Ruby, you there? The gruff voice came over the female assassin's earpiece.

Climbing the cliffside was no easy feat, and utilizing climbing spikes on the feet, and climbing axes made it a little easier, but Ruby scaled the cliff quickly. The target was in the dojo at the top, and she had to move quickly, else he move on to another location. Pausing, she pushed the button in the earpiece. "Yes, dad. What do you want? I'm almost there."

With a smoker's cough, her father spoke. Kid, be careful. I've heard a lot about this guy, none of it good. I don't want to lose you to some jungle fighter.

Rolling her eyes, Ruby said, before moving back up, "Relax, Dad. I'll do what I'm paid to do. This man is going down, no matter how good he is." Shutting off the comm with a shake of her head, Ruby arrived at the dojo, and turned on the thermal imaging scanner in the HUD piece that she had over her eye.

Wherever this guy was, he couldn't hide from her scanner.

Ruby ignored the bird, sparing it but one glance, to see what kind it was. A vulture. Big deal. What interested her was the thermal signature of the man, who was staring directly at her. Swearing under her breath, she ducked down behind a paper wall, out of sight. Aside from the howling of the wind blowing through the holes in the paper walls of the dojo, the building was silent. The man probably knew she was there, so she began to move silently along the corridor of the dojo, avoiding wooden floor boards that would squeak, or cause her to trip.

Keeping a close watch on his thermal signature, she crept around the dojo's hallways, trying to get behind him.

Wrinkling her nose, Ruby cringed in distaste. Was he... crapping in the middle of the dojo's yard? Disgusting. Still, it might allow her to catch him off guard. Pulling the piton gun out of its holster, she leveled the launcher at the savage, and taking a deep breath in, fired. The firing of a grappling device at a target reminded her of Batman, except... Batman's grappling hook wasn't as... pointy as the piton. Hopefully it would hit, so Ruby held on tight, so she would be ready to pull herself forward.

The savage's reaction time was remarkable. Stabbing the knife through the metal cord of the piton launcher's cable, and into the ground, he caused Ruby to be pulled forward, as the piton gun began to retract. As she ripped through the rotting paper wall, she kicked off the floorboards, leaping into the air, above the savage. Letting go of the piton, and letting it retract, Ruby pulled her telescoping Bo staff from its cylindrical sheath on her lower back, and whipped it out, instantly forming a solid Bo. With the same motion, she swung downwards, an experimental strike, to test the man's defenses.

Ruby's eyes widened, and pupils dilated, as she saw the scene unfold. If she followed through with the strike, she would surely die. So, she aborted the strike, and rather than aim to strike, Ruby thrust the Bo down at the ground, and using the staff as a focal point, twisted away from the savage. Letting go of the staff, Ruby grabbed a smokebomb from the pocket attached to her belt, and in one fluid motion, threw it down at the ground, making sure to hold her breath. As it impacted, filling the dojo's yard with smoke, Ruby unsheathed her knives, and sidestepped quietly to the right, so the blind swings of the savage, if it attempted any, wouldn't hit her.

Ruby watched on the thermal view as the savage grabbed her Bo, and began to swing it at her, level to where her ribs were. While the metal staff had a heat signature almost equal to the dojo's air, she could see the man's hands, grasping her staff, and she knew how long the weapon was while extended, so she could approximate where the end of the Bo was.

As the staff almost hit her, Ruby did not dodge. Rather, she used the hilts of the knives as a barrier between her hands and the metal rod, catching it, and twisting it around, attempting to disarm the savage. However, if the maneuver succeeded, she would again, drop the staff, and dash towards the savage in a serpentine manner, and perform a low cut aimed at his midsection.

If the force with which the man struck was too much, then Ruby would roll with the blow, allowing herself to get pushed back, so she didn't drop her knives, or get knocked off balance.

Ruby was in fact pushed back, but she was also trained in seven different martial arts. She didn't get to where she was without toughening up. The shock caused her arms to vibrate, and she was pushed back even more, feet skidding through the dirt. When the Bo was thrown at her knees, she quickly sheathed her knife, and, as the rod was about four inches from her knees, kicked it up with her right foot, and caught it in both hands. The savage had the brutal-looking ax in his hand, and he was reaching for something behind his head, a mask. The smoke was already beginning to dissipate, so Ruby grabbed two smokebombs, and threw one at the man's face. It wasn't fast enough to prevent him from putting on the armor, but if it hit, it would cover his head with smoke. Regardless of whether it hit or not, Ruby would throw a smokebomb on the ground between them, and fall back silently into the halls of the dojo. The man had too wide of a swing. Fighting him in the open was a disadvantage. In the dojo, while the rotting walls were merely paper, the beams of the broken building would hamper wide swings.

Ruby kept an eye on him as she moved through the dojo, once more. She couldn't beat him outright, so maybe this situation called for a little ingenuity. Creeping silently down the corridor, Ruby placed a smokebomb every two yards. Her intention was so that when the savage came after her, she would step on the bomb, obfuscating the hallway. In these enclosed spaces, the smoke would be even thicker. Perfect.