The Blood Stained Rose & A Dragon with a Heart of Stone (Thistle/Blood Weaver VS Sul-Fury/Xiaolongnu)

Despite his efforts, she wasn't convinced. His offer of friendship and end the conflict went unheard, but most of all, it angered Blood Weaver. He began a dual attack, creating an army out of the civilians who had perished, and slinging an assault of spikes made of his blood collections detaching off the wall. Sul-Fury looked at the grotesque creatures who began limping and lurking towards them, some of them being destroyed by the spikes. Some survivors also were injured further or slain by the spikes as well.

Sul-Fury's nostrils flared, as he lowered his head and formed wrinkles in his forehead. The absolute lack of care for human life made his blood boil. Blood Weaver must have had a lot of concentration with his metahuman abilities in order to keep a wall formed, spikes thrown, and a horde approaching him and Bernadette. Soon to be broken by Sul's wrath. Bernadette dealt with a few of the undead before taking cover behind Sul-Fury. She offered a solution but it wasn't going to be heard this time.

As the spikes drew closer, Sul-Fury stretched his arms wide and slammed them together in the direction of the attack resulting in a thunderous clap. The shockwave effect of the attack burst through the air, knocking over several of the undead, but making the spikes waver in the air as they lost momentum. Swinging his arms wide, he puffed out his chest and allowed the spikes to bounce and break over his chest and legs, as he let out a roar of anger at the top of his lungs. He blocked most of the attacks from Bernadette., but not all, as she was slightly injured.

"There's no way I'm going to let him get away with this!" They won't win!!" Now was his time to act, and he was thoroughly done with Blood Weaver's antics. He took off sprinting at him, throwing punch after punch. He did hold back The weight of his punches so as not to kill him, however. [8 Strength] This time, a simple backflip would not make him back down. He would leap forward and pursue him until he had him in submission.

Yumo watched as the others hid behind walls and eachother. They also managed to shoot down some of Yumo's puppets...but their purpose was not to be a target, their purpose was at hand and yumo was going to let all of the people on the bridge know just what these puppets were for. The spikes bounced off of sul and some shattered on impact with his chest, but blood is blood and nobody tried to get rid of it just tried to take on the first attack.

"You mind isn't thinking hard enough on what I can do with my ability Sul." Yumo said in a deathly laugh mixed in with quiet screams of voices mixed with his.

He parted his fingers from eachother and opened his hand. The spikes that passed sul and the others, and also the spikes that recently shattered or were close enough to achieve what he wanted, then spewed thick spikes outwards toward everything. They impaled the ground with a blind vengeance as they felt the anger of their master. Sul had swung a fist at Yumo which was far too quick for yumo's liking. He put up a wall of thick Jell-lo like blood to slow down and sap some of the strength off of Sul's first punch. He then put his arms in front of his face and rapped three thick bands of blood around them. Sul's arm quickly tore through the wall as Yumo expected and it connected with his arms.

There was a loud crack and then Yumo's arms parted In pain, but that pain was subsided by a pain felt in his face as sul's fist connected with that too. Thanks to Yumo's arm and wall the hit wasn't as strong as when it started but it was enough to send yumo falling and in a daze. He staggered up then looked at the floor. Blood dripped off his eyes as the anger reached his peak. His arms continued to scream as if they had been torn off, but the blood kept them straight as if nothing happened.

Yumo used one of the nearby bodies and flung it between sul so to give him time to start his final assault, and probably his last for today. All sul had to do was jump away or step to the side and Yumo will have the time he needs to bring the place falling down.

Bernadette could only do so much at this point, fighting and defending herself from the Spikes, when Thistle launched a new offensive. She drew her long knife, but, given her injuries, the plants moved with such speed and force as to strike the sluggish mercenary. The venom coursed through her body rapidly, as her mind was already beginning to fade out.

“This is what it feels like to be... in boss’s shoes.” She muttered to herself, falling to her knee. Bernadette’s vision was fading quickly, and her hand went to the grenade on her belt.

The mercenary leader goes down, but not before tossing a parting gift for Thistle and her plants- a customized grenade containing illegally high amount white phosphorus and special explosives, a most dangerous weapon that created an intense burning, crawling substance that adhered to organic matter. It would hopefully envelope Thistle in fire and toxic smoke... for whatever man’s weapons were worth against the metahuman.

Xia emerged from the water with a few bad burns in her mouth, as she flew up over the bridge to survey the carnage; the beast’s mind cleared with the water, but her wrath was renewed with the sight of crimson, the scores of lives ended and the gore strewn about the bridge. Bernadette was also going down to join the dead at the memorial bridge. If she was ever going to clear this bridge, she’d have to take Thistle down. The dragon flew high up; Xia gained some altitude then rapidly dropped down the sky to smash Thistle into goo, amidst the fires and smoke of the white Phosphor grenade.

Damage to the bridge was inevitable at this point, but the moderate damage it would take from the dragon smashing into it would be the lesser evil of letting Thistle keep it.

Thistle grinned once again, the plants informed her that her strike against the human was sucessful and now she was falling to the ground, struggling to remain conscious. Wonderful. she thought. Crossing over her arms from within her bright pink protective pod she couldn't help but wonder what Yumo was doing to benefit the situation. Before that train of thought could continue, a bright flashing light outside of her shield interrupted it. Fortunately, she was still within the floral field of protection so it's effects were toned down to that of a distant strobe light, not very straining to the eyes; Just confusing.

Her eyebrow raised. "What in the wor-Aghhh!" Her thought process was cut short once more, when the top of the pod began to get crushed by what she assumed was the dragon. It roared and crashed it's claws and teeth into her shield continuously. Raising her hands, Thistle tried to keep up with the rate of destruction, trying to keep the shield growing, but this drew her focus from one very important detail. The bridge beneath her pod's structure could only take so much; and the weight of this dragon had pushed it beyond that limit. Road began to screech, the sound of concrete breaking filled the scene, and Thistle fell against the wall of the flower whenever it began to tilt - the hole it was growing from growing larger itself. The tower was beginning to tip over and it's roots tried to keep their grasp as hard as they could but eventually snapped. The plant structure was sent soaring towards the water, roots flailing like desperate arms.

The flower opened and Thistle flew out of the top, extending her hand towards the bridge while she fell, dramatically. "Nooooo!" She screamed while plunging towards the liquid abyss, then it was all over taken by the sound of a mighty splash; and water rushing over her figure. The pit that her structure had fallen from was growing larger, starting to consume the rest of the bridge. The section they were all stood on had buckled and had collapsed into one another; forming a very unstable stage, creaking, and constantly reminding them of it's very weak state. The slightest weight shift could send the bridge spiraling down to the water. Drowning all the survivors on it.



(Skip me for the next post; Thistle's taken out of the fight for a while.)

Sul-Fury's punches came, one after another. Using his blood techniques to try and defend himself, Blood Weaver attempted to soften the punches. But they weren't enough to stop him from reaching his victim. The first blow was blocked by his arms covered in blood as an attempt to shield himself from the damage. But the impact sent a powerful blow to the entity that fused to his arms which screamed in agony. Only seconds later, his second punch struck him directly to the side of the face causing him to recoil backwards to the floor. But Sul's pursuit wouldn't stop there. Blood Weaver had touched a nerve. No, he had gone further than that. He grabbed onto that nerve and viscously twisted it. Sul-Fury valued life highly, and this man was the exact opposite. He viewed it as if it were his plaything. A twisted distorted view that allowed him to believe he could not only take the innocent's lives, but manipulate their corpses to do his will. He wouldn't stop his pursuit until the man was unconscious, and he staggered back up to his feet. Which only meant Sul was still lunging forwards at him.

Step after step, Sul's feet dug into the concrete ground, throwing debris in his wake as his eyes looked as if they were after his blood. Inbetween the two was nothing, until Blood Weaver tried to throw one of his corpse marionettes to block Sul's path to reaching him. But he would not have it. Sul's shoulder struck the grotesque figure causing it to spin and flail off to the side as if it wasn't even a consideration. And it wasn't, for he was dead, and Sul-Fury was enraged. Sul-Fury outstretched his arm as he lunged forward to attempt to grasp Blood Weaver by the neck, raise him in the air, and slam him down into the concrete a foot deep into the structure. If that didn't make him lose consciousness, he would keep him pinned down to the ground with that same hand, while punching him to the face with his opposite hand until he did.

Had he known he put Bernadette's life in danger by abandoning her, he would have felt severe guilt. But to this point, she was behind him and losing consciousness. And his focus was entirely fixated on Blood Weaver being brought to his sense of 'justice'. Which was a polite term for teaching him a lesson by beating him an inch from his life. Still, the war raged on between the Dragon and Thistle. All the while, the structure lost stability, creaking and shaking. Not even in the slightest getting Sul's attention, due to his anger. One way or another, this battle was going to be over very soon.

"Honey save the lady, she's only doing her job, which makes her innocent under circumstances."  Came a sweet voice from inside Yumo's head.

That was the only thing that rang in his head as he watched Bernadette fall.  He glanced at her and had to make a decision.  Let himself be taken and beaten by Sul and save her or let the girl die and continue to fight this man.  Yumo acted quickly and without hesitation.  He put the back of his foot down and created a solid stance.  He then wrapped blood around his legs and creates several layers of armor.  He then wraps several layers of blood around his hand and would swing with all his might at Sul.  The blood pushed forward a little and extended the reach of his hit.  The blood itself would be shattered but the initial impact should shock sul and allow Yumo to swing at him once more, Both attacks were aimed at Sul's Solar Plexus.  He would show that he wasn't as weak as he was being taken as.

While he did this he had three of the blood puppets grabbed Bernadette and began to move her away from the falling bridge.  He would later decide what to do with her, if he was awake when it was time to leave.  When was that damn chopper gonna get here since we're on that topic  Yumo thought.

(I think we're nearing the end of this thread)

Dragon!Xia eventually re-emerged from the river on mighty wing flaps, and she moved to secure the precious few survivors left on the bridge, able to single them out as the living still produced electrical fields. She deposited them onto the riverbank, and flew back to retrieve Bernadette from the blood puppets, the beast angrily swatting them aside and gently carrying Bernadette in her powerful legs, with surprising gentleness. (Xia is a four limbed creature and thus her arms are also her wings.)

What he thought to be a finishing move was countered by Blood Weavers last minute technique. Had the punches come at the same time as Sul-Fury's grappling technique, it would have mattered little. Once he grabbed on, he wasn't planning to let go of his victim, no matter how much he struggled. Blood Weaver's legs were planted, and his reach of his arms were extended by his blood manipulation in a quick last minute counterattack.

Sul-Fury was propelled back by the two jabs to his throat. They had enough force to lift more than just his body weight. His feet slid against the concrete, throwing debris in his wake as he dug his feet in, trying to keep traction. He eventually came to a halt several feet away, as he noticed the dragon beginning to extract survivors. So was she feral or not? It was hard to tell by her random ability to gain clarity long enough to save victims. Sul paused a second to return his gaze at Blood Weaver.

"He's pretty strong. If he can dish it out, then he can take it too." Sul thought, cracking his neck. Usually attacks were useless against him, but he actually felt that one. Now, Sul wouldn't hold his strength back. A single blow should take him out, even with his defensive blood manipulation techniques. He walked back towards Blood Weaver. He wouldn't be caught off guard so easily the next time he assaulted him. Make no mistake, he still hated this guy, and it showed in his eyes. He would have to do something quick to stop Sul from reaching him now. His walk turned into a jog, then a full on run at Blood Weaver. Only when he closed in on his target, he would throw up his arms ready for another counter, throw another jab at the jaw of Blood Weaver with a powerful punch.

Yumo stepped back as the guy looked at him. He cracked his neck and began heading towards Yumo with a strong step that turned to a stride then a jog and quickly into a run. Yumo looked at him and jumped back to gain a little more distance. He then pushed with all his might with all his strength off of his back leg. The floor cracked under his weight as he swung his leg into an upward arc. This would be the final blow. His foot quickly reached out but he didn't know if he made contact.

Yumo's vision vanished as Sul's fist connected with his jaw. There was a loud crack and several snapping sounds as yumo flew backwards. He felt his back break the wall of the bridge. His head laid off of the bridge and just hung there as he faded into darkness. He had lost.

Dragon!Xia nudged Bernadette gently a few times with her nose, the Glasgow lady giving a weak thumbs up to tell the big creature she was still alive and holding on. The carnage of the place had receded, though the smell of blood and gore still filled her draconic sense of smell. With nimble gentleness she picks up Bernadette in her massive jaws, much as a crocodile mother would. She made her way to the remaining figures on the bridge, sensing the danger of its imminent collapse.

Making her way to Sul and Bloodweaver, Dragon!Xia lifts herself into a hover and picks up the defeated foe. Xia lowers herself to have Sul get on her shoulders, as the bridge was no place to be anymore. She snorts in insistence. One with half a brain would probably ask, why didn't the dragon just fly after Vexus in the first place?

The waves of the water brushed against a grasses hill formed along the sides of the river. The ginger haired maiden washed ashore, and she slowly got onto her hands and knees. She exhaled, and a shiver slithered up her back. After several moments she brought herself to her feet, and wrapped her hands, which were wrinkled from absorbing so much moisture, around her waist. Her eyelids narrowed, before she turned to face the bridge. It's structure looked so... defeated, the way it's base has sagged and looked as if it 'twas about to give way under it's own strain. Thistle took a few moments to examine the plant woven stone bridge, which had bricks falling from it like gentle rain. A car slid of the side, and Thistle's eyes narrowed.

A flower burst from the floor and wrapped itself around her ankle, allowing her to utilize her floraportation ability, moving from the small river bank to the exit of the bridge.

Like a plant phoenix she exploded from the floor, arms to the side as if she were the messiah and her hair being carried by tiny vines. The green gaze narrowed in a look towards the stone man and the dragon, her arms lowering to her smooth sides. She took one glance at Yumo's unconscious form and struggled to stop herself from spitting on him and his incompetence. He wasn't even worth that. The eyes of the woman returned to the remaining trio on the bridge, who were surrounded by nothing but corpses, debris and plant life. The bridge cracked some more, and she took two steps forward - so she was stood on the very edge of the bridge; just before it started to move downwards like a ramp.

"I'm sorry, my pets..." she whispered a little too loud, before she wafted a hand to the side. Suddenly, every single peace of plant life on the bridge back to wither. The wood dried out and began brittle. The leaves curled inwards and became a deathly brown - some of them crumbling where they hung. The vines that were everywhere shriveled into nothing more than small black wires. It had only taken about 10 seconds, which made the process even more tragic... and oddly beautiful. The wind blew a little too strongly and sent some of the dead leaves dancing through the air, before they crumbled into dust.

It was a moment later the effects this had had became obvious. The weight of the stone was now easily overpowering them, and the wooden supports were twisting and screaming under the weight. Thistle turned her back to them while she walked away, and the bridge broke it's now withered pillars. Quickly and violently the bridge came undone, hopelessly sending rock slabs and boulders, cars and corpses into the water below; and if they didn't move from the bridge quickly, the heroes too.

Back into the fray, Blood Weaver began backing up and attempting to knock Sul-Fury back again with another counterattack. Swinging his leg in a wide arcing kick, Sul bobbed his head back and shifted his feet to the side in order to avoid the attack. Only afterwards to throw his shoulder forward and plant his fist dead on the jaw of his opponent. The man flew backwards, crushing the wall of the bridge and almost falling off and into the water. Sul inhaled and exhaled in anger, and in some way, gratification for giving the man what he deserved for his demented abominations and slaughtering. He watched for him for a few seconds, waiting for Blood Weaver to get back up, but he wasn't budging in the slightest. Sul-Fury blinked a few times, before walking over towards him. He was unconscious. In the end, it was what Sul-Fury was aiming for, but he couldn't help feel that he might have hit him too hard.

The dragon girl swooped down from the air, picking up Yumo and indicating that Sul-Fury should ride along the creature's back to avoid the impending destruction of the bridge. A loud creak shook the whole bridge, making Sul lean back and forward to gain stability instead of falling down flat on his face. He knew it was unstable, but he didn't think it was this bad. In actuality, Thistle was withdrawing her plant pets from stabilizing the bridge. Flashbacks of his inability to swim in dangerous situations due to his massive weight made his heart beat faster. Quickening his pace, he placed his hand on Xia's neck. Both in a thanks and a possible attempt to make sure she was calm before he placed his heavy weight upon her shoulders. Climbing aboard the dragon, the bridge began to collapse all around them. Their escape was now or never.

"Let's get out of here!"

His blood worked quickly to return some of his senses. Yumo could hear muffles of noise and had blurred vision every few seconds for a moment. As his vision cleared so did his hearing and so did his perception of the massive headache he didn't know he had. He could move his neck slightly, no doubt that Sul had injured some bones there; however, he couldn't move the rest of his body. All he knew for now was that thistle was dropping the bridge nd the dragon was saving him.

He tried to open his jaw but all he got in response was an immense amount of pain. His eyes widened as he felt the pain and he passed back out for a few seconds. His eyes opened again and he watched the bridge tumble. His blood quickly surged to his mouth in response to the earlier pain and he could feel it moving across bones and nerves at it began to slowly and carefully put the bones back into place and mend them together again. This would likely take another like 3 hours.

Xia finds an empty intersection to land, her fury having subsided since the battle began. She gently deposits Bernadette and Yumo, and letting the rather heavy Sul get off before the dragon began to shudder, and slowly shrank back to her tall, athletic Chinese teenager self, wearing a silvery-dark nano-fabric one piece swimsuit. Xia knelt beside Bernadette, holding her hand, not knowing what to do.

Xia would’ve said something to Sul, but the sounds of military helicopters had filled the air since the crisis began, but one approached the heroes. A Chinook entered the airspace following Bernadette's Black Hawk crash, but this one was not Air Force- it was coated black, thouh its bay door adorned with the pink silhouette of a shapely woman with a gun... The Danger Divas came to collect their Captain.

A squadron of ten female mercenaries in black fanned out, decked out in all the best military hardware, and then some unusual looking weapons... laser rifles. Behind them were two more women, one was in a wheelchair while the other was unarmed, and wearing a helmet that hid her face. In a show of uncommon wisdom, the mercenaries do not aim their weapons at Sul, offering him instead refreshments.

Two medics of the Divas quickly get Bernadette on a stretcher. The woman in the wheelchair came up to Xia first and foremost, and she bade Bernadette a speedy recovery. She also ordered Yumo be taken in. Another stretcher was spared for the Bloodweaver, though with armed security.

"...You were supposed to go straight to the Capitol Building. The fate of the entire country is at stake here." Ellie said, her calm tone having a tinge of disappointment.

"...I... couldn't leave the people on the bridge." Xia said, slowly getting up but unable to make eye contact with the much smaller Ellie.

"And now the bridge is in ruins, and casualties are in the dozens. I understand your intentions, but sometimes we have to make calls for the greater good." Ellie said, pulling back on the disappointment.

Xia fell silent, unable to respond to that. "Is your operation complete?" she asked instead, concerned for Ellie’s well being.

"I'll be walking again in a few days. Too late to... thank you for asking." Ellie said, realizing she was essentially speaking to an emotionally vulnerable child.

"I'm very sorry Ellie. I can still catch up if..." Xia started, but Ellie raised a hand to cut her off.

"No, you've done enough." Ellie looked round, seeing the devastating effects of their battle. Even if she deployed an engineering crew to make temporary fix, she’d still need 12 hours to make the bridge usable. She looked at Xia again. "You have the potential, Xia to do great things. But, you lack something critical- experience and training. Go with Bernadette and rest up. I’ll call you when I need you again."

"Okay... It's good to see you too Ellie. Please take care.” Xia nodded and knelt down to embrace Ellie, something the woman in the wheelchair was visibly unaccustomed to. Xia also went over and either gave Sul a handshake or a hug. “Please take care as well. My name is Li Xiaolongnu by the way, it was an honor to fight alongside a strong warrior, like Lu Bu of olden times. May I have your name?”

Once properly introduced, Xia departs and joins the Divas on the Chinook, seating beside the two injured figures in the chopper.

“She’s a nice kid.” The stranger finally piped, her voice muffed by her helmet.

“That’s the problem. Anyway, you’ve been briefed on the situation, but we may not have any more time. Think you can handle it?” Ellie asked the stranger, once again speaking in a cold, professional tone.

“Heh. Saving the country? I got it covered.” She said, with uncommon confidence.

“I’ll try to get information from my sources and keep you informed. The whole area is in chaos, with metahuman battles all over the place. Good luck.” The two women shake hands, and Ellie barely spares Sul a glance, wishing him the same. This was a woman who believed in the good that metakind could do, and she needed no words to express it to the Brick.

Ellie and the Divas quickly evacuate back to the Chinook, leaving behind a Harley for the stranger to use. The anonymous military figure walked up to Sul and gave him a playful salute. "How's it going?"

[Thistle and Creator are done with thread.]

As Sul-Fury got off the dragon who had gotten him out of a dire situation, the group was surrounded by a militaristic group filled only of women. It kind of made Sul feel out of place, but not uncomfortable. He was a bit embarrassed about his weight often, though he had no control over the fact. He was greatly appreciative for Xia holding the burden of all of them. But that would wait. Sul patiently waited for his moment to speak as he took a drink from a bottle of water from one of the agents offering him a refreshment. In observing, he noticed the dragon transform into a young girl. Sul-Fury's eyebrows raised in a bit of a surprise. It wasn't quite what he expected, really. He thought the dragon to be just some experimental weapon that was dropped onto the site, but in actuality it was a metahuman who had trouble controlling their powers. He knew how that felt, he had a deep buried power within himself he feared using as well. Though it was powerful, all it did was kill. He never wanted that again.

"My friends call me Sul." He responded to Xia's invitation to exchange names. He wasn't sure if she became a different person or not when she transformed into the dragon. But incase she remembered everything, he thought he would apologize quickly.

"Uh thanks for the lift, too. I can't really swim, so I would have been in a tricky situation." Scratching the back of his neck nervously as he mentioned one of the few weaknesses the sturdy man had. He wasn't really thinking when putting himself in danger on that bridge. She went in for the handshake and Sul acknowledged it by tilting his head and bowing it slightly in respect before returning the handshake. The group, including Yumo were being taken away in the helicopter. Sul-Fury hadn't even noticed him regaining consciousness earlier, or he might have said or did something.

The group eventually left with their wounded in tow, but they left behind one of their agents with a motorcycle with the instructions to 'save the country'. Perhaps he wasn't too late to stop Vexus, as he thought. She walked up to Sul and gave him a salute, which he wasn't too used to receiving. He raised his hand and saluted with two fingers to his forehead with a hint of casualness. He wasn't sure who this group was, or why they dropped a dragon on the bridge to fight other metahumans, or any of the situation really.

"I'm doing alright." He responded to the girl with a helmet. He hadn't sustained more than a blow to the neck that hadn't hurt him that badly. He was getting over it by now, and was on his second wind.

"I hear you're going to save the country. If you're going to stop Vexus, please let me come along, I can help."

Shauna gets on her modified bike and turns the GPS on. "Follow my lead then, big guy."

She revs up the bike and makes a swift U-turn, speeding towards where more action awaits!

(And we're all done. VEXXIE UPDATE THE SITUATION PUHLEAASE)