Marionettes [Alyssa, Open]

[NEMO]

_{Nemo was silent for a moment as the dragon-like Virus looked down at him, speaking in a hiss as cold as the ice she commanded. Her question started a war in his mind over his tongue, two different parts of the Virus' consciousness wanting to spit out two different answers. The purely Virus part of his instinct felt fury with each person that managed to escape from the village - he craved violence, or at the very least, craved to see them converted into their army. But in the end, it was the other part of his mind, the one left scared and horrified on the inside, that won control of his voice as he gazed up at the person he'd once recognized as Alyssa Weatherby, a source of the only hope he had. "Aly...ss...a..."}

[/color] He strained, each word a battle of its own. "Wh...at hap...pend to yo...u? Ever...ai... We...ca...n't..."[/color]

Both his and Sofia's eyes widened as she suddenly lifted up Andrew, tossing him away towards the other Claws. Sofia flinched as he landed nearby, almost jumping back as she slowly comprehended what'd happened. She rushed closer, about to call his name again, when he suddenly spoke up. At least it seemed he was okay. Sofia tried to smile again, loading another round into her gun.

"You just answered the question yourself." She grinned determinedly. "We can't just abandon Everai! If we don't try to help, who else will? After all, this is what we signed on for, right? Let's have some fun with it!" The smirk was still on her face as she fired off another round of bullets in the direction of the two Viruses.

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[Zane Haskill]

Alyssa turned, looking at Nemo. "What happened? The Overlord... Happened... Ive succumbed to... his indomitable will... He promised me... Full rule over... Everai... This is my domain... now." She said, a smile spread across her Dragon-like face. She jumped slightly at the sound of bullets, and turned, taking a couple shots to the shoulder. "What? Can't beat us... Unless our backs... are turned?" She taunted, starting to charge the pair.

Andrew pushed off the ground slowly, looking at the pair of Viruses, then turning and looking at Sofia. "If we make it out of this..." He paused, shaking his head. "Well, you'll just have to wait until then to find out." He pulled the scythe from his back and charging to meet Alyssa. He charged at her, jumping up as she snapped at him, landing on her back and bringing the scythe downward, cutting at one of her wings. A blood-wrenching screech echoed through Everai as the dragon hit the ground heavily. Andrew didn't stop the onslaught and brought his scythe down, into the dragons side, Its breathing becoming heavy and labored.

Turning toward Nemo, he grinned slightly. "You're next." he said taking a few steps toward the skeleton-like virus. His advance was interrupted by a small swarm of Viruses standing between him and Nemo. He growled, looking back at Sofia for her orders, but grabbed the dismembered Dragon-wing and moving back to her side, just in case.

[NEMO]

_{"B...ut ...Eve...r...ai..."}

[/color] Nemo sputtered, his body trembling from strength it took to speak, much less let the human side of him access his tongue. "Every...one... Aly...ssa you weren...'t..."[/color] They were completely destroying the village, the screams rising from the villagers making him shudder internally. He'd only met her once before, but this wasn't the same Alyssa that he'd met then. The fact that even she wasn't strong enough to defy the puppeteer made his heart sink.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of bullets, Alyssa taking a few hits in the back and turning to charge the two Claws.

Sofia grinned slightly at his companion. "We'll make it out! The hero's always win, remember?" She wished she could be so sure, but now wasn't the time for showing weakness.

Andrew rushed to meet the charging dragon, bringing down his blade on one of her wings and leaving a large gash in her side.

Nemo flinched at her horrible screech, the human part of his mind shaking in fear as the Claw turned next towards him, the man keeping close to the gun-totting girl with Alyssa's lifeless wing in his hands as a small swarm of minor Viruses approached between them.

"Let's get this done!" The girl called out, her voice followed by gunshots that quickly started to take out the minor Viruses.

The next thing Nemo knew, plant roots, usually kept lifeless and hidden by the snow, were curling around his bony feet. ...Was she doing this? The roots pulling on his legs, the Virus fell to the snowy ground with a hard thud, unable to get himself back up despite his frantic efforts. Despite everything he'd done, despite the lives he'd ruined himself, he didn't want to die here.

"S...top! Pl...ease st...op..."[/color] He pleaded, knowing that he was completely helpless in this situation. He couldn't even get back up, and the two Claws were out of the range of his distortion. There was nothing he could do, and Alyssa was... He practically started to sob in fear, not even noticing that he'd subconsciously shifted back into his human form until he noticed the light brown hair hanging in front of his watery eyes.

Even in this form, he was still a Virus. He still had his distortion, and he could still hardly speak. This was nothing more than an image of how he'd once looked, but nonetheless, the control of the puppeteer seemed to have been broken, for the moment, at least.

"Pl...ease sto...p..."[/color] He pleaded again, unable to do anything else.

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[Zane Haskill]

"I can keep the smaller ones at bay... If you can get the tall one... It's odd, though. I didn't think Viruses had the ability to beg. Or... Is he crying?" Andrew asked, looking at Sofia. "Put him down..." He muttered.

He pulled his scythe from his back, and knelt down low, charging into the swarm of smaller viruses, swinging the scythe around him and cutting them down. He barely missed one virus that dove at him. A smaller, crow like virus, but it was enough for him to stagger, allowing another through. Soon, he was pinned by a swarm of viruses, and growling in pain.

A few seconds later, black spikes made their way out of the pile of Viruses, impaling most of them, sending the others off. As quickly as they appeared, the spikes vanished, and Andrew stood there once again. He shook his head and stumbled back, falling against a wall, putting his hand against his head.

[NEMO]

<sub>Sofia was silent for a moment, bewildered by the remaining major Virus' sudden transformation and reaction. She'd heard of Viruses that could still transform into human disguises, but this was the first time she'd really seen it. At least, that she was fully aware of. "R...right." She turned back towards the other Claw, nodding determinedly as he went off to take out the remaining minor Viruses. Everai was getting cleaned up, now. Maybe all this was finally almost over...

With the Virus already held down by her vines, the girl didn't have much to worry about as she approached, but kept her gun pointed forward just in case it was some form of trap. Its distortion also seemed to have weakened just slightly, but she kept as much distance as she still could, as well.

The skeletal Virus, now bearing the image of a young boy, didn't bother looking up at her, still sobbing to itself as the girl cautiously approached. "I...I'm so...rry. S...o sor...ry... Ple...ase..."</sub>

[/color] It's words were barely audible, the Claw girl having to strain to her them. "I do...n't wa...nt to... di...e..."[/color] It pleaded, its voice rising. "No...t lik...e thi...s...!"[/color]

But the girl pulled the trigger, flinching in spite of herself as she heard the resulting scream. But when she opened her eyes, the Virus boy was still in one piece, trembling in pain and clutching its right arm. She'd apparently missed the chip.

She held up the gun again, about to let out another volley of shots, but something made her hesitate. Eventually, she bit her lip, making the vines she was controlling tighten more strongly around the Virus as she stepped a few paces closer. Good. She felt a slight tingle, but without the Virus consciously increasing it, the petrifying distortion didn't seem strong enough to have any immediate effects.

She let the vines form a sort of rope around it, tying its arms tightly to its back and its legs together as the Virus finally looked up at her in surprise, its eyes wide, sad, and frightened. Damn! They looked too human. She looked away, grabbing one end of the vine and pulling it and the Virus from the ground. "W...hat...?"[/color] It stuttered in confusion, but she didn't answer as she dragged it along.

Looking back, she saw her teammate leaning against a wall, his head in his hand. The minor Viruses were gone. She glanced around the devastated town, frowning slightly. The city bore scars it'd likely carry for a long time, but there was nothing they could do about what'd already happened. They'd done what they could. "Looks like we're about done here..." She concluded. She yanked on the vine holding the Virus behind her. "I've decided to take this one back to the VDF lab as a research specimen. ...What about the dragon?" She asked, glancing back at the heavily injured dragon-like Virus.

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[Zane Haskill]

Andrew looked over at Sofia, then to the two viruses. One on the ground, breathing ragged. He coughed slightly, his hands trembling. He needed energy, and soon. He moved toward the dragon and raised his scythe. His eyes connected with hers and he snarled. He put the scythe on his back and shook his head. "You don't deserve a mercy killing. I'll let you die slowly and painfully." he grabbed the wing that he 'harvested, from the dragon and walked toward the other Claw. "A job well done..." he paused, looking at the damage. "Maybe just Done... There's too much damage... To many casualties." he said, hoisting the wing over his shoulder, and pulling the Virus to his feet.

"Let's go. If I feel even the slightest tingle from your distortion, you're dead. You see, unlike my friend here, I know EXACTLY where your chip is. And I WON'T miss." he said with a grin, pushing Nemo to get him to start walking. Andrew looked over at Sofia with a slight smile. "It's good to see you're okay." he said softly, rubbing the back of his neck.

[NEMO]

_{"Pl...eas...e Don...'t hu...rt Aly...ssa."}

[/color] Nemo pleaded quietly from behind Sofia, afraid to say too much for the fear of losing his own head. The Virus tensed instinctively as the man walked over the dragon Virus' downed form, quickly gasping and closing his eyes as he brought up his scythe. By the time he forced them back open, though, he saw that he hadn't done anything, giving a relieved sigh under his breath. Would she be okay? He didn't really know. From where he stood, he couldn't see the extent of her wounds.

Sofia's eyes gravely followed those of her companion as he glanced around at the destruction that'd befallen the winter village. She nodded sadly. "We did what we could. A shame it wasn't more, but we're only two people..." She could see that he looked a bit shaky, probably low on energy. She realized now that she felt a bit weak, too. Looked like they still had some unpleasantness coming up, as well.

Nemo's attention was instantly brought back to the situation at hand as well as the male Claw focused next on him. He felt his currently weak form tremble, a quiet gulp escaping his throat as he glanced downwards. He quickly started padding along at the push, moving forward after a last glance towards Alyssa. He tried to empty his mind of everything that'd just happened. He was being taken to the VDF's labs...was that better than death? He didn't really know anymore. At least he'd get to hold onto that last bit of hope he had for just a bit longer.

Sofia glanced back at her companion as well once they started moving. "You too." She admitted with a smile. "I have to say, I was really a bit worried about us making it out of that, for a while. Too bad things got so out of hand to begin with, but I'm glad that it's over." She finished, trying not to let the relieved, tired grin leave her face.

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