Part 2: Suave and Subtle
Jin made his best effort to stay close to what he believed to be his competition. Given the nature of things thus far, he reasoned it better to stay out of the way then to attack them. Especially given the strength of the guards within the building. Still, he kept a hand on his sword hilt, just to be safe.
Meanwhile, a ways across the casino, Raiden had hidden himself in a crowd around the roulette wheels, keeping an eye on the guards rotation, and their focus. If the hotel manager could be believed, the idols were located in a safe in the office on the second floor. The only stairs Raiden could see were covered by two of the bigger guards, one of whom Raiden recognized from before.
Still further, Rex crawled through the ventilation, checking every vent and grate for signs of the "safe". It was slow going, but the familiar feeling of his skin to metal was a comforting one. And so he prowled, elated to be back in so familiar a territory, something he had been deprived of for quite some time.
Jin had overheard a few stray words passed between the competition as they weaved through the casino's crowds. Something about a plane? Whatever it was, Jin was confidant in his decision to let the more... ostentatious party cause the distraction. As Jin buried himself in the crowds of people, the main floor was filled with the sounds of screams as an explosion went off in the center of the room.
Panic immediately filled the room. Citizens were scrambling across the room, guards were rushing to calm the masses, everyone was in hysterics. Jin slipped around the inner pillars of the Casino, keeping close to the armored man and the giant. The purple woman had slipped away, most likely to set off the explosion, but Jin was confidant the two soldiers would be primary shock troopers.
Raiden had taken advantage of the chaos caused by the unknown explosion to move in on the stairs. He moved in quickly, doing his best to stay out of the public eye. The stairs were wide and no longer well guarded, and lead to a long hallway adorned with an assortment of doors. Raiden quickly and silently slipped into the door marked "Mr. Phane", and began scrounging around for the safe.
Sure enough, under the desk, there was a small, personal safe. Relatively low tech, but Raiden had more than enough experience with breaking and entering to figure it out. He quickly got to work on the safe, when he heard the door behind him slam wide open. Turning around, Raiden saw that the Armored Solider and the Very large man standing in the doorway.
The large man cleared his throat. "Excuse me, sir, I believe you have something of ours?"
Raiden got to his feet, hands over his head, eyes locked on the armored soldiers handgun. "Oh, yeah, of course," Raiden replied, digging through his pants. "Let me just... get the keys..."
"I wouldn't if I were you" a feminine voice called from behind him. Raiden looked over his shoulder to see the purple haired girl perched in the windowsill. "There's more firepower in this room than you know."
Raiden nodded, putting his hands back over his head. "Figures. I can never get a lucky break."
Suddenly, the tall man who had previously been speaking fell to his knees, his face immediately white with pain. As he fell, Jin rose to his full height, resheathing his blade. "If you get this man to the hospital, he may be able to walk again. I suggest you hurry, he'll be out in minutes with his tendons slashed like that."
Despite what had to be incomporable pain, Bean spoke up from the floor. "We have... the crystals. Get the safe, I will be fine for 17 minutes, and will lose conciousness in three."
The armored soldier nodded, looking up from Bean back at Raiden. "Well... didn't see that one coming." Raiden muttered. "Guess we go loud."
Raiden quickly ducked down under the desk, before pitching it at Noble 6. The table fractured against the Mjolnir armor, but it was an important distraction for Raiden to take the safe and throw it at the girl in the windowsill. With as heavy as it was and how hard it was thrown, it sailed right into her chest and out the window.
With those two distractions out of the way, the focus fell on the armored soldier, which Jin had thus far accomplished little on other than staying out of his reach. Pulling out the frequency blade, Raiden rushed the man, putting him between Raiden and Jin, as they worked in tandem. Every slash was mirrored on the other side, but Noble Six stayed focused on the only one who could actually scar him: Raiden.
One quick set of jabs left Raiden a bit winded, and a pistol whip to the side of the face nearly cracked his skull. Steadying himself yet again, Raiden kept his eyes locked on the visor of the soldier. The solider did a quick heel turn, putting his fist into Jin's gut, sending him through the door across the hall in a pile of broken wood and glass.
As he pulled his assault rifle from his back, Raiden swung the frequency blade with an insane quickness, removing the barrel of the weapon, and then cutting it at the stock. Switching from his now useless MA5B to his sidearm, he prepared for a more close encounter.
Narancia was certainly not in the best of conditions after taking a tumble out a second story window, but he could certainly be worse. He had reentered the hotel, trying his best to get back to his team and get Bean out of there. The safe would be safe (heh) outside, he rationalized.
As he reached the steps, he heard a low, angry growl. His Carbon Dioxide radar didn't tell him much, as the place was being evacuated after Aerosmith's little bomb run. As he hurried up the stairs, he heard a loud shriek as the Xenomorph burst from his previous hiding place, the ceiling ventilation, and pounced on the boy, raking his flesh.
Screaming both in fear and in pain, Narancia directed his stand to slam into the alien creature, knocking it off the boy. Rex was back at his feet almost instantly, confused at what had happened, but prepared to rip apart the boy. Narancia put his right hand on a slash on in left arm, and directed Aerosmith to unload on the alien creature.
The sounds of bullets were not unknown to Rex, and he knew the dangers they would provide. Getting down low to the ground, he rushed the boy yet again, a short stream of bullets piercing his flesh as he lunged again onto the boy.
But this time, their were bullet holes, and with them, the creatures blood. And it splashed everywhere as he pinned Narancia. Now there was a pain across his entire body, made all the worse by the rending claws and lashing tail. As Rex opened his primary mouth, revealing the snaking worm inside, Narancia could do little more than scream. Too close for missiles or guns, and not enough focus to control his stand, Narancia was somewhat releaved when the pain caused him to lose conciousness.
The pistols shots were definitely above the ordinary, Raiden realized as they punched a hole in the office walls. The armor was definitely tougher than most as well. If Raiden was going to win this, he would need to come at it from a different angle. Jin was coming back to his feet, still winded, but focused.
Noble 6 heard Jin get to his feet, and quickly turned to face him, gun leveled at his chest. Jin readied his blade to attempt... something, but the second he turned, Raiden tackled the soldier to the ground. Taking the frequency blade in both hands, he brought it down as hard and as quickly as he could into the back of the soldiers knee, piercing it and through the office floor.
Noble 6 struggled to try and get to a fighting position with his arms, but felt his pistol slide out of his hand as Jin kicked it away. He looked to the side to see Raiden's foot flying for his visor. It didn't crack on the first kick, or the second, but by six or seven, it was shattered. Raiden breathed heavily as he tried to pry the sword from the floor.
"Still as violent as when we began this race, Raiden."
"You're welcome ,Jin."
Jin nodded as he helped Raiden to free the frequency blade from Noble 6's body. A quick set of footsteps had the both of them ducking behind the door, but they were revealed to belong to Rex, tiredly marching up with Narancia's blood splattered across his tie. Jin pat his head twice, before pointing off towards the window.
"I'd say the window is the best means of escape without drawing further attention. If you'd care to join me."
Raiden nodded as he began climbing out the window. The safe left a solid impression on the ground, and once they got it back to the hotel, breaking it open, literally, perhaps, would be a trivial manner.