Thread: Open Skies, Smoking Guns(Myself x F R O S T)

Mercury couldn't help but grin when he noticed the attraction in the woman's eyes it spurred him on and oh he would have loved to tease her more, but for now fun times were over. The Dragon did give her one last parting gift though to assist her consideration, slowly running his tongue over his lips to clean up the blood, grinning and looking back at the hallway while that tail of his wove through the air, still coated in the life force of the poor soldier who had come to investigate, the dark red blood clashing with the metallic silver of his tailblade before he flicked the blood at one of the boarders with a teasing smile before springing to action himself, focusing all of his attention on the battle ahead. Though moving ahead of her he moved with startling speed and no hesitation at all. He was an almost silver blur when springing into action. This was not his ideal battleground, but the Captain had spent many months teaching him how to move in the close confines of a ship, where the minimal reach of his talons and claws were more of a benefit than a detriment. The Dragon tucked his wings into his body tightly, protecting vitals with hard scales along the edges of his wings and launched himself forward, first clinging to the opposing wall of the hallway with talons and claws, flattening his body to allow the Neko to take her shots by him and reduce the risk of collateral damage. Ahead the three gunmen fired their shots and behind him the Neko also fired hers. The noise was nearly deafening, and the drake had to fight the panic the sound of gunfire this close inspired, turning it into seething rage as he had been instructed by their beautiful captain. The Neko's two shots dis enough to make the soldiers on the other end distracted enough to miss him as they lined up shots with the rifles - though not by much. Mercury actually felt the air being disturbed by the hot lead that smashed into the walls behind him, one also nearly missing his neko backup and one freeing a couple locks of his long silver hair from his head, missing him by inches. Fortunately, the greenbacks did not use advanced guns, those rifles only had one shot per reload. Mercury had heard stories of countries further to the south that had strange clockwork weapons that fired many shots before having to reload, or the Arkadians of the north who utilized old magics to make their weapons even more fearsome... but, both of those places were so far away and few pirates were foolish enough to attack ships bearing their red-and-black and silver-and-blue banners. Those strong leg muscles tensed once more and he snarled viciously, leaping from the wall to the floor to dodge another misaimed shot and then straight into the three men at the end of the hall. The soldier who had been hit by the neko's shot was still reeling, but the eldest soldier managed to brace himself and the younger soldier in front of him swung his bayonet towards the leaping Dragon. Mercury felt one of those blades skip along the scales of his right arm but the burning pain that lanced into his left informed him that the elder soldier's bayonet had pierced the softer scales just below his shoulders. Though his scales took the brunt of the thrust, the searing pain that lanced through his arm indicated that the blade of that bayonet had found the flesh underneath. The silver-haired dragon hissed with pain and almost screamed with fury now that he was inside the reach of those bayonets and the soldiers had no time to reach for backup weapons, the one on the ground watching in horror as the Dragon straightened and slammed his tail into the chest of the soldier who had dared swing at him hard enough to shatter bone sending him into the floor with a crunch before he drove both of his hands into the older male who had actually injured him, talons locking around his neck and pinning him into the wall. Pain and fury both flowed through the young dragon, watching carefully the terror in the older soldier's eyes glancing down at the other two, one writing in agony and the other watching him through wide eyes. The Dragon did not relent though, releasing one of his talons from the neck of the bearded human and seizing the rifle out of the hands of the cowering one. He didn't much care if the other soldiers or even his neko companion saw him by this point, consumed by bloodlust. Merc grinned to himself, ignoring the pain from the cut in his upper arm before his talons tightened around the wooden barrel of the rifle and with all his strength drove it through the torso of the man who had harmed him and the wall behind him, likely terrifying anyone on the other side when the bayonet was driven through the wall by the dragon's impressive strength. The neko herself might see her companion injured, his own red blood spilled freely from the cut, running down his arm and staining his shirt while he went about the messy business of impaling the human that dared injure him. With the three soldiers down the hall otherwise distracted, it was now safe for the Neko to move, or so at least it appeared. Since she was waiting for him to move and clear the hallway, which he did. Unfortunately for her there was one more threat lurking in the hallways that Mercury had missed in his charge towards the three humans. He had his back pressed up against one of the walls of the passageways leading out of the hallway, trying to still his breath as to avoid being detected by the silvery blur and readying his weapons for the next intruder to run down the hall after him, only a nervous swallow to give himself away, listening for the sound of footsteps before he stepped out and made his own attack, hoping to catch the pirate off guard. The young-looking fighter who stepped out to attack was male, about the neko's height and possessing shoulder length black hair that was tied in a messy ponytail and bound with a green bandanna wrapped around his head. This individual was also a mercenary, wearing a tight shirt that covered his slender torso and armor that covered his vitals, mostly leather over his shoulders and chest, all dyed a dark green, certainly a far cry from the professional look of the greenback soldiers, especially counting the necklace of teeth and doodads he wore around his form, also bearing nearly tribal looking tatoos across his right eye. The most startling thing about this mercenary is that unlike the other members of the party, who were all human, this one was far too slender, his face was angular and rather beautiful, and his willy features were complete with two three inch long knife-shaped ears that popped out from under the green and white bandana he wore. The elven mercenary, though supervised with his adversary was quick to attack, swiping with the daggers he held in each hand with a sharp cry from his ambush spot. His attack was hurried and short range, one blade only managing to skirt close and was easily blocked. The other swipe, upwards and diagnal however might catch her already torn, poor shirt, making the already straining garment even less capable of its job.