Gaia. (11)

"Turns out there were snipers after all, eh Chief?" Relovan asked, grinning as he tipped his cap in appreciation.

"Yeah – they were all using Chameleon Cloaks." Nura grinned as he gave a one finger salute.

"Nice find, Chief."

They were conversing while using the Voice ability, and for that brief moment, it was as if they weren't neck deep in a skirmish that had absolutely nothing to do with them. They were interrupted as Relovan felt fingers grip his cape tightly, and he turned around to see Princess Nkanyezi, with an expression that was a combination of relief and fear.

"Princess." The Enforcer said as he turned around. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"N-No, I'm fine… thank you for coming… and for your assistance."

"Don't mention it, Princess. You're doing remarkably well in this situation."

"Even if I were to panic, where would I run? How would I run? This outfit would make me trip and fall right into the enemy's hands!"

Relovan tried his hardest to stifle his laughter, but failed as a small chuckle escaped his lips. The Princess, who was being serious when she made that statement, suddenly looked at Relovan with what looked like a pout.

"Don't laugh at me, Enforcer!" She barked, balling her fists with were still hidden under one of her immense sleeves.

"What are you two doing?!" Carolina roared as she looked back at the pair. "Can't you see how dire the situation is?! You there, Policeman – take the Princess and get out of here!"

Relovan, who had almost forgotten about the Princess' bodyguard, looked at the woman who was clearly struggling and pointed his pistol in the direction of the one she was fighting.

"You there, this is Police Enforcer Relovan… you are under arrest for… well, for all of this. If you stand down now, I'll only cuff you, but if you refuse to stop this and call this entire thing off, well—"

The large person in black, who was still engaged with Carolina, reached inside their cloak and the glint of something metallic alerted Relovan to something flying his way. He tilted his head to the side, and an elaborately engraved throwing knife flew past the Enforcer's head. Relovan then quickly ducked in the event that more were going to be thrown, before darting to his right and then dashing to the front, closing the gap between himself and the figure in black. Carolina, who was wielding two swords and using all of her might to hold off the long and jagged blade that was trying to cleave her in two, watched as Relovan narrowed the distance between them. The figure in black tossed another throwing knife at Relovan, but he managed to evade it and drive his baton into the stomach of the figure. He activated the stun baton, and streaks of lightning danced along the baton. Despite Relovan thinking he had scored a direct hit, the baton passed through the cloak as if there was nothing underneath. The figure had twisted its torso to evade the baton, so Relovan planted his left foot and swiveled, using said foot as a pivot while simultaneously raising his right hand – which was still holding the gun – and aiming for the figure's cloaked head. The pistol was automatically set to STUN as all regulation energy blasters were, and pulled the trigger. The stun round flew towards the cloaked figure's head, yet that head simply moved back, evading the shot completely. Noticing that all the attention was currently on Relovan, Carolina summoned all of her strength and drove her right foot into the midriff of the figure that was pinning her down. Unlike Relovan, she actually made contact with said midriff and pushed the figure off of her, causing said figure to take more than a few steps back. As Carolina wiped some sweat from her brow and blood from her mouth while focusing on regaining her breath, Relovan stood to his full height and stood by her side, with his eyes never shifting off of the figure.

"Whoever is under that cloak, is strong." The Enforcer said as he rolled his neck, and did some light stretches.

"Didn't I tell you to take the Princess and escape?" Carolina sneered as she too refused to take her eyes off of her attacker.

"You did… but I do not answer to you. I will arrest that person, and haul them to jail. Any idea who that is, though?"

"Not at all… must be a hired hand – I've never seen that blade before."

"Understood… so the goal is simple, arrest and interrogate. We will find out who hired these clowns and arrest them too."

"You won't be able to do that alone." Carolina said as she entered her battle stance.

"What about protecting the Princess? That's your job, isn't it?"

"There's no keeping her safe so long as that one is not defeated."

"Understood." Relovan said as he concluded his stretches.

Without saying a word, the two charged the one in the cloak, with Relovan holding the baton in his left and his pistol his right. Carolina took the lead and attacked first, thrust both swords at the figure's chest. The thrusts were deflected by the jagged blade, and the Dragon Lady used the momentum to spin and come back with separate slashes coming in from the figure's right, one aimed at the neck and the other at the abdomen. The jagged blade was extremely long, and all the figure did was hold it with the tip facing the floor. The blade proved to be more than long enough to cover both the neck and abdomen, and both swords were stopped with relative ease. Relovan came in low from the figure's left, unleashing a series of jabs with the baton, all aimed at the face. The figure's head bobbed around as it evaded every jab, before Relovan pulled the baton back, activated it and went for the body again. The figure's right hand was still holding Carolina's swords at bay, so the left was free. The figure parried the crackling baton away with its bare hand – much to Relovan's surprise – and lunged down. The fingers were pursed tightly together, and long claw-esque tips protruded from the ends of said fingers. Relovan tilted his own head to the side to evade the incoming hand, and it was now his turn to dodge multiple jabs. After ducking below a relatively high jab, Relovan crouched down and dashed to his right before raising his gun. Another stun round was fired and subsequently evaded as the figure twisted its torso and dodged the energy round.

"Fucking hell!" Relovan yelled.

As he was about to pull the trigger a second time, the cloaked figure drove its foot into Carolina's gut this time, and she was the one sent flying back. By the time the second shot was fired, the cloaked one had already lunged in Relovan's direction and parried the gun away, resulting in the shot randomly hitting and incapacitating somebody off to the side. Relovan quickly rolled to his left which was just as well, since that jagged blade slashed its way into the space the Enforcer had just vacated. Upon completion of the dodge roll, Relovan jumped to his feet and dashed towards the cloaked one. He spun the baton as he activated it, recreating the lightning shield. He flew into striking range, and the figure thrust the blade towards the Enforcer's chest. The baton was raised and deflected the thrust away, prompting the cloaked one to attempt a handful of slashes from multiple directions. Relovan parried them all with the baton as he drove forward, bright blue flashes of light occurring with each parry, and as he got close enough to launch an attack of his own, he did just that, ceasing the spinning and thrusting the crackling baton towards the hood of the cloak. Just then, the jagged blade flashed past Relovan's face and cleaved the baton in half. His eyes darted to his left hand for only a moment, before the gun wielding hand was also brought into play. The gun was raised and brought close enough to the hood that it would be extremely difficult, even for this person, to evade the shot. The trigger was then pulled emphatically – as if that would make the shot more effective – yet nothing happened afterwards. In fact, Relovan pulled the trigger a few times, and all that happened was that the trigger clicked after every pull.

"HUH?!" Relovan boomed as he looked at the gun desperately.