First Strike(Saber, Prythian)

[Saber]

Bit looked at the chart and took a deep breath, exhaling heavily "...The others aren't going to be happy about this...There, it's done. JARVIS? I'm going to need access to any control modules Forge may have in his workshop. This module only grants me remote access via an enhanced secure shell format, I need a means to log into the virus' code to manipulate him. I am also going to need access to one of the external apparatuses that can project the data outside. Since most of the turmoil inside is being handled, we're going to address the threat outside."

Valkyrie felt her entire body fall limp as she felt the effects of Amplify's boosts leaving her body, as well as the damage that was done by Ripper eating away at her code. She wanted to thank the woman who had saved her, but the man from before was growing hostile, Amplify speaking with hate in her voice at the woman as well. When Justicar said he was going to erase this 'Integrate', she rushed forward, ignoring her body's weakness and getting in front of War. Shifting her armor She crossed both arms in front of her, the two half shield's clamping shut in front of herself and War, in order to block the beam that Justicar had fired.

Baretta came to her senses as Mani4c was peppering Hecate with rifle rounds. But before he could deliver the finishing blow, something had distracted him, and Hecate got away. Baretta pinged out for a status report and her eyes were wide with shock "...Viral? Down? How is that possible?" She reached out to R&D for answers, but the site was down "Dammit! We need eyes on Viral! Is there anyone left who can access virus scans in the server?!"

Saber started walking over to Massacre, now that the doctor's volley of blasts was over, listening to the doctor explain Massacre's one weakness. His swords switched to burst form, the sword emitting pulsing waves as it prepared for an explosive strike "Which means if I blow you up, here and now, there won't be anything left to regenerate from." Saber loomed over Massacre, his sword poised to strike "...This is where you get erased...And don't even dream of regenerating again..." Saber was interrupted by Baretta calling for a virus scan of the server. Looking over at the doctor's armor, he had an idea "This is Saber, I copy your response Baretta. I might have a location." Deactivating the burst blade and switching back to shockfire, he stabbed the shock blade into Massacre's abdomen, before turning to the doctor "Viral's down, and we need to locate him. Does that thing have access to virus scans in the server?"

<Oh please, do you know how many of my officers think of me as anything BUT a woman? I'm probably more of a man than you are, Kravchenko...Hell, that 'gunslinger dyke' must have a bigger pair of balls than yours.> Kate responded over the radio, the sounds of footsteps echoing in the speaker as she was walking to his demanded location. She had been keeping close watch over all communications in the precinct going in and out, and she was prepared for the worst. She opened a link to all communications in the precinct, even the loudspeakers <This is captain Kathryn Bale to all officers. I will be meeting Kravchenko in the center of the precinct as he -oh so politely- requested. All officers stand down and hold your ground.> Sarcasm oozed from her voice as she gave her orders to her subordinates, tossing her radio aside since leaving her terminal locked in the desk down in archives. *...That boy had better have been planning what I think he's been planning...Because I just signed myself up for months of therapy or a bed in the morgue because of this...*

[Prythian]

"Justicar, NO!"

Shattered Skies reappeared in her hands, but the beam shot past her before she could make any attempt to block it. Fortunately for her, Valkyrie had jumped into action far faster than she'd have thought possible when weakened from the effects of Amp's Overload. The remaining four free hands of Amplify shot forward to grab onto Justicar's arms, trying to restrain him. "She was acting as an ally! We can deal with my brother later!"

"...So it's true." Amplify stiffened at the low voice, with just a subtle hint of sorrow in it. "...The samurai was telling the truth about what happened to you." And with that, the gold flowed off of War, Integrate reforming behind her and Valkyrie. "I suppose now that I've seen it for myself... I'm satisfied. Warrior... if your need to kill me is so strong you'll attack someone else..." He shifted to the side and sat down on the ground, now in perfect view with his newly-golden, almost liquid form. "...then take your shot now and leave War alone. I won't have you harming someone whose only crime was saving my life."

[Mani4c]

JARVIS did as Bit asked, setting up a secure signal that was linked to the virus' cognitive programming. "There, you're linked to it's 'brain', what little there is...as for the outside...got it, I've used my NPD permissions to open a transport Kiosk outside of the precinct."

Massacre screamed in pain when Saber stabbed him in the gut, trying in vain to remove the blade. The Doctor ignored the skewered virus and activated the suit's tracking program. "JARVIS, can you locate Viral? Either by using a virus scan or his NPD ID code." <Of course, just a moment...Objective located.> JARVIS sent the locations to Saber and the others, highlighting Viral's location with an inverted red triangle. The Doctor looked at the location and nodded. "He's here, that section of the server is unstable due to damage, so you'll have to take the long way. Mani4c, Baretta, you and the others meet us there, if we're lucky we can end this here and kill Abraxas." Mani4c's voice crackled over the radio, having been connected to the conversation by the doctor. <You got it doc!>

Justicar tore free from Amp's grip and charged at Integrate, raising his sword with full intent to cleave Integrate in half, but as he brought the blade down, a green blur dropped down in front of Justicar and parried his attack with a pair of katanas. "YOU!" The person in question was none other than Masamune, Fujin, Ryujin, and Raijin dropped from the ceiling behind him, as well as a small army of soldiers. "I will not allow you to act this way Justicar..." Justicar roared and broke the sword lock, punching Masamune in the face before grabbing him by the throat. "I AM NOT A DOG WHO HEELS AT YOUR COMMAND SAMURAI!" Justicar threw Masamune across the room, sending the older avatar through a wall. "I'LL CONSIDER YOU THE WARM UP..." Justicar advanced on Masamune, an orb of energy appearing in his palm.

Lilith glared at Abraxas and charged at him lashing out at the virus with her sword. The blade extended outwards, and seemed poised to embed itself in Abraxas' chest. "You're mine!" But in less time than it took to blink, Abraxas had vanished from view. "What!?" Lilith retracted her blade and scanned the room, trying to locate the viral despot. "Where are you you bastard..." "Try behind you..." Lilith whipped around and stabbed at Abraxas, but he simply dodged to the left, not even suffering a scratch. 'This is what he did to Viral, got him flustered and then beat him down...' Abraxas smiled. "Now now...don't give up yet dear." Lilith just scowled and attacked again.

Vasili smirked when Kate answered, "Well...if you want to trade barbs..." Vasili pointed at Alexi. "Pick that sack of shit up and bring him here, you! Hold the egghead!" One of the goons grabbed Henry and pulled him over to where Erika and Mary were, the rest of his men grabbed Alexi by the shoulders and hauled him up, dragging the Russian officer in front of Vasili. "Good, now we wait for your girlfriend Alexi..." Vasili shot Alexi in the other leg, making him scream in pain. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD! LET HIM GO!" Vasili held Alexi up by the collar of his shirt, pressing the barrel of his run to Alexi's right temple.

Vasili didn't have to wait long, Kate burst through the doors less than three minutes later, much to Vasili's delight. "Captain Bale! It's good to see you, Poor Alexi had a little accident you see...he got shot in the legs!"  Vasili gestured to the two bloody bullet wounds in Alexi's thighs. "Now...I've been wondering, exactly what I would do to you, would I leave Alexi alive, beat you to a pulp, and violate you while he watched? Or would I shoot you dead, and then have my fun with the dykes...well, I'm happy to tell you that I've found a solution that spares you, and the two ladies that indignity." 

Vasili pressed the barrel against the right side of Alexi's head and fired a single shot before dropping Alexi's limp body on the ground. "ALEXI!!!!" "I decided to just blow his fucking brains out while you watched..." Vasili began to laugh as Erika began to sob and Mary began to violently thrash against her captors, trying to break free.

Jäger watched the whole drama unfold through a cctv screen in a security room, she clentched her teeth and let out a low growl of rage. "He's not just dead, he's fucking DOOMED." Jäger kicked in the door and sprinted down the hall. "It's just down here, don't die Bale, you fucking bitch..."

[Saber]

Bit nodded and activated the link, plugging the data cube into the transport kiosk network "Here goes. Activating virus now, commencing transport!"

Outside of the server, a beam of data began materializing, a large minotaur-like virus with a giant battleaxe manifesting beside the hoard of viruses. It let out a deep bellow before rushing forward and barreling into the virus hoard, sending the larger viruses flying before swinging with its axe to deal with the ones still closeby.

Dagger was secretly the one firing rockets at the viruses. But when the large one appeared and was attacking them up close, he couldn't help but stand there and watch for a while "...This...is certainly unexpected..."

Valkyrie got between Masamune and Justicar when he started acting hostile towards this man, panting heavily as the damage from Ripper's data drain was affecting her "Enough! I canno allow you to harm these people when they have no hostile intent! If you haven't forgotten we have a larger threat at this server's doorstep! Stand down and come to your senses!" Her arms wavered slightly as she held the shield in front of her, struggling to maintain her composure.

Baretta logged the information and planned the fastest path to Viral's location, looking at Mani4c and Rotor before leading the way "We have to hurry, let's move!"

Saber nodded, taking the server coordinates and logging them in his map. Walking over to Massacre's body, he yanked the electrified blade from the virus' gut before both of them fused into his flash blade "I'll get there faster on my own. Doctor, Shepard, this one is all yours, catch up when you've dealt with him." with that he sprinted down the hall, gone in mere seconds. It would take some time before he reached their location, but he wasn't going to waste any time with getting there.

Kate froze in place as she watched the bastard Vasili fire a bullet into Alexi's head from point blank range, tears falling from her face. She soon started to feel her blood boil as rage started overwhelming her senses. She started looking left and right, scanning the room for anything she could use as a weapon. She couldn't use her last resort just yet, she needed a wide open opportunity for that "...I swear to god...I don't care if I lose my goddamn badge...I am going to END you...Do you understand me you fucking pile of trash? Your life sentence is ending tonight..." Her voice was calm, and furious, all at once. Vasili has crossed the line, and she was going to forego her own morals and kill in cold blood.

[Prythian]

Amplify also rushed to get in between Justicar and Masamune, hands spread wide, Shattered Skies vanished once more. Eight orbs hovered around her. "Will you give up everything for the sake of this vengeance?" She asked angrily, blinking back tears. "Look at me! If you want to hurt any of our allies... any of them... you'll need to go through me first!" Something bugged her, and she couldn't help but glance to the side, down towards the center of the server, for just a second... but her attention went immediately back to the situation on hand.

Integrate, meanwhile, was over near Masamune, offering him a hand. "It would've been less painful in the long run if you'd just let him hit me, you know. It's not like I don't deserve it. You saw him just as well as I did back when Halberd and I attacked your base; he's clearly reverting to the same insanity at the mere sight of me." He shook his head. "Though... there's something I need to do here, if I can only figure it out..."

--------------

"That has to be at least an S-class... and it's completely out of control." Merge was fascinated. "It doesn't seem even close to the same kind of virus as we're seeing in this army..." There was something nagging at the back of her mind, something she needed to do, something... subtle. She barely even noticed it, but... there was a slight pull towards the inside of the server.

--------------

Domain sighed as his spikes flew back to him, another wall growing to block the corridor. There were only so many corridors he could block. "There's no end to them..." He craned his head up, feeling some sort of pull, something... visceral. Though he didn't know it, it was the same pull that all of the AUGMENT avatars were feeling at the moment, but it was strongest with him. "...There's something in the air..."

--------------

Mirror dashed back, firing into the hordes of viruses behind her with other officers as she flashed between their forms to throw whatever she could at them. "Get out of my home!" She growled, swearing under her breath as the army pressed forward. These viruses were... ugly, firing with acidic bursts. If it wasn't for the others, Mirror would likely have turned around already, and left... but where to go? This was her home... even if something was tugging at her heart... She dismissed it, though; it had to be concern for Saber. And Saber could take care of himself.

[Mani4c]

Before the Doctor or Shepard could finish Massacre, the red ball of light that had split off from Justicar flew in front of the officers, exploding in a blinding flash of light. "What!?" The ball of light was none other than Kaizer, who blasted Shepard and the SWAT commander back with a telekinetic burst. "GAH!" The Doctor raised his laser cannon, but Kaizer retaliated with a blast of electricity, overloading the armor's power supply and sending it into an emergency shutdown. 

Massacre let out a gasping laugh when Kaizer arrived. "hehe...you a new general?" Kaizer simply knelt down and roughly helped Massacre to his feet. "Gah! easy asshole!" Kaizer activated his energy blade and placed it at Massacre's throat. "You will take me to this...Abraxas, I have a proposition for him." "Then it's a good thing I arrived to extract Massacre."

Kaizer turned and saw Hecate stepping through her portal. "Abraxas' mission is almost complete, I've been told to extract Massacre, Thorn, and Ripper. If you want to come along, feel free..." Kaizer nodded and stepped through the portal with Massacre, Hecate just looked at the officer's, Shepard had gotten to her feet and was charging at them. Hecate just smirked and left through her portal, closing it right before Shepard reached it. "GOD DAMN IT!!!"

Masamune took Integrate's hand and stood up, rubbing the back of his head. "Damn it...he always was emotional, that wolf spirit is reacting to that anger and making him more unstable..."

Justicar looked at Amp, rage burning in his eyes. "WHY!? WHY Are you protecting him!?" Justicar walked towards Amp as he spoke, gradually changing back to his normal form. "He is to blame for everything you went through before...before your rebirth, he helped destroy our home, took you away from me! Why should he live!?" War stepped forward. "Much has happened since then Knight, he is quite literally a different being now, one possessing a conscience, a sense of morality." Justicar scoffed. "That does nothing to wash away his crimes, and you damn well know it."

War crossed her arms. "And what of you? A lap dog for a head of the underground Network, attacking net police and trying to help someone take over the damn world! What's your excuse?" Justicar pointed his sword at war, a white aura flaring around his body. "I DID THAT IN AN EFFORT TO ADVANCE MANKIND AND AVATARS BOTH!" War fired back with her own retort. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and the fact that you yourself offered to be incarcerated it proof, why are you better than him?" Justicar  roared in anger and lunged at War smashing her in the face with his armored fist. "HE TOOK THE WOMAN I LOVED FROM ME! CALLED HER USELESS, A WASTE OF SPACE! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE HIM! HE DESERVES TO DIE A THOUSAND TIMES FOR WHAT HE'S DONE TO AMPLIFY!!!"

Mani4c nodded and looked at Murakumo and Onimaru. "You guys get to safety, we've got..." Murakumo flew right up into Mani4c's face. "Negative, you are not going alone, and not to be rude, but Baretta and Rotor's assistance against Hecate proved...less than effective. If this Abraxas is truly that witch's superior, you will need our help." Onimaru nodded. "Yosha! We're not letting you go alone guys! I'm with you until the climax!" Mani4c smiled despite himself. "Alright...we could use the help...let's go." With that, the group headed to the center of the server, where Lilith was faltering against Abraxas.

"GYAHH!" Lilith smashed against a wall, sliding to the floor. Abraxas simply smirked, holding the broken pieces of Lilith's broken sword in his hands. "A pity, you restrain your true nature Lilith...and as a result, you've become weak." Lilith struggled to her feet, "What the hell are you talking about you lunatic!?" Abraxas just chuckled, "You have a part of me in you, it's how I found you despite never even meeting you before now. That seemingly inert piece of viral code in your body...it wasn't inert, it was simply waiting."

Lilith's eyes widened, a hint of fear creeping into her voice. "W-waiting for what?" Abraxas' smile widened slightly, a signal..." and with that, Abraxas snapped his fingers, sending a pulse of viral energy outwards and activating the long dormant viral code inside of Lilith.

Vasili just laughed when Kate threatened him, "Hahaha! I didn't know you did stand up comedy Kate..." Vasili raised his rifle smiled sadistically. "But I will let you join that pig boyfriend in hell!" Before Vasili could fire his rifle, a screeching peal of feedback shot through the room, coming from over the Precinct's intercom. "ARGH! what the fuck was that!?" With a burst of static, a song started playing over the intercom.

Mary recognized the tune, it was a downright ancient metal song, and she knew it's lyrics by heart well enough to figure out who had shown up. "He...hehe...haHAHAHAHA! HAHAHA! OH GOD! YOU ARE SO FUCKED!" One of the convict's made a move to strike her and silence her laughter when it started...

A flash of silver and a spray of blood, that's all it took to signal Jäger's arrival, she had thrown the smaller of her two machete's at the convict who moved to strike Mary, embedding the blade in his skull. "What the fuck!?" Jäger didn't waste any time, sprinting forward and dropping into a slide, snatching up the convict's pump action shotgun with one hand. 'One round already in the chamber, bullseye the fucker at my 3 o'clock...' Jäger pulled the trigger and blew off one of the convict's heads. 'Pop up, bring my machete down on the closest hostage taker's shoulder...' Jäger did exactly that, the force of her strike splintering bone and mangling tendons.

The criminal released Mary, who whipped around and yanked the man's rifle from his hands, turning around and firing a quick burst of 4 rounds at the pair of criminals holding Erika, two bullets for each of their heads. Blood, bone and brain matter sprayed outwards in a macabre fan, and the criminals dropped to the ground like marionettes with their strings cut. 

Jäger bent down and retrieved her other machete, pulling it from the dead criminal's head. Vasili turned around and raised his rifle at Jäger. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" Jäger just laughed. "The grim fucking reaper...and your time's up..." Vasili roared in anger and began to fire at Jäger, who let out a disturbing giggle and charged the man, machete's glinting in the light.

Mary and Erika retrieved their weapons, as well as a shotgun and some shells for Kate, and ran over to the Captain. Mary handed her the weapon and ammo, a sad expression on her face. "Kate...I'm, I'm so sorry." Erika was silent, her expression blank as she shot every criminal she could see. It looked like she had gone insane from grief and rage. She uttered only one word in Japanese, over and over, each time punctuated with a gunshot. "shine..shine...shine!" ((Pronounced as she-neh, it's said as a command, she's telling the convicts to die.))

[Saber]

"I don't care if they stay or follow, let's get moving!" Baretta continued to lead the group toward Viral's location, intent on keeping all of her officers that she could safe, even unofficial ones.

Dagger looked on at the giant virus, curious as to why it was attacking its own, but decided to put that aside for now "...It doesn't matter right now, we should be focusing on reducing the hoard's numbers." He aimed Merge's bazooka at the hoard again, this time away from the minotaur, and fired at the rest, controlling the swarm that was surrounding the server gateway.

Saber could see some new figure in the distance, only a slight distance from Lilith. He put all of his speed into flash mode, before leaping forward and switching to burst mode, blade pulsing and ready to explode as Saber swung at Abraxas at high speed.

Valkyrie as getting fed up with Justicar's rambling, interrupting him in mid rant "Are you even listening to yourself?! This server is under attack, and all you're concerned about is something that happened in the past?! WAKE UP!!!" Her composure faltered and she staggered forward, her shields bumping against the floor. But she picked herself up, and braced herself again, intent on keeping Justicar away from Masamune even at the cost of her life "...I don't know what your history is ith this man, and right now, I don't care. All I care about is protecting my home, and I'll take any help that I can get! If you can't understand that, then leave, but I will NOT allow you to hurt someone willing to help me protect the only thing that's still precious to me in this world!"

Kate looked at Alexi, limp on the ground, then at the convicts, which were being killed one at a time by an enraged Erika. Then finally to Vasili, who was currently battling it out with Jager. She had long since given up on her morals at this point, but now that the 'cavalry' has arrived, she wanted to wait. She wanted to let Jager torture this man, make him suffer until he was an inch from death before she made any effort to end him. She just stared at the two fight and spoke calmly to Mary, her voice low and broken as she handed the shotgun back "...Take Erika and the others and watch the perimeter...No one comes in here...Understand?"

[Prythian]

((Right, Merge is currently armor+bazooka))

Merge, in the instant that Dagger fired, activated her Spread Blast program. As the shot hit, it exploded, three more smaller shots flying away from it... which Merge then took control of, causing them all to converge in a second location near the first explosion, spreading the damage out among the group of viruses. "Are you sure we shouldn't head in? Make sure your brother is okay? That other virus is doing a good job of deleting the ones out here..."

----------------------

"Who says I think he should live?" Amplify retorted. "I said we can deal with him later! And if your only concern with him is what he did to my past life..." Her voice lowered ominously. "...then YOU do not get to decide what to do with him! If it is crimes against me that cause this anger, then I am the one to mete out judgement!" She flung her hands to the side, curling them into fists. "As for you!" She whirled around to look at War, her face, if anything, growing darker. "Stay out of this, you are NOT helping in the slightest! Integrate!"

Integrate visibly jumped, turning around to stare at Amplify, blue spots of energy appearing on his face to act as eyes. "You will get over here. If your friend is correct, then you can put your newfound conscience to work by helping get rid of this viruses. If she isn't, then you being with me means I can keep an eye on you. If you don't..." Her voice lowered again. "...I will hunt you down myself after this."

Integrate hesitated, nodding. "...makes sense. And... it's a start." With that, before Justicar, War, Masamune, or anyone could stop him, he spun his feet into wheels and zipped across the room around the others, melting into and fusing with Amplify. Her hands almost looked like golden gauntlets with wrists and forearms growing outwards, her armor thicker and stronger, and her hair... the multicolored energy surging through it now visibly shone around each strand, the strands themselves golden.

Amplify's eyes were closed during this process, and as they opened, her eyes, already normally golden, shone with an inner light. "I feel..." She murmured. "...a pull. No. Three. There, there, and... there." Three of her hands pointed in different directions; one pointed towards the entrance to the server where Dagger and Merge were, while the other two pointed towards Domain and Mirror, though of course no one there knew that. "Activating drivers... Body type: Shield, Blade type: Tail, and Shot type: Homing." Integrate said, his voice emanating from her body. The forearm parts of Amplify's new gauntlet-hands expanded out thick shields on them, as a thin tail of gold extended outwards from Amplify's lower back to move through her hair, the end of it extending into a sword.

Amplify turned her gaze onto the others. "Justicar." Her voice was full of warning. "I'm well aware you're willing to fight anyone else to get revenge. But if you want to hurt my brother right this instant, instead of waiting until a better time to deal with him? Your only option is to hurt me. Make your choice."

[Mani4c]

Justicar grit his teeth behind his helmet, a white aura billowing around his body. "Fine..." Justicar brought his sword's sheath to his hip and sheathed his blade. He walked past Valkyrie, shooting a look at her and muttering so only she could hear. His voice possessing an icy tinge to it. "You know nothing of loss woman... I have lost those precious to me twice now, and I will not let it happen again, and if you get in my way again...I'll peel the skin from your skull." Justicar sprinted forward, leaving the other avatars in his wake. Masamune sighed, "Damn it all...Amp, when this is over, I'm going to need to pull you aside and explain Justicar's past to you. It will make him...easier to understand."

Abraxas noticed Saber's approach and leaped out of the way. "Ah, a new playmate...good, my old one is broken, and as for Lilith..." Abraxas' eyes flicked to the viral avatar, she was hyperventilating and clutching her head, muttering incoherently. "Well...you'll see soon enough I think." "OH I DON'T THINK WE WILL!" Abraxas looked over and saw Viral staggering to his feet, a trickle of digital blood leaking from his mouth and a furious expression on his face. "Oh, Viral...still alive I see." Viral didn't reply, simply throwing off his cloak and charging Abraxas.

Meanwhile, inside of Lilith's mind, a different battle was being waged. When Abraxas activated that long dormant fragment of code, he empowered a part of Lilith's psyche that she had long ago buried, her viral instincts. Much like Viral, this 'ID' was all of Lilith's viral urges, the urge to kill, the urge to fight, and most pressing of all...the Urge to consume other beings and become more powerful. "Stop...leave me alone, I don't want to be you!" Lilith was fighting in a corner of her mind, desperately trying to force her more destructive impulses back, but Abraxas' influence had made her viral side too powerful to suppress. 'Oh? Why should YOU get to have a say honey? You're weak, a Beta...I'M the Alpha here, and I'm sick of seeing you traipsing around while I'm locked away. No...I'm going to take everything you love, your body, your powers, your friends...and most of all, your MEMORIES.'

Lilith began to feel her memories being banished away, she tried to hold on to them, but the harder she fought, the more they seemed to vanish. Tears began to fall from her eyes as every memory, good or bad, was snatched away and tossed into the ether like garbage. "Please...stop..." 'No.' The memories continued to fall away, and soon, all she had left were memories of her friends in the NPD, and most of all Viral. 'I left the best for last honey, and once I'm done with them, your going to the void where you tossed me...' 

The almost sensual bent in her other side's voice made it all the more terrifying, she wasn't just doing this out of anger, she was enjoying it, every bit of pain Lilith felt just made her want to hurt her even more. Lilith began to sob as she 'saw' the memories begin to vanish, at first it was innocuous things, hanging out with Baretta and the others, or chatting with Mirror.

But eventually, the memories became more intimate, more cherished. "No...don't take those away from me, please!" Her other half didn't even acknowledge her pleas, discarding every memory she had of her friends until there was only one memory left. It was a small thing, a short event in her life, but it meant the world to her, it was the memory of her and Viral dancing at the victory party after the AUGMENT's were rescued. Lilith no longer had any illusions of fighting back, despite the passage of time outside of her head being only a few short minutes, it was as if she had been methodically tortured for hours within her mind. "Viral...I'm sorry...I love you..." With that, Lilith's other personality banished the memory, as well as it's owner, to the farthest reaches of her mind, hoping to bury her so deeply that she could never escape. 

Before Mary could respond, Sam, Samuel, Maximus, and to everyone's shock; Deluca burst into the room. "Kate! What the hell is going on here!?" Deluca looked at the melee between Jäger and Vasili, and then at Alexi's body. "He shot Petrovik in the head...that motherfucker!" Deluca moved past Kate, ignoring her entirely, and began firing at the other convicts, aiming specifically at their knees with his pilfered shotgun. "These fuckers are gonna live the rest of their lives shitting in a bag when I'm through with 'em!"

Jäger ran through the hail of bullets that Vasili unleashed upon her, her sadistic grin never faltering. "Hehehe, let's settle this up close, where I can feel your bones break and your flesh tear!" Jäger grabbed the rifle and wrenched it from Vasili's hand, trapping his index finger in the trigger-guard and snapping it like a twig. "ARGHHH!" Jäger just giggled again. "Ohh, I love that sound! The sound of a pig squealing as it approaches the slaughter!"

Jäger brought one of her machetes down on Vasili's left shoulder next, splintering his collar bone and eviscerating his deltoid muscle. "GRAH!" Vasili tried to break free, but Jäger had brought over 200 pounds of force down on his shoulder, the wounds to his arm alone would require an amputation if he were to live through the experience. "No running piggy, Jäger's not done yet!" Jäger swung her other blade and hacked through Vasili's leg at the knee, severing his Achilles tendon and destroying his kneecap. "GRAAAAH!" "That's right pig! SQUEAL!" Jäger wrenched her blades free and began to wildly hack and stab at Vasili, ripping deep gouges in his flesh and causing blood to splatter across the floor. "How's it feel you swine!? To have cold steel rip your belly open and expose your innards for all to see?" Jäger was consumed with bloodlust, continuing to stab and slash at Vasili despite the fact that his liver, pancreas and kidneys were punctured.

[Saber]

Relieved that Justicar was finally starting to calm down, Valkyrie finally collapsed onto the floor, forcing herself to stay on her knees as she used her shields to keep herself upright "...Damn...so weak...What...did he...do to me?"

Dagger thought about it for a bit. Considering their current situation, and the fact the hoard SEEMED to be smaller, Merge may be correct. Still, if those viruses breach the defenses of the server, there's no telling how much damage could be done to the place. "...Alright, find us an opening and fly us in there. I'll keep working on the hoard until we're inside."

Saber was too focused on Abraxas to notice Lilith behind them, sheathing his burst blade and swinging at Abraxas with smoking fists, ready to deliver concentrated explosive punches to Abraxas if he was able to get a hit in.

Kate watched apathetically as Jager was tearing Vasili apart, glancing over to Alexi for a moment. Suddenly, something sparked within her, memories of their time together, and things he said to her about what he loved about her. Coming to her senses, she started walking toward Jager silently, shouting in a stern voice "That's enough Adrianna! Put him down!"

[Prythian]

"It's his present that concerns me. If he couldn't let the past go... he'd never have had me with him in the first place, given what my past life did for him." Amplify said towards Masamune, sighing. "But I think for now... I had better give him his space. At least while I'm..." She held up her gauntlet-covered hands, before sighing once more. "Someone had better go with him, but it should probably not be me. I'm going this way." With that, she summoned Shattered Skies, standing on it and blasting forth down another hallway.

((I have very little to do here, so unless one of you wants to throw something towards one of my other characters... we'll end up skipping my posts later.))

[Mani4c]

Fujin raised her hand when Amp suggested that someone should assist Justicar. "I'll do it! I'm fast enough to keep up with him, and I can hold my own with him at my back!" Masamune pondered the thought for a moment before nodding. "Alright, but be careful!" Fujin nodded and ran after Justicar, Masamune looked back at Amp. "I'll lead the way."

Viral lashed out at Abraxas with a right hook, smashing the despot in the face as hard as he could. "Hmm, not bad...but it's useless you know..." "SHUT UP!" Viral smashed Abraxas in the ribs with a left cross, but the blow did nothing but stagger him.

Unbeknownst to Saber, Lilith, or rather, Lilith's viral persona, had awoken and gotten to her feet. "This body is powerful...but it could be so much more..." She looked at Saber and smirked, summoning her blade. "Tag...you're it." Lilith whipped the blade forward, aiming it at Saber's spine.

Jäger stopped attacking Vasili and glared at Kate. "Why should I? He killed the one you love, you said that you wanted him to suffer...oh, I get it! You want to take the kill, of course!" Jäger smirked, and flipped one of her machete's around, offering it to Kate handle first. "Normally I'd object...but he's your kill Kate. Do it..."

Meanwhile, while Jäger tempted Kate with the promise of revenge, Alexi, who had been thought dead, stirred. "ugh, what?" Alexi had not died when Vasili shot him, his survival due in no small part to a tremendous amount of luck. The right side of Alexi's skull had been replaced with Carbon NanoTube plates after the explosion that had taken his eye and arm, and Vasili's bullet had been stopped by the super-durable material.

Alexi's head felt like it had been cleaved in two, his ears rang, and his vision was blurry. But despite the pain and disorentation, he heard Jäger's attempt at tempting Kate into killing Vasili. "Kate...don't." Alexi's voice was quiet and hoarse, a side effect of being knocked out. 'I can't let this happen, she wouldn't, I won't let this happen!' Alexi forced his limbs to move, forcing himself into a kneeling position as he spoke. "KATE, DON'T DO IT!" 

[Saber]

Valkyrie was still keeping herself propped on the pillars of her shield, straining to keep from letting her damaged code overwhelm her. "...No...Not now...Have...To keep...Fighting..."

Dagger finally managed to sneak into the server through one of the damaged portions of the gateway, proxy armor active and running against the wall to search for any signs of intruders...Well, besides themselves. "...So...The main forces waged war inside of here..." He heard a woman's voice angrily cursing nearby and slowed down, creeping along the wall and checking to see who was there. Shepard, the NPD's cyber division commissioner was standing in the middle of a practically destroyed part of the server, a titan of armor standing closeby in a non-hostile manner. Recognizing these two as potential friendlies, he leapt up until he was on the ceiling, looking down at Shepard and the titan and speaking calmly "Why is there a virus army at the NPD's doorstep, Shepard?"

Saber reared back to throw an explosive right hook at Abraxas, when a loud clang echoed behind him. Before he could react, he felt blades carving at his side "ARGH!!!" He staggered sideways, away from Abraxas and Viral, who were still battling it out. Holding his side, he turned to look at Lilith, glaring at her"Lilith! What the hell?!" His anger was cut short when he saw the look in her eyes. Immediately He could tell this wasn't the same Lilith that he knew. Ignoring the damage to his side, he drew his blade as it shifted to flash mode "Viral! Something's happening to Lilith! I'm going to try and subdue her so we can change her back, keep that guy busy!" He rushed forward, swiping at Lilith with incredible speed.

Kate looked at the blade, shaking her head as she pushed the machete back to Jager "I won't need that." She walked closer to Vasili, looking at him in disgust. She was going to open her mouth to speak when she was cut off by a voice she thought she'd never hear again. Her body froze as she slowly turned her head to look behind her. There, kneeling on the ground, was Alexi, he hadn't been killed by a point blank shot to the head. The look of pure shock was all it took to prove her disbelief, but here he was, looking at her in desperation. She smiled softly, a truly happy smile on her face as her pain washed away *He's alive! Oh thank you lord he's still alive! Now, I can do this with a clear conscience.*

Calmly, she looked at Jager, her no-nonsense glare back "...Adrianna, please put the man on the floor and step away from his body, he's suffered enough for one lifetime...I'll take it from here." She turned and faced Vasili again, her look of disgust replaced with that of pity "...All of your vital organs have been ruptured, Vasili, and you're bleeding to death from two amputated limbs. I can't promise that the medical team will even scramble fast enough to save you, if even at all for someone like you...At this point you have one foot in the grave and the other ready to follow suit, so I'm going to give you a choice: Suffer through the injuries you have until life leaves your body, or I end it here and now. Either way, this isn't ending well for you, and I don't have control over keeping the cyborg woman from finishing the job in a more painful fashion..."

[Prythian]

Amplify laughed as she shot off, directing a couple of orbs to Masamune to boosting his speed. "You don't even know where I'm going! Just try to keep up!" Fortunately for Valkyrie, her processes were no longer suffering the aftereffects of Overload, so she had more strength to try and resist the damaged code. Amplify didn't really notice, all of her attention drawn by the sheer force of the PULL she felt; the longer she tried to ignore it, the more powerful it became, and fusing with Integrate had only made it stronger. Integrate, however, noticed the issue Valkyrie was having. "War! Watch her!" With that enigmatic statement, Integrated Amplify blasted around a corner, flying down the hallways, Amplify pulling the blade off of Shattered Skies and slicing any viruses in her path.

----------

Merge held back her thoughts. Now that she was in the server, she could feel a tug in her code, drawing her... somewhere. But it wasn't too strong to resist, and she had to stick with Dagger for now.

----------

Domain was moving through the corridors, fists swinging wildly on chains and smashing into remnants of the attacking army. He was following one of the pulls... the weakest one, in fact. His entire body felt sensitive, and each virus was being snuffed out by him almost absentmindedly.

----------

Mirror swore under her breath again. She and the few remaining avatars with her were being backed into a corner by the acidic viruses...

[Mani4c]

Shepard turned around when Dagger spoke to her, looking up at the rogue cyberblade with a look of annoyance. "Oh we invited them in for tea...WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK HAPPENED ASSHOLE!?" The Doctor placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder, tearing her attention away from Dagger. "Shep, we've got bigger things to worry about now, leave it be." Shepard opened her mouth to argue, but thought better of it. "Fine, if you want to help, start helping or fuck off Dagger. I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now." Shepard sprinted down an adjacent hallway and decapitated a drone with her sword as she did, with The Doctor following after her. The SWAT commander merely checked his weapon and dropped to one knee, deciding to make a stand instead of slowing the two down.

Masamune shook his head as Amp ran off, using the speed boost to keep up. "You're as incorrigible as Fujin, you know that?" Raijin, who had little trouble keeping up despite his lack of a speed boost, simply smirked. "Heaven's forbid they fight one another, we'd be cleaning that mess for months."

Just as the acid spitting Viruses seemed prepared to delete Mirror and the group of defenders, a blast of energy deleted the viruses, M0ths were burned to cinders, Pustules exploded; their acid being consumed by the intense blast of energy. Noxus had finally arrived, having to take multiple detours due to the sever corrosion that the acid spewing viruses caused. "Filthy vermin...you belong beneath my boot with the rest of the insects." Noxus' voice was laced with anger, this was the second time in as many months that his home had been attacked, and he was furious, his own viral aura coming off of him in waves. "Mirror, are you alright?"

Viral snarled and grabbed Abraxas by the throat. "What did you do to her you fuck!?" Abraxas smiled amicably. "I simply empowered her viral instincts, much like how Noxus did when you first arrived. "Viral tried to transform his arm, but all it did was glitch out before returning to normal. Abraxas' smile widened. "Ahhh, Viral, Viral, Viral...You've weakened yourself, compassion, empathy, these traits are not natural, especially with beings like us...look what it's done to you, rotted you from the inside out, literally!"

Viral roared in rage and cocked his fist back, "I DON'T NEED CLAWS TO RIP YOU APART!" Viral swung at Abraxas' face as hard as he could, but the viral despot caught the punch. "Useless, you're a house cat fighting a lion..." Abraxas unleashed his own punch, smashing Viral in the ribs. "Guh!" Viral staggered back, coughing up more viral blood. "tame..." Abraxas backhanded Viral sending him flying into a wall. "ARGH!" Abraxas walked over and grabbed Viral by the neck, lifting him up and punching him repeatedly in the face. "declawed..." *SMACK* "AURGH!" "Toothless..." *CRACK* "GRAH!" "Helpless..." Abraxas dropped Viral, only to uppercut him in the ribcage again, sending him flying through the air, a stream of blood following him. "And most of all..." Abraxas walked over to Viral, who was struggling to his feet. The viral tyrant grabbed his opponent by the shoulder, holding them in place, he drew back his hands and arranged his fingers into a makeshift spade. "Weak..." Abraxas drove his hand forward, impaling Viral through the chest. "Gah...." Viral stiffened, vomiting a torrent of blood. "All too easy." Abraxas removed his hand, letting Viral drop to the floor, and stepped over him like he was nothing but a piece of trash.

Lilith giggled when Saber charged her, summoning her wings and flying backward. "Ah, you figured it out pretty quick! I like you...don't you wanna be with a real woman, not that kid Mirror? I mean, think of all the fun we could have." Lilith summoned Eisen and opened fire, adding a viral charge to her shots to make them explosive.

Sam and Mary ran over to Alexi, helping him to his feet. "Alexi...you alright?" Alexi just laughed, the synthetic skin over his skull was missing, revealing a bloody plate made out of Carbon NanoTubes, he could taste his own blood on his lips, and he was pretty sure that he had a moderate concussion from the force of the bullet hitting his head. "Never better, for a man who's brains should be doing their best impression of an M.C. Escher Painting."

He looked at Erika and Deluca, Erika had dropped to her knees and was sobbing, happy that her oldest friend on the force was still alive, and Deluca looked impressed, actually smiling at this turn of events. "I knew you were a stubborn motherfucker Petrovik, but surviving a bullet to the head at point blank? That's a record." Alexi chuckled despite himself. "Hey, you're still around to torment asshole, I'm not done yet."

Jäger snarled angrily when Kate told him that he'd suffered enough. "No he hasn't! Why won't you make him suffer like he deserves!? He's killed dozens, tried to kill the man you love, why do you offer him mercy!?"

Alexi looked at Jäger, his expression resolute. "Because Adrianna, she's a police officer. She has to be better than the people she fights, otherwise, what's the point?" Alexi removed himself from Mary and Samuel's grip, stumbling over to Kate's side and placing his cybernetic hand on her shoulder. "She's able to be better than the villains that we fight, she's a better woman, a better person, than I'll ever be...and that's why I love her, why I'll never leave her side..." Jäger was silent for a moment, "I see...so what am I? A monster, a beast who's chain has snapped? What do you see in me Officer Petrovik?" Alexi was silent for a moment before speaking. "I see a woman who's been broken more times than anyone should, someone who's force of will has carried them through every terror in their life. I see someone who I wish we could have with us, so she could learn that part of punishing the guilty is to be better than them, to not stoop to their level or barbarism." 

[Saber]

Dagger kept silent as Shepard cursed him out for asking what was clearly an obvious question. When the titan placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder and told her now wasn't the time, she simply told him to help or leave, and he wasn't there to simply walk away. Dropping down, he followed them, an invisible shadow, who was disposing of stray viruses with his shuriken launcher "...What of the others, what are their status?"

Valkyrie pushed herself up to her feet, using her shields as makeshift walking sticks as she tried to return to the fight, not even listening to what Integrate said before they left.

Saber narrowed his eyes when Lilith started flirting with him and telling him to ditch Mirror, placing his sword up in a defensive state when she fired at him with her viral bullets, his blade flashing green and jagged like a jewel before the bullets collided. When she finally stopped and the area was clouded with smoke, a white breaker wave came flying out of the smoke at her, aiming for her wing "Tempting, but I think I'll pass. Mirror is more of a woman than you are right now, and besides..." He leapt out of the dissipating smoke, his breaker blade in hand as he rushed her "I don't date monsters controlling my friend's woman!"

Kate listened to Alexi give his monologue, smiling again as she looked at him, placing her hand on his "...I'm no better than anyone here, Alexi...A few minutes ago, I almost gave in to that temptation. But you reminded me what was truly important, and it isn't vengeance." She looked back at Vasili, finally getting a better look at him and seeing all of the mortal wounds that Jager inflicted on him "...Jesus...I didn't realize how bad he was until just now...Killing him would be doing him a favor at this point..." Her hand twitched and a small pistol slid out and into her hand, holding it at her side.

[Prythian]

Mirror spat to the side. "I've been better. I could use one of the people I'm used to fighting as that I'm allowed to copy, though; you're too viral and I'm not supposed to copy data like that if I can help it." She looked grim. "I haven't seen anyone like that in a while, though, and no one sent me back any messages..." More of Blight's troops were pouring into the room; the damage to the network was so severe that any defenses the server provided were leaking like a sieve.

Just then, Amplify burst into the room, jumping off of Shattered Skies and grabbing it as she flipped, landing on the ground. Mirror's jaw dropped at the golden-armored woman. "...Amp?!" Amp merely grinned, orbs flying around her as she brought up Shattered Skies, it glowing as it absorbed an orb. She swung Shattered Skies out as five shots blasted outwards, two more orbs breaking apart to feed into the energy of the shots, doubling their size and increasing the intensity of the kinetic energy in them.

Integrate reached out mentally, grabbing onto the small bits of his code he'd fused into the shots, and pulled, guiding each one into the incoming viruses and spreading them out further than Amplify had managed on her own, the enormous shockwaves sending the viruses flying backwards and slamming into each other and the walls, the aftereffects causing the ceiling on that side of the room to collapse, leaving Noxus, Mirror, Integrated Amplify, and the remaining officers alone... for now.

-------------

Domain dashed through the corridors, finding himself moving alongside Shepard and some powered armor on his jets. Rather than leave them, he kept up with them, firing his spikes out at a nearby virus and letting them fly back after piercing it through. "Shepard. There's something up besides this army. I feel some sort of pull on my code."

[Mani4c]

Shepard growled angrily when Domain told her about the pull her was feeling in his code. "Just great...more shit to throw at us." The Doctor was about to answer Dagger's question when a sudden burst of static cut in over Dagger's communication channel, the static began to dim as JARVIS' voice came in over the channel. <Testing...testing...communications synchronization complete, marvelous. I can answer any queries regarding the condition of our compatriots, as I am currently plugged into the Server's command and control systems as an aide.>

Noxus smiled when Amp made her dramatic reappearance, silently noting the golden armor that she was suddenly sorting, and deciding to save questions until after the fighting was done. "Impeccable timing as always Amplify, where's Justicar?"

Lilith smirked at Saber's retort, firing an explosive shot to disperse the wave and parrying his attack with little trouble. "Heh, you still don't get it do you? Do you think that I'm some kind of a puppet? Dancing on strings to whatever tune Abraxas likes? I am Lilith! I am everything she was afraid to be, powerful, predatory, unfettered by her childish fears of losing control." Lilith lifted her blade and pointed it at Saber's heart. "I am her true self, not a doll."

Vasili's eyes snapped towards Kate when she produced her pistol, the dying man reached over to her with his good arm and grabbed the leg of her pants, anger mixing with the pained expression on his face. He still wouldn't give up. Alexi bent down and grabbed Vasili's rifle leveling it at the Russian criminal's head. "Kate...go talk to Sam or something, I don't want you seeing this..."

[Saber]

Dagger heard the static in his ear, before JARVIS spoke up, having hacked his communication network, firing more shurikens at viruses that got too close to the group <What of my brother, Saber, the captain and the other cyberblades, how are they all fairing?>

Saber narrowed his eyes when this new Viral Lilith was monologuing, and still doing a good job of parrying his attacks. Switching to shockfire blades, he started striking from two directions at once "You may share her body, but all you are is a monster who cannot learn to coexist with your logical half! You're no better than when Viral first manifested, and he was still bested, just like you will be!"

Kate, having felt Vasili's hand grabbing her pants, angled her pistol towards Vasili's head, despite hearing what Alexi said to her. Without even saying a word to Alexi, she pulled the trigger, and sent a bullet passing through the ex-mafia member's skull, forcing him to go limp as his life was taken. Freeing her leg from the corpse's hold, she walked over to Samuel "...Get the word out, their boss is dead, and the rest of them will end up the same if they don't surrender now and get on their stomachs, hands behind their head." She then looked at Sam, shifting her eyes in Samue;'s direction as she turned to walk back over to Jager "Adrianna, while I can't exactly say it was a pleasure, I owe you my thanks for interfering when you did...As brutal as your methods were...But you know I can't let you leave, not without some means to check on you."

[Prythian]

<I want to know about Mirror, Amplify, Saber, and Justicar.> Domain sent, image grim. "If my sisters aren't okay... well. They'll learn an army isn't enough to deal with me." His lips quirked up. "They may have already learned that..." He bared his teeth in a fierce grin, charging forward to slam his fists into a nearby virus.

Merge, watching him and feeling that tug, sent a quiet message to Dagger. <...is he connected to me? There is something about him...>

------------

"He's sulking. I gave him a choice he didn't like. As such, I thought it best to leave him alone for now." Amplify said, inclining her head towards Noxus. "Right now, though..." One of her hands landed on Mirror. "Hey, Mirror. These guys are awfully rude, busting into your home like this. Want to toss them out?" Mirror stared at her for a moment, before grinning.

"Let's do this." And with that, Mirror focused on turning into the avatar in front of her... only to stumble back as she flickered rapidly between two forms, one Amplify, one... not. "Focus on me, Mirror. Just me!" As soon as it had begun, it stopped, Mirror now looking like Amplify did normally. She pointed accusingly at Amp with multiple hands. "You...!"

Amplify held up her own to stop her. "Not now... sister. We can deal with him later. We've got bigger issues to worry about right now, and I can hardly keep better watch of him than where he is right now." Mirror spat to the side, summoning her own Shattered Skies. "Fine... there'd better be a good explanation, though."