World Tournament: New York Round One (Anna)

[Cain Marko]

Some people like to think that reforming is easy... That all you have to do to be good is say you are... People like Cain Marko, they know better... Even if you don't have a crisis of conscience or some event to let you know you're definitely in the wrong... It always eats at you, if you have any kind of conscious... The more you harm people for your own gain... The more you hate yourself... And the more you hate yourself, the more you hate everyone around you...

Spend enough years filled with hate, you'll almost forget what anything other than hate and anger feel like... Something else Cain knew real well... He grew up jealous of his younger step-brother, Charles Xavier, hating him for receiving the attention from his father that Cain deserved... After touching the Ruby Gem of Cyttorak, Cain became the unstoppable Juggernaut... After spending years digging his way out of the temple the Ruby had buried him in, he first used his newfound abilities to hunt down his step-brother and try to kill him...

And he spent years doing the same kind of things, always out to get Charles, or to get what he felt he deserved... He even had a partner for a while, Black Tom Cassidy... But, after the two planned to kidnap Madame Web to join their mercenary group, Cain ended up buried, again... This time in wet concrete, by the hero known as Spider-Man... Spending months flexing his muscles to get out, he found himself alone again... But no longer feeling so much hatred...

After a few years of working as a freelance Mercenary, he'd ran into someone from his past, Bobby Drake... Better known to the world as the X-Man Iceman... Meeting Bobby shortly after working for a man named Wesker, who'd caused Cain to realize the kind of man he'd always been... And no longer wanted to be... Cain had made peace with his old enemy... In some ways even becoming good friends with him... So much so, he'd even been offered a place amongst the X-Men... An offer he'd been more than willing to accept...

And that all leads up to what was currently happening... Someone had set up a world fighting tournament... Something Cain had seen as a chance to show he was a new man... He'd signed up willingly, glad to see that money was being offered, as it was something of a bonus... All he had to do was best his opponents in combat, and move on... Maybe he'd be put against heroes, maybe against villains... Maybe just against martial artists... But, he wouldn't kill any of them... And, more than that, he'd only incapacitate them... He'd make sure he didn't send anyone to the hospital, to make sure it was clear he was capable of self control... And not the walking, destructive force of evil he'd once been...

Standing in a squared off area of Time Square, surrounded by cheering civilians, Cain waited patiently for his first opponent to show up... If he was lucky, they'd put up some challenge against the unstoppable Juggernaut... Of course, unless his first opponent happened to be some kind of psychic ninja, like his new team mate Psylocke, he'd have no problem... No amount of physical damage could truly stop him... And, to get him too far gone from the fight... It'd have to be someone far more powerful than he himself was... And that wasn't likely to be the case... No, not likely at all...

Beneath his famed crimson helmet, Cain Marko smiled, before turning to people who once feared him, and clapping at their cheers. "Hey, uh... Before this fight get's goin'... I, uh... Just wanted ta thank you folks fer givin' me support after all the bad I've done... It does a lot to know you can give a guy a second chance!" What others would see as show boating or publicity, Cain saw only as a sincere thanks to the people of New York, for the sheer fact that at least a few people in the crowd were there for him, holding banners with his face on it, and cheering his name... It felt nice, not being feared by everyone around him for a change...

[Anna]

Anna walked in to the designated spot the fight was supposed to take place in knee high boots wearing a mini skirt with a basic halter top. She had place red streaks in her hair to help her identity and smirked as she came in. Thank god, the paparazzis never could tell it was her. Well maybe due to the fact that they never could make out her face and was afraid that she would snap them in two if they reported her.

She waved only for huge amounts of whistling to be heard from all the guys. She shook her head due to the whistling hurting her ears. Damn, shit. She also could smell sweat, testosterone, and alcohol everywhere. Damn, talking about sensory overload. Let us get this shit done with. I want to find the man who created this tournament and beat his ass. He is a mad dictator who only dreams of chaos and domination. I could give a shit about the money though. She blew a kiss to the crowd to get there support.

Anna then looked forward and her jaw dropped. Shit, not lucky at all. Juggernaut is my damn opponent! How the hell did this happen? " Hey there, big guy. How about you come over and give me a kiss and we ditch this and have some fun?" She then blew him a kiss. IF I can take him down quick enough, maybe I stand a chance. If this fails, I have not much of a chance. I mean, he is the damn Juggernaut, has way too much strength and is neigh unstoppable. I mean, World War Hulk tripped him just to win the fight!

[Cain Marko]

Turning at the sound of the feminine voice, Cain came to face to face with a pretty attractive woman attempting to sweet talk him out of fighting her... If he was even dumber than people thought, he may have fallen for a trick like that... As it was, he'd faced better looking before, and still tried to pound their faces in... No need to suddenly focus solely on sex appeal now.

"Thanks for the offer, sweetheart, but I ain't gonna toss the bout that easy... 'Sides, ain't you hear that the winner has to take on the guy who organized this whole operation? Maybe you're a bit more powerful than ya look... Hell, knowin' some of the folks I do, I'm bettin' you are... But, I promise ya, you ain't takin' me down... An' if ya can't bring me down, I'm bettin' ya won't be able to take him down, either... Now, I'mma go easy on ya, but I ain't gonna lose... Hope ya don't mind a little bit of pain..."

With that, Cain lowered his helmeted head, and charged straight at the woman, figuring it'd be best to end the fight quickly, to keep it from getting too drawn out... He knew things'd only get bigger and badder from here, and he didn't wanna give away everything he could do just yet, just in case one of the folks he had to take down had no idea who he was... As he neared the woman, Juggernaut pulled back his massive right arm, fully prepared to deliver a heavy handed right hook as soon as he was close enough...

More than anything else, this was a test to gauge her speed... Cain knew there was almost no way for her to actually put him down, but he wanted to find out how quickly she moved, and figure out just how much of a beating it'd take to drop her from the match, without causing lasting damage...

[Anna]

Anna laughed a little and skoffed. Too bad that did not happen, was hoping for an easy fight. I guess he is not as stupid as the media makes him out to be. I may have to break a nail now. Anna saw him charging at her for her to charge forward at him. In the same time he charged at her, she grabbed a switchblade from her shoes and cut across an artery causing blood to go everywhere. She healed up immediately and formed a massive glove out of the blood on her left hand with the same density as adamantium.

There fists collided knocking Anna back. She flipped and laughed. " I aien't gonna go down that easy. I may be pretty but I am no moron unlike you. Torpedo skull, you should have just let me take you down after I kissed you. At least you could have ACTUALLY got to say you kissed a hottie. I mean, your brother Charles was CONSTANTLY making out with the former queen of the Shi'ar."

A crunch was heard as she straightened her left bones realigning them so they could heal from the small fracture. Damn, he can punch hard. I do not need to fight him head on. Need to keep moving. Maybe he does have a weakness, hope so, don't want to lose int he first round.

[Cain Marko]

After his fist connected with the glove she'd made of her own blood, Cain couldn't help but groan a little... This was probably gonna end up more annoying than tackling Wolverine... Especially given that condescending tone she took... He at least tried to be friendly... Just cause they were fighting in a tournament didn't mean they had to be enemies...

"Heh... Tryin' ta take a jab at my famous hatred for my little step-brother? Sorry ta disappoint ya, doll, but I ain't so full o' hate for him anymore... Honestly, I have a lot to apologize for, if I ever see his bald head again..." Watching as she tried to think of a way to take Cain down, he decided that charging her again wouldn't prove so useful to him, instead, he'd lure her to him, knock her out, if only for a few moments, and claim his victory... It'd take more time than he'd originally wanted, but, it was better than wasting time running around their arena waiting for her to tire out.

Lifting his massive fists into the air, Cain slammed both arms into the ground, essentially causing a small earthquake all around himself, and sending a fault line directly towards the girl... The earthquake should keep her off balance, and the fault line should send her flying into the air... As soon as she popped up, Cain would charge directly at where she'd be landing, punching her as she fell... Knowing that she could heal herself meant he didn't have to go as easy on her as he'd originally planned... And that just made things easier on him...

"Just in case yer wonderin', givin' up is always an option, sweetheart..." Cain told her even as the fault line rapidly approached her... If she did manage to avoid it, Cain would wait patiently where he stood for her to return an attack, using it as an opportunity to turn her offense into his own...

[Anna]

Anna groaned and then gave him a stare. Damn it, most people fall for that. He is supposed to be a hot head. Shit, I guess he has changed. There goes my plan, but I still can win but may have to pull out a secret weapon. As she thought this, Juggernaut created an earthquake.


She groaned as she nearly fail but then a vault nearly hit her but she fell to the right on purpose. She sighed. Great, I had to fall to keep myself from being knocked up into the sky. " Look at what you did! You made me fall and show my underwear to everybody! You gonna pay for that big guy!"

Anna then sighed and stood up. Playtime over. She then transformed the fist into a dual sided blade on her arm and got into a stance before leaping into the sky and diving towards him. While she was up in the sky, she cut herself along her stomach and healed but created a shield out of the blood on her other arm.

[Cain Marko]

Watching as the girl fell to the right, avoiding his fault line, Cain watched in mild annoyance as the girl leaped into the air, turning the boxing glove into a dual blade, then cutting her stomach to form a shield in her other arm... Watching as she fell, Cain waited patiently as she came down... For whatever reason, she actually seemed to think the blade she'd made would have some kind of adverse affect on him...


"Guess I should apologize fer that... Course, ya can't really blame me 'cuz ya dressed like a street walker today, can ya?" Cain chuckled, somewhat bemused, as he lifted his arm into the air, catching the falling blade within his massive palm, and beginning to pitch it around wildly, hoping to cause her to swing off...

"For someone who seems ta know a bit about me, ya think you'd know how hard it is to actually hurt me... And how pointless it ends up bein'... Hell, I've tackled the god damned Hulk a few times, and it usually ends in a draw... You got guts though, girl... I'll give ya that... Now, how long ya expect to keep this goin', cause I'd like to take some time to prepare for the next round, and get one step closer to takin' down whoever's causin' all this..." Giving up on tossing the girl off her blade, Cain simply tossed her back into the air, as he stepped backwards. Lifting one massive leg up, holding his knee at a ninety degree angle, Cain waited for her to land, planning to slam his massive foot into the ground, and send a rush of debris and rushing air away from the impact as soon as she did... If nothing else, it would just serve to continue to tire her out...

[Anna]

Anna smirked as he tried to throw her off her own blade. I knew he would do this, fell right into my plan. She growled as he said she was dressed like a street walker. What an asshole! He will pay me some respect. Anna then felt herself thrown up in the air.

She smiled and laughed as he did exactly as she planned. She did a spin and threw the blade with full force at the Juggernaut causing it to spin rapidly and transform into a sharp boomerang which accelerated its speed. Let him try catching that she thought as she landed and placed the shield in front of her.

She focused on the blade preparing it for when he intercepts it to transform it from a blade to an improvished snare that would constantly come back together. Let him see get his out of this and more is to come. " Well, this street walker just outsmarted your ass and is about to give you the beating of a lifetime. Ya ready big boy?" She smirked as she said that.

[Cain Marko]

As soon as he tossed her aside, the girl had thrown some kind boomerang thing at him... Rather than wasting time trying to catch it, Cain held to his original plan, waiting for her to land... Soon as she did, she started mouthing off about how she'd just outsmarted him, and was going to give him some kinda beating or something...

Letting her rant, Cain slammed his foot into the ground, sending a massive shock wave, along with a lot of debris, flying towards the girl, expecting it to knock her over, and give him a chance to hit her just enough to keep her down long enough for him to be declared the winner...

Of course, what he hadn't expected was for the boomerang to hit him on it's swing back, and to duddenly turn into several tendrils wrapping around his body... Rather than heading directly after the girl as he'd originally planned, Cain began attempting to tear it apart... However, each time he ripped a hole in the netting, it reassembled itself before he could toss it aside... Luckily for him, however, it was nothing more than a mild distraction, somewhat restricting his sight... Plowing forward to where the girl was, as he neared her, Cain pulled back both arms, and clapped them together in front of the girl, using a little trick he'd seen the Hulk pull before, causing a small sonic boom from the force of the impact between his two massive palms...

[Anna]

Anna groaned as she was hit by massive debris and a shockwave which stunned her and knocked her down. She leapt up and shook it off. Damn, annoying shell head. I need to keep moving and try to take him out. Not gonna be that easy. She laughed due to all the cuts. The blood covered the ground before she healed up completely with a smirk on her face.

She busted out laughing after watching him get attacked by the tentacles. Damn, what a moron, he did not see that. " Did you shell head actually think I was gonna attack ya ugly ass straight forward? NO fucking way. I actually have an education."

After she taunted him a huge shockwave flew through the air at her. She groaned as it came into contact with her only for her to bust out laugh as blood came out of her nose and shook her head. Time for me to take charge of this match. " Big boy, look below you. The entire floor below my feet is covered with MY blood which means the playing field is mine now. You just gave me the damn advantage. You really are not that smart." After she said this she summoned the blood around Juggernaut and started sending out tendrils towards him in hopes of restraining him against the ground but was breathing heavily. He is taking a lot out of my ass.

[Cain Marko]

"Ya know, yer pretty rude... This is supposed to be a friendly tournament... All ya do is try ta belittle others, don't ya? Not a friendly bone in yer body... If I was the bastard I used ta be, I'd see to it that there wasn't a single one left when I was through... As it is, I'm just gonna leave ya a little beaten, if yer lucky, a bit humbled... Somehow, though... I doubt that..." Cain calmly spoke to the girl, even as she continued bragging about her education and how stupid Cain was...

At least Cain was smart enough to know better than to worry about some power to control a substance... "Ya know... Even if ya manage to knock me down, ya don't have the strength of Hulk or Gladiator ta hold me down... I haven't seen any psychic powers, not that it'd matter, anyways... Ya really seem ta be underestimatin' me... This blood o' yers ain't strong enough ta keep the Juggernaut down... I'll fall, and I'll be able to push myself right back up... This little net ya got around me... Yeah, it'd probably stop anyone else, but I'm not called the unstoppable Juggernaut just 'cause it rolls off the tongue..."

Smirking as he spoke, Cain began walking forwards toward the girl, at a steady pace... She was clearly tiring out, a feeling Cain hadn't experienced since being human... Maybe if her blood control was magic, she might be able to faze him, instead of just annoy him with her arrogant attitude... Even as the blood latched around his leg with each step, it wasn't powerful enough to stop the Unstoppable from moving... Facing the girl, Cain lifted a leg into the air, at the same moment as again spreading his arms apart... Sending both the shockwave of the clap and the earth shattering rift of the bootstomp in her direction, Cain watched to see if she'd finally had enough... Or if she really thought she'd be able to best him...

[Anna]

Anna rolled her eyes as he called her rude and such. Whatever, I mean, the comments are doing exactly as I planned. They are making him not think through his actions. Everything he has done and will do I knew he would. I may be worn out but he is underestimating me. I know full well of his powers and such.

" You are underestimating me and I would not insult you if you would not be so gullible and predictable. I mean, you keep on trying the same thing and I can do pretty much whatever I want to do with the blood, especially with this much." As the footstomped down she blinked creating a padding below his foot absorbing the impact and sending it through out the layer of blood. She then raised one hand which created a gelatinous wall of blood which absorbed the other shockwave and then reached forward and attached it to Juggs helmet sending towards the Juggernaut skull.

" Like I said, you have been falling straight into my trap. Brutes are by far some of the easiest ones to fight." She then fell to one knee from the stress of manipulating so much blood at once.

[Cain Marko]

Watching in annoyance as his attacks were all blocked by the girl, who was again ranting about how stupid he was, and how smart she was, Cain couldn't wait till she just gave up... She was already straining herself, and she hadn't even scratched him yet...

When she sent the blood into his helmet, it did little to slow Cain down, except for making it slightly harder to see through the blood... Still, it couldn't really do anything, since he didn't need to breathe anyways... And, being blood, it was still porous enough for him to see through... Figuring that it was how Cyclops saw the world, Cain almost understood why he always seemed to willing to lead the old X-Men to fight him... Hell, if Cain saw in red all day every day, he'd want to fight all the time, too...

Running forward when it appeared the girl dropped to her knees, Cain knew the fight was almost over... She was overextending herself, and still hadn't realized that, as smart as she thought she was, and as great a planner as she believed herself, she still couldn't do anything to Cain with what she was capable of... Lifting his right fist into the air as he ran, he prepared to slam the fist on top of the girls head with all his might as soon as he was close enough... The sooner he ended this little bout, the sooner he could move on to the next round...

[Anna]

Anna groaned as he continued. What, why will he not fucking stop? Damn it, I am running out of my energy and about to pass from overexertion. Just need to come up with a damn way to stop his ass. Of course, nothing can. Well, nobody can blame a girl for trying.

She then felt the punch hit her squarely in her face. She bounced on the ground. She laughed as she looked up at Juggernaut and laughed a little with her mangled face. The healing started to take place.

The sound of the bones reforming was heard as she laughed a little and stared at Juggernaut, then the muscle reforming was seen and the regeneration completed in a couple of minutes. " Damn, been forever since I have felt a punch of that strength. But really the strongest punch I have ever felt. But I may be worn down, but I am not known to be the kind of girl who gives up." She then popped her neck and smirked afterwards.

I see that it was no exaggeration of how strong he is. None at all, he is every bit as strong as they say but damn, his invulnerability is what makes him so damn strong. She shrugged it off, and shook her head. She then felt endorphins kick in which triggered adrenaline. Alright, he just refueled me." Well, looks like your little punch got me recharged. Wanna go another five minutes? You got my adrenaline pumping." She then snapped her fingers and created a massive blood glove on her right hand as big as Juggernaut's helmet.

[Cain Marko]

After the punch landed and the girl had fallen over, the blood quickly reliquified, and spilled from Cain's helmet, allowing him to speak again. "Ya really wanna keep this goin' any longer? Worse ya been able to do is keep me quiet... Let's imagine ya manage to knock me over or somethin', right? I'm on the ground, an' ya cover me in yer blood to hold me to the ground... Well, long as I get any kinda momentum, no force can stop me... Only seen a few things able to pull that off in my time... An' I don't mean to be rude, but you ain't got any way to compare to any of 'em... See, I'll still be able to move my hands and legs, the blood can try, but it ain't gonna stop me... Then I'mma get right back up, and keep comin' at ya..."

As he spoke Cain stood still, letting the girl know he wasn't going to keep wasting time, unless she was going to force his hand. "An' see... I'll always get right back up... Maybe that lil' punch o' mine juiced ya back up... But you know as well as I do that adrenaline only lasts so long... You ain't gotta be some kinda genius to know that... Once it runs out, you'll be down... Ya got a nice little healin' factor, I can see that... If I wanted to, I could overload it with a few well placed punches... Hell, you ever hear of a guy called Wolverine? I've beaten him down before, one on one... If ya really wanna keep this fight goin', to prove ya ain't a quitter or whatever, you can, but you know well as I do that you ain't about to knock me out for the count... I had you beat already, maybe if I'd done somethin' other than hittin' you in the face, you'd be down now... But, that don't even matter... I'm offerin' you somethin' I ain't never offered before... I'm tryin' to be a decent guy, here... Take yer loss, move on... Or, keep tellin' me how bad you gonna beat me, and take the worst beatin' you've ever had..."