Chaos In The Undercity

Even before The Curse had fallen, there had been a warning spread by those who planned ahead. A warning that just because The Curse was so big, and so omnipresent, and had already killed off nearly every other major criminal organization on Olympia before their own demise, did not mean that defeating The Curse meant the end of crime and corruption in Olympia. Make no mistake, progress had been made and defeating The Curse was the right thing to do, but the battle for Olympia still raged on, now moving more fully into the dark alleys and graffiti-stained corridors of The Undercity.

The Curse had simply been too big for their defeat to mean the end of the war. While the group technically still existed as The Cure, it was a tiny fraction of its' former self, and a massive void had been created in Olympia, particularly the Undercity. The parasites that had been in hiding came scrabbling out of the woodwork, every idiot with a handgun and something to prove thinking they had a shot at being the next Plague. However, they lacked something that The Curse had possessed in spades: teamwork. Sure, The Curse had had its' mavericks and traitors, any group big enough had some of those, but The Curse had gotten as far as it had due to unity and a shared sense of purpose. Without that, these no-hopers were fighting amongst themselves as much as they were fighting the forces of good that were reclaiming Olympia - The Cure, The Corps, the police... and of course the Kobbers.

And one such underground street fight was going down right now, in the territory of Yamato, former leader of a gang of cybernetic samurai who had staked a claim on part of the Undercity before Plague's forces had forced him into retreat minus most of his men. Now he was under attack once more and had no allies to defend himself with, though his foe didn't seem as intimidating as The Curse's army had been.

Simon 1994RD was a robot of few words, but many eccentricities. Yamato was outpacing him, leaping to and fro through the air to avoid Simon's retractable ball-and-chain weapon, but the mechanical parts of both fighters kept them from tiring, and a stalemate had ensued. Trying to mix things up and catch the samurai off-guard, Simon quickly pulled a hunk of golden metal shaped like a fish off of his waist and threw it. Yamato ducked away from the fish and prepared to chuck an explosive shuriken in response, but the fish struck him on the back of the head as it boomeranged back, something he hadn't expected. Quickly pressing his advantage, Simon sent out his ball-and-chain again, smashing it against the samurai's leg and only just missing the kneecap. Groaning in irritation, Yamato raised his sword and dashed in close to force the fight into terms he was more comfortable with.

He was so distracted by Simon he never saw the hammer coming.

Yamato collapsed to the ground, the dent of the masked man's hammer in his back proof of the assault. Simon seemed unfazed, simply switching focus to the newcomer and whipping his ball-and-chain around the hammer's handle, forcing a tug of war. The hammer-wielding man gave nothing away, gripping the hammer tightly but his expressionless mask betraying nary an emotion. Without a sound, he flexed hard and tugged Simon off his feet, making him stumble, and he arced his freed hammer up to send it bashing down onto Simon's head. Seconds later, he was the one stumbling instead as Yamato's sword sliced into his left ankle. He didn't let out any noise indicating he was injured, but his body language said enough. The masked man stepped back gingerly, hefting his hammer as Yamato advanced on him. Simon moved to ambush, but Yamato chucked a ninja star over his shoulder that struck Simon in one goggle-wearing eye, exploding shortly after and leaving an empty socket in its' wake, exposed wires sparking around the impact site. As Simon reeled, Yamato dashed forward and slashed at his other opponent with his sword, but the masked man blocked the attack with his hammer, and the two of them pushed against each other in defiance.

Then came the flying shark, because why not.

Gobbler careened into the fight with his jaws agape, biting down on the first limb in reach and trying to make off with it. Unfortunately for the shark, the masked man's arm didn't come off so easily, and he retaliated against his attacker by slamming his other hand repeatedly against the shark's snout as he was dragged along. He'd dropped his hammer at last, though, and Yamato snatched it up to capitalize on it. Inexperienced with hammers, he considered just throwing it away, but Simon charging at him made him rethink that plan, and he instead copied the masked man's earlier attack and tried to bash Simon's head in. Already damaged from previous assaults, the head now caved in under the pressure of another strike, but if Simon was bothered by the fact that his head now had a huge dent in the top, he didn't let it show. He instead threw his boomerang fish, striking Yamato in the face and making him step back, perfectly in range for Gobbler to whip his head around in another pass and throw the masked man off of him, both of them collapsing in a heap. The shark arced in the air, his propeller tail whirling, and lunged towards Simon next. Shark met face, and Simon's entire head was ripped off in a shower of sparks. But Simon was still unfazed, even without his head, and coolly turned around to fling his ball-and-chain into Gobbler's propeller, snarling it up and halting the shark's forward momentum. He crashed to the ground with an annoyed bellow, Simon hefting up his fish and ready to use it as a melee weapon, reeling in his ball-and-chain to drag Gobbler closer.

Without his hammer, the masked man was not much of a threat. Yamato's armor could easily turn away the man's awkward blows, and he grabbed onto the mask of the stranger and started to pry it off. Yamato didn't care who was under the mask - in all likelihood it wasn't anyone he knew anyway - but it made his next move that much more effective. Slipping several of his explosive ninja stars between mask and face, Yamato jammed them in hard and then let go of the mask. It snapped back into place, setting off the shurikens and blowing the man's face away. He teetered, swayed, and then collapsed where he stood.

Stepping back from his defeated opponent, Yamato turned to see how the others were doing. Gobbler was flailing on the ground, trying to tug himself free from the ensnaring chain of Simon. Suddenly, just as Simon had closed the distance and was about to strike with his fish, Gobbler wheeled around and bit down on the arm holding it. Simon stiffened momentarily, his first sign of weakness all fight, and with a thrash of his head Gobbler tore the arm off, causing another wave of sparks to gush out from the robot's heavily-damaged body. Wisps of smoke rose off of Simon as he took an unsteady step back, no longer certain he could best the shark. Yamato was content to let Gobbler finish the job, but yet another interruption was due to make things even worse for the samurai today.

Drawn by the noise of battle and the smell of blood came several Eryops. These InGen creations had been skulking around the Undercity after escaping last summer, and they were doing surprisingly well by adapting to their new life as scavengers. Now trained to lurk near places that were common sites of conflict, they would raid gang fights in the aftermath and feast on the bodies left behind. Nine feet long and built like alligators crossed with salamanders, the heavily-bodied creatures were hardly the most dangerous prehistoric beasts InGen had ever made, but they were still threatening hazards to an unprepared Olympia citizen. Yamato glowered at them, but did not engage as three Eryops surrounded the fallen masked man and began picking at his heavy clothing in search of a way to the meat inside. Better to let them feed than to draw out the fight and risk more creatures showing up to a feeding frenzy. He knew that some of the Eryops had no doubt been eaten themselves by another Undercity predator even more dangerous than they were...

The sound of shearing metal made him look back at the other two interlopers. Gobbler had torn open Simon's chest with his massive teeth, gouging into the electronics and electrocuting himself. It was enough to shut down Simon permanently, the robot going limp, but Gobbler had taken heavy damage from his own knockout blow. Smoking a little from being zapped, he nonetheless flexed his tail and tore the ball-and-chain of Simon free from his propeller at last, whipping the tail back and forth and finally flinging the chain away. It landed near the Eryops, and one of them briefly glanced at it before deciding it wasn't edible and going back to feeding. Just as Gobbler was about to rise back into the air, however, Simon's body twitched. Dozens of metal fish identical to his boomerang began erupting from the hole where his head used to be, showering down upon the baffled Gobbler. Before the shark could comprehend what was happening, Yamato did and dived for cover. Seconds later, Simon exploded and the Eryops scattered in a panic.

A few moments passed. Yamato slowly uncurled from clinging to the ground and warily looked around him. Gobbler was nowhere to be seen, and the Eryops were lurking around the edges of the scene, eager to resume their meal but more cautious now. Warily they started crawling back over to the body of the masked man, and Yamato started to consider relaxing his guard at last. The soft click of a gun in the distance immediately erased such considerations, and Yamato tensed again, whipping around in the direction of the sound.

"Shit, did he seriously hear that? Insane. Damn... I knew going for this was risky. Should have waited..."

Pressing her back up behind a building, Zia Rodriguez held her tranquilizer gun to her chest and began carefully edging away from the scene. She'd wanted to bag at least one Eryops today for transport to the preserve, but today wasn't looking to be the day.

Behind Yamato, however, another threat was lurking. He heard it before he saw it, spinning back around with his blade drawn just in time to see Gobbler lunge at him, jaws agape. The shark was bleeding, but by no means out of the fight yet. As the two collided, the Eryops got jumpy again, but instead of scattering, they stood their ground. Now they smelled blood, and could tell Gobbler was injured. Yamato internally swore. Now they weren't just a distraction any more. As the sounds of chaos resumed, Zia peered back around the corner to watch the fight, unable to tear her eyes away from it. Gobbler snarled as he tried to disarm Yamato like he had Simon, but the samurai armor held firm, and even Gobbler's strong teeth couldn't get enough of a grip. Yamato's sword flashed in the streetlamps, but Gobbler let go and pulled up and away, only getting a grazing swipe from the attack. Blood dripped from the shark's underside, some getting on the Eryops and further riling them up. They circled below the hovering shark, like ponderous vultures in reverse, and Gobbler glared irritatedly down at them before looking back to what he considered the real threat, the one whose territory he'd come to claim in the first place, Yamato. Snarling before letting out a loud bellow, the shark flapped his fins and a few small red fishlike creatures spawned from his person, looking like little red shark heads with a single fin. The mini-sharks opened their mouths to show off their knife-like teeth and descended towards Yamato, shortly followed by Gobbler himself. Yamato swung his sword back and forth, slicing one mini-shark in half and smacking another aside with the flat of his blade before Gobbler crashed into him and knocked him off his feet. Biting down on a leg this time, Gobbler rose up again, dragging Yamato into the air and spinning around to fling him into a wall. Yamato crashed hard, shattering a window nearby, before flopping forward and falling down into an open dumpster. Gobbler hovered over the dumpster warily, waiting to see if his prey was still alive, while the mini-sharks began attacking the Eryops trio. Zia cringed at the sight of the Eryops being attacked, and took aim with a long-range stun gun. She fired, and a blast of electricity caught one of the mini-sharks and sent it flopping to the ground, as rigid as if it had been flash-frozen. Gobbler spun around and saw one of his minions was down in a way Eryops couldn't have done, and he growled as he began patrolling the area in search of the perpetrator.

"Dammit."

Zia really should go now. She moved to leave, for real this time, but Gobbler had already found her. The shark loomed over the dinosaur vet, his teeth dripping with hungry drool. At last, a worthy prey item. She'd make a good victory snack to celebrate his conquering of this territory.

Then something bit down on his left fin and tore it off.

"YEAH! GET 'EM, SNAPDRAGON! RIP 'IS SORRY 'EAD OFF!"

Where was that voice coming from? Gobbler didn't know. All he knew was that this thing flying around him was gnawing on his fin. HIS FIN. Seeing red, Gobbler roared as loud as he could and lunged at the interloper while a baffled Zia ran for safety. The creature - Snapdragon - arced its' head back to swallow the fin and buzzed around with an air of confidence. Gobbler tried to keep up, but he was heavily injured from the savage gang fight he'd just endured on top of missing one of his fins, which were crucial for balancing him as he swam through the air with his propeller. He was still a threat, though, snapping at the air with his jaws and only missing Snapdragon's delicate feet by inches with one attack. The bug creature relied on evasive maneuvers, trying to get to Gobbler's side to bite down on the right fin, but without the element of surprise it was proving difficult and Gobbler was guarding his remaining pectoral fin carefully. The mini-sharks came to help their master, and one of them did manage to nip at Snapdragon a few times, but ultimately the strange creature overpowered them with snaps and tackles until Gobbler was all that remained. The Eryops, ignored by the other combatants, moved in to devour the mini-sharks as they lay stunned or dead on the ground, then waddled off with their prizes.

"SNAPDRAGON! GIVE 'IM A HYPER VOICE!"

With a clack, the jaws of the orange bug parted wide, and a horrible screech assaulted Gobbler, stunning him and making him thrash in the air. The Eryops trio sped up their waddling, not wanting to hear any more of that horrible noise, and vanished into the Undercity with mouthfuls of mini-shark as their participation trophies. With Gobbler barely mobile, it was trivial for Snapdragon to swoop in and bring him down, tearing off the other fin and slamming the shark to the ground.

"Fuckin' ace! That's how it's done! Oi, you two, coast looks clear now!"

As Snapdragon perched on the unconscious Gobbler, his owner stepped out into the light of the battlefield and looked around with a smirk. It was a young woman, dressed in hot pink and black, looking like she'd stepped out of a rave. Nodding at the quiet, she gestured with one hand and another girl stepped over to join her. Somewhat more reserved but still a fitting associate of the loud punk, her green-haired friend joined her in surveying the scene, only for their final companion to interrupt them.

"Wait. 'Old up. There's one we 'aven't accounted fur yet."

This final girl, dressed in raggedy clothes that looked a century old, was the leader of the three. She stepped forward and the other two fell into formation to her left and right and slightly behind her. She walked carefully towards the dumpster, holding up a hand to stop the others when she heard thumping noises from inside. Yamato unsteadily pushed his way out of the dumpster and tumbled out of it with a lack of grace he didn't enjoy, and he had a few moments to grimace at the grimy, garbage-coated state of his armor before he saw he was being held at gunpoint. The leader of the three girls was pointing a strange copper-colored gun that looked far too complicated right at him. Next to her, the green-haired one drew a staff and flicked a switch near the base, causing an electrical hum to fill the air as the tip of the staff expelled bright blue plasma that formed the shape of  hatchet. And finally, the pink punk waved her hand and Snapdragon fluttered over to her side, looming menacingly over Yamato.

Yamato groaned audibly. He'd beaten so many foes today, driven off so many to keep his territory... and he WOULD have beaten Gobbler if given the chance, dammit... but no. He knew these three all too well. Like the Eryops, they would come to pick the bones clean after a gang fight, preying on the weakened hoodlums and mopping up the leftovers.

It was always embarrassing for any upstanding Undercity crook to be forced to admit that they'd lost to the Valkyries.

 Daz, the Trainer

"End of the line, bruv."

 

Nattie, the Warrior

"This is Valkyrie territory now. Take off, or we take your head."

 Gina Lestrade, the Thief

"Y'don't want me t'have t'use this." the leader said, hefting her gun.

If he was at 100%, he could have easily dealt with these three little girls, but the earlier waves of opponents had left Yamato too weak to put up a fight, particularly starting from such a disadvantageous position. With a frustrated grumble, Yamato slowly picked himself up and started walking away, his sword sheathed. The Valkyries kept their weapons trained on him until he was far enough away to ease their nerves, then they lowered their weapons, grinned, and started high-fiving one another.

"An' THAT'S how it's done!"

"FREEZE!"

"Wha?"

The Valkyries turned around and flinched at the sight of ZFPD officers Denise Marmalade and Patty Wagon. Patty had spotted Yamato, though, and was dashing off in hot pursuit - his reputation preceded him, and he was higher up on the wanted list than the Valkyries were. That left them with just Denise to worry about, but she did have her own gun trained on Gina Lestrade. "Drop the gun!" Denise said, a commanding edge in her voice that wouldn't have been there a couple years ago. "We're taking you three in for questioning."

Gina made a show of thinking about the order as if it was a polite request. Then she aimed her gun at Denise and grinned.

"Eh... nah."

She fired.

Fortunately for Denise, Gina's gun was a smoke gun. A smoke bomb erupted from the cannon, coming apart from the forces at work, and a thick cloud of pink smoke obscured everything in sight. Denise yelped and pointed her gun frantically, waving it around in front of her. By the time the smoke had cleared, the Valkyries (and Snapdragon) had long since cleared out, leaving Denise alone with a half-dead shark on the ground nearby. Turning to assist Patty, she saw her fellow cop was doing perfectly well on her own, having downed the weakened Yamato and cuffed his arms behind his back. She sighed and went to stand near Gobbler instead to claim at least one arrest of her own today. She cuffed his propeller and sat on a nearby bench, cheeks puffing out grumpily. She'd come a long way in her time on the force, but things still didn't always go right for Officer Marmalade.

As for Zia, she was already long gone, having taken advantage of The Valkyries' intrusion on the fight to beat a retreat. She'd hated to leave the Eryops behind, but this just wasn't the right time for a capture attempt. She'd have to try again later.

Chaotic scenes like these were rare back when The Curse had tamped down all their opposition, but with them gone, Olympia was an even playing field, and intergang fights had gotten more common. Now it simply came down to who could capitalize on the turmoil and stake their claim on the world's first flying city.