Corr
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Post by Corr on Jul 29, 2013 11:10:54 GMT -8
Coruscant: Senate Rotunda
The Grand Convocation Chamber, also referred to as the Senate Rotunda, was the largest room in the Senate Building on Coruscant. It was over 100 meters tall and consisted of 1,024 pods for Senators from all over the galaxy. The entrance to the Chamber was the Atrium of the Senate, and it was ringed by the Grand Concourse. When choosing a color scheme for the walls, ancient designers chose lavender”as it was the only shade that had not been historically associated with mourning, anger, or war in the entire Galaxy.
In the center, a thirty-meter-tall podium would rise up from the Chancellor's holding office for the Senate sessions. The podium is currently fully risen.
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Adi
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Post by Adi on Jul 29, 2013 18:01:41 GMT -8
He liked the view from up here.
The view of the Grand Convocation Chamber from the podium was a view that Adi had taken in a few times over his years. Almost twenty years ago, Adi was the youngest senator in an attempt to rebuild the Republic...one far less successful than the current Senate that sat in the Rotunda. He was Minister of State, and headed up the ground forces of the New Republic. He had stood here then as a younger man...a darker man. He had fought alongside Chancellor Amdala, Admiral Stukov, and General Owen Kenobi....
And he had turned on them when they began to walk a path that he could not follow, and seceded Honoghr from the Republic.
It had taken a long time for Matango to trust the Republic again...It took the newest Republic's changes to convince him that they were not heading down the imperial route again. The view now, even though it had not changed in several hundred years, was now looked upon with different eyes. Different eyes change the view, to be sure. The eyes that were now looking down the thirty-odd feet to the ground floor were more experienced, more patient than the impetuous days of his youth. He had come so far...and yet there was so much more of the path he had to traverse. Instead of looking at what was just in front of him, as he was then...he was looking into the future. A lot depended on if the Republic supported them...and he would be standing here addressing them soon enough.
Now, however, was not the time. If it were, he would not have the lightsaber attached to his hip. He wouldn't be wearing the phrik gloves and bracers. He wouldn't have the .48 caliber pistol attached to his right thigh in a holster, loaded with twelve armor-piercing rounds in the clip. No, indeed, he wouldn't even be in this informal black t-shirt and cargo pants, or his gray-on-white Air Force One low tops. This was something different entirely. There was a reason that it was devoid of life....
Today, there was going to be a duel here, not diplomacy.
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Jul 30, 2013 21:16:49 GMT -8
*The grand convocation chamber of the galactic senate. One of those trademark locations that everyone has heard of yet few have visited. Unless of course you're a scheming, power hungry senator or a clueless aide or a desperate diplomat trying to secure some favor or another for your planet. That or a participant in the Galactic Battle Arena's grand kick-off tournament to break in (or maybe just break, no one's quite sure yet) the new site. It was that last category of person that found themselves transported here today, and as the holorecorders floated around the makeshift arena, there was a palpable sense of tension in the air.*
*One such holocamera began floating closer to the figure standing upon the top of the chancellor's podium, trying to catch a glimpse of the legendary, and recently appointed, Jedi Master Adieumus Matango. Thus far undefeated (obviously), he stood tall and proud atop the pedestal (or at least as tall as he could, the poor guy's only 6'2'') and awaited the arrival of his opponent with utter serene confidence. This was his very own backyard, a battlefield he knew well, and he would not see it tainted by defeat.*
*The camera moved in for a close up, zooming in on the surprisingly young face of the jedi master as it rotated around him to give the viewers a fully encompassing view of just who exactly it was they should be rooting for.
But that's enough about this schmuck. Everyone knows I'm the real reason you're all here. The form of Bloodshot the Merc leaned forward into the camera shot, somehow appearing directly to Adi's right while the feed had been focused on his face. His gaze followed Adi's as it swept the pods below, searching for the opponent he knew would come. He wore his usual suit of modified katarn commando armor, and his right hand lingered near the grip of the blaster holstered on his hip, blocked from Adi's view by Bloodshot's own body.
"So who're we waiting for?"
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Adi
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Post by Adi on Jul 31, 2013 9:30:50 GMT -8
"Oh, some idiot. I really don't know how he made it this far in the tournament, honestly."
Adieumus, while surprised at the intrusion, had felt -some- one on the platform moments before the interruption. Matango knew damn well that this person was his opponent...Seriously, who -else- would be sporting grenades and other various weapons?
But right now? Adi would try to play the role of the dumb blonde...It's something he got used to doing when dealing with an angry Icey....
"I hear he's some ugly fuck...wears a mask to hide some sort of deformity in the shape of a penis on his forehead."
...Yeah, great idea, Jedi....poke the bear....
"I also hear that the deformity also caused some major plumbing issues...if ya know what I mean...."
Humor on the outside, all business inside. Adi had slightly turned his head, putting Bloodshot in his peripheral vision. Rapidly, plans and ideas ran through Matango's mind. Pistol? No...range was too close, and it could be knocked out of the way. He may need every shot. Saber? Again, no, there was too great a chance to lose the weapon early in the fight, and that would put the Jedi at an early disadvantage.
A punch? It would work, if the man wasn't wearing some kind of mask....Wait a minute, that was IT!!
"Kinda gross if you ask me. I'd wear a mask too."
Out of nowhere, Adi's right hand blurred into a speed-infused driver punch directly sideways, aimed for the side of Bloodshot's head. However, he stopped mere millimeters from actually hitting him...physically. The force, though, it continued onward, and attempted to drive the physical blow into the side of the man's head....projected from the end of Adi's outstretched right fist. It was a new use of projected fighting for Adi..up close instead of staying out of the attack radius of a foe...one that he thought -might- save his hands from landing on the plates and risk damaging them. Instead of using the projected blows to keep an opponent at bay, he was using it to add power, momentum, and damage to the attack by amplifying it with the force from a few centimeters away.
He had turned enough to have Bloodshot full in view now, and began to drop into his familiar stance...this time in reverse. His knees bent, and slid to shoulder width apart. His right hand was out in front, his left loosely hanging in front of his body. The force rippled in calming waves out from him...soothing, and trying to relax his opponent....
"Yeah, dude....I'd most certainly wear a mask if I were that big of a dickhead...."
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Jul 31, 2013 13:18:39 GMT -8
Wow. How very original of him. Insulting the face that he can't see. I'm sure no one else has EVER thought of that before. It's like a whole new world of verbal brutality has opened up before my very eyes... The mercenary "opened" his mind as the other man spoke, allowing his natural (non-force) telepathy to come into play (not that it was ever really out of play, but sometimes it helped to make a note of these things). He didn't try to delve into the mind of his opponent, any jedi would be able to sense and counteract that, he simply let the thoughts come as they would, looking in through the windows, as it were. So when Adi made his move and his intent all but shouted in the Umbaran's mind, he was ready. He moved in the same instant as the other man, jerking his head back inches, just enough to avoid the enhanced fist barreling toward his face, and his left arm shot up to try and catch Adi's wrist before the hand could withdraw. A normal human wouldn't have had a snowball's chance on Mustafar of even avoiding the blow, much less grabbing the wrist, but Bloodshot's own well-above-average reflexes and the forewarning of his telepathy had a way of evening the odds. If the grab was successful he would not be letting go and Adi would be able to see the merc's right arm moving on the other side of his body, though what that movement was heading toward would still be obscured from view.
You try staying pretty through a dozen deaths over five hundred years. Maybe then you'd have some time to think up an insult that wouldn't occur to a five year old.
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Adi
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Post by Adi on Jul 31, 2013 17:32:37 GMT -8
He was most certainly a quick one. The speed was unexpected from one that was so difficult to detect in the force. Matango had just assumed him a lower-level force user....one who was untrained in the arts. That apparently wasn't the case....and now, he had Adi's wrist on top of it.
That, however, could work to his advantage against the walking tank.
Seeing that the man was reaching for something...probably something that would hurt...Adi concentrated on the spot where Bloodshot had grabbed him. He snapped closed the right hand, and tried to enact a force grip on the man's hand, hopefully 'sticking' it to his own wrist for the time being. Stepping forward, Matango's left hand shot forward, snagging the lightsaber on his own hip. He thrust it forward, stepping into the thrust *which also put more power into it, not to mention closing the rest of the gap between them as much as he could*, and pushed up on his still hopefully-gripped right arm to lift the other man's arm up a little bit to expose the target. Thumbing the activator as he stepped and thrust forward, the yellow and black blade screamed as it was unleashed from within the black hilt, very rapidly, due to the quick activation trigger. The tip of the blade was now driving forward toward Bloodshot's armpit, where it was hopefully less armored. He couldn't allow the man to pull whatever it was he was reaching for. It would more than likely end up causing very bad things to happen to Adi's currently-healthy state.
"I thought I smelled something funky. A dozen deaths? No wonder you stink. Take a bath or something!"
At least this guy appeared to have a sense of humor about himself....
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Jul 31, 2013 17:53:19 GMT -8
Bloodshot nearly laughed out loud when he felt the compression of the force around his left hand, sealing it to the wrist he was gripping. Wow... This jedi couldn't be any more helpful if I'd written out instructions for him. As the energy closed around it, and just when the intent of the next attack reached him, he jerked his left hand forward, down, and across his own body, pulling against Adi's upward motion to move the man in front of him, his unnatural strength lending to the success of the maneuver. This would serve the dual purpose of yanking the other man off balance and out of the chancellor's position on the podium, thus ruining his intended strike, and also present his back to Bloodshot now that both their arms (Adi's right and Bloodshot's left) were pulled across the front of Bloodshot's body.
Unfortunately, this also meant that Bloodshot had no way of attacking Adi's exposed back due to his left hand being otherwise engaged. That wouldn't matter much, however, as he depressed the activation switch on the grenade held next to his right hip, taken from the bandolier that hung low on that side. The grenade in question was a spore/B stun grenade, and instantly released a thick black cloud of bothan stun spores that would both obscure vision and render a being weakened and disoriented upon contact with exposed flesh, or cause outright unconsciousness if inhaled.
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Adi
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Post by Adi on Aug 1, 2013 18:06:57 GMT -8
How he avoided the lightsaber that had sailed in at tremendous speed, Matango didn't know. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was force speed, maybe it was just a fluke....but Bloodshot's right hand was now visible due to Adi being pulled forward...against the friction of his right leg still planted and his elevated position. Apparently, this guy was hyper strong along with being very fast.
And he was encased in a suit of powerful armor....with tons of weapons. Well, one thing at a time...let's deal with that right hand before whatever it was in his hand went boom. In fact, let's just clear the whole damn platform of everything except for Adi....
Without even waiting to see what was going to pop out of the small grenade, Matango released the grip on Bloodshot's hand, keeping him pinned to Adi's wrist. This didn't mean that the man would let go, but the Jedi wasn't going to hold him there in place anymore. Secondly, as the grip dropped, Adi poured force power out all around him....a force repulse...intended on clearing any and everything off the platform...Except Adieumus. If Bloodshot insisted on holding the wrist, he would be more than likely blasted to hell and back by the force of the repulse. If he -did- let go, he would probably be blasted right off the platform....at least that was the hope.
Who knows, though.....stranger things have happened.
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Aug 1, 2013 20:19:25 GMT -8
As soon as the invisible grip on his hand disappeared, Bloodshot had a pretty good idea of what would come next. Forcies always have been downright predictable. There were only two reasons the grip would have been removed, and the jedi didn't seem particularly exhausted so that left the second option. He wanted the mercenary gone.
Well then jedi, I'm afraid this is really gonna hurt. Tightening his grip on both the wrist and the grenade, and holding the detonator switch down on the latter to delay the detonation, Bloodshot braced himself for the impact he knew would come and began to draw in the energy around him. The process was near-instantaneous, as it always was, and the mercenary's strength, speed, and durability, along with all his other physical attributes, jumped from merely unnatural to genuinely superhuman.
The wave of energy struck him full on, there was no way to avoid it, and jarred him to the bone, lifting him off his feet and attempting to hurl him off the platform. Whether or not it actually did depended on the jedi. If the other man had used the force to somehow root himself in place, then the now-superhuman grip Bloodshot had on his wrist would mean that once Bloodshot was thrown to the full extension their arms could reach the jedi's arm would either be ripped out of its socket or torn clean off. If, on the other hand, the jedi was NOT rooted in place, Bloodshot's momentum would pull him over the edge of the platform as well, still likely dislocating the shoulder, and cause both combatants to drop to the control ring that encircled the pillar just beneath the platform (or if the repulse is more powerful than I'm imagining, over the edge of the control ring as well and down the hundred-foot drop to the floor).
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Adi
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Post by Adi on Aug 3, 2013 19:08:42 GMT -8
Well, that didn't quite go as planned....
Adi was yanked along for the ride, so to speak, when Bloodshot was hit by the repulse. It was a pretty sizable pop, to say the least, and Adieumus felt himself flying through the air, and out over the edge of the platform. He barely had time to snap his left hand out and grab the edge of the control ring as he -almost- flew by it. He had arrested his downward motion, and saved himself from the very distinct 'splat' that awaited him at the bottom....
....But, Bloodshot might still be holding on, too.
If that -was- the case, the shoulder muscles on Adi's left side would be screaming at this point, and the right hand would be trying to grip the opposite forearm if it could. Not to cause harm, or damage this time, but to keep the other man from falling the long way down to the sudden stop on the end. He wouldn't be able to hold this for long, but just maybe long enough to show Bloodshot that he wasn't going to kill him in any kind of cheap or dishonorable fashion.
Not yet at least.
Even if Bloodshot -wasn't- holding on, it would be an unpleasant jolt to the left shoulder of the Arkanian. Stopping 205 lbs like that, trained or not, wasn't going to be good for the joints and tendons. Add in more weight if the armored man -did- hang on, and it was only increased.
Maybe he would be grateful if Adi saved his arse, and decide to yield....one could only hope. Besides, it wouldn't take much to shake him loose if Adi had to, and that was a good back-up option.
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Aug 3, 2013 20:10:17 GMT -8
Bloodshot's hand, and arm, and shoulder, and ribcage, and... well, everything, was still half-numb from the impact of the repulse, but he refused to let his grip on the other man's wrist falter. He would NOT let this fight end here, and while he figured he could probably survive a ninety foot fall in his amped up state, he wasn't really itching to try. Deactivating the grenade in his right hand, he placed it back on the bandolier and looked up at the jedi hanging above him. What do you know? Miracles really do happen.
Hang out here often?
He barely noticed the pull of his own weight on his arm, partly due to his currently enhanced durability and strength, but also due to the lingering pain and numbness of being hit by such a powerful shockwave. Compared to that, the pull of his weight on the arm was nothing.
Before you do anything stupid, let me just say that I'm not suicidal. Got it?
Slowly, so as not to engender mistrust, or aggravate the injury the other man had no doubt suffered from stopping the weight of both of them, he pulled one of the DC-17s pistols out of its holster and held it out where Adi could see (aimed away from him), then flicked the firing setting to "cable" and aimed at the ledge a few feet along from where the jedi held on. The gription clip stuck when he fired, and he released his hold on Adi's wrist, no doubt easing his burden considerably, then hauled himself the few feet to the ledge and climbed over.
If Adi hadn't already pulled himself up, he would then move to grab the man's left wrist with his own left hand and hoist him up. With his enhanced strength and perception, the entire process, from releasing Adi's right wrist to attempting to grab his left, would take only a few seconds. I can't believe I'm actually trying to help this jedi... But one good turn deserved another, and if the jedi was going to die today Bloodshot wanted it to be by his own hand, not something as impersonal as gravity.
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Adi
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Post by Adi on Aug 3, 2013 20:32:11 GMT -8
Adi was more than a little wary of what the man was going to do, but he decided to wait. When the pressure was relieved from his arms and shoulders, it was very welcome. Then, the man was above him. Now, Adi -could- be a real asshole about this, and put them in the same position they were in. He very well could. It just felt too impersonal. He could also now draw his pistol, or the saber that wasn't able to be pulled earlier.
Nah. Adi wasn't about to be cheap about this -now-
Instead, he took the man's hand graciously, and swung back up onto the platform. He realized that one or both of them was going to be maimed or killed by a gravity-related incident, so he decided to take the discretionary path to valor....
...not to mention self-preservation.
"Thanks. What's say we bring this fight a little closer to the ground, eh? Won't take but a moment, and we can both clean our drawers out after that last little foray. I really don't feel like becoming a grease spot on the Senate floor today."
Reaching over, Adi pressed a button, and the platform began to descend to the floor.
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Aug 4, 2013 17:34:41 GMT -8
When the jedi didn't immediately move to betray him the mercenary eased his grip on the pistol at his right thigh, then released it altogether. It came as no small surprise when he proposed a postponement of the fighting in order to move to a "safer" battleground. Like there is such a thing. But hey, why the hell not?
Fine by me.
Besides, it'll give me a chance to get comfortable. He inhaled deeply and began to slowly release the energy he'd been holding onto as he exhaled, it would be infinitely more difficult to avoid breaking thair momentary truce if he held onto it, then stood to his full height as the platform began to descend and reached to the clasps that held his armor plating on. He removed his bandolier and unfastened the clasps that secured his chest and back armor first, followed by his shoulder and upper arm plates. The armor on his upper legs came last, sliding out from under his thigh holsters, and he dropped the whole ensemble to the ledge next to himself. This guy is really frakking fast, and if not for my own... unique, abilities and a corellian amount of luck, I'd be a smear right now. I can't afford the extra weight. He kept the belt, however, along with the shields it projected, and replaced the blaster pistols in his thigh holsters with the slugthrowers that had been attached to his chest armor, then replaced the bandolier that held his grenades as well as his sword and staff. The only hard armor he now wore was the gauntlets and their vibroblades, his helmet, and the plating on the boots that protected his lower legs and feet. The black armorweave body glove that covered the rest of him would hold against some damage, but not nearly as much as the full plating. Speed will be more useful here than durability.
When he was finished, the platform would just be reaching the senate floor and beginning its descent into the chamber below.
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Adi
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Post by Adi on Aug 5, 2013 17:50:55 GMT -8
It was odd...He could swear he heard cheap space-porn music playing as Bloodshot shed his outer layer...the only thing missing was a pizza box in the man's hands.
At least he was getting rid of some of the armor. That was always a plus.
Adi simply waited...catching his breath, and feeling the slight headache subside. He folded his arms across his chest, and waited for the platform to finish its descent.
"I do hope you are going to leave -some- clothing on. I really don't need or want to see any more of you than I have to."
It didn't take long...in fact, just long enough for Bloodshot to disrobe, matter of fact, for it to reach the Senate floor. It passed on through, and straight down to the office below...where the Jedi had tried, and failed, to arrest Emperor Palpatine. It was where Anakin Skywalker had become Darth Vader, and it was where Master Yoda began his fight with the vaunted darksider. There was a lot of history in this chamber, and there was about to be more written. Stepping off the platform, Adi turned away when he had moved about eight feet away from the 'ring' around the bottom, and nodded to his opponent.
"Now then, shall we finish this?"
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Aug 5, 2013 18:39:42 GMT -8
Of all the corny dialogue he could have used just then... Bloodshot stepped off the ring behind Adi and closed the distance between them to roughly six feet, drawing the two-foot baton off his back as he moved. He held it in his left hand and let his right hand ready next to his hip, within quick and easy reach of the both the pistol and grenades. Speed is his weapon. He'll go for the quick kill, try and end the fight before he gets any more tired than he already is. That repulse would have taken its toll, but he had the chance to recuperate on the way down just like I did. He won't be fresh, but I can't count on fatigue either.
Yeah. Let's.
He drew in the energy around them again and the pain in his left side was washed away as his durability, speed, strength, and other attributes took a drastic jump toward the supernatural and his left arm shot forward with inhuman speed, driving the tip of the baton toward Adi's sternum. For those fast enough to see the motion with any amount of clarity, the "attack" (if one would even call it that) would clearly fall well short of crossing the distance between the men. Or it would have, if the half of the baton nearest Adi had not suddenly shot out toward him to increase the length of the weapon to just over four feet. Just long enough to crash into his sternum and break his bones, as well as electrocute him to death. If it actually landed, of course.
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Adi
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Post by Adi on Aug 6, 2013 17:54:37 GMT -8
Bloodshot's left arm came forward, with that baton in it. It was as if he was....well, it was like his depth perception was off. Either that, or the weapon had other tricks.
When Bloodshot's left hand began its forward motion, so did Adi's right. The baton came forward, for sure, but it then extended as well. Adi's right hand shot toward the weapon in a blur of force-induced speed, and as the baton extended for him, he tried to bat it away...to slap it to the outside....out to Adi's right. He stepped in at the same time, *two quick steps* to put him a bit closer to Bloodshot and put him into strike range.
When the steps were completed, and as if it were one flowing motion, Adi's left hand flew forward, palm thrusting for the hopefully now-exposed portion of Bloodshot's torso, again, blurring into a force speed-propelled attack. If the blow landed, it might do enough to knock a little of the wind out of him. If not, it still would put him inside the baton's reach, and take away the baton's effective range hopefully....and put him IN his own preferred range.
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Aug 6, 2013 18:26:36 GMT -8
The staff shot out and was predictably shunted to the left (Bloodshot's left, that is), and he was only mildly surprised to find that the electrical current had no effect. Electrically resistant material then, and since it looks armored, my money's on phrik. Then Adi shot forward in a two-step burst of speed and Bloodshot retracted the staff as he brought his own right arm into play.
He had been expecting a strike, and while it might not have been that strike in particular, it would have mattered little had it been delivered by foot or shin or elbow instead. His right hand came up from his side, tapping the activation stud on the stun grenade he had almost utilized previously but not bothering to remove it from the bandolier, and then curled into a fist as the ten inch blade housed in his gauntlet shot out past his knuckles. The room would immediately flood with a thick black cloud of bothan stun spores for four meters in every direction as the grenade pumped them into the air, and the active vibroblade in the gauntlet would attempt to sweep up through Adi's elbow (just past the end of the bracer) in the moment before his palm struck Bloodshot's chest. The merc's mask switched to thermal vision as the stun spores cut off normal sight, and with both men moving faster than most eyes could follow the entire exchange would have seemed like little more than a blur of motion to most spectators (if they had been able to see it). Not exactly the kind of fight you pay to watch. Maybe they'll slow it down and digitize it in the reruns.
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Corr
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Post by Corr on Aug 8, 2013 12:58:35 GMT -8
Judgment stored elsewhere. PM for details.
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Corr Vhett - puts the "Laughter" in "Manslaughter"..... 
