[2-8] The Campground

[Hiro Protagonist]

Hiro swept his gaze across the empty jungle, the blowing of wind through the tall tree leaves and the faint chanting of the natives dying as he left the cannibal village behind. God damnit, Barry, where are you? I didn't save your ass so you could get eaten by cannibals. The hacker though to himself as he tried to keep as low a profile as possible while searching for the Secondary who, in retrospect probably rather foolishly, he had shoved into the jungle to hide. So far, he'd seen nothing.

Then about twenty yards away, the samurai spotted one of the villagers coming out from behind a tree, stalking forward. Scouting, apparently. And in his grass sash....was Hiro's second tanto.

The hacker saw red. Rushing through the undergrowth, he was upon the cannibal before the man even had time to blink. He'd opened his mouth, either in shock or to call out, and a fountain of red gushed from his throat as Hiro struck him so severely that the edge of his katana chipped on the tribal's spine. Taking a deep breath and sheathing the bloody weapon to be flash reforged in it's sheath, the vengeful ronin bent down and retrieved the tanto from the corpse's sash. Bloody. 

Fuck.

"Mmmfrflr! Mffrrmm!"

Hiro whipped around towards the source of the noise to see four more tribals, two of them carrying a long branch with a person tied to up, hanging upside down. A wave of relief came over the hacker as he recognized the bartender's outfit, and a bleeding wound on one of the cannibals carrying him. Barry was shaping up to be pretty feisty, which might make him a better ally further down the road.

The tribal villagers, some sort of hunting party apparently, dropped their quarry unceremoniously, and Barry hit the ground with an oomph. Hiro waved in the air at the hunters, a simple motion to anyone ignorant of it's purpose. On his hip, a green light clicked on and an alert flashed across the samurai's goggles. REPAIR CYCLE COMPLETE. Allowing himself a humorless smirk, Hiro gripped the hilt of his sword. "Four against one, huh? Much better odds than before."

F**k You And Your Little Village Too

Perception slowed down as Hiro ran forward across the forest floor, two of his opponents loosing arrows at him. Without stopping his pace, he drew the sword and sliced both projectiles in half, the shiny black tips skittering uselessly across the leather of his coat. Before they could notch and restring, the ronin was on them.

With his free hand, he drew a tanto and threw it at short range directly into one of the bowmen's eyes. The man went down screaming, the hilt embedded in his eye socket, bloody hands clutching at it fruitlessly, the last few firing neurons before his brain registered the gash in it. Hiro twisted his palm, the electromagnet in his glove activating and returning the blade to his hand just as another cannibal came at him swinging a stone ax. 

Twisting around expertly, Hiro flashed backward to avoid the strike, then immediately forward once more. He barreled into the man shoulder first, causing him to stumble back, arms flailing. Without missing a beat the cyber samurai took another step forward and executed a double downward slash, nearly cutting the man's arms off. He followed up with a scissor cut at head height, and winced as blood sprayed over his goggles and hit his face. No time to get grossed out.

The other two combatants hadn't just been watching in amazement, as Hiro found out when a stone knife zinged by his head and took a nice chunk of his ear off. Whirling around furiously he swung his katana low. The last cannibal had crept up behind him and was ready for the blow leaping up with a triumphant shout and he jumped over the blade. This irked Hiro, so he just stabbed him in the chest with the tanto in his free hand, stepping over his body as he strode towards the now defenseless final hunter.

Bloody, ripped coat flapping in the mist, and with shiny, reflective lenses obscuring his eyes, the hacker barely had to open his mouth and say "Boo" before the final villager was tripping over himself to get away. Once Hiro was sure he had gone, and the moaning of dying men had ceased, he ran over to Barry and cut his bonds, helping him to his feet as they staggered as fast as they could in the opposite direction of the village. The bartender ripped a torn, dirty cloth from his mouth and spoke as they ran, ecstatic. "Dude! Hiro! That was nuts, man! I am -so- glad you're the guy who grabbed me, man. Some of those other Primes looked like they would have just left me!"

The hacker just grunted in response. "It's fine, Barry. You took care of me last night, well, I'll take care of you now. It's a fucked up situation you didn't as kto be in. You just work here."

Two men, once strangers, now gaining an appreciation for each other, staggered and hobbled as far as they could before collapsing in a small clearing surrounded by low rocks and stray branches. Hiro leaned against one of the more comfortable stones and went into his belt pouch. "Here...I've got some jerky I brought, and we could share this energy drink. I also....oh, hell yes." He pulled out his forgotten package of cigarettes and his lighter, offering one to Barry. "Want a cig? Sunshine Slims, if you've ever had 'em."

The syntech employee nodded, and took the proffered teal stick. "I don't usually smoke, but if there was a time to start..."