NoW: Clockwork Man vs. Evvie

[ImportantNobody]

The spider thing was able to re-correct itself midflight, which was a surprise to her. She needed her wings to be able to do that. The man was her bigger threat at this second, however, so she didn't pay it too much mind. He was rushing in to try and shove her, but she had already regained her balance by then and was ready for her defense. She sidestepped his arm, moving agilely to his right side. With her right hand she mad a move to grab onto his left forearm that was extending past her chest, hopefully limiting his movements. With her left hand she would try and either destroy or at least knock the spider off with a punch to it's "face" above the pinchers. She wouldn't want it jumping at her again while she was attacking the man. She wanted the opening from taking out the spider, if only momentarily, to then be able to deliver a bunch of punches towards his face with her left hand while his left hand was immobilized, but she couldn't get too ahead of herself until she saw what happened to the spider and if she'd even catch onto his arm in the first place. He had proven his quickness in the past, so it was time to see just how quick he was.

[MelonHead]

The Clockwork man was nothing if not deft in close hand to hand combat. Noting his opponent’s sudden requisition of balance he knew his palm strike would not be successful as he launched it. Immediately after it passed her he pulled his left arm away by stepping half-ways back on his left foot and further forward on his right. He combined this with a vicious upper cut launched towards her left side with his free hand, aiming to incapacitate her by knocking the air from her lungs.

He had not expected her to strike at the spider, but neither was it his concern to look after the semi-sentient creature. His move however had pulled it away from her slightly so it had time to react as she attacked it, seemingly as an afterthought. It launched over her raised hand, two of its legs snapping as they collided with the powerfully thrown punch, but this time aimed to clamp down on her exposed neck with its electrical pincers, critically damaged there would be no easy escape should it be thrown loose again.

Provided his punch was successful the Clockwork man would prepare for his coup de grace. However, should it not be successful and Evvie still attempted her flurry of punches, he would react accordingly.

[ImportantNobody]

The man's evasion was yet again impressive. Seeing his punching attack coming in she tensed her abdominal muscles in time to absorb a lot of the impact, but it was still forceful enough to cause her to let out a grunt and for a bruise to appear around the area. To be able to wound her (even if just a little) with a blunt, empty handed attack, the form of attack that she was the best defended against, was unexpected for her. She stumbled backwards and missed low with her punch at the same time. It was then that the spider joined in on the attack, but it appeared to underestimate that thick skull of hers. With no other options, she head butted downwards into the spider's face to hopefully force it off target and crash to the ground. In that case it could become a victim to her stomping on top of it. Her hands wouldn't be as efficient against the spider and would probably be busy fending off the man anyways.

[MelonHead]

The Clockwork man struck with effortless skill, slamming his metallic fist into her abdomen and then pulling back slightly, taking quick stock of the situation. She stumbled backwards, apparently unbalanced; he watched the spider fly towards her.

However, the spider was completely annihilated by her head-butt, caught in mid-air and slammed to the ground where it writhed attempting to regain its footing. George stepped forward then, as she lifted a foot to crush the creature he jerked forward with inhuman speed, lashing out with a powerful kick with his right foot aimed at the back of her standing leg. While her foot was off the ground the other that remained planted on the slippery ground underfoot was vulnerable to his attack, and it served his purpose to keep her unbalanced.

The gun whirred to a crescendo at his side as it alerted him to the vast quantity of potential energy now stored; it was almost time to unleash it in the form of a deadly armour piercing round.

After sweeping his leg round to kick her foot out from under her, he would take note of her stance and balance and then decide if the time was right to deliver his finishing blow, all the while keeping a close mechanical eye on the frozen pond only a few paces behind her.

[ImportantNobody]

She was interrupted from finishing off the spider by a sweep of the man's leg that came in too quickly to dodge given the position that she was in. Her shin was hit hard and she could feel her foot slipping sideways across the icy ground that she was standing on; or at least was standing on a moment ago. She stopped herself from falling down completely by planting her hands on her other foot onto the ground for support. At the same time her wings had been extending backwards, so right when she touched down again she was able to push off with her limbs and her wings, allowing for a quick retreat up and away from him but unknowingly moving over the frozen pond. Her senses were good but she tended to only be able to focus on her opponent and not her surroundings while locked in a battle. However, even if she had noticed she wasn't bothered by it because she felt safe out of his reach. She knew he had some type of fire magic or something like that, but it wouldn't be a danger to her.
.
"Eat this!" She exclaimed, reciting a human expression humans sometimes used before doing an attack. She didn't quite understand what they were supposed to be eating, but it sounded good. Opening up her mouth she let loose a stream of fire at his position around 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. She was surprised at first by the relative weakness of her flame, but then remembered that the cold was inhibiting her internal flame powering her abilities. Her fire breath was still clearly hot enough to burn the snow around the man, which was a problem for her earlier. If she landed at his location to fight him again then at least she'd be able to walk around on solid ground again. The frozen pond was far enough from the heat bearing down on the man not to melt back into water. She felt like she could only keep this fire up for around 5 seconds. During that time she was just flapping in place and would wait to see if the fire was effecting him.

[MelonHead]

The Clockwork man lunged forward with his left hand too slowly as Evvie bounced into the air. He stepped over the spider to pursue her, only to turn to the right slightly as her warning announced her intentions. The fire burst forth from her mouth, confirming his suspicions in a torrent of heat and inferno. He scanned it briefly before he was forced to turn his head away, taking shelter under his left arm, the temperature of the flame was insufficient. Unsurprising considering the conditions, he would just have to set his foot in and bear the brunt of the attack.

The flames whipped around him, setting fire to the fabric of his coat and shirt and burning them to tatters around his body. Underneath, his bronze skin became visible and near completely unaffected by the fire. He too had a powerful fire resistance, although nothing in comparison to Evvie it would take more than the hastily prepared flame she unleashed to melt his body, or even the clockwork within. His mind counted down the seconds, not for her benefit, but for the weapon at his side which he had decided now was the right time to employ as Evvie hovered dangerously over the water.

The Clockwork man presented a façade of being badly injured by the fire, forcing himself slowly into a crouch as the seconds ticked by. The snow around him melted, pooling as water that sizzled as it evaporated from the heat. Then, as suddenly as it had erupted, the inferno petered out. The dull sounding clank at his hip alerted him that the time was right and he immediately stood as the fire flickered out, his cloak literally burned away and his upper body unclothed, bronze skin revealing him for what he was.

He drew the gun in one swift movement, giving the dragon girl no chance to realise her fire had been ineffective and fly away, he wasted no time with theatrics. Turning to face her, the second the gun was pointed at her centre of mass he fired, the three rounds launched with armour piercing capability with a rough three inch spread from the middle of her chest. Should they hit, he could only summarise they would completely destroy her internals and likely cause her to plunge into the icy pool below her. That was his plan at any rate.

[ImportantNobody]

Even at her weakened temperatures she had thought that the attack would have done something, but when the smoke cleared it turned out that his skin didn't look burned in the slightest. He spun around to face her with that one weird buzzing device from earlier drawn, which was probably some form weapon...which meant if he got it out now he was probably planning on using it somehow. Not even knowing exactly what it was she decided to try and dodge as quickly as possible by flapping her wings powerfully upwards. However, before she could get all the way up she could feel intense pain burst into her lower abdomen. The lowest shot had flown harmlessly between her legs, but the upper two entered just above and bellow her belly button, leaving no exit wound but two smaller jets of red spilling out of the front of her belly as she fell screaming into the ice below, her heavy body easily crashing through into the water on her backside, breaking her left wing. Her screams were silenced into bubbles. Wincing, she shut her mouth and placed her hands over the wounds to stop the blood from spilling out into the surrounding waters. From the feel of things her bowels had taken a whole lot of damage from such small entry wounds. She could heal it eventually, but right now that was out of the question. The intense coldness of her body and the fact that she was completely disoriented inside a pond of water was her next biggest concern, and something that she could actually try and do something to fix or else she'd be in big trouble. Using her left hand to keep up the pressure on her stomach, she floundered around desperately in the water with her other three limbs to try and escape her current situation. After that she didn't know what to do, but drowning in icy cold water definitely wasn't the way to go if she had the choice. She wasn't exactly coming up just to die. She'd keep fighting as best she could, and if her opponent managed to beat her then so be it.
.
After a couple of seconds she felt far less resistance on her kicks as her feet managed to break the surface. She tried getting right side up, but was having some difficulty, being a poor swimmer. After some more flailing she just settled on anchoring her heels into the ice on the surface to keep her from moving around aimlessly below the water. After that she'd try to raise herself up and grab onto the ice with her left hand, but she suspected that he'd reach her before she'd get her hand up and pull herself out.

[MelonHead]

Despite the speed with which he had moved, Evvie had managed to avoid the rounds, at least partially. What should have been a lethal takedown became a dangerous but not instantly fatal wound to her lower body, and his head turned as she slammed through the ice. Water splashed into the air, some evaporating instantly as it touched his heated bronze body. His scientific mind analysed that piece of information, although there was no immediate danger the water could quite easily pose just as great a threat to him as it seemed to be for Evvie.

The heat was quickly evaporating from his body, but not at a rate which would cause him to harden exponentially and become inoperable. Clockwork whirred inside as it dissipated, and he found himself more able to move. However, he calculated that avoiding the water for at least half a minute should remove any potential danger for him.

Evvie however, burst from the surface at that moment, and he sighed inwardly. Apparently his draconic foe was not quite ready to give up the fight, and he certainly wasn’t jumping in after her.

He cracked open the triple barrelled pistol and quickly reloaded it, the satchel at his side scorched but otherwise undamaged he noted as he pulled out three rounds. Then as he set the mechanism whirring once again he looked up to stare at Evvie. She seemed to be struggling to pull herself from the icy water, blood stemmed but still flowing into the water. George Elmore shuddered at the sight, but the Clockwork Man just skipped round in an uneven strafe, watching her from the banks. Briefly he considered his options, and decided the best thing to do was to delay her escape from the pool, until he was either cool enough to finish her or his pistol was primed.

Before closing the satchel, his hands deftly plucked a homing explosive from the recesses. He activated it, targeting what he could see of Evvie above the ice with his magic, the blades protruding from the device. With a powerful sideways throw he launched it at her like a discus, using his power to ensure his aim was correct. It had a relatively high chance of hitting what part of her body was above the ice, but should it miss the small target it would explode as close as possible. The fragmentation from the explosive would destroy the ice above, and hopefully leave her stranded in the icy water, possibly critically damaged by the shards of metal launched by the explosive.

[ImportantNobody]

The man was taking too long not to be up to something. She grasped onto the ice with her hand and was able to squirm up above the surface, dripping wet, wounded, exhausted, but not ready to give up yet. She glanced over at the man to see that he had used that time to ready some other weapon. She now knew that he was able to attack from a distance, so would try to dodge him at all cost, not wanting to have a repeat performance. She was in no position to run along the ice in a manner sufficient to dodge him and her dripping wet wings would have trouble lifting off...oh, but one of them was already hanging limply against her side anyways, broken. She had almost forgotten about that during this whole endeavor. With no choice left, she allowed herself to flop back under the surface of the water just in time to see an explosion detonate where she had just been. Shrapnel cut small wounds into her legs, arms, and torso, but due to the water they were slowed down enough not to cause any major harm. By now the wounds on her abdomen were starting to close up on the skin, but it still hurt immensely on the inside where it would take far longer to heal. Her internal flame, flickering slightly but still kept up, was doing it's best to heat her body up enough so that she wouldn't freeze to death. Her swimming, which was more like flailing, brought her to the edge of the pool where she reached up with both hands to grasp onto the shore. From there she would pull herself up, keeping a careful eye on the man's current movements and react accordingly.

[MelonHead]

The explosion literally obliterated the ice coating the pool. More water splashed outwards from the explosion and the Clockwork Man shielded his face from the blast.

“Still alive little flower?” The Clockwork Man’s head jerked to one side in a characteristically mechanical fashion. He holstered the pistol, leaving it to charge as the whirring gears stored more potential energy. His body was still at a high temperature, but the magical qualities of the metal allowed it to conduct the heat outwards quickly and safely. He walked leisurely around the side of the pool towards where Evvie was pulling herself free of the freezing water.

It didn’t take him long to reach her, just as her upper body was clear of the water and she was given the opportunity to stand. Although he had no way of knowing if she had the energy to do so, for it depended on one’s own individual willpower. The sensors in his optics did present him with a grim picture of her inner flame; it seemed doused by the water. As he had predicted the cold water had definitely had a negative effect on her. It was satisfying to have a scientific theory proven in practice.

He blurred forward, clearing the remaining five feet incredibly quickly despite his weight, jerking his clockwork body into position. He would come in from her left, provided she had not stood and turned to face him. If she had, he would attempt to backhand her in the face with his right hand. Following this would come a sweeping kick with his left foot, driving it into her lower body where the wounds were still fresh and probably causing her to plunge back into the water.

If she had not stood, or was in the act of standing, he would simply lash out with his left foot and kick her in the face.