Danny Goes Ham (Ask to Join)

Danny got to the part of China were the sky looked blue and people could wander through tombs without coughing up a lung. It looked pretty nice all things considered, but unfortunately, Danny needed to completely move her body around to see the sky. Right now, she hanged upside down from a snare suspending her over a pit filled with rusty spikes next to a Chinese guide she hired named Mei Ru Wu. Mei looked just as happy in her predicament as Danny with her hands hanging down towards the ground. "I don't want to assign blame here, but I kind of thought the guide would-"

"I said, 'hey, white girl'..."

"I'm like fifteen percent white tops."

"You told me. And, that was what distracted you and tripped this trap."

Dirt rubbed against the khaki pant leg of Danny with her pink T-shirt held in place by a black vest. Mei Ru dressed in a pair of jeans with a green tank top in the rather hot forests of China, at the foot of a mountain that would soon turn the temperatures to a more unbearable cold. "We should try to get down." Danny looked down in an upward position, or possibly looked up from a downward position. While she plowed through those, another thought came to her head. Those spikes below their heads looked dangerous. "Very carefully. Then, we can find out who put a rope trap here."

"I know who put it here. They're an ancient tribe of shapeshifters who holed themselves up in here to keep people who try to steal artifacts from- well, stealing. So, they're kind of doing it right."

"Hey-" Danny twirled around to stare at Mei Run. "We're stopping evil people from stealing."

"You. I'm just guiding you."

"Fine. But, you don't get paid til I get back to the airport. And, those people trying to steal this thing are evil." Danny put her hand out towards Mei Ru. After an annoyed glance, Mei took note of Danny's plan and grabbed her hand. One strong pull from Danny started the swinging, but it did not end the swinging. That came from a snap in the rope. Danny fell quickly, but Mei snapped her left hand onto Danny's wrist, keeping Danny dangling over the pit.

"Hold on white girl." Mei felt Danny pulling the momentum of both girls from side to side. "White girl, you're shaking too much."

"I'm barely white at all, and just hold on, we're going home. In a sense." Danny felt her feet land on the side of the pit, but the force pulled her back into the pendulum motion. Danny dragged her feet, snapping the rope around Mei's ankle. The branch cracked. "Hold on."

"I'm trying. I want to stay on the branch."

"No, lean forward."

"No,I want to go back. I want to go back, white girl." The branch snapped. Danny latched onto Mei, swinging her closer to the side of the pit. "Don't drop me."

"I wasn't going to. And stop calling me white girl." Danny pulled Mei back to safe ground before letting her go. "So, if we can stop getting distracted, I think we have a mountain to climb."Danny looked up to the obstacle before them. "That is a big mountain."

50 million dollars.  When you're offered that much money, it doesn't pay to ask questions.

That is what brought Jardin to Middle-of-Nowhere, China, trundling through the hot forested countryside.  His fair skin was beaded with sweat, dark hair greasy.  He was dressed in khakis and heavy boots for the arduous journey; he had shed his jacket, which was now tied around his waist, in favor of his white sleeveless undershirt, though even that was damp.  A pack was pulled tight to his back while a canteen hung from his neck.  He had tucked a knife into his boot: just in case.

"God damned heat."  He was irritable.  His hair, his cloths, everything clung to his skin.  "God damned woods."  His arms were scratched and clothes were torn, grabbed by trees and brush.  "God damned natives."  Three times now he had nearly tripped into a trap, able to react quickly enough to avoid death in the nick of time.  "God damned trinket."  If it weren't for the money, he would have left long ago.

Cory stopped abruptly.  Was that shouting he heard?  Turning in the direction the voices had come from, he took off, weaving through the trees and native briars...

A short while later, he arrived in time to see one of the most harrowing stunts in history; two woman swinging free from a tree snare.  One of the women looked native; local guide perhaps?  The other, whom the Chinese guide had called "white girl" was...darker than the guide herself was.  And he had to admit, she wasn't unattractive...

The young man shook his head, banishing the evil, lecherous thoughts.  Still, he remained in cover, watching.  Could this be the "competition" he had been warned about?  Cory tried to change cover to get a better look...inadvertantly stepping on a twig.  "Shi-"

"Mountain isn't so big." Mei calmed down once imminent death no longer waved in front of her. "I've seen bigger, but I've seen friendlier people on mountains before."

"I don't remember you listing death traps when we talked about this." Danny managed to remove most of the dirt from the less than sanitary rope she hanged by for the past several minutes. "And, you were sketchy on the tribe an angry people. Until, you wanted to take the cost up."

"Eh, everyone's angry about something now a days." Mei started to walk towards the mountain, using her walking cane to try and test for any other deterrents looming in the dense foliage. "Though, these people have been angry for thousands of years. And are pretty good at exerting it on trespassers. I don't think I'm charging you enough, white girl."

"Stop calling me-" A noise carried into Danny's ear. "Who's there?" The canopy floor looked clear enough, but rustling in the distance demanded her attention.

"That came from a tree. Have you looked in the trees?"

When Mei gave good advice, Danny could not help but work on it. "Are you in the trees? Are you just a monkey? Am I talking to a moneky? Mei, am I talking to a monkey?" No voice came back. "Mei? Mei, it's White Girl, are you there?" Danny turned back to check on where her guide went, before looking back to the trees. Something felt out of whack. And Danny could not shake the feeling of being watched. She just did not know how many people watched her.

Seeing the women's nervous gaze dart across the tree-line, Jardin felt a little guilty.  He had not meant to scare them.

Still, Jardin knew next to nothing about the trinket he was looking for.  And someone had neglected to give him a guide.  He knew these two women were the only chance he had to find it.  He felt a little guilty about using them, but...

"I'm not a monkey," Cory shouted in near flawless Chinese[?].  With a soft grunt, he dropped from his perch, catching the branch on his way down, then falling the last of the way down.  Walking toward the two woman, he continued, "I did not mean to startle you.  I was just taking samples."  He gestured to the tree behind him.

"I'm a botanist," he clarified.  "I'm Lou Gree, by the way."  Lying though his teeth.  His chivalrous side cursed at him.

Cory furrowed his brow slightly.  "What brings you to out here?" he asked, hoping they might give something away...

OoC:

OoC-2:

"Wait, what? Hold on." A surprise took Danny into a number of different places, none of which she could understand without a guide. "Mei, what's this guy-" For a moment Danny forgot she lost contact with her guide. No one volunteered to guide her to the guide, and no one offered up a translation for what the man before her kept saying. Then Danny got an idea. "Hold on. Stop talking for a minute." While her new companion made small talk in a number of languages, Danny tried out her bracelet as an advanced for of Rosetta Stone. It worked, but it worked in the same way jamming a fork in an electric socket worked to style your hair. Every word fell through an ancient filter, confusing Danny even more- and sending her off when his languages continued to change. "Okay. bad idea." The bracelet fell limply down to her wrist. "Who are you? Do I look like I speak Chinese? Also, did you happen to see what happened to the girl who was with me?"

Rumblings within the jungle moved further up the foothills. A hush fell over the foliage as flocks of birds took to flight, heading away from the mountains. The sun continued to peak through the dense canopy as it made its final descent to begin a collision course with the mountain range sticking up through the endless jungle. "Well, Mei said the mountain wasn't so big. She also kept calling me 'white girl', so her judgment isn't the greatest." Nothing about the man showing up right as her guide disappeared made Danny more trusting, but nothing about being alone in the jungle made her want to discard a new companion and try her luck with more snare traps. She did not let on about her wanting for a partnership, but she assumed when she started to walk towards the foothills, the man flower collecting man would keep up just fine.

"You are looking for flowers, but don't look like you're keeping a sharp eye out for anything." Danny kept her path straight and narrow, but the jungle tried to throw her off with reaching thorns and biting branches. "So since we're just throwing things out of nowhere, I'm out here to test new sunscreen lotion and make new friends. So far one of those things is going fantastic." A small clearing opened up from just beyond a few lines of trees. A ruined stone wall ornate with the head of a dragon spiraling up from the end point of a wall hid behind layers of dense foliage, but the secret it kept stood out more. Tents invaded the stone work and spelunked from the trees overgrowing the environment. The hustle of the camp moved in and out of a cave on the very far side of the camp, descending into the foothills of the lumbering mountains. A good number of natives pushed the heavy machinery while a local mercenray groups took up the duty of guarding the opening of the cave and the perimeter of the camp. "So, are these guys looking for flowers too? Because, they aren't sunscreen models."

"Sorry, I didn't know." "Lou" spoke again this time in English. He reintroduced himself, reapeating his earlier lie. Then she asked about her missing guide. Cory blushed, realizing he had been distracted by...things.

He had been about to admit he had not seen her when their exchange was interrupted by distand sounds.  The pair quick found themselve moving towards the sound: Jardin hoped he could pass his interest in  whatever happened off as simple curiosity.  Though she seemed untrusting of him... A particularly obvious sentiment thanks to her "sunscreen" crack.

And then they were at the clearing.  The tents and equipment bore the marks of his employer. This annoyed Jardin: no one had mentioned mercenaries.  Or slaves, he thought, taking note of how the locals were forced to haul about the heavy machinery.

His new companion asked if these were his fellow "botanists," cementing the fact she didn't trust him. Jardin was in no mood for humor, though.  "I don't know," he replied soberly. "You hang back.  I'll go ask." He strode, rather than crept toward the camp.  They should have been expecting him after all.

Before he could take another step, a powerful arm took hold of him, pinning him to a tree. He stared a Chinese man in the eyes now. And what eyes they were: a luminous golden yellow. Jardin's mind snapped to many ideas at seeing those eyes; cunning, ruthless and resolute; the eyes of a predator.

Another had gone after the woman. And there were others besides, all with their unnatural eyes. And then some of them spoke. To Jardin, it sounded like a sort of Chinese, yet different. Almost like a more ancient form. One no one else left alive could speak...

"Alright, so I figure I can sneak around-" No one other than Danny waited for her to come up with a plan. Jardin gave her a suggestion to stay back while he took to the camp. "Hey, wait- I can..." The finger Danny lifted in front of her hung in the air for a minute before returning to her side. "Yeah. Two people are probably not as good at sneaking let alone infiltrating a camp." Under growth rumbled around Danny. No longer did her voice exist as the only sound cutting through the forest. Just as air coursed through her lungs and thoughts filled her head, so did a growing sense of danger set in around her.

In any more causal sense, Danny would take a look to the sides around her, but in this current state, she kept her eyes locked on the botanist moving into the grounds of the camp. He looked graceful enough, but from the previous encounter of his jungle movement, Danny could remember him owning some impressive infiltration skills. Then someone slammed him against a tree. "Maybe he was just a botanist. I feel so bad for saying he was a spy. Any good operative would never get taken in so-" A grip wrapped around Danny's neck and pulled her out from her hiding place. A sinister pair of yellow eyes, a face with no expression, and an accent with no sense of time put Danny in a panic. Struggling against the firm grip, Danny found her fingers rubbing against the inlaid gemstones on her bracelet.

Little help came.

This was new. And not in the same way she typically found new fighting styles. New like a kids parents surprising them by not picking them up at school. But enough about Danny's eighth birthday- she needed to get out of this mess. She also, needed to learn to be more careful about what she wished for. Flying through the air towards the camp gave her time to think over that matter. "I wish things could be a little more simple sometimes." She looked over towards Jardin and his captor before scouting out the rest of the camp. "So, I guess you being the decoy didn't work. Wait, I think I can figure out what they're saying." Going back to her bracelet, Danny tried giving it one more rub, this time hoping someone within the collective unconscious of her bracelet would let her know what language currently spoke her fate around her- and more importantly, would let her speak on behalf of herself, her botanist friend, and her guide whom she spotted in a tent out of the corner of her eye, tied to a post with tape over her mouth. "How's everyone doing today? Me and my botanist friend were going on a nature trip with our good friend Mei, when we saw your tents next to the cave with-" Danny looked over to Jardin as she bit on her thoughts. "ew, you know J-Bot (Danny's new nickname sure to stick with Jardin the Botanist), I hope these guys can't understand me, but we might be in a lot of trouble. Anyways." Taking up the lessons she picked up from running for class president ever since third grade, Danny tried to put some of those words into motion to sell her point. "How about me, J-Bot, and Mei just skedaddle."

As Danny invoked her magic, knowledge of some form of proto-Chinese flooded her mind.  The unit faltered, understanding the young woman's every word.  Even Jardin turned, shocked as he ceased to understand her...

Danny's captor placed her on the ground before addressing her.  "You speak our language like a native.  Who are you, outsider and why do you and a gardener slink about these slavers' camp like thieves?"

The man shook his head.  "No.  That is not important.  We cannot let you go.  We must take you to their leader, else he will execute our families.  Please, move forward..."  Now though, the group was reluctant to force Danny ahead.

---

Jardin, meanwhile, glanced from the woman to the Group and back, unable to understanding what anyone was saying but recognising the atmosphere had changed.

"What's happening?" he asked desperately.

Everything felt better before Danny found herself forced to the ground with a hand on her neck. "It doesn't look good. They're going to take me to see their leader. They might take you, but if they don't- you might be able to make an escape." Only the men around Danny reacted to her words. Danny hit her head against the ground when she realized she was still speaking in the proto-Chinese. "Voodoo, woodoo, stop helping me bracelet spirits." Two burly men helped Danny to her feet with little concern for her well being. "Okay-" She spoke in a modern modern form of English. "The secret plan I gave you is kinda out the window. Our new plan is pretty much whatever you think works. But, they're taking us to see their boss. He will probably be evil or creepy. Only one of those will actually affect you."

Mei kicked her feet against the ground. Duct tape and rope wrapped them tightly together and Mei could only think if Danny did not need so much attention given to her, Mei would not be in the predicament she found herself in. More rope and duct tape wrapped the rest of her to the post, but it was all Danny's fault keeping her attached to the pole. But alas, Mei dug into her back pocket and conjured the most ingenious of tools: the nail file. Mei began to saw through her bindings while the guards stayed focused on the others within the camp.

Danny took a few unwanted steps forward. Then she took two more. The third pair of steps felt more unnecessary as  Danny started to take some practice in moving herself. The building before her looked more permanent but still prefab. A few metal beams kept the tin roof up and a plastic door kept the low humid heat at bay. It opened without tension from the barrings on the door and in walked Danny, her escort, and any one else moved forcibly from one spot to the next.

While the meeting of the minds would take place behind closed doors, a jungle cat walked into camp. Nearly two times the size of the regular tigers stalking the area, this cat wore only black with red eyes. His prowess broke upon a guard without showing itself to anyone else within the camp. Slowly, it picked off a second guard. Before any other guards could spot the tiger, Mei locked eyes. The glare of the tiger stopped Mei dead in her tracks. She squirmed her hands and tried to muffle out a scream for help as she frantically panicked. It mattered little; the tiger saw no threat in her and walked past, leaving Mei out of breath, but with enough of a frantic panic to have gotten her hands freed.

Jardin wasn't so much forced forward. Rather, as he stepped into the prefab shelter, he pushed his way to the fore of the group. "Hey, douch-castle," he said, not giving anyone the chance to speaked. He knew the young woman would be aghast by his dangerous outburst, but he hadn't had the chance to explain his situation. "Ya mind taking these ropes the [cencored] off me?"

The leader of the mercenaries; a lean, business-like man with blonde hair, turned.  "Who the hell are you?"  The officer had a distinctly Australian sounding accent.  And he was definitely annoyed.

"Check my jacket: inside right pocket," Jardin advised.  After a barked order from the boss, one of the guards slide the jacket from his waist.  The guard briefly rifled through the jacket before producing an envelope.

The envelope bore markings reminiscent to the markings on the mercs' equipment.  The boss noticed and hurriedly pulled the message from it.  The letter was on corporate stationary, bearing the company's watermark (again, the mercs' logo).  As the boss looked the paper over, his expression shifted from annoyed to joyful.

Finally the man looked up.  "So, you're that freelancer they were sending.  'Bout time you showed up."  He gave his guards another order and the ropes about Jardin's wrists fell away.  "Anything else you need?"  The one-eighty was a bit much even for Jardin; still, he was expected.  "Leave us while I brief our new friend on our situation," he said to his men.  They were slowly shuffling their way out,

"Wait."  The boss stopped his men, finally noticing the young woman in their midst.  "Who's the bitch?" he asked...another reason to dislike the man.

"She's my assistant," Jardin said. "You wouldn't mind having her untied, too.  Right?"  The young American felt he might have been pushing his luck.

As Danny was untied, Jardin passed toward a nearby window.  Outside, he spotted a mercenary.  He wore the standard black of a militant contractor; he also had on an armband with decal.  The merc spoke into his radio.  After a time he spoke again.  He shook the two-way.  He hung the delicate equipment from his belt before rushing off.

That was odd...

"'Ey!" the boss shouted.  Obviously he'd been talking while Jardin had not been listening.  Oops.  The young man turned, and he noticed Aussie's guards were gone, though the girl was still present. "So, you think you're up to it?  Or do you need me to go over your role again?"  Back to annoyed...

"No.  I think I get the gist of it." And in truth, Jardin probably did: Indiana Jones BS that didn't happen in real life.  Why else send in a single traceur when you already had an army.

Except Jardin had no intention of fulfilling his contract.  He took a steady breath.  Then, in an instant, the young man had vaulted the table, snapping a kick at the boss' temple.  Temple: how fitting.

Mei kept kicking her feet until the tape broke and she pulled her feet from the ropes. Everything else snapped or fell apart when Mei finally broke the post behind her. She ripped the tape off her mouth and ran from the tent. A number of mauled guards still remained on the ground, but the black tiger stood no where in Mei's sight as she broke out of her prison tent. While the sight looked clear, it looked just as terrible. Mei pushed her back against a wall and hoped whatever creature tore through here would be just as apathetic to her as before.

The atmosphere in the room felt even more uncomfortable with the air conditioner broken. Danny tugged at the ropes around her wrists while Jardin parleyed with mercenaries. Back up? "What back up? You were sneaking around because you could even get close to these guys on your own! Now, you're trying to say you're here on contract?! What a worthless-" A bandanna wrapped around Danny's mouth to keep her insults and accusations to herself. Then came the insult that two men needed to come in to hold Danny back from.

With her behavior and outbursts, the guards left Danny herself in the corner, but failed to live up to their order to let her loose. With the look she gave them, no one would dare let her loose. Something drew their attention though. Something emptying the room, leaving Danny alone to begin working her way free. It came with a little help when something pulled her out of the room. "Don't worry White Girl, I got you." Enough bile from the mercenary built up in Danny for her to want to take it out on Mei, but since Mei was currently saving her, Danny decided to just push more vitriol down. A sigh of relief came through her as the bandanna fell around her shoulders. Now she could get payback. "We can leave other guy in there. He's probably up to no good, and isn't paying me."

"No way. I'm going to take it to that guy. He better not be Catholic on a Friday, because I'm about to go Ham on him."

"I don't know any of the words you are saying white girl, but-"

A shadow fell over Mei and Danny, stopping Mei from her rescue attempt. She turned around to see a man towering over her with a tattoos over tigers over his body smeared with blood. He pointed towards the caves. Danny and Mei followed while the rest of the camp remained focused on the conflict from within.

Their fight was brief.  The Boss had some skill, but against an enemy who saw every attack coming, and countered by punishing every opening, the outcome was never in doubt.

Finally, Jardin levered the Boss into the wall, then flowed into an expert chokehold: arm under his left armpit before twisting behind his neck; Jardin's right hand took hold of his opposite elbow, allowing him to shear into the man's neck.  The merc boss soon passed out.

Retrieving his pack, Jardin noticed the woman was nowhere in sight...He shrugged.  Using a generic length of rope from his pack, he began to tie up the boss.  He then stuffed the man under the desk he had so recently vaulted, then wrapped his head in duct tape, gagging him.

Stepping out of the prefab shack, Jardin realized it had all hit the fan.  A nearby tent had been shredded, a merc missing half his face half out of the shelter.  Gunfire nearby caused Jardin to duck suddenly: sounded like a 7.62mm.  The shots abruptly ended as gargling eminated from the same direction. "Oh dear."

Quickly climbing the prefab, Jardin glanced about the camp.  He saw carnage everywhere, which disturbed him.  Though it seemed to be isolated to the mercs thankfully.  He also saw a large number of slaves slipping into the woods, vanishing into the shadows.

As he scanned the area closer to the cave, Jardin spotted the woman from before and her guide.  He also saw one of the mercenaries trying to head them off...We can't have that

Sprinting to the edge of the roof, Jardin let himself fall, rolling as he landed to keep his momentum.  Jardin was right behind the man as he took aim with his rifle.  Vaulting the crouching marksman, the traceur stepped on the barrel, causing it to fire into the earth.

Having left his foe off balance, Jardin found it easy to disarm the merc, using the rifle's stock to impact his nose.  A few more blows left him unconscious.  Jardin kept the rifle-a Type 81?-as he followed the two woman into the cave...

Smoke rose from the bonfire in the middle of the cave, dissipating just as soon as it would rise to the ceiling. A number of idols stabbed out from the walls of the cave. A tiger with paws half covered by rock, an elephant with a trunk and eye sticking into the air, and a mostly uncovered lion standing over rubble all sat around the chamber with a number of other destroyed statues in the room. The large man who carried Danny and Mei down threw a bag of dust into the flames, drawing out a purple trace of smoke. A woman with a snake like nose pushed a suspended bamboo cage over the fire pit, testing its capabilities with a tug. "We can start soon."

"Hmm. I don't know if we have enough power."

A shorter man stood up, shadows dipping in and out of the crevices of his tattoos and muscles. "The two you brought in will do fine. We will uncover enough of this diamond and we can delve into the mysteries with others who come next."

Off in the distance of the shadowy cavern, Danny sat tied to Mei. She tried poking her hands against Mei's back to try and pry her hands loose, but it only served to wear away at the top of Mei's jeans. "I almost got it."

"Quit it White Girl; this is your fault, and you are ruining my jeans." Mei tried grabbing Danny's hands with her own bound hands.

"When they put us in that cage and lower us into the fire, it will really mess up those jeans." Danny escaped Mei's grasp and started to try and work on the knot around Mei's wrist.

"Stop touching me White Girl. Your hands are dirty."

"Stop calling me 'white girl'." Danny felt a hint of anger swell in her voice, but caught it just before it raised suspicions. "We're in a cave. And, neither of us is in a good condition. So, I'm going to untie your hands, then you do the same to me. After that, we might just get out of here alive, okay?"

Before the okay could come, the snake woman walked over towards Danny and Mei. "You two are very talkative today. I guess last words are good to have."

Jardin slipped into the cave, assault rifle pulled to his shoulder.  Within, every sound and word spoken reverberated off the walls, amplified so that the renegade heard everything.  And if the conversations he could make out were truthful, "White Girl" and her guide were going to end up as human sacrifices.

Careful to make as little noise as possible, Jardin crept forward until he saw the flickering light of the bonfire.  Peering into the chamber, he saw two men tending to the pyre and aforementioned cage; some way off, a lanky woman speaking to the two women...

Steadying his breath, Jardin stepped out.  He sighted down the barrel...and fired.

Thirteen shots flew high, ripping through the ropes holding the cage.  Nothing to hold it up, the cage fell, dispersing the fire wood, plunging the chamber into relative darkness.  Jardin's eyes adjusted quickly, dilating thanks to his meta-talents.

"Sorry about that..." Jardin mocked.  "I can be a bit belligerent when it comes to cages."  He remained in cover, reluctant to open himself up.

He took stock of his ammo: 1 shot from the merc + 13 for the cage meant 14 total.  2mags x 30per mag...16 + 30 shots left.

Each one of the woman's nails curved out, capturing the glow and flicker of the flames within its edge. As the nail grew closer towards Danny and Mei the light encapsulated within its edge disappeared. As darkness swept crept into the cave, Danny let her hands do the seeing for her. No time for diplomacy; Danny just grabbed Mei's wrist and held them until she finally slipped Mei's hands free. "My wrists hurt!"

"Shut up." Danny pulled the ropes off of Mei's hand. "Get me out." A sharp pain drove into Danny's arm. A deep tension rose in her muscles as a sudden burst of blood shot out of her upper arm. "Mei! We're moving!" Danny pulled out of the invasive blade, swinging Mei to her feet. "Hold me up!" Mei held firm as Danny popped onto her back, throwing her bound feet into the chest of the attacker perpetrating the offensive against her. Too much force from her kick sent Mei off balance, landing both girls on their sides.

"My feet aren't free yet! You gotta stop being so reckless. You're going to get us killed!"

Feet scattered in the distance, charging for the downed girls. Without any sight, Danny could still make a safe bet on where that blade would stab towards. "Up!" Danny wasted no time waiting for Mei, but did find assistance in her elevation from behind. The ropes severed from their hard grasp around the girl's torso, allowing Danny and Mei to fall apart from each other. Mei scrambled to untie her feet while Danny still laid in a fairly helpless situation. Once the second stab came, Danny kept the ropes, but removed the helpless qualifier, throwing her feet up, betting the length of her legs against the length of the woman's arms. She rolled a hard six and heard the crack of a larynx a few feet above her. A thump sounded in front of her while a friendly assistant freed her hands.

Now freed, Danny sought out some revenge served up burning with rage. Shadows scrambled around in the darkness while combat raged in the distance. Danny kept her feet moving forward, listening for any sound of movement she could attest to. A blade scraped across her shoulder, letting Danny know where her opponent was in the darkened room. The exertion Danny put into her arm to pin the woman over exerted her wound, causing blood to seep out more pronounced than before. The snake woman threw a hand full of nails towards Danny, proud in her stature and knowing the frailty of her sacrifice. Frailty be damned- Danny pushed down on the woman's throat to lift herself into the air and connected her knee to the woman's jaw, dislodging it and putting her adversary face down on the ground.

Off in the distance, the large man pulled a column from the ground, dislodging a portion of the ceiling, but not enough to collapse it. Holding the large object like a bat, the beastly man lunged forward to attempt to bring it down upon the uninvited guest. The darkness took away his direct line of sight on his enemy, but his smell still pervaded through the area, calling out like a beacon for the brutal attack.

While the fight raged on, the man in back grabbed the diamond and began to scurry though the walls to try and find a back escape for himself.