Passing through...

[The Stranger]

The stranger's next appearance would be on the outskirts of a small town known as Razortooth. He'd heard the rumors about the place. Or rather, he knew the truth. It was sort-of his business to know.

As he approached the gate, he jumped off his motorcycle, but kept his hands on the handlebars, walking the bike alongside him as if ready to park the thing.

"..."

All of a sudden, he paused. There were four. No, six. Six of them. Hidden in the brush around him and one approaching in plain-site from within the city through the main gate.

The one that approached head on paused a few feet away and crossed his arms.

"I'm afraid we can't allow you to enter this village."

The stranger imagined that speaking to a man with a biking helmet on must be a bit uneasy. With no-one able to see his face, he could understand where such caution would be provoked.

"I'm sorry, is there a... problem?"

The lead assassin held his hand out, making it apparent by his stance that the stranger was not to proceed.

"You are the one they call 'Jazz'... we've heard of you, and we're not sure we're... 'comfortable' with you being here. Not as heavily armed as you are..."

"I could say the same to you, friend... although I can't claim I know YOUR name...", the Stranger fired back.

"We don't want any trouble."

As the man spoke, the other six made themselves visible, without sound. As if they'd always been there.

"Neither do I.", Jazz insisted. "I'm just passing through."

"Not through HERE, I'm afraid.", the man insisted right back.

"..."

Jazz glanced around, without moving his head. All of a sudden the men were slightly closer. He hadn't seen them move at all, but he had taken note of their positions each time he stole a glanced and noticed some key differences.

"You said you've heard of me...", Jazz suddenly added.

"Indeed. You're said to be dangerous. Nothing we couldn't handle, but..."

Jazz interrupted, as if to complete the sentence, "... I could make things very ugly for you, very quickly. And you know that.".

The lead assassin snarled at him.

"What do you want in this city?"

"Nothing. Like I said...", Jazz blurted. "... just passing through."

The man seemed to pause and consider The Stranger's words for a moment.

Then, the silence was broken.

"... your destination?"

The Stranger took his helmet off and hung it under his arm.

"I'm looking for a place called 'the Fire Temple'."

".... hmm..."

All of a sudden, the man waved his arm, and 2 of the other assassins bowed and backed away, vanishing into the shadows from whence they came.

"I'll allow you to pass through, under the condition that you allow these men to escort you."

Jazz glanced to either side, this time making no effort to hide where he was looking. Four men calmly approached. Two from either side.

"I'll agree... but on one condition."

"You're hardly in a position to make demands."

Jazz hopped back on his bike and strapped on his helmet.

"We stick to the main roads. Don't try and pull me into any alleys or some crap like that, or things get ugly, just like I promised.", Jazz insisted, ignoring the man's taunt.

There was another brief silence. The Assassins' leader stepped aside.

"Fair enough..."

And just like that, Jazz was led into town.

[The Silent Fourteen]

Darklighter looked out his window, and saw a few lower ranking assassins leading a strange man through the little town. He took a good look at the man's weaponry, and the guards surrounding him.

I should really shoot those idiots that let him in.... At least they aren't TOSS operators...

Darklighter grabbed his gear, pulled on a mask, and left his office. As the group passed by, Darklighter calmly strolled up to the group.

He drew his pistol and quickly shot each guard through the head. He holstered his gun and spoke into a small radio.

"Get some people to clean up a few bodies, ASAP."

He then addressed the well armed man before him. "May I help you?"

[The Silent Fourteen]

(OOC: I completely missed that. This is why you should not post at 3 AM..... Ok. I'll revise in a bit. Like, when I'm actually awake. I'll have the post fixed by the end of the night.

[Darkrider]

As he applied the final screws, he took a moment to silently admire his handiwork on his newest EMP prototypes. Stashing them away in a pouch, his earchip crackled with a few words.

Replying wordlessly, he slipped out from the door and onto the roof, though no image of such an event could be seen.

The sun betrayed nothing, though it's rays shone brightly, indicating high noon. The shadows stayed quiet, their secrets remained hidden. From his perches, Vulcan opened a private channel to his boss.

"Lighter, it's me. Heard from town about our new guest. Tell me, who's the idiot who allowed this guy to walk through here with all his shit? Those weapons he has can cause all sorts of complications, and note how he's continuing to hold on to his bike. It looks like he's expecting a heavy fight. Do you need support?"

Vulcan moved to another position, right behind the target's head. The safety of his rifle switched off.

We have to play this right. Lead this guy out ASAP without him seeing to much of this place, while not pressuring him into shooting up half the place.

[The Silent Fourteen]

(OOC: Edited)

[The Stranger]

In no-time at all, several more assassins had gathered around to see what had happened. Fortunately, they had arrived just in time to see DarkLighter putting his weapon away.

Jazz glanced around, revved his engine, and then pointed dramatically at DarkLighter.

"HE did it!"

And with that, the cycle barreled off with a burst of incredible speed, as if having been fired from a gun straight from stand-still. Passing by close enough to ruffle DarkLighter's clothes as the stranger sped off for the opposite end of town.

As he left the impromptu battle behind, Jazz dared a glance over his shoulder.

Cool it, Jazz... you're not like those guys.

As he approached the opposite gate, which was being shut to close him in, he pulled a wheelie, and caused the thing to launch into the sky.

In mid-air, he choreographed perfectly with the machine as it unbound itself from it's hovercycle mode, and snapped into an armor around him.

At least... not ANYMORE...

"NYUUAAAAHH!!!"

With an enormous crash that nearly shook the ground, Jazz Strider tore through the metal gate that had been slammed shut before him, leaving an impressionable hole in it's plate.

Whatever happened between the band of assassins, and the strange man who came to 'greet' him... it was none of his business for now.

Jazz couldn't help but crack a smile, in retrospect. Realizing the comical appearance of having just pointed at the man and accused him, as if he himself were guilty and trying to cover it up.

((Exit: Stage that-a-way!))

[The Silent Fourteen]

(OOC: This is driving me insane. Darklighter's name doesn't have a random capitol L. Sorry... just me going OCD)

Darklighter stood over the bodies of the now dead men. A few low ranking assassins came to gather the bodies. Darklighter pulled out his radio, turned a few dials, and spoke into it. His voice resonated through Razortooth.

"Incompetence will not be tolerated. Allowing strange men into the town WITHOUT MY CONSENT will not be tolerated. Stupidity WILL NOT be tolerated. I will personally execute anybody this worthless. And as for the Spectres that allowed these men into my town, they will be punished once Sturm returms. Take comfort in the fact that I actually care about your lives. That is all."

Darklighter pulled out his pistol and loaded a new magazine. He then sprinted to the armory and slid his smooth Silver Coin into the slot. The enchanted vault door slid open.

Darklighter turned the dials on his radio and spoke to Darkrider. "Get your shit and come on. We're going on a hunt."

Darklighter grabbed an assault rifle, a few bricks of plastic explosives, and a few more magazines for his pistol. He left the armory, took his Coin from the slot, and with his pistol drawn, he walked out to the damaged metal gate. "Asinine bastard... If he had stayed, I would have hired him."

Darklighter stepped through the hole in the gate and strolled out into the woods. He spoke into his radio once more. "Rider, we're going to need some rockets. Get a group of Spectres and tell them that we have heavy enemy armor in the area."

We need to find the Forest Phantom.

Slowly, Darklighter began to work his way through the forest, following tracks of the armored man.

This is going to be a rough trip.

((Exeunt: Stage that-a-way!))

[Darkrider]

Kent inwardly winced. Great. Nice to know I'll be left out freeze than be executed on the spot.

Radioing back to Darklighter, he replied: "I didn't find out about the situation until it already happened. So don't leave me to freeze under Sturm."

Moving quickly, his vision changed perception, analyzing heat. Scanning the area, he soon found the former intruder.

"Got a fix. He's trying to run from the outskirts of town."

An armored hand clicked his earpeice.

"Spectres, grap some RPG's and explosive rounds. Were rolling the thunder."

He switched frequencies to HQ. "Deploy UAVs to provide coverage, and help coordinate fire teams to rat this tango out. Use of heavy armor is authorized."

Hums were heard as he brought out his new EMP prototypes. Time for a field test. Within a blink, he was in a enhanced dash towards the target's position.