[h3]Birdie[/h3]

At first Birdie didn't know what to make of the request, but as he thought about it he became more inclined to oblige it.  He couldn't think of a good reason to refuse, even if he was a little winded.  Plus, ingratiating himself to some of the weirdos around here might help him out in the long run.  Then again, the really tall woman seemed rather like the type who would just use him as long as it was convenient and then never again give him the time of day.  In his meager experience, tall women tended to be more domineering and callous—especially Chun-Li.  The thought made him frown.  Well, whatever.  Standing up, Birdie revolved a chain like a lasso before hurling it down in the general direction of the women below.  With nothing to wrap around, it fell limp on the dirt.  In order to be pulled up, either Red or Bayonetta would have to grab it and wait for him to haul them up.  Birdie knew he could do it, and felt that such a masculine display might earn him a little long-awaited respect.

[h3]Henry[/h3]


Though Henry could not be said to look very intimidating, his reaction to the killer intent surging from the Marine was telling: his grin did not waver, and he made no attempt to move out of the way.  His practically-closed eyes betrayed nothing even as the armored brute charged forward, throwing his weight into the dark mage.  Again, Henry didn't quite know what was happening until it was done.  A soft cracking noise could be heard as he was stunned, crushed against, and then abruptly smashed through the wall.  Pieces of it scattered across the dirt and young man fell among them, disengaged from his enemy for a split second.  The next instant a vicious blow struck him, knocking his head to a truly agonizing angle but not transmitting the force to send someone flying.  After all, a strike to a non-static area far removed from his center of gravity couldn't possibly move him.  All the same, anyone could see that his jaw had been broken, but against a blow that would have knocked unconscious a professional wrestler the dark mage did not faint.

The Marine approached, ready to finish what he'd started.  Henry couldn't quite close his mouth, but to the best of his ability he giggled and whispered, [color=d8bfd8]”It hurts...so nice.  But...checkmate!”[/color]  Unwittingly, the overzealous soldier had played right into his hands.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyjLmvdVQ4s]Henry snapped his fingers.[/url]

By coming so close, the Marine triggered both of the wounded dark mage's passive abilities—Hex and Anathema.  Combined, the two served as a double-pronged arcane focus system, attuning Henry to his opponent and significantly increasing the likelihood that his various magics would succeed.  The same malefic shower of dark energy rained down on the Marine again.  Despite how much it hurt him previously, it would not kill him.  Instead, the vampiric damage dealt to him would soothe Nero's wounds, magically healing his back, neck, and jaw.  If Henry had estimated his health to be about a third of normal, it now definitely lay above half.  This comprised only the first part of his plan, however.

The snap of Henry's fingers triggered one of his curses, one seldom cast in combat but undeniably useful.  Pieces of wall lying on the grass suddenly lifted up and flew at high speed straight toward the Marine.  While blades were useless against armor, blunt impacts were more effective by far, and even if individual pieces of wall wouldn't hurt the Marine much, a hail of them headed straight for him would at least carry him back.  In fact, Henry expected that they wouldn't hurt him at all, even after taking a pair of Nosferatus, but as the wall raced to reconstruct itself thanks to his curse, he thought that the wave of wall would carry his magic-afflicted enemy back with it and into the shack from whence he came.  Then, Henry and the Marine would be standing on opposite sides of the wall again, both worse for wear but the latter more so.  The young man smiled widely, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip.  [color=d8bfd8]”All according to plan.”[/color]  That said, he knew how much danger faced him, and hoped that Denys inside the shack would be able to help.

At that moment, Henry realized that he'd left one important part out of his scheme.  [i]Wait...that meathead had an ally![/i]  How could he be so careless?  Henry glanced around for any sign of the Spy.