Science Friction (Changeling)

A murder of crows had been in mid-flight, above the tree-lines of the Deep Jungle. They circled around in quite a large area of operation in search of one thing, prey. Their eyes managed to pierce through the thick vines, leaves and other fauna that obscured a normal animal's vision, so that they may pick up their potential meal. The crows hadn't seen anything yet but that was okay. They had another pair of eyes on the forest floor, or was it among the trees, that seemed non-existent in the shadows of the world.

Not a single breath seemed to be heard, felt, or noted. The huntress stayed stationary, the usage of her shadow manipulation granted her a flawless hiding place among the foliage. Her eyes tracked and recorded every bit of information that the Deep Jungle presented to her. Movement, animals, change in the wind, lighting, etc. Everything was cataloged by her and the woman decided to give herself more than just a couple of hours. Much like her avian companions, this huntress hunted very big game.

She knew him as, "Ghost," a person from her past who had now become a very big target for her. A mission she decided to take after she found out he went missing. A charismatic, deadly, and efficient leader, who made a lot of enemies had suddenly disappeared? No, that was too dramatic even for him, so when the people who wanted him dead approached her with the objective and potential payout, she couldn't deny them. Not just that, but Ghost had been a very worthy opponent time after time. They saw each other on the same side and often on the opposite, yet none of them killed one another. It was always a contest to see whose mission was completed first. A morbid rivalry, that she had hoped to put an end to on that day.

Julia remained focused and didn't let a single thing distract her. Not even the many bugs that crawled over her seemingly stiffened figure. The way how she sat there, bow aimed and arrow knocked for release, her entire existence remained in the shadows. Her alias, Shadow, showed that she followed it well. Should her mark show up in this world, she'd make his death swift and painless. One like him didn't deserve a slow, torturous death. That arrow would go right between the eyes, while another would pierce the chest and heart. The assassin wasn't going to miss.

'Ghost.' Anyone from his world would know to fear the name. Not only was he a specter that only left the bodies of his enemies behind, but he was known to be from different levels of insanity. Even when he had clearly won, and his enemies were retreating, he never let up. He enjoyed death too much, and a lot of times, he craved it. He was good in many things. Be it stealth or rampages that level a city within a day.

Even when he showed signs of turning soft, a bit more morally driven, he could instantly revert to his blood-thirsty ways. He acts so approachable, but one wrong move could mean that the room would be decorated with blood soon. Ghost wasn't proud of that... legend, as some referred to it, but he didn't regret it either. Though he'd be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy being feared so much, but it became a burden. People would just run away at the sight of him, and where was the fun in that?

He hadn't used that name in a while, so when he was sent here, by that name, he knew he'd have to drop the facade. The cash offered to him said that this was a trap. Simply telling someone to go someplace for further instructions was just a simple giveaway. Did they really think his senses were so dulled by slacking off the murders and rampage? He was going to prove them wrong. He left without telling anyone where he was going, not even Rose knew, and that parasite, Nyx, he had to contain him in his personal quarters. But being so close, Nyx understood that there was no getting in his way.

He simply went to his destination and casually looked around. Oh yes. The large jungle, so deep was he lead that nobody would know if a skirmish was taking place. Slowly, he circled the area, acting as if he was patiently waiting for instructions.

Prey sighted. The crows relayed the information the moment Ghost had brazenly stepped into the thick jungle depths. That only meant he knowingly took the bait, forged by the fake mission directive. Julia detested that method of bringing her catch to her area, because more than likely the man was on total alert at that point. Someone who grew up just like her had a certain amount of paranoia, that allowed them to survive in lands heavy with betrayal and lies. Shadow had to definitely put her own spin on things and improvise a way of getting the man to lower his guard. She had one idea.

A crow had soon descended to a thick branch in the general area, where Ghost was predicted to likely be. The bird used the angle of the sun and its position, to cast a large shadow from the branch, to the base of the tree and then some. Once the man had arrived and both crow and huntress identified their target, the trap could be sprung.

"Ghost." The crow spoke with her voice, as a way to grab his attention. Once he was stirred out of his focused mindset, the shadow of the crow distorted like water with a ripple through it. From the black mass came a familiar figure. Clothed in her all black garb, cloak, and hood, Julia revealed herself to her old rival. However, that was simply a clone that she used in order to get Ghost's back to turn to her. All she needed was that split moment to act and nothing more. Anything else would prove out of character and a dead give away. She had to act with speed and precision.

And so it begins.

He casually glanced to the figure. "I thought I recognized that voice..." They actually sent somebody competent this time. More likely than not, she'd be tasked with completely taking him out. Unfortunately for her, he was wasn't going to just roll over and die. "Well well, Shady. I didn't expect to see you around these parts. You on a mission? Oh, you don't have to answer that. I know the whole, classified directives and all that secrecy contracts."

From the soles of his boots, he sent his Nano to penetrate the ground and simply wait there until he needed them. Knowing this assassin, she had something up her sleeves, but so did he. Very rarely did she ever come out into the open. Ghost's gun was pointed down and his finger was off the trigger to give a sense that he had lowered his guard, even going as far as loosening his grip on his gun, which was actually just a replica. He left the real one behind for good 'ol fashioned repairs, entrusted to one of his lieutenants.

Underground, small clusters of Nano lay in wait under the soil. This area was now a minefield, but he knew there was far too many platforms above the ground. A few more mines up there wouldn't hurt...

She saw the opportunity the minute he started speaking. Her focus didn't wane in that instant and with a trained eye and hand, Shadow loosed the arrow. The bow was drawn with such strength and length, that it was exceptionally fast. Faster than most arrows to the point one could say it was as fast as a bullet. Once it traveled to its mark, Julia knew her cover would be blown and immediately let her shadow swallow her.

The clone of her merely stayed and watch. Regardless of whether it was destroyed or not did not matter, for the woman had her eyes everywhere at this point. A large murder of crows had gathered and the nestled themselves on many, many trees. Much like her enemy, she too set up the stage for their battle.

"It's simple, Ghost. You need to die." Her voice was dry, cold, indifferent. For Shadow, it was just another mission. Though he was a good asset to her in many ways, she couldn't turn down a mission of this caliber. Not to mention, she felt as though this mission was a test of her abilities. Two very skilled, relentless, and merciless hunters, going at it until either party collapses. This was where the real fun began.

"Is that so?" As fast as the arrow was, it suddenly disintegrated a foot away from him. A faint blue shield appeared in hexagonal patterns for a second before disappearing. It won't be as easy as that, darlin'. You know the drill." He suddenly disappeared from view, and no other signs of life could be detected.

This was like a sniper duel now, sans the sniper rifle. She could just easily appear where she wanted to, and so could he. But, now was not the time for the kill. Spikes of metal lunged from under the assassin and her clone. The spikes would have suddenly broken apart after a few moments into a flock of morphos; butterflies with metallic blue coloring on their wings, which simply fluttered about the battlefield.

She had her crows, he had his butterflies. He could easily outnumber her eyes a hundred times over if he wanted to.

"Don't make this difficult. Hiding is pointless." Shadow spoke and her voice seemed to echo throughout the entirety of the battlefield. She had long sense disappeared, while the shadow clone ended up dissipating upon being tampered with. A mass of blackened darkness began to swirl in the middle of jungle, until it took the form of a large, black coffin. The casket was bound with many chains and held in place by a simple padlock. "I'll use this, if necessary. Show yourself." Her voice commanded through the shadows.

Julia had then taken to setting up her clones. Each of them shared identical biological signatures to her and thus, it was impossible to tell the real from the fake. They each had weapons made from shadow material, that were related to the real Shadow's weapons. This only made the identification of the real one that much more difficult. The canopy granted by the thick trees, only served to add to the assassin's field advantage, for the light was still bright and only added to the amount of fluid darkness the woman could utilize. Ghost may have had his nanos and butterflies, but she had an entire concept at her beck and call.

Much like a sniper duel, neither side moved lest they gave away their position. Though, there were clones that were set up as vision trap. Hidden, but showing just enough to be considered a viable target. They were also in places where they still had good shots, just in case their target happened to streak past them. This was going to turn into a game of violent wits and it appeared Shadow was going all out.

"The chase is half the fun," his voice sounded from one part of the area, so close to one of her clones. But by the time they'd reacted, his voice would come from another point. "Don't you agree?" A high-caliber, yet completely silent shot sailed through the trees to one of the clones. It wasn't a lethal shot on purpose. He shot from a side angle, aiming just an inch away from the jugular. The bullet would cut clean through a few trees before stopping.

"I'm honestly surprised..." Another bullet was shot through a few more trees, just picking off the clones. Well, not necessarily picking them off, just letting them know he saw them.

"Someone actually hates me enough to send you." A whistling projectile tagged another tree.

"Even when I was out of their hair." He briefly appeared, leaning against a tree, but just as quickly, he disappeared with a laugh that seemed to echo.

"Maybe after I finish this..." He shot again.

"I'll get you to cough up who it was." This time, it seemed he appeared for a longer time, just standing out in the open. "What do you say? Sound fun?"

The clones had their stations and shifted around very often as to throw off their opponent. Each time he shot a bullet or spoke, there'd be an arrow to accompany his actions. These projectiles were a bit more special than the mundane she had been using at first. Arrows coated in a rather thick, viscous, all-black solution that aimed for their target's fatal spots. Ghost could let himself known to the clones as much as possible, but there were two real threats that continued to persist. Julia herself, with the ability to just create even more clones if they were destroyed, and the coffin whose chains slowly undid themselves. Every so often, it creaked and hissed.

"You continue to piss off the wrong people." The clones all spoke at the exact same time, followed by arrows flying towards the origin of the bullet. Once again, the clones moved. Some moved outward and outward, while others came in closer.

When he appeared by the tree, another arrow was loosed, yet it stabbed into the base of the thing as Ghost disappeared.

"You can try." Shadow's clones spoke once again and when he showed himself in the open, they all let loose a barrage of arrows. Some came in from the distance trees, all coming in like a swarm of locus and blotted out any light left in the place. They aimed to condition his movements as they wanted him to be, while those who were closer to the fight let their shots go one at a time, in a bid to take him off-guard as he kept moving around.

Meanwhile, the coffin only had one final chain. The casket writhed violently and one can see a myriad of hands try to undo the final seal. A scream left from it and served to shake and disrupt the balance of the very nature around them.

"Last chance. Submit to death willingly or I will make this as painful as need be." Only a singular voice echoed out this time from all sides.

Zulu had been careful of the projectiles, and kept tags on where they were. Knowing this girl, he wouldn't want to touch those things.

"Pain? Heh, newsflash sweetheart, I've grown out of that fetish. If you want to flirt, try a different tactic." A bullet wasn't loosed this time, but instead a circular disk a meter wide with sharp, serrated edges whistled through the air, cutting right through a number of trees before circling back to a body double who caught it flawlessly. The body double smugly nudged his head before disappearing in a puff of black smoke.

Tiny spiders dropped down from the leaves to ambush the clones. By this time, his nanomachines had spread all over the forest, and he could strike anywhere he wanted. But then the sky was darkened. It would seem his opponent had a similar tactic of overwhelming the battlefield with dangerous obstacles.

"Good night." From the tiny spiders that was raining down along with the arrows, huge surges of lightning covered the forest. With the surge came shrapnel, easily shredding most of the arrows, and peppering the air with sharp metals the size of ground pepper. A few spots of fire ignited on the dried leaves on the forest floor, and if it weren't for the unsettling scream that came from an unknown source, the floor would have been filled with birds. Crispy, juicy birds.

He protected himself with the use of metallic outcrops that acted as roofs for him as well as his doubles. "I should establish an artillery platform somewhere. I missed the big explosions we used to be surrounded with."