Tactical Arrogance: Mavrick picks a fight in Russia (19-02-2403)

On arrival in Russia, Mavrick seemed to be taking his task sent out for him by the Mercenary army rather seriously.  He had spent the morning hours of scoping out the user enhancement facility, scanning those moving in and out with his Universal scanners, hoping accustom himself to the faces so that he could possibly identify channelers later that night when he went to the site of is test.  Once this was done he would move over to the site of his test, Tunnel, a popular Terran user nightclub which was thought to have links to the anti-channeler sentiment moving through Russia.  The club itself didn’t seem to have any unique structural features, meaning that he wouldn’t have much to worry about in terms of traps of anything of that nature.  However, this was a double-edged sword in that it left the building with a single entrance and exit.  It would take Mavrick some time to work out an exit, and once done he would go back home and wait for the club to open.

Mavrick would arrive at the club later that night, fashionably late of course, utilising his user form to avoid drawing attention to himself.  Once inside, he would keep a relatively low profile, sticking to the bar and ordering drinks while scoping out the scene and eavesdropping to collect information.  Interestingly enough, he found that the users present in this bar discussed the anti-channeler sentiment openly, even discussing possible plots that they would develop to terrorise them.  Unfortunately, as far as Mavrick could tell, this was all simply ‘gaff’ nothing more than posturing and what he considered penis measuring, cheap talk that would stop if they were ever confronted by a real channeler.  Soon he would prove this theory.

Mavrick got up now and made his way onto the dance floor, bouncing into a small woman and sending her stumbling forwards before powering up and using his temporal manipulation to dash forward and catch her before she fell.  Mavrick smiled arrogantly now.

“I’m sorry ma’am, I didn’t see you walking there.” He started, drawing a number stares from many of the persons present.  “I can be clumsy at times in my user form, I don’t know how you guys live in that state.”  He continued casually, drawing snarls from all-round.  “But I guess when they are channelers like us around to keep you safe, it’s not such a big deal.” He finished, fixing his hair now.  A grin broke across his face as he scanned the room now, noticing a number of the users glowing visibly with glyphs while another set also stared at him menacingly, these ones exhibiting no visible signature.

“I think it’s time you left, son.”  A large man now stated, causing Mavrick to turn and realise that it was the bouncer.  Unlike the others though, he didn’t seem emotionally motivated, but to simply be looking out for the well being of the club.

“What, why?  I told her I was sorry...”  Mavrick replied innocently, drawing a look of slight annoyance from the bounce, who just grabbed him and started moving towards the door.  “What, back the fuck up!”  Mavrick exclaimed, exploding his Ashura energy off of him to send the bouncer flying off and into a table.  “Oh sorry, sometimes we channelers don’t know our own strength.”  This was the last straw.

Mavrick would dodge a beam which continued past him to shatter some drinks in a shelf above the bar, dodging another blast would sail past him to damage the infrastructure further.  The third one would be the charm, picking up Mavrick and sending him sailing into a wall.  Mavrick would curse lightly as he realised that the attack had the same potency of common add-ons, possessing the force to affect him despite his level of control and precision.  Before Mavrick could recover he found himself being restrained by the telekinetic abilities of two other glyph enhanced power users, forcing him fully into his Ashura state, forcing him to blast them both with his Ashura strike in an attempt to free himself.  Mavrick would then make it to his feet, only to be launched with a punch through the door and out of the club.

“Well, so much for an escape plan...”  Mavrick sighed loudly as he flipped back to his feet and awaited his opponents to pursue him.

The first to exit would be the same scraper that had just launched him, drawing Mavrick’s projectile attacks instantly.  This was particularly damaging to the massive power-user, but only served to increase his rage, boosting his adrenaline output as he closed the distance towards Mavrick.  Mavrick smirked, slowing time as much as he could to dodge the incoming physical attack, before returning with the power of his Ashura Strike.  Mavrick would smirk as the damage registered on his opponent, before his eyes widened as his opponent grabbed him, lifted him off the ground and pile-drove him into the ground with devastating force.

“What the hell!?”  Mavrick exclaimed as he realised that his abilities were not as effective as he thought they would be.  “Shit...”  He cursed, using his Insolence to dash out of the grapple, blasting the massive user as he did.

The attack finally seemed to be doing enough to dispatch his opponent, allowing Mavrick to charge for a finisher  before a zeta beam and a magical beam impacted his form and sent him flying away.  “Come on!”  Came the exclamation as Mavrick burst dashed again, charging a ball in his hand before launching it between the two blasters and into the scrapper, knocking him out and allowing the resulting explosion to send the two blasters flying.  Mavrick paused now, checking his form to realise that he was already below half health, even though he had only taken three hits.  Mavrick cursed now, he needed to be more impressive.  As the avatar of the Ashura, he was more impressive.  Mavrick’s Faith Manifested now as he used his insolence to vanish, appearing behind one of the blasters and activatinig his Omega Drive as he delivered his Raging Demon.  A brilliant flash of light and a number of hit sparks were the only things visible from the attack.  The result would be the complete incapacitation of his opponent, before the next blaster homed in on him and the final ranged user exited the club.   Mavrick would turn as his temporal manipulation wore off, being impacted by another blast which took his health down even further, forcing him to engage his backup plan now as he powered down his Omega Drive to conserve what little of that bonus he had now.  He would quickly turn now to release Ashura Blasts at his opponents, who now stopped the energy in its tracks, containing it in what could only be considered to be energetic t.k. before they sent the energy back at Mavrick.  Mavrick’s first thought was simply to unsummon the energy, but for some reason he could not, forcing him to shield his own attack, which knocked him off his feet and sent him skating into a nearby wall. 

Now nearing reversion, Mavrick would dash once more, dodging the attacks of his opponents as he closed the distance, launching a quick punch as he penetrated the barrier of his first target.  As he pierced the guard, his punch connected causing the user to keel over.  Mavrick would then use the rest of his energy to perform yet another Raging Demon, dispatching him as well.  Unfortunately, this would drain the rest of his Omega Drive, leaving him atthe mercy of the final blaster, who would knock him clear out of the small alley and into the road.

Luckily for the young Mercenary prospect, his escape plan would come through, with his Gull showing up just in time for him to crawl into it and escape.  Mavrick would hope that he had done enough to pass his test, he would await his evulation in the mail.

Outcome: Mavrick has proved that his combat skills are indeed impressive, but the Mercenaries require one more task of him.  They will need to analyse his Universal Scanners to see if it managed to acquire any information which their spies did not.

Mavrick:  380 Exp (-2204HP)