Scarlet City // 22nd Street (Flashback 9)

Mario and Lucila have been saved, but shortly after a ferocious rescue, Santana is once again sent on a mission to rescue his friends Yuri and Disney. Its a race against time as Santana must get to his friends before Uncle Sam's forces get there first. But in his way stands a familiar figure, an opponent that just won't go away.

Santana Pejoves
Black Dragon Agent
-------------------------------------
"This world is changing soon--we're not about to let just anyone do what they want with it!"
-------------------------------------

Santana was running down the sidewalk--dashing as fast as he could down 22nd Street, knowing that he had to get to Yuri and Disney before it was too late. And once he had managed to grab them, and get back to base...that would be a big step for him. All of his friends would be safe, then--and then, once they were all together again--once this 'team' of theirs had been reconstructed--they could move on to bigger things--like saving the world from the Freedom Society.
So, for now, Santana was making his way down the street, his katana carrier's strap slung over his shoulder as he moved down the sidewalk, occasionally having to dodge around passerbys--none of whom seemed to give a second thought about some guy with a katana dashing down the sidewalk like his life depended on it. In this case, it wasn't Santana's life in the balnace--it was Yuri's and Disney's. And he wasn't about to fail them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santana's Theme - La Distancia Para Un Duelo

1st Ranked Assassin
___________________________________________________________________________________________

As Santana ran through the streets, a barrage of bullets suddenly flew into the ground in front of him. There stood Santana, gracefully standing without motion on top of a traffic signal. The Assassin jumped off, landing right down on the ground in front of the swordsman "Nein... I cannot let you travel any further... Rank 2..." Asura's eyes narrowed down on Santana. Several arms began to sprout out of Asura's back, each holding a firearm, all aimed down towards Santana "Herr Pejoves... why do you insist on this...? You are only speeding up you and your friends' inevitable demise now... give up... my friends will not be as nice to you..." she spoke in a solemn, ghostly voice, her weapons all still aimed down at the swordsman.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Just die..."
Asura Theme - Yell "Dead Cell"

Santana Pejoves
Black Dragon Agent
-------------------------------------
"This world is changing soon--we're not about to let just anyone do what they want with it!"
-------------------------------------

Santana skidded to an abrupt halt when a hail of bullets struck the street in front of him, and he quickly looked up to see where they had come from--only to catch sight of Asura standing atop a traffic light. By the time that the assassin had landed on the ground, Santana's katana had already left its sheathe, and he was holding it at the ready. This wasn't just about defending himself--this was about getting through Asura so that he could reach Yuri and Disney.
"Sorry--but I'm not about to give up just because you told me to," Santana replied to Asura with a strained half-smile upon his face that let the fact be clear that he was anxious to get through here as quickly as possible. He shifted his feet slightly as he spoke, taking a ready position. "As for why I'm doing it...on top of the fact that we kind of need my whole team together to function right...what kind of piece of crap guy would I be if I abandoned my friends, huh?" He gave a quiet chuckle, then took on a serious expression as he spoke again. "Move aside. We can make this a whole lot easier on both of us if you just let me through. I've got a schedule to keep here."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santana's Theme - La Distancia Para Un Duelo

1st Ranked Assassin
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Santana narrowed her eyes when Santana didn't cooperate, sighing "You are a difficult man..." she muttered, four of her arms holding handguns immediately opened fire on Santana "Do you not hear my words!? You are a fool for opposing Uncle Sam! With your strength... you could have joined the Freedom Society and fought to keep out society flourishing! Instead you have just become a dreamer... a fool that believe in failed notions and philosophies... your age is over." she then dashed towards Santana "Your friends are already dead... Velocity has most likely already found and killed them... if they are lucky... if you had just let Tribal kill you all... you would have had painless deaths..." she muttered, before aiming both her anti-tank rifles at Santana and firing point blank.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Just die..."
Asura Theme - Yell "Dead Cell"

Santana Pejoves
Black Dragon Agent
-------------------------------------
"This world is changing soon--we're not about to let just anyone do what they want with it!"
-------------------------------------

"And why would I want to join an organization that kills hundreds of innocents without a single thought, then pulls the wool over everyone else's eyes, huh--?!" Santana called just as Asura's bullets let fly, his katana moving through the air like steel lightning, deflecting the bullets so that they fell harmlessly to the ground, the sound of metal on metal screeching out through the air as he defended himself. As Asura dashed towards him, Santana tensed in anticipation of her next move, and upon seeing the rifles pointed his way, he quickly hit the deck, ducking under her shots before darting forward in a crouched run, slashing at her legs with his blade before trying to pivot around her. If he could just get past her, then he could start making his way over towards the others...but it was the getting past her that was the problem... "Hey now, don't try to dampen my spirits with that kind of talk--if there's one thing I know about my friends, it's that they're god-damned durable--...seriously--you should see how often Yuri gets beat up and gets right back up--it's kind of ridiculous--"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santana's Theme - La Distancia Para Un Duelo

1st Ranked Assassin
___________________________________________________________________________________________

"All those deaths are necessary for the greater good! You have no idea what preceded this world we live in today! Everything we do is for the higher order!" she retorted to Santana, her glare intensifying as Santana managed to avoid every single one of her attacks "You are a fast one... what is that Mexican mouse called...? Speedy Gonzola...?" she saw Santana's sword strike towards her legs a mile away and quickly jumped back, shoot down upon him from the air with her handguns "Please don't compare schoolyard injuries to super-powered assassins...-" she continued, dropping down on the ground and shooting both anti-tank rifles at him again, this time however, Asura dashed towards Santana with her attacks, sliding down and aiming to damage his legs.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Just die..."
Asura Theme - Yell "Dead Cell"

Santana Pejoves
Black Dragon Agent
-------------------------------------
"This world is changing soon--we're not about to let just anyone do what they want with it!"
-------------------------------------

"That would be Gonzales--" he corrected her on the mouse as he dove to the side away from her bullets from above. As he landed and heard her second statement, he couldn't help but cough out a chuckle, speaking again, "And why shouldn't I compare them? The strong weighing down the meek because they're worried about their perfect order falling apart? Sure sounds like playground bullies to me." Before he had a chance to say anything more, she was running at him again, and the anti-tank rifles were back into aiming position. He had to pause and wonder how such a tiny girl could hoist two of those--but then he figured that it was more Freedom Society reasons--after seeing Tribal, he wouldn't be surprised if this little girl could suddenly grow super strong, too. However, this momentary pause gave her the opportunity to attack--and Santana distinctly felt a bullet tear its way through the edge of his pants leg, leaving a hole that had just barely missed his ankle. That would have been bad--quickly, he jumped up as Asura approached him, planting one foot on each of her rifles and standing atop them, hoping to shove them down to the ground so that they couldn't be used again--because those things would pack a punch. He could deal with all of the other guns she was holding after--hopefully.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santana's Theme - La Distancia Para Un Duelo

1st Ranked Assassin
___________________________________________________________________________________________

"Playground bullies...? The World Government is the only institute that keeps humanity from destroying itself! Black Dragon has no idea what it's doing!" she barked back to Santana, attempting to fire both rifles at Santana again, only to find him on top of her guns. Asura dropped them and rolled back, aiming her four handguns at Santana "Just what do you think will happen if the government were to fall now...!? Absolute chaos! Nations would cease to exist... the world would be a bloodbath... crime would run rampant... take China for example... in open rebellion with the World Government... a death toll reaching a million after only a few days... your path will only lead to absolute chaos..." she muttered to him, dashing back in her usual ghostly fashion and continuing to open fire. She seemed to just be trying to get some distance from Santana as she continued to attack.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Just die..."
Asura Theme - Yell "Dead Cell"

Santana Pejoves
Black Dragon Agent
-------------------------------------
"This world is changing soon--we're not about to let just anyone do what they want with it!"
-------------------------------------

Santana hopped off of Asura's rifles as she dropped them, then as she ran at him, he moved backwards away from her, darting around and deflecting bullets with his katana, struggling to deal with all of the shots flying his way.
"Absolute order isn't much better than absolute chaos, if you ask me! Who wants a country full of robots, anyway? The regular people have the right to know what's going on just as much as any other person--if you think that that whole Doublethink deal is doing anything good, then I think you might need a quick reality check--!" He didn't like being on the defensive like this--he needed to find an opening to attack Asura, and on top of that, he still needed to figure out what that power of hers was, so that he might be able to figure out a weakness to it. Honestly, for now, he just wanted to get past her as soon as possible--he had to get over to where Yuri and Disney were before that Velocity guy showed up--!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santana's Theme - La Distancia Para Un Duelo

1st Ranked Assassin
___________________________________________________________________________________________

"You were born into this world a mere two decades ago... you do not know the true history to this world, you don't know what we're really capable of!" her eyes narrowed as Santana seemed to dodge her attacks easily. She threw aside her handguns, instead opting to draw... cards. Holding two playing cards in her hands, Asura quickly threw both towards Santana like playing cards, both exploding once they got close to Santana. Using the explosion as cover, Asura then seemed to draw six katanas from seemingly nowhere "..." Asura dashed forward, and began to slash at Santana with each of them in quick, concise, diagonal moves "Oh... and I don't just use guns..."

____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Just die..."
Asura Theme - Yell "Dead Cell"

Santana Pejoves
Black Dragon Agent
-------------------------------------
"This world is changing soon--we're not about to let just anyone do what they want with it!"
-------------------------------------

"I might not be too keen on what history's gone through, but what I do understand is the future's potential!" Santana called to Asura, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as the girl pulled out two cards. As she threw them at him, he figured that it would probably be beneficial to get out of the way--so he went to dodge to the side, only for the cards to blow up, which sent him flying a little bit of a ways, landing on the ground a yard or two away. Grimacing, he rose back up to his feet, straightening his glasses with his free hand as Asura charged at him again--this time with katanas. Quickly, Santana put up his guard with his own blade, working at blocking each of Asura's slashes, although he did take a bit of damage, cuts burning up on his forearms as he worked to keep Asura's blade away from his vital points. "I noticed...!" he replied to her final remark. "Dios mio, you're just a bag of surprises, huh--?!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santana's Theme - La Distancia Para Un Duelo

1st Ranked Assassin
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Asura didn't seem to back down as her slashes were blocked, sparks were sent flying into to air each time blades clashed, small waves of blood splattered across the floor aside to them. Asura, despite using firearms since the day she met Santana, seemed to be a very competent swordsman. Which made her next move all the more surprising. Asura threw aside two katanas, instead pulling out two steel baseball bats "Yes. I am." she replied bluntly to Santana, before simply swinging both baseball bats down towards Santana's head "Goal...? Touchdown...? I forgot..."

____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Just die..."
Asura Theme - Yell "Dead Cell"

Santana Pejoves
Black Dragon Agent
-------------------------------------
"This world is changing soon--we're not about to let just anyone do what they want with it!"
-------------------------------------

Santana grimaced as Asura switched weapons again--but was honestly a bit confused with her weapon choice. He ducked down, quickly slipping under the baseball bats and over to Asura's flank--it was much easier for him to dodge when she was only attacking with two weapons, as opposed to six.
"That's a 'run,' actually--" Santana corrected her sports terminology, swiftly beginning to slash at her from the side with his blade. "Which, funny enough, is something that I really need to do, if you'd just get out of the way--!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santana's Theme - La Distancia Para Un Duelo

1st Ranked Assassin
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Asura frowned under her mask when Santana avoided her bat swings, darn, she was hoping those would have hit him, that would have been great. Her eyes further narrowed into a glare when Santana insisted and getting away "..." she gave him a look of contempt "We are engaged in a duel to the death and yet you seem so insistent on getting away from me..." Asura suddenly threw both baseball bats at Santana, aiming for the head. What came next was... a lance. With a rocket on its tip "Focus on your current predicament or you'll DIE..." she muttered to him, before firing a rocket lance right out towards Santana. She seemed MUCH more upset than before.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Just die..."
Asura Theme - Yell "Dead Cell"

Santana Pejoves
Black Dragon Agent
-------------------------------------
"This world is changing soon--we're not about to let just anyone do what they want with it!"
-------------------------------------

Santana shifted his feet slightly, trying to get into a more movable position as he grimaced at Asura, taking a moment to glance down to all of the cuts on his arms--this had been a brand new suit, too...When he looked back up, however, he saw both bats coming his way--which was bad. Not having any time to dodge, he quickly lifted his katana up, letting the two bats clash into the metal and then fall to the ground, feeling the stinging vibrations from the crash going down the sword and up into his hands, making him grit his teeth as he struggled to not drop the sword. This was seriously tiring his arms out--all of the little things combined were actually starting to make things a bit difficult. Either way, it sent him stumbling back, making him topple over from his standing position. However, he didn't take his eyes off Asura--and the sudden intensity behind her words seemed quite obvious. However, the giant rocket lance she was holding was far more of an attention-grabber. He quickly scrambled back to his feet, moving to get out of the way--the explosion from the lance nearly tossing him right off his feet again. He took a moment to right himself before looking Asura's way, an irritated frown crossing his features.
"What, I can't worry for my friends and myself at the same time? Haven't you ever heard the saying--? A quien madruga--...something...something--yEAH." While Asura was preoccupied with holding the rocket lance, Santana quickly charged at her again, sending several slashes of his katana her way and hoping to break through her defenses. "Basically, I need to get to my friends before they're gone! Simple as that--and you're not going to get in my way--!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santana's Theme - La Distancia Para Un Duelo

1st Ranked Assassin
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Asura was actually pretty sure that rocket launch wouldn't work, she was considering using a missile chicken on this man as he got close, only for her opponent to come charging in close "What...? I'm beginning to actually think you don't know Spanish..." she muttered to Santana, jumping back each time her opponent slashed out at her. She could care less about his friends, all she cared about was her mission, which was currently just to hold Santana back "But I am in your way..." she replied to him "Literally..." she spoke, with no clear intentions of whether she was being sarcastic or referring to her literally being between him and his friends. A few of Santana's slashes connected, cutting through her chest, but she didn't even seem to notice them "..." Asura simply pulled out a revolver at close range, pointing it at Santana's head "I have a better idea... you give up.." she whispered to him. She began to slowly pull down on the trigger... only to stop herself "Huh...? Yes sir..." Asura jumped backwards, away from Santana "My mission has been canceled... I no longer have any intention of fighting you..." she spoke, her eyes narrowing "Your friends are fine... for the most part... but your days are numbered... we will meet again..." and without further adieu, Asura dropped a smoke bomb, the assassin disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Just die..."
Asura Theme - Yell "Dead Cell"

Santana Pejoves
Black Dragon Agent
-------------------------------------
"This world is changing soon--we're not about to let just anyone do what they want with it!"
-------------------------------------

"Wh--I SO know Spanish! Totally fluent!" Santana objected as Asura claimed that she doubted his mad Spanish skills. He actually thought that maybe he was gaining an advantage--until suddenly, he felt the cold metal of a revolver's barrel pressed to his forehead. His dark eyes widened in surprise, and his mind began to race trying to think of ways to get out of this--but before he even had to do anything, Asura backed off. He simply watched her warily as she leapt back and spoke--although he did have a visible reaction in his expression to hearing that his friends were safe....for the most part? Then, she disappeared, before he could say a word. A frown crossed his face as he paused for only a split second to make sure that she was truly gone--then, he took off down the street again, just hoping that he wasn't too late...that 'for the most part' thing had him worried...

*Exit*

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santana's Theme - La Distancia Para Un Duelo