A stranger dressed in the white clothing of a desert nomad steps out of a black market tech shop into the darkening streets of dusk in Tech Town, to be greeted by four other desert people. The other four wear the insignia of the Desert Raiders and quickly move to surround the guy coming out of the shop. "I heard you've been asking too many questions." one of the Raiders informs the nomad with a smug expression.
"So you are the ones that have him." The nomad replies. The same Raider who just spoke gives the signal for the others to attack. The Raider on the right of the nomad draws his sword and lunges. The nomad grabs the attacking Raider's sword arm with both hands and moving with the momentum of the attacker, the monad puts all his weight on his left foot as he brings his right up to connect with the attacker's chin. There is a cracking noise and the first attacker goes limp. Even before the stranger can drop the dead body, the other two Raiders start to move in, clearing thinking that ganging up is better than fighting one-on-one. Normally the stranger would agree.
Seeing movement from the corner of his eye as the man behind him moves in, the stranger pivots slightly on in his left foot bringing his right around to connect to this next target. During his move the nomad realizes the second attacker's sword will get him before he can kick the man's, so he drops his right foot suddenly to kick the man's sword arm. The second attacker drops his sword as the nomad, who is now glowing with a strange black aura, unknowingly breaks the sword arm of the second attacker.
The stranger gets both his feet on the ground in time to sense an attack from behind. He drops and spins into a sweep kick knocking the third guy off his feet. The nomad then stands facing the third attacker as he draws his shamshir. Without warning he turns to his left and slices open the gut of the second attacker. The third attacker sees his other two buddies dead and scrambles to his feet trying to run. The nomad pulls a dagger from the sash around his waist and throws it at the back of the running man. The stranger turns to look at the leader as the third man drops dead.
"Who are you?" The Raider demands trying to look brave in the face of the stranger with the black aura who just killed three of his men in less than a minute.
"I am Lance Korben, Demon Caller from the village of Lysandra." Lance's eyes narrow as he speaks, slowly steeping toward the Raider. The blood of the second attacker is so fresh on his shamshir that it still drips. The other man tries to take a step back from Lance, but in his fear he trips and falls backwards. In a move too quick to be human, Lance leaps through the air and lands in a crouch above the fallen man. Lance grabs a handful of the man's shirt with his left holding the Raider off the ground a few inches and his right still holding the blood and gut soaked shamshir. "Tell me where I can find Nick Corwin or you join your friends."
There is a sound louder than thunder and an explosion from behind Lance. He looks over his shoulder to see an air battle between what looks like winged demons made of metal. Lance catches movement from the Raider and quickly hits the man in the head with his right fist, still holding the sword. There is a sick crunching sound as the man's skull caves in and he dies. Lance looks at the blood and brains on his fist with cold curiosity. "So my powers aren't magical in nature. . ." There is another explosion along with the sounds of gunfire and metal scraping against metal. Lance drops the Raider and cleans his sword and hand off on the dead man's robes. He than stands and makes his way toward the fighting as he sheathes his sword. Baron Wraith Shikara had told them Nick would find a way to reveal his whereabouts and Lance has known the assassin long enough to know that wherever there was a fight that big, Nick was sure to be in the thick of it.