight.

Chen snips the red wire with claws formed from her fingers. The digital readout speeds up, counting down at ten times speed. Chen feels her heart speeding up to match the timer as she hurriedly snips the blue wire... and the timer stops with a second left.

Natasha chases after the running gunmen - it's more fun when they run! And tries to encase the two in magic ice - no, wait, magic *ice cream!*. That's a much better idea.

One of the gunmen gets stuck, and the other manages to leap the glop of...ice cream?

Kuroko nods to the gunmen. "Please, by all mean run away from the possible explosion. I suggest running towards those police officers over there, with your hands in the air." She trusts Chen to stop the explosion, so she simply watches with interest.

Ss'lisk doesn't respond, other than to move up to Yuki and takes a swipe at her with his sharp claws.

Ss'lisk's claw skips off Yuki, not quite connecting solidly.

Yuki knows she got to the lizard man when he stops running and tries to take a swipe at her, luckily she manages to avoid the worst of it, slipping back away just as the moment she gets clawed and luckily only her costume gets shredded and not her skin! "Oooh looks like I struck a chord hai?" She skips backwards another step and then extends her right arm. A sword appears out of nowhere, long dark steel straight blade that all said and done is long than she is tall. "You should give up." She says and then she darts forwards, grabbing the hilt in both hands as she dances around the tunnel, swinging several times at the lizard man, trying to drive him back towards the manhole and where she presumes the explosion will not be!

Ss'lisk is slashed several times, and he winces as he's struck. He growls. "Fine. I'll releassse it here, if I have to."

After her scare with the first device, and knowing she has some time to spare, almost twenty seconds, Chen checks over the already disarmed device to determine first if there is a safe way to detach it from the case and secondly, if she has to disarm the second device can she learn something to make that easier.

Ss'lisk is knocked back, but is spry enough to regain his feet.

Natasha decides she probably made a mistake trying to encase the remaining armed gunman in Neapolitan ice cream. So this time she tries something different.

The gunman is stuck like the other was, unable to advance further.

Natasha nods satisfaction. That flavour works much better.

The two surrendered gunmen move over to the police officers with their hands raised. The remaining gunman (sans gun) reaches his car and gets it, starting the engine.

Ss'lisk pulls out a vial from his satchel...and he looks directly at Yuki as he uncaps it. "I hope you don't mind no longer being a mammal."

Yuki laughs, "I am more than just a mammal, I am a spirit. There is nothing you can do that can change my nature with crackpot science!" She announces bravely, and hoping it's true no doubt but lacking confidence she is not. Already almost twenty feet away the Kitsune dances back a few more meters on the roof of the tunnel and she spins, bringing up her long straight edged no-daichi and then with a sharp pivot she slashes downwards towards the 'ground' relative to her. The slash of the blade cuts through the air and the air ripples behind her slash, waves of force slamming down the tunnel towards Ss'lisk and his vial!

Ss'lisk is buffeted, but the vial shatters. Whatever was in it isn't going to be stopped up...

Kuroko strolls over to Chen. "Could I perhaps assist you in some way?"

Ss'lisk watches Yuki carefully, biding his time.

Chen answers with a isolated mouth on the exterior of her blanketed form, "I don't suppose you're an explosives expert. There's a bomb in here attached to a case."

The car takes off, heading westward. Thankfully it's a hovercar, otherwise it would have left streaks of rubber on the pavement.

Kuroko shakes her head. "Regrettably, or perhaps fortunately, I have never had the occasion to work with explosives."

Chen notes that the bomb cannot be moved. So plan B. Keep the bomb steady and move the case. Drawing some of her flesh into the rear of the truck she flows over and around the active bomb and keeps it motionless while prying the case away, slipping tendrils of herself between the two and thickening the tendrils until she has the bomb fully enclosed. Hardening herself she draws the rest of her flesh back into her usual form. Then she stands. A muted boom! Chen burps, a puff of smoke emerging from her nostrils.

Yuki doesn't notice anything at all from the now broken vial, no strange smells, no strange sensations, and she's a good deal away after all so she assumes that her nature is protecting her since she isn't human to transform into a reptile. The muzzle on her mask dips momentarily, crimson eyes peering through the dark at Ss'lisk but then she bolts forwards along the roof towards Ss'lisk again and this time she doesn't go for any fancy maneuvers, instead just trying to hack into the lizard with that sword and hopefully stay out of claw range in the doing! "Your nefarious plans cannot be allowed to continue!" She announces.

No blood is drawn, but Ss'lisk chuckles as he's hit anyway. "You are awfully quick. For the moment."

Natasha chases after the car - and "exhales" a lightning bolt, at it, aiming for the repulsor supporting the rear of the car.

The car's repulsor is fried. The back end of the car comes crashing down, and hte car skids to a halt.

Ss'lisk says, "steps forward to swipe with his claw at Yuki, "You ssshould be feeling it ssssoon, I think. You should thank Kibin for hissss helping me devise thissss formula.""

Yuki thought she would be safe, she thought wrong. Not that she feels any slower, but she does feel different... especially when her gut starts twisting like that. Doubling over and clutching her stomach with her now scaley hands she drops her sword which disappears the moment it leaves her grip, vanishing into nothingness as she cries out, "Augh!" She looks at Ss'lisk, "I /will/ get you for this!" She shouts, who sounds like the villain now? But she doesn't hang around fighting further, bolting back the way she came and up out of the manhole to land on her knees, clutching her stomach and she tries to regain her pose, trying to get into a meditative state so she can hopefully fight off whatever it was he'd done to her.

Chen hurries out of the truck, "There's an explosive device in here." she says, "I've disarmed it. What;s happening out here? Where the scaley guy?"

Natasha goes and stands on the hood of the grounded car. She spreads her wings, uncurls her razor-sharp claws one by one, all the time fixing the driver with a steely eye. Wisps of smoke curl from her nostrils.

The man in the car surrenders, with little fuss.

Natasha points the man toward the police, then looks about to see how the others are doing.

Yuki answers Chen, "Down there... some gas... making me change... I need a minute." She holds out a now scaley hand to Chen for example, "I was /winning/ damnit..." She hisses and then she forces herself to go into a meditative trance, losing all focus of the outside world at all as she concentrates on putting herself right.

Chen turns to the police, "You need people here with NBC gear to seal up this section of the sewer and decontaminate it."

An officer nods, "There was a leak?" Some swearing commences, and she places a call in for a Hazmat team to show up.

Natasha flies over to Chen and gives her a questioning look.

Yuki is out of it, entering her healing trance someone could pick her up and move her and she wouldn't notice. Not the safest place to enter a healing trance but she doesn't know what's happening and it's the only thing she can think of to reverse whatever was being done to her. So she meditates, focusing her energies on stopping the pain in her gut, reverting her skin from scales to soft suppleness, and more importantly not losing her floofy tail!

Chen puts out an arm for Natasha to perch on. "I remember something about that scaley guy. He's trying to change humans into lizards. For the looks of what happened to this heroine," Chen gestures to Yuki, "that's what the gas in the sewer does." Chen grins, "Shouldn't affect you. Not sure about me. Family legend says I have dragon blood in me anyway."

Natasha perches on the arm, and listens to the talk about the gas.