Blood Iron

[Argetlam350]

The wolf began to yank on the chain again. Tonight it didn't plan to stay locked up and chained. It wanted out more then ever, it wanted to feed on a fresh kill and howl at the moon. The more it yanked, clawed, chewed, and teared on the chain, the more loose it came off the floor. Zacar usually made sure to retighten it ever morning after a full moon. However, those nights the wolf would usually give up on the chain and just sleep but now it wanted out once and for all.
It worked on the chain until finally when the moon reached its highest point in the sky, the chain surrendered and came unbolted from the floor. Pieces of wood flew into the air as the wolf tumbled back not ready for the sudden freedom. But now it was free and it didn't stay dazed and stunned for long. It broke of its prison and out the front door of the house letting a howl pierce the night sky as it raced through the forest's underbrush. Now it was its time to hunt, its time to kill.

[kotetsu852]

One of the creatures most drawn to the great clockwork cities of man was the Gnome. Most Gnomes that is, Sprocko Gearwedge hadn't been in a city of man for 75 years since he aided in the sapping of an old flying fortress. He had fought in the war to bring unity to the two groups but after watching most of his "family" butchered by human mercenaries, he tended to either hunt them or stay away from humans entirely. He had his traveling pack on and his rifle slung over his shoulder. He hadn't been making enough time to get to the city on time, he was on a mission and didn't intend to be late. He had received word about a month ago that there was a young artificer living in Stillworth and he had intended to meet this woman, tonight. Events would step in the way but who could actually believe that there was going to be a massive werewolf here in the middle of the forest?

It was slow going but he had covered a lot of ground this last month. Artificers commonly travel so he had to make sure that this woman didn't get a second more than necessary to leave. This night he had been lucky enough to be carrying his latest invention, it was an arcane device that would prove invaluable on this particular night. This device, 6 small spheres that could be used in coordination with his telekinetic abilities to disable an opponent. He had been somewhat stumbling his way through these woods, obviously not being familiar with them, that's when the howl pierced the sky only 40 meters away, a series of events began unfolding rapidly.

It was time for the old warrior in this small Gnome to regain its original flame and love of war.

[PrimezTime]

With the tip of a hat and a nod of an armored giant, the two scurried off to settle their dispute. Her anxiety slowly vacated her mind as she was left alone, again. Whatever those two had intended on doing, she was glad it was away from her. Although, she wasn't overly fond that it was probably going to end in violently with the two battling each other if the lighter gentleman couldn't escape the metal man. It would appear, however, that Ellie could not escape the company of another because another man, a doctor judging from his attire, came over to observe the fight apparently. Couldn't she be left alone, just for a bit? The doctor came over and sat down, jesting about the 'good entertainment' that is about to unfold with the two gentlemen she had the pleasure of encountering earlier. "I'd hardly constitute two men fighting to the death as entertainment. It is barbaric and the mere concept of death should distaste you, doctor!" She gave the doctor a once over before looking back to the two gentlemen about to squabble. However, her gaze noticed something else in front of her.

The doctor also had a small crow at his side that fluttered about until it stood on the floor right in front of her. She never really liked crows. Black, horrid birds that seem to signify death. Why a doctor would ever consider this his song bird is beyond her. The crow stared at her with it's little beady eyes and Ellie stared back. The moment it cawed, she jumped in fright. "You aren't a real doctor, are you?" She asked while her eyes didn't leave the crow, now scratching itself.

[Phreniphorm]

Melker frowned as he heard the bounty hunter speak. This was not how things were supposed to play out at all. Still, it was no matter. Melker still had some tricks up his sleeves. One thing he knew from experience was that no matter how ruthless the fighter, no matter how accurate or precise the shooter, they could not operate in a hectic environment. The bar was hectic enough, but Melker was about to make it even worse. "I respect bounty hunters." Melker said without stopping or turning around, though he did slow down out of politeness. "And I always give those I respect a challenge." He said, then without warning, lashed out and punched the nearest man in the face. Since Melker was invisible to him, the man rounded and retaliated at another man who was standing next to him. Drinks spilled on the floor and the bar descended into absolute silence for a split-second.

Then all hell broke loose. The two men's fight suddenly became the affair of the entire bar as a general brawl broke out. If the bar was rowdy before, it was now a madhouse. Fists were thrown with reckless abandon, abdomens caught kicks and there was even the glint of a knife's blade somewhere in the confusion. Melker took this chance to slip away. All he had to do was just avoid the drunken punches and kicks who missed their mark. No one but the bounty hunter would be able to see him, and given just how hectic things had become, he doubted the bounty hunter would be able to keep up for too long without committing some form of crime which would place the city guards square on Melker's side.

Still, to be safe, Melker grabbed a pistol lying on a table. It never hurt to be too safe, especially now that the fight was beginning to get out of hand. No one was going to be able to stop them now.

---

Jevan heaved a sigh as the man started a bar fight. "Creative! But useless!" He called towards the fleeing back of his target. He was about to go after him when a man attempted to punch him in the face. The hand hit his helmet with a painful sounding thump. The man fell back, holding his hand, and Jevan, after securing his Morning Star, slammed his own fist into his face. Knocking him out. He then hunkered his shoulders down, and bulled forward through the crowd, sending bar occupants flying everywhere. Jevan felt his mind going into what he called 'The Hunt' he felt his emotions being bottled up and he started viewing the world around him clinically, in a detached way. You can't run. You can't hide. I'll find you, and catch you. he thought as he bulled forward. He saw the man grabbing a pistol on the table and kept a hand on his Morning star just for safety.

---

Someone needs to learn some humility. Melker said to himself as he ducked and weaved through the crowd. Now more than a visual barrier, they became a physical barrier. The bounty hunter was just barreling through the crowd, sending people flying. That was going to come back to haunt him in very short order. Needs work on elegance. Melker commented, as if he was examining a student rather than running for his life. Well, Melker didn't exactly feel threatened. Armor, regardless of how enchanted, still had physical limitations. For instance, Melker knew from experience that the joints would be impeded simply due to the shape of the armor. It didn't matter what kind. Mobility would be reduced in armor, that was a given.

Eventually, someone managed to roll out through the doors and onto the streets. Melker could hear the man yelling for the guards from inside and over the ruckus of the crowd. "Guards! Guards!" He heard the man shout. "Someone's throwing people about!"

At that, Melker grinned to himself. The bounty hunter was about to pay for his lack of tact. Melker kept the pace, moving through the crowd as if it were second nature. It wasn't too long before visual contact was broken, but Melker kept moving. The bounty hunter proved to be a good, if slightly haughty, opponent. To be safe, Melker cocked the hammer of the pistol. He had been hoping to escape without any additional deaths. Killing outside of work was not his style, but it was clear that the bounty hunter had no such qualms. The instant Melker saw him, regardless of the situation, he would open fire.

---

Jevan just gave a glance at the man shouting for the guards. As far as he was concerned, everyone was throwing everyone about, and he wouldn't be picked out that easily. Speaking of which... He looked for his target. He was a few feet from the table where the chase had originally began, where there was a doctor with the girl now. He heard pounding feet over the ruckus of a bar fight and whipped his head around. "Bingo." He said as he saw the contract killer making a dash for the door...past the table. Jevan rolled his shoulders. One of the bonuses of having the suit melded to his body, is that he can move quite quickly with it now, as if it were his muscles.

He usually preferred to keep this hidden, and go with the usual, heavy armor = not that quick thought process of his targets. The man was getting closer to the table. With out further adue, he bolted towards the man. He had misjudged the mans speed and his own, and they would meet with a table between them instead of to the side of it. No matter. With a leap and an act of surprising grace, he leapt over the table, in a parkour style, using his hand to support him as his feet and body flew over it.

With a twist of his hand, the tips of his metal boots hit the man in the chest just as he fired. The man fell to the ground, and the bullet hit Jevan in the shoulder. His armor prevented any serious damage, but it hurt like hell and would most likely bruise badly. With a noted lake of grace, Jevan crashed onto , and slid off of the table, knocking it over, and leapt to his feet, his rather large automatic gun aimed directly at his target. "I don't want anymore bloodshed than necessary, so why don't you just give up?" Jevan asked in a monotone. Clever, very clever. It's been to long since I faced a worthy hunt like you..

---

"Not my kind of thing," Melker said, his voice absolutely emotionless. The kick had hurt, but it wasn't anything he had not experienced before. It amazed Melker as to how bounty hunters seemed to enjoy wearing armor that impeded movement to catch such a nimble target as he. Time seemed to slow down as Melker ducked low and dashed to the side. He could feel the bullets as they passed behind him, not that it fazed him too much. Automatic weapons tended to be inaccurate, or at least more inaccurate than the single shot weapons Melker was used to facing. In the same movement, Melker pulled his rifle over his shoulder. He moved as quickly as he could, by now the bar had been silenced due to the sudden gunshot. Melker used the overturned tables to hide himself. Near the end of his run, he vaulted over a table and landed on both feet, behind the bounty hunter.

Melker raised his rifle and aimed it at the back of the hunter's head. He was a fair distance away, so he wasn't too worried about a physical attack. The bounty hunter had shown considerable grace, but it wasn't enough to impress Melker. He was also slightly put off by the bounty hunter's haughtiness. "Turn around," Melker said slowly. "I will not shoot you in the back." He slowly pulled back the hammer of his rifle. Being a single-shot weapon with little moving parts, Melker could afford to put a lot more powder behind one bullet without fear of the entire thing falling to pieces. The amount of charge he had behind the small, pointed bullet was enough to drive it through the bounty hunter's armor. It had been enough to drive through heavy armor nearly a centimeter thick.

"Respect," Melker said that one word to explain his actions. It appeared they were at a stalemate. Neither side could do much without risking being shot at. Still, Melker waited.

[Gravislayer]

"Not a real doctor?" A quiet and weirdly very aristocratic giggle could be heared from under the emotionless mask which hides the face of the not so real doctor, weird how close and how far she was from the truth at the same time, indeed he wasn´t a real doctor if you take it as a human doctor, he does have a medical license but being human? Oh well as it comes to be human he would be a poor example, better said not an example at all. His medical license was earned with rights and luckily went without any further problems, the mask he wears is still a reminding of it since he made his license while the city was still in it´s rebuild-phase, sicknesses and plagues were uncommon but not unusual and the mask he wore was a common sign for the likes of him, so his teacher just thaught he would be over protective and phobic of illnesses...but..he did a good job and earned it.
Oh...how long has it been? 50 years....or even more?

"Well" The creature started again and pointed at the crow on the table. "Look at this crow, most people think it´s a toy, a mechanical creature, something like you would create. But certainly you recognized it´s not a toy, it´s a living crow....but here is what resembles me being a doctor. While it´s not a toy, it´s also not a crow~ All vital parts are reduced to zero and are replaced by gears and mechanical instruments, so that only the brain, as a memory-unit would be left....So look at it again...look at the copper wing it posses, look at the regulator and the automatic pacer which is placed on it´s little chest.... it´s more dead than alive, infact it isn´t alive, neither it´s dead...so what is it?"
-He looks at the girl, wanting to start something again as suddenly the bar fight started to burst out, as an armoured man then would directly start to throw people out of his way, a mislead one would knock Bernhard off his stool.
Panicly grabbing his face to chek if the mask was still on, he shoke the sudden shock off and stood up straight even patting off the dust from his clothes before he turns to the thrown aside man which knocked him off.
The man, highly alcoholized, stood up, slightly wavering from the great amounts of booze he had and looked at the doctor. He wore a torn suit and a black cylinder on his head, the bottom of his black trousers which once had been very elegant would be brown from dirt and other debris, under the suit would glance a once white shirt with now spots in all colours of the rainbow. A former Aristocrat Bernhard quickly concluded.

"Excuse me sir.." The doctor started before the babbling voice of the man replied "Oh....you...you threw me.. didn´t you...so excuse me" By saying this he drew a big knife, a copper hilt and a bright, silver like blade would cause the doctor to reconsider this sudden meeting. With a uncoordinated but quick thrust the man aimed his knife at his contrahent, missing him only by few yards thanks to the doctor´s quick reaction. He dashes aside and rammed his right hand with the syringe gaunlet into the mean man´s neck, causing the narcotic liquid which the syringe would hold to flow into the man´s blood system.
The man stood there unable to move, the doctor used the time and took the black cylinder from the man´s head, it was a smaller version to the original ones, something he always liked to posses.
After arraging it on his head he nooded to the statue like man who was now peacefull as humanly possible, so peacefull that it knocked him out of his socks...well or simply to cause him to fall backwards.

The situation quickly got out of hand, the doctor thaught and looked around in the bar whgich was at a great chaos now...if he woudn´t get out here quickly he would get arrested with the rest of the pub which would also mean....that the local guardsmen had all rights to force him to put down his mask....a mask which took off...would cost his life.
A small wave of panic rushed through the doctor´s mind as he grabbed his last escape plan from under his mantle.

[Argetlam350]

The wolf did not notice the gnome as he ran off into the woods looking for prey to kill. The wolf slowed down once it caught scent of a nearby herd of deer. He stalked closer and closer to the herd slowly. Only at the last possible chance did he strike. The taste of warm, metallic blood gushed into his mouth as his jaws crushed the deer's airpipe and cut through its juggular. It feasted upon the inners, ripping open the deer's chest in one clean slash of its claws. Blood covered its fur as it devoured the deer until there was barely anything left besides scraps and bones.
It needed more though, it hungered to kill again, with a ravenous appetite that felt like it could never be tamed. Without relizing it the wolf had traveled quite a distance. It noticed the lights of a building in the nearby distances, only slightly hidden by trees. It smelled the air and the scent of food and mead filled its nostrils. Its mouth salvated at the wonderful smells that filled its nostrils and what promises it could have. Ignoring the instincts of caution and made a bee line toward the light only slowing down when at the edge of the forest and wondering what it should do to get inside. Dispite being a hulking beast of fur and teeth, the wolf did have some sense of caution around people. It had met some before and had the bullet scar to prove it. It knew it had to be cautious if it wanted a chance at sneaking in and stealing whatever it wanted to satisfy its hunger.

[PrimezTime]

This doctor, even though that name didn't fit him anymore, really was a strange one. There was a certain inhuman quality about him that just tugged at her opinion about him. Perhaps it was the fact that he was hiding behind one of those masks. Doctors were usually charismatic and open enough to attract customers for return business. If this man was her doctor, she would defiantly be concerned about the mask, so that begs the question why was this doctor suited up this way? Was he even human to begin with? Up to this point in her life, she has hardly ever encountered a being outside of humanity, so she didn't know what he could be.

The doctor then diverted the subject to his mechanical crow. While she did realize the gearbox workings, she failed to notice the rather intriguing quality about the bird, which the doctor explained. The crow was co-existing with the mechanical gears and cogs with it's own flesh and blood. The idea of mixing the two is appalling to most and is sometimes outlawed depending upon certain scenarios, but Ellie entertained the idea of a mechanical co-existence. In fact, she even does work similar like this. However, she isn't combing flesh and metal to create life rather she is giving life to metal. It was interesting to hear the doctor's take on the philosophy behind all this, but she disagreed with that last bit. That crow was very much alive but right as she was about to chime in, shouting and fighting broke out in the bar. A man came hurling towards the doctor, knocking him off his stool. Ellie hurried to her feet and watched the fight between the doctor and the drunkard unfold.

After that brief bout, the doctor scurried ahead a few paces and glanced around looking for a way out, apparently. Ellie eyed a backdoor over by the bar and with a fevered pace she grabbed the doctor by his hand, which may have been reaching for something. She pulled him along as she ran for the door, not paying attention to the action around her, and once at the door she threw it open and pulled the doctor in with her. The two of them found themselves in the kitchen. She released her grip on the doctor and ran across the room to another door that likely opened up to the alleyway behind the building. "Come on! This way!" she yelled as she ran. Before she made it half way a shot rang out and instinctively Ellie dove to the ground before the volley of other shots were heard. Things were escalating and it begged the question, why did she have to choose this place again?

[Rtron]

Jevan cursed as the bullets missed his target. Lucky bastard. Note to self: When dealing with fast targets, stick to triple burst fire. He thought. Then, he heard the man going on about turning around so he could shoot him in the front instead of the back because of respect. Oh thank you. Just what I always wanted. To be shot in the face instead of the back of the head if I had a choice. Jevan thought, slightly sarcastically. He looked around, wondering what he could do to avoid being shot period. The girl and the doctor suddenly bolted between them.

Jevan took this opportunity. He whirled around, switching his weapons fire from automatic to three round burst with a click. He aimed it at his target and they stood their, in an interesting standstill. "Well. This is certainly interesting." Jevan commented casually, as if saying the weather outside was nice. "We appear to be in a standstill. One of us fires, the other will certainly be killed. And eventually, the police will arrive to enforce the peace. You can't run, since I'll chase you. And I won't run." Jevan gave a small shrug, his gun still trained on the Vendetta. "Like I said. Interesting situation."