Teamwork Prospers

Belle focuses her a wind against the incomers. She watches to see what is affected, who is swayed.

The whole fury of the windstorm is scouring the valley, centered on Rock and Yurasu. Rock and Yurasu are both strong and tough, but only Rock is actually heavy. Yurasu, the Brute, is driven back several steps by the fury of the wind, before she punches her fist into the ground to anchor herself.

Both Rock and Yurasu are dashed and bedazzled, unable to see which way to go. They are, for now, out of the fight.

Kaze is concerned by the screaming coming from the bootlegger hideout... but she knows the three or more Actives coming their way means she'd better stay close to the weather lady. Close enough to keep her Faded. She tries to keep a cool game face as her old colleagues approach. Or don't approach, depending on how the Weather treats them.

Sky puts down his rifle, takes off his coat and hold it in one hand, draws a switchblade in the other hand, and runs toward the brute lady, yowling the famous Rebel Yell to which his own Jewish ancestry as the son of a New York pawnshop owner in no way entitles him. He loses his hat in the gale force wind Belle is whipping up, but he will buy a new one later.

As soon as Rock turns toward him, Sky ducks behind a tree, then Travels to a spot immediately in front of the massive, spits in his eye, then travels immediately behind the brute lady, throws the coat over her head, and cuts at the rope with his knife.

Sky feels his magic buzz as things that were going to happen to him don't quite happen. It's a good feeling. Yurasu's punch just misses, but the wind of it spins Sky around anyway. He'd have been oatmeal if she had hit him.

He runs away from her parallel to the rope, figuring that if she follows him, the thing on the end of the rope, whatever it is, will move backward if she moves backward. And he keeps hacking at that rope.

Kaze hurls her sai overhand and hits the rope, too.

THWIP! The rope parts.

And the wind whips away the concealing smoke, showing what lies at the other end ... the other four Iron Guard, none of whom, apparently, had the strength to walk against the wind.

Those Iron Guards are now crouched, shielding their eyes against the wind. One of them, wearing a green tunic over his tan denim baggy pants, points to Sky and barks an order; another one, this one in a red silk tunic with golden brocade, makes fists and turns his fingers outward. Lots of things in front of him burst into flame; every tree, most bushes, some of the grass, a boulder whose mossy covering is just dry enough to burn ...

And Sky Masterson, except he isn't there any more. By great good fortune he chose to Travel just as the Torch lit up the environment. Sky's tie smolders, but that's all.

The third Iron Guard wears ivory silk. He stretches out his arms and bones grow out of his body; curving claws, stabbing spikes at elbow and knee, jointed jaws from his eyebrows. He grinds his teeth, and the bone spikes grind together in unison.

The fourth Iron Guard wears blue silk with ivory brocade. He sweeps his head left to right, and everyplace he looks, dust spatters outward, as though his glance is a wind sweeping the ground clean. He locates Sonny-boy, and points triumphantly, shouting to his buddies ...

BLAM! Voinovich shoots him right in the head. Except for the last three inches, because that's where the bullet stops, glowing with heat. Just hanging there in the air, a handswidth short of the blue Iron Guard's face.

The Iron Guard nods, and the bullet goes back on an exact reverse course. Voinovich shouts in alarm as it shatters his gun barrel.

The Iron Guards are taking the following actions:

ROCK, the Massive, tries to walk against the wind, and fails.

YURASU, the Brute, takes a tungsten rod from her belt. It weighs about thirty pounds. With one arm buried in the ground to the elbow, she throws the rod with her other hand, overcoming the force of the wind and sending the heavy metal rod spinning end over end toward Sonny-boy.

The TORCH turns, locates Sky, and starts igniting everything around him. If he manages to set Sky on fire, it won't do any good for Sky to Travel; he'll just end up burning somewhere else.

The GREEN TUNIC guy grinds his fist into his open palm, straining. The wind spraying Rock and Yurasu shrinks toward the ground, still very fast but no longer in their faces, as its very air becomes heavier and heavier.

The SHARD (with the bone spikes) slaps the GREEN TUNIC on the shoulder and runs foward. He suddenly weighs as little as a feather, and lofts through the air to drop on Sonny-boy just a moment after the tungsten rod gets there. If the rod doesn't get him, the spikes will.

Finally, the MOVER (in blue) gestures at Voinovich. Voinovich's shattered rifle leaps into the air and spins around, alternately threatening Voinovich with the butt and the jagged barrel. Rock and Yorasu are both strong and tough, but only Rock is actually heavy. Yorasu, the Brute, is driven back several steps by the fury of the wind, before she punches her fist into the ground to anchor herself. Voinovich looks like he's going to freeze the gun.