Out of Options (Closed to CORE. Invite Only)

He had achieved the Tome of Arisame from a previous experience, but it still left him only more to explore. The tome was written by a Mage who had an experience with dragons, and left a diary about it. The tome was obviously rumored to be fake, but it didn't phase Raiku. His mother, for the brief time he knew her, was a dragon who posed as a human. The mythical creatures were rumored to have an infinite knowledge and abilities that exceeded those of humans. Through rigorous training, he had unlocked a potential within himself. As a half-breed, he had a few natural abilities, as well as some locked. Waiting to be discovered.

He had already read the tome, front to cover, over and over. It spoke of a gate that was locked by 12 keys. Could it lead to the village the tome spoke of? There was only one way to find out. The keys were traced into individual pages in the diary. The shape being the only way to describe them. He hadn't been successful in a long time in tracking any of the keys, until he saw it at an exhibition in a Los Angeles art museum. It took him a while to arrive there on the limited funds he had, but he needed that key. It was the first step to unlocking the riddle.

Of course, he would attempt it late at night. Stealing from a museum that housed artifacts wasn't going to be easy, especially since he had never done it before. He had no idea what to expect, or what was in store. All he knew, was that he needed his superhuman speed to be undetected, and his draconic strength gave him what he needed to accomplish that. A blur streaked past a surveillance camera, unnoticed by the guard who watched the screens in the security room. He came to a halt at the entrance, where a guard was stationed there.

"Hey, this is private property!" The security guard shouted, spotting a flashlight on Raiku and reaching for his 9mm pistol at his hip. "The museum is close-"

Raiku didn't let him finish his sentence. He needed to get that key, no matter who he had to go through to get it. Running at full speed, the guard had enough time to draw his pistol before Raiku reached him, but that was all. Raiku ran past the guard and placed his back against his. As the guard spun around, Raiku moved with him. He was unable to get a line of fire on his target. Raiku grabbed the guard's arm and threw him over his shoulder, slamming him to the ground. Of course, Raiku had no intent on killing the man. He didn't use his full strength. Still, the man was unconscious. Raiku dragged the man's body to a nearby bush, and grabbed his security card. Swiping the card across the front door's access panel, a green light flashed which indicated the door was capable of being opened. Opening the door, he ran inside as quickly as possible, searching for that key on display.

"Looking for this?" CORE, for the giant he was, was leaning on an especially tall case made of glass, that contained a rather small, oddly angular key. A slight whirring noise could be hear coming from his neck, as he examined the man. He was fairly average in height, and was fairly muscular, but there was a certain... Reptilian quality about him. It didn't quite make CORE nervous, but it did slightly unnerve him. "You should try the quieter entrance next time. Don't let me stop you though. Go right ahead, thake it." Core took a few steps back, and was quite hopeful to see this man figure a way though the case.

Suddenly, his head spun on axis to face one of the various hallway into the room they were in, and a pair of guards barreled through into the room. "Hands up!" One yelled, while the other raised his handgun.As the guards examined the two already in the room, CORE raised both hands half into the air, so that they were facing the guards. "I guess I'm in this with you kid." His left hand burned a fierce purple, and a deep hum filled the room. "Would you like to lead?"

Raiku's feet slid to a halt at the room housing the large robotic being. His fists instinctively went up as a defensive precaution, though it wanted to talk to him. Raiku's eyes darted to the glass case that CORE was leaning against. Sure enough, as he said, the key was in that glass case. But how did he know what Raiku was after? Too many questions came into his mind about duplicate copies of the tome of Arisame, to a previous owner. It seemed too unlikely that they would both be after the same thing by chance, if he was after it at all.

"Hands up!" a guard yelled behind him. CORE had distracted him enough to slow down to be caught on camera. Or perhaps, CORE was the one caught on camera first. Either way, the guards had caught up with them. Luckily for Raiku, they hadn't shot first. He had a more difficult time reacting when he couldn't see where attacks were coming from. Raiku slowly tilted his head towards the guards as the one shifted his gun from aiming at CORE to Raiku. He wasn't sure which one was more of a threat to him. The room gave off a purple glowing hue as CORE's hand seemed to be powering up an attack. From his statements, it seemed he was on Raiku's side. For now. He didn't have much choice but to accept that, and deal with CORE after the guards were taken out. As CORE's hand illuminated more and more, the guard got extremely nervous.

"Don't move!" he shouted again, as he aimed the pistol at CORE. His redirection was enough of a signal to get Raiku to react. Pushing off one foot, he threw his body high up into the air in a forward somersault. The guard didn't have enough time to change his target back to Raiku before he was struck. Raiku swiped his leg at the man's face with intense power, as his heel dug into the man's left cheek. With a simultaneous kick at the opposite guard, they both flew several feet in opposite directions. They both knocked over several stands and cases, toppling them to the ground as they flew backwards and crashed against opposing walls. Somehow though, they were both still conscious.

The guard who had his gun drawn aimed it at Raiku. Moving with blinding speed, he zig-zagged towards the guard, as he fired in a panic several shots without successfully landing a hit on him. Raiku rapidly punched him two times to the torso followed by an uppercut, as the man's head flew backwards he fell to the ground. But behind him, the other guard already had his pistol drawn, ready to fire.

CORE remained where he was as Raiku disabled one guard and pummeled another, but when the remaining guard drew his gun, CORE was there. Standing directly in front of the guard, but at an angel from Raiku, he grabbed the guard's sleeve. "Go on then," he said, "pull the trigger if you think you can put a bullet in me." The stunned guard shook and closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger. Once. Twice. Three times. He fired a whole seventeen rounds at CORE, but heard not one hit him, for he was no longer there. The massive automaton had simply vanished from where he had been a moment before, and seventeen bullet holes marred the opposite wall. The guard lowered his gun, for it was empty, and looked fearfully at Raiku. The space in front of him bent and swirled distorting his view of the Asian man, CORE having returned from the void. He took hold again of the guard's sleeve. "You should have saved the last bullet for yourself, small man." The laser beam pulsating from CORE's left hand melted the gun in the hands of the guard, and right hand clasped shut his mouth. When the guard was unconscious (whether from pain or lack of air), CORE turned back to Raiku and spoke. "Take the key, I know what it means to you. Then if you'd kindly follow me, I'd love to show you something I think you'll like very much." CORE moved over to an emergency exit, and set his hand on the door.

Gunshots behind him rang through the room, echoes of which could be probably heard throughout the entire building. Raiku's head swiveled in the direction of the guard. But, it seemed that it was much more distracted trying to fend itself off from CORE. Just what was he, anyway? The key wasn't obviously his goal, as he offered it up to Raiku. He was strange. It almost seemed as if he came to the museum just for Raiku. He was leaving the building with nothing else.

At this point, he might as well get the key. Nothing else was standing inbetween him and that goal. One out of twelve keys, and he was on his way to unlocking the gates to a village where dragon and man exist together. It seemed like it was almost too good to be true. Perhaps it was, but he couldn't stop now. There was too much evidence in the relics connection alone. Approaching the glass case and centered himself with a deep inhalation. Exhaling with a swift strike, he swiped his hand in a horizontal direction at the glass. The strength in his hand broke the protective casing without cutting his skin. Pieces of glass fell inside the case, as Raiku reached in and grabbed the key. He then proceeded to put it carefully in an inner pocket of his shirt.

He could run at this point, and never be seen again by CORE, or any of the guards at this museum. Though, something about CORE intrigued him. He needed to know why he was here, and what he wanted to show Raiku so badly that he was willing to risk being pegged as his accomplice in an act that Raiku was hoping to do undetected. He followed CORE out the door.

"So who are you?" Raiku asked CORE.