You can fight, right Steve?

"You can fight, right steve?" Cayenne asked.

 "Umm, not really. I'm just a normal person"

  "Sage said she mastered yoga, didn't she teach you?" he probed.

 Steve shifted uncomfortably, guessing where this was going. "well... yea..."

"well, there ya go..." Cayenne reassured him.

Steve corrected him, "yoga isn't a martial art, Kai"

"I mean maybe not strictly, but it has a martial aspect, right? Like Thai Chi?"

"No, it's a series of held poses."

"That little..." grumbled Cayenne, "she lied to me! I just wanted her to be able to protect herself!"

"She didn't want to get all muscley." ventured Steve.

"Why not, you'd have loved her anyways."

"That's not really the point." he answered, "But yeah, Kai, I'd have still loved her, even if she'd have had to stay in that wheel chair."

"Steve, can you fight... at all? Even what you'd consider normal people fighting?" Cayenne wanted to know. "Because as it stands you're a liability, a soft squishy liability I'll have to take some hits for."

Steve nodded in understanding, "Actually, I was a decent boxer. I have long arms, even for a tall guy."

Cayenne smiled, "Yeah, I noticed. It was guys like you that inspired me to take two disparate martial arts, and turn them into a close range blender... Steve, I've lost two fights early on, and they were both to guys with similar builds to you. But now you need to get on the flatbed of the truck and fight off several waves of... sirens. The whole countryside has heard them coming for several minutes now. You can't hear them, proving you're truly a man in love. I'm happy for my sister, worried for my truck." the last part spoken as Steve was starting to climb out through the window. He'd seen them coming as Cayenne had spoke, starting as distant dots in the sky coming from the direction of the city.

     He tried grounding himself, the cab behind him, but boxing wasn't designed for staying in one place. As they drew close he discovered what their greatest danger was, and perhaps why Cayenne didn't give him the wheel to come out and fight them, himself. They were stunningly, achingly beautiful in a completely otherworldly way. Loose robe like shifts that didn't quite extend all the way past the curvaceous hips and buttocks, covered only by sheer undergarments. Their bright colorful wings, their small, pouty lips and large sensitive eyes and lashes, everything about them designed to draw the desire of men. But there was something more... they were both empaths and bardic sorcerers. Although he'd proven immune to their song, When they drew close, he began to lose all hope of ever seeing Sage again. He felt so alone, it almost paralyzed him. His desire for her began to shift, shift toward this beautiful woman rushing toward him, her arms opened wide to receive him. They were all different, this one dark, exotic. He started opening his arms to accept her love...

     The truck lurched as Cayenne hit the brake, slamming Steve against the cab. Steve, coming to his senses, ducked, the siren passing harmlessly over him. Inside the cab, Cayenne laughed and mused to himself, "Little brother should be fine from here, at least from their emotional attack." hitting the 'play' button on the PA, he played O Fortuna. He skipped over Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries, worried it would inspire the sirens more then Steve.

     Steve did better then either of them thought he would, having great spatial awareness and the ability read the whole battle, dodging several attempted back attacks by how the ones in front of him reacted. He leveraged his reach, and as they took turns landing on the trucks flatbed to brawl 1vs1, he skillfully managed to pound on them before they were in their own effective striking range. It was lucky, as they were much stronger them their appearance would imply. All in all The confrontation went well, as cayenne's skillful driving; swerving, braking and speeding up at just the right time, combined with Steve's fighting ability, won out against the odds, and soon the remainder of the Sirens were fleeing. Steve climbed back into the cab, as they entered the city proper.

      "good job, bro" congratulated Cayenne.

     "How can you be so flippant!?" Steve grunted through clenched teeth. "aren't you worried about your sister?!"

     "Chillax," Cayenned soothed, "All these evil organizations seem to do the same stupid crap. They'll hold her hostage to leverage her in case I defeat their fighters. Like, 'we'll cut her up if you don't surrender and let Bongo wail on you!'." Steve started calming down as his friend continued. "Take those Sirens for instance. Weak, even a layman, no offense, was able to take them out with just a little assistance. First, they'll send their weakest fighters, perhaps it's to slowly wear down their enemies, to maybe they're hoping one of them is an undiscovered talent. What ends up happening though, is the rising challenge rate is like a training regimen where we get stronger, perfecting techniques, and maybe even learning new ones... Kind of like a boxer prepares for a fight... They don't always stay in top fighting condition.

      Steve nodded, understanding dawning on him, "You've done stuff like this before."

     "Think of it, Su died from cancer. I'd used the last of the Lazarus oil on restoring Sages ability to walk, and another dose won't be created for another 100 years. But she wasn't done away by my enemies. So if there's one thing that definitely won't happen, who ever our enemy is, isn't going to ignore protocol to immediately send one of their strongest fighters to catch me unawares while I've still not regained my previous level of strength."

     Steve breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, if it were up to just me to do the fighting, we'd be.... " Steves thoughts were cutoff as a portable drop capsule arced across the horizon slamming into the street in front of them, it's pointy bottom burying itself into the pavement. The door opened, and out stepped the best fighter of the Qinho dynastic line.