Train train (OPEN)

Without a warning the sounds of a commotion began to echo in from outside the station. Low rumbling gave way to split second tremors, and then finally audible gunshots and shouts of surprise and terror. As the disturbance climaxed, the skylight over the platform shattered, raining thousands of pieces of splintered glass down as a pair of figures plummeted through the opening. The pair grappled as they fell, hitting the ground hard and tumbling end over end several times before they finally broke apart with a crack and a shower of sparks, skidding to a halt on opposite sides of the platform. On one side stood a man with short black hair in what was once a fine black suit, the fabric now in tatters after falling through the window and the sleeves singed and smoking. One the other end of the room was an individual with fiery red hair tied back in a long braid, dressed in military fatigues and a vest and jacket that weren't faring much better than the man's suit. Their right arm and both feet appeared as twisted masses of metal, as if hundreds of blades had come together to form a vicious set of claws. For a long moment, neither of them moved a muscle, simply staring each other down as their chests' rose and fell with labored breaths.

Sora grinned at her foe as she rubbed a bit of blood from her cheek with her left sleeve. Five months. Five months. That's how long she had been tracking this bastard down. What had started as a business deal gone wrong had devolved into a ruthless hunt, as she tried to reclaim what was stolen from her and pay back what was due. She had managed to collect the last of what was recoverable from the shipment weeks ago, but the hunt wasn't over until the books were completely balanced. This man that had tried to get away with stabbing her in the back was the last loose end, and the grand irony of it all was that she'd only just learned his name the day before. Seto Arigashi. It was a good thing she had too, because this guy was practically unrecognizable from the last time they met. The ambush had been nearly perfect; all of the bodyguards down in an instant, but there had just been one unpredictable twist that turned the whole situation on its head.

Seto didn't go down.

Having caught her breath, Sora made the first move, kicking off the ground as a loud crack rang out from a pair of shotgun barrels that protruded from the backs of her elbows. A flash of blue energy washed over the wall behind her and the pair of concussion shells rocketed her forward. As the distance between her and her foe vanished, her clawed hand flew out in a wild slash right at the man's head. Seto stood his ground against the assault, clenching his jaw as his hands spread out to the side and thick arcs of electricity began to course down his arms. He ducked his head out of the way and then swung one of his hands up to meet the attack, stopping the claw dead with an explosion of sparks. As the force of the blow canceled out her momentum, Sora snapped out with one of her feet, a long blade growing from her sole mid swing only for it to be met with a similar result as Seto stepped in and bashed her shin with another blast of electricity. As he moved to punish her assault however, she spun about and met his kick with one of her own; countering his explosive energy with a concussion shell and sending them both skidding back again.

Even as she stumbled back with residual bolts of electricity sparking off the metal of her limbs, Sora couldn't help but chuckle. "Credit where it's due mate, yer nothin' at all like th' little shite that ran with 'is tail tucked." She conceded as she regained her balance and reset into her combat stance. "Five months of being hounded by a demon has a tendency to change one's perspective." Seto said as he righted himself and dusted off his suit a bit. Sora's grin grew wider at the comment, a wicked smile stretching from ear to ear. "Oh, a demon am I? Not a bad bit a' praise that. What'sat make you then eh? Some sorta defender a' justice?" Seto gave an amused snort and just shook his head. Nothing so grand, just a man that became a demon himself to fight another. He said, the ground at his feet exploding into tendrils of energy as he launched himself forward. "Oh, that all? Guess ya' finally realized where ya stand then." Sora responded, rushing forward to meet her opponent again and continue their battle, all the while both of them were completely oblivious to a certain young woman only a few paces away.

Sora sidestepped just in time for a sparking fist to flash by her head, passing mere inches from her cheek as a bolt of lightning shot out and exploded against the wall behind her. She stepped in close and immediately countered with a slash at Seto's chest, but the man managed to fire off a burst with his other hand just before the vigilante could make contact, catching her shoulder and blowing her backwards. With an almost feral growl she dropped low, steel claws scraping at the ground to kill her momentum before another set of shotgun blasts sent her right back toward her foe. As she sent another wild slash at the man, her other hand tore a combat knife from it's place on her vest and flicked it up into the air. The man ducked under the strike and she followed up by dropping low and throwing a high kick, pulling a second knife from her thigh as he blocked the blow. Seto tried to take advantage of the apparent opening from the failed attack, but Sora fired off another blast from her elbow to send her into a spin and slash at the man's leg.

Just as the knife touched flesh, an explosion of sparks rained out from the limb and the weapon was torn from the vigilante's hand by the resulting force. Her blade was sent flying but the sparks that had been building up around Seto's hand dissipated and left him to strike thin air rather than firing off a bolt as planned. Now wasn't that interesting? Not skipping a beat, Sora pushed herself up into a handstand and swung her foot out to hit the first knife as it fell back down, spiking the blade right into her opponent's shoulder. Seto bit down hard as he fought back a yelp of pain, instead allowing a growl to rise in his throat as his lightning returned, coursing over his skin and building up to release a wave of destruction.

As the electricity tore into the area around Seto and scorched it black, Sora instinctively let herself shift. The metal of her limbs quickly spread to cover her whole body and her form itself twisted and shrank until it took on the shape of a bastard sword. Even in this form she could still feel the heat of the blast and the wall of pure force that accompanied it, the blade being hurled back through the air until it found itself embedded in the side of a support pillar. A moment after she felt the impact Sora shifted back to her human form, returning everything to normal except her feet, which remained the same metallic claws so that she could cling to the side of the structure. That whole exchange hadn't gone quite as expected, but when did it ever? From what she could gather Seto's quirk gave him some sort of automatic defense against attacks as long as he had a charge, that was how she assumed he'd survived the initial ambush, but the fact that she finally managed to land a damaging hit meant that his output could only be stretched so thin... Still, if he'd been able to use his quirk this well 5 months ago, that little encounter could have gone very differently.

Shaking off the disorientation from being thrown across the room, Sora looked down from her perch to see Seto had recovered and stood in a fighting stance with his arm outstretched toward her, electricity building up around him. Coming to the obvious conclusion that there was about to be a whole lot of lightning coming her way, Sora made to leap away from the pillar, but a bit of movement in her periphery forced a sudden change of plans. There was a girl hiding in the shadow of the support, not quite fully in cover from the bolt that was about to tear through the space. "Oh, bloody hell..." Memories of a life long since forgotten made her body move despite her better judgement telling her to just get the hell out of the way, a blast from a concussion shell changing the trajectory of her jump so that she landed right in front of the girl.

"Oi lass, head down!" She shouted just as Seto's electricity began to run wild. A mass of metal exploded out from her arm; a circle of blades expanding to form a wide round shield centered on her forearm with a single long blade shooting straight down to plant her to the ground. An instant later a blinding flash and a deafening crack filled the air as a massive bolt of plasma struck the shield. Sora grunted as the intense heat immediately turned her arm red hot, feeling the metal strain against the colossal blow while electricity flowed in arcs over the surface on it's way to the ground. The assault only lasted a moment, a fact that the former hero was thankful for as even her defenses wouldn't be able to hold off that sort of power for long. Nor would she be able to fend off more hits like that, if heat coming off her arm was any indication.

Sora worked her jaw in an effort to pop her ears after the auditory shock that had accompanied Seto's most recent attack, finally succeeding as she looked over the edge of her shield at the crime boss. Smoke rose off his skin and he was breathing heavily, apparently such a blast took it's toll, which surely meant that she'd be able to take advantage of the recovery period. Just as the vigilante was about to move however, a quiet voice from nearby count her attention. She glanced back with a confused expression to see a teenage girl with brown hair, lying prone on the ground behind her. "Oh, right, did do that, didn't I?" She mumbled to herself before shooting the girl a smirk.

"Afternoon' lass, some folk call me Ari. Pleasure t' meet ya.... Evie? Ya look like an Evie. Anyway Evie, ya see that great big pillock over yonder? Bloke with the shocky hands? Well 'es bein' a right bellend, an- Oh, wait a tick." She interrupted herself as she peeked back around the shield and saw that Seto was starting to gather up energy again, likely intent on repeating the maneuver. Her arm still felt a bit numb from the last one, so there was no need to let him get another shot off for free. She'd just have to take one of her own. Casually, she reached inside her coat for her under-arm holster and retrieved the 9mm pistol from within, setting the barrel on the edge of her shield as she flicked off the safety and fired off three quick shots. The first two were on the mark, resulting in twin showers of sparks as Seto recoiled from the force of the impact but seemed otherwise unharmed. Still, he hastily made for the cover of a nearby support pillar, his charge dissipated for the time being.

Satisfied, Sora turned back to the civilian and continued right where she left off. "-An' I gotta go beat the piss outta' 'im. Not real safe, so ya might wanna be evacuatin' the vicinity real quick like, eh?" The girl didn't look like she needed much convincing, but before she started away she shared one last piece of information. Apparently she'd gotten a call out and they'd be having a bit of company before too long. Sora didn't even bother trying to hide the roll of her eyes. "The Rozzers, eh? Right useless lot'll just get th' way, always do... Alright then, keep that 'ead of yours low an' stay clear."

Message delivered, Sora spun around so that her shield was pointed away from the pillar where Seto was hiding, and then proceeded to reshape the outer surface with a huge array of shotgun barrels. According to the kid, she was actively working with a time limit, but didn't that just make it more exciting? Her emerald eyes narrowed and her lips twisted back in that same wild grin she always wore during a good fight, bracing for only a moment before the mighty roar of a dozen shotguns and a massive blue flash filled the space. The force of the combined blast sent her flying toward the opposite wall at absurd speeds, giving her just enough time to flip over and bring the shield to bear before she hit. Seto spun around to follow her movement with a surprised expression, barely registering that the shape was her before she was able to readjust and fire again. This time the redhead was gunning right for him, shifting back into sword form mid flight in order to become the deadliest kind of bullet. The man raised his hands defensively purely on instinct, a reaction that certainly saved his life when metal met flesh an instant later.

The electricity exploded out of his arms, just barely enough energy to stop the projectile and pop it up into the air... but at the cost of everything that he'd managed to recharge. And now Sora was exactly where she wanted to be, shifting back to human form as she reached the peak of her arc about fifteen feet up. One hand lashed out, firing off her grappling hook at the pillar and retracting the instant it made contact. She came flying down before Seto could fully recover from the first attack, a boot finding his chest as she dropped and slamming him back into the support with a painful thud.

Seto grunted in pain as he rebounded off the support pillar, the impact knocking the wind out of him and stunning him long enough for Sora close the distance again. She came in swinging, slugging him in the jaw before he could manage to raise his guard again and causing him to stumble back to the pillar again. As the vigilante advanced she noticed sparks once again starting to return to the man's body, starting from the point where she'd hit him. It was a bit odd, that quirk. The first time she had taken down the barrier it was from a simple knife slash, and then Seto had been able to retaliate almost immediately after she landed a hit. So a knife had been enough to take it down the first time, but then it tanked a pair of bullets without a problem later, and even managed to deflect her sword form... and yet she hadn't gotten a counter from that punch like she had with the knife... It was almost as if it were more effective against faster moving attacks, maybe even drawing energy to recharge from them. If that were true, then the best course of action would be to change strategies and try to restrain him rather than keep clashing like this.

Too bad that Sora enjoyed the brute force approach more. With a chuckle she flicked her arm to the side and a shotgun barrel appeared from her wrist. The vigilante wasted no time in swinging again, this time catching Seto in the chest and firing off a concussion blast as her fist made contact. There was a small flash of sparks but they were overpowered by the shockwave, sending the man back against the pillar for the third time and firmly planting him there. Sora stepped in and swung again, another barrel appearing on her other arm. This time the man managed to bring his arms up to guard the strike, but the blast pressed him back into the concrete all the same. The former hero's chuckle rose to cackle and she just kept swinging, blow after blow landing with the chorus of shotgun blasts as Seto struggled to defend himself.

"S'at all ya got then, mista' demon? Back t' the wall an' cowerin' again?" Sora taunted over the repeated cracks, each blow stripping away more of the man's suit and leaving behind torn and raw skin. Each hit sent a tremble through the structure as the support took impact after impact, causing fractures to appear in the concrete. "Ya got my hopes up, mate, thought I might 'ave a bit a' fun. 'This really it?" She could feel the resistance against her blows gradually starting to fade as Seto sank back against the pillar. It was only a matter of time before the man broke beneath the assault and victory was hers... or so she thought right up until she noticed the sparks building up around his body. The realization came upon her in an instant as his grey eyes looked up at her through his guard stance. The resistance fading wasn't him getting weaker, it was him channeling power away from the barrier, allowing her to pummel him bloody so that he could build up a charge. So that he could launch a counter attack.

"Oh bloody hell."

With only a split second to react, Sora fired a blast right at Seto's head to stun him for a moment and then darted to the side. Her arm once again turned to the twisted metal claw, meeting Seto's hand as he recovered and reached out toward her. She grabbed his wrist and pushed as hard as she could, slamming the limb into the pillar just as the electricity flared up and released another blinding flash. The roar of thunder filled the station for a second time and Sora felt a lance of pain shoot up her arm before being launched back through the air. Without being properly planted the force of the blast sent her clear across the platform, tumbling across the ground and only stopping when she hit the far wall. Ears ringing as she scrambled to her feet in spite of the burning pain in her right arm, she barely noticed the cracking and rumbling that continued in the wake of the attack. Part of the explosion had been redirected into the support pillar, which in combination with her assault on it a moment before had caused it to fail completely, leaving the whole building shaking as bits of the ceiling collapsed and plummeted to the floor below.

Seto's breaths came in labored gasps as fought to keep himself upright. He managed to stumble away from the support before the whole thing came down on top of him, but he wasn't in great shape. His head was still ringing from taking one of those damn shockwaves right to the face, and most of his body was throbbing with pain. Although his stunt had allowed him to break free of that maniac, it had taken quite a toll. His suit had practically disintegrated beneath the assault, his skin was red and raw, even bloody in some spots, and he was pretty sure that a bunch of his ribs were broken. Even his own attack had left thin streams of steam rising from singed flesh around his forearms. And yet in spite of it all he was still standing. He'd lost his foe in the chaos of the collapse, which meant that this was his best chance to esca-

As Seto turned and started toward the rails, a gunshot rang out. Sora stood, leaning against a fallen chunk of ceiling with her pistol in hand, smoke rising from the barrel. A bit of blood dripped down the right side of her face from a gash over her eye, and her right arm was a bit of a mess, a mix of scorched flesh and half-melted metal covering the limb as it hung at her side. Repeated quirk use meant that she wouldn't have really been able to move it much anyway, but she could do without the extra burning sensation. Pain was about the last thing on her mind right now though, looking down the sights of her gun at her prey. The first shot had found Seto's shoulder, unprotected while he was recharging from his attack. Admittedly she'd lost balance as she took her aim, but that was an easy fix. Adjusting her aim she pulled the trigger again, but was rewarded with nothing but a shower of sparks in the center of the man's chest as he recoiled back.

"'Course not. A right tough bastard ya' turned into, mate." She said through partially gritted teeth. Still, the man was in awful shape, stumbling away with a new gunshot wound in addition to everything else. Bullets might not work, but at close range it'd be over in an instant. As the vigilante moved to close in on the man though, a rumble ran through the structure. The sound of cracking concrete drew her attention to the side and she looked to see fractures forming in the ceiling again as the building continued to give way. At first she barely paid it any mind, it wasn't in her path, but then she saw the person standing in the middle of the rubble. Why the hell was Evie still there, and why was she just standing still while the roof was coming down? A quick glance back showed Seto still hobbling toward the tracks, each step becoming more smooth as electricity gathered around him, a fact that made the redhead growl with irritation as the sound of the fracturing structure became more pronounced.

"Dammit lass!"

An array of barrels formed on Sora's feet as a chunk of concrete started to fall and she blasted herself up into the air. With her arm disabled she flipped over and slammed into the mass of debris feet first, firing another burst to send it crashing into the far side of the platform. One more twist and one last shot canceled out the momentum from the collision, and the former hero dropped down beside the unlucky girl in a crouch. "Coulda' sworn I told ya' t' get the 'ell outta here." She grumbled as she leveled her gun in the direction that Seto had been headed, just in time to see him drop off the edge of the platform and out of view.

Sora frowned as it became abundantly clear that she'd missed her chance to end this fight cleanly. Letting out an audible sigh, she turned to the girl next to her. Even before she could squeak out her reply, Sora could already see the answer. Frail little thing was in shock, terrified, a state that actually stirred up more annoyance in the redhead than compassion, though part of that could have just been aggravation at the situation as a whole. realistically she could have ended the fight at any time, she'd just been too busy enjoying herself and now her foe was getting away. ruined hand or not, she would not let that happen again.

Slipping her pistol back into it's holster, Sora put her uninjured hand on Evie's shoulder and locked eyes with the girl. "Look Evie, yer a might shaken, but gonna need ya t' stop faffin' about now. Th' door out's knackered, I'm in no kinda shape t' be cartin' ya out me-self, an' there's a murderin' bastard gettin' away. You've got two options here, either plant it an' hope the place don't come down while ya wait for the rozzers..." She paused, quickly glancing around at the fractured concrete that made up with walls and ceiling around them. "...Good luck with that one. -Or, ya can lend me a hand with th' wanker what caused all this." She paused again, then added with a shrug: "Well, more than a hand, gonna need all of it." She didn't expect the girl to actually know what that meant, but she didn't exactly have time to explain. With each second Seto was getting further away.

"If ya feel like hidin', get to it. If not, take my hand an' clear that head a' yours. Either way, make up yer mind quick lass." With that Sora released her grip on the kid's shoulder and offered her hand, preparing to reach out with her mind should she actually decide to cooperate.

Sora measured the girl's expression as she held out her hand. Frankly the odds weren't in her favor, and as the seconds ticked by she was already trying to figure out how she would pursue her target properly with her injuries and quirk fatigue starting to add up. But then the answer came, and despite how utterly absurd the situation had to seem for her, Sora felt the girl's hand take her own. The red head's expression softened as she clasped the hand and gave her a smile. "Good on ya lass. Right then, deep breath now, it's like to sting a bit."

Sora's eyes fell shut and she focused on the feeling of Evie's skin touching her own, probing out with her mind across the point of contact and searching for what was hidden beyond. Her whole body shifted and warped, twisting into the shape of a blade around the girl's grip, the hilt forming right where their hands met and settling comfortably in her grasp. As the blade itself finished forming, Sora found what she was looking for and reached out to form the connection. In an instant Evie- No, Rise was her name- would feel a wall of sensation wash over her. The pain would come first; a burning in her right arm like her bones themselves had been scorched, and a dull pain in the side of the head like someone had thrown a rock at her. Soon enough however even that would be drowned out as the rest flowed in. A plethora of trained and battle sharpened senses, all coming from a sword that now felt as much a part of her body as her own arms and legs. Years of knowledge and experience from a life of training and a few short years on the front lines of the city. A strange new feeling of power within, both alien and intimately familiar at the same time. And at the bottom of it all, the broken, fragmented memories of the two heroes named Switchblade and Paladin, and the faces of the men that killed them.

The veritable maelstrom of information was overwhelming for someone that wasn't expecting it, but as the torrent threatened to consume the girl, Sora's voice cut through the noise, a steady and confident tone that now seemed to come from inside her own head. "Easy now, lass, don't be gettin' lost, still need ya here. Just focus on me voice an' yer breathin', in an' out, eh?" The former hero blinked and found herself looking through the girl's eyes, taking the opportunity to get a feel for things while her 'partner' got acclimated to what was happening. She was already used to it of course, able to gently push aside the flood of memories from Rise and keep herself in the moment. For all the chaos on the inside, the external effects of the link were fairly subtle; just a single streak of red running through the girl's brown hair and her eyes turning an emerald hue. Sora tested 'her' body, looking down at Rise's hands and flexing her grip on the sword. Perhaps a slight increase in muscle mass as well? It was hard to tell when there was so little to work with. "So no quirk, eh? Rough lot that, but we'll make due with what we got."

Rolling her shoulders, Sora gave an experimental swing of the sword, noting that even with the loss of muscle it still felt weightless. Satisfied, she focused her mind and channeled her quirk through this new extension of her body, forming a full array of her shotgun barrel 'thrusters' on Rise's elbows, legs, and back. "Aye, that'll do fine. Right, whenever you're ready." She said, handing off the reins so to speak. Technically it was possible to just take full control herself, but that would keep them out of sync and make them basically useless once the actual fight started. No, Rise had to be an active participant for this to work, even if that meant throwing her right into the thick of it. "Bit a' advice. Don't try an' think. Just focus on movin' an' yer body 'ought t' take care a' th' rest. With me in here, you'll know what t' do even if you don't. Understand?"