Marionettes [Alyssa, Open]

[NEMO]

His distortion spread out over the landscape, petrifying the snow and everything else along its path. But unfortunately, the Claw he was aiming for seemed to notice him, quickly moving away from the focus of his distortion and giving him a penetrating glare that made the human part of Nemo flinch internally. He kept moving, seemingly to realize that it would help him avoid the same fate as the snow beneath him. His hand was gripped tightly on his weapon, too.

"You're afraid, aren't you?" Nemo trembled at the man's words, the fear reaching him even in his Virus form. Even though he hated the life he'd been trapped into, he suddenly realized now, under the threat of the man who'd already cut down so many other Viruses, that he didn't yet want to die. The drive for survival - perhaps that had been one human instinct that had survived his conversion.

But his actions currently weren't just up to him. At least, not the human part of him. He wanted to run and flee, leaving this tragic village all together, but his bony legs wouldn't let him. It seemed like his distortion wasn't going to work on this man unless he could find a way to make him stay still...

He backed away, but the Virus part of him didn't let him flee all together. Instead, he swung the blunt end of his staff towards the Claw's head, though even the Virus part of his mind knew full well how unlikely it was to hit. Maybe if he could get him on the ground for a few moments... His body refused to stop fighting, despite the fear and panic aching in the boy's chest. This could well end up being a suicide he couldn't avoid. Not now! Not when Rosie said they were working on a cure! He pleaded desperately inside himself. He didn't want to lose the small hope he'd gained already.

-----------------------------------Meanwhile

Sofia grimaced as Andrew reached the village first and sent her back a message on the village's status. 510 Viruses? This was the largest scale attack they'd seen since Valli!

Immediately grabbing her gun, she rushed towards the scene without hesitating, attempting to take out a few of the minor Viruses before catching sight of her teammate traversing the building tops. She decided to stick near her teammate - two could do more than one alone - following him carefully towards the skeletal Virus and the other Claw who appeared to be facing it.

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[TYGER WEATHERBY]

Tyger shook his head at the current event, "Bad dream" he muttered, "Tell me it's a bad dream. But, we don't dream!" He felt his heart sink, Sophia had arrived. The other groups must have heard about the viruses taking their attack a step up.

It seems Ally was about to kill Tyger, until Sophia had leaped in. He was stunned and watched in horror as the building collapsed. Tyger hesitated at first, but took off trying to make sure Sophia was alright. If she could be seen from the rubble that is.

He was worried about this getting out of hand. Even though, he realizes that it already has gotten way out of hand, at least his hand. This was nothing he would be able to handle. This was nothing he had really witnessed before. There were stories of mass conversions, but now he was in the middle of one.

While scavenging for Sophia, he ignored the surroundings, and kept muttering to himself. "Must collect Sophia and be on my way, yes... This is a dangerous place..."

He had a distinct sense of worry and anxiety. He had only just met Sophia and she could possibly be gone now. He hadn't really even started training with her yet.

[Zane Haskill]

Ally pushed herself up, out of the rubble and examining it, not seeing movement coming from it. She grinned, knowing her foe was defeated. She noticed Tyger digging in the rubble for the girl and reached down, aiming to knock him onto his back and pin him under one of her claws. "Who's that... Tyger. Why... Do you... Care for her..." She asked with a toothy grin.


In the rubble, there was no movement. It stayed still, and silent. Every so often another brick from the wall of the building would fall, joining it's once bound brethren.

Andrew swung his scythe downward, hitting the blunt end of the viruses spear, hoping to knock it downward so it wouldn't hit the fellow claw. He started to move toward the virus but skidded to a stop when the distortion hit the end of his shoe, turning it to stone. "Shi-." he muttered, jumping back. He looked at Sofia, who had followed him. "You help with this one, I'll start thinning out the smaller hoards." He said. She was his superior, but this was no time to throw their rankings around.

[hoffman]

Sebastian was quick enough to raise his beam saber above his head. This would ensure that his attacker's weapon of choice would only be decimated by the heat of the beam. But such a thing didn't happen: reinforcements arrived. A claw who suspiciously looked a lot like Zane Haskill, a fellow Annulus Institute researcher, had knocked the spear away from out of the blue, putting the lightning claw out of immediate danger.

Of all things that he could have concentrated on in that single moment, the one thing that seemed to capture his attention was the belief that the Annulus Institute was now at part involved in this matter, not just him. It was odd. He even brought someone along for the ride - Sophia?

"...Sophia. ...the beast I met back in the Willow Woods? They knew each other? She's here?" he thought, somewhat confused. His thoughts were quickly disproven when he saw another VDF soldier tagging along with the claw.

"...Zane? How did you get the message? I didn't even alert you," he stated, backing up anxiously to put some distance between him and who he believed to be a colleague. He would soon learn that this was far from the truth, that Zane was in reality a few bits short of a byte.

But for now, he shook his head, focusing his efforts back on the skeleton virus who didn't seem intent on backing off in the least. However, Sebastian could sense more of its fear, and perhaps even his own as he analyzed the enemy's energy signatures from his visor.

"If you don't run now, I'm going to kill you. I don't want to kill you, but I have to if you'll continue to interfere. Are you not capable of doing that?"

[NEMO]

The Claw held out his own weapon, ready to block the Nemo's, but it never connected with the beam sword. Instead, the force of a scythe hit it and knocked Virus' own swing back downwards, away from the man. Whirling in surprise, he turned just in time to see two more Claws standing nearby. His distortion hit the shoe of the one who'd stopped his attack, a man the other Claw he'd been facing called 'Zane'. Had he mentioned something about a message? The Virus felt his chip pulse rapidly. Had the man called for reinforcements? The boy inside didn't want the city to fall, but...he didn't want to met his own end here yet, either, not when he finally had hope. The second Claw turned to the another one, a young woman, behind him. "You help with this one, I'll start thinning out the smaller hoards."

Sofia nodded at her teammate. "Right." It made sense - judging from the fate of her companion's shoe and the nearby landscape, the skeletal Virus' distortion seemed to affect anything at close enough range - with her gun, she'd be able to fight without having to risk getting in close. She hung back just long enough to re-load her weapon, keeping a safe distance from the distortion.

The first Claw seemed refocused on him, again, though, speaking. Nemo trembled internally at his words, but without having control of his own actions, he had little choice in the matter, he was nothing more than a spectator of his own fate. Using what strength the human part of him had left, he struggled to force words to leave his mouth. "I... ca...n...'t le...av...e..."

[/color] He finally managed to sputter, his words even more broken than usual with the boy stuck in his Virus form.

No matter his fear or how much he wanted to, he couldn't make himself turn away from the man, the Virus part of him completely fixated on fighting. At least, not until he felt a couple of bullets pierce through his shoulder. Luckily they'd missed the chip that rested in his forehead, but he cried out in pain, spinning to see the female Claw from before, her gun outstretched as he instinctively dodged another bullet. He had more than just one enemy.

Even the Virus part of him seemed to realize that this was useless, now. The weapon of the first Claw was lethal, and the one with the gun was far out of range both his weapon and his distortion. There was no way he could survive attacks from them both, and thankfully his instincts comprehended this.

But he couldn't make himself stop fighting, either, and the desire for violence still throbbed hotly and insistently in the back of his mind, controlling his body. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the second Claw, the one called Zane who'd said he was going to start thinning out the minor Viruses. Fleeing from the other two Claws who had him outnumbered, Nemo rushed instead towards him, hoping to catch him off guard as he threw the sharp end of his spear in his direction.
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[TYGER WEATHERBY]

Tyger looked up toward Ally feeling fear in his heart. "We should care for all life..." Tyger said solemnly, "Why wouldn't we?" He pondered his own thought for a while. He wished Ally was back with him, he wished this could be easily fixed -- the Virus variable. It could not though, not easily, not within any foreseeable future. Was what Tyger was doing... Right? Not at all, Ally was still alive, and he felt the regret deep inside.

Sophia, was she alright? There hadn't been any response or movement from the area. "I don't understand what's going on, with anything, Ally, nothing... I'm sorry, please leave... Until you've cured that Virus problem of yours..."

He went to raise his weapon to her before he was knocked back and fired a burst in Allys direction. Hoping it would deter the pin from happening, he started to crawl backwards keeping his weapon aimed steady.

He sat for a minute, trancing out. What if, I was converted? he wondered, It's 'worse than death' but I could be with Ally... He didn't want that, of course. It was something that hit him and he had to think about before beginning an 'irreversible' process.

[SOPHIA FLYNN]

Andrew stood in the middle of Everai. Viruses stood all around him as he slid his new weapons onto his hands, his scythe hanging from its spot in his back. A few viruses charged at him, and he was able to hit them with the spikes of the handguards. He pulled the trigger on them, and they made a metallic clacking noise, stretching to about 3 feet. He started spinning these rhythmically, getting a feel for them. The spikes were able to pierce his foes just fine, he'd have to go back to that Rosie girl to get his weapons from now on. He grinned as the swarm of viruses thinned out. 'Where are they all? They aren't fighting alongside those two major viruses... They must be in hiding...' He figured with a growl, cutting through a few more that were around him. He was completely unaware of the spear cascading toward him...

"Why... Care for life... In a world... where life... doesn't exist..." Ally said, still moving toward Tyger. The three shots rang out and she stopped in her tracks, letting out a loud screech of pain. One of the bullets grazed her chip, but luckily for her, didn't break it. She stumbled for a few minutes before regaining her balance and lumbering toward Tyger again. "Virus... problem? Ive... Embraced... this life..." A bellowing laughter escaped her lips once again. "And once... I kill you... This body will... reject its old host..." She said, reaching a claw back to swipe at Tyger again.

Sophia moved out of the rubble slowly. She held her side and shook her head, trying to clear her vision. Once she could see, she saw Tyger still trying to run from the dragon. She winced as the dragon growled in pain. Standing up, she ran toward Tyger, diving under the swipe and knocking Tyger out of the way. "Don't hurt him. I can't lose him... Not another one..." She said, her arms wrapped around him tight. "If you're going to take someone, take me." She growled, looking up at the dragon, who held a confused gaze.

[hoffman]

The skeleton-shaped virus took off but not before uttering the broken words, "I can't leave". Sebastian grimaced slightly as both Zane and the virus left. He still wanted to know what brought Zane here and how he even picked up on his messages in the first place given that only Sophia and the VDF were alerted. More importantly, he was now curious about the viruses' role in Everai: an unseen force seemed to be involved in all this.

There were too many odd questions. He couldn't just let them run off. Sebastian hatched a cunning plan and ran past the VDF soldier who went by the controversial name 'Sofia', arm outstretched and beam saber readied. Swinging at the bobbling skeleton head as if Sebastian's life depended on it, the virus could only expect to have his life taken from him at that moment. After all, Zane was one spear short of being impaled, and anything less than that might not have warranted an attack of opportunity from the white-haired researcher.

"Stop!" he cried out.

But his life was not taken. Instead of a burning sensation impacted upon the bone of his rotund skull before being diced in two, his enemy would only feel a moderate amount of pain as it felt like it was being smacked with a red-hot frying pan capable of interrupting its attack. Sebastian had decreased the cutting power of the beam saber, and now it wasn't nearly as lethal.

[NEMO]

The Claw Nemo was aiming for seemed blissfully unaware of his attack, focusing his attention on looking for minor Viruses just like he'd hoped. Perfect! A toothy grin spreading across his face, the Virus part of his mind felt a jolt of anticipation at the same moment the human part of him felt a pang of dread. But before his attack could connect with its intended target, he suddenly felt a harsh, hot thud at the top of his skull that almost knocked him over as he jerked away with a screech.

"C...a...n't... St...op...!"

[/color] He managed to scream out in reply, a desperate, more human sounding wail making it to his broken voice this time. This was the largest scale attack he'd ever been a part of, and with his small bit of hope, he also felt that he had more at stake than he'd had before. Between his own fear and the agony around him, it was almost too much the for the human that remained inside the Virus to take, but that part of his mind was nothing more than an audience member in this puppet show.

His aim for the Claw called Zane already lost, he instinctively swung his spear instead in the other Claw's direction, trying to counter as he aimed for the man's chest with as much force as he could muster. His goal was still to pin the opponent down or otherwise keep him still long enough for the distortion to take hold and petrify him.

It wouldn't be easy, though, and he didn't know whether he'd manage to land his attack. To make matters worse, he saw the gun-carrying girl from before rushing after them. "Andrew!" She cried out, worried about her teammate before realizing that the other Claw had come to his aid. But that didn't make her halt her assault.

Nemo winced in pain as two of her bullets pierced through his right shoulder, but he didn't pause in his attempted counter. Luckily the shots hadn't been near his chip, the Virus managing to keeping attacking though the pain. He could only focus on fighting one person at a time.
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[TYGER WEATHERBY]

Tyger sat where he did with a panicked expression, but remained overall calm. Maybe in his mind he wasn't all calm, though he expressed nothing much besides shock. He quietly reloaded his weapon of choice. At an approximate fire rate of 700 rounds per minute cyclic, it would be about 11 rounds per second and about 2.7 seconds to empty the 30 round magazine.

"That can't be Ally, not anymore..." he muttered, looking at the creature with apathetic gaze. He stood up taking a slightly hesitant aim.

He made sure his weapon was still in full auto and took fire, trying his best to avoid the chip in Ally. There wasn't much hope, but he didn't want to be the one to destroy her either. With full auto on, though, Tyger was sure to send a few strays out of the way.

What was the chances of this ending well? Slim, the chances were really almost non-existent. He exhaled sharply, after the 2 and some odd milliseconds were up and repeated the reload of the gun. He was worried for the both of them, Sophia and Ally. He wanted to flee, but not without Sophia.

[SOPHIA FLYNN]

Andrew turned, ducking just in time to avoid the spear. A few strands of hair fell to the ground in front of him. He growled, looking at the virus as he dispatched the last of the minors around him. He glanced over at Sofia when she called his name. "Don't worry, Sofia. Im okay." He said. He was unable to do much to this Virus, but maybe his whips would be able to do something? Harvested from a Virus, they should avoid turning to stone, from this beings Distortion, right? He shook his head and growled, spinning and throwing his whips outward toward Nemo, moving as close to the edge of the distortion as he could.

Ally hopped back as she was riddled with bullets. She said nothing, but turned and took flight, seemingly bored with Tyger. She saw Nemo fighting with the three claws and landed atop a nearby building, watching the fight. She wasn't about to hop into the fray, unless he really needed it. She sat watching the three claws, interesting subjects, always thinking they're better than the others, but no true hierarchy...

Sophia pushed her way from the rubble, finally able to stand. She coughed hard as she stood, starting to walk from the building, and stumbling, falling to the ground with a dull thud. She slid a hand into the pocket of her coat, and her eyes widened. Only one of her chips remained. The others must have been destroyed in the rubble. She cursed loudly as she broke the last chip. It didn't give her as much energy as she hoped, but it should be enough to get somewhere to gather more energy... She rushed over to Tygers side, and smiled. She was happy to see the Virus hadn't killed him. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly and looking at him. "Let's go... It's dangerous to stay here..."

[Deathmask Duplicant]

((OOC: Sebastian said to go ahead and continue without him. He has a commitment that is more important, and doesn't want to be tied down with too many things. So, Tears, it would be your post then.))

[NEMO]

[[OOC: Ah, okay. That's understandable. I guess I'll just assume that Nemo's attack missed and turn his focus to Andrew/Zane instead, then]]

The Virus felt his spear hit air as the force of the unsuccessful swing almost pulled him forward, himself, but he only had a moment to comprehend that and catch himself before he suddenly felt another yet another pain scrape across one of his shoulders. Nemo let out a stuttered cry, throwing his gaze instinctively in the direction it'd come from. It was one of the other Claws.

He'd just been hit with some form of strange whip. The weapons looked quite unusual, the boy slowly realizing that they appeared to be made from the body parts of other Viruses. The thought made him feel a bit queasy in the back of his mind - even if his fellow Viruses were out of control and dangerous, just like him, they were still victims, and the only people he had left to identify with, too. He couldn't blame anyone for doing what they did to them, though - after all, Viruses, himself included, were nothing more than menaces. Even now Everai was hardly recognizable. The way the whips seemed to be made from Virus hides meant something else, too - he wouldn't be able to use his distortion on the man's weapons, and the Claw himself was staying safely out of range.

Both of them were - he caught movement out of the corner of his eye just in time to avoid another rush of bullets from the female Claw. "Good." Sofia answered her companion simply, but there was a slight smile on her face. She wasted no time in trying to reload for another round that the Virus knew would come soon.

His instincts knowing better than to keep still, the Virus all at once leapt towards the male Claw, the nearer of the two, again, the one who seemed to be named Andrew. He swung his spear again as he did so, hoping to knock the man down. Both Claws had weapons that they could attack with from a long range. With two attackers and neither his distortion nor weapon able to reach either of them, he was completely vulnerable. He had to try to keep this at as close of range as possible.

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[TYGER WEATHERBY]

Tyger seemed to be extremely worried about Sophias condition. He was relieved to see her alive, but was worried about if she could get away. He hugged her back, being careful of her possible injuries. When Sophia commented on it being too dangerous to stick around here, Tyger could only nod in agreement saying, "We had better flee, afraid there's not much the two of us could do..."

Tyger looked at Sophia, "Think you can make it out of the city?" he asked, ready to help her if necessary. It was like Tyger was in the fight after all. Survival was the key here, and fighting was seeming to fail. After the initial threat abandons the town, however, they can always venture back to clean it up.

"We're just not good enough to handle this initial attack..." Tyger said, looking in the towns direction. "Oh, this town is so screwed..."

[Zane Haskill]

Andrew shifted slightly, ready to dodge the Viruses attack. As he jumped back, his back hit a cold, solid structure. He braced himself for the pain of Nemos Spear, but he heard it hit the Ice. He opened his eyes only to see the Dragon-shaped Virus standing, looking down at him. "What do you Say.... Do we allow... Them to flee... With their lives?" She said with a cold hiss. She turned her head toward Nemo with a toothy Grin. "We have already showed... We are dominant... They can not... kill us..."

Without awaiting the answer, Ally took hold of the Claw, lifting him effortlessly, and throwing him at the other Claws. Andrew spun through the air and bounced against the ground in front of Sofia. He laid still for a couple moments, and pushed himself upward. "We can't leave... Not while theres viruses here... What's your call, Boss?" He asked quietly, so the Viruses couldn't overhear.

Sophia stood up allowing herself a couple moments to catch her balance. "Yeah... I think I'll be fine... Let's go..." She muttered, her ears laid flat against her head. A sad look crossed her face, feeling that she failed the people of Everai. She grabbed Tygers hand and started walking out of the town, through the Barren, snowy landscape.