General murmurs of agreement were heard from the party, but not much more than that since each was engaged in some sort of activity. Darren and Neil were looking over the edge of the building, discussing the pros and cons of riding the aircycles off the rooftop and into oncoming traffic, Tara and Mani were taking inventory of the equipment to make sure nothing had been lost en route, while Narek stood with Rigma, who was scanning the area with his binoculars. "See anything worth mentioning over there, guys?," Tara wondered as she approached the two Islanders, putting on the black trench coat stored in her vehicle. She was carrying a number of weapons, not limited to the sword and miniature crossbow at her sides, which the coat concealed nicely.

"Well, we're across the street from The Rose of Evandalis, which, judging by that fat, pasty-skinned 50-ish guy in a room with what appears to be his secretary, looks to be a pretty exclusive hotel," Rigma began as he continued his sweep. "A politician, no doubt. And to answer the age-old question, no sir, all of her hair is -not- green..."

"Gimme," Narek quickly remarked, reaching for the binoculars.

A loud slam of a door on the other side of the rooftop suddenly caused the entire group to turn around, and almost made Narek drop the binoculars. Some distance away a very shocked looking older man with thinning red hair and a slight gut was looking about madly, then began to storm towards the group. After getting close enough to actually be able to see them clearly, he groaned loudly. "Dammit," he mumbled to himself, running a hand over his combed-over hair. "Foreigners..."

"Greetings, good sir!," Rigma declared loudly, waving at the man. "I trust you own this fine establishment?," he wondered outloud. He paused for a moment to make sure his outfit was in order before approaching, grinning broadly. While the gesture was a friendly one, for those unaccustomed to seeing a Mountaineer smile, the vast number of teeth in one's mouth could easily be considered unnerving.

The man blinked slightly, unsure of how to respond. He had always heard that lizard men were generally an angry, rude lot. "I'm the on duty manager," he finally managed to explain. He began to look about the rooftop, taking in the sight of the four red vehicles, numerous crates, and the motley crew of humans and reptiles staring back at him, each grinning. "Might I ask how you ended up on The Plaza's rooftop?," he asked, almost dreading the response.

"Well good sir, that's a rather interesting story involving a misdirected portal of sorts," Rigma quickly put forth, leaving it at that. "I know this is an unusual request sir, but we were wondering if we would be able to, well, rent out this here rooftop for a few days?"

"You want to... what?"

Rigma nodded, acting as if someone asked to do it every day. "Right. We've got a lot of equipment that accidentally ended up here, and I doubt we'd be able to fit most of it through that little door." He pointed to the door in which the man came for emphasis. "And even if we did, I doubt seriously that you'd want us to try and lug all of this stuff down the stairs, dragging it across carpets and whatnot..."

"You want to... what?"

"Oh, and if it's not too much of a bother," the Mountaineer continued. "We would also like to rent out a few of the rooms on the top floor. I mean, where would we sleep, up here on the rooftop? It's a little drafty up here, if I do say so myself. So if it's possible, we'd like..." He then cast a quick glance over his shoulder towards his associates. "Hey guys, how many rooms? One for each of us?"

There was some discussion among the rest of the group. "Nah, we can double up, so three should be enough," Neil answered.

"So let me get this straight," the man put forth, finally able to get a grip on his bearings. "Not only do you want to rent out the entire rooftop, but you want three rooms on the penthouse level of this hotel, am I correct?" Sir Rigma responded in kind with a broad smile. "And how, 'good sir', do you plan on paying for all of this?"

"Evandalian credits have I none, but we're more than willing to barter. You seem like an open-minded and resourceful gentleman, if I do say so myself..."

"What do you have in mind?," the man interrupted. For the first time during the entire conversation, something that might have been confused for a smile was on his face.

Rigma reached into one of his pockets and produced a small brown bag that didn't quite jingle when he shook it, but made more of a dull clattering sound. He opened it just enough to produce a small, but nonetheless impressive blue gem. "Mined by a few Saldraten friends that owed me a favor back home," he explained, twirling the gem between two claws. The man's eye's widened noticeably for a split second, but immediately came back to their regular, beady size.

"How do I know that's not glass?," he wondered.

"No no no no no, this isn't glass. Your ring, on the other hand, is just a few grades short of being sand, I can't help but notice." The man suddenly looked down at the ring on his finger as his face turned a few shades redder. "My dear father was a jeweler," Rigma added with a smile.

"Touche'," Natalie remarked, quite impressed.

The man, who was now sweating slightly, nodded. "I'm going to need a security deposit..."

Before he could say another word, Rigma turned the bag over and let a few more of the blue gems fall into his hands. "Oh, I am SUCH a clumsy ass," he admonished himself, replacing a number of the gems into his bag. A quick glance at the now wide-eyed man showed him to be near the point of drooling. With three gems in his hand, he reached out towards the man. The manager eagerly reached out to take them before Rigma suddenly snapped his hand shut.

"Now, the security deposit DOES come back to me, providing it looks like we were never here, am I not mistaken?" He thought for a second. "On the other hand, I'm more than willing to overlook it if you can insure our party's privacy."

"You're the only ones on the top floor."

"Good. Let's keep it that way for the time being." He opened up his hand, dropping the gems into the waiting palms of the manager.

"I'll go and get your room keys," the man hastily managed, backing away. Rigma smiled broadly and began to follow.

"You don't mind if I tag along, do you?," he asked. "I'm just dying to take a look at your establishment."

"N... not at all..."

"Good." He turned back towards his friends. "Ladies and gents, we won't be but a minute." 

Just under a year ago, Neil, Mani, Narek, Rigma, and several of their 'roughhousing crew', as Neil put it, were enjoying a nice, loud evening at one of Second Realm's finer watering holes known as 'The Drunken Wench and her Three Sisters', a spot generally frequented by a Kramen mercenary group that called themselves 'Na Koltir-Maros', which translated loosely from the Kramen tongue as 'The Thousand Deaths'. While there wasn't but a mere thirty present this particular evening, they were doing enough drinking among the lot of them to make up for their missing nine hundred and seventy imaginary brothers, and hence were in a very foul mood when Jeremiah took it upon himself to flirt with a barmaid that Drakon the Unrepenting, head of the group, had taken a liking to. Jeremiah was also good and drunk, and proceeded to make an inquiry about the night time activities of the seven-and-a-half-foot tall Kramen's mother, right before finding himself suddenly lifted into the air by his head. It was at that point were Rigma Delgato chose to step in and say a few words on his friend's behalf.

Rigma not only got them out of there alive and with an apology from Drakon the Unrepenting, but he had also set up a date with himself and the barmaid for when she got off from work. He was, as some of his Earth friends once called him, "A bad mother-shut-yo-mouth", whatever that meant. The Mountaineer always tried to keep a level head and retain some degree of modesty, though when pushed he would admit that he had met very few that could out-negotiate him. It wasn't a statement of arrogance, it was the truth, though he would never brag about it. On the other hand, there were rare times when Sir Rigma Delgato would take a moment to reflect, and would often come to the conclusion that he indeed was a bad man. As he sat and relaxed in the jacuzzi of the massive suite he had scored, while sipping a glass of wine and nodding his head to the soft, ambient vibes coming from the stereo, he could only grin as he thought, "I am one bad mother-shut-yo-mouth..."

The room he, Tara and Narek had claimed as their own was the largest of the trio- it was the executive suite, generally reserved for the upper echelon of society. The other two rooms were actually connected to the suite, so all it would take was a knock on the door to keep an eye on his friends. No one seemed to argue over Rigma laying claim to the nicest of the three rooms, but on the other hand, the other rooms were nothing to take lightly either. Sir Delgato sighed deeply as he leaned his head back on a towel, coming to the conclusion that this particular brand of Evandalian music wasn't half bad.

His eyes suddenly shot open as the music was suddenly changed- he then came to the conclusion that Evandalian music could also be quite LOUD. A quick glance out of the corner of his eye informed him that his friends were back from their trip into the city, and that Neil had taken it upon himself to change the music on the stereo. In but an instant the soft, ambient vibes were replaced by something with an obscenely loud baseline coupled with what sounded like a beast-of-a-man screaming something about starting fires and other destructive acts. Rigma grabbed one of the hotel robes and quickly rolled out of the jacuzzi, donning the garment in one swift motion- it was an action familiar to the Mountaineer, for he found himself hastily dressing on a number of occasions in the past. "I take it the lot of you couldn't entertain yourselves in probably the liveliest city in Haven?," he absently wondered outloud, tying his robe shut.

Neil shrugged as he continued messing with the dials on the stereo. He passed by a news station briefly, where they were saying something about the tournament in Zoe reaching the final leg. "Things aren't nearly as interesting when everyone can tell you're not from around here," he remarked, casting a quick glance at his clothes.

Natalie nodded. "People either treat us like peasants, or they'll talk reeeeally slow to us." She snickered. "At least I didn't make a little kid cry, unlike someone who's name I won't mention..."

Narek glared. "She shouldn't have pulled my tail..."

In the meantime, Rigma had ducked into the bathroom for a moment. "Though your interruption was somewhat, shall I say, harsh, you bring up a valid point. We're attracting a lot of attention to ourselves, which I really don't think is a good idea." He emerged from the bathroom, having hastily redressed in his typical dark attire, sans hat. "We would do well to blend in with the natives."

"If this involves me dying my hair neon purple, then no thanks," Darren chimed from near the stereo. Natalie shook her head.

"Darren, you don't -have- hair..."

"Why should we be so concerned about if we stand out or not?," Mani absently wondered. He was currently gazing out of the window and at the New Evandalian skyline. He crossed his arms and glanced over his shoulder at the group. "It's not like any of these people know us."

"Which is exactly my point," Rigma interrupted. "The more native we look, the less likely they are to notice us." He smirked. "Being a Shadow Ninja, Mani, you of all people should know this." He turned his gaze towards the others. "Keep in mind that in the eyes of the Malstronian government, we're fugitives. More importantly, we don't know how long we'll be here. King Baptiste may seem indifferent now, but he may not be that way down the line. Should he send bounty hunters, I'm not going to betray our location because of what we're wearing." He then reached into the pouch at his side, and after some considerable struggling, managed to pull out a neat stack of multicolored bills. "I had Mr. Jandavin, our friend from downstairs, do a little currency exchange for us. This should cover any shopping we need to do..."

"Thank you!," Tara quickly quipped, walking by and grabbing the stack of bills from Rigma's hand. The Mountaineer smirked again as he reached into one of his pockets and produced another folded stack, much smaller than the first. "This is for me to secure some airship transport for us later on. I'm not going until later, but I'd appreciate it if one of you human-types tagged along."

"I'll go," Darren volunteered. "Everyone else is talking about going Clubbing tonight, which I've never been too big on personally."

Rigma raised a brow. "Clubbing?" He put his hand up to his face groaned, shaking his head slowly. "Why, in the name of Saint Jahara..."

Natalie quickly stepped forward with several flyers in her hands. "They gave us a few of these out on the streets," she explained, smiling broadly. "We just figured it'll be a lot more exciting than sitting around here doing nothing..."

As she explained, Rigma began to take a look through the numerous colored sheets. He cleared his throat. "Silky Smuve Productions Presents: The Distinguished Gentlemen of New Evandalis , Featuring: Overfiend, Lust from 'The Seven Deadly Sins', and Black Dynamite..."

Tara snatched the flyer out of his hand. "That one's mine," she explained, tucking the sheet away in her trenchcoat.

Rigma thumbed through the rest of the flyers, smirking. After a few moments, he handed them back to Natalie. "I only ask that you don't get arrested. I'll be damned if I'm bailing the five out you out of jail..."

"Four," Narek interrupted. "I'll stick around here and start moving what we can from the roof."

Rigma cast a curious glance at the young Islander, but nodded. "Allrighty. Well, the rest of you do whatever you'd like, just don't do it in here." He turned away from the others, grabbed his towel, and never breaking stride, went straight into the bathroom. "I'm coming out of here in about thirty seconds to finish enjoying the jacuzzi," came his echoing voice from within, "...and unless you want to see a half-naked Mountaineer, I strongly suggest that you leave now." 

A pulse.

That was the only thing she could equate the sound to that was coming out of the building. The constant, throbbing sensation was more than just an audio experience- it shook her body like constant, tiny explosions, that, while harmless by themselves, would add up into what amounted to an adrenaline bomb. Standing around the outside of the building was alone to bring about the familiar light-headed sensation that came with the rush, but when the door opened and they stepped inside, the four were swept with what could only be described as a wave of sound and atmosphere. Bodies gyrated and bounced on their own accord, yet did not transcend to the realm of the chaotic. Even with the varying movements, one uniform rhythm could be made out within the living sea. Occasional flashes from the strobe light seemed to make people vanish for brief moments, but no one looked as if they had missed a beat when they reappeared moments later.

This building was alive. The music was its beating heart, and the people were its blood.

'Wallflowers' had many names over the multiverse, but they all generally amounted to the same thing. They were the individuals that would camp out on a section of wall for the majority of the evening, staring at everyone that came by. 'Club Fungus' was the term adapted by the Evandalians, and there were quite a few present this particular evening. Flirtation with any women that came in was nigh-instantaneous, and the two that just came in were nearly swarmed before the realization came that they were not alone. At the head of the group was a stocky young man, his dark hair pulled back into a neat pony tail. His black pants were baggy in comparison to the white shirt he wore, which not only clung to his frame like a glove, but was without sleeves, which revealed his arms to be quite muscled. Standing behind him was another young man, this one a little taller than the rest of his associates. He was mostly clad in black with a few traces of red showing, most noticeably the massive dragon embroidered on the back of his vest, and the thin line of kanji going down his dark shirt.

Despite the fact that they were accompanied by guys that looked capable of causing harm to the average man, that did not deter the average man from staring at the two ladies they accompanied. The taller of the two was dark-skinned, a sight fairly uncommon in the city. Physical aspects aside, anyone seeing her would have felt that she was somewhat different than most, as she seemed to radiate an aura of sophistication. She wore a long black coat which covered up the majority of her outfit, but to the truly observant, a glint of silver flashed inside her coat as she turned. A smirk worked its way onto her face as she noticed the Club Fungi staring at her, a testament that she was used to being watched. Standing next to her was the final member of the group, who looked a little younger than the rest, but managed to carry herself in a manner unbefitting her age. Tight black pants clung to her like ebony flesh, and her white shirt was parted just enough to offer a glimpse at her deep cleavage. Her long, dark hair was pulled back into a braid that went a little past the small of her back, and the blue of her eyes was quite prominent even in The Chateaux Dargosa's low, erratic lighting.

Within an instant all four were out at various portions of the club, some dancing, others trying to. Mani had given up trying to much earlier than the others, and opted to leave the dance floor and check things out around The Chateaux. It was one of the larger clubs he had seen before, complete with multi-leveled dance floors surrounding the main one, spiraling upwards around the edge of the building like a stairwell. There was a bar at the lower level that catered to those old enough to partake of its brand of nectar- it was a little stuffy in the club, so Mani assumed that the bar had to pull a tidy profit on warm nights such as this. In fact, the stools around it were already pretty full already, and it was still fairly early in the...

Wait a sec...

He took another look at the bar and began to approach, focusing in on a young lady sitting at one of the stools, conversing with a neighbor. It was a little difficult to get a good look at her, but from what he could see, it looked very much like... nah, there was no way she'd be here. Her long, red haired pulled atop her head in a ponytail was what had caught his attention- as he got closer, he could tell by her features and complexion that she was definitely Nixen, further confirmation that this might have been who he thought it was. She turned to the side and let out a little laugh at something the young man said, which gave Mani a clear view of her.

"I'll be damned..."

Mani made his way over to the bar and besides the young lady, quietly sitting down in the nearest seat. "Long time no see, Ms. Lotus," he greeted, despite the fact that she was already engaged in conversation with a young man. It took her a moment to turn around, but after fixing her gaze on the source of the voice, she raised her brows in modest surprise. The young man also turned towards him, looking more curious than anything else. He was a little broader in the shoulders than Mani, and his hair was cut closely to his head in a manner that would have been befitting a monk, but looked a little out of place in New Evandalis. The man absently played with a pair of large, dark beads hanging around his neck, further adding to the monk-like presence. "It's OK," Mani quickly added, grinning towards the young man. "We're old friends."

The young lady nodded, then turned back to the man she was speaking to earlier. "Kobi, see if you can find Mei Lynn. I'm sure she's probably looking for someone to dance with," she requested.

The young man nodded and walked away without another word. Mani was surprised when he was given a friendly pat on the back by him before he disappeared into the human sea of The Chateaux. "He seemed like a nice guy," he remarked, turning his attention back to Lotus.

"He's not my type, if that's what you're thinking." The long-haired Nixen smirked.

Mani chose not to dwell on the subject, shrugging his shoulders. "You're the last person I expected to run into here. What brings you to this part of the multiverse?" He glanced out over his shoulder, away from Lotus. "Heck, I didn't even know you were in Haven," he added. His gaze fell upon a portion of wall at the other side of the club, where he could see Kobi conversing with a young lady in a red dress and high split, motioning in the direction of the bar every so often. He turned back toward Lotus.

"It's pretty odd to run into you here," she commented outloud, brushing back a lock of red hair from her face. "I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, though. With a name like 'Chateaux Dargosa', this club attracts a nice ratio of Second Realm patrons."

Mani nodded, remembering his lessons in the ancient tongue of Second Realm. As his memory served, 'Dargosa' loosely translated to 'Dragoness'. He noticed that Lotus seemed somewhat distracted, though he could not understand why. The two of them had been on good terms in the past. "Have you heard anything from your sister lately?," he wondered, trying to change the subject. "She left New Malstron a while back, and I never even really got..."

"She's fine. She was actually in town not too long ago. You just missed her."

"I see..."

"Don't feel so bad. I think she's still a little upset."

Mani paused for a moment, quickly waving off the bartender, who asked him something about wanting a drink. "I realize that," he remarked with a groan. "Regardless of what the rest of your family, in particular your father, may have told you," he began, trying his best to remain calm. "...your sister and I came to a mutual understanding. I don't think either of us wanted..."

"|I know, I know... listen Mani, I've got a favor to ask of you.|"

Mani quickly fell silent. She had addressed him in Miadrin, a Nixen dialect that he spoke semi-fluently, but was surprised that she had switched languages that suddenly. "|What gives?|," he wondered, raising a brow.

"|I'll explain quickly, because I imagine one of my associates is already heading over here to 'rescue' me...|"

He did a quick glimpse at the crowd, and sure enough, the woman in the red dress Kobi had been speaking with was making her way towards the bar. "|You've got about 30 seconds to explain|," he estimated.

Lotus nodded. "|When she gets here, I need to walk away, like I offended you. I'll explain later.|" Mani didn't say a word, but nodded, which prompted Lotus to begin a hasty explanation, all in Miadrin.

She told him the who and the what, but as she prepared to explain the 'why', Mani quickly stood to his feet, pausing for a brief moment to nod in the direction behind Lotus. "I'm in no mood for an argument," he declared coldly, turning to walk away. "Good night, Lotus." Before he left, however, he cast a quick gaze over his shoulder and declared in an annoyed fashion "|I'll see what I can do|." Lotus wasn't quite sure if he was still trying to keep up the appearance that he had been legitimately offended, or if in fact he was slightly miffed. Regardless, he said that he was going to try and do something, a gesture that Lotus greatly appreciated.

"Who would have thought you'd run into an old friend on this of all nights?," came a feminine voice from behind. Lotus knew exactly who it was, and was not surprised in the least when the young lady made her way over to the stool where Mani had been sitting just moments prior. She was clad in a tight fitting crimson Chinese styled dress, the massive split on the side revealing most of her slender thigh as she adjusted her position on the stool. A smile worked its was across her attractive face as she brushed a portion of her long blue hair away from her ear and arched a brow, her light-eyed gaze regarding Lotus.

Lotus glanced over to the shorter young lady and shrugged. "I had to get rid of him, Mei-Lynn," she quickly responded. "I didn't want him to know about what's going down later tonight."

The blue haired woman looked out into the crowd and sighed, sounding somewhat defeated. "Too bad. He was kind of cute."

Lotus raised a brow. Maybe there was no need for her to be so secretive. She grinned and pointed towards the portion of crowd where Mani had disappeared into earlier. "That's the guy my sister's always talking about," she added.

Mei-Lynn raised her brows as she looked back into the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of the young man. She casually reached up and touched the corner of her mouth near a tiny beauty mark with a slender purple-nailed finger. "No joke?" She turned back towards Lotus and grinned. "You don't suppose she'd mind if I..."

"Behave yourself, Mei-Lynn." 

When one of the doors to the backrooms restricted to the general populous opened, three figures walked out into the main area of the Chateaux, unnoticed by those engaged in their orgy of dance. All three were females; at the head of the group was a tall, slender blonde with her hair cut short, framing the outside of a cute, albeit stern, face. Her deep blue eyes bore into anyone that stood in their way as the trio made their way along the outskirts of the club, clearing a path with relative ease. "I hope Tikara's business is finally done here," she growled to no one in particular. "I'm about sick of this damned city. The sooner I'm out of here, the better."

"It's not so bad after you spend a little time here, Gwen," came the response from one of her associates. Gwen didn't turn around to address Nadira, one of their latest recruits that happened to be from New Evandalis. She didn't dislike the girl, merely found her annoying. When she had been introduced to her on the airship by Tikara, she found her somewhat gaudy- perhaps it was because she figured that someone with light purple hair probably wasn't the most inconspicuous of people she could have ended up working with. That was before she stepped into this freakshow of a city and realized that just about everyone and their mothers looked as if they had dipped their heads in a vat of acid and pastels. She had run across a few variations in hair color in Second Realm from time to time, but it was never on this grand of a scale. At least she could tolerate Ylandra, mainly because the red-haired elf maiden really didn't say too much. Gwen found that she could relate to Ylandra, a free spirit like herself, a bit more than Nadira, the daughter of a well-to-do executive at EvaTech. Both were new additions to Dark Dance, and Gwen was a little annoyed that she had been given the task of baby-sitting the two. The meeting with Zedaro's agents brought about no difficulties, and the sooner they picked up the weapons from one of his warehouses, the sooner she'd be out of this congested ant farm, if all went well. There was no telling if Tikara's business was actually finished here, but she could hope. She had no idea where their next stop would be, but anything was better than New Evandalis.

The crowd continued to fall away as the three made their way through, Gwen getting more and more annoyed at the occasional neon-headed punk that refused to move until she pushed them aside. After shoving one young man in particular into the crowd by his face, the group surrounding him immediately fell away, save a young lady casually leaning against the wall some distance away. Fully prepared to push her way past, Gwen suddenly froze as the lady looked up and smiled at her. "Evening Gwenneth," she greeted with a curt nod of her head. "I trust Tikara is doing well?"

Nadira cast a quick glance at Ylandra, who shrugged. Gwen, on the other hand, crossed her arms about her chest and grinned, slightly amused. "Lotus Albrook... I see the tales of your cowardice are somewhat unfounded," she began with the raising of her brows. "The stories of your stupidity, however..."

Lotus quickly put up her hand and shook her head. "Save it, Gwen. I didn't come here to start hurling insults." She moved away from the wall and stood to her full height. Lotus was quite tall by Nixen standards, but she still came up a few inches shorter than Gwen and her thick-heeled boots. "If you don't mind, I'd like for you to relay a simple request to Tikara. I'm only asking that she rescind the bounty she has on me..."

"...and why in the hell would she want to do you any sort of favor?"

"She wouldn't be doing me a favor. This is for her sake."

Gwen felt her cheeks start to burn. The arrogance of this girl was more than simply annoying. It was insulting. For one to not only turn their back on Dark Dance, but to then start making demands of this nature... and to actually -threaten- their leader... "I am not a messenger," Gwen spat back. "If you have something to say to Tikara, tell her after I throw your dying body to her feet, and collect the bounty on your head."

"You're not dragging me anywhere, and the moment you try, I'll see to it that you'll regret it."

Mei-Lynn and Kobi made their presence known at that time, and while remaining somewhat inconspicuous as the stepped out behind Lotus, both looked as if they were ready to assist. Gwen's eyes darted over at the two new additions, her gaze narrowing as she regarded the two. She then closed her eyes as a sneer worked onto her face, and a laugh escaped her lips. Lotus continued to fix her own gaze at the woman, not quite knowing what to make of what she thought was so funny.

"Ms. Albrook," Gwen finally remarked. "You are -so- outclassed..."

It took her a moment to realize what she was talking about, but after a quick inspection of the crowd surrounding the clearing, she began to recognize a few faces. There were five new additions to the group, and Lotus recognized them all. At one time, they had been her Sisters within Dark Dance- former relationships aside, Lotus realized that there was enough of a bounty on her head to make each of them forget any friendships that may had formed back then. Gwen glanced over at the recent arrivals and smiled, right before she was forced to do a double take. Someone was missing.

"Murial, where is Jiselle?," she asked the nearest girl, who shrugged.

[In the midst of the crowd on the dance floor, a short, dark haired girl tapped her brunette neighbor on the shoulder and motioned towards the outside of the area, where she catches a glimpse of Gwen conversing with what looks like Lotus Albrook. "It looks like our assistance may be needed, Jiselle," she remarked, making her way through the crowd. Jiselle, the brunette, nods and attempts to follow, but quickly falls behind as she is suddenly yanked into a nearby crowd of people. Murial, her dark haired friend, does not notice.]

"She was right behind me..."

"Oh, she's fine," a voice rang out from nearby. Lotus couldn't help but grin as she watched Mani approach the group, scratching his head. "We danced a little, but she couldn't quite keep up with me. She's okay though- she should wake up in about twenty minutes." The newer recruits weren't too familiar with the strange young man, but most of the older members of Dark Dance recognized him, including Gwen. Their contact in the past could have been summed up as a minor butting of heads on occasions- she had never been in actual combat against him or any of his close associates, but had heard enough tales to realize while she still had an advantage, it could get ugly if she wasn't careful.

That was before she realized that the ninja wasn't traveling alone. She recognized both Neil and Tara, but couldn't quite place the third member of the trio. She was almost certain that she had not run across her in Second Realm- even if she wasn't as trained as the group she traveled with, she knew that she was now at a disadvantage. Gwen mentally cursed at being the only high ranking sister within the Nimbus present among the lot. Most of the others had not even reached third circle, and the rest were the newest of the recent recruits. This had the potential to get quite ugly. The music continued to blare inside The Chateaux, but was slowly fading out as the gathering exchanged tense glances between each other. The next song the DJ decided to throw on ended up being even louder than the previous one, and as soon as the first wave of bass hit, a massive scattering ensued, along with the reaching for concealed weapons by numerous members of both parties.

Gwen immediately tossed down one of the flash bombs she kept with her, and as soon as the blinding white flash of light filled the area, she immediately darted towards Lotus. The young Nixen female had anticipated the maneuver, however, and shielded her eyes as she lashed out with a kick that Gwen barely had time to dodge. As she dropped down to avoid the blow, she quickly found the knife in her boot and rose with several slashes, each of which were dodged by the nimble Shadow Ninja. As the flash of light faded away, patrons of the Chateaux immediately began to vacate the area, not quite knowing what was going on, but at the same time not wanting to stay and find out. Most thought that it was part of the club's typical pyrotechnics, but upon hearing several gunshots over the baseline, many knew it was time to call it a night and flee.

Tara wasn't aiming at anyone in particular, but instead figured that firing the two pistols in her coat would clear away any innocent bystanders in a hurry. She didn't have time to think as she suddenly heard Natalie scream 'DUCK!', immediately rolling on the ground in front of her and spinning around with both guns ready to fire. There was a loud crash as the elf maiden she saw with Gwen earlier hit the ground with a loud thud, Natalie standing behind her with a broken chair in her hands. Ylandra was back on her feet much faster than Tara had expected of someone that had just been smacked with a chair, but she was quickly returned to the ground as Natalie blocked the elf's kick and snatched up her balancing leg, sending her crashing back down.

Mani was absolutely convinced that Mei-Lynn was going to get him killed if he didn't stop watching her. Despite the apparent tightness of the dress she wore, her fluidity and grace made it seem more like she was dancing than fighting, and after she had picked up a fallen sword, the thin blade seemed to become an extension of her very body. It was bad enough that he caught himself staring at her between blows with the various members of Dark Dance, but he had already gotten into trouble because of it- he wasn't sure how (or even if) she knew he was casting her the occasional glance, but the moment the two made eye contact, she slowly ran her tongue across her lips before mouthing the words 'Be careful...'. Had he elected to turn around a moment later, Mani realized that he probably would have had a knife embedded in his body somewhere. The blade merely tore through part of his vest, as opposed to his lower back. There were several loud clicks heard some distance away, tell-tale signs that someone was preparing to open fire. Snapping back to reality, Mani quickly leapt over the bar and hit the ground as the sounds of rapid gunfire filled the club, accompanied by the shattering of a number of the bottles of alcoholic beverages on the wall behind him. A body suddenly rolled over the top of the bar and landed beside him, also ducking for cover.

"Evening Kobi," the ninja greeted with a nod.

The bald young man looked up and returned the nod. "I think that it's in the best interest of our respective parties that we clear out of here as soon as possible. The authorities will be here soon, and they're a lot better shots than our friends over there."

"I concur, good sir."

There was a period of silence as the firing suddenly stopped. Both Mani and Kobi could hear footsteps circling the bar, and as soon as he saw a head poke over the far end of the bar, Kobi immediately leapt to his feet and with a shout, threw a punch at the line of bottles on the wall, his hand stopping short of punching the nearest one. One by one, the bottles each began to explode down the line, the nearest one causing the gun woman cover her eyes briefly to avoid the shards of glass. Mani immediately took off running towards the end of the bar and vaulted over the woman, his trailing hand reaching back and snatching the gun from her hands. He spun around to where the second gunner was, quickly taking aim at her. The second gunner quickly turned her own aim towards him, catching a glimpse of Neil out of the corner of her eye a moment too late. Three quick motions followed- first, her gun was knocked into the air. Second, Neil nailed the gun with a devastating punch that sent literally destroyed the weapon when it hit the ground. She wasn't exactly sure what the third motion was, but whatever it was, it landed her on the ground quite painfully.

Natalie began to look about the club, assessing the damage. It looked liked the worst of it had been property-wise; most of the force used against Dark Dance had been nonlethal, and it looked as if the rest of her friends were fine. "Where's Lotus?," she wondered, looking around some more.

"Here..." The voice came from the opposite end of the floor, and was followed by Lotus's limping form making her way over to the others. "Gwen got away," she quickly explained. "But that's not the real problem. The police are on their way, and from what I hear they prefer to shoot now and ask questions later. We should go."

"You're bleeding," Mei-Lynn quickly observed, reaching out towards the Nixen's shoulder. Lotus quickly waved her away.

"It's not that bad. I'll worry about it later, but we have to leave right now."

When the authorities arrived, they found signs of a large-scale struggle- there were no bodies or signs of fatalities, but strangely, a massive hole had been blown into one of the sides of The Chateaux Dargosa, which led into the alleyways running behind the club. A brief search revealed no signs of the perpetrators, but a hastily scribbled note on the back of a napkin was found a few feet into the alleyway. There was no signature of course, but there was a purple lipsticked kissmark at the bottom.

'Sorry for the inconvenience...'

Lotus Albrook decided that she would have to have words with Mei-Lynn about her sense of humor at a later date.