Path to the Mad Man

David and Axel were handling the mobsters well but more just seem to be coming from all directions.

The mobsters surrounding Robin were tossed about by the breaking ground and the sudden shock wave, one tossed at the ground and slid in front of Harekles.

"You kids just keep on getting weirder," Harekles murmured, dropping his cigarette to the ground after one last puff. Putting it out with the end of his cane, he cracked his neck and stared boringly at Robin like a lazy man killing time watching television. "How about a date doll face? Let's dance."

Harekles pointed the long end of his cross-shaped cane at Robin and for small rockets shot out, flying towards Robin in spiral motions.

Davy looked at the mobsters pouring in. He just sighed. "BURN IN HELL!" He screamed as his flame mod came to life. He sent walls of flame out towards the men around him. He listned to the sound of screams all around him, and loved every second of it.

"That's it? You need better material." Robin snarked, separating the bow into twin swords. Waiting until they were close enough, she raised in her arms in a ready position, and blew away the projectiles in a single motion.

Smirking, Robin dashed for Harkles.

Byron plowed through the stream of mafia men, dashing towards the Don like a raging monster. Throwing off mobsters left and right like rag dolls, Byron closes the distance between him and Chronos when suddenly the raven was no longer there. Byron stopped in place and before he could turn around, Chronos was there behind him and kicked the back of his coffin hard enough to knock the hatter over, plowing right into the chair in a heavy clatter as the furniture broke to splinters.

As Robin charged towards Harekles, the bored looking man lazily turned around, showing his back to her. Then in the next instant, Robin was where Harekles was, which was only a few feet away from a wall. The faunus was now where Robin was standing before but this time looking at her back as he pointed one of the short points of his cross cane at her.

"You're actually kind of fun," Harekles sighed. "You're the type of gal I could have liked."

"Sorry, already seeing somebody." Robin replied cheekily, "Besides, I don't date men with annoying teleporting powers." Turning around, Robin grabbed one of the arrows on her belt, and held it in her hand.

"They don't learn very well, do they?" said Axel to David over the din of the battle. He bent backwards to dodge a knife swing before swinging Laughter. More blood splattered against him as motorized teeth tore through flesh and bone, chewing through the gangster's legs. The gangster, robbed of his lower limbs, fell backward, and Axel kicked him in the celiac plexus, sending him flying back against other gang members. Once again yelling out to David, Axel said "David, don't you have a flash or a smoke bomb of some sort? We need to grab their attention and get them to cease fighting. We aren't butchers. We kill only when necessary, and the bloodshed has been way past necessary. It's time to stop this."

"It's not exactly teleporting," Harekles sighed, "But whatever. Play with me for a little while longer doll face. I'll show you a good time."

Harekles shot bullets from his cane like a machine gun, sending a volley of lead at Robin.

Byron picked himself up unsteadily, turning around to face father time. He was showing his gums and teeth with his large, crazed smile, but his eyes were glaring, showing a fiery rage completely contradicting the smile on his face. Byron lifted up his two guns, ready to fire at the Don, but in an instant, Chronos was gone. He stood to Byron's left, a pistol in his hands pointed at the hatter.

"You can't beat time young man," Father Time said. "What did you think to accomplish coming here Mr. Hatter? You should know better than to get on my bad side. Now your time is up."

Suddenly the visage of a man whose face with red and missing his nose and lips flashed across Chronos's eyes. The don stumbled back in shock giving Byron room to gain distance and started shooting.

David then talked to Axel. "Listen up. They killed a child. An innocent child. Do they really deserve to live?" He said as he fired his weapon into a crowed of men. He watched each one drop from the rounds. He loaded up his newest toy. He loaded the slug and fired. As soon as it hit it sent smaller slugs flying at the men.

With an uncharacteristic smirk, Robin threw the bullet arrow right through the volley of lead, it soared past the bullets and headed straight for Herakles with great speed.

Axel leaped in front of the mafia men and put up a wall of an aura shield.  The mafia men, stunned at the development, stepped back.  Axel raised Spite against David.  "And what makes you deserve to live?  Yes, they killed a child, but who are you to judge that the men we slaughter here are all worth one child?  Justice is in the eyes of the beholder.  Today, killing twenty, thirty men to avenge the death of Dormir can be called justice.  Tomorrow, killing the four of us will be justice for killing twenty to thirty men.  These rank and file men probably did not even know that Dormir existed, and yet you kill them by association.  Your rage is not only impure and arrogant but blind and baseless.  Enough is enough."  Axel paused.  "I've killed many before I came to Beacon, and yet never have I rationalized my killing into the realm of subjective morality.  I killed because it was my will to do so.  Now stop being a coward and admit that you are killing because you enjoy it.  And then, look me in the eye and tell me that you deserve to live."

Byron's bullets sailed through nothing but air. The hatter swerved around but almost immediately received a swift kick to the stomach. The hatter reeled and stumbled back from the force alone. Byron charged at the Don furiously. The two clashed but everytime Byron swung or took aim, Chronos was suddenly gone and was somewhere else. Something seemed off though. It didn't look like teleportation. Byron's coffin Thanatos was off as well. The finely tuned clockwork had always worked fine yet for some reason, five minutes had gone by in what felt like mere seconds.

Right when Axel finished his speech on morality, he suddenly found himself looking at a speeding arrow shooting straight at him.

"Yo," Harekles said to David as he was standing right next to him now right before swinging the long end of his cane to whack him in the head then swinging at his legs to make him fall over.

David fell to the earth and looked up at the man with a smile. "Hello." He soon raised his hand cannon up and fired a Vortex ring round right at him. The blast would send him back a bit, and knock him out if it hit. "Axel ill stop killing when they stop trying to kill me." David looked at Harekles the at father time. "Harekles let me guess. Your father or you control time right?" He asked as he looked at his time on his HUD. It was off by a bit.

David tossed into the air some random mobster while Harekles was behind him and tried to kick him in the back.

"Close but no cigar," Harekles sighed. "You haven't realized it yet?"

"That you guys are insanely effed up?" Another voice came from behind Harekles, it belonged to Robin, having jumped quickly out of the way of the bullets that were headed towards her, and a fair distance away from him.

Axel saw the arrow coming towards him and instinctively leaned towards the side.  It hit a gangster behind him in the chest. "How did I get here?" he thought to himself. No matter, he didn't have time to think about it.  Another gangster was coming up behind the one who was just shot.  He threw a punch at Axel, but he was merely a simple street brawler.  Axel caught his punch, and with his arm still in hand, Axel kicked him in the side, breaking several ribs and nearly dislocating his shoulder.  Axel spun him around and had his large biceps around the gangster's throat, almost lifting him off the ground.  With Spite held against his head, Axel spoke to the reinforcements calmly but authoritatively.  "Our fight is not with you.  Go back home and live.  I've negotiated for your lives, but I can just as easily slaughter you here with gruesome sadism."

And in an instant, Robin found herself looking at David, Harekles now behind her as she could tell from the smell of a cigarette being casually lit up. "Musical Chairs," Harekles murmured. "In a dangerous man's tea party where time refuses to take part, it is dull for the small party of three to four to sit as they are. So chairs are switched and seats are exchanged, round and round do the seats change. Call this mad man's method of making things seem less dull, but change is needed, simple as that. Now my dear, while the mad man kill time, how about we play?"

Before Harekles had even finished speaking, Robin had thrown one of her blades right at his chest. "For the love of....Will you SHUT UP?!"

David turned around and saw the foot. jumped out of the way and slid over to Axel. "ROBIN DON'T! He switches spots with people!" He yelled as he looked at Harekles, and fired another Vortex round. the round would miss, but at least keep whoever was there next alive.

David made a good assumption and move. Just before Robin was about to stab into Axel's chest, David's move pushed him back away.

Harekles is casually walking towards the group, the cigarette in his mouth as if this was all another day at work.

"You're feisty doll face," Harekles murmured, "I don't know who you're seeing but he must be mad himself to get himself in a relationship with such a wild kitty.

Byron swung a blade at Father Time but the godfather was gone in an instant. Byron swerved around just in time to see the barrel pointed at him. Byron moved to the side but the bullet grazed his temple, cutting the string to his eye patch. The hatter dashed off, placing a hand over his left eye, his left gun dragging across the ground by its chain connected to Thanatos's mantle.

David went to check on Axel. "You okay?" He said as he checked on him. "Robin no lethal moves he swaps places with us." He yelled as he stayed by Axel's side. "That round's going to knock you out. Try to stay awake as long as possible."

Robin's sword sang through the air, and in complete defiance of the natural laws of physics, changed course mid air after glowing bright red. And it headed right for the back of Father Time.

"Well, I like to think of myself as creative."

"WATCH OUT DON!" a random mobster shouted.

Father Time turned around just in time to see the sword soaring right for him. This would be the moment he would disappear and the attack would hit nothing, but instead his eyes widen and he ducked, covering his head. The sword went right through one of his raven wings, drawing blood. The godfather roared and stood up with an angry look, both his wings folded back tightly.

"What the hell are you doing boy??" he roared at Harekles. "I am not leaving this family business to a son who can't even off a bunch of brats!"

"Uh huh," Harekles sighed tiredly, still sounding bored and disinterested.

Father Time was flaring his nostrils at this point, glaring at his son angrily. "All of you back off!"

The swarm of mafia men suddenly stopped and slowly backed away, leaving Harekles and the three members of Team AMBR in a circular clearing.

"You deal with those kids on your own," he growled, pointing a finger sporting a large ring at the hare faunus, "And if they off you then I'm not even going to bother getting back at them for it!"

"Right," Harekles murmured, dropping his cigarette to the ground and rubbing the end of his cane on it to put it out. "I'll get to that."

Byron looked at Father Time, crouched down in an almost feral stance with his left hand covering his left eye.

"What will you do now Mr. Hatter?" Chronos asked Byron. "Your weapon requires both your hands. Will you fight me with the handicap of dragging such a cumbersome gun around like that or will you show the world what is beneath that eye path you're always wearing?"

Byron was panting, as if he was tired and losing breath, his hand stubbornly covering his left eye.

David sighed. "Byron cover both eyes this is goanna hurt." He said as he let a grenade slip out of his hand. As he did this his face mask collapsed over his face. The room and everyone in it would be blinded by a flash of white. David could see, but the after image would be there for a bit.

As the flash started to come, Father Time turned away, covering his eyes. Harekles was not so lucky, roaring suddenly and covering his eyes, reeling in pain.

Byron turned away from his the flash, covering both his eyes now. When the flash disappeared, most of the surrounding mobsters were left reeling. Harekles was hunched over, both his hand pressed against his right eye.

"Yooouuu, little..." he growled. His other hand felt around his face at the bandages that wrapped around his left eye.He the bandages just slightly in the middle, creating a thin slit. His other eye still closed, he looked at the group as if staring through the small slit between the bandages.

Byron look over at Father Time who slowly turned to look back at Byron.

"Still refuse to show your friends your ugly side eh?" Father Time goaded, his eyes squinting from the small moment he looked at the flash before turning away. "How will you fight while covering your own left eye?"

Byron was breathing heavily for a while. Thanatos was suddenly shited back to its passive coffin form, the clock ticking away as it snapped shut.

"I must tip my hat to you Father Time," Byron said, his free hand reaching for the brim of his hat and tilting it to the Don. "You prove to be a man worth your name. It's quiet a rare semblance, being able to alter a person's sense of time. It's a real marvel."

"Compliments from a mad man is just noise," Chronos scoffed. He was lifting his pistol when a gun shot rang and suddenly his shoulder was bleeding. The don roared, clutching his shoulder.

"Sense of time does not equal time though," Byron chuckled, the top of his hat smoking from a small hole. "An object that moves will always move. You can't stop that, now can't you?"

"Since when did you-"

Byron flicked his top hat with a flick of his wrist and it suddenly sprouted six angled blades at the top flattened down. Byron threw his hat like a disc, his hand holding onto the end of a long metal chain as the hat spun through the air.

With Hearkles blinded, David fired another Vortex Ring shot at him. "And god said LET THERE BE LIGHT!" He said as he laughed manically. "It seems the little man is coming back. OH HOW FUN!"

David struck a random mobster with the shot, throwing him back a few feet and crashing into the ring of men. Harekles casually walked out of the ring of mafia men now, his right eye still closed while his other hand separated the bandages over his left, making a wider opening in the middle.

When Harekles removed his hand, the opening was big enough that the group could see Harekles's eye looking at them.

"Nice one," Harekles said sarcastically. "Let me show you mine now."

Harekles pointed the long end of his can at the group and let out a volley of rockets flying towards them.

The Don jumped out of the way but spinning hat cut a deep gash into his right leg and he fell over screeching with a raven's caw.

Davy laughed at the rockets coming at him. "Oh pretty lights!" He said as he ducked and dodged. He moved as is a ballet dancer. "And pirouette." He said as he spun. He then loaded up his flare gun as he spun. He then fired it just in front of Harekles. Davy knew he would switch with someone so he kept his mask on just to be safe.