Welcome to Gaia! ::

Teegan stepped out into the coolness of the night, the early-mid-spring air still possessing enough of a bite to it that he gathered his jacket closer around himself before proceeding. Behind him, the music thumped, muffled by the door. Above him, the electric purple 'Sticks and Stones' blazed an invitation to passersby. Next to him, the muscular doorman inclined his head in a base acknowledgement of Teegan passing through his space. In front of him?

Metaphorically, endless possibility. Realistically, a two-block walk to where he'd been able to find parking in a public ramp. He sighed, hunched his shoulders against the chill, and lamented the mercurial nature of the weather this time of year as he set off for his car. Later in the week, it would be ninety during the day with thunderstorms, according to the forecast. It was in the forties and lightly drizzling now.

And here he was without his umbrella. No matter. Two blocks would pass quickly enough, provided he could dodge people blocking the sidewalks without getting run over by a passing car-- Against his better judgement, he turned to take a shortcut that carried him between two buildings rather than along the street.

There was something nagging him as he walked, and it was the knowledge that he wouldn't have to stay out in the rain as long if he'd just power up and hustle to his car. And, fortunately, it was dark enough and people distracted enough that he could probably safely do so. But was it worth it? Or was he just being lazy?

Another five minutes into the walk, and feeling the way his shoes were starting to squelch thanks to some splashes from passing cars, he decided it was worth being lazy. He turned into an alleyway under the pretense of looking for the back entrance to an apartment block--a lot of the businesses here had apartments above them anyway--and then emerged with his shield and lighter clothes. He'd at least had the forethought to take off his jacket before transforming, so that he could put it back on after, so at least he wasn't cold, but it was still wet.

Worse than wet, however, he could sense someone with a Chaos aura, and he could sense them like they were nearly on top of him. His heart thudded once, twice. Had he almost given himself away? Had they seen him duck into that alley? Had they found him? But when nothing descended on him after a moment of alarm, he forced himself to relax. They weren't out looking for him, and they hadn't found him out. It was probably someone out gathering quota from the passersby or late-night patrons of this or that bar.

And then he saw someone on the other side of the street, someone that explained the energy signature he'd sensed.

Well, ******** so he made his way across the street, keeping himself as low-profile as he could considering the shield he was carrying with him. Even his jacket couldn't do much about that. He drew up just behind her and, voice pitched low, trying to ignore the fact that she was a higher rank than he was, ventured, "it's an awful night for stealing from people, isn't it?"

Honestly? It was a good question, a great question even. What, precisely, was he going to be able to do to force her to give back the energy? He just hoped she hadn't stolen any starseeds. She had surely disappeared those if she had, unless she had them just hanging out in her pocket or something.

Anyway.

Emain Ablach brought his shield to bear. "I hate running. I avoid it when I can." That being said, he did run.

Right toward her.

He knew damn well she outranked him. What he was expecting to do about it, well, he was still forming that part of the plan. She outranked him, but he wasn't a lieutenant anymore, nor was he a page. Emain Ablach would have at least a few precious seconds to try and get an advantage, and that was what he was relying on. He saw her axe go up, held in both hands, and saw it come down toward him, toward the shield. He wasn't sure how many blows of that axe it would withstand.

So he dropped to his knees as his run carried him within reach of her, skidding painfully on the wet concrete with the shield up to protect his head, just in case. Hopefully it would extend her reach past its most effective, take some bite out of the blow. As he felt the axe connect and bite into the wood, he brought himself back up off of his bloodied knees, shoving the shield--and the axe with it--back into her face. His hope was to catch her off-balance, maybe even knock her down, but he'd take anything he could get, frankly.

He just didn't want to die on what was probably a fool's errand--

As she let go of the axe, he hurried to try and compensate for the change in weight and center of gravity. His shield was heavy, and the axe was just enough to make it start to tilt forward and away from him. It was enough that he wasn't able to do anything about her disappearing--not that he could have anyway--except swear quite colorfully and start to twist to look around. To look behind himself.

Too slow.

The kick landed square in the middle of his back and sent his balance over the edge to the front of himself. He ended up sprawled on the wet pavement, half atop his shield with the axe still buried in it. For a moment, the wind was knocked out of him and with it went his train of thought. Instinctively, he rolled over, back on the ground and shield up again between himself and the Negaverse general he had--perhaps unwisely--challenged. He scrambled backward, searching for his footing and trying to get more distance between the two of them.

"********!" ******** ******** ********-- He rolled out of the way, using the momentum to push himself up into a crouch. Then he realised he'd left his shield behind, a shield cracked in two by the blow of the axe she'd retrieved. He figured he had one shot at this point and rushed her while the axe was buried in the wood. He didn't know if she'd have another one readied in time. He hoped she wouldn't, or he was going to have to change his plan very quickly--

Emain Ablach scrambled to avoid the swing, ending up partly successful in that his ankles would be sorely bruised later, but he had at least remained upright. At least, mostly. But the blow made him stumble nonetheless. Honestly, his inclination at this point was a brawl, but he didn't want to give her any way to get her hand near his chest. The last thing he needed was to turn an interception into needing rescue. The weather being what it was, he didn't want to count on there being someone conveniently available to rescue him.

But at this point, he was worried about drawing attention--even with the weather--and potentially giving her additional victims or even hostages to choose from. He needed to resolve this, and quickly. His choices were few. She had already vanished the energy, so he wasn't going to be able to get it back, and he didn't have the ability to take it by force. At least, not anymore. His shield was broken, his legs were bruised and bloodied, and he wasn't exactly sure what he was going to be able to accomplish at this point.

His pride hated to admit it, but he had made a mistake.