ic Azure Seas (IC)

[Thevshi]

GM

 

"Your friend is pretty smart."  Stated the mercenary Glamazon had hit as he brought his weapon up, swimming forward to try to strike her with it as well.  "Not that it will do you any good."  However, his boast was quickly undermined as he failed to connect with his attack.

 

Meanwhile, one of the other mercenaries continued to shot at Giang.  But the Asian teen's maneuvers made her a considerably more difficult target, and his blast went well wide of the target. 

 

Muttering a curse, the mercenary keyed his radio.  "Manta 3, Gamma is in need of fire support."

 

A reply quickly followed.  "Copy Gamma, Manta 3 on the way."

[Brown Dynamite]

Taking in the information being relayed to her from both Giang and the mercenary Thaelia became motivated in speeding up her clean up duty.  Reaching forward Thaelia would take hold of the armed mecernary using the opportunity afforded to her from his very own missed attack.  Making sure to form a tight grip with all the might of her superhuman strength the demigoddess did not plan on wasting a moment.  Twirling around like a minature cyclone armed with her very own mercenary, the Atlantean would use the momentum of her movements to release mercenary propelling him towards the mercenary whom had earlier managed to land a blast against Giang.  The force of the collision was enough to knock both men unconscious at the moment their armored bodies clashed against one another.  The loud metallic clank accentuated.

 

Looking no worse for the wear Thaelia began to eye around for another target.  Her sight settling for a moment to look over the unconscious warrior.  "I care not for his distraction.  He will not be getting away." Cracking her knuckles which had the bonus effect of sounding louder through the water the teen braced herself for what was to come next.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Seeing Thaelia's rather effective attack, the other mercenary that had been in melee with her took the opportunity to swim back some, putting some distance between him and the Atlantean.  Once he had, the man turned back and fired his weapon at Thaelia.  The beam of energy struck the Atlantean teen, but her natural resilience, greatly improved underwater, allowed her to shrug off the attack with ease.

 

The last conscious mercenary in sight took aim at Giang.  But once again, the Asian teen's maneuvering made her far too difficult a target, and the blast went wide.

 

Just then, the sound of whirling propellers caught the two teens attention, as they saw a small, black mini-submarine rise up above one of the nearby buildings.  The front of the mini-sub was a dark green canopy, and along either side of the hull were places for divers to sit.  

 

The mini-sub hovered in the water a moment, turning slightly towards the two teens, before a small torpedo launched out of a tube at the front of the hull.  The small projectile sliced through the water, appearing as if was going to pass between the two girls.  But just as began to, it exploded, a small ball of flame erupting in the water, sending out a powerful shockwave all around it.

 

Giang swam forward slightly, gracefully twisting as she went, allowing her to stay just ahead of the shockwave and avoid injury.  Thaelia was not nearly as graceful as Giang could be, and realized she was not going to be able to avoid the shockwave.  So instead, the Atlantean teen simply turned to face it, bracing herself against it.  The wave of concussive force washed over her, but she was able to withstand the impact without any significant injury.

[Thevshi]

Having avoided the shockwave of the torpedo, Giang focused her attention on the mini-sub, realizing it was the most significant threat at the moment.  She also knew she and Thaelia needed to keep spaced out, so they could not be easily targeted by one torpedo again.

 

Swimming out away from her roommate, the Asian teen glided underneath the mini-sub, coming to a halt on the opposite side of the craft.  She then turned, sweeping her arms upward a she sent a blast of water towards the mini-sub.  However, it proved to be more maneuverable than expected, the pilot turning away just enough that the twisting blast of water passed harmlessly by.

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia wanted to take down the submarine with her roommate.  As the largest apparent threat it was also the most appealing.  But Tsunami's decision to separate the two of them was a sound decision.  Which fortunately left her on clean up duty with the remaining mercenaries so that she could quickly join her roomate in seizing the vessel.  Which meant the first straggler to go would have to be the one that made the mistake of running away from her.  Swimming towards the mercenary at speeds that would make a torpedo green with envy Thaelia's grin easily masked the fact that the teen had just braced against the impact of the submarine's weaponry.  Her body, however, was still holding a grudge for the rude interruption.  As the mercenary soon became very aware as the demigoddess swung her fist wildly cutting loose and favoring brute strength over technique.  For that moment it was difficult to tell if water resistance had any real meaning for her.

 

The moment Glamazon's fist connected against the mercenary's jaw was the exact moment he faded out of consciousness.  He surely wasn't awake while his body was sent upwards by the force of the blow.  "I will assist you soon.  We can try and attack it from both ends Giang if you do not manage to bring it down before them." From the outside looking in, the raven haired girl couldn't help but scoff of the irony of sinking a ship after discussing all the waste from the surface already in the sea. Luckily, she had no aims for winning environmentalist of the year and she was suitably pissed to not care in the first place.

[Thevshi]

The last of the divers watched as Glamazon sent one of his companions flying backward through the water unconscious.  He had seen how ineffective their weapons had been on the girl, so knew it was futile to attack her himself.

 

"Manta 3, concentrate fire on the Atlantean, I will deal with the other girl."  The man stated, as he aimed at Giang once more.  This time his attack came closer, but still missed the Asian teen.

 

Meanwhile, the mini-sub turned slightly, launching another micro-torpedo at Glamazon.  The micro-torpedo zipped past the Atlantean, exploding behind her as she was caught in its shockwave.  But as before, the Atlantean teen was able to brace against the concussive wave and emerge unscathed. 

[Thevshi]

Giang looked over worriedly as her roommate was caught in another shockwave, feeling a sense of relief as the durable Atlantean teen emerged without any obvious injury.  The Asian teen then quickly turned her attention back to the mini-sub.  Trusting in her friend to deal with the last diver, Giang focused all her attention on the vessel.

 

Taking a deep breath, she pulled her arms inward a moment, focusing her energy before thrusting them out in front of her and sending a powerful blast of twisting coils of water up towards the mini-sub.

 

This time, the Asian teens attack struck the vessel squarely, the powerful jets of water smashing through the hull and the internal systems inside.  There were a few small explosions inside as various systems were destroyed, and then the vessel listed, losing power as it went dead, and then slowly sunk towards the ocean floor, crashing down hard.

[Brown Dynamite]

Watching as the submarine sank Thaelia looked over at her roommate beaming with pride.  Always appreciative of a good destructive showing.  Especially one that involved a machine that had been blasting away at her for as long as it had been. She wasn't injured merely insulted.  The only thing left to do was to deal with the last bit of riff raft. Speeding towards the mercenary the woman locked up with him. "If you save us the time of having to scour the area for your employer I would be most grateful.  Otherwise my friend, sinker of metallic beasts and myself will make you regret being less than cooperative. We do not have to harm you, Atlanteans take invasions very seriously. Perhaps you could find out first hand, I am sure Crantorium would love to accommodate you whilst we search."  

The reality was it didn't matter if the mercenary cooperated or not. Telling them of Natas location would prove itself disloyal a trait the Atlantean would have no respect for and would resolve with violence. And if he refused to answer he was in no position to defend himself so that the teens could find the man pulling the strings. The passionate teen's blood was boiling. And odd mixture of adrenaline, anger, and strangely enough excitement.

[Thevshi]

The mercenary struggled for a few moments against Thaelia's steel like grip, but too little avail.  A quick glance around him revealed that the Asian teen was swimming over to the pair and a number of the inhabitants of Crantorium had arrived as well.  The man stopped struggling, realizing that it was futile. 

 

"The main objective is something from the temple at the center of town.  That is where Natas is going with half a dozen others."  He replied, hoping that cooperation might help his situation.  "The other teams are merely to draw away defenders or otherwise cause confusion."

[Brown Dynamite]

The teen's grip quickly lessened as soon as she got the information needed.  Adjusting her pose for a moment Thaelia would begin to address the growing crowd.  "Would you like for him to be turned over consciously?"  Releasing her hold the Glamazon's attention shifted to Giang. "So it seems your foresight into his goal have proven themselves to be correct.  Shall we interrupt his thieving?"  Deep Ones were no friends of Thaelia, but even the Atlantean had some disgust with the idea of them being set on display in an Aquarium. The mercenary attempting to take them had warranted some measure of respect in that regard. Respect that had now faded as she began to put together his aims were simply financial in nature. Including whenever her roommate crossed paths with.

A sigh of exasperation escaped the Glamazon's lips, dealing with a common thief didn't have the exact same amount of luster. Even if he was far from the common criminal setting up elaborate assaults all as a distraction for a robbery. Her disappointment did nothing to sate the vengeful look in her eye. The teen was not about to let him profit on Crantorium's misery.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

<"We will take charge of this miscreant princess, so that you and your companion may continue on to deal with those working with him.">  Stated one of the Atlanteans who had moved over near Thaelia and the captured mercenary in a cold, hard tone.  The Atlantean teen was able to see that other Crantorium inhabitants had moved over to the damaged mini-sub and secured its driver, who was still conscious, but rather disoriented. 

 

 

Off in the distance, a faint *BOOM* of an explosion punctuated that the mercenaries' attack on the city was far from over. 

Edited August 6, 2013 by Thevshi

[Thevshi]

"I take no pleasure in being proven correct."  Giang replied as she and Thaelia began swimming away from where they had just fought the first group of mercenaries.  For a brief moment, the Asian teen wondered what the Atlantean settlers would do with their prisoners, but realized it was not really her place to question whatever their laws might be, though she certainly hoped they would not be summarily executed.

 

As the two teens swam towards the center of the town, Giang reached out with her water sense to try to get a feel for the area around them to help locate any possible groups of mercenaries.  "Do you know where this temple the mercenary spoke of is?"

[Brown Dynamite]

"I think so.  There are a few possibilities, temples are not an architectural rarity.  The explosion we heard should help to narrow down our options.  A temple housing something worth stealing would stand out as well.  My plan was personally to simply seize into every temple here in the center.  If there aren't already obvious tell tale signs." The statuesque teen's plan was of course as straightforward as could be.  It helped that the par could cover distance rather quickly.  The prisoner that they had turned over had already become a distant memory to the raven haired Atlantean.  "It would assist us greatly, if we knew what they were after.  Then I could give a definitive answer.  There are arcane items, orichalcum weaponry, there are even cursed artifacts."

Staring out pensively for a moment Thaelia's mind began to investigate all the possibilities.  "...Well if his interest still lie towards the Deep Ones. It is not spoken of often, but they did originate from Atlantean and...Lemurian relations after the Sinking.  A twisted union of which only evil bore fruit.  There is one temple that comes to mind. dedicated to worshiping their dark gods.  In which case the direction we should be headed is deeper below well out of the reach of the light's touch.  But...you cannot even begin to imagine the sort of things they leave behind.  No sane being would target their relics."

[Thevshi]

"I do not believe he has any particular interest in Deep Ones."  Giang replied as she swam alongside her roommate.  "Natas is a mercenary, as I understand it, he was hired to kidnap the Deep One infants by some unknown third party.  It is possible that same party may be his employer this time as well, and has him seeking something else connected to Lemuria.  Or he could have a completely different objective.  Unfortunately, we simply do not have enough information at the moment."

 

The Asian teen was quiet a brief moment as they swam towards the center of the city.  "Perhaps it would be best to investigate the other temples first, particularly if the majority of them are close together.  If this Lemurian temple is underneath the rest of the city as you say, access to it would not be easy, providing us with a bit more time to catch up with Natas if that is his goal."

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The teenage girls were moving swiftly through the water as they discussed the possible targets that the mercenary and his men might be after.  In doing so, they failed to notice another squad of the wetsuit garbed men lying in ambush among some buildings.

 

Suddenly the sound of multiple energy weapons erupted to the pair’s right, as the water was filled with a small hail of blasts.  But despite catching the two by surprise, half the mercenaries missed their targets.

 

One blast managed to strike Giang, but once again, her watery forcefield absorbed the worst of the blast and she was able to the hit without any ill effect.

 

Two blasts impacted against Thaelia, however, this group had apparently not been informed of the ineffectiveness of their weapons against the Atlantean, as both blast bounced harmlessly off her durable skin.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Thevshi

[Thevshi]

Gritting her teeth slightly from the blast she took, Giang glanced over at the mercenaries who had reveled their positions among several buildings.  Given the rather ineffectiveness of their ambush, she had little doubt that she and Thaelia could easily deal with them, the question was how much of a delay of their search for Natas would dealing with the ambush cause?

 

But of course, the Asian teen knew that if they continued on without dealing with the group, the mercenaries could cause further damage to the city and harm to its inhabitants, as well as potentially being able to follow after the two teens and attack them from behind. 

 

Swimming forward slightly, Giang once again was weaving and twisting as she went, making herself a very difficult target.  As she went, her gaze fell on the mercenary who had hit her, and one of her hands shot forward to send a precise blast of water twisting through the waves at the man.  The blast struck him squarely in the upper chest, knocking him back out of sight.

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia hadn't noticed the first shot blasting away against her body.  What she did notice was the one that blasted away at her friend's force field.  Immediately the urge to send a message that she wouldn't stand for that took hold.  Taking a less graceful route towards her opponents, the Glamazon charged through the water like a bull on a rampage.  Lifting her body upwards she would forgoing any semblance of technique she launched an aquatic dropkick square in one of the mercenary's chests.  Made more impressive by the fact that dropkicks haven't exactly become a conscious part of Atlantean pop culture.
 
Her raven hair flowed through the water as the Atlantean teen returned to an upright position.  A wide grin forming as her eyes traced the mercenary being propelled backwards.  Her muscles tightening as she prepared to reach out for another man.  "You will regret the day you ever decided to enter the depths of the ocean.  No quarter shall be given for those who tread with foul intent." If she were the type to think before acting, Thaelia would have been worried about how time was of the essence. What the sea princess was contemplating was  how loud she could make the sound of her fist smacking against the mercenaries.  Taking her and Giang's actions as a declaration of war towards a man far outside the assumed hearing range.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

As the initial barrage of fire proved ineffectual and two of the mercenaries easily fell to the two teenagers' counterattack, one of the remaining mercenaries keyed his radio.  "Alpha, this is Beta.  We are engaged with the two girls, two members down."

 

After a brief moment, a cold, hard voice replied over the radio.  "Maintain contact and keep them occupied, we are almost done.  Manta 2, proceed to Beta's location and extract them."

 

"Understood sir."  The mercenary replied as the pilot of the mini-sub similarly acknowledged the order, though he somewhat doubted that they could last until the mini-sub reached them.  All the same, he tried to track the movements of the Asian teen again, but his blast was well wide of the intended target.

 

Meanwhile, two of the mercenaries who had fired at Glamazon during the ambush watched as she easily put down one of their comrades.  Having seen how easily the Atlantean had shrugged off the previous attacks, one of the pair glanced over to the other.  "Let's see if she can take a simultaneous hit!"  He stated over the radio, before he focused back on Glamazon and waited for his companion to be ready to fire as well.

 

Both men fired at the same time, hoping two blast timed together might overcome the Atlantean's durability.  However, the mercenary who had suggested the tactic missed with his blast, and while the other managed to hit, it proved no more effective than any previous attack.

 

The last remaining mercenary steadied his weapon as he took aim once more at Giang.  But while his attack came quite close to hitting the Asian teen, her defensive maneuvering still allowed her to avoid the energy blast.

[Thevshi]

Giang felt a sense of relief as her maneuvering allowed her to avoid being struck by the second volley of fire from the remaining four mercenaries.  While her forcefield had been able to absorb most of the hits she had taken thus far, the soreness along her left side was a clear reminder of the time so far that it had not been so effective.

 

Continuing to gracefully weave through the water, the Asian teen arched over the rough line the mercenaries had formed in setting up their ambush, coming back down more level with them as she turned and sent another blast of water towards the one who had come closest to hitting her.  Once again, her aim was exact, and the blast of water slammed into the man's back, knocking him forward into the low wall he had been positioned behind and into unconsciousness. 

[Brown Dynamite]

The Atlantean pushed her way through the water thankful that her blessing of the sea protected her from direct harm.  In a display that would be considered an impressive acrobatic feat if not for the fact that the act was aided by the liquid she was traversing through, the Glamazon somersaulted over one of the mercenaries before charging forward driving her elbow into the small of his back and matching Tsunami's graceful attack with a brutish one tit for tack.  Pushing into the frame of the armored man with almost as much force as her muscular body could deliver.  The force of which the mercenary soon found was more than he could take a loud groan being the last thing uttered from his mouth before his consciousness faded from him.

 

Thaelia bellowed out a simple command towards her roommate.  An otherwise simple request"GO now!.  I shall dispose of these vile wretches and catch up soon after."  Still not quite as fast a swimmer as the more experienced members of her family, Thaelia assumed she would at least be a stronger swimmer than someone from the surface if she really chose to hoof it.  Including if that someone was her dear friend.  Which meant they could afford to split up if only for a moment so that one of them could proceed towards the real threat.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

As Thaelia swam over and took out the last of the mercenaries in this group that had been targeting Giang thus far, the two remaining mercenaries briefly considered their options.  It was quite apparent that they were losing.  But they also had little illusion about outdistancing either of the teenagers, given the speed they had seen the two move thus far.  Their only option for potentially escaping was to hold out until the min-sub arrived.

 

To that end, they once again attempted to time their attacks against Thaelia.  This time, their tactic met with a bit more success.  Both managed to hit the Atlantean teen.  Where a single blast had been easily ignored, Thaelia more readily felt the double blast, though she still proved able to resist any serious ill effect, at least this time.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Thevshi

[Thevshi]

Giang watched with a slight bit of apprehension as Thaelia was hit by blasts from both the remaining mercenaries simultaneously.  It was apparent that this time her friend had felt the attack to some degree.  While Giang knew her roommate was quite tough, she slightly hesitated in following Thaelia's request that she move on after Natas and his main objective.

 

But the Asian teen knew her friend was right.  These mercenaries were only serving to delay them, and though they had almost managed to harm Thaelia, Giang had little doubt the Atlantean would quickly deal with another, leaving only one left.  It was also very evident that Thaelia could more quickly catch up with Giang than the other way around.

 

"Be careful."  Giang stated simply before turning and starting off once again in the direction they had been heading before the ambush had been sprung.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Thevshi

[Brown Dynamite]

"You as well."  Thaelia's eyes lingered for a moment as Giang swam away.  She regretted the tone she took in barking out the command after all was said and done under the sea she was used to making demands not requests.  However, she didn't regret the call itself.  As much as the Glamazon was enjoying herself the matter was serious and they couldn't afford to give up too much time.  The Atlantean just had to hope her roomate would be safe.

 

Resting her hand against her chest, Thaelia would make sure there wasn't any serious harm caused by their combined blast.  She clearly felt the brunt of the attack, but was able to barely brace herself against the force.  It hurt more than she would care to admit, but she was still relatively unharmed.  Bursting towards one of the remaining mercenaries the Glamazon would roar out into the water intent on taking away the opportunity to repeat that attack option.  Her fist smacked right into the man's protective helmet driving it in with enough force to almost dent the helmet.  Her eyes dead set on the last visible target.

 

"The emotion you are searching for is fear."

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The remaining mercenary clearly appeared to be suffering from the emotion that Thaelia suggested he should be experiencing, the weapon in hands shaking slightly as he regarded the angry Atlanetan teen.  Realizing that it was likely futile to continue fighting her, the man turned and began to swim away as quickly as he can. 

 

As he went, he activated his radio.  "I am the only one left in Beta.  Falling back to Beta’s original target location for extraction!"  Assuming I can even make it there.  He thought, as he glanced back over his shoulder and continued swimming as quickly as he could.

 

Elsewhere,

 

The pilot of Manta 2 guided his mini-sub low over the buildings of Crantorium as he made his way to try to assist and extract the remaining members of Beta squad.  As he heard the transmission from the remaining member of the team, he cursed slightly under his breath, preparing to alter his course towards the original drop off location.

However, at that point, he spotted a figure swimming out ahead, one that matched the description that had been provided on one of the teenagers that had been causing so much trouble.  A slight grin coming to his face, he turned the bow of his mini-sub slightly, and fired a torpedo at the teen.

 

The girl had spotted his approach, and saw the torpedo as it cut through the water towards her.  Exploding a short distance away, the teenage girl somehow managed to swim aside to avoid any of the torpedo's shockwave.  She then turned to regard the mini-sub, causing the pilot to reconsider his course of action.

[Thevshi]

Giang came to a halt as she shockwave from the explosion dissipated around her.  Turning back toward the mini-sub, the Asian teen briefly considered her options.  She could likely easily outrun the submarine and continue on towards the temples in the centre of town, but then the mini-sub would be able to continue on towards Thaelia, or otherwise cause more damage.

 

Deciding that she could likely afford a brief stop to try to deal with the mini-sub, Giang swam forward slightly before extending both hands out in front of her, sending a powerful blast of water towards the vessel.  But the Asian teen quickly realized that perhaps she had focused a bit too much on the power of her attack, sacrificing accuracy, as the mini-sub just veered aside to avoid the attack.