Sticks and stones may break my bones

[calledmenasir]

WHO| Nasir and all the people he fights during the week (open)
WHAT| Nasir explores the mall, kicks some ass, and gets his ass kicked
WHEN| Throughout Week 2
WHERE| All over the mall
WARNINGS| Some serious violence, brief mention of past torture

Nasir had not done well during the Arena. His fights had been failures. He had not seen Gannicus since the Cornucopia. And the autobiography of himself had made him burn, not the least of which because he didn't know if the starting chapter was a lie. To make things worse, it taunted him with pictures of better days with Agron.

He was tired. He felt the bruises from his battles here. His muscles were still aching from the torture he'd been through at the hands of the Peacekeepers. He could barely sleep as memories haunted him. Then there was the fear that this was not enough. That they would not return him to life and he would break his promise to Agron. He would fail him and his brother and they would all die for it.

Comments

[futilecycle]

Appearing much the worse for wear, Sigma was in a sorry state, indeed. His right arm had been charred black and pierced through with metal shrapnel - somehow, he was still able to move it. Following his encounter with Harley, Dr. Klim had changed into a thick woolen jacket to cover his injuries and the burns on his chest. But when he sees Nasir approaching, Sigma reaches over to roll up the sleeve of his left arm - all that peeks out from the hem is a sharp metal stake, sharpened and glistening silver. The gears that operate his functional hand groan, the wires that move his cybernetic skeleton up and down can be seen tensing through damaged flesh. This man is no longer wholly human, and has not been for a very long time, in more than one sense of the word.

Upon hearing the challenge, the Doctor throws back his head and laughs, genuinely amused. Once he is calm, he watches Nasir curiously, a smile on his lips, arms behind his back and standing straight and tall as if he were a figure worthy of respect. "It appears I am being challenged to a duel. Are you certain that is wise, sir?" He wonders if this man is simply bloodthirsty, or if this was about his identity. He remembers the Initiate's warning: you will be hunted. It was about time. "I imagine you have taken some issue over my previous occupation... How unbelievably ignorant."

[calledmenasir]

Nasir had seen a metal limb before. It did not take him off guard though it would pose an extra challenge. It was sharp enough to function as a blade and had a farther reach than Nasir's knives. Still, he was not going to back down, especially not from one such as him.

"You stand now upon arena not of your making. I give no shit to your excuses. I will have your head now."

Nasir did not care for any more talking. He moved forward to press his attack. He darted to the side opposite the metal arm to take advantage of his weakness there. He slashed his knives both high and low, aiming to strike the neck and shoulder, to follow through on his words.

[futilecycle]

So his assumptions were correct. Sigma is still smiling until Nasir takes a slash at him - he jumps back in alarm, raising his cybernetics like a shield around his neck, catching the strike with his upper arms. His left hand may be useless other than for stabbing, but at least there is still strength above the wrist. Knives. Of course this Tribute fought with knives. To have them close to his shoulder and head make Sigma anxious, and it pulls his fight-or-flight response into overdrive. He'd already lost his real arms and eye to knives once and wasn't about to let the same happen to his head.

Prioritizing his neck, when the knife is deflected the tips of the blade sink into the skin of his upper body. Sigma hisses in annoyance, and then charges towards Nasir with rage in his eyes, aiming to punch him in the stomach with all the force his metal right arm can muster.

[calledmenasir]

Nasir was an agile fighter and he moves fast. Pushing himself to the side of Sigma, he avoided the blow. He made to circle him, swinging his knives again to cut skin. He didn't say a word but hissed as he slashed the blades through air and, hopefully, skin.

The trick to this, he knew, would be staying away from the thing that Sigma now possessed as an arm.

[futilecycle]

This would not be a long fight, Sigma realized, if he did not get some distance between them. As adept Sigma was at making games, he was not the most accomplished competitor, and relied heavily on brute force. Experience and speed would wear him down, in time.

If he could stop Nasir from moving, he could turn this battle in his favour. Sigma lowered his splintered arm and willingly took a slice through his jacket and lower neck - the instant he felt Nasir had drawn blood, with all the strength he could summon Sigma slashed horizontally in a half-circle around him, hoping to push Nasir back or to break his guard.

[calledmenasir]

Nasir had to not only step back but duck in order to avoid having skin and muscles cut open. He moved out of Sigma's reach and tried to circle him. His eyes moved from Sigma's inhuman arm to the rest of his body, searching for any sign he would attack.

But he couldn't keep circling forever. Yelling, he charged again, holding up his arm to block Sigma's as he tried to stab his heart.

[futilecycle]

Sigma reacts just in time to avoid being skewered- his cybernetic arm catches Nasir's wrist before it sinks into flesh. Sigma meets his eyes with a glare, reminding him that he had brought this fate upon himself. For a Gamemaker, Zero II had an unusual aversion to violence - all of his methods in his Game had lead to slow, painless deaths, or they had been over so quickly the players would not have felt it. As for the weapons he had left there, it had been the player's choice to wield them or not. Yes, Sigma considered his hands rather clean for a man in his occupation, and he hated to soil them. Indeed, for the briefest moment, there is remorse in Sigma's eyes.

And then his cybernetic arm begins to twist with all the power he can muster, hoping to shear the bone in Nasir's arm so it would break in two and the playing field might be leveled.

[calledmenasir]

Nasir felt the bones in his arm crunch and snap and it brought out and agonized scream from his lips. The pain radiated down his arm and he was not unlike an animal caught in a trap, wild and desperate and feral. He struck out blindly with his good hand while the knife in the other fell.

He jerked back, trying to free himself from Sigma's grip. And all the while he slashed with his knife, yelling obscenities and cursing Sigma's mother for birthing a monster from Hades.

[futilecycle]

Sigma's organic eye twitched. He tried to deafen himself to Nasir's curses, but he had never quite been able to disassociate himself from the hatred he'd received, here and in his own world. Where did 'Sigma' end, and where did the murderer known as 'Zero' begin? Perhaps he was a monster, but if he had not been born, the human race would have gone extinct.

The knife stings at his body and draws a red line across his chin. It was time to end this fight: rather than allow him to jerk away, Sigma follows through with Nasir's movement and pushes him, hoping to knock him to the floor. Then he aims the sharp blade he once called his arm at Nasir's stomach and draws his elbow and shoulder back, preparing to stab him.

[calledmenasir]

The adrenaline quickly set in, dampening the pain enough that when Nasir hit the floor his reflexes kicked in and he rolled away from the attack. However, in the process his arm hit the floor and he yelled at the pain it produced.

He struggled onto his feet. Turning to Sigma he hesitated a moment and then the pain took over. There was no choice. He needed to stay alive. He couldn't die. He couldn't die. He couldn't--

Gritting his teeth, he turned. And ran from Sigma.

[futilecycle]

Had Nasir waited a moment longer, he would have known there had been no reason to dodge - Sigma's arm had hesitated, frozen midway into the stab. No matter how much force of will he'd gathered, his conscience was stronger: he was unwilling to take this man's life (this man, who was not unlike his younger self, noble and brave) in such a gruesome way. When Nasir fled, it was a great relief. Had he stayed and seen his weakness, Sigma would have been a dead man.

He watches Nasir leave, wondering how a man who had spent his life killing others could be so squeamish, curling his functional hand into a fist. "Damn it..." He wasn't playing a very convincing Gamemaker. Wiping the blood from his chin, Sigma wonders if he hasn't damned himself. He'd have to find another target...