SpellThief

Catia:  *She stops a bit*  THAT nutcase?!  *She looks deadly serious*  Where is he right now?!  I'm gonna strangle that stupid, cocky, little bastard when I find him and *drag* him here!

Hanzo: My men went after The Doctor to try and stall him. Rayze should be with Arcadian and Sergio at their apartment on Skuldaphen's west side. But we need to hurry. We both know just how dangerous that psychotic freak can be...


~Outside Rayze's apartment~

*Arcadian had stepped out for the night, leaving Rayze and Sergio at home. Rain is pouring down. Standing there in the rain is the Plague Doctor that Pierrot is seen with. He adjusts his hat and looks up at the apartment.*

Doctor: Time to make a house call...*he walks towards the door. As he does, he draws two barber-style straight razors.*

Catia:  *She only just barely caught that last bit.  After hearing of Rayze's location, she had dashed out of the open window and started jumping and running along the rooftops until she got to the apartment block that had Rayze's apartment in it.  She narrowed her eyes, actually letting her large ears flit about on top of her head and listening for anything that even remotely sounded like Rayze or the Doctor* 'C'mon....make a noise or do *something* already!'

Rayze: *Sergio is asleep in his room, a comic book on his chest as he snores loudly. Rayze sits up from his bed on the other side of the room from Sergio's and gets up out of bed, his throat a bit parched* Ugh...I wonder if Arcadian got any more soda?...I could use one...*he walks over to the door and opens it. Laying on the floor is the corpse of a guy in silver and black ninja-like armor, a long gash across his throat. Rayze immediately goes back into the room and grabs his daggers. He looks the corpse over a bit* This armor...He's one of the Archer Family's goons...*he looks down the hall and sees more trails of blood. He follows them and on the way finds more and more Archer Family men, slaughtered by what looks like thin blades. He finally arrives to the kitchen. Standing there, with the moonlight showing on his bloodstained form, is The Doctor, a straight razor in one hand and a dead Archer man being held by the shirt in the other. The Doctor hears Rayze and turns around, dropping the man to the ground.* W-who the hell are you?!

The Doctor: *he bows, holding his hat so it doesn't fall off* I am Enrico Depurare....but most refer to me as The Doctor...And, young Rayze...I will be the one claiming your very life.

Rayze: *he spins his daggers in his hands and lets lightning flow through them* You can try, buddy! But I'm not gonna die here!

The Doctor: Subject appears to have mild delusions of grandeur.... *he adjusts his bloodstained white mask and brings his razor to the ready* Best possible treatment that can be prescribed...Crushing defeat.

Rayze: He, Doc, ready for the counting game?

The Doctor: Game?

Rayze: *he dashes at him, knives sparking* COUNT THE VOLTS, SUCKER! *he spins one knife backwards and steps in, going to stab The Doctor in the chest*

The Doctor: *he uses his razor to deflect the blade with relative ease. He his body seems to contort, his arm rising over Rayze's head at a wierd angle. The fist slingshots down and cracks Rayze down across the face, causing Rayze to stumble back, The Doctor then uses his free hand to hold his hat as he rushes at Rayze, his body low to the ground and the back of his cloak appearing to make him fly as he brings the razor up and tries to stab Rayze.*

Rayze: *he leans to the side, but the Doctor's razor cuts him along the shoulder near his collar. Blood sprays out and Rayze stumbles back even more. The Doctor's attack didn't stop there, however, His leg seems to shoot out from the bottom of the cloak and sweeps him in the legs, Causing Rayze to be sent flying in the air. The Doctor's body balls up near the ground and he launches himself forward, his free hand in a clenched fist that he drives right into Rayze's stomach mid-air. Rayze coughs out blood and saliva in a cloud as the punch twists and sends him flying into the wall at the far end of the hallway*

The Doctor: Magnificent...Your blood, your cry of pain...Its a symphony to my ears! Subject's prescription has been delivered thoroughly, but final diagnosis is that subject must be terminated. I shall now proceed...*his glass eye coverings on his mask glow white in the moonlight and his razor shines in the glare. The rest of his figure is blackened, the only parts visible being the mask, his eye coverings, and the blade of his razor* To euthanize and dissect...

Rayze: *he staggers to his feet* I ain't done yet...*he makes two clones appear and he charges at the Doctor, the clones running along the walls*

The Doctor: *he curls up again and launches himself at Rayze and the clones. He grabs one clone by the shirt and rips it down into the floor. The second clone leaps up and tries to kick, but The Doctor lifts the first clone up and uses it as a shield. He contorts and flies over the two clones, using them as a springboard as he flies at Rayze and grabs him by the stomach, his fingers opening up and grabbing Rayze and forcing him against the wall. He squeezes his fingers, grabbing a large piece of Razye and twists, making a sickening cracking and squishing sound from Rayze as his ribs are broken and the organs in his abdomen are damaged. Rayze yells out and coughs out a large amount of blood, but otherwise is still alive, although in a vast amount of pain* Ah...I can feel it. Your spleen, liver, and left kidney are all twisted and ruptured...I also broke the upper tips of your hips as well as your lower set of ribs...This must be quite agonizing for you, isn't it?...Lets hear that scream one more time for the medical record, shall we? *he twists again*

Rayze: *he lets out a bloodcurdling scream*

Catia:  *Her ears perk up at the screaming and she growls loudly, running to the point of origin and quickly climbing down to the kitchen window.  She sees the bloody scene as well as The Doctor holding Rayze and making him scream in pain and she kicks her way through the window, crashing through it as she whips out a dagger and slashes The Doctor's right side as she dashes past him.  She then kicks him straight in the stomach and stands protectively over Rayze with the dagger in hand, staring intently at The Doctor*  What did you do to him you murderous bastard?  Tell me!

Rayze: *he coughs out more blood as he lies on the floor* C-Catia....

The Doctor: *he glances down at his side that was cut. A sparkling blue liquid trickles down, but he snorts and the liquid pulls back, the thread of his cloak stitching itself. The sound of bones cracking echoes out from under his cloak as he stands back up straight* You sliced my right kidney and caused massive internal bleeding...you also dislocated a vertebrae in my spine....however...*he moves his fingers, cracks his back a bit, and adjusts his hat back into place* Just like new. As for your friend...I believe I managed to rupture quite a few vital organs, as well as lacerate one of the minor arteries above his shoulder, as well as fracture his hips and snap his lower set of ribs....a very messy job, and quite enjoyable.

Hanzo: *he breaks through the window behind The Doctor, and finds his comrades dead* My men! *he glares at The Doctor* You psychopath!

The Doctor: Thank you, Mr. Law....*he draws his second razor and stands ready* So then...Numbers 3 and 4 plan to fight Number 1? This really is a momentous day...so many fine subjects. *the razors gleam bright in the light and the eye glasses seem to flash light headlights*

Catia:  *She lets out a mad growl and turns to Rayze, her eyes growing soft as she looks at him.  She puts the dagger away and leans down to him, cauterizing some of his wounds*  Are you okay Rayze?  You should sit here and rest. You've lost a lot of blood but I've closed all of your more serious wounds.  Just sit there and don't move.  *She turns back to the Doctor, tapping her gun holsters and snatching them out of the air in full firing position, safety's off and her eyes glowing a fierce flaming orange.  She glares at the Doctor with full murderous intent, a growl rising in her throat*  You.....You'll PAY for doing that to Rayze!  *She aims her pistols at him and starts rapid-firing at him, small explosions going off all over his body as she does and creating a large amount of hot smoke.  The vision in the kitchen is hazy as she yells to Hanzo*  Take Rayze!  Get him to safety!  I'll keep him busy while you do!  *She fires at the Doctor a few more times to give Hanzo cover*

Hanzo: *he dashes through the smoke and grabs Rayze quickly* We're getting you out of here, kid!

Rayze: S-Sergio...

Hanzo: *he looks into Sergio's room* Is there a window out in there?

Rayze: *he nods*

Hanzo: *he dashes in, grabs Sergio with his free hand, and kicks the window open. He then jumps out into the back alleyway and makes a run for it*

The Doctor :*the shots ring out all around him, but his body contorts and flows like cloth as he leaps all around the room, making his way closer to Catia. One of the shots his his left eye, but all it does is smoke as he rises up above Catia and drives his razor down at her in a long cutting arc*

Catia:  *She barely sees the razor coming through the smoke as she backs up to avoid it, only reducing the wound to a long thin slash across her left shoulder. She flinches from the attack but she does a backflip before continuing her cover fire.  Many of the shots were starting to fizzle back to straight plasma shots as she kept using her magic to empower the bullets and turn them into fireballs. She was losing her magical strength little by little but she wasn't about to give up yet*

The Doctor: *he keeps contorting and floating around, keeping on his toes* Running out of steam, are we? *he dashes forward and contorts his leg so the bottom and heal shoot up like a pillar at Catia's chin*

Catia:  *She growls as she backflips to avoid the kick, actually managing to dodge it and avoid damage completely this time. She puts her guns away and whips out her dagger, holding it sideways in front of her*  You wish!  *She dashes forward and slices at The Doctor's neck before going for his chest, aiming for his heart*

The Doctor: *his neck cranes back to avoid the blow, but she buries her blade in his chest. He is still, eerily still for just a moment. Suddenly, his hand springs forth and grabs Catia by the neck, blue liquid dripping from his chest and his fingers cracking as he squeezes like a vice* You...have gotten on my last nerve....*in The Doctor's eye lenses, Catia can only see her own reflection. But, the feeling that his eyes behind the lenses gave off was one of not only pure malice, but a blood thirst and killing intent that goes far beyond what Catia was used to.*

Catia:  *She tries to gasp in surprise as The Doctor grabs her by the neck, but her cry is quickly cut off as he starts to squeeze and no further air can get into her lungs.  In a futile effort to get him to let her go, she drops her knife to the ground with a clang and pointlessly tries to pry his fingers off of her neck, kicking wildly at his chest to get him to let go of her*

The Doctor: This is it, girl. Subject has been incredibly aggressive. Anesthetic is ineffective, and now the only course of action...euthanization. *suddenly, his arm explodes and the sounds of machine gun fire fill the room. He looks over to where the shots came from, only to have Arcadian smash the butt of a rifle into his face. He lets go of Catia immediately and leaps back*

Arcadian: *he cocks the gun again and lets out a spray of bullets, shooting with deadly proficiency at The Doctor*

The Doctor: *he bends and moves, but still gets shot a few times. Finally, he swirls the bottom of his coat around and leaps through the window, shattering it and taking off into the night as he leaps from building to building with inhuman agility*

Arcadian: *he rushes over to Catia, still looking around, and rests his hand on her shoulder* Catia?! Take breath and regain senses, child! What happened?! Are Rayze and Sergio safe?!

Catia:  *She drops and crumbles onto the floor coughing before shakily getting onto her knees and getting her breath back*  "R-rayze and Sergio....they're okay.  Hanzo took them and brought them to my place to rest."  *She gets up and onto her own wobbly feet after grabbing her dagger again and putting it away*  "W-we should go...before that lunatic gets back."  *She walks over to the window that she had broken earlier as strength starts to return to her legs*

Arcadian: Alright. *he runs out the door to meet with Catia*

*suddenly, Catia's communicator rings out. Its Hanzo*

Catia:  *she puts her hand to her ear so that she can hear Hanzo better* "Hanzo?  What's wrong?  Is Rayze safe?"  *She sounded worried but not panicked*

Hanzo: He's fine. We got him and Sergio back to the warehouse safely. Sergio is asleep, and Rayze is currently being healed. But...your team and I aren't alone. I found out that some more of my comrades had been keeping an eye on the warehouse and were making sure we got here safe. But that isn't the biggest thing...Archer himself is here. And he wants to talk to you. Now.

Catia:  *She is quiet for a moment before she replies*  Understood.  I'm on my way right now.  *Not wasting anymore time, she quickly jumps across the rooftops to her place, checking every once in a while to make sure that Arcadian was keeping up with her.  Once she made it to her house she heads in through one of the windows, quickly finding Archer and approaching him. She is noticeably tired from moving so quickly along the rooftops to get here and her body is still a bit beaten up from her encounter with The Doctor*  And just what do you want?  If you haven't noticed, I have other things on my mind right now rather than working.  *Her tone isn't necessarily angry, just annoyed*

Archer: *sitting with a shadow covering his face is a humanoid figure. Around him are six large masculine humanoids of different races in suits. Archer himself is seated in a leather seat in Ultima's office, the one usually used by Ultima himself behind the desk. Archer has his hands together and his elbows resting on the chair arms. The only indication of what he looks like is the shape of his face's silhouette and the long locks of blonde hair hanging from his shoulders. His breathing is calm and his presence is almost dominating.* Now now, Catia, no need to become annoyed. I simply did you a service. If my men and I had not warned you, The Doctor would have killed your friends, and then you would have been next. I can't have one of my favorite contractors killed, now can I? *he pulls out a cigar from a silver case in his breast pocket and lights a lighter, illuminating his face. He appears young but worn, a large scar like a stab point mars the right side of his face. His eyes are blue and his ears are pointed, indicating him to be an Errin Elf. He takes in a vast cloud of smoke and blows out the right side of his mouth, small rings of smoke forming* However, we have been doing some digging on the people responsible for this. We located the sniper that attacked you two...His name is Mach Vice and he's the personal assistant of Gustav Skullmantle, owner of Skullmantle Pharmaceuticals.


Arcadian: *he enters the warehouse and finds Sergio asleep on a couch while Rayze is on a coffee table with a humanoid Chinese Dragon in a suit standing over him, blowing a green mist over his body and causing his wounds to heal. Arcadian recognizes the dragon as well as the ninja-like men standing all around* Shen...Archer's best healer...And these guys must be Archer's boys...

Hanzo: *he lands in front of Arcadian, bowing slightly to him* Hello again, Arcadian.

Arcadian: Hanzo Law, Number 5 on the Assasins list....Why did Archer decide to help us?

Hanzo: In due time, Arcadian. For now, just rest and rest easy. The Doctor will not bother you tonight again. We drove him off.

Arcadian: No. I drove him off. Catia drove him off. You-

Hanzo: Saved Rayze and Sergio from certain death.

Arcadian: ....Alright, you got me there. *he sits down and watches Shen work.*

Catia:  *She seems to calm down a bit before her temper flares back up at him* I've been getting attacked and targeted as well as getting those that I..... *She blushes a bit before responding again*  well that are important to me in danger just for being around me.  Give me one good reason why I should trust you Archer.  *She taps one of her holsters and snatches her pistol out of the air, pointing it at Archer*  And I won't blow your head off right here, right now.

Archer: *his guards immediately reach out and pull out pistols of their own, but Archer, raises a hand, stopping them* You're spirit is admirable, Catia. But spirit alone will not give you the tools you need to get your sister back. As for why you should trust me, I am risking much as well by helping you. However, if we succeed, the wealth will be great. Not to mention that Rayze's life is currently in my hands. I could just as easily order Shen to burn Rayze to a crisp right now if I wanted to. And he will do just that, if you kill me now. I propose a partnership for now. I'll give you in information you need to save Kiria and find out who is behind this, and through your quest for a rescue, you and SpellThief will eliminate this person as they also are a thorn in my side. Its a win-win scenario.

Catia:  *She hesitates a bit, her body and hands still shaking a bit in anger. After a moment though, she finally takes a deep breath and calms down, folding up and putting her pistol away back in its holster*  ........Fine.  But if you or any of your stupid minions lay a damn hand on Rayze....I'll kill you and them.  No arguments.  Got that?

Archer: I wouldn't have it any other way. Now, onto the info we collected. Mach Vice is a half-Icecrownian Ork, half Vampire who used to run the SmashJaw clan on Icecrown. He was a master at guerrilla warfare and caused Icecrown quite a bit of trouble until he was captured finally. He was set to be executed, but someone smuggled him out of prison and gave him to Skullmantle. He is a master of all firearms and is brilliant at technology. He's a shrewd strategist and incredibly efficient as well as organized. He excels at hand to hand combat as well. All and all, the odds of even you pulling off a direct assassination on him would be slim to none. However, he does keep a large server room in Skullmantle Pharmaceuticals. Its were he stores data on all his activities. If someone could break into Skullmantle's building and hack that database, they could easily learn Kiria's whereabouts or even discover who the mastermind behind this is. Someone...like you and Rayze. You two make a good team. My job is simple. Sneak in and find some way to get that brainy little Amazon boy into Skullmantle's servers. Do so, and your reward will be twice your payment for the blueprint job. On top of that, I will assist personally in the next phase. Understood?

Catia:  *She pauses and thinks for a moment*  Terrific....a vampire.... *She thinks for a bit longer*  Alright, I've made my decision.  I'll go along with this plan for now.  But the moment you turn on me you and all of your little cohorts are as good as dead. I am NOT in the mood for compromise right now.  *She leaves without another word, seeking out Sergio.  She finds him with Rayze, her eyes immediately turning soft as she looks at his damaged and broken body. She turns to Sergio*  So....it seems that I have a chance at getting my sister back.  But.....as much as I hate to admit it, I can't do this alone.  I need your help specifically.  If you can do some hacking into Skullmantle Pharmaceutical's servers and acquire her location, we can find her and bring her back here.  But I refuse to put you or Rayze into imminent danger if either of you are scared.  It would....just get you killed....or more likely me for protecting your sorry butts.  So...do you want to do this or not?