A Crowded Market Clash (private w/Kinto)

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

Simab enjoyed weekend shopping at the local market, reminding him of the bazaars back home in Vacuo. He did his best to look for the finest Vacuan teas in the area, something that made him feel nostalgic. He found out through a friend back home that there was a native Vacuan selling cinnamon tea in the city of Vale. Instinctively, Simab knew what to do. He set aside the entire day to go shopping in an area of the shopping district known as Little Vacuo, obviously specializing in selling goods imported from Vacuo. He met up with the person selling the tea, a jackal Faunus by the name of Layla, and haggled back and forth with her for hours. Ultimately, Simab left having paid only sixty percent of the original asking price.

Just like how it is back home... Simab mused, his small shopping bag full of authentic Vacuan cinnamon tea leaves. He couldn't wait to go home and brew a nice cup of tea as a reward for his hard work. With sunset approaching and the crowds of people filtering out of Little Vacuo, Simab knew it was time to start heading home.

[Kinto Boreas]

This was about as vulnerable a position Kinto could get a man such as Simab, he wasn't particularly cautious, but him living in Beacon and spending most of his time at work meant he was barely out in public and barely without additional protection, so, having his intelligence network report the craftsman leaving his castle had Kinto rush into action.

He had parked the Guide on a nearby rooftop of a shopping mall, nobody would find the cloaked ship there and it would be ready to interject in the fight, if he needed it.

He, himself, was posted up on a rooftop 300 feet away from the market, normally he preferred to engage in close in situations like this, drag his opponent behind a corner and off them there to minimize the potential for civilian casualties, property damage and public panic.
But, Simab had a very, very troublesome semblance, the man could sense metal from a range and when closer could bend it to his will, something that was a problem for someone like him dressed head to toe in atlesian military grade armor.
So, with a click, the safety of Kinto's sniper rifle was disengaged, laid on his stomach he took aim at the professor, the crosshair leveled at the man's head as Kinto took one last breath before holding his breathing and then squeezing the trigger, the bullet being a mix of lead and combustion dust, it would either blow its targets head off just with the calibers size and power or with the power of the dust infused inside.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

Perhaps Simab had been too wrapped up in the success of the shopping trip that he initially didn't notice the glint off the scope of a sniper rifle three hundred feet from the market. The gunshot from the sniper rifle, although silenced, still made a noticeable "pew" as it left the barrel of the gun. Simab's head turned towards the source of the sound. Unmistakably, Simab knew it was the sound of a silenced sniper rifle. Whizzing through the air, the bullet quickly came into Simab's detection range, yet something was off about this bullet. He knew it was not entirely metal, clearly some type of hybrid material that Simab wouldn't be able to manipulate. Simab would have to dodge this bullet if he wanted to live.

Given that Simab had impressive speed and reaction time, all he had to do was jerk his head to the side as the bullet flew past his head. As the bullet made contact with an unintended target, the bullet sparked into an explosion that practically disintegrated the corner of one of the buildings along the street. The few scattered groups of people left in Little Vacuo ran away in a panic upon hearing and seeing such an explosion.

DAMN! Simab thought as he rushed over towards a nearby building to use as cover. He tapped his side, ensuring that Sandsplitter was still with him. It was. However, he had dropped the bag of tea in the scramble for cover. A tragic loss...

The bullet composition was far too advanced to be from your average Vacuan bandit... Atlesian tech, perhaps? But who from Atlas would want me dead? Simab mused as he devised a plan to find out who tried to shoot him, and why.

[Kinto Boreas]

Very fast reflex as expected, while it was nice to get the job done quickly Kinto would have been a bit disappointed if he took Simab's head right then and there.
Even though his first attempt had failed, Kinto was of course prepared, the streets of Vale where of course great cover against a sniper, if that sniper was limited to normal means, which Kinto wasn't, with a command word Kinto's visor switched to tremor sight, it took a second to filter out the panicking crowd, but soon he had a lock on Simab, his excited heartbeat and well...him being the only person here, luckily the building Simab was using as cover had no civilians blocking Kinto's path, he took another warning shot, disintegrating a bit of the corner Simab was next to, just too keep him there.

As with a whirring noise and a click the grenade launcher on Kinto's shoulder began to readjust, his visor feeding information to the inbuilt computer which then calculated a trajectory, with a "thumpf" a fire dust grenade left the launcher, flying over the rooftops and flying right into the alley Simab was hiding in, its composition being almost entirely dust and non-metallic materials would make sure Simab had a hard time detecting the projectile, until it landed at his feet.

As Kinto took aim once more, waiting for the lizard to leave its burrow and run back into his sight away from the ensuing explosion and be at the mercy of more explosive rounds.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

Another shot exploded when it collided with the side of the building, sending debris all over the area. Simab didn't like it, he was being pinned down pretty effectively.

They're good, whoever they are. Trying to keep me pinned down while they deploy- Simab's thoughts were cut short by the explosion of a fire Dust grenade at his feet.

"FUCK!" Simab yelled as his body had been engulfed in flames, rolling around on the ground to smother the flames. Once the flames were smothered out, Simab made a bold decision to rush out into the open, bracing himself from a potential explosive bullet by using Mercurial Flux on his shoulder pauldron to create a shield in front of his entire body. Rushing towards the area the shooter was, Simab also enhanced Sandsplitter with his Semblance, a distinct hum emanating from both his pauldron and his sword.

[Kinto Boreas]

Well, Kinto did not expect this, but landing a solid hit on the professor with the grenade was more than welcome, what wasn't so welcome was him making the reckless decision to rush his position, Kinto took aim and in rapid succession released the remaining combustion dust bullets in his rifle, three shots rammed into Simab's shield, as another two hit the surrounding ground, sending dust and debris flying, these shots weren't meant injure Simab, more so slow him down, giving Kinto enough time to load a new magazine, this time with armor piercing rounds, as the shield effortlessly withstood the explosive shots.

To his annoyance, Simab was already much closer than Kinto would have liked, but he still took a deep breath and took aim once more, as a volley of 5 armor piercing rounds now rained down on Simab.

Once empty again, Kinto stowed the rifle on his back, as he instead finally activated Annihilation Atelier, the weapon came to life with a hum, as blade and sheath combined, slamming the combined form on the edge of the roof which freely overlooked the marketplace Simab was moving across.
As now, a fortified turret was staring him down and Kinto stood behind it, Simab only got to observe his assailant for a minute before the machine gun let loose a hail of hardlight dust projectiles.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

The makeshift shield helped tremendously in protecting Simab from the explosive bullets. The first three had hit the shield, but the other two were not intended for Simab. The second to last explosive bullet knocked him to the side, nearly losing his balance as he kept on running. The final explosive bullet landed roughly behind Simab, launching him a couple meters into the air and to the side. Rolling as he landed, Simab noticed a brief pause in firing.

Five shots before they have to reload... he mused as he prepared for another barrage of explosive bullets, except, they weren't. The next bullet would pierce through his metal shield, and although most of the velocity had been hampered by the shield, the bullet still hit his body. Thankful for the protection his Aura provided, Simab began running in a zigzag pattern as he thickened the shield against the armor penetrating bullets. At this range, it had become harder to react in time to the bullets, causing another bullet or two to hit the shield. Once the armor piercing bullets had stopped, Simab got close enough to view his assailant as he prepared the setup of another weapon. A man in Atlesian military armor possessing an average build, with a helmet that obscures his face.

An Atlesian assassin? What did I do to deserve this today?! Simab thought, noticing the next weapon in the assassin's arsenal become a machine gun.

Two can play at that game! he mentally rebuked. Reaching into his pocket, he grasped a Hard-light Dust crystal. Imbuing his Semblance with Hard-light Dust, the shield's defensive capabilities were enhanced even further, causing the front side of the shield to be enveloped in a Hard-light barrier. Simab kept running towards the mysterious assassin as his shield was continuously pelted by Hard-light projectiles. Now within the detection range of his Semblance, Simab gained a greater understanding of the metallic objects the assassin possessed, such as his armor and weapons.

This is... state of the art metallurgy! Just who is this man?! thought Simab as he continued running.

[Kinto Boreas]

Well, his target certainly did keep this interesting by employing his own hardlight shield to counter his hardlight bullets, by this point he was through phase 1 of this plan, wearing Simab down from range while luring him close, his guns were sadly losing effectiveness as Simab had adapted his protection, but, Kinto had one more option to potentially chip away at Simab's aura.

The hail of bullets let up as Kinto combined activated another mode of his gun, as the turret disappeared and the parts of his gun recombined into a big barreled shotgun like gun, that crackled with electricity, he cocked the gun once before a crackling wave of electricity and kinetic energy was let out flying toward Simab, if he was smart he'd dodge, if not, and he tried to block the shot with his shield he'd be in for quite a shock.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

A shockwave of electricity and force emanated from the assassin's gun after it had transformed. Knowing full well that the makeshift shield getting hit by the shockwave would cause the electricity to be sent directly into his body, Simab planned a different means to protect himself. Instead of his shield, Simab extended Sandsplitter out towards towards the shockwave, the electricity getting absorbed into the conductive blade. The shockwave alone hit Simab, sending him flying back. While several meters into the air, Simab extended Sandsplitter once more, sending it down towards the ground. Once Sandsplitter dispersed the electricity into the ground, Simab just had to deal with the problem of gravity.

Dropping his concentration on his makeshift shield, his pauldron returned to its original shape as Simab loaded a Gravity Dust bullet into Sandsplitter after reverting it to its original shape. Shooting it immediately at the ground between himself and the assassin, gravity warped and began to violently pull anything in the vicinity to its large epicenter for a few seconds. Simab was gradually pulled forward from the gravitational pull before it had dissipated. Although landing a bit clumsily, Simab regained his footing to close the distance between him and the mysterious assassin.

[Kinto Boreas]

Well his opponent certainly did keep this interesting, a back and forth of their abilities was much more interesting than a simple assassination, though having his shots absorbed this way was somewhat bothersome, but, there were MANY more where that came from and if it took this much effort for Simab to deflect he'd be running low on fumes soon, once Kinto got out of this gravity well Simab would be in for a world of hurt.
Speaking of, Kinto was not fussed about it.
"1 Activate."
Claws made of hardlight sprouted from Kinto's boots, digging into the roof with a loud crunch of the concrete being dug into underneath him, halting the pull that gravity had on him.

Once it stopped, Kinto leveled his gun at Simab again, as he pulled the trigger once more, letting another shockwave loose toward the Professor.
As then, he took a step back.
"Activate 5."
Gravity once again changed as Kinto lifted off the roof, thrusters in his boots activated and Kinto took flight, flying over to another rooftop where he once again took aim at Simab and shot another shockwave at Simab.
Let's see how he handled two at once.