<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/1f/Diamondback_Portrait2.jpg)</div><hr/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>  Name:</strong>       Rachel Leighton<br/>  <strong>Title:</strong>          Diamondback<br/>  <strong>Affiliation:</strong>  Resistance<br/>  <strong>Location:</strong>   Tokyo Streets<br/>  <strong>Tags:</strong>          Blade <br/></span></span><hr/><br/>If Rachel wasn’t so intent on watching for possible threats she would have rolled her eyes.<em>‘Why do they always think in a straight line.  It must have something to do with having a penis.’ </em>She wasn’t about to stop and explain to Blade the concept of losing a tail and that was what they had, two angry ass tails that badly needed losing.<br/><br/>“We stop and reinforcements are going to pin us down.” She says not even winded and still at a dead sprint.  She didn’t know who the hell these people were or what powers they had, but she did know one important thing about these soldiers.  They lacked experience.  That much was obvious from the squad she encountered in Mori Towers.  Sure that may mean they would be dumb enough to follow them into a building to get picked off, but that wasn’t something she was going to count on.  It would be easier to lose them in downtown where their jump packs would be hindered by tall buildings and a maze of streets and alleys.<br/><br/>Still scanning the skies and the streets she spotted one of their pursuers pass a block over. “Bogey 10 o’clock.” She says seeing the soldier change his direction to try for an intercept.  “I’ll draw this one away and you deal with the other.” She says tossing one of the bugs she carried for surveillance at Blade.  I’ll find you on the way out.”  Rachel was sure she could lose this guy, or girl, didn’t matter really.  She slowed up a bit just to make sure the soldier had seen her and not Blade.   The patter of small arms fire on the street nearby was enough to answer her question.  Once again at a full sprint she took off like a bat out of hell.<br/><br/>The jump pack would have been an advantage if she had kept to the streets, but she was able to cut down alleyways, backtrack through buildings and do all sorts of neat little tricks to confound the little bloodhound to her clever fox.  Unfortunately for the bloodhound, this clever little fox was also armed with C-4, tear gas, grenades and a whole assortment of nasty packed in a pretty little box.  She did have to hand it to her little hound though.  He was stubborn.  She thought she had lost him more than once only to find out that the little guy had picked up her scent again.<br/><br/><em>‘It has to be the outfit.'</em>Trapster was good at what he did, but really, a hot pink jumpsuit?  He was such a pig.  A genius pig, but a pig none the less.  She remembered him saying it would make her a better sneak.  “You have to be good to not be seen wearing that.”  He used to quip.  Well, he was partially right.  She was good, but sometimes it was a bit much.<br/><br/><em>‘Well you know you didn’t help yourself with the hair.’</em><br/><br/>She told her mental self to put a cork in it and decided to stop playing around.  Finding the ideal spot to lay an ambush she planted a charge on the wall of a building and ducked under a large abandoned delivery wagon were she waited to see who and what this thing was.  It wasn’t long before a loud ‘clank’ announced the arrival of her puppy dog.  He was an ugly dog too.  He was hairy and balding and she could swear he was tasting the air with his tongue.<br/><br/><em> ‘That can’t be good.’ </em><br/><br/>The exoskeleton he wore was a navy colored metallic that protected much of his upper body and abdomen.  The boots looked like they were stabilizers for the jump pack on his back.  His sidearm was unfamiliar to her, which was odd.  She was sure she knew the look of every modern firearm on the market and much of what was considered “off-market.”  He looked like an ornery customer.<br/><br/>The hairy snake armored hound dude appeared to be following her moves…literally.  That was why she was having trouble.  It couldn’t have been her scent exactly, because he would have sniffed her out.  He stopped and looked around, mimicking her motion exactly.<br/><br/><em>‘Ok, that’s just creepy.’</em>She thought as she watched him close in on the explosive charge she had placed on the wall.  ‘Just get a little closer.  That’s a good boy.’  From her vantage point under the truck she placed her finger on the remote detonator and waited for him to mimick placing it on the wall before she pushed the button.  All in all, the explosion wasn’t large.  It had been a smaller charge set as a distraction really and one that wouldn’t bring hordes of the soldier’s friends running.  He disappeared into a hail of wall and dust.<br/><br/>“There, that wasn’t too hard.” She said out loud with much satisfaction as she rolled out from under the delivery truck.  She had just turned her wrist over to see what direction her bug was transmitting in when she heard an ominous sound of hydraulics firing and the clank of metal.  Rachel turned to see the cloud of dust settling on the shoulders of the armored exoskeleton.  Snake-dog boy was stumbling out of the wrecked building wall looking a bit dazed, but no worse for the ware.  Snake-dog was too cumbersome.  She would name him Snog.  Snog shook his shaggy head once or twice as he backup to into the street.  At least he hadn’t seen her yet.<br/><br/>“Here boy.” She called and the large mutant rounded on her with a snarl.  There were still little slivers of wall sticking out of his face.  He wasn’t very happy and tried to raise his rifle but Rachel was faster and he was still dazed from the explosion.  She stepped inside the reach of the gun and kicked out and down to land a boot into the big man’s knee.  She was expecting to hear a satisfying crunch, but only got a howl of pain for her troubles. Snog’s snake like tongue lashed out as he hissed in pain.  Rachel snatched a dagger from its sheath inside her glove and with a flick of her wrist sent the long tongue spiraling away in a bloody ribbon.  Snog cried out again and dropped his gun in an attempt to wrap her into a bear hug, but Rachel went limp and barely succeeded in slipping under his grasp.  She rolled backwards, between Snog’s legs and once again his back was facing her.  Damn, she should have thought this before.  Rachel detached a diamond from her wrist and smashed the facetted gem on Snog’s back.  The “diamond” shattered and sprayed a highly corrosive acid over the jump pack, melting a large section of it instantly.<br/><br/>Unfortunately Snog seemed to have recovered from his haze and backhanded Diamondback as he spun around.  The blow lifted her off her feet and launched her ten feet across the street.  She was able to roll with the blow, but damn that hurt.  If it wasn’t for her jumpsuit protecting her she was sure Snog would have broken a couple of ribs.  As she sprang to her feet Snog was charging.<br/><br/>“Oh no.”<br/><br/>Snog was relentless and was apparently undeterred by the wounds she had inflicted.  Discretion being the better part of valor, (and having eliminated his mode of travel and tracking) Rachel thought it best to get the hell out of Dodge, so she ran….fast.<br/>