Tobira o Hiraku (Open)

[Kurosaki]

(Title: Opening a Door)

If there was ever a good place to go to relax after a hard day of work, it was the local bar. Kicking back with a good drink had a calm relaxing effect. Especially when one was with friends. A short haired man was waiting for his fellow Marines at the counter having already ordered two drinks to get started with. The bartender recognized him and had the drinks already ready for him. He slid them across the bar and Lance caught each one easily and took a swig from one. He slammed it back down, revealing that it was completely empty now.

Turning around to check the door, Lance exhaled. He missed when Jasmine would have been able to come too. Their constant competition sometimes got too rowdy (and caused them to get kicked out a few times) but was always fun. Ever since she had left for the transfer to the other base, Winchestor just hadn't felt the same. Maybe he should take that new assignment in the Grand Line? It sounded like a lot though. Was he really ready to go out there; just as a Seaman Recruit? He needed to rise through the ranks, and fast, before he could think about that. Maybe... Captain.

Captain had a nice ring to it.

Speaking of rowdy. Lance's golden eyes moved over to watch a group nearby that was hassling each other in the bar. He sighed and shook his head but stayed sitting for the moment. No reason to get involved if they weren't doing anything that was breaking a law. If they got physical, however, he would have to intervene.

That was when he heard a cry from outside. Lance leaped up from his chair and ran outside only to find...

(Omgod, sorry, for some reason it was really short. I didn't want to do anything cliche I guess.)

[White Mimic]

"Hmmmm..." Hearts wasn't exactly the most exciting game to play, but in weather this nice, any card game, even one like this was enjoyable. Leon's hand slid from playing card to playing card, seemingly decinding on one before losing confidence and switching to the other. "Mmmmmeegghhhh..." Both of his cards were the suit of hearts and had rather high values. This was his first time playing, naturally, he didn't have much off time to play any games with strangers like these fine gentlemen. On his left, an older man who had seen better years on this island, in his 60's and living out the rest of his days in retirement, and on his right a regular patron of the resturaunt, trying to get some alone time from the wife and kids. The young man across from Leon was a waiter on break, seeing if he could make some cash out of a quick game.

"Hurry up, I gotta get back to work in, like, 10 minutes." He whimpered out impatiently. "Mmm. Right. Uhhhhh this one." A bit slowly, the Queen of Hearts slid from his hand onto the pile. With that, the pot was his to take and there was one more round left in the set. Up until now the game had been fairly even, the older man leading the game and Leon by 25 points. The gentleman was 3rd and the waiter had been last so far, not surprising considering his brash impulses in playing. Leon was probably getting the beginners luck, but this entire set of the game, he had taken almost every heart in the deck, even the Queen of Spades. And all he had left was...

"It's your turn to start young'n." The old man was eying Leon's last card a bit nervously. Come to think of it, everyone was. He didn't know why, it was obvious he lost the round, at least he thought he did. "Geez. Knew I shouldn't have held onto this for this long." When the Ace of Hearts appeared on the table, everyone groaned, save for the old man who almost had a rage induced stroke.

"...What? Something wrong?"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE HE FREAKING SHOT THE MOON!" The waiter threw his apron on the ground sullenly while the gentleman buried his face in his hands.

"By 1 point! 1 POINT!" The old man was beginning to yell at the other customers outside of the resturant, clutching furiously at his chest and stumbling around in his seat.

"I don't get it... Ah well." Leon shrugged, rumaging through the white coat he usually wore, pulling out a small sack. 500 Beri was his wager on the game and, he lost. 26 points put him behind the gentleman for third. He withdrew 75 Beri from the bag for himself as his third place winnings and walked off. The other players let him walk away, their faces in shock. "He really hasn't played before..." The rest of the players let him leave before greedily splitting up the money and pretending they never met the man.

~~~

It would still be a while for his boat to pick him up to take him to his next destination where he would be appraising for a small antiques showcase. He really came to appreciate the small jobs every now and then, gave him time to himself to think. His shoulder grinded against the large wall that seperated the east side of the town that he was on from the west. The looming pinnacle of a building that was the Marine base on the island was visible from here, and it rose from the sky line like a large industrial block of authority, glaring white in the sunlight with ramparts and accents of sea blue. It was remarkable that base. The old home couldn't hold a candle to the exterior of that thing.

Still, while the massive marine presence on the island was a comfort considering how brutal the opposite side was, it still spurned a little discomfort in the young Leon Black. He had secrets to harbor and even though there was no way for the Marines to have even the slightest inkling about them, being anywhere near any police force gave Leon a metaphorical chill down his spine. He just didn't trust them was all.

A scream coming from a nearby street broke him out of his tunnel vision for a moment. Sounded like trouble almost. Better to let the marines take care of things, there had to be SOME near by at least... then again, "I wouldn't mind a little entertainment for now. Maybe I can see some real life Marine action." He began to make his way for the streets to catch a glimpse of the action, a slight little grin plastered on his face.

((Sorry for the Hearts game, just getting the ol' Characterization muscles warmed up.))

[Kurosaki]

(Nah, I liked the post a lot! =D Lots of good humor.)

Outside Lance had to turn down into a narrow side road to find who had screamed. A woman was being harrassed by a group of men. They were clearly drunk since most of them had a swagger to their walk. Worse yet, one of them had a hold of the woman's arm and was twisting it towards himself as he leaned in closer to her, a grin plastered on his "plastered" face.

"Why 'yah tryin' to run, eh? Ehhh? You got..." the man hiccuped, "A proble' with us?" Another hiccup threatened to cut off the end of his sentence but the man pulled it off somehow. The woman eyes were narrowed at him but with obvious fear showing in them as well. Even though she was gutsy, she realized that she was outnumbered and outmuscled. There was no way she could fend for herself against them all when they were in an animalistic state thanks to the intoxication. Merely fighting back would not hurt them.

True to his name, Lance rushed in like the White Knight. One of the men out of the four noticed his presence and turned but was too late to warn anybody else.

"Yoko geri," Lance said with conviction as his side kick with his heel sunk heavily into the first man's gut. The sound of air whooshing out of lungs was heard and then the man fell over, letting go of the woman's arm. Lance landed lightly just in time for one of the men to attempt a swing at his face. Lance saw it coming and moved to block it with his forearm. "Uke." He then grabbed the man's wrist and struck with his open palm into the man's chest area. "Shotei Uchi." He doubled over and then Lance grabbed his head and slammed it directly into his knee. "Hiza geri!"

The second man slumped to the ground. Lance stood in front of the woman protectively.

Lance motioned for the others to come at him, a grin playing on his face. That was until it turned to surprise when the one was struck by a flying garbage bin lid directly in the forehead. He turned, still shocked, to look at the girl he had saved. She straightened up, dusted off her hands, and shrugged casually. The last man standing, looking to have had wetter pants than he had started out with, screamed and ran as fast as he could away from them. Only he tripped over the man that had been plastered in the face with the trash lid and struck the ground hard. Essentially he knocked himself unconscious.

"Well, he did us a nice favor," Lance mused for a moment before turning toward the girl. "Are you okay, Miss?"

"Yeah, thanks for the save. If they hadn't ganged up on me I would have been able to handle it..."

"I... I don't doubt it," Lance agreed, eyeing the girl slightly with sincerity. "Well, maybe I should walk you home, what do you say?"

That was when something zapped him from behind. Lance fell over, stunned, and the world started to go black. All he could hear was the laughter of the girl. Had he been set up?

(I have an idea where this COULD go but if you have any better ideas, let me know! Sorry if I didn't really give you a good place to enter.)

[White Mimic]

Funny. It turned out, there was a worst possible time to arrive anywhere, Leon having almost walked in on it. As he approached the screaming sound of struggle, it gradually transformed into the grunt of self-defense. His pace increased, Marines may have given him the creeps but he did NOT wanna miss this. As he began to turn the corner, the silence that had permeated the air was broken by two thuds and a giggle. He had taken one step from behind the wall of the building, getting an excellent view of a girl blindsighting a marine (more so he saw the back of her head) before instinctively turning a full 180 degrees on his heels and staying out of sight for the time being. From his point of view, he hadn't seen the girl's right hand, whether or not there was a weapon in it remained a mystery, but he knew better than to check something like this too frequently.

From behind the wall, he could make out the rushed sounds of footsteps, something that seemed like a grinding of metal, and the last of a stifled giggle from the girl. There were a few moments of silence before Leon dared to peak. But when he did, the street was perfectly empty, the people, the trash cans, everything. "That's... not possible."

There weren't any people on his street, or the street between him and the larger street beyond the buildings, where several townspeople, obscured from the gates of the small street and the high walls, were promenading the downtown market. "That's... wait..." Leon dropped to the ground, sliding the side of his head on the street for several feet before keeping still. He wasn't an expert at this sort of thing yet, but he knew enough about small range vibrations to hear footsteps closer to him than the people on the other side of the street. "Where'd they go?"

A small group came into view through the gates: a group of fishers whereing their uniforms and carrying their catch. Nothing out of the ordinary, except the back of the female's head in the group seemed awfully familiar. That and the catch in the net the group was carrying was unusually large. "..." On all fours, Leon pointed at the groups, his jaw hanging open silently before he attempted a silent pursuit of the group heading uptown. He hurried after the group once they began turning to the Wall that seperated the island.

((Am I heading the right direction with this?))

[Kurosaki]

(Yep, looks good to me! I'm mostly bsing this completely, so bare with me. DX)

The pain he felt at that moment had been intense. An eletrical current had literally gone through his body, rendering him completely stunned. Lance watched helplessly as the supposed assaulters and the victim worked together to change their clothes into local fisherman. What was going on here? What did they want with him?

The two men that Lance had actually delivered blows too actually seemed to be injured. They griped and moaned and carried on until their boss, the one that had pretended to get knocked out, told them to stop or he would shoot one of them and not tell them which it was going to be. They both shut up after that.

Lance closed his eyes again hurriedly as they moved to put his body into something. It felt like a giant sack. It was horribly uncomfortable and Lance had no idea what was going on. Where were they taking him?

If Lance had been able to see anything he would have known that the group had headed across the wall separating the Marine side and the Pirate side of Winchestor Island. Once on the other side they seemed to relax a little but not by much. They still kept a wary eye out around and kept their disguises on.

It was only when they reaching a run down building and went inside that they relaxed a little. The disguises came off and even some high-fives were exchanged.

"We did it!"

"Yeah, now those damn Marines will be in for it."

"Getting one of their own kidnapped; what a disgrace to the entire World Government."

"And, if they want to see him alive again, they'll have to listen to our demands," the girl mused out loud at the end.

None of them seemed to harbor even the slightest indication that they knew that they had been followed and that they were probably still being watched now.

(I was thinking one of them spots Leon and catches him too. Then we might end up fighting on the same side; good idea?)

[White Mimic]

((Aye Aye, Captain! *Salutes*))

"I- I can't tell you why! Just let me through!" Leon who had been pursuing the group of kidnappers for several minutes came to a stop when he had been refused access to the opposite side of the wall. This was the only through as well. Well, not the ONLY way to the other side period but it was basically his only option for now. "Sir, if you don't have the proper papers to pass freely between the boundries of the wall, then you simply cannot pass! Period!" That must have been how the group was able to pass freely, merchantile licenses. Assuming that's how this island worked bureaucratically, of course.

"But there's-" If Leon blabbed to the Marines about something like this, he realized, he could be called into question a bit as well. It may not be a very large investigation, but a thorough check of him and his personal belongings would be catastrophic. There was also a slight chance that he would be suspected of association with the group at an extreme level of skepticism. In any case, he couldn't afford to tangle with the Marines too closely unless he absolutely had too which he absolutely didn't. He caught himself quickly in his speech to amend it to something inconspicuous. "-a problem with my grandmother! She's ill and I have to see her right away!"

"There are no exceptions to the systems we have in place to keep the peace. Period! You'll have to gain special permissions from the Town Hall and the Marine Headquarters. Period! Have a nice day. Period!"

The marine returned to his post with several other official and strong looking guards, sending the disgruntled Leon the other way. There had to be a way to get to the other side, without attracting any attention from the authorities. But Leon wasn't capable of something like that...

~~~

He landed on the roof of a 'seemingly' abandoned building. Granted, he knew it wasn't but it did have an air of emptiness around it, stagnating the aesthetics with the broken dreams of an unwanted architecture. Jacques' footsteps were hardly audible at all to a normal person, the same went for his landings, even those that originated from higher altitudes such as this one. From the height of the wall, it was stupid easy to find his mark and continue pursuit without being spotted after scaling the wall. To get up in the first place without the guards noticing, of course, he had simply dropped a smoke bomb, undetonated, near one side of the gate house to get their attention while he quickly clambered up the other side. Easy.

The targets ducked into the building with the Marine in their captivity, safely tucked away from public eyes, and Jacques was quietly observing from a fogged up window on the side, perched upon a split level roof of questionable integrity. "Hee Hee... I can't hear what their saying hmm?" He was pressing his helmet against the glass in odd ways to get a good gauge of what was happening inside.

Normally, he would never even think of mounting a rescue of an authority figure, especially a marine, but there have been instances when the Celebrated Jacques Pumpkinhead had landed himself in trouble with the World Government and had to use quite a bit of connection to erase what he had done from history. Starting with a young Marine with promise and potential (hopefully), his connections to the Marines could blossom quickly and any mistakes he could make might even be able to be pardoned as quickly as they were capable of springing up. At least, that was the objective.

He could only make out a handful of words through the glass: Marines, World Government, they, demands, all the unimportant stuff probably. "Ehhhh hee hee. Don't know what they're up to, don't care though. Now how do I get that guy out of there?" His foot tapped against the roof rapidly and nearly silently (as silent as he was capable of what with all his training). "Well maybe..." He went over to the window again, unable to make out the individual figures inside but this time hearing very clearly the words 'what' and 'that'. He put them together in his mind to form the phrase, 'What was that?'. He didn't know if who he was looking at was referring to him in the window, but if it was, there was no way he was staying right there.

"Ah Geez! This is what happens when you don't prepare." He ran off the roof, grabbing a hold of the edge. He rotated over the edge towards another window on another floor, slamming his feet on either side of it before flicking his free hand. A gleaming claw emerged from the index finger of the gloves he wore, but only for a few moments as he cut a hole in the window and jumped through with his free hand first, expertly holding the sheet of glass, as he twisted back into a standing position, resting the cut sheet back where it used to be. "There we go. Looks good as AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

There were a few more people in the hallway he had entered through the window, much to his surprise. "I HATE impromptu jobs!" Jacques slammed a smoke bomb on the ground. At the very least, they were criminals and he wouldn't be getting a bounty for anything like this. As the smoke filled the hallway, he turned to the nearest door in the hallway and stormed through it. If this were any other job, he'd have used an escape route but this wasn't some jewel or statue, this was a person. How exciting, his first technical ransom case.

The door he entered opened into the room with the group he had been chasing. With the luck he was having today, he might as well throw all sense of subtlety away and at least try to salvage what was left of the self-given mission as quickly as possible. He stared at the group that had finally noticed him in the room for a few awkward moments of silence before he broke it. "Oh, uhmmm... this isn't the bathroom?" He scratched the back of his pumpkin as if nothing was wrong.

((Hope you don't mind the identity shift. I thought it would fit the nature of the Island: Half and Half.))

[Kurosaki]

As Lance was dragged out of the fishing net he attempted to take in as much as he could about his surroundings. His golden eyes swept over the faces once again, recognizing them all from the alleyway. Were there anymore than just these five that he had already seen? It looked like he had found himself in some sort of abandoned warehouse. Some new supplies were stacked in a corner nearby but, other than that, the place was pretty much void of anything.

"Oh, awake, huh?" mused the woman looking down at him as the one man he had kicked in the gut forced him into a chair. The brute seemed very pissed off and kept sneering in his direction even after he was thoroughly tied down by the skinnier man that Lance had struck in the chest. The ropes dug into his skin and burned. Hissing from the pain of the tightness, he seemed to only satisfy the glaring man with his discomfort.

"Yeah, wide awake," Lance responded to her even though it was a rhetorical question. "Now if you could kindly explain to me why you've kidnapped and tied me up, I think we could get along just swimmingly." Looking straight at her, he waited for her reply.

The woman laughed, a hand covering her pink lips with the back of her hand. Her long light brown hair fell seductively back, revealing more of her face. She had multiple piercings in her ears, mostly small studs, and was now wearing her clothes from the alleyway; a t-shirt and short shorts and sandals. She looked like she was ready for the beach instead of prison; where she was headed if Lance managed to get out of this situation alive.

"You've just been tasered, kidnapped, and dragged somewhere else against your will and you're the one making the demands? Amusing. If you weren't a Marine Dog I think I would have liked you," she responded. "But I think we'll prefer to keep you in the dark till we get what we want."

-----

Meanwhile the two other men from the alleyway were protecting the entrance way to the warehouse when something came crashing through the window. They didn't have enough time to even withdrawal their pistols before the mysterious pumpkin helmeted man slammed a smoke bomb into the ground and cause their vision to be impaired. They shot off a few shots but then realized that it was too dangerous and cursed their luck.

Who the hell had that been?

Whoever it was hadn't finished yet. He burst into the area where Lance was being kept by the woman and the two other men of the group. Everyone looked up, shocked, even the Marine strapped to the chair.

"Who the hell are you!?" shouted the woman angrilly before she swept a hand, signallying for her two minions, since it was clear in that moment that she was really the one in charge, to aim at him with their weapons. They both snatched up some rifles that had been sitting nearby.

Before waiting for an answer as to the man's identity, they opened fire.

[White Mimic]

"Who the hell are you!?"

"Hmmm?" Excited at the question he had been asked, Jacques flung himself from the door into the wide open room, extending his arms to the ceiling after twirling about theatrically. "I am the Celebrated Mr. J! Professiona~ Uh oh..." The cocking of guns was the only thing he could make out over his own exuberance before they opened fire. He ran around the room shortly, chased by lines of bullets drawn by rifle pencils, before dropping his thrid smoke bomb between him and the attackers. This wasn't good, that was 3 smoke bombs so far today. For all the simple jobs he had been warming up with to this point in his career, he hardly needed them at all. What if a plan changed half way through it's execution, Jacques suddenly thought. Different scenarios ran through his head of future jobs that could've gone wrong like this one. He needed more practice.

Obscured from the view of his attackers, Jacques kept low and went between both of them as they fired at where he could've been. At least, he hoped it was between both of them, the smoke was so thick you could barely see 2 feet in front of you and it was nearly impossible to see movement through it. He approached where he believed the captive's body was, remembering that he was seated. A pair of exposed legs came into view all of a sudden, prompting Jacques to roll around them and continue into the set of chair legs behind the exposed ones.

The gunfire behind him would provide enough sonic cover for a little bit, but there wasn't much time before the smoke cleared and his position would be exposed. He took a cross-legged seat on the marine's lap and looked him up and down thoroughly. "Don't know why I'm even doing this for you. Oh yes. Favors." He leaned foreward, getting his helmet's eerie grin uncomfortably close to the marines face before continuing. "I got a deal for you: I'll cut a rope or two, no strings attached." He flicked his claw out again and held it to the bindings trapping the marines chest and arms. "Of course, I'll expect you to return the favor, with interest naturally. Sound good?"

[Kurosaki]

From his vantage point and being strapped to the chair, Lance could only watch as the strange vigilante ran across the length of the room, barely managing to keep ahead of the barrage of bullets that followed in his wake. Lance wondered if they were close enough to anything nearby for the gun fire to attract some calvary, but doubted it. If this was their stronghold, it was most likely secluded and on the other side of the Island. They had walked for some distance, so he had a feeling that was where he was.

Lance tugged at his constraints, hoping that he might be able to free himself during the distraction. He tried even harder when a smoke bomb was thrown and gave him full coverage. They wouldn't be able to tell that he was trying to break free. The ropes, however, only managed to dig deeper into his skin. He needed something to cut them with.

That was when an extra weight pushed on his legs. Lance looked up, golden eyes making out the form of the figure that had just rushed into the stronghold. The man leaned forward after reminding himself out loud that he was doing this for favors. He then talked directly to the Seaman Recruit, uncomfortable close. Leaning backward a little, Lance looked sternly at the man's grinning pumpkin helmet as he layed down his demands. He would cut a rope or two for him with no strings attached. Lance didn't trust the guy for a second. Why would he be making a deal with him if there were no strings of some sort?

And, sure enough, the man then said he wanted him to return the favor with interest included.

Not knowing who this person was and what their intentions were made Lance incredibly suspicious of this deal. Sure, he was in a predicament right now but owing a criminal a favor wasn't exactly something he wanted hanging over him while he tried to get promoted.

"Think I'll take my chances," Lance replied toughly though his heart was beating a little big fast. "Thanks though." Even as he said this he tugged at the ropes more. The smoke surrounding them began to clear. Shouts were called out as the trio searched high and low for the pumpkin vigilante. "Unless you think you can get out of here by yourself though. You might need to spring me lose without any conditions if you want to make it outside."

[White Mimic]

"Think I'll take my chances, thanks though. Unless you think you can get out of here by yourself though. You might need to spring me lose without any conditions if you want to make it outside."

"Huh?" Jacques leaned his head agaisnt and upright arm of his own, keeping it in place by putting his elbow on his knee. "Sorry I wasn't really paying attention. Was kinda busy at the time." He wound up the rope that had once been around the marine and shoved it in his coat. "It's kind of hard to hear in here anyway, what with all the gunfire. HEY COULD YOU GUYS KEEP IT DOWN!" He had turned to yell into the fog but his voice seemed to come from a different side of the room.

Throwing of the voice was usually only useful when he needed to make a distraction, so this was the perfect circumstances. Footsteps of the henchmen could be heard as they made their way over to the side to investigate what at least one of them had heard, firing at shadows of things that littered the room, barrels and the like. Jacques hopped off the marine and yanked him up from the chair. In all honesty, he had heard the Marine deny his offer, but even if he was a marine, a gentleman would never leave someone in distress and at the mercy of dangerous criminals such as these.

"But I'm glad to be of assistance, and glad that you're willing to repay me later." He paused for a second to shake the marine's hand but didn't allow him the time to object, pulling the man's arm to lead him out of the smoke so they could escape. "We don't have much time left," The smoke began to thin out as he approached the door. "I hope you know how to fight and run because I'm sure you don't expect me to exert myself." He held the door open for the Marine, bowing and holding his hand like a butler almost, as the smoke cleared away and the occupants of the room came into view. The girl had not moved an inch in the short amount of time that had passed, but the minions had gathered together near a wall, far away from Jacques and the Marine.

[Kurosaki]

Even though Lance had flatly refused the man's offer and had offered his own counteroffer, the vigilante just leaned his head against his arm, elbow on his knee, as he said that he hadn't been paying attention. Lance stared at him, flabbergasted by the response. Really? Seriously? This guy hadn't even bothered to listen to what he had said? Lance went to throw the guy off his lap, forgetting he was tied up, only to find that he actually had moved. He flexed his arms and legs, seeing that the rope was gone.

He grinned. Now he could take out these pirates that had even dared to try to kidnap him and ransom the World Government. Their arrest would only help him to rise up quicker up the ranks. He looked up in surprise when the man that had set him free threw his voice and made it sound like he was on the other side of the large room. Gunfire erupted on that side. You'd think that they would have stopped firing by now seeing as how they couldn't, well, see very well. It was more likely that they would shoot themselves than their targets.

Pumpkin, as Lance dubbed him in his mind, told him that he was glad to be of service and that he had agreed to repay him later. Lance face planted almost. Was this guy for real? Anyway, there wasn't much time to say anything about it to correct him. After the man shook his hand he pulled him through the smoke so that they could escape, since they were running out of time.

The man opened the door and, like a butler, held it open for Lance. Lance rolled his eyes and whacked the man a little on the helmet, knowing it wouldn't do much, if any, damage.

"Let's just get going already! Leave the theatrics for after we get the hell out of here," Lance barked, liking the feeling of ordering the man around so that he felt more in control of the situation. Honestly, he still didn't feel good about getting kidnapped so easily. How could he have fallen for that ruse? Nor did he like the fact he was technically indebted to someone he didn't even know (not to mention, didn't even know what his face looked like).

As the two ran through the door's opening, Lance gesturing for them to take a right, now pulling the man at a high rate of speed, the woman that had orchestrated the entire thing spotted them. Pointing a finger, she yelled for her lackeys to get going and that they were all idiots. Soon more yelling pursued and the three men were on the heels of Lance and the vigilante. The other two men that Pumpkin had tricked coming into the building now joined up. All five were wielding weapons and looked thoroughly po'd.

Well Lance wasn't about to let them gang up on them. The two men were probably faster and lighter on their feet then the pirates behind them. However, an advantage or two wouldn't hurt. Seeing an opportunity that presented itself, Lance kicked down some stacked up barrels that had been on the side of the room. He dodged and kept going as they began to roll down, blocking the path. One of the men stepped on it, floundered with his arms in the air as it rolled underneath of him, and ended up falling flat onto his back. Groaning, the man felt discouragement in him. First he had been beaten by this Marine and had pretended to be knocked out, then he had gotten smoke to his face and then a barrel. What was with his luck today?

"Don't stop, after them!" shouted their Captain from behind them.

As Lance and the Pumpkin burst through the door to the outside, they encountered a new problem. Which way to go. Surely the pirates would know this area fairly well and Lance was already confused as to the location. Which way was to the Marine HQ? If they could get some backup and turn the tide against the pirates it would be all over in a second.

"I don't suppose you have another smoke bomb on you?" Lance questioned his partner through heavy breaths as he ran and took a sharp right down an alleyway.

[White Mimic]

"You're not the boss of me." Jacques closed the door behind them as he nonchalantly refused the Marine's order to leave the 'theatrics'. The loud tapping of bullets could be heard on the other side of the door as he closed it, but he didn't stay long. The marine had started pulling him down the nearest hallway by his wrst and sleeve. "Hey hey, watch the threads!" To keep his coat from stretching out, it wasn't that hard to keep up with the marine, they were able to moved at a shared pace as well, very quick.

Throughout the building, the pair was being followed by the three henchmen that had been with the woman in the big room. Jacques didn't say anything about until they had enough straight-way space for him to look back without running into anything. "Oh ho! Looks like we've got a few followers!" He turned to look straight foreward again, saying in a much more sinister voice that was still distinctly Jacques's. "I hate being followed." The marine just kicked down a stack of barrels to remove the two men Jacques encountered earlier, giving Jacques the opportunity to fight without being studied. He used the window to turn back and flick his fingers in the direction of the pursuers, sending small little pulses of wind to them and knocking them down so the two would have more time to escape. It was only a weak Diabolique Tempete so he didn't bother announcing it, also he didn't want to attract the marines attention with a technique like that.

He continued to follow the man over through the toppling barrels and crashed through the exit as the group behind them began to recover, preparing to rush the two of them.

"I don't suppose you have another smoke bomb on you?"

"I do." Jacques cackled as he pulled one from his sleeve. "It'll increase the interest you owe me but, hey, it's your decision!" He flung the smoke bomb to the ground without waiting for a response once again, filling the area with smoke once more. Only one bomb left to use, he would have to save it until it would really count for now. At this rate, he'd have to make another batch within the week. The rest were hidden among the things in his travelling bag naturally, but his travelling bag wasn't his, it was Leons; carrying something like that around would give too big a clue as to one of his identities.

The marine ran through the smoke in the direction of an alleyway. Jacques followed behind him closely, keeping the noise of his footsteps to an almost absolute silence as was his habit. "We have to get to the wall! It's over in that direction, and once we get there you can get the marines staitoned there to protect us, huh?" He pointed to the wall of one of the buildings they were running between. He remembered where it was since he had come straight to the criminal building from there and had been hiding on the building he pointed to before he made his entrance mere moments ago. It was some distance to travel on the streets however.

Noises followed them through the alley, voices of the pirates they had escaped. "Heehee! Here they come!" Most likely they would have to split up to find out where the two had gone, if anything the alley would be investigated by a maximum of 3 people, seemed like good odds if Jacques was with a trained marine.

[Kurosaki]

After Lance inquired about the smoke bomb, the vigilante said that he did have one and added that it would increase his interest. Lance didn't even try to correct him. At this point letting the man believe that he intended to pay back what he owed him seemed to be working. He could correct the man later and defend himself by saying that he had never actually agreed to any such deal. It was true, after all. However, at the same time, Lance was actually finding himself amused by this person. Whoever they were, they were definitely gutsy.

Barging into the Headquarters of a Pirate crew that had just gone and kidnapped a Marine, springing that Marine lose, blackmailing said Marine and then escaping with gunfire at their heels. He had to be a little bat nuts crazy to do all of that but, at the same time, brave beyond belief. Lance felt himself feeling a little grateful. Thought he probably would have figured out something eventually to escape, the Pumpkin man's arrival had certainly gotten him out of the pinch more quickly.

As they ran through the smoke into the alleyway, the Pumpkin man told him that they had to get to the wall and that they could get Marines to protect them after they climbed it.

"That's the plan," Lance agreed, grateful for the man also pointing out what direction it was in. He had a rough idea but after having been knocked out and kidnapped, his mind was a little sketchy on exact direction.

It was still a ways away, however.

"Oi! Over here, there they go!"

The shouts from behind them signaled that there were at least a few of the villains still hot in their pursuit. Of course, the way that two of them had been taken out before, it was doubtful that those two were still in the race. The two other men and the woman were all that was remaining. The brute-like man and the skinny guy with the pointed nose that had been with the woman when they had tied him up.

So far all these men had used were their weapons. So this pirate crew wasn't all that threatening. At least none of them seemed to possess all that great of skill on their own. Disarming them would be the hardest part and then they could take them out with a few well placed blows.

There were many alleyways crisscrossing their way through buildings there. Any number of ways to cut the other group off and gain ground existed. And this was how the skinny man ended up stepping out from ahead of them, raising his rifle. Lance acted quicker though.

No longer holding back, he grabbed the man's head as he brought his knee up and slammed it directly into him. The blow was enough to knock the man cleanly unconscious and he slumped out of Lance's grip, his weapon clattering to the ground, and was out like a light.

"Come on, let's hurry!" Lance shouted to his partner, not even pausing as he leaped over the man and kept running for the wall. Shots rang out from above. Somehow the brute of the group had gotten to higher ground to find them and was given a vantage point. He was now firing very accurate shots down below at them while chasing them by leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

"Jeez, these guys just don't give up do they!?"

[White Mimic]

The pumpkin man was jogging gleefully behind the marine, clapping in the air like a mad man as he cheered on his companions combat skills, disarming the enemy and planting him into the ground. Rather than stepping over the body as he ran, he instead jumped a little and landed on the downed criminal's face before leaping off again, doing so lightly and not causing any real damage to the man's head. "My turn, My turn! I wanna try!" He laughed at the top of his voice like a small child. Bullets began raining down on the two as a criminal had made his way to the roof top and began firing at them. He seemed like a big one, but then again, Jacques didn't care.

"Jeez, these guys just don't give up do they!?"

He immediately raised his hand, swinging it up into the air excitedly. "I got it!" He leapt to the side, jumping off the wall, then the one on the other side before he plunged the metal claws in his gloves into the first wall to scale it like a pro. Whenever a shot was made at him, he transferred to the opposite wall without losing much speed at all before he was finally able to tumble over the side of the roof, rolling to the large man with the gun and kicking the gun out of his hands and into the air. He flipped up to his feet while the large man had been staggered by the sudden disarm. One of his arms grabbed hold of the mans shirt to steady him as the opposite arm wound up a clawed jab. "HeeHee...Bandit Impalement!"

Out of reflex, the large man winced, closing his eyes for the incoming attack, but rather than be torn through by the claws as Jacques had threatened, he felt the grip on his shirt release. He opened his eyes to see Jacques leap off a rooftop a few buildings away to the marine, carrying the rifle he had kicked into the air seconds before in his arms. "Too Easy!" He landed on the ground beside his companion and kept pace as he had been before assaulting the large man. Cackling, the rifle was offered to the Mairne considering he was unarmed as well. "This is fun! Maybe High-Profile work is where it's at! You want this?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Bandit Impalement: Made up. Not an actual technique.

[Kurosaki]

It was slightly distracting having his partner behind him cheering him on clapping like a lunatic. Then he began saying that he wanted to try and Lance shook his head as they ran away from the hail of bullets.

"Be my guest, man. Don't get yourself killed." Lance sighed and shook his head but somehow a smile ended up there as he looked up to see the man scaling up the wall with his clawed gloves. Since the firing stopped, Lance could either assume that the Pumpkin man had been successful, or he had been shot. Since a rain of bullets didn't come down on him again, the Marine stopped running to duck behind a garbage can and keep an eye out. He wasn't stupid enough to stand right in the line of fire while he waited.

A moment later the helmeted man leaped down next to Lance aand offered up the rifle he was caring, saying it had been 'too easy' as he laughed. Lance frowned at his statement that this was fun. How was getting chased around, shot at, and fighting for their lives any fun? But this guy was a little bat nuts crazy, so that was understandable that he would think like that.

"No, I don't use guns much, it's all yours," Lance told him with a shake of his head. He had, of course, been trained to shoot guns like that but he had never been all that great at it. His aim was horrible. It had just been good enough to pass basic training but for his superior officers to pray that he would never fire a gun in the line of duty.

"Okay, now that the grunts are out of the way, getting out of here should be a cake walk," Lance started before he gestured for the mystery man to follow him the rest of the way out of the unlawful side of the Island. However, when he turned he saw something that made him immediately pause.

The woman from before was pointing a pistol at them, her eyes narrowed while she wore a deadly menacing grin.

"Well, you've certainly royally fudged up things for us, Pumpkin face. Hope you're happy. You caused quite a lot of problems for our cause. Sorry but now that I have you in my sights, I can't let you go and we have no need for two hostages, especially if one isn't a Marine," she told him before her finger began to squeeze the trigger. The end of the pistol was pointed at Jacques.