The first rule of fight club is...(Rampart, Madeline, Prodigy)

[Okay so i'm like super fucking rusty, it's been a year and a half. Keep with me while I scrape away the rust ]

They had been getting rather stale in Canada. It had been moths since Madeline made her grand entrance in the ever so dull country and all she had to show for it was an unofficial supporter, two acolytes, and a handful of curious minds looking to know more about the forgotten demon goddess of war. Whilst sitting in the VIP lounge of her club Madeline stared at the glass of whisky in her hand, a small sigh of boredom escaping ever so slightly from the small gap in her lips. Things were going nowhere fast, and the stagnation of failure was beginning to set in and frustrate the goddess of war. She needed to get out of this place, she needed to get out and clear her head, but she didn’t want to do it here, she had spent enough time in Canada, it was time for a new change of scenery.

While no one was looking, Madeline slipped into a portal and left Canada behind. Madeline would leave Canada and instead make the journey to Los Angeles, a place that she hadn’t been to in almost a year. Immediately after setting foot from the portal, Madeline caught a whiff of the smog infested air, it nearly made her nauseous. It wasn’t just the filthy LA air that was making the demon queen feel odd, there was a decent source of power nearby that was calling out to her as well. Taking this as a good sign, Madeline decided to see if she could hit the ground running and start this trip off by bagging herself a champion, or at least a potential fool looking to make themselves stronger.

Moments later a series of explosions would echo throughout the streets of Los Angeles as Madeline and some foolhardy hero would go toe to toe over a slight difference in morals. A building on the southern side of the street would come crumbling down and Madeline forced her way through the building, the heroes neck secured tightly in her right hand as she dragged the man across the pavement. Once the demon queen was through the building and now out in the middle of the street, she slammed the hero into the ground, the sudden amount of brutality and chaos causing nearby pedestrians to scream and flee in terror.

Picking the hero up by the collar of his shirt, Madeline brought his face up to hers. Her amber colored eyes seemed ablaze with anger, even if the look on her face was on of pure enjoyment, almost borderline bliss. Madeline through the would be hero back into the ground and proceeded to wail on him, bombarding the man’s skull with a flurry of punches. “This. Is. What. Being. Good. Gets YOU!” she shouted, synchronizing her words with her punches. The man was a fool to turn down Madeline’s offer, he was even more of a fool for trying to lecture her on morals and the betterment of humanity.

Roan's head perked up as a shockwave slammed his chest, followed by a warm breeze "No..no..". He began running as fast as he possibly could towards the source of it all. "This way! Everyone!" The hero waved his arms at every panicking citizen, motioning away from the disaster.

First order of business...block off the site from the press, no need to get innocent bystanders in the way. Roan began shifting buses and other large vehicles into a barricade, blocking off the streets and alley ways. Should keep them out for a bit, at least. His gaze drifted towards the scene, hands on his hips, sighing deeply "You're ready for this." He slapped his forearms, thighs and chest "Ka mate, Ka Ora. I die, I live." With a bellowing roar, he charged towards the chaos...or, a woman? He tilted his head, hearing her yells...this is what being good gets you? Well, might as well make himself known. Roan stood there for a second, searching around..brick? Nonono, not enough...oh maybe a prius, that seems like a good way to get her attention. He walked over to the small hybrid, lifting it over his head carefully, gripping the drive shaft "It's like throwing a massive ball...[/color]" He sighed, taking a deep breathe, a few steps, and putting all his might behind it, aiming just to the side of the wom- wait are those fucking horns?

Madeline eased off her assault of the hero when her ears picked up the sound of the environment being disturbed around her. Her grip around the hero’s collar did no loosen, but she did cease punching him to death. He had to be thankful that he had enhanced durability, otherwise Madeline would have popped his head like a cherry tomato a while ago. When the demon goddess rose up to see what all the commotion was about, her eyes quickly spotted the small car flying through the air. It wasn’t on a collision course with her, so it was obvious someone’s silly attempt at a warning shot of sorts.

Deciding to have a little fun with this, just moments before the car came crashing down to the ground, Madeline tossed the unconscious and defenseless hero in its path. With a loud bang the car landed on top of the hero Madeline had beaten senseless. The fiery redhead smacked both of her hands together, as if dusting them off. “Well that takes care of that.” She said with a large grin, satisfied with her handy work. She placed her hands on her hips as she stared at the wreckage of the small vehicle and the poor hero trapped underneath.

She had almost forgotten that the car was actually thrown at her to begin with, before finally turning in the direction it had come from. There was a rather large man standing a little ways down the street. From the looks of it he had been quite busy, as Madeline took note of the makeshift barricades the man had erected at the end of the street and the nearby alleyways. It was a curious thing to do for sure. *Surely he doesn’t think that will keep me from leaving right?* She thought to herself. It never occurred to the demon queen that the man had erected the barricades to keep people out.

The war goddess let out a small chuckle as she decided to approach the man. Things were definitely looking up for LA. If things didn’t work out with the other hero, perhaps this man could be swayed instead, after all he had just witnessed Madeline nearly kill someone right in front of him. Her thick leather boots let out deep thuds with each slow step Madeline made towards her new prey. “Thanks for the assist. I’ll admit, the thought of dropping a car on him never crossed my mind.” A sick smile crept its way on to the sly demons face as she continued to approach the man.

The sound of the prius landing was almost deafening for Roan, who had almost turned green. He had just, though inadvertently, killed someone, his first someone. The feeling of disgust, guilt and embarrassment hit him like a freight train. "What had he done that deserved that?!" Roan began moving towards the horned what ever the fuck she is. "What gives you the right to take a life?" His hand gripped a light pole on his way over, tearing it from the ground, gripping it much like a sword.

Roan glared into the eyes of the woman, the apparent rage in them only fueling his own anger. He took a moment, breathing in, the smell of gore on the air; and breathing out, calming himself. He was always taught to never let his anger control him. "What was his name.." The redhead continued his advance towards her. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. This had been the longest thirty feed he has ever walked, the most agonizing..no, terrifying. He stopped within light poles reach of her, holding it out like a readied samurai, stomping his hind foot into the ground for added leverage. "Did you at least have the honor to find that out?"

Madeline couldn’t help but roll her eyes as the man advanced towards her, ripping a light post from the ground to use as a makeshift weapon. “Relax will ya. The guys still breathing……I think.” She said, pausing for a moment and placing a finger on her chin as she if she was thinking about it. She hadn’t really checked on the hero after the car dropped on him, but she was sure he could take it, especially if the beating she had brought down upon him didn’t finish him off. Her head tilted up towards the sky, still pretending like she cared if the crushed hero was alive or not.

Her head remained tilted upwards, but her gaze shifted downward towards the man. Since her pause in movement, he had covered the distance and now sat just within range of being able to strike the demon goddess with the light pole he had pried free from the concrete just moments ago. The thrill of combat was always something that excited Madeline and the fact that she had literally landed herself two fights within just hours of setting foot in LA was really getting her pumped up. The down side to all this was that the two fights she found herself in were all because some goody two shoes couldn’t mind their own business.

All this talk of honor and morality was really beginning to bug the demon queen. She lowered her head so that she was now fully looking at the light pole wielding hero. "My, my, is that a light post in your hand, or you just happy to see me? Her metal left arm dropped from her hip and she turned her palm outward. A black flame formed in her opened palm, but did not do anything, it simply burned. “I don’t get why you’re giving me a lecture. You crushed the poor guy with a car not me.” She said in a sly tone. She flashed a grin at the man, goading him into attacking her. “What’s the matter hero, don’t know how to show a lady a good time?”

One quick snort escaped Roan before he attempted to compose himself "The horns are pretty cute, I've gotta say." He lowered the light pole for a split second before lifting it back up. What an idiot, don't drop your fucking guard, she's OBVIOUSLY evil right?...right? "You're the one who fuckin' threw him under the car! I just needed to get your attention, and I don't think 'hey pretty lady' woulda worked. Y'know, with you bashing his face in and stuff." His eyes finally drifted to her...METAL HAND?...and FIRE!? Sweet jesus what did he just get himself into.

Roan calmed himself, or at least to the best of his abilities "So who the hell are you, anyways? And what the hell did that guy do to you to deserve that." Violence isn't always the answer right? Maybe this could just end with a slap on the wrist, and NOT black fire in his face. First step is to deescalate everything. Roan sighed, this is going to take some major fucking balls...or stupidity. He put the light pole down, walking towards her slowly "People call me Rampart, or at least i'd like them to." Please don't blast me in the face with fire, please don't blast me in the face with fire. Roan extended his hand, giving the, oddly attractive devil woman a genuine smile "Maybe we can solve this without mindless destruction or violence." It was at this moment, he realized that he had royally fucked up.

Madeline rolled her eyes once more at the comment directed towards her horns. This man was quite strange, his attitude seemed to be all over the place. One minute he was angry towards her for throwing the hero she was beating senseless under a car, and now he was hitting on her. Madeline let out a small chuckle, covering her mouth with the back of her right hand. “I know many ways of getting someone’s attention. Throwing a car at them is not one of ‘em. So technically yes you could have just shouted and I might have stopped.”

Madeline’s metal hand closed around the black fire, causing it to compress then take on an odd shape before dispelling into a crude looking katana, the metal composing it looked nearly identical to iron, and the katana itself sported a jagged blade. She began to circle the man, katana in hand, the sinister smile on her face never fading. “The name’s Madeline. As for our unconscious friend back there, well…let’s just say he overstepped is boundaries. Kinda like you’re doing right now.” Madeline’s pacing came to a stop as the man lowered his guard and introduced himself to her.

Her eyes drifted from Rampart’s face down to his outstretched hand. *He’s not serious is he?* She thought to herself. Things had definitely slowed down a bit do this mini conversation, but it didn’t do much to quell the lust for battle Madeline had been feeling ever since she laid out the other hero. She refused to shake the man’s hand, still uncertain what to do with him. Instead the demon goddess arched a brow in a semi seductive manor and a sly smirk crept on her face. “Mindless destruction and violence are kind my thing.”

Roan snorted at the woman's comment "Would you? Would you really have stopped? Because from the looks of it you were pretty focused on liquefying his face." He kept his hand outstretched for a little while longer, before coming to the conclusion that the woman wasn't in the mood for a friendly introduction. "Alright, Madeline, it's a...I don't know what to say here honestly, I can't really say it's a pleasure to meet you because well...you're holding a sword and giving me that blood thirsty look.." Roan kept his eyes on her, the entire time, shifting himself to face her "And you're circling me like some redheaded, horned, shark who has been starved for a few days."

Roan scanned her for a moment, taking in every detail. The armor caught his eye the most, he should honestly get some armor, it looks pretty cool, and it's not like it'd slow him down...Get your mind back to what's at hand, you dumbass. Alright, the situation is, horned chick with a scary sword, and armor, who was punching a guy in the face. No more trying to be nice, time to be a motherfucking hero. "And curbing those destructive behaviors is mine!" Roan had back stepped, picking up his light pole once again, keeping her in front of him at all times, eyes locked on hers, maybe she has a tell of when she'll hit?

Roan took a deep, shaky breath. This is not the time to be nervous, this is the time to be a hero. One step forward, two steps forward, he advanced towards Madeline, bringing the light pole into motion, swinging at her with all of his might. The metal began to bend due to the sheer force of his swing. Please hit, please hit, please hit!

It seemed as though Madeline’s actions had finally gotten under the man’s skin, and he was ready to take action instead of talking the demon queen to death. Madeline’s warrior instincts and combat prowess kicked in almost automatically as with a simple flick of the fingers, Madeline sent the crude looking katana twirling into her right hand before reaching out with her metal arm and catching the light post mid swing. Madeline was always underestimating her opponents, and the force of the swing came as something of a tiny surprise as she had to brace herself by digging her right foot into the pavement and slamming the Katana into the ground to prevent herself from being knocked over. “Finally some action. I thought you’d talk me to death at this rate!” She said flashing the hero a slick grin.

Rampart had made several mistakes now, one he openly attacked Madeline, and two, he didn’t bother following up his attack. The goddess of war would show this so called hero that he was no match for a god. Madeline’s grip tightened around both the pole and the handle of her Katana. Using her strength, the redhead yanked the light post towards her and in effect pulled Rampart with it. In the same motion Madeline used the new foot hold created by her right foot to kick off the ground and propel herself forward on a collision course with the man.

As her body began to lurch forward, Madeline dragged the katana through the ground in front of her, before pulling it in an upward slash aiming to slice the man up the midsection. If that didn’t work Madeline was already preparing her second move by tucking her left arm into her body, she would use all her momentum from the dash and the swing to deliver a devastating shoulder charge with her metal arm whether or not her swing of the sword connected or not.

Roan had hit his mark, sort of. The vibrations of Madeline catching the light post shot up his arm like electricity, causing his grip to tighten a bit more, squeezing the metal in his fist. This woman was a lot stronger than he had even anticipated..this was probably a mistake, picking a fight with her and all. "I feel like talking you to death would have been a better strategy at this point!" Roan snorted, before feeling the immense power behind her pull. What the fuck have I done? Rampart tried to resist, swinging the lamp post to the side, hoping to veer her off his path. Please no slicing me open, that'd hurt like hell. If he had not been able to divert her attack, he would tighten his core, keeping himself in control of his flight path towards the woman, rearing back his head, and snapping it back forward in an attempt to headbutt her with his thick skull.

In doing so, Roan had forgotten about the sword, setting himself up for a different kind of pain. Instead of being sliced across the midsection, the blade raked up the the right side of his face, from chin to forehead. The whole area went numb, and his vision went blurry, with a tinge of red to it. Madeline's shoulder slammed into him with a sickening thud, throwing him back a few yards. Roan fought to regain his balance, digging in his feet. He sighed, feeling the blood pumping around his body, the sting of the warm air on his new scar, the taste of copper in his mouth. That's all it took, that metallic taste to finally set him off. He let our a bellowing roar, charging towards Madeline, swinging his fists in hammer like motions, pushing his body into her in an attempt to gain control.

Madeline nailed her mark on both accounts, causing the would be hero to retract from the impact of her shoulder tackle. Rampart seemed to be a bit more on the resilient side as the slash to his face only seemed to faze him momentarily. Madeline let a sickening grin keep onto her face as the wound she inflicted seemed to send the man into a frenzy. Opponents who didn’t think were often the easiest to deal with, and inciting people into doing things they normally wouldn’t, was somewhat of a specialty of the demon goddess’s. Rampart rushed Madeline like a raging bull. His arms flailed about as he charged in, prompting Madeline to do several quick hops backwards to keep the spacing between them to her advantage.

Her metal greaves let out a screech as she finally came to a stop beside the car the man had launched at her earlier. She shot a quick glance at the car then back to the man who continued to rush after her. Reaching out with her metal arm Madeline gripped the car by the frame where the windshield frame and driver side door met. With a slight grunt and a forceful tug of her arm, Madeline sent the compact vehicle flying towards Rampart. After flinging the car Madeline continued to move again, attempting to maintain the spacing between herself and the man.

Madeline never took her amber eyes off her opponent as she began to run in a crescent arch around him. She was looking to position herself at Ramparts side, using the car as a diversion she was sure she’d be able to blind side him, or so she hopped, after all he took a slash to the face and it hadn’t really fazed him. Once she was in position, she came to another screeching halt, this time she immediately lowered her stance and brought her katana to her hip. She had taken up the classic draw stance. The demon queen lightly gripped the jagged blade in her metal hand, while her right hand tightened its grip on the handle. Her Right arm rocked upwards drawing the katana from its make-believe sheath, the motion was reminiscent of the slash she had made earlier. As the blade arched upward a thin black wave of energy fired out from it. The crescent shaped wave tore through the ground as it rocketed toward Rampart.

Roan continued to rampage, speeding up his pace to keep up with Madeline as she evaded his every swing. His eyes shot to her grin, widening before he let out another roar. Was this a game to her? Was she just playing with her food before ending it? Roan wanted to cause her pain, to rip her in half and shower in her blood. Those thoughts are what finally made him stop, he blinked, a blank expression taking over his face. He stood there for a split second, before it registered in his mind that a powder blue hybrid was flying in his direction. Almost without thought, he put his left foot back, bracing for the weight of the car, bringing his hands up, and digging into the metal frame for grip. Roan took the momentum of the car and began to turn in a controlled, circular motion, releasing it at the end of the arc back towards Madeline.

His face had begun to finally sting, but the wound had cauterized, which was a good thing. Honestly the blood in his eye was starting to burn quite a bit. Roan scrunched his face, breaking up the dried blood on his face a bit, he reached up to feel the cut and sighed. "I wonder if the chicks will dig it..." He mumbled to himself, taking his attention back to Madeline. Roan analyzed her stance, it was sort of like the ones you see in samurai films, where they ready themselves t- Oh great she can shoot energy from that thing. Roan crossed his forearms over his upper body and braced himself, feeling the burn of the energy across them. The smell of scorched hair filled his nostrils, and it seemed like he had been pushed back a few yards from the hit, as made apparent of the marks left by his feet. He took a deep breathe, running at her almost like a Ram about to headbutt something, which is exactly what he was aiming to do.

Madeline’s distraction worked in distracting Rampart while she moved into position for her surprise attack. She was partially let down when he didn’t just run into it like a mindless buffoon, but all the extra effort that went into catching the car and redirecting it at the demon goddess, gave her all the time she needed to set up and get off her attack. The man seemed surprisingly resilient which made the demon goddess almost regret having to kill him, as he would have made a potentially superb champion. Madeline unleashed her attack at the perfect moment, sending the crescent wave of dark energy rocketing towards Rampart, and the car that was being tossed around like a bean bag.

The wave had little difficulty cleaving through the car, but cutting through Madeline’s opponent was a whole different story. Instead of splitting him down the middle, the attack just proved to be a minor inconvenience to him as it collided with a loud bang against his arms. The force behind the attack was enough to push Rampart back a few feet, but it did not deter him from bull rushing Madeline once more. He was definitely persistent, the demon queen had to give him that.

If Rampart wanted to charge blindly into a fight, then Madeline was happy to educate him as to why it was a horrible idea. Instead of tiptoeing around her opponent like she had done, this time the goddess of war stood her ground and waited for Rampart to draw closer. His next biggest mistake was tilting his head down as if he was the human equivalent of a battering ram. Extending her metal left arm Madeline caught Ramparts head in the palm of her hand. Using his own momentum against him, Madeline would force the man’s head downward as she brought her knee up to greet his face.

After smashing Ramparts face into her knee, the demon queen would relinquish her grip on his head and immediately grip him by the collar of his shirt. With a forceful tug Madeline would pull Rampart towards her, while also launching her head forward. If he wanted to head-butt her so badly, then Madeline would be happy to oblige, instead of just delivering one head-butt Madeline would repeatedly drive her skull against Ramparts over and over again.

Roan felt his body weight quickly shift downward as his vision was filled with the image of Madeline's knee. A loud crunch filled the air as his nose went sideways, blood splattering the ground. Rampart roared, as he began to stand back up, which felt a bit too easy. It wasn't until his feet had left the ground that he had noticed the predicament he was in. Everything momentarily slowed down as he focused his vision on her eyes, staring into them with as much hate as he could muster. His body began to go into motion, heading towards her horned head, he yelled once again, tucking his head in for a proper headbutt. The sound of their skulls colliding echoed through the silent city, repeating one after another, like gun shots. A warmth began to cover his face, as blood dripped from his skull. Roan's eyes opened, seeing his blood decorating her horns. Roan took a few more hits to the head before his vision began to blur around the edges. He could feel the tension in his limbs leaving him, as his body went limp.