2163/Merry-Go-Duel

Merry-Go-Duel
Date of Scene:	19 June 2020
Location:	Carnival Grounds
Synopsis:	Shen and Elektra duel in a temporary carnival. Merry-go-rounds are slaughtered. Blows are exchanged. Elektra springs a devious trap. Shen manages to snatch a draw out of defeat. The two walk away with mutual respect.
Cast of Characters:	Shen Kuei, Elektra Natchios

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Shen Kuei has posed:
Shen kept his promise. An invitation is extended to a location in upstate New York, which amounts to little more than a clearing the local temperate forests. The time is set for well into the evening, and while one might have expected darkness to greet whatever mode of transportation Elektra decides, the reality is an illuminated field containing the rides and booths one might expect of a traveling carnival.

Evidently, Shen Kuei has paid for the privilege to borrow the use of the leisurely equipment. Despite the lights, the rides and booths are otherwise inactive, save for the merry-go-round. It spins as expected, a variety of animals both mundane and mythological bobbing up and down to cheerful circus music.

Shen Kuei is found sprawled upon a large tiger, wearing a black tang suit which perfectly matches his Chinese martial heritage. He lounges lazily waiting for his guests arrival, a mischievous smirk tugging at his lips at his unorthodox choice of locations as he wonders how Elecktra might react to his selection.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Rules? For Elektra they were simple. There would be no restrictions but the eventual tap out in submission to the other or admission of a draw from both combatants. That was how much Elektra trusted her own abilities. But she was also curious on what Shen could do. As afterall there was a fame to his prowess. And she was here to test just that as afterall if they did team up in the future she'd only do so with the best.

The choice of place was a surprise, doubly so due to the carnival that expects her. But she came prepared. Night meant infrared goggles, a choice of position on a vantage point, in this case a spinning wheel some meters off the ground where the seats are made of dolphins. Instead of a dress she came with her usual black and red garb, sais, some ninja tricks and .. a rifle. Not something she uses much but ... mind games were a thing she very much enjoyed.

The reaction she has to the place doesn't take long to arrive, because what better way to hunt a cat than to point a laser near it and watch him react? A targetting laser beams up, pointing at the tiger where the man is lounging first and then rolling up to Shen. Apparently she isn't someone that likes waiting for the 'ding ding' to start a duel.

Shen Kuei has posed:
Shen is somewhat surprised when he notices the red dot walking up the black fabric of his Tang. He immediately rolls backwards in the opposite direction of where the laser landed to put a visual obstacle between himself and his assailant.

Scurrying, he uses the revolving movement of the merry-go-round to obscure his egress. He purses his lips then makes an abrupt dash to the back of a booth too quick for an accurate snap-shot from a rifle to end the duel prematurely.

Under cover, he retrieves a duffle bag and considers his option. He had prepared for this eventuality. He wasn't a fan of firearms, but he was skilled with them. A pair of pistols with matching holsters are extracted from the bag and slung over his shoulder. A utility belt with a few canisters wraps around his waist.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Fast, good. Not that it stops her from shooting, the whistling sound of those bullets zipping not too far from Shen's position. Are they deadly rounds though? Rubber bullets? Not yet understandable, but they leave the poor tiger somewhat damaged along with the thump-thump they make when hitting the ground a split of a second after Shen passes by to hide behind that booth.

A silencer muffles the sounds of the shots so as to not alert other people that could be around, just in case, continuing to hit the booth for a few times but then it abruptly silent. No more shots. Elektra jumps down from the spinning wheel she was on, finding grass under her feet and then beginning to circle around. Slowly getting closer, using all that training with the Hand to keep her steps mostly quiet. Silent. The rifle keeps pointed up towards the booth, waiting, just now coming near the tiger where Shen was perched at before.

"Ding ding." she taunts before immediately sliding behind one of the merry-go-round animals.

Shen Kuei has posed:
The response to 'Ding Ding' is a pin-pull and a canister tossed around the corner of the booth with a flick of the wrist. Instead of a lob, it darts through the air, closing the distance to the tiger before it explodes in a flash of light and concussive force: a flash-bang.

Intended to be more distracting then disabling, he will dart from his position in a circuitous path, his slippered feet nearly completely silent upon the matted grass of the field.

Pistols drawing from his holsters, he assails her position with gun-fire. Plastic and ceramic shatter and splinter on the merry-go-round, mythical creatures slain by the modern weapons. The mirthful music briefly blotted out by the rapport of the firearms.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Flashbang is a good choice against someone using night vision goggles. It makes her go momentarily blind, tossing the goggles out and away though it's not as if she keeps quiet, rolling on the ground and dashing across in quite fast motions, moving from creature to creature as they get destroyed, mostly using her other senses to guide her as bullets graze near her. Clearly these poor animals will never be the same again ...

She ditches the rifle as well, needing her whole speed while she brings out a smoke bomb out of her satchel. Typical Hand paraphernalia, tossing it to the ground as smoke slowly starts covering up the area where she was. A few more are tossed about, creating a field of smoke while she recovers her eyes from the intense light, tossing herself behind a track train with a large elephant in front.

Sais are brought out from her sash and she waits, listening, prepared. Counting seconds. A pain in her leg tells her one of the bullets grazed flesh. Not disabling but there's some pain there. Distracting.

Shen Kuei has posed:
He tilts his head in amusement as the puffs of smoke begin to emerge around the carnival. He tosses his now empty pistols to the ground and unslings his holsters. He nods to himself, having heard the 'thud' of the discarded rifle. He calls out, "I think I'm done with guns this evening, Miss Natchios."

He walks to a ruined plastic dragon and grips the metal pole running through it. A little leverage and some twisting manages to free the length of metal. He tests its heft, performs a momentarily flourish, and decides it will serve well as a make-shift staff.

The smoke confounding his vision; he closes his eyes and listens intently for any clue of movement.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Horrible weapons, aren't they?" Is the reply from over yonder, Elektra's accent noticeable. Though she takes that call as a means to change tactics. Time to go up close and personal. That suits her just fine. The rifle was mostly a test afterall.

She slinks out from behind the large elephant, this one having stayed intact for the moment, now padding quietly across the grass, weapons at the ready. No flourish out of her though, killer through and through.

With that smoke starting to dissipate she slowly comes into sight, still a blur, but enough that she is visible. "Shall we?" she then says in way of invitation, a brow quirking up and she lowering herself into a fighting stance. Ready. Muscles tensing up.

Shen Kuei has posed:
Shen nods in agreement with Elektra. "I find for those discrete in nature, they often create more problems then they solve."

There is another flourish of the makeshift metal staff. One might think this is pure hubris or vanity, but in truth, the martial artist is gaining a feeling for the weight of the weapon. Meanwhile, he observes her stance and elects to remain loose in his own.

He slowly edges himself into fighting range with the assassin. His slippered feet barely lift from the dewy grass. Inch by inch, he closes until by instinct, realizes he's at the boundary of her natural range with the sai. He allows the metal staff to slip down his grip then takes a swing at her head to begin the exchange, leveraging the length of the pole to his advantage over her choice in sai.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Sometimes we don't want to be discrete though." Elektra replies, shifting her posture to match Shen's when the man approaches, taking note of the distances, the reaches. There is indeed that imaginary line on the ground that she has traced as being her reach, waiting, testing if the man will cross it. A faint smirk remains there on her lips, as if she was privy to some kind of knowledge she has yet to share with her opponent.

With that line not being crossed she has no choice but attempt to move in, lashing out like a viper when that swing comes, feet sliding forward, attempting to stop the blow with one of her sais while she attempts to close in the distance so her other hand can attempt to stab. She takes straight attempts at the man's torso, one-two. Deadly if they connect? Perhaps, but it's not as if she expects those to not be dodged. If they aren't dodged ..., well.., too bad. No tears out of her.

And while there is nothing supernatural fast about her motions she moves close to it. No wasted motions, just pure killer instinct.

Shen Kuei has posed:
Shen chooses not to place his full weight behind the swing when he sees the sai raise to deflect it. The two instruments impact, but instead of deflecting, the staff is purposely lodged in the prongs of the sai.

Shen maintains this connection, and his considerable experience in hand-to-hand fight allows him to use it to predict her next moves. He abruptly releases the pole and parries the deadly stabs with circular swats on his palms on the outside of her hands.

His retort is an efficient and very fast front kick toward her torso. Hit or miss, he shifts from the long range application of the now-abandoned staff to an incredibly short-ranged series of parries, punches, and elbow strikes indicative of Wing-Chun.

His movements will feel equally efficient. After a rapid exchange, it will become obvious that a direct exchange between the two yields no obvious superior in terms of close-combat prowess.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
With the pole being purposedly released it also makes her toss away the sai as it becomes entangled with Shen's previous weapon, her eyes narrowing and some of that smirk leaving her lips. It's not often that someone can survive coming face to face with her Sais. The wing-chun is recognized, even if not one of those styles she has practiced to an extent. Though they certainly are effective in deflecting her weapon.

The kick appears to hit the torso even if she doesn't take the brunt of it, already on a movement backwards to get out of range. It still hits though, making her grunt and then flipping back and away, cartwheeling in a perfect posture to then land on her feet.

And then it starts in full, retorting in the same type of furious commitment. Parries and punches. No quarter, up close and personal. It does make her breath come out faster now, continuing to search for a weakness but indeed they seem rather matched where it comes to direct confrontation. "You are not half-bad." she admits.

Shen Kuei has posed:
A 'hit' isn't really a victory if no meaningful force transfers into the frame of your opponent. Elektra's momentary retreat is nearly as good as a dodge or a parry. Shen's eyes narrow in recognition of this fact.

Shen withstands the onslaught with all the poise and skill of a grandmaster. Each parry is precise and not overbearing and followed with a counter-strike. His lips curl into a grin. He abruptly retreats a step back, performs a jumping back kick, and adjusts the reach once more, transferring into Changquan, otherwise known as Long Fist.

An onslaught of straight kicks make hand strikes a difficult prospect. Shen's game is an obvious one. He's changing the perimeters of the fight to see if he can find a flaw in her technique. Something to exploit to gain advantage.

As a result, he begins to grasp some of Elektra's personality in her preference for offense. A recognition of her killer instinct. For Elektra, she may discern the motivations of Shen. He's having fun. He's willing to take risk, confident in his ability, to try and gain an upper hand, and even when these risks do not work out in his favor. He's elated in the prospect of recovering the lost ground.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra's remaining Sai has long been discarded too. Now having slipped into a pure hand to hand style of combat. And the more they fight the more something is understood about the woman which is that while she -knows- the styles she uses most of her training was focused in training how to kill, brutal and efficient. Offense. Quick kills. Not that it stops her from being a grandmaster in her own right yet that may be the weakness in her style.

The change of styles is met with a change of her own too, slipping into Muay Thai, using her own kicks to attempt and counter those straight kicks, attempting to use her knees to deflect (and injure), along with circular ones to hit the muscles so as to tire out her opponent. It turns into a game of cat and mouse, one trying to get an advantage over the other through the use of different techniques. Her smirk does begin to return though even as her breathing also paces further.

And indeed, that confidence she had noticed on their first meet at the Hellfire Club is confirmed. And perhaps she now attempts to stoke that confidence, maybe attempting to turn it into overconfidence. Some blows connect against her, one on a shoulder, another on her side, as if she was on the retreat. Or maybe she is just waiting for the man to step closer for the kill. Deception is one of the Hand's best tricks afterall...

Shen Kuei has posed:
Some reserve of thought contemplates how to use her aggression against her while he adjusts to respond to her change to Muay Thai. His limbs are solid muscle, and he seems agile enough to receive her kicks instead receive the full impacts of them. Where he is unable to completely negate a blow, he ensures that it strikes a new position on his leg each time to avoid the muscle trauma that occurs from repeated strikes.

The trap she chooses to set is a devious one. Though it's a trick that has been employed against him before, he's curious if this is a tactic or honest lapses in her defense. The result is the same, he steps into the trap though he punishes her severely in the trade-offs. Some of those blows feel too hard for the angle in which they are delivered.  Ki is infusing some of his strikes. True Ki. Not the force generated by leveraging the feats of physics possible through solid technique, but the mystic force which comes from the alignment of mind, body, and spirit.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Ki. Outright cheatin'!!! Just like Iron Fist. And her knowledge on that is indeed limited for the moment, only knowing a few techniques of her own. So when the blows hit she grimaces, specially the hit on her shoulder, leaving that zone numb and her arm close to worthless for a few moments. But no going back now on her plan, for going back to trading blows directly would just mean she'd lose. She takes advantage of that approach, suddenly stopping on her retreat and jumping forth...

... The shift in technique is obvious when she connects, her arms wrapping about the torso and then she instantly slithering to the man's back, attempting to climb up and leverage herself to bring the fight down to the ground. An hiss of pain is heard at the effort she is putting on her arm, then the deadly sound of a garrote wire heard being pulled out of a sleeve in a practiced motion she most likely has used many times in the past.

Still, for a grandmaster it might be avoidable, specially with her slower motions now that her body isn't in prime shape anymore.

Shen Kuei has posed:
The tactic is very effective. Even though he recognizes the shift, he is quickly playing catch-up. Instead of going to the ground, he widens his stance and lowers his center of gravity. He doesn't allow the fight to go the ground just yet. However, this doesn't prevent Elektra from climbing up the back of his torso.

The garrote is unexpected and just as dangerous with the fight still vertical. The wire nearly loops over his throat before his forearm interjects. The silk fabric of his tang suit prevents a very nasty laceration. He grunts in surprise.

He then rolls forward and allows the fight to go to the ground. This may seem almost like a surrender. She will receive the unpleasant sensation of his body weight falling upon her, pressing her into the ground, but despite the forearm protecting his throat from being crushed or sliced, he's in a definitively losing position.

He had his own trick up his sleeve though. Elektra will feel the sharp point of one of her own sais pressing against her skin just above her kidney. Shen must have snatched it off the ground during his front roll. His chuckle is muffled against the muscle of his own forearm. "Draw?"

Elektra Natchios has posed:
The lowering of that gravity center means Elektra sinks herself more fully on the man's back, her long legs curling in a vise and the wire starting the pressure, teeth gritted at the effort as it requires most of her strength for this. She knows she has a disadvantage where it comes to a direct strength match, but that position is indeed advantageous.

The roll forward is perhaps unexpected, but her grip doesn't release, she too practiced for it even if she feels the impact, a gasp leaving her lips. That will certainly leave a mark. Though she can smell blood in the water now, that instinct that tells her to go for the kill, starting to draw in the garrote, closer and closer. "So ..." she whispers, deadly, perhaps expecting a surrender..

.. The feeling of the sai against her side dispels that illusion, a moment while she still continues the pressing until she finally relents at the call for a draw. "Draw." she says after a chukle of her own, in agreement, slowly starting to release the pressure on the garrote until she is panting hard on the ground, arms to her sides and releasing the man from her grip.

Shen Kuei has posed:
Shen trustingly releases his grip on the sai and is relieved when the draw is accepted. He lets out an audible sigh. There is a moment when he just remains in a tangle with Elektra, allowing time to slow down, his heart to find its normal steady beat.

Released from her grip, he rolls to his feet. He reaches up and touches the side of his neck, a faint trail of blood left on his fingertips. He wipes his hand off on his sleeve. He gazes down at her then notes cheerfully, "I would offer you my hand, but I would not wish to be disrespectful and imply you need my help."

He unbuttons the top of his tang suit and waves his hand in a fanning motion. "I believe that may be the greatest challenge I've encountered since my arrival in New York. Your reputation is greatly deserved, Elektra Natchios. I think I might have the upper hand in a most direct confrontation, but... we both know true fights have no rules. I have no doubt you possess many killing techniques that I would find troublesome if not lethal."

There is another pause then he offers her a martial salute. "Thank you for the duel."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra stays down on the grass for a few moments longer and when she gets up it's clear she is favoring that arm that wasn't hit. She rolls, up to her knees and then gets up, smirking at the mention of not offering help. "You are wise." she notes but the nod she offers the man is one of the respect. Clearly the duel appears to have been to her satisfaction.

"I could say the same. Your reputation does precede you, but I like to see it with my own eyes." the woman exhales slowly, trying to control her breathing, the garrote being drawn back into her sleeve, hidden, hands then running up through her hair and adjusting her ponytail.

"I haven't seen many that use the kind of techniques that you use." Most likely she talking about the Ki strengthened attacks. "Perhaps we will indeed find a way to work together in the future." she says in ways of offer.

But warrior to warrior she then finalizes with an echo of what Shen said. "My thanks for the duel as well." still, there is no erasing that killer look on Elektra's eyes, the bloodthirst never fully sated. But for now it will have to do.