The Hunt (Private RP between Rex and Sem)

[Rex]

A black car drove down the highway, looking no out of place then the rest of the vehicles. It was midday, and most people were at work, but there always were a few cars driving the roads. This car in particular had tinted windows, hiding the driver and any passengers he carried. The sun shown brightly throughout the large city, with not a cloud in sight, the perfect weather for those who wanted to take a trip to the beach not a mile outside the city limit.

The car finally pulled over at the town square, and a tall, thin man with short black hair stepped out. He certainly looked important from his matter of dress. Gray dress pants and a white dress shirt under a gray waistcoat. Along with that, a simple black tie and black dress shoes adorned his person. He slammed his door shut, before opening the one behind it and pulling out a gray fedora and trench coat, which he quickly pulled on.

Closing that door, he moved to the front passenger door and pulled it open, letting out a small weasel-like creature that had dark gray fur and wore black pants. It was an odd creature to be sure, but, walking on its hind-legs, with human hands and a more human then weasel body frame, it certainly looked more intelligent then your average animal.

“Does the thought of Air Conditioning never occur to you?” the creature growled, shaking sweat from his body.

“Being close to me should keep you cool enough,” the man smirked. His words were true; the air around him was noticeably colder then the rest of the square.

“Maybe, if I wasn’t covered in fuzz,” the creature replied, pulling at some of the fur on his arm for further emphasis.

“Oh alright, if it keeps you from complaining, then I’ll turn on the AC next time we travel somewhere hot,” the man sighed, pretending to be exasperated. With that, he walked over to the trunk of his vehicle, and opened it up. From within, he pulled out a small Dragunov SVD Sniper Rifle, and handed it to the creature, followed by a small badge with an obscure symbol on it, which he pinned to the inside of his coat. “Alright Flynt, make yourself scarce, our target should be arriving soon.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the creature named Flynt replied, slinging the rifle over his shoulder. He turned, and started to disappear into an alleyway, heading for a ladder that would take him up the fire escape of a large apartment building. “Don’t get yourself killed, Alex.”

The man named Alex grinned. “Oh come now. Me, dying? How’d that thought ever occur to you?”

The creature only muttered something, and waved back at the man, before leaping up onto the ladder. The man leaned against the wall of a nearby building, and waited patiently, pulling a small paper out of his pocket and looking over it. It was a wanted poster, showing a picture of a man named ‘Sem’, along with a reward and a list of crimes. By the list, this was going to be an average hunt, but Alex would keep himself on guard, just in case.

Eventually, the man he was hunting appeared in the square. Upon noticing him, Alex shoved the paper into his trench coat pocket and approached from behind.

“So you’re Sem?” the man grinned. “My name is Alexander Silver, and I am here to kill you.”

The temperature dropped. After only a moment, a blunt ice crystal formed from the ground, growing towards the man at a speed that threatened to smash him in the back unless he moved from its path immediately.

 

[Sem]

A figure walked the busy streets of the city, casually gazing into shop windows and catching the scents of various types of food that floated from restaurants and stands. It was a bit warm out, much to Sem's dislike - he was a big fan of colder temperatures, of course, hot weather was remedied by cooling the water molecules around him.

The young man looked to be in his late teens, though the body was actually a bit older than that, being in its early twenties. The spirit that inhabited the body, however, was far, far older than that. It was the spirit itself that was actually Sem, and he was currently in a human body after centuries of being in the body of an otterfish-thing, due to a horrible injury he had sustained.

Sem was now considerably taller, though still on the shorter end of the 'average' spectrum of male height. His skin was fair and bronzed, and had a healthy glow in the sunlight. His smooth face hard a pair of cerulean blue eyes, and his hair was dark, with a few sun-kissed patches. He had a fringe that swept to just above his eye, a fringe that also had a silvery streak of white.

As far as clothing went he wore a pair of dark-wash form-fitting jeans along with a pair top quality sky blue sneakers, which were made of leather. His shirt was also a cerulean color and had a stylish raised print on it in the form of black vines. He also wore a lightweight, black, hooded trench that went down to his mid-thighs. Going under the hood and the lapels of the trench was a teal colored scarf that went a bit past the length of the trench. Around his neck was a blue raindrop pendant that hung on a black string.

He was currently downtown to see if there were any stores that caught his eye, though with the food he smelled he also considered going somewhere for a bite to eat. Sem arrived at a crosswalk and pressed the button, waiting for the signal the change that would allow him to cross. Other people stopped at the crosswalk almost instantly, also wanting to cross. Aside from the fact that Sem was wearing a coat he blended in quite well with the city-goers.

The signal changed and Sem was off instantly, crossing the street swiftly and silently, being rather light-footed and quick on his feet, moving through crowds like a wisp of cold wind. As he crossed the square he caught a whiff of some pizza and instantly considered stopping by for slice, or two, or five.

“So you’re Sem?” he heard man behind him suddenly say. “My name is Alexander Silver, and I am here to kill you.”

It wasn't everyday that the hydrokinetic heard those words out of somebody's mouth. The temperature around them both plunged even further as Sem sensed ice forming and expanding quickly to hit him in the back. With a swiftness that only came with practice he spun on his left heel, swinging his right leg around and kicking the ice that was forming. Upon contact the ice shattered and liquefied. Sem had a moment to examine his enemy, noting that he immediately didn't seem like your everyday civilian.

"Is he an assassin?" Sem wondered. "A bounty hunter?" It mattered little, as the man's intentions had been made perfectly clear. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into," Sem said calmly, yet completely serious. People had already begun fleeing the square, clutching tightly to each other and talking rapidly into cell phones.

Sem quickly pulled a pistol out of his coat - a Beretta Elite, except pistol looked like silver, and almost seemed to give off its own light. The hydrokinetic would see if he could settle this without resorting to his abilities. He aimed the weapon at the man, holding it in his right hand. He fired a round, aiming for the man's shoulder.

 

[Rex]

The man easily stopped Alex's ice crystal. Good, this meant the man could have some fun with him. Before he could act, he found himself being shot at. Alexander stepped back, and a thick wall of something a lot harder then normal ice sprouted between the two of them, taking the bullet without so much a chip. Neither of them would be going down so easily.

"Oh don't worry," Alexander chuckled, "I know exactly what I'm going up against."

Up on the fire escape, Flynt had set up his rifle, and was waiting for the best time to strike. When a wall of ice formed between Alex and their target, Flynt took his shot, firing off a quick shot aimed at the target. Then Alex made his move, having an icy spike shoot from the wall, towards the target, threatening to impale him.

 

[Sem]

"Well, he's not your average killer," Sem thought to himself as his bullet was effortlessly blocked.

"Oh don't worry, I know exactly what I'm going up against," the man replied fairly confidently.

Sem instantly scanned his surroundings, or rather, took not of sources of water in the area. He found precipitation in the air instantly, as well as water that ran underneath their feet in the sewer systems. Curiously enough he could not sense the ice wall as a source of water, meaning that it was some other sort of substance - quite a skillful feat, assuming this man was a normal cryokinetic.

The square was by now fairly empty of people, which Sem could also sense thanks to people being made up of mostly water. There was a being on a roof in a peculiar pose, but with hands aimed for Sem. The hydrokinetic knew the pose well enough to know someone was about to take a shot, in fact he could sense the finger pulling the trigger.

What happened next was mere instinct instead of a conscious thought. The bullet met its mark, but Sem's body rippled and there was a spurt of water, as if someone had just shot a pond or a lake. The bullet harmlessly passed through him, as did the icicle from the man in front of him.

"Two enemies?" Sem realized. Someone certainly wanted him dead. Right, there was no use trying to settle this without his elemental prowess. Jumping back, he landed with one arm raised to the sky as he fired several more rounds at his enemy. They would likely be blocked once again, but the point of them was to distract long enough to achieve the desired effect. In moments clouds rolled over the square, condensing and becoming increasingly dark. Then, all at once, the dark vaporous masses let loose their contents, dropping heavy rain onto the earth below.

Sem could summon rain; it was one of the first advanced skills he so very long ago learned. He couldn't created storms, like his friend Sorena, but he could summon the clouds, as they were made of water, and make it rain. And rain it did - within moments there wasn't anything that wasn't completely soaked.

The elemental lowered his arm and stood for but a moment, before his body turned liquid completely, falling to the ground and blending in with the rain. It would be incredibly difficult to track him at this point, and shooting him was impossible. He surged towards his enemy on the ground, leaping up, still in a watery-state but in his human shape, and spun his leg, aiming to deliver a powerful kick to the man's side.

 

[Rex]

The man seemed to shimmer, and both Flynt's bullet and Alex's own ice spear passed through him harmlessly. The man then leaped back, and fired more of his clip at Alex. Another frozen wall blocked all of these, but the distraction served its purpose. The sun was soon hidden behind clouds, and it began to rain. The man seemed to dissolve in the rain, disappearing from Alex's sight completely. That was no matter, Alex could deal with that. As the rain started to puddle around him, it quickly froze over, creating a small circle of ice around the man that slowly began to radiate outward.

The man came up, in a semi-liquid state, aiming to deliver a kick. Despite the man's state, Alexander could tell that he would be hurt if the kick managed to connect, and so, he hastily jumped back, and brought his hand up. From the point his hand hover, frozen Carbon Dioxide sprung forth, threatening to encase the watery man.

 

[Sem]

Sem instantly found himself encased inside a suit of dry ice. The frozen substance began to turn into a gas immediately upon contact with Sem, but wasn't converting fast enough, even in the rain. The water around the individuals rushed in on Sem, surrounding the dry ice and compressing, crushing it and allowing Sem to flow out of it. He rushed back away from the man in the form of a small wave that quickly reformed back into Sem's human shape and seeming to become organic once more. The hydro was still not completely organic however, as there was still the sniper to worry about.

Seeing that the man had surrounding himself in an expanding ring of ice, Sem decided to use that against him. Pointing his arm at the circle, he flicked his hand up to the dark sky, summoning sharp spikes of ice for form out of the frozen radius that would impale the man.

 

[Rex]

It had worked, the dry ice had been crushed, and the pieces left were slowly vaporizing, forming a thick fog. However, before the man could attempt anything, the ice underneath him shot up, attempting to impale him. He was able to leap off the ice before any damage occurred, and disappeared into the fog. Quietly as he could, the man created several ice decoys, hoping to confuse his opponent for a moment, before silently creeping up to him. From within his coat, Alex pulled out the odd badge, and lunged at the man with it.

Contact was made, and the badge disappeared in a flash of light. Alexander leaped back, hoping to avoid any counterattacks, and sent his own dry ice spire after the man. Seeing a break through the fog above form by the spire pulling in nearby CO2, Flynt fired off another round at the man as well.

 

[Sem]

What was this? Sem had just been tagged with some sort of Charm. He had little time to worry about it now though, as a spike of dry ice was flung at him. He was planning to take the hit, of course, but it wasn't what he felt first. The man's partner had fired off another round, and it passed through Sem as expected - through his shoulder, but Sem faltered and inhaled sharply.

Pain. As if he had actually been shot. It was then that he noticed, much too late, what the tag had done to him, as the dry ice ran him directly through where his heart would normally be.

In his watery form, Sem could not yell, but his form writhed and bubbled, froze and steamed. He straggled back, now in an organic form, breathing heavily and clutching his chest.

These people indeed knew exactly how to deal with him it seemed. But if they thought this would help them than they were far from mistaken. Sem was no ordinary elemental. He was the power and fury of the sea incarnate and the cruelty of winter. They would know this full well.

The rain stopped. Not stopped as in stopped falling from the sky, but rather froze in place - each and every raindrop locked in place like the stars in the sky. Then, as suddenly as it had all happened, the rain drops, and all the water that had gathered on the ground, rushing towards Sem, swirling around him. In an explosive flurry the rain was sent towards both of his enemies - the creature on the rooftop was not safe. The rain froze, each one becoming an icy bullet. Sem's body froze and shattered, becoming part of the blizzard that threatened to tear his enemies to shreds.

 

[Rex]

Flynt's bullet hit the man in the shoulder, the charm had worked. Alex's dry ice spear also seemed to do something, but the result wasn't the one Alexander had been hoping for. The rain froze in place. That was Alex's first clue that things were about to take a turn for the worst. Then, suddenly, every bit of H2O around them rushed at the man, tipping Alex off that something bad was about to happen. He rushed away from the chaotic mass, using a dry ice platform to shoot him up to where Flynt was just as it exploded out at both of them.

As soon as he was close to the weasel, he started to form a dry ice shield between them and the rain of ice. It didn't get thick enough fast enough, and Alex was slashed and stabbed by several of the shards that only managed to be slowed, but not stopped, by the ice. It was far from enough to kill the man, and the shards were blocked before too many more could get through.

"Time to move," the man muttered, his voice a bit strained.

Flynt nodded, and shot the window next to the fire escape. Alexander picked him up, and threw him through, before climbing in himself, picking ice shards from his back. Grabbing Flynt by his scruff, he kicked open the door, and started to make his way down the hall, eventually locating a staircase. From there, it was down a few floors until they were near the middle, and kicking in another door into one of the other rooms of this large apartment building.

In a rush, Alex slammed the window open with his free hand, and climbed out, landing on a pillar of dry ice just outside the window. The man was soon running down a walkway of dry ice, with balance that would have been impossible for those who hadn't the powers he did. Adrenaline was pumping now, and he felt no pain as he continued to run, attempting to lead the man on a round about course back to the square, hoping that he would retain a organic form by then.

In not too long, the two were back where they started. Not even checking to see if the man was present or not, Alexander opened his car door, and threw Flynt inside, closing the door behind him. Then, he turned, and walked towards the center of the square, waiting for his target to approach again so the Bounty Hunter could assess the best course of action.

 

[Sem]

The target had fled. Where did he think he could run to? The specific shards of ice that had been Sem's body led the flurry, bursting through the shot out window on the man's heels. The blizzard proceeded to ruin the rooms and hallways through which Sem chased his opponents.

The man fled back outside, Sem bursting through the window behind him, leaving a large gaping hole much larger than the window had been. The partner had been tossed into the car. For safety? Perhaps. Part of the sentient blizzard flew over to the vehicle, liquefying and then freezing again, encasing the car in ice. The creature was now out of harms way and also no longer a threat for the time being.

The man was now back in the square, waiting. The majority of the blizzard turned back into water, crashing loudly back onto the square. What ice was left swirled around itself and condensed back into a body. Sem walked casually towards his opponent in a frozen state, joints cracking and snapping as he walked before becoming organic again.

"Quite the trick you have up your sleeve," Sem noted. "I'd rather we not have to fight like this. I will defend myself - even if it means killing you."

Tendrils of water burst from the ground around Sem at that point, swirling around him as if they were sentient. One by one they lashed at the man, their tips freezing and becoming deadly blades.

 

[Rex]

The man returned, freezing the car, and trapping Flynt inside. If his partner was harmed in any way, shape, or form, then the man's death would be all the more painful. Alexander couldn't play his games anymore, his opponent was taking him seriously now, and he had to do the same.

"Well, it seems that now the party can really begin," the man said simply, brushing his coat down properly.

Watery tendrils formed around the man, and lashed out at Alex, their ends freezing into deadly point. CO2 was flash frozen into dry ice pillars, which all took the tendrils for him, snapping in the process. Afterward, what was left of the original CO2 fog at that point condensed and fell to the ground, before spiking out at the man from all sides with dry ice spears.

 

[Sem]

A burst of water flung Sem out of the way of the incoming spears, landing him farther away from his opponent. The hydrokinetic frowned at the man's comment, which seemed to make it perfectly clear that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Perhaps you need more incentive," Sem said with a grim look in his eye. He extended his reach back towards the car, which began to rock back and forth before snapping the ice that held the tires to the ground. Sem moved his arm and the car followed, being held quite high in the air. "You didn't do your partner any favors putting him in here. You seem to be quite close with him too - it would be a shame if anything happened to him." To further his point, the ice around the back of the car compressed, crushing the trunk.

"You could attack me, but then I'd drop the car, which would be fatal to a creature so small. And from where I stand I can comfortably crush the rest of the car. Will you stay true to your duty and go after me at the cost of your partner's life?"

Sem was bluffing, of course, for now. But with the look of seriousness on his face the man most likely couldn't tell Sem was lying. They seemed to think he was dangerous criminal. It was true he was dangerous, but Sem would rather not kill if he could help it. What Sem did next would depend on his enemy's reaction.

"What will you do?" he asked as all the ice around the car began to slowly compress, popping out one of the headlights.

 

[Rex]

"You put him down" Alexander snarled.

The air around him simmered for a moment, before cascading down and rushing towards his opponent as liquid Nitrogen. His opponent now having something to contend with, the Bounty Hunter launched himself towards the car on a dry ice pillar, before creating a platform large enough for the car to rest on with some room to slide. Landing on the platform, he watched and waited, looking to see how his opponent would deal with the liquid Nitro.

 

[Sem]

Swiping his free hand upwards, Sem summoned his own wall of thick ice to act as a barrier between him and the nitrogen. With a wave of his arm the car moved away from its position over the platform.

"Did you not hear a word I said?" Sem asked. He flicked his hand, and the car was sent flying upwards. The automobile fell dangerously close to the ground before Sem caught it just in time. The hydrokinetic waved his finger in circles, causing the vehicle to rotate around as he continued speaking. "Careful now, and think carefully. There's not a whole lot of options available to you."

Perhaps he was being a bit harsh, he thought to himself. But it was a life or death situation, and he was using what he had to his advantage. There was something far worse he could be doing to the small creature that did not require an ice-encased car - merely the water in its own body.

 

[Rex]

Alexander wasn't going to give into the man's demands just because of his sadistic glee in torturing Flynt. A spear of the same icy substance that he had used to first stop the man's bullets erupted from the ground, impaling the car. Eventually, the spire poked out from the ceiling, and began to spread out, slamming to the ground at several points, locking the car in place.

"Threatening my partner is probably the dumbest thing you could ever decide to do," the man pointed out, walking down from the platform on a small ramp he had quickly created. Closing the gap between himself and the man to a few feet, he quickly had the square erupt into a forest of dry ice spears, leaving only the place the car sat and the area he was standing free of the spires.

"Because, you see," the man yelled, knowing his target was quite fine, "It only serves to piss me off!"

 

[Sem]

Dozens upon dozens of thin watery tendrils burst up from the ground around Sem. The highly condensed tentacles lashed about at a dizzying speed, effectively snapping any of the icy spears that came up at Sem. The tendrils proceeded to rotate around the young man like a saw blade, leveling the forest of death that had been created.

"As long as your partner is trapped in that ice-encased car, he is not safe. Insult me all you like - the more you refuse to back off the more you play with his life."

In response to Sem's words a sheet of water shot under the car, cutting cleaning through the many dry ice-rods that secured it to the ground. With the car free once again Sem sent it sliding across the ice at his opponent. While he had to deal with the quickly incoming car Sem attacked. Tendrils of water arced overhead and froze, coming down like lightning bolts on the man's location.

 

[Rex]

The car's hold was snapped, along with his forest. Next the man decided to send the car sliding towards Alex, while at the same time going after him with more icy tendrils. Now sick and tired off the man waving his partner's life in front of Alex's eyes, the Bounty Hunter created a blade of what was quickly becoming his favorite non-water icy substance in the car's path, bifurcating the vehicle down the middle, and sending both halves sliding away from the bounty hunter. Alexander rushed for the front half of the car, sending up dry ice pillars to stop the tendrils from hitting him.

A dry ice platform erupted under the front half of the car, sending it flying into the air. Another one quickly came up, and punted it at his target, with the intent of crushing the man under the bifurcated vehicle's weight. Dry ice spires also erupted out from under the man, hoping to impale him while the car distracted him.

Flynt, meanwhile, fell out of what was left of the back half of the car, dizzy, and close to throwing up. He needed a vacation.

 

[Sem]

Another jet of water pushed Sem safely out of the way of the spikes. Sem took hold of the jet with his power, using it to take hold of the piece of car flying at him and throwing it forcibly back at the man.

Blowing a lock of hair out of his eye, Sem knew that the game needed to pick up if he wanted to get this over with. There was sufficient water in the square to do something, but Sem could always summon a little more. The raindrop around his neck began to glow, and almost instantly water began appearing in the air - huge amounts, enough to fill two Olympic pools. Breathing heavily, Sem let the massive amount of water drop onto the square with an almighty roar, rushing outward in every direction.

As the man and his small companion focused on not getting swept up Sem focused the waters, flinging himself to the center of the square. The water converged and swirled around him, faster and faster, until the square was like a scene out of a movie - an enormous whirlpool that screamed and sucked in everything like a black hole. Tall, thick walls of ice kept the water in the square, which was no longer recognizable under the raging currents. Sem's body liquefied and was swept away in the current, seeking out his foes with pressurized tendrils that would pull them into his maelstrom.

 

[Rex]

When the man shot the car back, Alex slowed it down with a dry ice wall, then dashed away before it smashed into the ground where he had been seconds before. Then, the man started to summon up a huge amount of water, forming large ice walls at the same time. Noticing what the man was doing, Alex ran towards Flynt, and scooped up the already motion sick weasel just as the water was dumped down at them. A thick dry ice platform stopped them from getting swept away while the waters started to fill the square.

Alexander watched the man fling himself into the water, and a maelstrom start to form. It was high time to get out of the square. To that effect, there was soon a dry ice walkway leading from Alexander's platform to the man's ice wall. The bounty hunter took off down the walkway, still holding onto his partner. Once there, another ramp soon took the two down to street level. No doubt the man would soon figure out where they had gone, but, for the moment, Alex was content with him using his energy for nothing.

 

[Sem]

"They're not here," Sem thought to himself almost instantly, unable to sense the water of their bodies. The center of the pool swirled and swirled and began rising, forming a cone that towered above the square. It would have a been a site to see - water flowing upwards. At the very peak of the cone Sem's body somewhat reformed. He peered out, spotting his enemy in one of the sidestreets.

"Hmph, so much for that..." Sem muttered as the maelstrom slowed and the cone collapsed back into the pool, taking Sem with it. He shattered the ice wall, sending a large amount of water rushing after them. The rest of the water in the square suddenly began to vanish, returning to the pocket dimension from which Sem summoned his water. This left the square completely and utterly dry, as if there had been some sort of drought for the past decade. Sem flowed across the ground, dropping down through a manhole and into the sewer. It wasn't his preferred method of escape, but it was the quickest way to the sea. If he made it there it would be utterly impossible for his pursuers to track him.

 

[Rex]

The wall came down, sending water flying at the both of them. A dry ice wall sprang up, diverting the water to either side of the two of them, sparing them the fate of a few unlucky pedestrians that hadn't run away when the fight started. When they got around to looking, the man was gone.

"Looks like he's on the run," Alexander chuckled, before checking a small device located on his arm. It was a tracking device, usual for keeping track of whom ever the charm had been used on. It had a short range, but luck was on their side today. The man was just under their feet, in the sewer systems. Quickly locating a manhole, Alex dropped down, freezing the water before the sewage could splash him. The ice continued all the way down the way, possibly even freezing their target along with it. The bounty hunter wasn't stupid, however, and quickly formed another dry ice wall at the end of the pass, trapping the man between him and the wall, and cutting off his escape method.

"Now now, there's no getting out just yet," Alex smirked, "You threatened the life my my partner, tried to use him to bargain with me. When you do that, any professional air about this is gone. Now it's personal, and I am going to freeze you, and rip you limb from limb. Then I'll take your head back to my HQ, and cash it in for the bounty on your head."

 

[Sem]

Sem was stopped in his tracks as the entire waterway froze over. A patch of ice began to crack and break, his frozen form coming out of it. He turned his head, neck snapping as he did so, staring at his enemy with a frozen glare. He just wouldn't let up.

"If it's any consolation I wasn't actually planning on hurting him," he said. His voice was strange, coming through a frozen and hollow body. "I'm really not as bad as whatever intel you have says I am."

Despite this, he was really tired of this. The man was clearly determined to kill him - though such a feat would be nearly impossible, even with his charm in effect. It would hurt like hell getting torn limb from limb, sure, but in the end he was water. But from the look Sem saw in his eyes, if anyone were to kill him, the man before him would be the one. He needed to be eliminated.

Sem wordlessly launched his next attack. The frozen sewer water almost instantly melted an began to boil. Exploding up in a powerful surge of super-hot steam that would be very difficult to block on such short notice. The sheer heat of the steam melted and evaporated Sem along with it in mere seconds, and he rushed at the man in a burst of steam that was even hotter than the rest. Sem's power could go both ways. The seas could freeze, but they could also burn.

 

[Rex]

The man claimed he wasn't really going to hurt Flynt, but like hell Alex was going to believe him. Feeling the ice below him give way, the man rocketed himself back out the manhole on a dry ice pillar, which quickly vaporized after him. Steam began to fume out of the manhole, blocking the bounty hunter's vision of what his target was doing. Seeing no better option at the moment, Alexander created a small flood of liquid nitrogen, and dumped it into the sewers.

The reaction was instantaneous. Vapor began to fume out of the manhole, along with any near it. It was nitrogen, reacting with the boiling water in the sewers, along with the steam that was still trapped inside that didn't go down the passages in the system. Not a moment later, Flynt was by his side with a block about the size of a brick of pure sodium.

"Is that all you could salvage?" the man asked.

"He crushed the damn truck, what do you want from me?" Flynt growled.

The man shrugged, and then smirked. Accepting the sodium without a second glance, he chucked it into the sewer, where things were starting to calm down, and covered his ears, the weasel next to him doing the same. After a few moments, there was a bang, and smoke and debris flew from the manhole. Then, silence, and the two hurried over to the manhole to see what kind of damage they had caused.

 

[Sem]

Sem came face to face so to speak with a rush of freezing cold Nitrogen. The substance resisted the heat down in the sewer for the most part, effectively reducing Sem back to a liquid and actually freezing him.

Looking around in his icy form, he couldn't see much thanks to the thick cloud of nitrogen that billowed up through the manhole, and the steam filled the sewer, causing drops of water to run down Sem's body like sweat. The hydrokinetic ran to the opening that would lead him to the street, joints cracking and crunching as he sloshed through the water.

Before he could launch himself up to the streets above however, there was a sudden flash right beneath Sem. What was it? Sem had no time to think about what it was. A powerful explosion shattered Sem's frozen body, sending his many pieces showering to the water.

Normally such a thing wouldn't pose as much as a problem as it did. The charm that he had been tagged with was still effect, which meant that Sem now knew what it felt like to be blown to pieces without dying instantly like a normal person would. The amount of pain knocked him out fairly instantly, causing his pieces to float listlessly in the sludge water. A charm of Sem's own that was on his raindrop pendant activated. The pieces of the pendant itself began to glow softly, followed by the rest of Sem's broken body. The charm would greatly speed up his recovery - without it it would take Sem God-knows-how-long to recover. It was one of Sorena's charms, but this was the first time it had ever been activated. Despite the magic speeding up his recovery, Sem was still out for the count for next few ten or so minutes.

 

[Rex]

There were frozen pieces of their target everywhere. They all glowed strangely, making them all easily picked out among the mess. Not wanting to make a further mess, Alexander simply froze the sewer, and had his own ice raise the frozen bits to street level. They were quite numerous, ranging from no smaller then a pin to about the size of a softball. Few, if any of the parts were fully intact. However, the odd glow made Alex doubt the man was actually dead, and he set about messing with the pieces for when he was sure the man would awaken.

A complete head was a necessity, and thus, the first thing Alexander and Flynt searched for. Being among the parts furthest from the blast, these were all in the best condition, and finding them didn't turn out to be that hard a task. The two were able to piece together the entire head down to the neck in only five or so minutes. Then, the bounty hunters started to pick out some of the other large pieces. Flynt managed to pick out a hand that was only missing a few bits of the fingers, which Alexander gleefully froze in a block of dry ice to spite his target.

The other hand was found broken into two halves. Each taking a half, the bounty hunters clapped them together, celebrating their 'victory'. Alex then took his half and stomped on it, shattering it further, while Flynt hid his half under a car. Next, the pair located a shoulder, which Alex managed to throw half way down the street, where it too shattered. The other shoulder proved to be broken too much to recognize it.

Most of the other pieces were far too broken to serve much of a use then to have them broken further. Alex took great pleasure in doing so, until all that was left of their target's body that they hadn't already messed with was fine powder. Then, taking the dry ice encase hand under his arm, Alexander waited for their target to come too, while Flynt got into another position where he could snipe at the target.

 

[Sem]

..."What happened?" was Sem first painful thought after a dozen or so minutes. His body was completely broken, and scattered across the street, and he could feel each and every single piece, down the the smallest ones the sizes of specs of dust, in terrible pain and aching.

The charm that was recovering him had worked wonders on the pain, which would be much much worse Sem wagered had it not been in effect. He felt that his head was surprisingly intact. He opened frozen lids, revealing frozen pupil-less eyes. He could see his enemy waiting for him, looking a bit smug. Indeed, one of Sem's hands had been taken hostage, he could feel it inside the block of CO2.

He closed his eyes, feeling the pain fading away faster and faster as the moments ticked by. With a surge of energy that was difficult to summon, all of the pieces of his body on the street rattled and moved no matter where they were. They all converged on Sem's head and everything melted together. His mostly complete body emerged from the puddle, and Sem turned semi-organic - he was still liquid, but he looked like he was flesh and bone.

He immediately put a hand to his forehead and sighed. His head was still foggy and muddled, and his energy was only just beginning to return to him. "We'll be at this forever," Sem said. "Shatter me all you like - I'll come back. And when your charm wears off your advantage is lost, and then you're left in an even worse position than you're already in."

The man had been doing well to keep up with Sem so far. It was obvious that he was well trained and had plenty of experience. Sem needed to buy time for his energy to build back up. Some of the steam was still trapped down below. Most of it had cooled and dissipated, but some lingered, thanks to the fact that there was no where for it to go. The steam was easier to control than a liquid, and so Sem would use it.

With a wave of his arm he pulled the steam up out through the manhole and gave back the heat it had lost, sending a column of super hot steam at his enemy. He supplemented the attack with gun fire from his pistol, which reminded him to keep an eye out for the partner.

 

[Rex]

"Oh, I just need to break you until your out long enough for me to put your head in cold storage and cart you back to my headquarters." Alexander grinned.

The man once again turned to the steam in the sewers below, what was left of it anyway, pulling it from the manhole and sending it flying at him. Alex put his arm in front of him, and a wall of dry ice sprang up, holding back the steam as best it could. Forcing it to remain at a constant temperature, it was able to stop the steam and bullets that came afterward, before finally vaporizing, once again starting to form a small fog in the area. Placing the frozen hand on the ground, and stepping on the block encasing it, Alexander smirked at the man.

"What did you think of my sodium trick, huh? Come on, you at least have to give me a hand over that," he stated, rather smugly, "Oh wait! You already have!"

With that, he pushed his foot down on the dry ice, shattering the block, and crushing the hand inside between his foot and the pavement. Hoping to use the man's pain to his advantage, Alexander shot a dry ice spike at his stomach, while Flynt fired another round at him, this time, hoping to strike his neck. Anything to leave the face undamaged, they needed it whole for the bounty.

 

[Sem]

Sem yelled and ground his teeth as he felt his hand being crushed. The ice spike came next going through Sem, holding him in place for a moment before his body fell to the ground with a splash -neatly avoiding the gunshot. Any more of this and Sem would get used to the pain, he thought as he lay in the form of a puddle once more.

Summoning his strength yet again, he reformed himself and initiated his counter attack. His hand, now free from the block and in the form of many small and sharp pieces, shot up at the man immediately above them. Meanwhile, Sem somewhat now knew where the partner was, and with a sharp inhale extended his one hand in the direction of the creature.

A large ball of water formed and condensed into the size of a basketball, highly pressurized. It shot towards the creature's location like a bullet.

 

[Rex]

Having moved his foot off of the ice shards that had once been his target's hand, Alex was caught slightly off guard when the shot up at him, managing to slash his cheek and hat before he could move his head out of the way. Flynt, meanwhile, ducked into the doorway of fire escape he was positioned on, barely dodging the ball of high pressure water.

While the man was attacking Flynt, Alexander began to stark over to him. His charm wouldn't last forever, the man had said so himself, he needed to end this fight as soon as possible. As soon as he was within a few feet of his opponent, he swung his arm, shooting ice crystals at his opponent at high speeds. This he followed up with a stomp of his foot, spiking dry ice spires from the ground in the man's direction.

 

[Sem]

Sem swatted the ice crystals away easily enough, back at their sender, but he didn't even try to avoid the next attack as a line of dry ice spires shot towards him, erupting from the ground. They went through his body at multiple points. He didn't stagger back, he merely fell forward, hitting the ground and splashing across the street.

It wasn't going to work, not like this. The charm was too much of a hindrance to him, it crippled him, especially with him using more energy than what he had returning to him. Turn into a vapor and float away," he thought, but would it work? They would simply track him again, eventually. Still it was worth a shot, but he would need enough time to get ahead of his pursuers.

In a last ditch effort he stood up as best he could - part of him sagged and drooped onto the ground. He dug into the very roots of his power, raising his arm to the sky. Clouds once again formed and gathered, black as night and blocking the sun. As the rain began to fall in sheets the ground trembled as the sewer water burst up, tearing enormous gashes into the street. Buildings around them had long since emptied of occupants, and so Sem used them as well, bursting every single pipe in every building around them, making them insuitable for cover. Fire hydrants burst, sending dangerous pieces of metal flying through the air. Water simply gushed in, flooding everything. The water in the air condensed, joining the rain.

His pendant glowed, again summoning forth the incredible amount of liquid that had been stored away only a short while ago, adding even more water to the already unbelievable amount. Sem was well submerged under the water, which had risen several stories as it kept pouring in from every imaginable source. His sheer will keep it all within that area. The weight of the water crushed the street, causing everything to fall into the sewer - some of the buildings collapsed because of this.

With the terrible torrent under his control, Sem sent it at his enemies before he lost all his power. The water surged after the man and his partner, and offered few options of escape as it ruined everything in its path. A small jet of water launched Sem up into the air after he was no longer submerged, that water having passed by him. At the peak of his jump he turned his body into a vapor, allowing the wind to take him where it may, releasing his control of his last attack. The water lost it's form and panned out, flooding the area.

As Sem floated on the wind's mercy he sincerely hoped that his enemies were incapacited, or dead, or whatever, he hardly cared at this point. The attack took so much more out of him than he thought, and he knew that it would already drain him. After only a few minutes he found he was unable to keep his form. He returned to an organic state and fell.

"No, no!" he thought, focusing his entire being into surviving. As he was about to hit the roof of a building he turned to steam again for a split second, killing whatever momentum he had and dropping him onto the roof. As his vision failed he muttered an archaic phrase, causing the raindrop around his neck to glow again. His body became ice and was covered by a magical light that infused itself within him. He would not melt, no matter what. He could be dropped into a volcano and he would stay frozen. It was a magical safeguard, again the first time he had had to use it.

Sem lay on the roof as a ice sculpture, using his last seconds of consciousness to pray that his enemies would not find him.

 

[Rex]

Another dry ice wall erupted from the ground, stopping the most dangerous of the spikes from impaling him. Alexander still received a few cuts to his arms, but it was nothing compared to what his target would have gotten from the dry ice spires. Walking around the wall, Alex found the man just pulling himself up from the ground. Before the bounty hunter could do anything to stop him, he had rose his arm to the skies, forming another rain storm. However, he didn't stop there.

The manholes first erupted open, water escaping like a geyser from each. Then the streets started to crumble, sending Alex flying up to Flynt's position on a dry ice pillar. Bits of the street collapsed into the sewers as the water began rising. When noise started to roar from within the building, Alexander looked in, to see water rushing at them from burst pipes all over the walls. The two took to the roof, and then fled to another when the water started to really pour from the building, continuing on until the man was just a speck in the ever growing sea.

From where they were, the two could just barely see the fire hydrants bursting, adding even more water to the system. It wasn't long before several stories worth of it had formed, hiding their target from view. Several of the buildings they had been using as platforms only moments before collapsed down under the water, but at this point, they were too far to be affected. Then, the water rushed at them, like a tsunami. Alex could think of only one word to sum up their situation.

"Shit."

With that, he grabbed Flynt by the scruff, and took off, running perpendicular to the water. A dry ice walkway took him to the roof of one of the taller buildings, just before it was swept away by the water, but leaving them high and dry. However, the pounding was too much for the building to handle, and it began to collapse into the torrent as well. The bounty hunter continued his running, making it onto another building just in time. Then, the waters started to drop, and return to the numerous sources from which they came. They had actually done it, they had survived. Now, they just had to find their target.

Flynt had remembered seeing him fly into the air, before disappearing, and he was too far for the tracking device to find. The two climbed the buildings until they had returned to the general area that the man had launched his final attack in, and then sat down, wondering what to do next. It was Flynt that eventually came up with the answer.

"Follow the wind!" the weasel exclaimed, "maybe he took a gas form again, so we should follow the wind!"

It seemed like as good a plan as any, and so, with Flynt on his shoulder, Alexander started off in the direction of the wind, checking his tracking device every so often to see if their target was nearby. It wasn't long before a weak ping started up from the device, pointing them in the direction of a building not too far from where they had been headed. Once there, they found their target, or, what was left of him. There was an ice sculpture sitting on the roof, with the device confirming that that was their target.

With a shrug, Alex brought a sharp dry ice blade down on the man's neck, severing his head from the rest of his body. The head was then encased in a dry ice block, and then taken. If Alexander couldn't kill the man, then he'd take his head back alive before he woke up again. Pressing a button on the tracking device, it shut down, and the charm appeared on the man's body. There was a large crack through it, any longer and the man would have become intangible again. They truly had won just in the nick of time.

Alexander picked up the charm, and pocketed it, before pressing another button on the watch, opening a portal. With Flynt on his shoulder, and the man's head under his arm, the bounty hunter walked through, disappearing from the world. They exited the portal on the courtyard for a grand building, larger then most ever manage to see in their lifetimes. People streamed in and out of the building, in a seemingly never ending parade.

Alex entered the building, and proceeded to the pick up desk, cutting past everyone else just as he always did. No one said anything to him about this, a bounty hunter with bounty always was allowed to turn them in before anyone anyone else got at the desk, either the bounty was alive or dead, incapacitated or not. Upon entering the room, Alex placed the ice encased head on the desk, before taking a seat, and placing Flynt in the one next to him.

"You know, there is an 'or alive', in 'dead or alive'," the woman at the counter reminded him for the umpteenth time.

"He is alive," he said, continuing when she looked at him as if he'd lost it, "trust me, nothing kills this asshole. We blew him to bits and he pulled himself back together. So put his head in cold storage or something. We left his body in that other world for the locals to find, but hell if I know if he can make a new one or not."

She sighed, and nodded, knowing it was probably best to go with what ever the hunters demanded. She promised to wire the reward money into their accounts in the usual 70-30 split, and the two left. Soon back in the main lobby again, the two quickly agreed that they needed a break, and decided to celebrate by heading off to their favorite restaurant for a late lunch. After all, what was wrong with treating oneself after a hard fought victory?