For The Glory Of The Hunt (4)

15 million huh? Weighing the bag of currency carefully, Samuel concluded that the down payment was satisfactory before shaking the hand of his client. "So. The mark must be important for you to downright pay me so handsomely. The room was cramped and poorly lit, however, Samuel could easily make out the shape in front of him as some potato headed alien warrior. Leaning back on his chair, he propped his feet onto the table, a loud thud resounding as he did so. "So the mark...this is his genetic tracker?"

"CORRECT! You will find our enemy and dispose of him FOR THE GLORY OF THE SONTARAN EMPIRE!"

Frowning at the last statement, Samuel pocketed his payment. "I'm not doing this for the glory of...whatever. I just need to get this job done....due to say, personal matters." The chair fell backwards as he firmly stood to his feet. He kept his eyes locked onto his client as he entered the tracker code into his Primer. Nodding as his preparations were set, Samuel saluted the Sontaran before him before activating his time travel device. "I expect full payment upon completion." With that, he was engulfed by red Temporal Energy and was blasted into the Time Vortex.

( Korea; Goryeo Dynasty-1350's )

A blinding flash of red Temporal Light descended upon the fields of what appeared to be some Asian village. It was an early time, primitive even. Taking the time to analyze his setting, Samuel's Primer informed him of his destination. "Ahhh Goryeo. I'll fit right in. Looks like the Capitol city of Gaegyeong is not too far to the North. Maybe I'll start there."

His red leather blew furiously as the wind caused Samuel to catch himself. Upon looking at his own attire, the Setzran froze. Hmmm this won't do. I'll stick out like a sore thumb.

Upon arrival into the city, the noise of a bustling market square boomed nearer and nearer. It would be a good idea to change here. Using straws as a cover, Samuel positioned himself behind a vendor. Glancing at the variety of apparel, Samuel noted the fine silky qualities of the clothing. Realizing he had no currency acceptable within this early a time, Samuel pointed his finger to the side of the store and let forth Ankhan Primal Energy. The inside of a wagon immediately caught fire, alarming the shop owner to go and investigate. With his distraction in place, Samuel swiftly grabbed a set of clothing and sprinted off to the back of an alleyway to change.

"Ahhh much better. Whew and lucky me! With this kind of fine silk, I may even pass off as a noble!" Hopping with glee, Samuel jumped onto the nearest roof and scanned the area for his mark. The Sontarans were generous enough to gift him with a tracking device and for some apparent reason, his tracker led him here to an earlier Korea. "Now now....where exactly is my prey."

A loud ringing caught his attention as he saw a man run to the center of the market.

"The Yuan have imposed themselves onto his majesty! Ready yourselves there may be bloodshed within the city today!"

Frowning, Samuel accessed the Primer's historical data to better his understanding of the time. Ahhh so Goryeo is a child state under the Yuan Dynasty. Looks here that King Gongmin is doing his best to drive the Yuan away from Goryeo land. This may prove interesting... Placing the historical data files away, Samuel smirked as the wind blew once more into his hair. [color=red]"This may prove to be more adventurous that a measly hunt."[color]

High in the capital palace, the Doctor stood on a massive porch looking down upon the city. The bright red handrails and gold-leafed decor clashed and accented with the Doctor's burgundy outfit. His long, woolen topcoat hung lazily around his tall and slender frame. The unusually long scarf, made of soft, suede yarn, hung around his neck in nearly three loops. Atop his furry mop sat a rudy red velvet fedora, which usually would have provided him with refreshing shade in normal sunlight, but on this fateful day, the sky was tainted with low hanging, dark grey clouds.

Preoccupied with observing the city life, the Doctor never noticed the Empress coming out of her chambers and joining the Doctor outside. Proper protocol was to bow and, if failed, beg forgiveness. But the Empress and Emperor often made exceptions for the Doctor. He had helped them in so many ways, and had lent his sagely advice in many situations.

The Empress's golden silken robes fluttered in the wind. Her jet black hair was pulled tightly up into a bun atop her head, which was then decorated in a delightfully gem-studded crown. Her smooth, tan face was brightly painted with gold make-up and brightened up her jade-like almond eyes. She smiled. The Doctor knew he always liked when she smiled. It brightens up the room, he would say. He also knew flattery got him everywhere.

"Why is it that a man of such age and wisdom can give such sagely advice and yet, suffer so alone?"

The Doctor glanced over to the Empress. "Well...when you get as old I as do, there's a lot that passes by your eyes that is impossible not to feel a sad connection to."

His gaze returned to the city. "I shall stay until the Chrysanthemum festival tomorrow, and then I must go."

The Empress laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. That's when the battle cries began...

THe Doctor spun around to face the Empress, who's face had a look of determination and leadership upon it. He knew what she had to do, and she to him. Within an instant, the Doctor ran off into the Palace, trying to find the Emperor and warn him of possible catastrophe...

Shouts of hardened warriors littered the cloudy skies as Samuel followed a group of soldiers to a burning garden within the palace. Already the ground was littered with the corpses of the fallen. Dancing through the pools of blood, the Setzran Ankhan could not place a finger on who had the upper hand. It was strange enough already as it was. The fact that the Yuan were able to so easily enter within palace walls only meant one thing. Mutiny. Or at least it was an inside job.

Clashes of steel and fire scoured the palace grounds and Goryeo and Yuan soldiers entangled in combat. The movement between the warriors was almost like a graceful dance; each party whirled and spun in a such flamboyant manner that Samuel couldn't help but stop and stare at the beauty of their movements. It was actually quite funny. Here these warriors were, fighting and spilling blood, yet the way they moved was a sight to behold. In his distraction, Samuel almost failed to ducked at a flying flame arrow passing overhead as he noticed warriors rushing towards him. Not good.

The flaming arrow happened to pierce the side of a beautiful wooden chambers, igniting it ablaze within mere moments. With a wide array of weapons to choose from, Samuel opted out of drawing his Vega Pistols and handed himself one of many spears that were littered on the battlefield. Raising, the spear overhead, Samuel threw the spear with a mighty thrust however, the strong wind picked up speed, causing the spear to miss his attacker and instead latch itself onto the royal gate.

The royal gate!

Utilizing his augmented physical abilities, Samuel easily rushed past his attacker and jumped over the heavily fortified gate. Beyond this point, he stopped and gazed upon a marvelous structure. A beautiful stone and wood palace quarters stood before him with a mixture of bright royal colors. The architecture and body of the quarters were indeed a sight to behold, but the sight of the corpses of the palace guards quickly drew the attention of the alien humanoid. Rushing inside, Samuel noticed a figure in black proceed forward onto an older man on the floor, hands up as to defend himself. Taking hold of the situation, Samuel grabbed the nearest sword off the ground and ran forward, thrusting the glinted blade into the assailant's back.

The assailant resisted but it was no use. With a last grumph, the body went still, allowing Samuel to lay the body down before helping the old man before him to his feet. Judging by the appearance of the man's attire, Samuel quickly assessed that he was in the presence of royalty. Instantly, Samuel bowed. He was in the presence of King Gongmin after all. To not bow would blow his cover. The rouse was easy enough, Samuel was after all wearing clothes of the Goryeo nobility. The King would merely believe that he was rescued by one of his retainers. Samuel did have the appearance of an Asian human as well. This only served to aid in his disguise.

"I thank you dear friend. That assassin came upon me so quickly, I feared for my life. I am humbly grateful." The King stood tall and regal at his rescuer and recomposed his royal stature to display his rank over Samuel.

"It was only my duty sire, now may I suggest that we escape before more of those Mongols return for your majesty's head?" It was too late, the doors swung open to reveal another more intruder within the Royal chambers. Reacting quickly, Samuel withdrew the blade from the body of the assassin and pointed it at the newcomer.

"Stay back your majesty!"

He raced forward and thrusted once more with his sword.

The Doctor ran through the paper corridors of the palace. Already, the opposing army of attacking individuals had stormed the palace, and already it could be too late for the Emperor. The Doctor's scarf flowed like streamers behind him as he passed through palace rooms and paper doors, which were now littered with holes and blood stains.

The Doctor came to an immediate halt, however, when a massive spear flew through the paper wall next to him and zoomed into the next room. The Doctor knew he had little time left to find the Emperor before the soldiers came to take his head....

He began to tread carefully, toeing through corridors and pausing for a moment to let a stampede of screaming soldiers race by. He peered around the corner, making sure that no assailants could be coming his way. He turned the corner, safely assuming the way was safe, and ran directly into the Emperor's room...

The Doctor was immediately greeted with the sharp end of an assassin's sword, held by a man who seemed to be protecting the Emperor. His face was spattered with blood, as was his blade. He gritted his teeth to the Doctor, preparing to lunge.

It all happened so quickly for the Doctor. The blade lunged towards him, the Doctor bent down, grabbed the man's arm, and flipped him on his back. He turned to the Emperor. "Venusian Aikido, never fails."

The assassin was abnormally skilled, so skilled even that he was able to disarm Samuel and then throw him. "Venusian Aikido, never fails." he heard before catching himself with one hand. Using the momentum of the fall, he flipped back onto his feet next to the King's side. No apparent injuries surfaced after assessing himself and with that Samuel faced the intruder.

"Stay away from his-" His eyes bulged wide as he recognized the clothing to be that of the future. This was no intruder of this time. In fact, there intruder may not have been an intruder after all.  Distracted for oh too long, the Samuel didn't notice the King run off away to where his majesty most likely presumed safe.

"Your highness! You musn't!" It was too late.

An agitated cry resounded through the back halls causing Samuel to forget the futuristic intruder momentarily to check on the King. He was gone. "No!" Facing the intruder alone now, Samuel pointed his finger. "Who are you? Friend or foe? The way you dress is strange. Tell me...where are you from?"

This man before him was peculiar, especially with that scarf of his. By the look of things, he was most certainly a westerner, not from around here. But that didn't explain his clothing. Yes he knew that some businessmen wore suits however this style of fashion would not be worn by people of this time. Perhaps he was over thinking things, but Samuel had to be sure. After all...he was on a hunt. The squabble between Goryeo and Yuan was merely a side task.

(sorry short post; next will be longer)

"Friend or foe? My dear assassin, in this day and age, who can tell who's who? I'm the Doctor, and I'm guessing that you're here to take the King's head? There's no point in running after him now. He's gone into the escape tunnels." The Doctor watched the man hesitantly as he approached him.

"My clothes? You think MY clothes are strange? Perhaps you should take a better look at yourself before you go and insult my choice of attire. You've got your top folded over wrong, unless of course you're a woman or going to a funeral. Now, any sort of lowly assassin would know the proper way to fold a top. But then again, you're not a proper assassin are you?"

The Doctor was rudely interrupted by a barrage of flaming arrows and spears, narrowly missing his spindly frame. Not taking a chance to really react, he kept his focus on the man. "And as you can see, this is no place to discuss trivial subjects of attire and dress, now is it? Oh by the way, have you seen a blue box by any chance?"

(No worries about the short posts, this is only the business chunk of the stuff. It happens. Once we get into the meat of our RPs, I'll start giving you longer stuff. In fact, what we're doing is perfect, I just don't like short, "meh" type of posts.)

Samuel was a little taken aback by the ruder inference that is was HE who was the assassin in this particular situation. Had this man no eyes or ears? "I'm not here to- wait my what?" Looking to his top, Samuel realized exactly what the man meant. Sapping his forehead within his mind, he sighed at the realization of his mistake. The King probably noticed as well. Hopefully he's fine. After all King Gongmin isn't even supposed to die yet.

Though embarrassed for a moment, Samuel had realized that his plan had succeeded. When he had spoken to the man who called himself the Doctor, Samuel had spoken in his native Setzran language. No human or man of this time could have possibly understood yet the Doctor responded just fine. Now, this led to a couple thoughts. Either this man was an alien of this period, a time traveller, or....his mark. No matter. Samuel would bring this up later.

"Fine...Doctor. You got me there. However-" Interrupted once more by a blaze of flaming arrows, Samuel rolled forward to prevent himself from being burned and skewered. "Ah yes I agree now isn't the time for formalities! Or fashion!" Grabbing onto the Doctor's hand, Samuel rushed to the side of the wall.

It was the royal chambers after all. There was always an escape path leading out to safety, and if memory served him correctly-ah yes! Behind his majesty's bookshelf, Samuel find a hidden passageway. Quickly pushing the exit open, the Setzran dashed in before Yuan invaders could catch him and sealed the exit behind as the two entered inside.

"Sorry about that, didn't really have time to ask your permission. Now a blue box you say? No. I haven't seen one uhhhh...Doctor. Doctor Who exactly?"

The man grabbed his hand and tugged the Doctor though corridors and rooms, passing by the ignorant eyes of pillaging hoards and fierce warriors, running through pungent plumes of burning wood mixed together with the irony, metallic smell of blood and unfortunate entrails. The man finally stopped in front of a bookshelf, which seemed to make sense to him. The man found a small trinket on the shelf, pulled it, and pushed the exit open. The Doctor hurried quickly inside, then the man entered and closed the door behind him.

"Doctor WHO exactly?"

"If you'd like. But yes, my blue box is where I came from. My space craft."

The Doctor pulled out a small box from his inner pocket, extended a fairly large and obnoxious antennae, then flipped the switch. The box whirred to life, blinking and humming with every direction he pointed it. The illumination from the box gave little light to the tunnel, and provided no sanctity from the impending and increasingly loud growing crowd outside the bookshelf.

The Doctor pointed the box in the darker portion of the tunnel. It began to ping with a slow, but steady pace. "Come along, assassin. And no funny business."

Frowning, Samuel protested as he wasn't exactly given the answer he was hoping for. "That wasn't exactly what I- oh forget it. He'd realized that The Doctor was that kind of man and simply waved it off. As a matter of fact, he inwardly chuckled to the response. Another matter concerned Samuel however, as The Doctor readily admitted to the possession of a spacecraft. "A spacecraft? Could it be that this was the man whom he would have to take down?

Playing the role of a resident of this time, he questioned "Ah you can't expect me to believe you have something that allows you to travel through the heavens now do you?" The Doctor however appeared to pay no mind and instead proceeded to work on lit box that began to ping to Samuel's curiosity.

"Come along, assassin. And no funny business." Shaking his head, he corrected, "I'm no assassin Doctor. As for getting out of here, I propose that you follow me instead." The tunnel itself was dark, eerily dark, and the battle cries outside most certainly did nothing to help. The ping of The Doctor's device echoed throughout the tunnel, adding to the mood.

Taking his steps ahead of The Doctor, Samuel sighed knowing that he could so easily illuminate the room. It would have been easy. By activating Kite's Kazarian Primal Abilities, he could have let out a continuous burst of light, or glowed, allowing for easier travel to the exit. But no, he was stuck with a dimly litting, pinging device. In a way it was more fun that way it was. Sometimes it was more of an adventure that way.

Using the walls as guidance, Samuel could feel the smoothness of the tunnel escape. This exit must have been expertly made. They even took the time to smooth out the roughness of this tunnel. Squinting even with the use of his augmented sight, Samuel noticed no markings of any kind throughout the tunnels. No decoration appeared to be present confirming Samuel's idea that it was merely used as a simple escape. Most likely the tunnel would lead to the back of the outer courtyard....and it did.

"Look here Doctor. I've found the exit. The exit of the tunnel was nothing special. Simply a sliding boulder, Samuel pushed it aside easily with his strength and then slid the exit open. A bright light entered the the exit of the tunnel causing for Samuel to squint and glance back, raising his arm over his face. "Looks like the courtyard, follow-"

Several clashes of steel could be heard nearby as Samuel turned his gaze to a group of defeated Goryeo warriors. That must mean that... Yuan soldiers proceeded towards Samuel. "Doctor run!" Outstretching both his hands forward, Samuel gather his Ankhan Primal Energy and let forth bursts of red lightning at the group of soldiers, incinerating them.

Well...there goes my cover...