Deep in the Preserve, Saturday Morning
Bishop
Alright. Step one of the plan had been a little more difficult than he'd thought, but after completing step two, Lucas Bishop was starting to feel the whole thing might work out, after all.
And it better. The consequences of his failure-- the consequences of that baby living were too damn hard to bear, and damn him if he'd let that happen. Now, though? Now was the time to take a quick breather while he prepped himself for step three.
This whole preserve deal wasn't bad. A little too green for his tastes, but it'd do. Bishop hunched down on the grass to do a quick checkup of his equipment.
Jamie
One nice thing about having a duplication power?
Your own search team. And considering the knowledge that Bishop had, it was a very dedicated search team.
Which is why there's a Madrox in a tree looking down.
"Hello Lucas. It's me. Juan Valdez."
Bishop
Ka-click.
Ah, the siren cry of a gun being pointed in someone's face. Especially that face. "You. I don't want any trouble."
Jamie
"We don't want any trouble either," said another Jamie standing behind a tree. "We just want to know one thing."
And look, there's a Jamie standing up in the brush.
"Where's Layla Miller?"
Bishop
"That's nothing I know nothing about," Bishop replied. Madrox. Dupes. Of course. Swing the second gun around and he was pointing it at the dupe. Not that that would last him. The guy could swarm him. Better keep this as low-key as he could.
Jamie
"C'mon Bishop," Another Jamie growled. "This thing on my face isn't for show. I was there. So was Layla. We talked to you and I got my butt blown up over this. She was in that camp. I want to know what happened to her."
Bishop
"Yeah, you've been there." Funny how that gun wasn't wobbling in the slightest. "So you should know how well they took any socialising. I don't know a damn thing about Layla, Madrox. I'm sorry."
Jamie
"Then what happened to the people in that camp?" the Jamie in the tree demanded. "You got out. Other people must have too. You're telling me that there's no one who survived that place that you don't remember?"
Bishop
"There is nothing I can tell you," he snapped, "Now I suggest you stand down before I have to pick a dupe to shoot."
Jamie
"Can or won't?" asked another Jamie appearing from another tree. "I don't want trouble. Just information. Is there anyone else who might know? What about Shard? Where did all the people in that camp end up?"
Bishop
"We got out," Bishop said, with a slight twitch, "We all got out. Different places. I cannot give you anything, Madrox, and I don't have the time."
Jamie
"Yeah," one of the duplicates said dryly. "You've got a baby to kill. Between you and Cable I could give a rats ass about your agendas. You only see two outcomes to a problem that has a million different possibilities. Ever think you could help the kid grow up and NOT cause your future?"
Bishop
"I don't have the time for debate, either," he gritted. "Don't get in the way, Madrox. This is more important than you seem to be able to get."
Jamie
"No," another duplicate argued. "This is nuts. You've already killed Xavier over something that might happen. How many other people are you going to kill? Cable might be a pain in the ass but he hasn't killed anyone over this."
Bishop
Yeah. Xavier. He hadn't meant for that one to happen. Casualties of war. "It's worth it," Bishop replied, "I gotta think about the future, here."
He fired a shot at the tree, a couple of inches away from Madrox. "Now I suggest you scram. This isn't your fight."
Jamie
"If you can't see the forest for the trees," one of the dupes declared, "Then you're making it our fight."
Another Jamie stepped forward. "There's too many people I care about on this island. I'm not letting you get near any of them."
And as if by a unspoken signal there was a rush of Jamies at Bishop.
Bishop
Well, crap. There was another situation he'd been hoping to avoid.
Briefly, Bishop wondered how much damage he'd do if he actually killed some of the dupes, but he didn't have time for much more-- hitting the Jamies?
Might also be an issue. Had to be non-kinetic. ...Kinetic. Energy. Right. He picked a knee and fired in its general direction before they got too close. Spread it out, next.
Jamie
There was screams of pain and then more duplicates as the duplicates of duplicates tried to leap and jump on Bishop in an attempt to monkey pile on him.
Bishop
Yeah, this was fantastic. Getting covered in a damn shower of Madrox. How far could the guy push the dupe thing, anyway? Seemed like his one shot--
Bishop lashed out hard at the nearest available dupes, socking them with fists and gun alike. Unless he thought up some kinda spray pattern that might work...
Jamie
"Give it up, Bishop," Jamie growled as he tried to jump on his head. "We're not letting you hurt anyone."
Bishop
Right. So much for that strategy.
Nevermind the damage to Madrox-- this was life-or-death, here. Bishop pulled up his metal arm and fired the cables from it, the blades at the end looking to cut straight into Madrox's chest.
Disable the bastard.
Jamie
The blades embedded themselves into and through the Jamie's chest sending him to the ground in shock.
The dupes around Bishop fell to their knees grasping at their chests and gasping for air as they dealt with the shock of the attack.
Temari
That would be when a short blonde seemed to flicker for a moment as she appeared in front of him, smirking of course.
He left himself too open for the attack.
And brought a rather large and heavy metal fan up to hit him in the face with much more force than should be possible for someone that size.
Bishop
Somewhere the thought what is it with the blonde girls around here? flitted through Bishop's mind, but it found absolutely no sense to connect with. His head was a little too busy snapping backwards with the force, and an instant later his feet were following.
He had no freaking clue what that was but dammit, gun, now, find your balance, right there, finger on the firearm...
Temari
The rustle of fabric and the faint click of metal were the only sounds as the fan unfolded quickly, coming up to send a gust of wind at him.
Enough to keep him off balance at least.
Bishop
Staggering a few paces further back, one more grope got Bishop what he was looking for: his fingers curled around the plasma gun. As carefully as he could-- the less she could notice the gun, the better. Okay, that fan just had to go.
"Listen," he yelled, "I don't have a fight here." Not that talking had been succesful, so far, but it was worth a shot.
Temari
"You had a fight when you tried to kill him," Temari informed him dryly, fan held behind her back, still open. "Make it easier on yourself and let go of the gun."
Bishop
"He attacked me," Bishop countered, and his fingers weren't leaving that gun, "I just had one spot of business to deal with and it doesn't concern either of you."
Right. Right. Thinking space. Fan, good for a beating at close range, causing wind at long range. Just had to make a split-second hit in just the right place and hopefully it'd take that thing out of the equation.
Temari
"The baby, right?"
Temari sighed, like this was too boring to deal with. A twirl of the fan in front of her and it was shut and she was moving forward again, too fast for most eyes to track as she went to slam the fan into his stomach.
Bishop
Bishop wasn't gonna stand here and talk at that one. Lucky for him he had his own metal weapon right on him, pulling his metal arm up to a good blocking height as soon as he saw a flash of-- anything.
The other hand was still on the gun and dammit if he wasn't gonna point it at her head if this worked out.
Temari
Blocked.
Better than she expected.
Temari smirked again, maybe this wouldn't be such a disappointment after all. Another flash and she was behind him, going to hit him in the lower back with the closed fan. "Tch. Slow."
Bishop
Not going to pretend to be a tree while she went nuts on him, either. The hit caught him across the back, sending a wave of pain through his body. Pain, though, he could handle. Flashing fast-- chalk that one up for a learner, too.
Damn speedsters. No point in kicking back. She'd be gone. (Had to get that damn fan)
He twisted, firing a charge he knew to be pointless behind him. Still had some energy coursing through his body-- he just needed the right shot.
Temari
Guns.
Temari was behind a tree, eyes wide at it still. She would never get used to those damn things.
Focus, had to focus on the plan.
She took a deep breath and went through the hand seals, the soft sound of Sand clones being made was the only thing that could be heard in her direction. They scattered after a short nod from her. Wait and see what his next move was.
Bishop
He wasn't naive enough to believe she was gone. "This is your last warning," he said, carefully, searching the trees with a wariness. If he waited for her to attack? That wouldn't end too well. Too fast. "Stand down, or I'll take you down."
Move out of the line of sight-- he'd found his own damn tree within moments.
Temari
One of the Temaris landed next to him, still smirking. "Can you actually do that?"
Bishop
Bishop didn't even bother to answer-- just brought one metal fist out towards her face and fast as soon as he caught a flash of blonde.
Temari
She bent backwards to let the fist go over her, hands on the ground and feet coming up to kick up at his jaw.
Another one flashed behind him to kick at his spine at the same time.
Bishop
He violently jammed the elbow of said arm back even as he was getting a freaking foot in his face-- let her think she had all the damn cards.
He'd seen her react to that firearm.
Temari
The clone behind him laughed, dissolving into a small pile of sand on the ground as the one in front disappeared.
On the other side of the tree, Temari quietly moved to place a small piece of paper, tacking it in place with a kunai and brushing her hand over it before bouncing off again.
Bishop
At least they weren't as downright irritatingly persistant as Madrox's. But that wasn't going to help Bishop any.
But he thought he'd heard something, so he slipped away from the tree, his finger hovering near, but not over, the trigger of his gun.
Temari
The note caught fire, slowly burning from the bottom up and then--
Really, the explosion of the tree should have been obvious if he had been a ninja.
Bishop
The blast radius of the explosion was just enough to catch him across the head-- it left him with a boost and a gun, and dammit, he was just about tired of this game.
Wandering around blind in a fight was not his kind of thing. He twisted, picked a tree, fired a plasma blast at the top. Would take down the whole forest if he had to--
Had to clear it and fast. His shoulders were still aching from the wounds sustained earlier today.
Temari
With the dust of the explosion still settling, Temari used that as her opportunity to come down from the tree she had been in to slam the fan down against his arms.
And the gun.
Bishop
The gun scattered from the grip of his flesh arm. Above all? He was tired of that fan.
Which is why, seconds later, without hesitation, Bishop brought up his hand, tapped his reserves, and fired a concussive blast straight at the goddamn thing.
Temari
Temari went back, holding the fan to block as she slammed into a nearby tree.
That hurt.
"Ch--chakra?" Never mind that. She lifted the fan weakly, the pulse of whatever he used still strong in it. It would take time to infuse it with her own again, time she really didn't have. "Shit."
The fan was discarded for the moment as she darted forward to make sure the gun was far from his reach.
Bishop
That one worked out. Fan-wise, anyway.
Now they were on the hand-to-hand, and he could handle that. Especially since...
Ah, long live the boot gun. He pulled it out in one fluid movement and opened fire in her general direction. She was fast, but so were bullets.
Temari
Fuck.
The bullets hit the target, causing her to stare blankly at him for a moment as if in shock over it.
And then explode into sand.
Temari panted from exertion, clinging to the side of a tree with chakra. That damn gun. Kawarimi no Jutsu had never been so desperate before.
Bishop
...Right.
His eyes flicking at the trees-- the girl could be anywhere, pacing carefully towards her discarded fan while he kept his grip on the gun.
Temari
Pulling a few kunai, Temari almost snarled as he went near her fan.
Bastard wasn't allowed to touch that.
With enough chakra infused in them to let them sink into stone or metal, Temari threw them at his hand holding the gun. A line aimed up along his entire arm to disable it.
Bishop
His arm sparked and pulsed under the onslaught-- his body crackled with the energy that suddenly struck it like a livewire.
...hadn't seen that one coming and it hurt like a bitch but pain. Pain did not mean crap, anymore, not it if you wanted to win this kind of thing.
The gun hit the ground, unused-- a blast struck the treeline that had come from at the same time.
Temari
What was he-- the fucker was feeding off her chakra.
Throwing herself to the ground, at least she had that. No chakra infused weapons. Taijutsu or long range only on him. That kind of information would have been useful from Cable.
Favouring one leg slightly as the landing didn't work as well with a blast of pure fucking chakra being blasted at her, Temari moved after him without any kind of slowing. The question now was if he could drain her from a touch or if it was only from active use.
She darted forward, flickering into sight for a moment as she swept his legs.
Bishop
He went down, but he was kicking up. He hated that speedster crap.
Just had to take her out. One well-aimed stun blast, and he could get the hell out of here. His gun, his powers, either of them.
...
She'd just have to stand still for a freaking minute.
Temari
As he came up, she drove her elbow down on him to keep him hammered to the ground. Holding still to get shot wasn't really on the agenda.
Too damn fast to avoid.
Pulling a kunai from his arm, she moved again before he could recover in order to put the point to his throat.
Bishop
Oh, dagger at his throat. Now that was just great.
The arm sparkled and puttered some more. Accessing systems... bypassing systems... fast, dammit.
"Listen," Bishop spoke, looking up at her face rather than that knife-thing or whatever it was, "He attacked me. What I'm doing here is gonna save the future."
Temari
"Or damn it completely," Temari said, no emotion or humor in her voice. "But it's a simply a child. They can grow up to be either. That's where we all come in."
She slammed the knife down into his shoulder, moving away and bitting her thumb enough to cause it to bleed.
Bishop
Barely a wince. No pain, no pain. He'd cauterized his own damn stump when he'd lost his arm, this was nothing.
Bypassing ruined systems in his metal arm. Still a little of that energy left in the other. Bishop had to make this one count. "Except I'm from the future," he said, trying not to show as he finally-- finally! Got the cable system back operational. "I know how she's going to end up."
And shot the thick, metal cables straight at the girl. He just had the one shot... Restrain and capture, if he could.
Temari
Almost done--!
She fell back as the cables hit, interrupting the concentration on her summoning. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
There was a small puff of smoke, clearing to reveal... a very small weasel.
"Go!"
It certainly didn't need to be told twice, nodding it's head and puffing out of the area again.
Bishop
A weasel--?
Oh, he just wasn't going to ask. "What the hell was that?" Or maybe he was. He reached for the gun and got it-- stun or kill?
Disable, then stun. He fired a shot at one of her legs. Nothing fatal, but she sure as hell wasn't going to pull another runner on him.
Temari
That hurt like hell.
Temari gritted her teeth, breathing heavily, but not showing anything more. "That was your chance at getting the kid running away. Tough luck, huh?"
Bishop
Something in Bishop's face twitched. Stunner. He slapped the stunner into the gun, then came up closer. "Thanks," he said, and fired.
Temari
Temari just gave him her best smirk as he pulled the trigger.
Falling limp in the cables, she seethed for a moment at the helplessness. Mission was complete, she just needed to reserve her energy for when she could get him again.
She counted in her head, waiting for whatever it was to wear off. If it would.
Bishop
The cables retracted back into Bishop's arm. He shoved the gun back where it belonged, then took a moment to find the other one. There.
If that wasn't going to put Cable on alert, then nothing would. Which meant that he had to move, now, and hope his bets paid off.
He left a neat little trail of four kunai behind on his way out of the area.
Jamie
Throughout the fight, the duplicates had disappeared one by one, as Temari and Bishop duked it out.
The backlash from the duplicate getting impaled had knocked him for a loop and unconscious until he had gathered enough strength to get up and absorb his dupes before any additional damage was done.
By the time he found his way back Bishop was gone and Temari laying on the ground.
Rushing over he started checking her vitals to make sure she wasn't hurt.
"Damn it," he breathed. "Are you okay?"
Temari
Grabbing weakly for a kunai before she recognized he voice, Temari almost sighed with relief. "I hate guns," She muttered, sitting up very gingerly.
Jamie
"I'm not a fan of anything that can kill me," Jamie replied giving her an arm for support. "Or you for that matter."
Temari
Wincing slightly, she took the arm without complaint. "What did you think you were going to do with him, anyway?"
Jamie
"Try to contain him," Jamie replied. "Just with my dupes. Didn't expect the damn cables otherwise..."
Jamie shook his head. "And what the hell did you think you were doing?"
Temari
"Stopping him from doing more damage," She snapped. No, she wasn't going to elaborate on that.
"Idiot." Standing up and favouring one leg heavily, Temari moved to retrieve the fan.
Jamie
"What? Did you think I was going after him myself?" Jamie said with a "pff".
"Please. I'm not a complete moron."
Temari
"Why did they all collapse when the one was stabbed?" She asked finally, using the fan to help keep weight off her leg.
It needed to be bandaged. Take care of that when she got back to her room.
Jamie
"Backlash," Jamie said stepping forward. "I felt it through him and it hit all of them."
He then leaned over and scooped her up in his arms.
"You shouldn't put any weight on that leg."
Temari
"Put me the hell down, Madrox," Temari hissed, grabbing him by the neck. Just a threat, no pressure yet. "I can walk just fine."
Jamie
"Just shut the hell up for once and let someone else take care of you," Jamie growled back. "It's not going to kill you, damn it."
Temari
Giving him an unreadable look for a long moment, Temari made a reluctant noise of agreement and looked away.
"Idiot."
Jamie
Jamie just rolled his eyes.
Which prompted more insults and arguments.
Which lasted all the way back to the dorm.
[[OOC: Preplayed with the crazy cool spring_lost and multi_madrox, NFI, broadcast is a-okay. Set after this.]]