Opening Old Wounds

It had been a while since Dennis had a good fight. In fact he had been counting the days since the last time his knuckles connected with someone's chin. Not counting the bar brawls he instigated of course. Those didn't count...

He had just finished a light workout and let his mind wander and his feet go wherever they felt like taking him. He thought about nothing in particular until the scenery began to look familiar to him. As he slowly began to pay attention to his surroundings his heart sank and he felt a knot in his stomach when he figured out where he was... His old neighborhood.

The neighborhood that he left years ago to satiate his lust for fighting. He hadn't been there in years and yet everything seemed the same to him. The knot in his stomach traveled to his throat as emotions he kept buried began to resurface. He considered turning abound, going someplace and causing a ruckus to get his mind off of his past, until he saw a female figure racing down the sidewalk obviously in distress.

She was much older now, but he knew exactly who it was. Of all the people at all the times it would be his sister running right towards him... What a way to come back home...

He was almost petrified. He forgot to breathe for a second. He didn't know what to say, what to do. He just stood there stiff as a board.

Haruhi continued to run, that was until she caught a familiar scent. She slowed down her pace a bit as she noticed the familiar face of the one she was looking for. Of course he looked much older and bulkier, but it was still him, her brother. She hesitated a bit but eventually pushed herself to catch up to him. "D-Dennis.." She began, but then hesitated...what if he wanted nothing to do with her or father...he did leave them, and without any explanation at that. As she stood just a couple feet in front of him, she was trying to keep her composer, trying to hold the tears back. "Dennis," she started, her voice was trembling as she fought back the anguish. "It's Dad, it's Simon." She put her hands up to her chest clenching one hand in the other. "He's missing."

"BACK TO REALITY DENNIS!" He had to scream at himself in his mind to re-focus himself. But he had to have misheard her. Their adoptive father was missing? He had to keep his emotions in check. The last thing he wanted was for this to become some big hug-cry fest. Especially when they had more urgent matters to attend to. Besides, emotions were something that Dennis buried deep down in the depths of his psyche years ago, and seeing his little sister again had caused the dormant feelings to stir again.

"What do you mean he's 'missing?' he asked her with an inquisitive look, until he looked at her body language. Poor Haruhi was on the verge on a breakdown. His first instinct was to grab her in his arms and pull her close to him. Tell her it was all going to be all right. Console her like a big brother should. He began to extend his arms out, but stopped himself by feigning a stretch and dumping his hands in his pockets. He couldn't do that to her. Give her some false hope that Big Bro D was coming back to save the day, move back in and have a happily ever after. He made his choice to leave and he wasn't coming back. But just leaving her in a state such as that would be too heartless.

Dennis may have been a criminal, but he wasn't that cruel. "I'm gonna go on a limb here and assume the old man isn't just a few hours late from a date night or something." his face was stern even after delivering his bad joke. "Going off of the fact that you look like your about cry a river any second I'm gonna guess by 'missing' you mean kidnapped." He hated talking to her like she was some mook henchman he was working a heist with, but hopefully she would get pissed at him and maybe calm down a bit. Or just get pissed at him. It had been years since the last time he saw her, she could have changed.

" So who snatched him? Old rival or something? Did they leave a note? Ransom? anything?

Haruhi clenched her fists, lowering her arms to her side. "I don't know who snatched him!" She yelled at him, angry at how he didn't show any sign of concern or care that the man that had raised them, took them in had been kidnapped. "There was no note! No ransom!" She took a step towards him, "I get home, and all I see is the house destroyed alright, and father not there." She said before looking away, the tears still rolling down her face. She took a deep breath in, closing her eyes, trying to calm down. "I know he was kidnapped...okay, as soon as I walked in, a strong rush of different scents hit me, one of them being fathers. I..I couldn't recognize the others. I don't know who took him." she said looking down at the sidewalk hating the fact she didn't have any other clues but those, she then looked up at him "If you won't help me find him, I'll find him on my own."

" What the hell do you mean you're gonna go alone?!" Now he waws yelling. He tried to keep his emotions at bay, but he couldn't keep up the charade of being a cool collected individual any longer. "You really think I'd just let you run around in these streets with the old man snatched up?! And why the hell would you even think about running around in the first place?! Whoever grabbed him is probably looking for you too!" He stared down at her the entire time, his words coming out like hot flames.

His adrenaline started to kick in, and he could feel his blood begin to boil. His breath became shallowed and his fists started to clench up. He was angry, but at the wrong person. She was staring at him with golden eyes filled with tears and sorrow, and a lump of regret ploped into his stomach.

"Stop crying Ru..." He took a step back from her and tried to avoid eye contact. He let out a hard sigh which could have been mistaken as a grunt. "I'll help you find him Ru. But us getting all hot headed isn't gonna do us any good."

He replayed what she had told him about the kidnapping. He couldn't help but wonder if he was somehow responsible for this whole debacle. It was entirely possible for someone to be out to exact revenge on Dennis by going after his family, but he had cut off all ties with them years ago and never even made a passing reference about them. Plus their being no ransom note, or any calling card of a rival gang lowered the chances of that being a cause.

"You said you got the Old Man's scent right? You think you can pick it up again? If we follow that we shoud find him." He inched his way back to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, but still was dilligent in not looking her in the eyes. He felt awkward, trying to console her like this. It felt foreign being here with her, like he didn't belong there. He didn't really. Who steps out on their family without a goodbye and then pops up again for a rescue mission? Apparently Dennis.

Haruhi's eyes widened a bit as she saw her brother's reaction when she suggested on going alone. "After me..?" She murmured under her breath, as she listened to him, feeling how worked up he was getting. She sniffled and sobbed as she tried to calm down and stop crying.

When he told her he'd help her find him, she calmed down a little more, and began wiping the tears from her eyes and cheeks. She looked down at her feet to avoid eye contact, as she noticed him look away.

She felt him place his hand on her shoulder, which caused her to look back up at him, at her big brother. She nodded, wiping her eyes one last time. "Yes, I can recognize his scent anywhere. I guess we could try finding him that way." she said, even though she wasn't so sure if she would be able to find him that way, but the only way to find out would be by trying.

"Alright, so where's that sniffer of yours leading you to? I'm right behind you." he asked her, trying to keep his voice level.  He'd follow her wherever she would run off to when she caught his scent.

Something was off about this whole situation to him. But he couldn't quite put his finger on what. He wasn't much of a deep thinker though, so he kept his thoughts on what would happen if and when they caught up with the kidnappers.

"And keep things might get ugly when we find these guys. Hope you're ready to throw down."

Vira groaned. After all of this she hadn't even been able to kill one person, but according to her uncle it was really important that they didn't get too much attention. They also needed to catch this old man alive. "This sucks!" she yelled at the other Zydon, none of which really paid attention to her. She was only here in case something went wrong. She would grind up the evidence. She couldn't believe it. That was her job!? Geeze, he was lucky he did her so many favors, other wise she would have blown this joint before they even started the mission.

The only thing keeping her here was who's father the man was. Apparently it was some metahman. She had heard talk of figuring out what made metahumans all...meta, in hopes of stopping it dead in its tracks. Vira couldn't care less about that. She was more interested in the fact that a metahuman MIGHT show up. She had killed enough humans. She wanted some sort of challenge and a challenge she would get.

Her head spun as she heard the violence start and she smiled before yelling, "It was us! What a little detective!" she said, practically skipping over from the lead position. Haruhi might notice that she smelled oddly sterile, other than the slight scent of blood, some of which could be faintly speckled on her clothes.

"Sorry about the mess, when I greeted him at the door he offered a handshake, couldn't resist. Don't worry though, hand is still intact and everything. the brutes here got me to stop before I even got all the way past the skin. Jerks. They never let me have fun!" she paused, crossing her arms. "You guys can go by the way!" she yelled at the Zydon. The braves quickly continued on, but the coverts stuck with her. "Oh fine, but leave the fun bits to me," she said, rolling her eyes, "Now, what are your names?"

There was a certain thrill that was found in racing through the night with your younger sister sniffing the air like a bloodhound after a fox. It was an excellent rush that hot the blood flowing.  After leaving their home, Haruhi wasted no time in pursuing the scents she picked up. Dennis was in shape, but Dennis was far from a parkour expert stuck to the pavement while his sibling skirted across the rooftops as if she was born to do it. He couldn't help but smile a bit realizing how much she had grown, but he quickly shook these happy feelings away. He couldn't get attached, he was here to get the old man and that was it.

When Haruhi descended from the rooftops to deliver news that her super sniffer had caught the scent of of the kidnappers, he couldn't help but give a smirk and he instinctively became cracking his knuckles. He could feel that a fight was going to happen soon and he couldn't contain his excitement, you could even hear it in his voice.

"Thank God. I was getting sick of running so much. Let's find these bastards so I can punch 'em in the face." but it looked like the bastards found them first. Even though his sister was considerably smaller than he was, whatever attacked her knocked the both of them flat on their backsides. He was back on his feet instantly however, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and giving his butt a quick rub to try and dull the pain.

One.Two... Dennis counted a total of five enemies in front of him and Haruhi. Three looked like high-tech ninjas and two looked like they belonged in a video game cover. Dennis had never encountered the Zydon before, and he had no clue who they were. But lack of information had never stopped him before. In one quick and fluid movement Dennis retrieved his trusty switchblade and cut into the palms of his hands, returning it to his pocket just as the blood began to flow. Within moments his  blood began to encase his hands and solidify into hard gauntlets. He was ready to rush the three large brutes when a young girl skipped in front of him and Haruhi.

She was claiming to be the one who napped his dad. She couldn't have been Oder than 12, and his father was a renowned fighter. Those were bold claims. Bold was the wrong word, ludicrous was much better. Maybe with help, but there was no way someone had to her from hurting his dad.
Dennis had to put a crystallized hand to his mouth to try and stifle his laughter when Vira sent more than half of her squad away. Leaving only the ninja like coverts behind. He really didn't want to beat up on a little girl, but he was far from above it.

"Look little girl, I really don't wanna crush your nose in, but if you don't give the old man up I'm gonna beat ya like your parents should have. So stop with the games and pass him over." He told her, focusing more on the coverts than Vira at this point.

Haruhi froze as the little girl conformed it had been them that had kidnapped her dad, and when she mentioned bringing harm to him, Haruhi had to clench her fists and grit her teeth to stop her from lunging right at her. "I swear if you hurt him, I'll make you pay." Haruhi hissed and took a step towards the Zydons.

Her Cat ears, tail, fangs and claws began to morph out and show themselves. Usually Haruhi was good at keeping her cool, but not in this situation, not when it involved the lives of the ones she cared about most. The only thing that was holding her back was the fact that she didn't know what these guys were capable of. One of the cybor-like ninjas was not only able to sneak up on them and attack them, but the girl was boasting on how their father was no match for her. Haruhi knew she wasn't lying, the small splatters of blood on the young girls clothes were indeed her fathers. Haruhi wanted nothing more than to run up to her and make her sorry.

"I already told you I hurt him!" Vira said, laughing. These two were clearly in over their heads. Vira wondered whether they would be able to get their father, she doubted it. By the way they underestimated her she doubted that they would have been able to even approach without more injuries if she hadn't ruined the covert's cover. She hadn't had any other way to have fun though! If she had just let the coverts have their way they probably would have just tried to stab the two metahumans in the back, through the heart and been on their way.

"Well Kaon will probably be mad at me, but it looks like I'll have to fight you!" she smiled and her mouth would seem to be filled with only sand as she stopped focusing on keeping a completely coherent form. Her feet also deformed a little, spreading on the ground, finally her arms drooped downwards, along with her clothes.

"So, you think I'm just some little girl. Don't compare me with your filthy human girls you scum!" her tone changed from sweet to vicious and disgusted. He had to gall to mention her parents?! He would be the first to die if she had her way "I'm going to turn you into a stain on the ground and when they're done with your father I'll do the same to him!" she gave a small glance towards Haruhi, taking her gaze off the man with the red fists. "Now! Prepare yourselves scum!" She leaned on arm back and made a throwing motion, sending several globs of sand that would act like spinning balls of razors at the twp. She then leaped forward and threw a punch, midway through her fist would grow in size, a lot of size, and gain the appearance of sand, now able to sweep the to of them up in one hard right hook!

"Ru, don't let this little runt get you all riled up. It was weird being the calm one between the two, but Dennis couldn't take the situation seriously. But how could he when he was facing what seemed like a hyper active pre-teen.

But ignoring Vira, there were still the robo-ninja things to worry about. But they looked frail. One strong  left straight to the nose and they should be out easy. There was nothing to worry about. Knock out the ninjas, put Vira in a full nelson and noogie the info out of her... sounded like a pretty good plan. It was absolutely foolproof.

" I dunno who the hell Kaon is, but he's gonna be madder at me when I send you back to him with a bloody lip!" with his pre-fight corny one-liner out of the way he took to his boxing stance and planted his feet firmly on the pavement ready to spring into a dash at the small girl, but he stopped himself as he began to notice that she was slowly turning into a...not little girl. Please tell me that's not sand. For the love of God tell me that's not sand... She's turning into freakin' sand! I CAN'T PUNCH SAND! He was yelling in his mind. Dennis was no Brainiac, but he knew what he could and could not beat up. And sand girls were one of them. He wasn't scared. It was more of an annoyance. He was looking forward to an easy win under his belt.

When the tone of her voice changed, he took that as a sign that Vira was getting serious. Seeing Haruhi in his peripherals, his first instincts were to make sure she was safe through this endeavor. As adrenaline started pumping through his veins, he was began his plan of action.

The first step was taking care of the small fries. He dashed towards the two coverts, dealing out three piston like jabs square in nose of one. Or at least where the nose was supposed to be, the mask did cover it. Having no time deal with the semantics or anatomy, he turned his attention to the second, who had just began to turn on his invisibility cloak, but he was a second to late as Dennis sent a right and left hook to his rib section before ending his combination punches with a quick uppercut to his chin. That would hopefully keep the two of them down long enough for him to focus on Vira, but then again they could be sand people too for all he knew.

He finished up with the coverts just at the tail end of Vira's monologue. He made his way to Haruhi to try and get in front of her and whatever the sand-girl had in store but was a few feet short of his destination when three spinning balls came whistling towards him. He threw the backs of his hands in front of his face to protect himself as the spheres slowly began to dig into his protective coating. Swiping them away before they had a chance to do so, he was able to see a huge sand hand coming towards him "Haruhi, get out of the way!" He screamed out to his sister as he was caught in the punch. Dennis was no stranger to getting punched, and braced himself, putting his forearms in front of himself once more. He was pushed back, and before finally giving way, let his gauntlets disperse into liquid blood for a fresh set, letting it fly. He was launched back several feet, landing square on his back. He was quickly back up however, scraping his palms against the ground to re-open his wounds to re-form his gauntlets.

" This is gonna be a fun one." he said with a smirk, ignoring the shooting pain in his back.[/color]

Haruhi knew this was no normal little girl...and she was right, not normal whatsoever. Just like her brother Haruhi was a close combat, physical fighter, but how could they hurt sand? Her brother atleast had shielded fists, but her? She was a bit hesitant to go on and attack while her brother was already taking a piece of the action. He had already taken a hit at the two coverts.

Haruhi saw the spinning globs of sand heading towards them, and though Dennis was able to block most of them, two of them still zipped past him towards her. But instead of blocking, she dodged them by crouching down on all fours, low to the ground.
Haruhi heard her brother's warning as she saw the giant fist of sand aim their way. She lunged at it and jumped high over and past the fist, dodging by an inch. "Dennis!" She yelled over her shoulder as she saw her brother get hit, she was relieved when she saw him get back up just as quickly as he had been knocked down. She then lunged forward towards the girl, jumping up and delivering a downward scissor kick on where her shoulder would be. It was just a test shot to see if she could feel physical hits or not....so far it looked like a not...