Raising the Stakes (Saber)

[Mani4c]

Mani4c shook his head. "No...no, I got an idea!" Mani4c holstered his rifle and was about to try and talk Murakumo down, when the ex-hunter avatar finally lost it completely. "YOU...YOU'RE TRYING TO TURN HIM AGAINST ME!? YOU WANT HIM ALL TO YOURSELF!" Murakumo clutched her head and started screaming wildly with tears streaming down her face, her blasters stopped and hovered in front of her, vibrating and whirling around in a pattern that matched their wielder's deranged mindset. "No...NO...NO NO NOOOO!" 

Murakumo's blades froze in place before flying in front of her, locking together to form two massive sawblades. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME, HE'S MINE! MINE, MINE, MINE!" The blades began to glow bright red, then they began to spin, tearing into the ground in front of her and spraying sparks everywhere. "THAT'S IT! I'LL MAKE YOU LEAVE US ALONE! I was content to scare you away, but now..." Murakumo screamed again and thrust her hand at Baretta, sending the blades whirling towards her. "NOW I'M GOING TO FUCKING EVISCERATE YOU!" "Baretta!" 

There was a pulpy grinding sound mixed with a scream of pain punctuated by a spray of blood, and standing in front of Baretta was Mani4c, with the two sawblades chewing through his left shoulder and his torso. He had jumped in front of the attack to protect Baretta. "Heh...I made it." Mani4c dropped to one knee and coughed up more blood, a pained grin on his face. 

Meanwhile, Justicar was relaxing after a light sparring match with Amp, still getting used to his new blade's weight. "Hmm?" The samurai avatar looked to the east and saw the telltale flares of gunfire, and judging by the volume it was serious. "Amp...there's something going on over there...let's go check it out." 

[Saber]

Baretta stood wide eyed as Murakumo started to lose her mind, stepping backwards in response, but not realizing she was walking backwards into Mani4c's speeder. She tripped and was struggling to get to her feet when the saw blades came at her, seeing her end coming. That is, until Mani4c got in the way and risked his safety for hers. Narrowing her eyes at Murakumo, she discarded her riot shield and drew both pistols. Going against Kate's limitations set for her programs, she hack the programs and made junk copies of her scatter and burst shop mods, sharing both mods between her guns.

"I'm tired of listening to you...Learn your place, criminal!" She started pulling the triggers of both guns at rapid fire, each trigger clicking back not even a second after the other was pulled, and a barrage of scatter burst shot rounds came flying at Murakumo, splitting into 10 mini burst rounds one after the other. She knew Murakumo was going to bring up her defenses, so she switched to normal burst by disabling her scatter shot mod, increasing the explosive force of the rounds to try and break her guard, or destroy it. She wasn't going to let up until she was scared away, locked up, or deleted, she didn't care which.

[Mani4c]

Murakumo froze in fear, she didn't want to hit Mani4c at all. "No...no, I'm sorry!" She was about to step forward when the blasts started hitting her, she yelped in pain and fell, she started crying. "He's gonna hate me...I'm sorry, please make it stop..." she didn't seem to be talking to Baretta or Mani4c, she was back in the PariahTech server, being punished for "failing".

Mani4c had seen enough. He let out a roar he didn't know he could make and forced himself upwards, he swung around and smashed Baretta in the face as hard as he could, he was livid. "THAT. IS. ENOUGH!" Mani4c grabbed the blades that were still embedded in his body and tore them out, spraying blood everywhere and tossing them onto the ground. "Baretta, you are going to listen to me right now, sit down, shut up. AND LET ME HANDLE THIS! If you don't want me playing Rambo than neither can you!" Mani4c flared his aura as a warning before walking over to Murakumo, who was whimpering in the fetal position.

"Hey, get up." Murakumo's eyes snapped open and she looked up, Mani4c was standing above her, battered and bloodied, but still alive. "MANI4C!" She threw herself at his chest and began to bawl her eyes out, her combat form fading away. "I'm so so so sorry! I didn't mean..." Mani4c silenced her. "You meant what you did, you just meant to hit a different target." Murakumo looked up at Mani4c's face, he looked angry, but he wasn't screaming or yelling.

"What you did...was stupid, reckless, and a felony. I should be slapping cuffs on you right now, but I'm not, do you know why?" Murakumo hesitantly shook her head. "Because I know that you're ill, you're emotional programming is unstable, it's making you feel things that you normally-" Murakumo buried her head in his chest again and began to sob. "NO! Don't say it, I love you! you're kind, loving...everything a person should be...please don't say my emotions are fake! Please!" Mani4c put his hand on her head, "Your emotions are artificial Murakumo...but that doesn't make them any less real."

Murakumo looked up at Mani4c with bloodshot eyes. "W-what do you mean?" "I mean, your emotions are simulated, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. You truly do love me, I believe that, but it's being created by something you can't control, something programmed into you."


Mani4c began to run his fingers through Murakumo's hair, trying to soothe her. "I don't love you like you love me, you know that right?" Murakumo began to sob. "I'm alone again..." "No you're not, I WILL keep you safe. You're going to have to turn yourself in, you attacked a police officer...But I will vouch for you, I will protect you, I can't promise you my heart...but I will always have your back Murakumo, I swear." Murakumo began to sob again, but Mani4c could sense that these were tears of relief. "You're not alone anymore...I'll keep you separate from the other convicts, try to get you help."

[Saber]

Baretta was sent rolling back, Mani4c's punch knocking her helmet clean off. She got to her feet and watched Mani4c as he began to talk Murakumo down, keeping her from getting too wild with her emotions. But just as things were starting to wrap up between the two, she felt a sharp pain in her neck, and everything started fading to black.

"I have to say, this has been quite an inspiring performance." A mysterious new avatar was with them now, gripping an unconscious Baretta by the back of the neck. He almost moved in slow motion as he swung his arm to the side and let Baretta's motionless form drop to the ground. Behind this ominous avatar was a trio of viruses resembling a giant Tarantula that was as large as the avatar was tall, a giant scorpion of similar size, and a demonic looking jumping spider of only a slightly smaller stature. But these viruses weren't acting instinctual and running amok, no...they were standing behind this odd avatar as if awaiting his orders. "I personally think it could have done better with a different ending, wouldn't you agree, cousin? It was far too sappy for my tastes..." He had a greenish silver aura swirling around him, an aura that quickly shifted to a pitch black, with slight traces of dark green floating in the aura surrounding the avatar.

Before Mani4c could respond in his typical impulsive fashion, this avatar drew his sword and pointed it at Baretta's throat "Now now. If you want to have your pleasant little date, you'll stay right there and listen to what I have to say...Your little stalker friend as well." He was making sure to keep the pair just within the threshold...Well, Murakumo to be more exact, he was keeping Mani4c at arm's length, trying to keep him from figuring out what was going on before the fun actually started.

[Mani4c]

Mani4c reactivated his armor and got into a combat ready stance, ignoring the pain in his body. "Who the fuck are you?" Murakumo retrieved her blades and brought them behind her. "Viral data detected, numerous strains...he's a walking petri dish." Murakumo's voice regained some of it's robotic tone, but it was clear that her emotions were still present. Mani4c immediately sent a message to Saber, Onimaru and Totenkopf, telling them about what had happened.



Mani4c could sense the viral data coming off of this guy, and he didn't trust him for a nano-second. He scanned the man and sent the results to The Doctor and Bit, along with a text message. <Baretta's down but not out, got some kind of sentient virus staring me down with a posse of tamed critters, already called in backup. GET ME VIRAL STRAINS NOW!> Mani4c placed a hand on Murakumo's shoulder and gently pushed her behind him. "You stay away from both of them...or I'll peel your skull like a fucking orange rind." Mani4c's voice was an aggressive growl, and his eyes could be seen flashing purple from behind his visor. "So speak your piece...now."

[Saber]

The avatar sighed and tilted his head in boredom from Mani4c's angered response. Well, at least he was smart enough to understand what the stakes were "Predictable response as always, you may call me Zeus." He toyed idly with the opposite blade of his sword as Mani4c was silent for a while, clearly he was trying to get backup from his friends...What futile efforts "Revolution is at hand, cousin...a virus army will lay waste to this world you knew, and nothing of the old world will be left to salvage...only a world fit for those who prove themselves worth keeping around. Now, with all of this doom and gloom news, you must be wondering why must I target you and your friend."

The viruses all started to disperse in different directions, and soon the sounds of chaos could be heard from beneath the roadway above, and even on top of the roadway itself, as the scorpion terrorized the highway "I'm simply a messenger, here to offer you a choice: Renounce your ties with the 'clean' world you know, and willingly join one that you belong to...Or join your friends in conversion and servitude once the dust settles over the coming clash."

[Mani4c]

Mani4c was silent for a moment, he gaze fixed on Zeus, before he finally spoke. "Viral, release my safeguards, Key word: Plague." Mani4c's body burst into a brilliant array of purple light that quickly faded to reveal the armor that he used in the PariahTech server. "You attack my friends, threaten me, and want to take over the world..." Mani4c cracked his neck, his voice was far more cold sounding, this wasn't like when he lost control in the PariahTech server, he knew EXACTLY what he was capable of, and what he was going to do to Zeus.

"Murakumo, fry that fucking scorpion on the highway, and then help the others with the clean up." Murakumo tried to protest, but Mani4c turned and fixed her with a glare from behind his helmet's mirrored face plate. "No arguments, now go..." Murakumo nodded and took off into the sky. Mani4c looked at Zeus and flared his aura. "You really are a dense motherfucker...you hurt the woman I love and try to turn me to the dark side? Oh, and don't think I couldn't smell that stinking aura you were trying to infect Murakumo with asshole, I'm a clown, not an idiot." Mani4c leaped backwards and leveled his arm cannon at Zeus. "Now then...I'm going to give you one chance, give up, or I'll skull fuck you and drain your code out the hole."

Meanwhile, the Doctor was running his scans on Zeus, "This is insane! multiple strains of viral code coexisting!? They should have killed each other off!" Amaterasu was sitting in the corner of the lab taking stock of the situation, she knew that things were going south fast, but she wasn't sure if she was needed yet. Her powers were still untested, possibly unstable.

Suddenly another alarm went off, and a voice came from over the intercom. "WE'VE GOT ROGUE BOTS ATTACKING CIVVIES IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD! PROBABLE VIRAL INFESTATION! CODE BLACK, I REPEAT, CODE BLACK!"

It was as the officer said, holobots, police drones, construction models. All going berserk and attacking anyone near by. Alexi put a bullet in a cooking droid's head before it could stick a cleaver through his own skull. "Damn it! South Side's a fucking zoo! I need back up here!"

Nearby, a woman with short brown hair and distinct lavender eyes was ripping the head off of a holobot's shoulder's inside of an army surplus store, the owner was nursing a stab wound curtosy of a 6'' K-BAR knife that he had buried in another bot's head. "Shit...you got anything sharp and sturdy old man?" The owner nodded and pulled out a 16'' long machete. The woman grabbed the blade and nodded. "Lock you and your family up and hide, grab a shotgun and a melee weapon in case you run out." The man held up a hand and got to his feet. "Wait! I want to thank you, what's your name missy?" The woman stopped for a moment. "My name's Jä-...Adriana. My name's Adriana Weaver." The woman left the store without another word, a look of determination in her eyes, she had survived the slums naked and unarmed...this army of tin men were doomed.

[Prythian]

Amplify had flown ahead of Justicar, trying to get to the scene as quickly as possible. For some reason, he'd seemed almost relieved when she asked if he'd be okay with her going ahead by herself instead of both of them riding the winds. As she neared the roadway, she saw the large scorpion virus. Her hair flared outwards, energy coating each strand with constantly-changing colors. Four orbs sprang up out of the air as she angled down towards the scorpion, anger on her face. "Strength... Rerouting!" Two of her hands reached out and grabbed an orb each, them bursting as her grip tightened, multicolored energy flowing through them.

As she neared the scorpion from an angle that it shouldn't be able to see, another orb burst, this one streaming into the blade of Shattered Skies until it shone. With a quick shift of her feet, the blade went from being on the bottom of the shaft to being on the side, and Amplify began to spin. Soon it seemed like she was a spinning blade, glowing with heat on the tip, flying straight towards the base of the scorpion's tail. With a Strength Upgrade and Aura Slice, she'd not only cut right through its shell, she'd hit with twice her usual power... hopefully cutting the tail clean off.

[Saber]

Zeus gave Mani4c a dull glare, not amused by his annoying trash talk, and calling his viral aura out. Oh well, not everything goes as planned "I was thinking you might act this way...Here's my retort." Suddenly, a massive ball of viral code came crashing into Mani4c from low to the ground, sending him flying upward from the impact. When he came to, Baretta was staring in front of Zeus, with her back to him, and facing Mani4c. Both guns trained on him and smoking with viral power. HEr appearance was far different now, her armor seemed corroded, yet still intact and slightly corrupted. Her skin was pale, and cracked with glowing green crevices in her face and neck. And her eyes were blank, nothing but a flat, glowing green orb taking the place of her eyes. Her face had nothing but aggression and malice as she faced Mani4c, baring her teeth as they slowly started to extend into fangs.

"You must be thinking; 'you sick coward! You turn the woman I love into a zombie and use her as a shield!' am I correct?" He grinned behind the black mass covering his face, his red eye glowing from excitement as he tilted his head in a creepy way "You're not the first to use that line on me, cousin. And I can assure you, she isn't the only one I've turned...I'll spare you the monologue, there are thousands of avatars terrorizing the city as we speak." He donned his armor, the spiked shroud behind him flowing as if alive "Since you're not interested in joining our cause, I'll just delete you like the rest. We still have to deal with that obnoxious cyberblade and steal ourselves another recruit, and you're wasting my time with your defiance."

The scorpion let out a piercing shriek as its tail was cut off, grabbing a few abandoned speeders from the highway and hurling them at the flying object that just cut its tail off. Zeus noticed the retaliation on the scorpion virus and Baretta aimed one of her pistols at Amp, firing a large ball of viral code at her with homing shot active. From this distance, she was going to need to see the projectile coming if she wasn't aware of it to dodge.

Kate had called all hands on deck as the announcement came in on the loud speaker, informing all net ops agents of the situation and what their tasks were "Attention all officers, load up on as many EMP rounds as you can and man the hover turrets. We are in code black, gear up on the double!"

Jake and Petra were in separate parts of the city, already trying to help control the waves of infected machines wreaking havoc on the city. Jake had managed to evacuate a group of people from the arcade into a patrol truck he requested for search and rescue, and Petra was at a dance club when the attack hit, sneaking everyone safely through the alleys and into a satellite police station, where there were officers gearing up and preparing for combat. As bad as it sounded, the safest place for them right now was in the reinforced holding cells. Everywhere else, was either being handled by other officers or in complete pandemonium.

[Mani4c]

Mani4c picked himself up, he stared at Baretta and then Zeus, and then he began to chuckle. The chuckle wasn't sarcastic, or even Mani4c putting on a show of bravado, he had snapped again, but instead of anger he was willingly giving himself over to his more vicious impulses. "Heh..hehehe...HAHAHAHA! Oh, oh no...I'm not thinking your a coward...I'm just thinking of how good your data's gonna taste when I drain you dry." Mani4c's viral aura began to swirl around in a more chaotic manner.

"You see, normally my more insane impulses are locked away, but you...oh you know how to bring out the worst in me." Mani4c's aura exploded outwards, cratering the ground under him. "I'm at 20% of my maximum output...wanna see what happens when I go all out?" Mani4c clenched his fist, electrical discharges shot off of his body, creating thunder cracks between him and Zeus. "I'm gonna send you straight to hell!"

Before Baretta's shot could hit Amp, a bladed boomerang flew out, seemingly from nowhere, to intercept the blast. Before she could prepare another shot, a familiar chain blade ensnared her, yanking her onto a rooftop and smashing her against the roof. "I'm afraid that you've got bigger problems to deal with..." Totenkopf, Lilith and Seig stood on the roof, all of them with weapons drawn and leveled right at Baretta. Seig raised his hand into the air, apparently pointing at heaven itself before lowering his finger to point at Baretta. "Korin, Man wo Jishite..." (Rough Translation: Descending, yet above it all...) Totenkopf immediately removed his first limiter and leveled his scythe at the possessed officer. "I will not hesitate to take off your hands if you attempt to harm that girl again Baretta..."

The Doctor saw what was happening to Baretta and Mani4c and made a snap decision. "Bit...take over." The Doctor walked over to an equipment station and pulled out the Diend Driver, as well as a gilded Bamboo cage that held Kivat. He then left the lab and headed straight for Noxus' cell. Amaterasu got up as well. "Bit, if you allow my daughter out there...I will END you." Amaterasu vanished in a flash of blinding light, replaced by a snow white wolf that quickly sprinted out of the lab.

The viral avatar was pacing, visibly worried about his brother. When he saw The Doctor, he ran up to the energy field. "Doctor, please! I need to help Mani4c!" The Doctor simply leveled the Diend Driver at the lock and blew it off, disabling the field. "Come on mate, we're going to save our friends." The Doctor then walked to the Vehicle bay with Noxus in tow.

Justicar lashed out at several possessed avatars, slashing their limbs and crippling them without deleting them in the process. "Damn it, there has to be over a thousand of these bastards running around, I can't keep up on my own..." Justicar considered calling Masamune for a moment, but quickly decided against it. "I don't need that bastard." Justicar instead sprinted forward and continued to neutralize any possessed avatars he saw.

Murakumo leveled her bladed at the now tailless scorpion and unleashed a massive barrage at the wounded beast, firing all of her cannons until the tips were glowing bright red from the heat.

Erika and Mary pulled up to the Precinct in their car and sprinted inside looking for Kate. When they finally found her they skidded to a stop. "Kate, Alexi needs backup and there's no one else in his area, most of the beat cops got hit when the riot suppression drones went apeshit!" Mary nodded. "I've got some hardware in the car, we need to move now!" Samuel ran over, he was dressed in his Tactical gear and has his pistol drawn. "Henry's got this place off the grid, our drones and turrets are safe Kate, let's go help Alexi." Henry's voice came in over the intercom. "He's right Captain, between the security system and Maximus here, we'll be fine. Sam's holed up in her office coordinating the counterattack."

[Prythian]

Amplify, in her spin, noticed the speeders heading towards her. She had completely missed the blast aimed towards her, but fortunately someone had already taken care of it. She dove down, straightening out, diving under the first speeder... when the second plowed into her, knocking her off of Shattered Skies. As the speeder began to fall to the ground with her against it, Amplify reached out, and Shattered Skies, also falling through the air, flew back to her. She simply tightened her grip on it as it shot past, pulling her off the speeder before it smashed into the ground below.

Hanging about ten feet under Shattered Skies with one of her hands clasping it, Amplify narrowed her eyes as she began heading back towards the scorpion. This time, she flew in low, out of its sight, until she was right next to the roadway. With a sharp boost upwards, she flew up over the side, landing near the side of the roadway, spinning Shattered Skies around to point it directly towards the scorpion. Four more orbs grew out of the air, two of which were immediately consumed, leaving only three total remaining. One orb flew into the the cannon, which began glowing, and then five blasts of powerful kinetic energy shot out of it in rapid succession directly at the virus... with one of remaining orbs floating in its way. As they passed through it, the orb vanished, the energy sucked into the blasts... causing the ripples of power to seem more vibrant as they traveled through the air.

((Strength Upgrade + Intensify + Kinetic Barrage = DAMN powerful multishot cannon!))

[Saber]

Zeus tilted his head as Mani4c started talking about how powerful he was, which made Zeus chuckle. That chuckle started to gradually grow from a quiet laughter, to finally crescendo into a maniacal laugh that would match even Mani4c's, his skull-like face mimicking the motions of a human skull, if watching someone laugh through an x-ray. One hand was reaching up to grip at his head as he laughed, leaving one eye open and staring intensely into Mani4c's "You're going to send ME to hell? Oho, that will be a sight to see!"

He lowered his arm and hunched over as he kept his head tilted in Mani4c's direction "If you want to lose all of your friends, and the woman you love, by damning yourself to your viral nature, then by all means, attack." He aimed his obsidian sword at Mani4c as he was crackling with viral power "I can't wait to see the broken and defeated shell you become when everyone abandons you after your viral nature takes a deeper root within you, you will have wished that I deleted you here and now, to spare you that torment!"

A large explosive bullet crashed into Zeus' face, sending him falling backwards from the lack of preparation. Saber was walking up with his blaster in hand, the barrel red and smoking from the blast "And here I thought my brother was long winded...Get yourself together, Mani4c, going into this with a hot head isn't going to help things." Zeus slowly got to his feet and glared at Saber, who was looking back at Zeus with cold eyes "Finally, the hotshot super cop shows himself. As impeccable as your timing is, I don't have time to fight with you right now." Saber triggered his dual gun mod, aiming both blasters at Zeus "Oh trust me, I have no intention of fighting you myself, I'm just evening the odds so my friend here doesn't have to destroy himself just to beat you."

Baretta narrowed her eyes as Totenkopf threatened to slice her arms off, her muscles bulking up slightly as her helmet reformed on her head, the spikes on the sides forming into more demonic horns "...Enemy..." Aiming a blaster at Lilith and Totenkops each, she fired two explosive bullets at each one, the explosions triple in size on impact as Baretta leaped a superhuman length of distance to reach a faraway building for cover as she kept firing at Lilith and Totenkopf when they started heading for her location "Die!"

The scorpion let out a shrill cry as the blaster barrage hit it, but the kinetic barrage from below brought it down for good, crushing the giant bug like a boot, and making it dissolve into dead code. This leaves two avatars with one less viral menace to deal with, but two more are on the loose.

Kate looked at her terminal, which was still showing a no signal message from Baretta. Cursing, she holstered her gun and started following Mary out of the precinct "Keep me informed on the situation on your end professor, I'm going to follow Richards here and bail Alexi out of another jam." She got in the driver's seat and shut the door swiftly, buckling in "Book it!" As they drove, she decided it was time to take inventory "How many EMP rounds have we got available, for what guns?"

[Mani4c]

Mani4c glanced at Saber. "Piss off, he's mine. You've got Mirror to think about now, if you get hurt and make her upset, I'll fuck you up too." Mani4c seemed to lean forward for a moment before suddenly dashing forward, smashing part of the street behind him and kicking up a cloud of dust in his wake. "I'm going to cave your head in you prick!" Mani4c tried to smash Zeus in the face as hard as he could before leveling his cannon at Zeus and opening fire at point blank range. "NOW BURN IN HELL!"

Lilith took to the air along with Sieg, wrapping her sword around Totenkopf's waist to hoist him into the air as well. "Ready bro!?" Totenkopf nodded. "Do it!" Lilith spun in mid air and launched Totenkopf at Baretta, the Reaper avatar began to spin his scythe faster and faster as he flew at Baretta, blocking the shots aimed at him and gaining momentum to increase the amount of force in his swing, the force of the explosions still hurt him slightly, but the wounds were minor. Sieg drew his twin weapons and dived at Baretta as well, weaving around, over and under her shots. Lilith drew Blut und Eisen and began to fire back at Baretta, hoping to force her into cover.

Murakumo noticed Amp thanks to her tactical visor and patched herself into Amp's comms. "I'm sorry for hacking you, but there's still two more of those things out there. I have one of them locked into my scanners, if you want a good fight, follow me." Murakumo fired a shot into the air so Amp could see her before pointing in the direction of the threat and flying off towards it.

Erika hauled out an ammo box that was indexed to hold several types of ammo at once. "Nine mil, 12-gauge, 7.62, and 5.56. I've got a whole fucking crate of ammo in the trunk, along with rifles and shottys." Erika nodded and loaded her pistol with EMP rounds. "She's pretty much thrown in everything but the kitchen sink Kate, we're not taking chances here." Samuel nodded in approval and loaded his pistol, also taking two extra magazines before pulling out his Kukri and sharpening it.

[Prythian]

<Got it.> Amplify sent back to Murakumo, jumping back onto Shattered Skies as she dropped in, taking off before it hit the ground and flying in Murakumo's direction. On the way there, she reached down, taking Cloud from its end of the shaft and gripping it tightly, the sword held in front of her with preparation. She wasn't sure exactly what threat she'd run into, but... with Murakumo and her, there was hardly any chance of a simple virus beating them.

"He already knows how upset I'll be if he gets hurt, Mani4c." Another Saber, in SkyStrike Mode, flew downwards from an angle, hovering nearby. "He also knows how upset I'd be if he just sat back and let one of our friends get hurt. So worry more about how upset Lilith would be if you got both yourself and Viral permanently damaged." With the rifle, Mirror gave a salute towards Saber. "I'll be back, I've got to see if virass here released any more assholes around here." And with that, she zoomed off, searching from the skies for any other viruses.

[Saber]

Saber rolled his eyes when Mani4c told him to piss off, and to think about Mirror, that was certainly the pot calling the kettle black. When Mirror came down in his SkyStrike mode, he nodded when Mirror said she was going to check if there were any more threats in the city <Watch your back out there, and keep a look out for Baretta or anyone else who act hostile toward you. This guy has a virus that can control avatars.>

Zeus stood there as Mani4c charged at him, his head flipping backward from the impact of his fist, but his hand shot up at Mani4c leveled his cannon at Zeus' head, grabbing the cannon and aiming it upward just as it fired its payload. "My, that actually stung a little." Zeus thrusted forward with his sword, aiming to stab Mani4c in the chest. For good measure the shroud on his armor reached behind Mani4c and started thrusting the spines at the end at his back at the same time as his attack with the sword. But as he was making his move, his head was hit repeatedly by bullet rounds, disrupting his focus on the shroud and making it fall from behind Mani4c. "Enough with the hotheaded lone-wolf bullshit! Start fighting smart for once in your life, Mani4c!"

As Mirror was flying overhead, something was creeping up behind her from the rooftops, staying hot on her tail as it leapt from rooftop to rooftop, before leaping up and trying to pounce on Mirror from behind, aiming for her borrowed wings.

Baretta ducked under cover, shuffling out of the way of the gunshots before sprinting for the rooftop's edge. She leapt over the edge, grabbing the edge and flipping her body until she had her feet planted on the wall. She then kicked off of the wall, and dove down toward the ground below, landing with a crash before letting out a high pitched cry. At that sound, a swarm of infected avatars crowded around her, and all her aiming some form of blaster at the rooftops, opening fire on the targets overhead.

Kate looked back at Samuel sharpening his knife and shook her head "We're dealing with robots, Lieutenant. Unless that knife is made out of diamond, all you're going to do is dull the blade on that thing." She checked the clip on her pistol, making sure she had EMP rounds with clips to spare, before scanning the streets. It was utter chaos, robots were everywhere, and casualties were going through the roof the longer she watched "...Mother of god..."

[Mani4c]

Mani4c glared at Saber when he insulted him. "Funny coming from someone who was a whiny emo fuck not too long ago! Don't try and act like an authority on intelligence Saber! This bastard hurt someone I love, and I'm going to turn him into a greasy stain on the black top!" Mani4c leaped back and increased his viral power level. "40%! Eat this!" Mani4c leveled his cannon at Zeus and unleashed a barrage of explosive shots at Zeus. "TURN TO ASH!" Mani4c's voice started to gain a harsh edge to it, his viral nature was starting to show itself.

Lilith cursed, "That's a lot of mooks, INCOMING!" Lilith dove towards the ground and opened fire on the other infected avatars striking them in the head and chest. "Isolate Baretta!" Totenkopf nodded and began to launch fireballs at the infected as well, Sieg stayed back and began to analyze the situation. "We need to keep Baretta from escaping..."

The Doctor summoned his TARDIS and ran inside with Noxus in tow. The Doctor quickly set the coordinates for Mani4c's location and activated the TARDIS "We're not stopping for anything...how comfortable are you with an aerial insertion?" Noxus was taken aback by the question, was he serious? "I've never performed one before, but if it will help Mani4c, you can shove me out of this blasted box for all I care." The Doctor smirked as the TARDIS shot out of the portal, the doors flew open and he gestured towards the door. "Well, we're here. Hurry, I need to help with Baretta."

Noxus activated his armor and nodded. "If I may borrow your catchphrase...GERONIMO!" Noxus sprinted towards the door and leaped out of the TARDIS, he shifted his left arm into a double edged blade and his right arm into a spiked shield. He angled himself towards Zeus, deciding that since he was unfamiliar then he was the enemy by process of elimination...the fact that Mani4c was shooting at him didn't hurt things either. He put his shield in front of him and attempted to act like a falling spiked battering ram, hoping to smash into Zeus at terminal velocity.

Justicar had just finished deleting another mob of infected when he saw a white wolf running towards him. He drew his sword and got into a defensive stance, but when the wolf ran past him and savaged an infected avatar that had wandered out from an alley, he realized that this wolf was an ally. "Thanks, can you speak?" The Wolf looked at him. "Yes, I'm Amaterasu, I'm sorry for cutting this short, but I need to help my friend."

Justicar held up his hand. "Wait, who are they? I want to repay you for the help." Amaterasu let out a quiet bark in annoyance. "Baretta, she's been infected, we can't delete her until she's cured." Justicar nodded and transformed into Lupo, his new blade clutched in his hand. "Let's move then, I owe her for helping my own friend." Amaterasu nodded and tore off towards Baretta's location with Justicar close behind.

Samuel sheathed his blade, satisfied with it's sharpness. "It's diamond carbide edged, I've cut through a third of an inch of steel with this Kate." Mary looked and saw Alexi, he was gunning down drones with practiced efficiency. He also had a woman standing next to him, she ran a drone through with a Machete and kicked it off of her blade before swinging around and cleaving another bot's head in half before it could hit alexi with a steel pipe. "There he is! He's got a civvie with him!" Erika pulled out a pump-action shotgun and pumped it. "Let's move people! Lock and load!"

[Prythian]

As Mirror flew forward, something landed on her wings. She yelped as she began to dip down a bit, before growling. "You want to fly? Alright, let's fly!" Activating the full thrust on her wings, she began to shoot forward as fast as she possibly could, swerving back and forth, flying in loop de loops, anything that would get this thing off of her. She eventually shot straight upwards and began to spin rapidly in place, all of the thrust going to making her twirl faster and faster, centripetal force increasing. The power that this thing needed in order to stay attached to her was going to be huge, especially since the force trying to fling it outwards only kept growing.

[Saber]

Zeus glared at Saber as he was interrupting his fight with Mani4c, angry that he couldn't summon more viruses yet, as he could still sense two of them still active. When Mani4c increased his power and started firing his blaster at him, Zeus just kept ahead of Mani4c's shots "How adorable. you're willing to go almost half of your viral strength, to stay within safe limits. But let me put this into perspective for you, Mani4c...You can't destroy me without destroying yourself!" As Zeus spoke, he kept circling closer and closer to Mani4c, using his sword to swat the bullets that could have hit him in order to get closer. Time almost seemed to slow down as Zeus leapt at Mani4c, preparing to cleave Mani4c's head off, before something crashed into him from above, and sent him through the roadway and crashing down to the ground below. Saber stayed his guns when Noxus made his destructive entrance "What took them so long, I figured that would have busted you out sooner than this. Try talking some sense into your brother, because as pissed as he is about Baretta, he sure as hell isn't going to listen to me."

Baretta roared out in rage as the avatars in her command were being slowly wiped out, aiming her guns at the fireballs as they came flying down and countering them with her own viral blasts. This gave the remaining infected avatars to focus their shots on the descending avatars pursuing her. Her roar also sparked a loud uproar in the distance, as more infected were coming to her aide.

The jumper was trying to wrap its legs around Mirror, but as she was moving faster and faster, it was slowly losing its grip. It eventually reached the point where it lost its grip entirely, but was still hanging on by a strand of web that was attached to Mirror's back, between her wings. Despite the speed and centripetal force, it was trying to climb its way back up the web, to reach her again.

"Pop the trunk!" Kate was the first out of the car and to the trunk, grabbing an M40 sniper rifle and loading up on EMP round magazines. She aimed at the robots nearest to Alexi and popped a few bullets center mass "Erika, you're my spotter, anything gets close you blow it away. Mary, Samuel, get those two out of there!"

[Mani4c]

Noxus used his tendrils to pull himself up to Mani4c and Saber's level, Mani4c was breathing heavily, his exersions and exposure to viral energy starting to take effect. "Mani4c, listen, Saber's wrong about being mad in this fight. You have to be mad, the focus keeps your data coherent despite the corrosive code you're using, you need to focus your anger! Zeus is the one who infected Baretta, Zeus is the one who is trying to kill your friends, focus your anger on him!"

Mani4c sucked in a breath and focused, the thought about what Baretta looked like after Zeus infected him, he thought about what Zeus would do to his friends, he thought about what Zeus could do to Alexi if he won. Mani4c's eyes snapped open and he let out a roar of rage, "100%!" Mani4c's body flashed bright blue and an aura of viral energy shot out from his body, destroying the ground in a radius of 5 feet around him. Mani4c cracked his neck and looked at Saber, he simply gave him a thumbs up and a nod before running towards the hole that Noxus made and jumped down. "Zeus! Let's finish this asshole! I'm through playing around!" Noxus looked at Saber, "Come on!" He then followed his brother down to confront Zeus.

Lilith continued firing at the infected and Totenkopf brought up his barrier to block any return fire. "Sieg, what have you got?" Sieg nodded and took to the skies. "I'm better up close, I'll distract her." Sieg dived into the center of the mob and began to slash anything that stood in his path to Baretta apart. "Baretta! Let's see if you can handle me..." Sieg brandished his hatchet and bladed boomerang and moved in to attack.

But before he could The Doctors TARDIS plowed through an advancing horde of infected reinforcements, as well as most of the remaining infected that Baretta had, The Doctor leaped clear of the TARDIS as it flew by, spraying sparks as it ground along the road. He landed on one knee, facing away from Baretta, Lilith could see that his normally friendly and focused expression was replaced by a look of angry determination. He stood up and faced Baretta. "You know something funny? Many people tell me that I am a decent man, that I have too many rules to fight like you do...but you see, I am not a good man, because good men don't need rules to keep themselves in check."

The Doctor slid the card into the reader on the Diendriver's side and pulled forward on the gun. <KAMEN RIDE> The Doctor rose the pistol above his head. "And you are about to see why I have so many!" He then pulled the Trigger, <DIEND!> A bolt of energy shot out of the Deindriver's barrel and flew above the doctor's head before exploding into a mist of energy that formed the Diend Rider Armor. The Doctor leveled the Deindriver at the infected and opened fire, hitting 5 of them in the head and deleting them instantly. "I'm The Doctor, and you're a sickness..." He began to walk slowly towards the remaining infected, his blaster's barrel glowing red. "Basically...run." He then began to open fire.

Erika got out of the car and blasted the head off of a holobot that smashed through a display case next to her. "Stay down tinker toy..." She set up Next to Kate and began to spot for Kate. "Samuel, You take left, I've got right!" Samuel nodded as he and Mary drew their weapons and opened fire, Mary put three holes in a construction drone's eyepiece, causing it's head to spark and explode. Samuel had his Kukri in one hand and his pistol in the other, he was quick and efficient, anything within a hundred feet got a bullet in it's head, anything within arm's reach was stabbed in the power core. "There's thousands of these bots in Brooklyn alone, if we want to take care of this they need to take down the virus responsible."

When Alexi saw two robots torso's explode he cracked a smile, his impromptu partner decapitated another holobot behind him. "What the hell was that?" Alexi's smirk widened and he popped another bot in the head. "The Cavalry kid."

[Prythian]

Mirror could feel that while the weight was no longer trying to grip her, it was still attached. Just by the way it swung around and how the weight shifted on here, it was a good guess what had happened. So, she suddenly stopped spinning. The web the jumper was attached to swung around in front of her, the strand going around her side... and she began flying backwards rapidly, trying to make it go further back while still keeping it in front of her. With barely a hesitation, she pointed the rifle directly at the spider, firing off a few shots at close range towards its face. Then, seamlessly, she grabbed the Data Blade off of the rifle, and swung it directly at the strand to try and sever it, hopefully dropping the jumper from high enough that the fall combined with the shots would delete it.