The alleyway was slowly getting smoky.  And it smelled like someone was burning rubber to do it.  Ugh!

Lucas' lips touched Helena's...and her lips tasted like the sweetest honey. The sensation was unforgettable.

"Helena..."he said softly.

And then the smoke came...

Helena had her arms around Lucas' neck in the typical female kissing posture.  For a pretend kiss, it wasn't half bad and she began to wonder what kissing him for real would be like.

Then the smoke started to fill up the alleyway.  It smelled horrible.

"What is this?" Helena asked, waving her hand in front of to try and clear the smoke.

  A mocking voice, darkly familiar to Lucas,  called "Quite the ladies man, aren't you?  And your girlfriend not even gone that long.  I wonder what she would think of you now . . ."

Lucas gritted his teeth.

"You...Helena, its him..."

"Him?  Him who?" Helena replied.  She was taunting whomever he was.  "It couldn't be Him.  He doesn't hide behind smoke like a coward.  It must be someone else."

  "So many options to choose from . . . whatever shall I do?  I know . . . "  The smoke thickened, that vile burning-rubber smell intensifying, and they both heard breaking glass, close to them.  And a hiss . . .

Lucas immediately summoned his armor, ready for a fight...

Helena tried to see what was going on in the smoke but it was too thick.  She wasn't worried though.  She just reached out to take Dragon Fists hand.

"I'll get us out of here if he tries anything.  Let's just see if he pokes his nose out first."

  That hissing came again, closer this time, and down close to ground level.

"You don't know him like I do, Helena..."

In the direction of the hissing he then asked, "Where are you, you son of a bitch? Show yourself..."
This message was last edited by a game moderator at 15:58, Tue 22 June 2010.

"I'll know him a lot less if he shows his face.  Does he have a thing for snakes?"

  The sound of hissing came again, closer, and they could see the hazy outline of a snake coming closer to them.

Dragon Fist remained ready to attack.

"No....I didn't know he did have a thing for snakes. No...this is something new..."

"It's something new that will soon be no more." Helena said in a low hiss of her own.  "If this is your enemy then let's go and find him."

She leapt up into the air, grabbing hold of a fire escape and gracefully hauling herself up onto it.  Crouching on the railing, she looked at the alleyway below for any sign of this Champion of Darkness.

  The snake came closer, hissing rather irritatedly.  It was roughly five feet long, with a light brown body with three rows of dark brown splotches bordered with yellow extending its entire length.   It's agitation was obvious, it had been thoroughly annoyed.

Dragon Fist then took to the air, finding a fire escape on the other side of Mirage. He then began to look for a point of attack that might hinder the creature.

Hopefully a pressure point.

  From above, they could see the shattered glass where a terrarium had been broken, some gravel and stones marking it with a great deal of broken glass.  Apparently Dragon Fist's old friend had left them a gift.

Dragon Fist gritted his teeth.

"This is a distraction...something to keep us busy. This has to be dealt with though. Mirage...do you have a way of taking it down quickly?"

In the meantime, he kept a wary look out for his "friend"...

Helena drew her hand back and three, long crimson coloured knives appeared between her fingers.  These she threw at the snake, intending to render it incapacitated.

  The snake moved, and instead of merely pinning it, her dagger pierced it just behind the head, severing it's spine and killing it.  Leaving the alley now safe for further examination.

Dragon Fist nodded at Mirage.

"Good work Mirage...now let's see if my friend is still here."

Flying back down to the alley, Dragon Fist held up both fists.

"All right...seems like you've been taking some bold steps. Come down and face me...or are you still stinging from your last defeat?"

  Nothing but smoke answered him, and the smoke only drifted on the breeze slowly.

Dragon Fist then took back to the air, trying to get a better vantage point.

Helena looked down at the snake from her perch on the fire escape.  She'd expected it to be something other than a real snake.

Oh well.

She leapt across the alleyway to the another building and kept jumping back and forth until she had reached the rooftops.