Fiora was quick to dodge the incoming attack. She had anticipated it long before the King arrived. She had chosen a vantage point that offered her a good field of fire to cover her teammates, but that also meant any enemy with half a brain would know to come after her first. She simply rolled off the ledge from her prone position, tucking her body in as she fell and rolling back to her feet. The icicles that followed were a surprise, though Fiora was saved mostly by her training. She didn't stop moving, not to catch her breath, not to fire a shot.

Never let the enemy dictate the pace of the battle. That was a Hunter's most important rule. If you allowed your prey to dictate the speed of the engagement, you lost. Especially when your prey was just as if not more dangerous than you were. Still, she had gotten out of the way of most of the icicles' trajectory, but felt one sail past her ear, leaving a burning sting in its wake as it grazed her. She was thrown off balance by a few more striking her back, but fortunately deflecting off her blade. They hurt and she had to drop and roll again to prevent falling down and getting winded, but bruises and a little bit of dirt was part of the job.

Fiora whipped her gun around and fired instinctively, squaring her scope on the King and quickly pulling off a Mozambique Drill. When done with a pistol, a double tap to the chest and a shot to the head was enough to put anyone down. With anti-alchemy rounds, even an Alchemist was hard-pressed to defend against it without suffering at least a fatal wound. With a large calibre rifle like the one Fiora was using, designed to stop monsters and smash through any defense, it was a the equivalent of sawing a tree with a minigun - overkill.

She wasn't overconfident or determined to put the King down, the silent Asylum clearly recognised the skill and threat her opponent possessed. There was no doubt that he would probably have dodged or blocked any return fire. The only question Fiora needed answered was simple - was he good enough to block three shots?

---

Jason led the way down as pointed out by Robot Girl, nodding a silent thanks as he passed by her. She had no ill intent and didn't seem to be one of the enemy, but Jason knew that could change at any moment. She clearly wasn't very capable of reading situations or the atmosphere, so he wouldn't put it past her to mistake one of the Asylums as the enemy and open fire before they could explain themselves the next time. Still, Alice seemed willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, and they had more pressing concerns.

"I look forward to it." Jason chuckled, in response to Alice's offer. It didn't take them long following the route they were given to hear sounds of battle. Jason would have rushed ahead had he not felt a rush of air going [i]downwards[/i]. He stopped suddenly, tightening his grip on Alice a little to warn her to stop. In the darkness of the tunnels, he could just barely make out the hole they almost fell in. "Well, that could have ended our adventure quickly." He commented, fishing out a photoluminsecent stone to try and light up the area. It wasn't much, but enough to make out the edge of the pit.

It was then that he heard the unmistakable report of Fiora's rifle. "My partner's down there, fighting." Jason frowned, hearing other weapons firing off and the familiar sound of Alchemy spells striking targets. "Well, that's just cheating, our enemies can use Alchemy. If I wanted to fight with one hand tied behind my back, I would have said so." Jason shrugged before picking up a stone and tossing it down. In between the sounds of battle, he heard it hit the floor below.

"Doesn't seem too deep... and it's the quickest way to our allies." He commented wryly. "Normally I'd say ladies first, but..." Jason leapt, landing nimbly on his feet and ready to fight. It was fortunate, for he was charged almost immediately. Ducking below the swing of a sword aimed at his neck, the blonde Asylum was quick to draw his baton, unsheathe the blades within and return the favour. A quick slash to the hamstring disabled his opponent and stopped any follow up attack, while severing the tendons of the shoulder the sword-hand was attached to disarmed the assailant. The brute tried to headbutt Jason, but his blade was already pointed at the fool's head. "Try to be less obvious, will you?" Phantom asked as his opponent ended up skewering his eye on Jason's blade.

"It's safe to jump now, Juliet." Jason called back up to the woman above. "I don't suppose you need me to catch you?"