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And then he heard the voice. A quick turn to look over his shoulder, and his eyebrow arched. Was that...he recognized her now. There was no need for an apology anymore, she had drawn her weapon, and it was only polite that he do the same.

He also did the gentlemanly thing and offered her a chance to surrender.

"You sure you wanna go through with this? I mean, you don't look like you're in any condition to fight."

Being a man that lived for battle, Athan was obsessed with fighting people at their strongest, and not wresting it from the hands of the nearly-fallen. This, obviously, was not the woman's peak physical status.

Hakan, too, walked in on the scene. And looked thouroughly confused, before groaning some and placing a hand on his forehead. His right shoulder was still injured from the arrow before, but it was bandaged and not bleeding by now, at least. And a good rest had done wonders. But...

"Aw man, we're under attack? I was at least hoping for some food first..."

Yeah, Hakan wasn't exactly taking this as seriously as he could be, as he turned some to look at Athan.

"Hey...why don't you put the sword away and we just get something to eat or something, first? Maybe do a little gambling?"

There appeared to be a commotion inside the ruins. Ji Long would begin his ascent up top, climbing up to a high point around some rocks and the ruins. Of course, he kept to the shadows, and he'd peer down into the scene. One surrounded Athan Cole.

This wasn't good, and it made Sunstrike think.

Just how many people have gotten in here...?! The white shades were taking an unprecedented interest in what was going on, and seemed to jump when Desi touched one of the walls. It wouldn't take much for one of them to break cover and just attack...

We've got to get the hell out of here... He saw Flare get out of the way, and pointed the Information Shade towards her to update her on the news, before drawing his staff from across his back.

"You seem pretty convinced..." Sunstrike said. Unfortunately, besides a few bumps and bruises he seemed the most healthy out of the group.

Few grumbles and what sounded suspiciously like a bark later, she was up. Well as 'up' as you could consider her as she all but climbed the wall to a stand. An obvious 'got to catch my balance' moment. A few sways here and there, back and forth, and a hand sliding down her surgical mask for a deep breath.

Very slowly she moved away from the wall. Out came a stick of gum even as she pulled the mask strings over her head, hood down now, and shoved it into her pocket roughly. Looked a bit green around the face and her expression was a 'dead frown' at best. Looking angry but not quite at anything in particular, someone obviously did not feel good.

The fault might well have had something to do with a, now empty, flask of tequila just hanging out in her back pocket from the previous day.

At this rate she would probably come across the group in a few minutes. That seemed to be the biggest source of intereast in the place at the moment. If not she would end up following some worker headed in that direction. Regardless of the circumstances, she was pretty much stumbling, using the wall as support, towards the excitement.

...Nothing new there.

"This is war, bud. You fight in war, get used to it or don't sign up."

He was almost half-expecting a shade to come bursting from the ruins behind him, but the odds of that occuring were slimmer than the archer or redhead attacking him.

It wasn't a good idea to wait for them to rush him, so he did what a cornered animal would do, what any man would do when they were in the same situation.

He lashed out, violently.

The yellow orb seemed to just up and disappear as he brought the sword back, stepping off his rear foot and towards the group of shades and the archer. He'd rather not have some elf taking potshots at him during a swordfight.

The yellow glowing was back, although this time it was quickly traversing the length of the blade. By the time Athan had brought the sword all the way across his body, the energy had manifested itself into something equivalent of a flying crescent blade.

The width was practically nonexistant, and the crescent of energy totaled about four feet in length. It would continue on, despite what got in its path, for a good fifty meters before finally stopping. The horizontal slash that had caused the crescent was at waist height for the shades nearby.

This allowed Athan to focus his attention on Sunstrike and the group next to him.

And so the man made his move.

Ji Long lowered himself into a crouch, getting some cover as his left hand reached to his lower back and grasped a small black flat cylinder, and in his right hand, he unholstered the silenced USP tactical at his right hip. As he rose, he'd toss the hockey puck shaped item directly into the crowd around Athan.

Before it'd even strike the ground, it would detonate in mid air, right at head level.



At that moment, he would turn off the chameleon technology in his suit, becoming fully visible, yet at a higher vantage point than those below. His right hand would have come up, and he'd be ready to shoot at the aftermath of the explosive burst.

((Same item as used in the barracks.))