Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rhyn'dric closed his eyes as the warmth of the sun
filtered through the trees. One ear shifted to the
side to listen to the birds overhead over the
day-to-day white noise of the Ballotin radio. The
asignment for today was one he could do with his eyes
closed, just keep an eye on Mie from a distance while
he conducted business on his own.

******

That was the thing about freelancers- you never knew
exactly when they were going to show up and start
trouble. The stranger wore a black suit, true, and
his guns were highly polished like a professional's-
but he was still raining bullets down on Mie's little
operation, completely neutral as metal ripped through
everything in the scene below.

******

The gunshots broke the comfortable silence. Light on
his feet he moved to get a better look at his charge's
assailant. Snipers eyes Rhyn pulled his own weapon and
let the shots fly, silencer muffling the sound that
would distrub the serenity of the scene around him.

******

The attacker fired a final shot in Mie's direction,
then raised an eyebrow at Rhyn...seemingly oblivious
to the bullets flying in his direction. He smiled,
faintly...then at the last minute, stepped forward and
fell face-first off the building. People screamed as
he fell, but he hit the ground softly- crouched like a
spider, head coming up to flash one red eye at Rhyn
with a wicked little smile.

******

Rhyn grinned. "Finally, a challenge." he whispered as
he fired again, ears swivled forward so that his aim
became accurate to the sounds that predicted movement.
"Let's play."

******

Graceful, but in that eerie way that suggests an
insect or something not entirely human, the stranger
spun out of the bullet's path. As often as he could,
his eyes stayed on Rhyn- watching his own a**. His
laughter was a harsh sound, lacking the culture and
refinement that made up the Ballotins.

"Go get him," Tegminae's voice growled in Rhyn's radio
as the butterfly set down nearby. "I've got Mie-
teach that son of a b***h a lesson."

******

Gunfire stopped from Rhyn's gun as his eyes snapped
open. Old habits were hard to kill especially when
they were refined. His eyes snapped open, iris's
dialating to that of a hunter. "Yessir." he purred
over the radio and took off to bring down his prey.

******

"Good boy," Minae murmured, flashing a smile as he
watched the Verlashi dart out of his immediate vision.
His opponent didn't take the time to investigate the
new arrival, preferring instead to make his own
escape; he moved as if the wind gave him no
resistance, thin enough that you could see his boned
from certain angles. He actually ran up on the walls
to avoid some of the pedestrians- guns still out,
without the Ballotin concern for civilians.

******

His focus was entirely on Khol, avoiding pedestrians
as to not slow him down. The chase was what he lived
for, and the more his prey ran the more intense he was
on bringing the man down. Rhyn's gaze was steady, no
gun would be neccessary as he closed in for the
attack.

******

His assailant was too fast. Kholrabi knew that from
the outset; the chase was simply giving him enough
time to plot what he was going to do. He lead Rhyn to
an area that he knew extremely well- where he wouldn't
be messed with if he got the s**t beat out of him.
Once he decided the location was good, he stopped
dead- side stepping the Velashi and aiming both guns
at his face. He was breathing hard, but his hands
were steady.

******

Without skipping a beat he continued moving as his
opponent side stepped him. Rhyn didn't even see the
guns pointed at him as he dropped down and spun, tails
slamming into Khol's legs. He rounded, eyes anything
but human, to face his opponent.

******

Khol gasped for breath as he went down, slamming into the pavement with the wind knocked out of him. Out of instinct, his guns fired; he wasn't as good as Minae or Rose would have been in the same situation, but his bullets went roughly where he wanted. His eyes were wide, hair falling over the right so that only the glowing red eye was visible. After a moment, the guns dropped out of his hands, and he curled on his side coughing as his ability to breathe returned.

*******

It burned. Rhyn yelped as he snapped back to reality feeling the blinding pain of the gun shots to his leg and side. Finding his sanity, a gun was in his fingers again. With one tail he swept the guns out of Khol's reach. "Don't even think about trying anything." Rhyn sat down next to Khol, holding the gun to the man's temple. "Minae, send a car and let Sev know to be ready for injuries."

*****

"Don't lose too much blood," The butterfly replied dryly. "Sev will have my wings on the wall. Where are you?"

Khol caught his breath, still breathing roughly as he watched Rhyn, eyes wary. This was an unexpected turn of events...either the other man was intending to kill him now, or he was getting dragged to Ballotin Tower. Either way, not a good outlook.

*****

Rhyn let out a small laugh. "I'm in the ally of Seventh and Park." Rhyn watched Khol a moment. "For a freelancer that we don't normally work with you're not half bad."

*****

"Only the very good or very stupid take jobs against the Ballotins," the other man growled, sitting up slowly so Rhyn wouldn't take it as a threat. "Little b*****d was too quick for his own good. What the hell are you, a pet?"