Sinful Smiles

[The Prettiest Squish]

Panic...

The cobblestone curves quaked to the march of madness as a deafening parade of pandemonium reigned through the streets.

Chaos...

An aura of mayhem overtook the surroundings, evident in the scorched corridors of burnt gardens that defiled the once beautiful city. 

Insanity...

And all but one ran rampant seeking solace from the discord ruling over the population. Only one passed through the madness unabashed by its demented atmosphere.

---

Her boots shuffled through roughly on the stone walkway but was lost on deaf ears. She, however, heard clearly the commotion buzzing around her. Everywhere people scrambled left and right without caution, dashing in sporadic directions only to return from where they ran and restarting the cycle. Off on the sides, those who weren't engaged in the panic were the ones causing it. They tossed alcoholic bottles tailed by a flame into homes and sparked an explosive inferno which soon after consumed the establishment. 

"Such amateurs..." the woman muttered under her breath. Words that carried much more meaning one would care to believe coming from the vehement vixen. For she bore a history solely reigned by violence and destruction, never was there a moment of peace controlling her and thus never a time to grow soft...save for recent times.

The girl drew her gaze away from the chaos dominating the landscape and looked blankly onwards down the cobblestone path she walked on. She wasn't entirely sure how long her trek from the shore to her current location had taken and wasn't certain where she was headed to in the end. The girl simply felt attracted by the spectacle of disarray occurring in the area and felt a desire to be immersed in the experience. Suddenly, a tugging at her heart stopped her feet from advancing dead in their tracks. She attempted movement but felt restricted as if her body demanded she stop to take in more of the drowning madness. And so she did. 

A scream, a cry, a shout, a wail. They all entered through one ear, echoed through her brain but did not leave out the other. They persisted in a deranged din, resonating back and forth through the recesses of her mind. Every other second the girl's mood would shift through her rubber visage, jolting from a sinister grin to a clenched grimace of agony. The episode of mood swings from an outsider's perspective would have appeared as a bout of literal metal insanity and concerned those presently watching. If there was anyone watching in the first place what with the pandemonium occupying most of their attention.

They don't know what they're missing out on... She quietly gasped with her eyes closed trying to regain her composure after her body was seemingly consumed by the primal urge to spectate such a disastrous beauty. But I guess their fragile little minds can't handle it like I can... Her pale blue eyes opened back to the scene of the crimes. The tugging at her heart had stopped but the sensation had not vanished. She placed a palm to the center of her bosom to verify if she was living and found it somewhat disappointing that a rhythm was found. "I'm not out just yet...Heh, shit."

Jades stared back at the center of chaos and continued on walking. 

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Sorry for this post being really vague on what's happening. I'm still rusty and don't know much about the riots or what's going on so I just tried to put Jades in a situation where she should normally be comfortable in but is having second thoughts on whether or not she's okay with all the violence and chaos that's happening.

[The Prettiest Squish]

"What exactly is wrong with you people?" 

Jades quietly muttered to herself, whilst keeping the rampaging public at a distance by swerving in and out of their way. The act was peculiar given her nature though and she maintained an aura of reluctance as she moved aside for others, a role she felt that had been reversed on her. She resisted the subconsciously submissive voice telling her to allow people to pass by without harm by bumping into shoulders as often as possible so as to ensure she still had some semblance of her former self inside. But each physical encounter only caused her to wince back in fear of a reprimand in the form of a slap. What exactly's wrong with me?... 

A journey though the scene of chaos went unnoticed as Jades continued walking to where the cobblestone led her. In the background, drowned out sounds of wailing widows and panicking peasants were growing deafening by the second. She paid no attention of course, being bred for this sort of madness gave her a sort of callous heart befit for a guide across such perilous planes. Yet the voice inside her insisted she was the one who did not belong in this environment. And a part of her believed it too. 

Despite the diabolical diva dressing up in attire uncommon by this Queendom's standards, she blended into the background like any other civilian in this situation seeing as how no one gave her so much as a second glance. The commonfolk were too occupied smashing amongst each other and either causing or running away from the mayhem that ensued to even give a double take on the oddly clad harlequin. In her mind, Jades believed that it may simply be because her outfit had toned down dramatically from her previous dual colored hairdo days. But even she couldn't convince herself that was the case. Even with the dramatic downgrade in looks, her ghastly pale face contrasting with her jet black face mask would raise questions to any sane human being walking by. Yet in the state of chaos that they were in, the Queendom's citizens were far too out of their minds to notice one peculiarity in an ocean of absurdity. 

With one gaze at the scene once again, Jades said aloud knowing that not a single soul would stop by to listen, "You're all goddamn maniacs...just not the good kind."

[The Prettiest Squish]

"Wh-wha? The fuck you call me, ya lil runt?..." The vexed vixen growled back with a skip in her tune. This sudden appearance of a young girl, silent and undetected, threw off her sensory awareness as Jades' eyes began to dart rapidly across the street determining if her vision worked better than her hearing had. Do I got somethin' in my ears?... She conspicuously plugged an earhole with her pinky finger whilst keeping a sharp snarl fixated on the cocoa skinned runt. Jades did a quick double take on the finger once it left her aural orifice as it was in her nature to exhibit dominance in personality. Though from any sane person's perspective, she would've appeared moronic trying to come across as intimidating with a wad of earwax hovering three inches from her face. Regardless, she stood her ground.

She withstood it even at the point that the half-pint aimed her pistol directly at her lifeless white face. What a joke, she thought to herself. That this little punk actually thought her aloof approach to the situation was the first Jades had ever seen. The petulant princess of crime had stared her sights down more iron barrels than this child had ever counted in her lifetime. Though once Jades finished scanning over the kid's attire, she believed it safe to assume the delinquent wasn't a novice in the field of marksmanship. In reaction to the revelation, she slowly grasped her fingers tightly around the handle of her mallet only to find the malefic minor inquiring of her reasons for participating in the madness around them.

The vehement villain lashed out in venomous vulgarity, "Come again, pipsqueak? Last I checked, you freaks were rampaging long before I was around. And believe me when I say I just got here so you know this shit ain't on me." The hand that was previously wrapped around the hammer was now a fist stamped upon Jades' chest. She drummed her sternum in an almost primal show of aggression, rhythmically matching the beat with each syllable of her last few words. The primitive side of the macho musician visually popped out through the half open display of white fangs menacingly glaring at the dark skinned dame. Jades' tightly furrowed eyebrows pinched the skin meeting between her eyes and nose, wrinkling her pale complexion as thought it were a crumpled linen sheet. Even the typically soothing nature of a blue eye betrayed its purpose and conveyed a message of impending despair and doom when the two of them stared down at Tiny Tay in malevolence. In short, Jades was upset at the false accusation. 

[The Prettiest Squish]

Once the pistol had been put away, the situation appeared to have settled down at least the tension between the two ladies had. The background clammer of explosions and shattering glass was but a distant ripple in Jades's aural field of perception. Her eyebrows furrowed back ever so slightly to their standard position but still conveyed the essence of irritation. Though the lack of a brilliant bony fang staring back at the one eyed shooter made for a much less intimidating appearance. 

A sharp tongue came lashing out from the garrulous gunslinger who continued on rambling about Jades' purpose of occupying the country. She heaved out a mighty sigh, the barrel of her buxom chest rising and falling to the capacity of her gaseous exasperation. The vexed vixen replied with a mild twitch in her eye, "Well those goons must have some awesome fashion sense kid cuz I don't know what else to tell ya other than this. I AM NOT A GODDAMN REBEL." As she spoke, she unknowingly rose her writhing hands up to her shoulders almost as if to simulate a strangling motion. A quick glance at the reddening of her palms and Jades released her hold and promptly acted out a cough to divert the attention from her anger. "Ahem, like I was saying...None of this was my doing. I mean for the love of god, these maniacs have no taste! No style or class! It's all up in flames and soon it'll go down in ash...Besides, what the hell are you doing here with that gu- uhhhm - who the fuck are they?" The perplexed perpetrator pointed a bony digit towards the rooftop of a flower store.

“BROUHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!”

“YAH-HAHAHAHAAA~!!”

Whasgoinon? A wave of confusion washed away Jades' rage, her eyebrow now raised slightly while her jaw was left gaping in dumbstruck wonder. The girl in front retorted back at the pair leaving the homicidal harlequin to stand back as a mindless spectator between two arguing parties. One shouted at the other and the others shouted back. Jades wasn't particularly interested in the unexpected arrival of two strangers and their invitation for safe passage on the other side. Frankly, she felt that the day had been enough to tire her out with the amount of strangeness that polluted the island's atmosphere. A riot, a rebellion, a revolution, these were all incidents of disorganized fun that typically would've incited passion from the maiden of mayhem but instead exhausted her mentally and physically from dealing with experience. Jades shoved Tay to the side so that her view of the macabre marauders was no longer obstructed, inviting herself as a third party into this boisterous mess, "I don't have the patience to dance with ya fools. Get lost creeps." A pause between the men and women ensued for a short while.

.....

"Brouhahaha...BROUHAHAHAHAHA!!"

The Yellow Streak guffawed beneath a haunting guise, his ends of his cloak mere wisps of fabric darkness hovering above the ground. He froze in place, laughing a chilling cackle with his eyes focused on the pale skinned pirate. The chilling gaze of a jet black pupil stabbed back at the unimpressed ghoul of a girl whose sneer returned only for its aim to redirect towards him. "I can't speak for my partner here, but I don't remember asking for your permission, girl!" His arms broke open the midsection of his cloak, tearing asunder the phantasmal leather that hid the man's inner workings. Holy shit... Ranging all the way from the crest of his shoulder to the end of his belt buckle, an X formed by two leather straps riddled in steel spikes decorated the dark barrel of Streak's chest. "Don't get too close now dear...Wouldn't want my meat pricked with holes, now would I!? BROUHAHAHAHA!!"

A cold gust blanketed the inevitable battlefield, as if the fiery rage of rebellion expired as all the happiness and warmth disappeared from the world. Jades froze in place, her eyes watching the sinister steel serpents slithering across the cobblestone tiles. Her eyes retreated to an alternate place only to find an even more repulsive sight. Though the gray metal thorns peeking from Yellow Streak's torso were of a dull tone, all she could notice were dried splotches of blood left there to peel and decay as an example of the man's prior warning. Don't get too close?...Don't come anywhere near me, you creepy fuck! A frigid, bitter quiver raced down the thin legs of the previously haughty harlot. Her toes had gone numb, the blood in her fingers felt cold and the slightest chill jolted through her spine. She had no idea what was happening, what was this sensation? An earthquake? A cool summer breeze? Had more explosions been triggered?? NO? Then what else could explain her body acting up the way it was?! Jades' visage reflected the answer but without a mirror, she was left to deduce the hard truth through her own trembling red lips.

Reluctantly, she spoke to herself but within earshot of the girl who once enraged her,

"That man..."

"Those things..."

"They..."

"They haunt me."

[The Prettiest Squish]

"S-Shut the hell up, pipsqueak.." muttered Jades pathetically. The handful of words left through her quivering scarlet lips but were not at all formulated from her intellect above. There was no thought that had gone into her uttering the empty threat, only fear. Fear that drummed her heart so strongly, the sound of her own words was deafened by blood torrenting through vessels all across her head. Fear so cold and frigid, not an inch of pale ghastly flesh could budge at its owner's will. It was fear, it was dread, it was dominating her mind and invading her sense of reason. Jades' jaw remained gaping open, being able to only breathe in and out, in and out, the primal instinct of survival keeping her alive but for how long?

What's happening to me...T-This isn't me. I'm not weak...I'm not. Just then, the dreaded damsel kept her gaze locked with intent, the icy cold stipple frozen dead solid on the two only to find her vision of them obscuring. The color faded from the edges of her sight, followed soon after by the loss of light around the two figures only for there to be merely jet black silhouettes of the murderers. In the shadows with no obstruction, she saw them for what they were - sickly shapes bent and molded by sin defined by darkness and driven by hatred. These were not criminals, they were death incarnate and they had come for her. Jades' eyes bled from the deathly drought she had brought upon them.

"S-Shit...M-My eyes..." A rapid dab at her hues and the light shone once more. Her eyelashes bounced off the tender lids that supported them as they made their way back up to reveal a world renewed. A squint in the proper direction and it took a second for Jades to realize how long she had been out of the loop. While she had stayed behind living in the dim fantasy of her visions, Taylor had gone off to begin this little scuffle. Where the sicklier man of the two once stood was now a crumpled body beaten and battered slightly from the looks of a rifle gripped in the other girl's hands. "Who knew the runt had moves?..."

"Who indeed?" a voice came from behind.

Steel met iron as the marauder and the maiden clashed each other's 'arms' upon the other. For a moment it seemed that the mallet would actually triumph over the villain's vine until a quick jerk downward from Streak tore down its husks and brought the hammer down with it, tearing the woman's sleeve clean off in the process. "NO!!" Jades exclaimed while the serrated edge dug through her arm like a shovel would through dirt. The assailant stepped back to admire his work and could only laugh boisterously at the sight of alizarin lifewater spilling along the gash on her arm. "My word, girl! With that much blood from one swing, I'll be bathing in it all by the time I'm done with you! BROUHAHAHAHAHA!" Yellow Streak continued to taunt her but his witty remarks fell on deaf ears.

The crimson clad clown found no enjoyment at the sour sting of her viciously raked forearm, in fact she felt numb to the wound itself and only saw what no one else could. Adjacent to the slash running down the length of her arm were countless others scars, healed by time but not in spirit. 'Not again...' she whispered. A frosty phantasmal feeling swept over the track of her spine, the sensation followed by a heavy shudder and what resembled a yelp. 'Ple-ease...no-ot...not again...' her voice began to break apart. And so did she.

The once haughty harlequin now surrendered to her knees, all her gaze and attention focused on the 'pattern' of lesions that grotesquely decorated the surface of her arm. Jades' other hand trembled in horror approaching the lacerated patch of flesh freezing midway through its journey only to finally stop its fingers just above them. 'M-m-m-m-maybe they're not real! Y-y-y-y-yeah!!? J-j-j-ju-juss-jussss-just a bad dream!! Th-that's it!! THIS IS ALL JUST A BAD DREAM.' as much of an effort she made to get those words out coherently, all that left Jades' lips was an incoherent screech, raspy and exhausted. Alas, the poor girl nodded maniacally at the remark as if it was truly reassuring her, grinning hopelessly with a crazed look in her eyes. 'JUSSABAD DREAM JUSSABAD DREAM BAD DREAM BAD DREAM BADREAMBADREAMBADDREMABAMREADMABADDREA- ....' 

Rough. Abrasive. Yet tender to the touch. Crumbly like charcoal and rocky like gravel. Yet smooth like silk. Jades' fingers ran down each scar, one by one, remembering each beating every single one came from. She recalled their faces, their screams. She recollected her memory of the damp, cold cells where she and dozens more lay for sleepless nights. But most importantly, she remembered them. She remembered the whips. And she remembered Him. For He stood there silently - waiting, watching her relive it all. And He would come for her next. 

'No...' Jades' eyes widened in terror, her pupils nearly shrinking at the sight of him. "No!!" She began to squirm in her cobblestone seat, crawling slowly away by bloodying her palms across the ground in an effort to retreat. "NO!!"

"Done daydreaming now, little girl? Hehe, let's begin." Streak snapped the steel serpent across the stone tiles and smirked until his lips were up to his eyelids. The man stepped toward her.

The damsel in dismay clawed her tender frame off the ground and bolted to the nearest building, tossing the hammer at him in the process. As she left the scene, a bloodcurdling cry echoed all throughout the street of Ciudedalan Queendom,

"GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

SPOILER: Click to show

EJ

[The Prettiest Squish]

From the rooftops, he sang this maniacal melody,

"ONE!"
The thunder of metal shattered the air.

"TWO!!"
The chimney beside her burst asunder.

"THREE!!!"
The ground erupted in a grimy mist of stone and rubble.

"AND FOUR!!!!"
The whip lashed forth, its impact blooming true. Lifewater splattered from her back and sprinkled onto the cobblestone below. Streak cackled in ecstasy at the last lash finally landing its mark. 

---

"This can't be real!!" a torrent of urgency rushed through her mind. Though the man called out each slash he'd make before the whip landed, Jades couldn't tell where he was coming from. In this frenzy of thought, she believed he could be anywhere at anytime using the taunt of numbers to distract from his actual location. "Make it stop! Please just make it stop!!" Her arms flailed about aimlessly in an attempt to bat off the impending threat but to no avail. "Again you ask? Why certainly!! ONE!" The retreating ruffian yelped in pain as her jacket opened again at the sting of the serrated serpent. A scarlet lettered X was cleanly formed at the center of her spine, signing herself as Streak's prime target. "Brouhahaha, you can't run forever!"

The surroundings blurred through her moist vision, windows and doors melting to quadrilaterals, the flowerbeds, to emerald splotches and red sprinkles. Jades was unaware of how fast her legs carried her but knew well enough they were not fast enough to evade the sadist behind her. The weeping woman tackled through hordes of rebels without a thought as if they were cheap mannequins in need of demolition. Shouts of anger and surprise were all drowned out by her own hoarse cries, "No more I said!! NO MORE!!" Suddenly, a crack of wind popped beside her ear, deafening and stunning the dashing damsel in distress. She instinctively used a hand to muffle out any other noise but the booming of metal beating air still rang sharply in her ear. For the second Jades was dazed by the strike, her eyes had been drawn to the side from whence the sound came. Consequently with the loss of direction, she crashed straight into a stack of wooden crates by the side of an alleyway. 

BAM!!!

Board after plank rained down on the stupefied sprinter, her movement now relaxed for the time being as the debris cleared. But Jades breathed heavily at the site of the crash, her prior hyperventilating only exacerbated by the enormous marathon she ran just then. So breathless was she, when attempting to articulate her thoughts, every other word was followed by a deep inhale of fresh new fuel, "Maybe...I lost... track...of him." The wooden boards buried the joyless jester in its remains and provided a sort of cover from her pursuer. But any demented seeker with a brain would surely discover her location by no time. Jades had to formulate a strategy on dealing with this menace but the major problem was how? Every second her eyes met the sight of those two...her whole body weeped in agony and the fresh scar she received only burned hotter. It seemed direct conflict was impossible which meant the only choice was to go about this indirectly.

Jades dragged her body to the opposite side of the alley, back against the wall, and kept an eye out for the madman on the rooftops. When there was no sign of him emerging out, she began to plan out her options. "O-Okay...so far he's been h-hitting me at medium r-r-r-range....which means if I take the advantage...he'll have no way to fi-fight back.." Her eyes darted back and forth between her fingers as they played out puppetry simulations of the potential fights. The digits twisted and spasmed uncontrollably while trying to emulate the figures of the two players. Even moments after she had been frozen kneeled on the ground, her hands were not entirely responding to her thoughts. "F-F-Focus, you bitch...wh-who you callin' a bitch, bi-bi-bi-bitch?" Suddenly, from a block down the street, an explosion of molotovs set an entire row of houses ablaze. Jades knew that her predator had lost his patience.

"I'M TIRED OF WAITING YOU LITTLE TRAMP! COME OUT AND DIE PROPER, LIKE A GOOD LITTLE LADY!!"

Her eyes widened in panic at the screeching howl of his voice filling the rebellious atmosphere of the Queendom with a now malevolent aura of evil. Streak stood upon the chimney of an untouched home as the flames danced closely behind him, dressing his ghoulish attire in demonic wisps. The smoke darkened the azure ocean above and veiled all the joy from the sky under one large black curtain. "H-How do I face him?!..." She silently screamed to herself in terror. Her palms squeezed the life out of her skull, the stress of inevitability weighing down on her. The shivering now grew to an unstoppable quake that shook even the wood off of her - ....

"The wood..." Jades stared at the organic ammunition surrounding her trembling body.

[The Prettiest Squish]

"I haven't got all day, sweetheart! My associate and I have been starving all day! Best not to keep us waiting!!" Streak shouted from the rooftops of the highest building around, hoping to catch the harlot's attention. Clear from his speech, the man's patience was running thin and the anticipation of waiting for his prey drove him to further madness. He kneeled to the pile of molotov cocktails which he used prior to set the town ablaze. "ARE YOU DEAF?!!" Streak rose his hand up in a swift motion ready to blow another home up when he heard the call of his meal...

---

"H-Hey! Watch where you're th-throwing that thing..."

The prey had arrived. Out from the shadows emerged a most terrifying sight. It was adorned in a crown of golden locks, its fleshy exterior a ghastly pale white, its body wrapped in darkness and blood turned skin and its eyes drowned in an icy dead blue. She brought her claws up to the air in Streak's direction with bold fashion and the beast cried unto he, "...Y-Ya wanna fight, pu-punk-ass-bitch? Th-then c-come at meee..." 

The petrified jester stood her ground as solidly as her trembling toes would allow her. And the reappearance of Streak's morbid looks only worsened the experience. Before she had the chance to retreat once again, a perilous voice shouted out, Come on you coward...stick to the plan... At the degrading mention of timidity a sudden fire lit up in her eyes. And though it faded as soon as it appeared, the ephemeral flare sent a warmth of spirit across her body. Jades tensed up her limbs, the quake in her knees forgotten and the fire of outrage pouring energy into her veins. I'm no fuckin' coward....I'm...I'm... Before she could finish her thoughts, Streak's first strike came without warning. The true battle began.
 
A lash grazed open the snowy specter's cheek, letting loose a leak of vermillion vitality that dribbled to her chin. Jades stepped back, her senses more aware than they had ever been as her eyes darted all across the roofs. Damn!! In her moment of insight, the befuddled buffoon lost attention of where Streak struck from. The baleful butcher could be lurking atop any of the residences and the girl had naught the slightest clue where he could attack from. However...she knew what trick was still up her sleeve that would aid in keeping an encompassing defensive. 

The vigilant jester kept her eyes out for any sign of the cutthroat before she made any attempts. A shuffle to the left, the pang of a window pane, the slightest gust of wind passing over a weather vane. The individual sounds all around her played in her head note by note as she distinguished which was natural and which was manmade. To the top right...now the corner on my six...he moved to the left again... Streak was toying with his food at this point. For a man who nearly ignited the streets because he was forced to wait, he sure took his sweet time digging into his meal. If that were the case, he'd be waiting to see if this was a dinner worth fighting for or a quick, cheap take out. She set out to prove to be neither.

"Come and get it freak..." Jades' hands swung wild like the contemptuous conductor she was, the helixes of her wrists twisting and turning to a discordant rhythm. Her shoulders rocked back and forth with the weight of her chest spiraling them more uncontrollably by the second. There was no latent frost in her joints anymore, only renewed vigor and voracity for vengeance. A catastrophic cacophony blared through her head, its sudden explosion of sound. It took merely a second for her to realize just what it was. The flood of fervor, the fervor of battle, rushing through her head and reddening her white body to a bright hot pink. She was ready.

"Are YOU deaf?!!" 

From beneath her feet, an flood of umber remains burst forth from the ground and torrented all around her in a ravaging ring of timber boards and broken nails. 

"I-I said!
...
COME AND GET IT!!
...
FREAK!!!"

[The Prettiest Squish]

"HEH...WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, SWEETS?" He stood high up on the tiles looking down at her. The downcast formation of his hood obscured any detail of his face yet it was obvious what emotion was hidden behind the shadowy veil. Whatever fragment of his complexion was left to touch the sun could only be described as a raging crimson. The smoky tendrils of his cloak in conjunction with his spiky wisps radiated dread and doom. He was dressed as the spirit of death come to take what was rightfully his. The arm of the silent reaper rose its thorny lash in anticipation for the first strike."I don't take kindly to wisecracks..." 

---

Jades carefully observed the motion of Streak's whip, looking out specifically for sudden jerks that would signal his intention to whip. She knew even from the distance that separated them, the great python that stretched on longer than twice her own height could easily graze its tip against her cheek. This looming threat was beginning to affect her stance once again, evident in the subtle shaking in her knees. No...come on, we can do this... 

The hesitant harlequin shut her eyes to block off the flood of voices from the past. All that could be perceived now was the clashing whirring of oversized splinters and planks crashing within her ring. Suddenly, she began to mutter out nonsense that could only be described as a butchering of the true thoughts that went through her head, He's only a man...he's only a man...they can't hurt you anymore...I know that...then why are you scared?.....I am NOT scared...Then show me. 

She allowed the light to return into focus only this time concentrating entirely on the obscured portrait of the malefic murderer who still mounted his talons on the roof of a Ciudadelan home. "Swing first, buddy...It'll be y-your last." The slightest falter in her voice gave away that the nightmare had not left her brain. Regardless she had no intention of letting Streak run amok torturing her from above. It was time to knock the false idol off his pedestal.

With a flicker of her wrist a multitude of wooden shrapnel was sent flying one by one at the deranged demon with whips. Though the lumber ammunition launched from Jades' orbit with blinding speed, the man simply parried the boards dead in their tracks with the brunt of his serrated tails. "Don't tell me that's all you can do!? I'd be highly disappointed!!" Streak leaped across another rooftop, drawing ever closer until he was within a stone's toss away and facing directly into the alley Jades hid behind. "Why don't you entertain me girl? I love a good show before dinner!!"

To her surprise, Jades saw her foe reach into his cloak and pull out a most familiar artifact of battle. "My!...My baby!" Streak gripped in his hand the very hammer the disturbed damsel had thrown at him during her feverish episode. He guffawed aloud as the lady stood below whining for her old toy back. Knowing full well he'd never see the true extent of his dish if the mallet was not returned to its master, the generous grim reaper chucked the tool back to finally get things started. "Now that you're all back together, LET THE REAL FUN BEGIN!! BROUHAHAHA!!" 

Jades embraced the cold steel of the hammer as it slammed against her chest. Though the impact visibly harmed the jovial jester, the return of her most trusted weapon was enough to send her into a celebratory dance. "Oh my baby!...I'll never let you go again!...In fact." Her eyes ascended back to the rooftop. "Why don't we go thank the nice man, hm?" Luscious ruby lips smooched the silvery slab before they uttered out a most bizarre invocation, Carousel.... Jades swung the mighty metal gavel by the strap, its rotation growing swifter by the second. Streak witnessed this ritualistic waltz of battle, but completely unaware that a drastic change had transpired of the girl. 
 
Wood lay at her feet, immobile and lifeless as they were when she met them. The air around her was silent and empty, save for a persistent humming coming from a precise location. Jades grinned slightly captivated by the marvel that was occurring before her. She had not utilized this approach with her powers before but now was as a good as any. The riotous ringleader stared dead at the arrogant hunter, patiently lingering on from his arrogant apex. She felt a tight tugging tension oscillating her hand uncontrollably. "Pay attention now...I'm not in the mood...for any encores." 

The peccant performer swerved the iron weight towards her opponent and released her hold, only hanging by the strap as it propelled straight for Streak. From her mouth came forth yet another bizarre incantation, "MJÖLNIR!!" 

"Mjol-wha-" 
SLAM

The rambunctious rebel skyrocketed towards Streak's demonic form with such electric velocity, the impact sent the two human projectiles flying for several meters back to the original scene of battle. Stone tiles plummeted to the ground as their bodies crashed aimlessly over the house tops. After much tumbling and stumbling, the pair regained composure and got up to their feet quickly before the other could have a chance to recuperate. Streak was the first to speak, after he cleared his crushed throat with a much needed cough, "Hehehe...Now THIS! THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!" And suddenly, as if the phantasmal fantatic lost every sense of human reason, he began to scream with glee and abandon. The suit of shadows he sported was slowly being torn away as the howling continued.

Jades breathed at a rapid pace, clearly out of shape from such a great period of atrophy. She kneeled while the force of her ring subsided and the hammer rested lifeless once again on the copper tiles that held them. See...he's not invincible...We can beat him. Words of reassurance were all she could manage as the exhaustion she felt was much more than originally anticipated. Perhaps because the girl gauged the launch strength relative to her body's prime long ago. Now all she felt was a sore burning in the shoulder that delivered the rest of her with the rest of the mallet. Now all we gotta do is land a few more...and-and-and... "Oh my god." 

The blizzard of brutality infected her bones. oh my god. Marrow succumbed to the bleak chill of despair and dismay. please no. The cold steel of her hammer felt boiling hot compared to the frigid flesh that coated her bitingly brisk bones. She sat shocked and appalled at the sight that awaited her, only able to gape her jaw and tremor in terror. There, in front of her own eyes was Yellow Streak, bare in his own flesh without the veil of death. There she saw an all too familiar vision. Fleshy fissures of hot maroon skin decorated his mutilated corpse. Graveyards of blisters and scabs, unattended gashes left to rot and die, and the very same scars she lived with encompassed his body as if they were merely patterns on an article of clothing. mommy...help me... Streak chuckled with the full form of his tortured body clearly having an effect on this pathetic clown. "BROUHAHA...Speechless again? Perhaps...you should stay that way, Meal." 

Before Streak's steel serpents slashed their way into her, Jades uttered at the top of her lungs, in a delusional state and with no one in mind,

"HELLLLP MEEEE!!!!" 
As she plummeted to the ground, broken and beaten, in body and spirit with no hope to help her and no sanity to keep her steady.

[The Prettiest Squish]

Within that empty nothingness,
And beyond the mortal veneer,
Lay humanity at its zenith,
Its untouchable quality,
Bold and destined for greater heights...

---

The shuffling of gravel broke the stillness in her carcass. Her sweaty palms and rigid knees shook as they went at lifting this broken body. But the struggling went about undetected. Feather and the young woman from before had trapped themselves in dialogue unawares of her motion and merely engaged into a final showdown. I have to get away... A voice told her, I have to run... This was not her territory, she did not belong in this arena of bloodshed.

Slowly, her hands branched out to the edge of her boundaries, fingers barely scraping through the firm gravel landing. From the mighty fall she sustained, a shattered meshwork of stone and dust decorated the flooring and every inch she took to escape, a new shard pierced its way into her flesh. What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here... She crawled further and further but made only meager progress. From the rooftops the girl could hear Streak's guffaws of victory. I won't be your meal goddamn it. Just let me go... She had only gone on a hair's width further when the sudden grasp of her shoulder sent a jolt of terror up her spine. 

"Hey!!..."

"GEDDAWAFRUMA!"

"Are you alright??..."

"STAHYOFUG I GAWYOUDABLARHAA" 

Jades had completely lost it. Every ounce of composure had drained from her mind and was left with fear and hysteria. The once haughty harlequin was reduced to a bumbling buffoon and knew naught what else was left to do. All sensation and reason left her and in that time of annihilation, nothing could keep her steady. 

Arms flailing about with no aim in direction, Jades screamed maniacally at her 'attacker'. Her pale blue eyes were never frozen in a single moment for a millisecond. They darted around frantically - unwilling to see eye to eye with the monster who felled her. "PLEASESTAHH IJUSS. IJUSTTWANNAGO." The words wouldn't stop. The wailing wouldn't stop. She would never stop drowning in the madness until something happened. And that's when it hit her.

Calma

The mania, the fear, the craze. Gone. All without a whisper. Nothing was left. Now was there only emptiness? No, a voice. She heard the vague resemblance of a voice in the void of her mind.

Words. Only sounds. One by one. They only kept coming. Growing louder than the last. The buzzing, the shaking, the rage. An exclusive intent was all that remained. And a primal drive consumed her mind to...

to...

to...

Destroy.

The shifting of gravel subsided and the voice that had been so panicked and shrill died down to a calm whisper.

---

...

Hello Jades. 

"...Hello?"

Haha. It's been quite a long time hasn't it?

"Wow! Yea it has! I've missed you."

You're so sweet. Oh remember all those good times?

"Yea, I do! My, how time flies." 

Yes...But do you know what I don't miss?

"What is it?"

....Being beaten...

"Oh..."

...And bloodied.

"Yea..."

...And humiliated.

"..."

I don't miss those days Jades.

"...As do I, but..."

I will not stand for this Jades!

"...Ok neither will I bu-"

I can't hold myself back Jades!!

"...I-I can't either bu-but."

I. Want. Him. Dead.

"...I...I..."

"I want him dead."

---

With her hand on Taylor's short frame, Jades propped herself back to her feet. But she did not simply just stand. It was subtle but ever so present. The temper of her skin ran smooth with nary a shudder crawling through. Her poise appeared relaxed and yet also tense, straining rigidly with anticipation. Even the disposition of the woman's portrait contained no qualms in purpose. Tight, intense and saturated in hatred. Her eyes reflected an almost unworldly malice inconsonant of the human gaze. She was immersed in it, embracing it. The poison all good people turn to in crisis. Anger and hate, the cardinal tools of any forsaken soul. 

Jades turned her eyes to the skies, to the platform upon which the fool boasted a false triumph. And he turned to her, beaming with a demented ecstasy. The prey had learned to fight, has it? "I'm impressed, clown! You survive a fall like that and still challeng-" Streak had only begun his speech when it was cut abruptly. 

"Shut the fuck up, you fraud."

The grin on his face vanished instantly. "The hell did you say to m-"

"I'm done playing your games. You are a FAKE. A SHAM. Killing? Torture? You and your friend are nothing but LIES. But do you know who I am? I am the destroyer of order, the enemy of peace. Miles of flames blazed at my trails as the winds screamed the wails of all who opposed me."

Streak couldn't bring himself to chuckle at this bold approach. It was so unlike any other prey he had encountered. Where was the panic? Where was the fear? A gasp left his lips at the terrifying revelation that he no longer saw this girl in clear focus. He was shaking. "No...no..No! NOO!!" Reaching as far back as he could, the macabre marauder hoisted his serrated serpent to the sky. "YOU are the FAKE, girl!!" At the crack of thunder, Streak's toothed lash tore through the air, its fangs aimed right for that girl's pretty little hea-

SNAP!

Droplets of scarlet life ran down the length of Jades' forearm. A red streak gushed from her fleshy soft palm. And the sawlike whip rested comfortably between her unyielding vise. "And right now...you're all I see standing in my way." Jades jerked the jagged cable into her stance and sent the momentum down the line into Streak's grip. Without thinking, the man kept his fist clenched around the cord and found himself flying along with it. From the height which he descended, he only worsened the situation as gravity accelerated his unstoppable dive. This can't be happening! I-I'm! I'M THE ONE WHO HUNTS! 

Jades found herself face to face with the deranged monster anxiously awaiting his plummet to the dirt. But she would not be satisfied in just his dethroning from on high. Releasing the hand she had grasping Taylor's shoulder, the queen of chaos gyrated her hips, stretched her arm back, awaited the target and...and...and....Wait...what.

The earth shattered to a stingy cloud of stone dust in front of her and not from some wall 30 feet to her right. What's happening?...wh-what's going on? Jades looked at her hand with a panicked curiosity invading her mind once again. Her chest rose and fell in anxiety, uncertain and afraid at this unexpected turn of events. I-I was just...But I was...You. Pale blue eyes met a white bundle of hair atop chocolate brown skin. "Yo-you're the one w-who..."

"RAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHGRAHHHHHHHH"

Oh boy. She frantically did a double take for the impending threat to come. Fear consumed her again and in a frenzied state she could only say the following words, "He-hey dude! I need you to touch me right now!"

[The Prettiest Squish]

From the beginning of a large inhale, she felt it.
That darkness ever so creeping,
crawled out from her soul whence it was sleeping,
and heard only a whisper,
in the sound, 
of violence.

2 minutes...

..That's all you got.

I'm ready...

...Hehehe. Excellent.

---

She did not hide when she rose her eyes in spite of him staring intently; the broken man and his broken hand sat silently suffering slightly. A fine coat of rubble glazed his fallen form but its weight was lost on him. In mere seconds after the impact, Streak rose to his feet and brushed aside the debris.

"Huhhh...You've got a lot of nerve taking me down like that." As best as he tried to conceal his exhaustion, that inkling of fatigue began to destabilize his composure. The man who stood before the dastardly duo was a shadow of the boisterous braggart who challenged them moments ago. Nonetheless his pride would not diminish this far into the conflict. They would pay dearly for his humiliation. Streak began unraveling the vest of spikes that adorned his torso, all the while grinning menacingly at the two women, "Tch...gravity done more foul harm than you ladies dished out all day." The demented warrior lay his skin bare for the world to see, unashamed at the brawn and strength his body possessed. Drumming his massive chest with an animalistic vigor, the demon roared, "Come on now, GIMME YOUR BEST SHOT!!" 

---

"Hold tight."

"...??!"

Let us begin...

From her stance, her hands, uncontrollable
Her mighty swings, twisted fingers, unstoppable 
The very air they breathe was impalpable
No escape from the unavoidable...

And with every wave that she had made, 
Both combatants felt a reckoning,
Heavy air and massive pressuring, 
From her hands, the one and only
Venus Jades...

In solemn form, she bowed her crown to the ground and opened up in jubilence. I am FREE. 
With no warning, the ground exploded forth in unison. A crude halo of broken tiles and shattered streets flew around her at breakneck velocity. "W-WHAT IS THIS!?" Streak shouted out. Only an empty silence awaited his cry in the turbulent argent cyclone. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Still only nothing. "W-WHO THE HELL ARE YOU??!" A grin.

What the hell is happening?...Is she doing this?

As if right on cue, a grating, raving voice called out from the twister. "Who am I?...I am become Death." She rose her hand ever so slightly and calmly turned it to face her palm in his way. He merely stared back, abashed and shaken at the sight of her. Skull white skin, with ice cold eyes, the maiden of madness carved asunder her gentle scarlet lips and lay open the sweet jaws of death. A phantasmal field of ivory concealed the abyssal void beneath. It was perfectly clear that nothing of her was pure or human now, there was only the intent and the frenzy of one single purpose. What is she...?

With only a flicker of the wrist, Jades sent forth a finely sectioned crescent of debris rocketing towards Streak. "The destroyer of worlds..." The stalwart Streak sidestepped to safety by the width of a hair but not without disclosing his fear that the monster's attack had evoked. "HOLY SHIT??" HOW FAST WAS THAT GOING?? With mere seconds before the second barrage made its mark on the house behind him, Yellow Streak dashed off in retreat of the fortress of stone.

"There is no escaping your destiny..." She was on the move now, no longer idly standing by tossing ammunition around. From a steady posture Jades then sunk to waist level, one hand holding onto the iron hammer at her belt and the other seemingly for momentum. Is she gonna be...runnin- Before the thought completed in her head, Taylor was taken on a full blazing sprint through the Ciudadelan streets. GAH! You moron!! How do you expect me to hold my breath with you rocking me like a hurricane?! Alas, Tay's thoughts were lost on deaf ears as all that this crazed chaser could think about was terminating the arrogant prophet of pain once and for all. 

Traveling through the districts once again, the native piggybacker was reminded of the prior situation that befell this city. What was the pivotal scene of destruction that plagued the Ciudadela Queendom became a minor backdrop to her showdown with White Feather. Oh man, all that fightin' and I forgot all about this mess! Her small digits grasped the blonde's shoulders tightly but did not seem to affect her progress in any way. I can't waste any more time with these guys and certainly not with Calma on! We gotta end it here and now! 

Then, as if the planets aligned to her will, Tay's petite frame came to a halting stop as her steed screeched her heels upon the pavement. Oh jeez! What nowww?? Oh. Sitting in front of the chocolate and vanilla swirl was a bitter lemon cake, out of breath and glaring intensely at its more delectable opposition. "Hah...Got a nose like a bloodhound she does." A cold chuckle left his mouth but came more of a sigh of submission. Had he surrendered himself so easily? It didn't take long for Tay's acquaintance to make the first move. 

Giving him no time to retaliate, Jades brought down every pound of bone and muscle crashing into Streak's gnarly visage. She's bloodying him up good, that's for sure. But why is he so ready to lose all of a sud- NGH! Oh no! Time had been moving so quickly, the mocha passenger neglected to count how long Calma's effect would have. OH GOD. YOU GOTTA HURRY YOU DOLT! Tay struggled to relay the message physically as her companion's sights were dead set on setting Streak dead. A shade of violet began to invade the umber sniper's face. 

"Where's your cheap talk now? Huh!? WHERE IS IT, MEAL?? AHAHAHAHA!!" She thundered blow after blow down on her foe who did nothing but lay his back against a brick wall. From a glance, one would not expect the young girl to be dealing much harm against the behemoth until they notice the cracks forming from every impact she smashed into the man. By the fifth strike, a spiderweb pattern of fissures decorated the surface of her burgundy stone canvas. "Hard to believe that you gave me a run for my money before but I guess you needed a handicap after all, hah." Jades dismounted off the broken man, not yet satisfied with this brutality. "Now...shall I remind you who I once was?" Ascending her hands to the heavens, the sadistic sinner snickered as a child would. Her fingers were outstretched at first but then closed together into a fist. And that's when the realization hit him. The orbit had still been running in the background, waiting patiently for its eternal cycle to tear the lad asunder. With her last movement, the ring now compressed to a raging typhoon of obliteration above her. Okay then...She's had enough fun. I believe it's time for this facade to end. 

"THAT'S RIGHT! I AM THE ONE AND ONLY VENUS JADES!! I AM BECOME....

death?"

Jades turned her head to the sight of Taylor, inhaling as much as her lungs could carry. "...I tried to warn you..." She turned back. "...Hello Death...Or should I say? Dead." A comet of force drilled into her side and in that brief second of uncertainty, she lost all sense of reality. Light vanished, the air dissipated, she was weightless, it was empty, and it was gone. What followed after was a bloodcurdling scream the likes of Streak knew too well.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
"YESSS!! IT HURTS DOESN'T IT!! WELL BITCH? ANSWER ME! DOESN'T IT!!??"

The pale carcass wailed with agony on her descent to the floor. And her dark skinned partner followed after. Just as how Jades could not be called human in her previous state, the cries coming from her mouth were of an otherworldly level, tantamount to that of a tormented ghoul weeping its very existence. She regretted life itself if it meant being forced to endure a single more second of the pain she felt. Once Taylor had gotten her breath back and attempted to communicate, all she heard were the whimpers, "kill me....kill me...please...just kill me..."

"Hahaha! I knew she wasn't a heartless menace behind it all. Now, move aside girl. You'll meet your end soon enough, but this woman's life is mine to take. I've earned that right. To become death. To be the destroyer of her puny little world." Slowly, slowly, slowly he bowed down to reach her. Seconds. Only seconds were left. What do I do?...What can I do?... Her eyes dropped down at a single moist marble drip down a porcelain portrait. What can WE do?  

A chance, a hope, a last resort. Tay placed both hands and all her faith into this one moment. Come on, ya clown...

"GET BACK UP!!!"

"ENOUGH OF YOUR GAMES!! NOW DIE-!!??"

The steel struck true and it struck hard. With merely one arm to fuel its celestial ascent, it was a miracle it sent Streak flying into the bricks once more. But this was no miracle at work. This was destiny. This was fate. All these events at play were meant to be. And so, like any hero, she rose from her slumber and off of her knees. She stood tall and strong but in silence and placidity. For a time. And then she knew. Punches? Hammers? Falls and walls? These would not stop him once and for all. Jades saw all around her what no one else could. Instruments of destruction, ready for play at any given notice. Good to have you back, now let's finish this! It was only a thought but the fire shone so sharply in Tay's eyes that Jades read it perfectly this time around. "When we're together, there's no stopping us." The both of them nodded simultaneously and prepared the final blow.

Out from a pile of warm toned stones shot out a burly arm raked in scars. Then a chest, a leg and a face. "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS FOOLISHNESS!!!!! BOTH OF YOU, JUST DIEEE!!!!"

Will this even work...let's hope it does. Jades brought forth the orbit into her palm, compressing the dense ring of force even tighter than ever. At its compact volume, even the air trapped by its influence began to scar the softer tissue of its user's palm. Please work, this is the last shot we got... Tay waited in anticipation at what her partner was planning. She had better be preparing something, we're sitting ducks standing out like this... Suddenly, the roar of a predator long overdue for its prey caught up to them. Speak of the devil... With impatience she slammed her fists down on the woman's back, urging her to move along. But the process required much more delicate handiwork for a prototype run of this magnitude. Every inch that Jades attempted to move the orbit internally to her hand left an uncontrollable quaking in her bones. Come on!! Come on!!! Work, damn it, work! The sound of footsteps, no, stomps of rage drew ever closer. DUDE, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!? Tay regretted not being able to communicate clearly her frustration but without her breath holding it would be the end of them. "Almost there...." She said in reply, almost sensing the tension. "CLOWN!! PIPSQUEAK!! YOUR TIMES ARE UP!!" The beast had arrived. 

"JUST....A COUPLE...MORE...SECONDS!!" The turbulence in her hands were just twisting tendons and muscle fibers at this point. She was running out of options. He was coming.

Please hurry up! Come on, what THE FUCK are you waiting for?!... The towering shadow of a human colossus reigned down upon them. "It's over now."

She couldn't take it anymore,

"JUST DO IT!!!!!"

It burst forth like a shooting star. A comet, a force of nature, the very element of chaos itself. She bloomed, she blossomed and it was greater than she possibly imagined. For Jades, time stood still. All she felt traverse through this reality was the numbness but also the pain. That infernal sensation and the lack thereof imbedded in every inch of her arm. As though all life of her limb had ceased in one fell swoop of unfathomable pain and no other feeling could cure its affliction. She was ready. It was time. And though the voices ceased to be, she knew herself alone could end it now.

The winds and whispers in the sound of violence were swept away in a riptide of moving tremors. As a catastrophic arm of devils had awakened, all it sought was the blood of Yellow Streak. Jades could not count how many rotations her orbit made in just the last millisecond but its effect took their toll even now on the fragile fibers in her forearm. This would settle the match once and for all. With one mighty breath, the goddess of discord howled its mighty title; the last resort they were both betting on.

"H-HERE WE GO!"

"INFINITE IMPACT!!!"