(Untitled)

[athames]

Who: Belthazor, Jace Belren, maybe Resistance fighters later?
When: After reporting in to Alastair, but before Belthazor meets up with Sylar and Durden for the Barge raid.
Where: Market district
What: Wayward inmates, stabbity stab stabs, some more violence, then rescues! Fun stuff.

Comments

[mind_sculptor]

The barge was so disorganized, and Jace knew nothing about mechanisms like those that ran the ship. He needed to find his inmate. There would be no telling what he would do running loose like this without his real memories.

His magic was cut off, distance. Jace had been able to establish a connection to the river near where the barge crashed, but unable to draw any mana from the unhealthy water. It had been nothing to do with the water, he was sure, because he couldn't seem to access any of his other abilities either.

Without magic, without his mental abilities, Jace was vulnerable. All he had was the knife. It should be more effective against his inmate than anything else he could have used. He tried to get as close as he could before making himself known. "Belthazor..."

[athames]

Years of training made it instinct to know when someone was tailing him, so when Belthazor turned around, there was a knowing smirk plastered on his face even as he fingered the long dagger at his hip. Sizing the man up, the smirk widened - this wasn't even going to be a fight.

"My reputation precedes me," he drawled. "Though you'll have to pony up something for the pleasure of my company. My time is, as you might imagine, exceedingly valuable."

[mind_sculptor]

This was a completely new situation. He had no idea how to deal with memory loss of this kind.

Perhaps a direct approach? Jace was more than prepared to deal with a fight if it came to it. The mana blade would hopefully prevent his inmate from causing too much trouble for everyone else before he regained his memories.

"Do you charge by the minute, or by the hour?" Jace asked, deflecting the request for a bribe. "A little shake up from the multi-verse and you've forgotten everything?"

[athames]

"Depends on how interesting the conversation is. And right now, the only thing I'm forgetting is why I'm not carving you up."

He withdrew the dagger from its sheath, tossing it from one hand to the other, carefully careless. Belthazor's only reaction to Jace's prompt was an arched eyebrow as he canted his head. From the way he was dressed (albeit very strangely), he had to have some goods on him that he could pawn off on Alastair while keeping the best for himself.

[mind_sculptor]

Jace hadn't expected his inmate would think he was a normal, law abiding, non-violent person, but this situation was deteriorating more quickly than he expected.

"I think you might find it an interesting conversation. Why don't you put the knife away so we can have a nice, peaceful solution to this problem?" Jace didn't have much hope Belthazor would cooperate, so he was prepared to draw his own knife and defend himself.

[athames]

Belthazor chuckled darkly. "Have to hook 'em in the first couple minutes. If you're looking for lessons, could set you up with my boss - real big on the inspirational speeches."

He paused as if actually considering Jace's offer, before allowing the smirk to resurface. "Nah," and Bel's shifting his grip on the knife and slashing out at him.

[mind_sculptor]

Jace had been expecting this, but he was still forced to dodge with a jump backwards as he pulled out his knife. The mana blade. Hopefully it would be of some use here. A fight like this, one of physical skill and not of magic, did not favor Jace.

That slash had been too close for comfort.

"The idea that everything you think you know is actually just a lie isn't enough to keep you interested?" Jace asked, moving cautiously to the side and keeping his eyes on Belthazor.

[athames]

Another chuckle - maybe this one wouldn't end as quickly as he'd thought. Maybe he'd actually get to have fun with this one (and he firmly ignored the niggling little feeling of nausea at the thought, goddamn it).

"Gotta dress it up a little," Bel said, words rushed as he followed through with the knife, using the momentum from it to turn after Jace and following with a wicked left cross aimed at the jaw. "Make it slightly more catchy!"

[mind_sculptor]

Close combat really was never Jace's thing. Even when he'd had a very skilled instructor. He had avoided the knife, but the punch connected soundly.

Jace staggered back at the punch. That was going to leave a nasty bruise. This wasn't going to work, just defending himself; he needed to use the mana blade on Belthazor. He wasn't entirely what effect it would have on a demonic being, but Jace imagined that a demon would be as vulnerable to it as a mage.

[athames]

He only took a moment to steady himself before bringing the knife's hilt up into the jaw - not quite enough force to break the jaw, but definitely enough to rattle some teeth. He growled with impatience, because if he wasn't going to get a good fight out of this guy, it meant he was missing out on other, possibly better opportunities. Probably better paying ones too.

[mind_sculptor]

With the knife hilt coming up at his face Jace brought his own blade up to slash at Belthazor's arm. He wasn't fast enough to stop the strike, and tasted blood in his mouth after the impact.

If Belthazor kept going after his jaw like this, Jace worried he might break it.

[athames]

The blade caught him at the elbow and cut clean to his wrist, cutting Belthazor deep. He grit his teeth against the pained yell he felt bubbling up as he pulled his left arm against his chest, stumbling back a step.

He hissed in pain (goddamn, but it felt like his arm was on fire), bringing his knife up as he shifted into a more defensive position. "Oh, you've done it now, fucker. I'm going to make you pay for that." Even though it hurt like hell, he managed to send the alert to his men - they'd be there in under five minutes, or else he would imprint upon them the importance of punctuality.

[mind_sculptor]

That was a deeper cut than Jace had wanted, and he gave Belthazor an apologetic look. He knew how much that had to hurt.

It seemed like this was a good time to get out of here, so Jace started backing away. He wasn't going to turn his back on Belthazor to run, not while he was unable to watch both where he was going and what was going on behind him at the same time.

"I'm sorry. When you're back to being yourself try not to hold it against me."

[captain_jtkirk]

Jim hadn't really been looking for trouble or fight or even anyone to recruit into their cause at the moment. He was actually just on a stroll around the city, looking for cigarettes. A mission that was turning up less than fruitful in that respect and more than ample in the trouble aspect.

It was almost like literally stumbling upon them, only he was still a few feet away. He was pretty sure that one of them was one of the Master's people, which meant the other guy was probably on his side.

"Problems, gentlemen?" he asked, looking between them with a curious brow.

[athames]

Belthazor bristled at the apology, taking it as just more patronizing bullshit. He was about to bite back with something when this newcomer decided to butt in.

"If you've got any kind of brain, Citizen," he said, hearing his goons' footsteps as they ran up behind him, "you'll walk away from this. Or don't. Two corpses for the price of one - I might get a bonus." He tried to keep that smug tone, but he didn't quite manage it.

[mind_sculptor]

Now he was dragging someone else into this. "I promise I'll get you out of this," Jace muttered, his jaw was swelling to the point that it was difficult and very painful to speak. The promise likely wouldn't do any good, since his inmate seemed firmly convinced he was someone else.

He wasn't going to let a stranger get killed over his inability to 'wake up' his inmate, they both needed to get away from Belthazor.