Wave 1 - A battle of the minds.

[Mani4c]

Mani4c smirked, his body switching to his BlastMaster CAS, "Just a sec sweety!" Mani4c dropped to one knee, selecting his thermobaric blast mod. "THERMOBARIC INCOMING, GET BACK BOYS!" Mani4c took aim at a cluster of viruses and fired, the De-Rez rocket flying true...and slamming into the large group of viruses and detonating with a roar of fire. The blast wave's heat and pressure was intense, roasting and ripping apart over 500 viruses, and singing Mani4c's hair...before the blast wave suddenly collapsed in on itself, sucking anything unfortunate enough to be alive into the space of a cardboard box, crushing them into a fine paste. "We're good! Let's go before they send more eh!?" The commandos were stunnned for a second...until Scorch broke the stunned silence with a gleeful. "I WANT ONE OF THOSE!!!!~"

Forge flew through the gap in the wall, blasting a trio of drones with his repulsors as he did. "Thanks Seras! JARVIS, scan for a weakpoint in the Arena's firewalls, I need an in!"

JARVIS began the scan, quickly flitting through Petabytes of data in seconds, <Scanning...Scanning...weakpoint located at point 14.67.> Forge looked at the point where JARVIS had indicated...it was a small area near the other end of the Arena. "Excellent, low drone presence there..." Forge banked left hard, activating his cluster rockets and firing a spray of 30 dumbfire explosives at what little viruses were stationed at the target area, blasting them to smoking charcoal.

"No kill like overkill!" Forge flew into a landing firing his palm stabilizers to stop his momentum. "Alright, accessing the section now...ah, underused port, classic...Just need a few seconds." A holographic screen flew up in front of Forge's helmeted face, showing a diagram of the security system, traps and shield emitters, all highlighted in bright red. "Almost through...now!" The diagrams flashed from red to blue, showing that he had control. "Ha, gotcha...now to lock you out..." Forge isolated Thorn's terminal, highlighting it's IP address and sending her a quick, mocking message before locking her out from all Arena functions. <ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!~ >

Forge smirked and took control of the traps, turrets and barrier that kept air support from entering. He killed power to the shields and Traps, and took control of the Turret's control protocols, linking them to NPD friendly fire settings. <This is Forge, I've bricked the shields and traps, and hijacked the turret systems, Rift and Forge should have control of them now. And as a free bonus, I've locked out any terminals except for my suit, or the new backdoor I've installed for the Durendal. Have fun kiddies!>

[Grufurion]

Just as Forge flew low, Seras shrugged her Harkonnen aside, and shouldered her rifle as she stood. Staring down the sights, she began to pick off any viruses that fired up at the avatar flying towards the arena, aiming for the heads and shoulders all she saw on the rooftops, and the street she had vision over.

Once Forge was inside the arena, Seras picked up her anti-tank rifle, and decided that now was a good time to change positions. No doubt that her cover fire and obliteration of the arena wall hadn't alerted anyone to her position, she tossed the heavy fire arm across the gap onto a nearby flat roof, and leaped the distance herself as well after building up a run for it.

Now on another roof, and finding some cover to keep her from taking fire, Seras shouldered her rifle once more, looking to pick off some more enemy viruses. "Really wish I had something to clear these gaps between buildings. I can only jump so far with heavy equipment," she spoke to herself, and leaving her com-link off to keep chatter of the waves. Something like omni-directional mobility gear would really help a sniper out."

[Saber]

Thorn was frozen with shock when she saw that mocking message, before her virus kernal was locked out of the arena's controls. She grit her teeth to the point of almost cracking, pounding the console furiously "NO! That ARROGANT TIN CAN!" Ripper looked back and glared lazily at Thorn, her constant mood swings starting to grate on his nerves "You're bound to be outsmarted eventually, lady. Deal with it."

Thorn glared angrily at Ripper, who didn't even react to her glare, before she smirked smugly "Fine then. He locked me out...But he can't lock them out...Bring in the first..."
======================
Saber's group was one of the first to reach the center, hitting the swarms of viruses hard "Don't waste this opening! Take out as many as you can, as hard as you can!" The feral force was hitting hard and fast, without even needing to be told to, staying in virus form so as to stay disguised, and masking their destructive attacks on the viruses as failed attacks on the NPD officers.

Baretta smirked and followed Mani4c, once again, he had a flare for the excessive and dramatic, but that's why she loved him. It didn't take them long to reach the arena as well, meeting up with Saber's group and jumping into the fray, Baretta using her homing and burst shots to target the bigger ones and stagger them long enough to be taken out "Fire at will, leave no viruses standing!"

Dagger's group were still scouting the arena for the control center, keeping watch for any traps that might not be linked to the arena's control scheme directly. Sure enough, there were a few pitfalls, and explosive snares that were getting more frequent as they progressed "...We seem to be on the right track..."

[Mani4c]

Chakram scanned for any additional traps, using his ability to walk on walls to get past any hazards. "Not ones for subtlety, are they?"

Schatten listened to Thorn as she raged, rolling his eyes behind his mask. "If I may make a suggestion, why don't we separate them, and then have Hecate shatter their minds? Then you can use them as experiment fodder." 'As well as giving me enough time to eliminate Kaizer...and just to shut you up.'

[Saber]

Thorn could hear the irritable tone in Schatten's voice, narrowing her eyes as the screen where he, kaizer, and the two gladiators were still fighting in their isolated arena "Fine, I'll tell her to go ahead with plan B. I'll have the controls back up shortly, just waiting for the rest of them to gather in the arena..." She opened a comm link to Hecate, waiting for her to answer before saying anything "Small problem with the arena controls, time to move to plan B. They're scattered enough as it is, separating them should be easy."

Dagger narrowed his eyes as they were passing trap after trap, having to slow down and maneuver carefully from time to time to make any progress "...It just means we're getting closer..."

Saber was easily striking down viruses as they got too close. One of the more brutish viruses came charging at him, and he simply aimed both of his panzer cannons as the beast, before firing both barrels in a combined charge blast, deleting the virus easily. Katana was also aiding Saber by covering his blind spot, all three of her, copies and all, disposing of the smaller viruses that were trying to swarm them "He big bro, don't you think this is getting a little, you know...too easy? They're barely putting up a fight with us tearing them apart."

Saber delivered a powerful hearing check strike to an assassin virus, the body decaying in scattered code immediately after "You forget, we also have some efficient air support now, don't get cocky!"

[Mani4c]

Hecate listened to Thorn when she told her to "go ahead with plan B", grinning psychotically. "Excellent~~~ Time for some fun.~" Hecate's voice was filled with sadistic glee as she thrust her arms to her sides, her palms glowing a deep, blood red crimson as she began to chant in an incomprehensible tongue, her voice sounding like grating feedback on an audio feed. Her eyes began to glow, crimson lightning arcing from her body as she began to levitate.

Mani4c blasted a hole through a brawler with his Magnums, ready to assault another virus when an earsplitting peal of feedback shot through the air, making his ears ring as he clutched his head. "ARGH! The fuck was that!?" Mani4c looked around, noticing something odd about the viruses...

"What the hell?" Justicar looked at the army in front of him and the Cyberblades, the drones, brawlers, stalkers and other troops clutching their heads as their bodies began to glow an eerie, pulsing crimson. "What...is this?"

Suddenly, the viruses let out a painful, ear grating scream of agony as they exploded into a fog of red smoke and light, the entire arena being bathed in a hellish light as their energy was siphoned into Hecate's body for her spell. Schatten nodded, noticing that the remaining NPD forces, including huntress, who leaped from her ship and landed near the center of the arena, were assembled inside. The viral warrior smirked, pressing his finger to his left ear, giving Thorn a single command. "Do it now..."

[Grufurion]

Seras looked down the end of her rifle at the hole she blasted into the Arenas wall, seeing the multitude of viruses just explode out into a weird red mist, but only to be absorbed into a single virus. "What the hell just happened?" she asked while pressing a finger to her radio.

[Saber]

Thorn nodded, and lashed her whip at the captive admin, the whip splitting into three and wrapping around the admin's arms, before she released it and let it embed itself into the admin's back and skull. The admin's eyes closed and its body stood stationary, awaiting Thorn's command "Remove the invasive hacker, and isolate the individuals in the arena that I specify!" The admin approached the console and began working the keyboard at a lightning speed, practiced, memorized motions working faster than Forge's hacking system could keep up with.

Saber was charging at one of the viruses when it was starting to act erratic. When the viruses exploded, he was too close to the large beast, and it sent him flying away from the others, isolated from everyone else. Groaning, he disabled his CAS mod and returned to his default paladin armor; sword and shield at the ready.

Most of the less durable avatars were knocked unconscious from the explosion, but there were some were able to endure enough to stay conscious: Justicar was sent flying in the distance, isolated from anyone still conscious, Katana was flung towards Claymore, who easily caught her in midair and set her back down on the ground. Baretta clung to Mani4c for stability, keeping from being separated very easily from the force of the blast, but the rest of their squad was down for the count. Noxus was on his own as well, as well as Forge, who flew above the blast and avoided most of the recoil, along with Huntress inside of her ship.

Vermin witnessed the whole thing from a window, cursing and speeding his way back to where he believed his other teammates to be heading "Oh man! This ain't lookin good!"

With their group separated from the rest of the forces, Dagger, Chakram, and Widow were unaware of what was going on. That is, until they heard the screeching tires of a familiar rodent peeling their way "Heads up boys and girls! The witch lady's planning something REALLY nasty!" Dagger signaled for them to stop, heeding Vermin's warning and contacting the durendal "Dagger to HQ, are you seeing what's going on in the arena?" <Affirmative, Dagger. Hecate, abraxas' mystic virus is preparing something big enough to need all of their virus forces as sacrifices. Be advised, use extreme caution from here on out, no telling what may be coming your way!> "Acknowledged, standing by for updates." Signalling the group to relocate, they looked for a place hidden in the halls, so they wouldn't be easy pickings for any passersby. "We need to be scarce...Whatever happens could be crippling, we cannot afford to be isolated at a time like this."

[Mani4c]

Hecate cackled madly, a glyph forming around her feet and spreading out from her body, moving further and further...until the entire arena was encircled by the glyph.

Mani4c's eyes widened, "Oh this isn't good..." Before he could even yell for Baretta to brace herself...the glyph was activated. Hecate grinned madly. "Now...weep in terror...AND DESPAIR!!!~~~~~" Hecate suddenly flew to the ground, slamming her knuckles into the center of the glyph, a massive explosion of crimson light swallowing the arena before suddenly contracting into an intense mote of red light, which then winked out of existence.

Shepard watched from below, looking at the Arena with a cold, calculating look...but her white knuckled grip on the command console betrayed her fear. "JARVIS...Doctor...Bit...fucking ANYONE. Tell me what just happened!" <It would seem that Hecate used the viral code within the army as fuel for an X-class program, preliminary reports indicate high levels of Electromagnetic energy, several low level radiation spikes, and an intense burst of viral code in the form of pure energy.>

Shepard slammed her fist on the console. "What does that fucking MEAN JARVIS!?" The Doctor cut in over the Intercom, <This is just a random guess, but I'd say that the viral code is to create constructs, and the EM and rads are to scramble any victim's sensory data...but the scary thing is, the type of energy is designed for two things...conjuring...and data mining.>

[Grufurion]

Seras couldn't figure out what the hell was being said over the radio, due to not really understanding the context really though. All she needed to know was that things were pretty fucking bad, and that was enough for her to pick up her cannon. Deciding it was better to put it up for now, she let it become code inside her once more in case she needed to use it later. Slinging her rifle across her back, she backed up from the edge of the building, before making an all out sprint to the next roof over.

The distance was short enough that made it across no problem, and sprinted across the roof towards the next building. "This is Seras, making my approach to the Arena now. I'm gonna attempt to take up position somewhere along the arena wall. I won't be able to get a clear visual if this situation devolves further. Over," she spoke over the radio. She made the next jump, not realizing the distance was further than she could make. Raising her feet, she burst through a window in the next building. A second of taking in her surroundings, she began sprinting up a nearby staircase to the next floor.

[Saber]

Rift thought over what JARVIS and the doctor were saying, thinking of possible scenarios. One of which didn't exactly sit well with him "...What she said...'weep in terror and despair'...We may be dealing with a battle that won't be won with weaponry alone...I think they are resorting to psychological warfare now..."

Saber was blinded by the crimson light, only able to shield his eyes long enough to get a quick recovery, but what his eyes cleared to reveal to him chilled him to the bone. He was looking at what appeared to be his reflection through that of a dirtied mirror, but the chilling part was that the 'mirror' wasn't a complete rectangle, and the dirtied look was covering this 'reflection' of his. Whatever this was, he really hoped it wasn't what he thought it to be.

Baretta rubbed her eyes after the blinding red light exploded around them, still gripping Mani4c's shoulder tightly, and trying to gain some stability "What the heck was that?!"

Katana stumbled around a bit when the light blinded everyone, before bumping into Claymore's leg "Oof! What just happened?"

Dagger closed and shielded his eyes when the bright light came at them, silently scanning the area when he was able to see again, and looking for possible hostiles. He also kept close tabs on his team, making sure where everyone was at all times with a transparent HUD in his vision that had Chakram, Vermin, and Widow's locations tagged according to his own position. "Ey! Everyone okay?!" "Ugh...Yeah, I'm fine...That light got every single one of my eyes though...I assumed that blast was supposed to wipe us out, but we're still standing...What was that supposed to be?"

[Mani4c]

Hecate dropped to one knee, opening a channel to Thorn. "The spell is done...I need time to recover, keep anyone not screaming and crying at bay...please." Hecate almost spat the last word before cutting the connection, inhaling deeply as she tried to regain some strength.

Schatten watched as the NPD avatars were devestated by the spell...or, they would be in due time. He looked at Kaizer, slowly reaching for his blades as he walked over. "It would seem that our foes are routed." Kaizer nodded slowly, "Perhaps...we wont be sure until they're all dead though." "True enough...but still, such a massive program, it's impressive."

Mani4c shook his head. "My guess, some kind of spell designed to fuck with us. Anyone not deleted by the exploding viruses is in a hard BSOD because of that if they're not modded enough. Stay on your guard hon." Mani4c couldn't help but feel that something was off, the air felt...heavy, like there was SOMETHING hovering around...but he couldn't tell what.

Claymore grunted, shaking his head. "I don't know, that burst was intense, and obviously powerful if it needed an army of viruses as fuel." Claymore looked at the area around them, it seemed that the blasts weren't the only things to have separated them, large sections of the arena floor had sprouted into walls, sealing he, Katana and Amaterasu in. "Saber and Justicar are separated from us..." Claymore looked over and saw Amaterasu on her hands and knees...crying hysterically. "Mother? What's wrong?"

Justicar was blasted off his feet, the light dazzling his eyes, leaving him on his knees, clutching his near useless eyes as he tried to blink the spots from his vision. "Damn it...ugh, what was...that?" Justicar looked up when his vision cleared, his rhetorical question dying on his lips when he saw where he was.

Justicar was standing in a black void, no sound permiating the darkness except for his own breathing. "What...what is this place?" Justicar stepped forward, his vision suddenly blinded once more by another brilliant flash, this one a searing white. "UGH! What the hell is going on here!?" When Justicar was able to see once more, he was greeted by an unfamiliar man. he had an ice cold glare, which was leveled right at Justicar, and a long Katana clutched in his left hand. The blade seemed familiar to Justicar, a flash of memory shooting through his brain. "...Yukianesa...'Snow Fairy' in Japanese, why do I know the name of that blade?" The man scowled slightly. "You share your skull with so many minds...only for it to limit your power, you barely remember your true name..."

Justicar drew his blade, becoming defensive at the look on the man's face...he almost looked murderous, and all of it was aimed right at him. "My true name? Who are you, and what are you talking about!?" The man reached for his blade, slowly wrapping his fingers around the hilt before drawing it at blinding speed, a blast of polar air and snow exploding around him. "Ware wa Kuu....Ware wa Kou...Ware wa Jin!" ((I am the white void...I am the cold steel...I am the just sword!)) The man's body was shrouded in intense cold, a pale blue light surrounding his body as he glared at Justicar. “Ware wa, hitofuri no tsurugi ni te, subete no tsumi wo karitori, aku wo metsu suru!" ((With blade in hand shall I reap the sins of this world and cleanse it in the fires of destruction!))

The man dashed forward, razor sharp pillars of ice exploding from the ground as he shot towards Justicar like a stone from a sling, the armor clad avatar just barely locking blades with him in time to avoid being slashed with the icy sword. “Waga na wa Eis...Oshite mairu!” ((I am Eis...The end has come!))

With a blast of frigid air, a hail of icy spears shot forward from behind Eis, forcing Justicar to leap backwards and break the lock, an opening that was instantly exploited as Eis dashed forward, slashing Justicar twice in the abdomen before impaling him, shards of ice growing in the samurai's body as his blood froze. "GAH!!!" Eis grabbed the mane of silver hair coming from Justicar's helmet, pulling him deeper on the blade. Eis leaned in and spoke in a cold mutter, his words making Justicar's blood run cold. "And I am the real you...Susanooh..."

Noxus rubbed his eyes, the flash of crimson having blinded him like the rest. "Ugh, a thousand hells to that damnable witch! I might just use her as virus feed once I'm done with this..." Noxus looked around, no enemies, no traps...nothing. "Odd...my abilities aren't impaired...my vision is repaired...what did she-" Suddenly, the ground rumbled under Noxus' feet, the viral avatar feeling a presence behind him, he turned forming his arm into a heavy cannon. (Path Blaster: Range: Long, Damage: High, Fire Rate: Slow- 2 shots per post. Special function: Double Barrel: Path blaster can fire a powerful round, dealing double damage at the cost of only one shot being fired during the turn that Double Barrel is used.) When Noxus saw his foe, he scowled angrily, his voice like venom dripping from his lips. "Halberd...why am I not surprised that a witless vulture like you would show up when we're at our weakest..." 

[Grufurion]

Seras arrived on the roof within seconds, looking around for a second longer to locate the Arena since it hadn't been in her immediate sight. The height of the building she was on now didn't allow for sight into the battle zone, even lower than the hole she had made in it. "This is gonna take forever if I have to keep hopping roofs, and longer still just to get down to street level. Could really use that mobility right now!"

[Saber]

Thorn sighed and scratched her head. On the one hand, they needed Hecate for the spell...On the other... "If you want to piss the big guy off, go ahead and act on that next thought, toots." Thorn was snapped out of her thoughts when Ripper cut her thought process off, clicking her tongue and glaring back at him "...Why don't you be useful and go down there, be her bodyguard for a change, rather than watch me like a statue for god knows how long!" Rolling his eyes, Ripper simply left the room, not bothering to say another word, since she made it clear she wanted him gone.

Baretta looked around, trying to spot something, anything that could be the cause of whatever was happening in the area. But she couldn't see anything "...Viral data isn't my expertise, Mani4c. If something seems off, you gotta let me know, got it?"

Katana heard Amaterasu's weeping and looked over at her, slowly approaching the distraught matron "...Mom? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Saber watched the reflection carefully, studying its movements carefully as it seemed to be mimicking everything he did. Suddenly, the reflection's shield shop up, and a missile came flying his way. Saber rolled out of the way of the rocket, but had barely enough time to parry the rush attack from this -now obvious- doppelganger.

Several parries later, the doppelganger delivered a crushing shield bash to Saber, sending him skidding back, and needing to dig his sword into the ground to slow his movement "What's wrong? Not feeling like fighting? Come on, that's what you were built for, wasn't it?!"

Saber froze in place, eyes wide and unmoving as he was listening to his double speak exactly like him. "...You're not real...You can't be real!" The Saber Duplicate just laughed maniacally, staring menacingly at Saber as its entire body arched back with each blatantly fake laugh "Oh, I'm as real as it gets. I'm your thirst for blood, Saber. Your desire to defeat everyone you fight, dominating them and ensuring they'll never oppose you again. I'm the thing you fight so hard not to become, because you're too much of a chicken shit to admit that fighting to the death gets you off!"

The dark Saber rushed forth, switching to dual saber mods and dragging the crackling blades along the floor's surface, grinning madly as it started attacking with a flurry of blows, trying to overpower its 'original'. Saber, overwhelmed by the very thought that this could actually be his inner desires, wasn't fighting back, and merely deflecting D!Saber's furious assault "What's wrong Saber? This isn't fun if we're not both fighting! Come on now, fight back!!!"

D!Saber brought both blades up and sent them crashing down, the impact causing a powerful double explosion that sent Saber flying several feet back, crashing into the sectioned wall with a pained grunt. D!Saber just cackled darkly at Saber's lackluster performance "What? Too much of a pansy to raise your fists?! It's pointless to fight anyway, I know all of your moves. I have all of your abilities. You can't beat YOURSELF!!!"

Halberd stepped forward, wearing black integrated armor, like that of the last time he was seen. the false avatar narrowed his eyes at Noxus, brandishing his giant sword at the viral avatar with a piercing glare "...You and I have unfinished business..." Rearing his blade back, 'Halberd' launched a splitting rush of breaker waves at Noxus, before raising his hand and blasting powerful blasts from his palm cannon.

[Mani4c]

Chakram shook his head, looking up just in time to see an eerily familiar violet aura, and a pair of crimson red eyes. "I'd say that this is impossible...but given the company I keep, I've learned to excise that word from my vocabulary." Chakram summoned his weapons as he got into a fighting stance, his gaze sharp as he faced his foe...himself, clad in the violet aura of the Dark Hado. "You are a disgrace! You possess my power and fail to wield it...I shall peel the flesh from your skull, and then I will finish by business with Dagger!" 

Chakram scoffed, "The best show of power is to not need it...not that I'd expect a brutish oaf like you to understand." The Doppelganger laughed darkly, getting into a fighting stance. "You are speaking to YOURSELF you twit!" Chakram inclined his head slighty in amusement. "...I never said I wasn't. This is just more productive than dressing myself down in the mirror back in my barracks." With that, Chakram charged forward, flinging his blades at his doppelganger, using his mental control of the metal weapons to send them arcing sharply towards the mimic from opposite sides.

Mani4c shook his head. "That's just it, this whole goddamn ARENA is off. I can't fucking tell what's wrong, until something jumping out at us...aw fuck this isn't good." Little did Mani4c know, his senses deadened by the viral taint in the air, that two foes were forming behind them, first as incorporeal shadows...but soon enough they took on distinct, and in this case familiar features...

Justicar grunted and sheathed his sword, aiming it at Eis' midsection and firing it into his opponents ribs, forcing him back and giving Justicar room to regain his footing. "Damn it..." Justicar looked up in time to see Eis rushing him again, no signs of damage on the avatar's body despite taking a body blow from what was essentially a rifle propelled sword handle. "Damn it!" Justicar brought his blade up, blocking the flurry of hits from Eis' blade, his own sword beginning to glow a dull red as it absorbed the kinetic energy of each strike. "DAMN IT!" Justicar shoved Eis away, lashing out with his blade and blasting the enemy swordsman back with a blast of stored energy from his blade...only for Eis to get up and begin healing, the smoking gash in his chest sealing shut. "How can I kill this bastard!?"

"You can't!" Justicar looked over, his spirits dashing up next to him. Spectre pointed at the healing man, "He's a manifestation of your original memories, and his blade was yours before being sealed in your current form." Justicar growled, "Then why do I not REMEMBER this!?" Lupo shook his head. "You were damaged badly, sealed inside of this armor by an AI who wanted to mold you into some kind of savior, at least, that's what we gathered from the fragmented memories we've been picking up ever Since Hecate hit you all with some kind of fear inducing spell." Justicar scowled, "I'm going to fucking gut that godforsaken sorceress when we get out of here..." Vapour drew his sword, summoning a water wyvern and coiling it around him as a shield. "Yeah, yeah, get in line! He's advancing again!" Eis had healed fully by now, launching himself at the warriors with a cold determination. "More servants of the thunder god...fine, I'll cut my way up the ladder then."

Amaterasu looked up and crawled away, pressing her back against the wall and sobbing. "G-GET AWAY! STOP HAUNTING ME!" Amaterasu's vision had been altered, as well as her auditory sensors, making her hear and see her children as mangled corpses, mockeries of their original forms who spat hateful cries of pain and condemnation at her for letting them 'die'. "I know I failed you! Please stop!!!"

Noxus scoffed, forming his arm into a shield as he began advancing towards Halberd, tanking the blasts from his breaker waves and cannon shots with his armor whenever something slipped past his barrier. ((Shield: Halves all damage taken, Range: covers wherever Noxus is facing, can also be angled to deflect attacks from above or below, provided Noxus is in midair for the latter.))

"You have already taken EVERYTHING from me you pathetic little despot! My home, my power, my independence! All of it stolen, my friends maimed, tortured and irrevocably changed because of you and the mega corporations!" Noxus' words were dripping with borderline hatred, his own willpower and rage powering him against the blasts. "I may not be able to crush those suit wearing maggots...not YET, but you...oh, I can rectify YOUR existence right here and now!!!" Noxus began to charge Halberd now, barreling towards him and firing at the ebony clad despot while bellowing in fury.

Luckily for Seras, salvation arrived as if on request, a blue gunship shot overhead, coming to a stop and hovering overhead, the azure light of it's onboard scanners sweeping over her before the lower ramp on the ship opened, an armored figure standing on the edge of the platform and speaking to Seras over a megaphone linked to his helmet. "You NPD? Looks like you could use a ride!"

[Grufurion]

Seras looked up, wondering what sort of crazy avatar flies a ship a so low in a city. She looked up at the avatar that spoke to her, it's armor practically matching the ship itself. Gripping the strap for her rifle, she managed to grab hold of the edge of the ship, and pulling herself up. "Yes, I'm NPD! I don't care who you are, but move us over the Arena now! I'm needed for cover fire!"

[Saber]

Baretta was still scanning around for possible threats...But it didn't take long for her to find them. Behind them were two shadowy silhouettes, nondescript forms that slowly began to take shape. Her eyes widened when she saw something she hoped she wouldn't have to see. "Hey there hot stuff, 's benn a while!~" Gate was standing behind her, fully clad in his trademark decked-out armor, and beside him was what looked like a corrupted version of Baretta, her arms and legs mutated with what appeared to be viral data. This baretta had a strong resemblance to the first time they encountered Zeus, when he infected her and altered her code to suit is destructive needs. "...Nonono, this can't be happening!" She immediately drew both pistols, hands shaking as she kept them aimed at Gat, but too affected by the memories of seeing a recording of herself deleted by Gat during the prison break.

Saber was still struggling with his dark half, his will to fight seemingly gone now, as it seemed this dark side of him truly existed in his mind "Hahaha! I can't believe how easy this is! You're too scared shitless to even try fighting back! Come on Saber! Give me a real fight, if you've got the balls for it!""

D!Saber delivered a powerful explosive strike to Saber's shield, knocking it out of his hands before delivering a dead-on slash to Saber's midsection, the force enough to damage his armor along the chest plate. D!Saber was looking at Saber with a disapproving scowl, switching one of his swords with his blaster "...I'm starting to lose my interest in this fight, as well as my patience...Fight back or die where you stand!" Saber just stood there, a hesitant glare in his eyes "I said fight back!"

D!Saber began unloading burst after burst of blaster rounds at Saber, who deftly reactivated his shield and protected himself from the hail of bullets. Before long, the bullets were replaced with powerful blasts that came from his Panzer CAS mod, now in the hands of a madman.

Katana was watching in terror as Amaterasu was acting so oddly. The things she said, and how she seemed to be terrified of them had her worried for her mother's well-being "Mom, you didn't fail us. Don't you recognize me? It's Katana." She took a few steps closer to Amaterasu, hoping to get through to her somehow in this manic state of hers.

Dagger looked at this dark Hado Chakram, and how his true brother seemed to be not only unaffected by its presence, but mocking himself in the process of insulting this odd doppelganger. Dagger drew his bladed guns, crackling with electricity as the shock strike mod was active, his elemental armor active and ready for combat "...Careful. This may be a double, but it could still be as deadly..." Vermin and Widow both transformed from their virus forms, brandishing blasters of their own and keeping them trained on D!Chakram "What kind a' trippy madness is dis?" "Who cares, let's just deal with this imposter so we can complete our mission!"

Rift was strugglign to contact any of teir team, but no one was responding "Saber? Dagger come in? Huntress?! Is anyone responding to my hails?!"

[Mani4c]

Mani4c looked at Gat and the Baretta clone, his eyes burning with anger at the sight of them. "So that's how it is...play with our fears eh? Oh I'm going to enjoy taking you apart!" Mani4c looked at Baretta, seeing how afraid she was filled him with an almost mind numbing rage, his viral code flaring as he reached out to comfort her...only for a wall to burst up from the ground between them, sending Mani4c flying as they were separated.

Mani4c landed on his back with a harsh thud, his magnums flying from his grip from the landing. "Ugh, BARETTA!" Mani4c scrambled to his feet, seeing that the wall stretched out to the other slabs of stone that rose from the ground, giving him no way to get to her. Mani4c punched the ground in anger, his teeth grit. "DAMN IT!"

Chakram's doppelganger noticed the other avatar's aiming at him, letting out a roar of rage as he flung his arms back, black and violet energy shrouded his fists. "GOHADOKEN!!" Chakram's eyes widened as he dashed in front of the projectile, thrusting his hands out and actually CATCHING the blast! "What!?" Charkam chuckled, his own Hado flaring to life, though his attitude wasn't altered in the slightest. "The power of hate...so...limited. I've discovered a far more useful approach!" Chakram's chakrams scythed around his doppelganger, striking the copy in the legs before arcing back and severing the joints of his arms. "ARRRGH!"

Chakram brought his hands to his chest, adding his own energy to the orb, wisps of white energy subsuming the angry violet of the projectile as it compressed in his hands to the size of a baseball. "Now, HERE is a real attack!" Chakram brought his hands backwards, still cupping the orb as he spun the energy around, faster and faster, clamping it around the captured attack tighter and tighter... "Metsu..."until he finally thrust his hands forward, his palms facing the vicious copy as he cried. "HADOKEN!!!" The orb blasted forwards with a furious roar, shooting towards the doppelganger and striking him with vicious force, the resulting impact blew out the windows around them, scattering glittering shards through the air as the copy was blasted backwards.

Amaterasu's addled mind altered Katana's words, turning a concerned question into a harsh, venomous condemnation. 'Don't you recognize me? Of course you don't...you didn't care enough to save me from being ripped apart by Halberd, or enough to save Chakram from Abraxas...only you lived...you should die with us....' Amaterasu shook her head, sobbing and whimpering. "No! I tried, gods believe me I tried! I...I couldn't..." The phantom of Claymore spoke next. 'Couldn't what? 'Couldn't measure up?' 'Couldn't be bothered to take the high road and DIE with us?' We were all alone...rotting in the cold, wet ground...'


Amaterasu sobbed, clutching her rosary beads tight as she tried to fend off the illusion, her rational mind telling her that this couldn't be real...but her anguished instincts and broken heart, spurred on by the nightmarish visions buried that logic. The fake Katana nodded, her mauled features curled into a psychotically childish smile. 'But now...we can be together again, you just need to do it...you know you can...kill yourself. Take that rosary and strangle yourself to death, or use your blade and cut yourself open.~' Amaterasu looked at her rosary, her breathing coming in short, painful gasps. "K-kill myself...to-to be together again? It...it can't be so simple...but..." Katana and Claymore would be able to see it clear as day...Amaterasu was breaking, actually considering suicide as her fears drove her insane.

Before Kaizer could react to Schatten reaching for his blade, the viral commander had blasted him back a good 20 feet with a telekinetic burst, he slammed into a wall, his vision dazed as his former companion activated his dual blades and rushed him, crimson lances of light flaring from his hands as he drew his own blade and deflected the flurry of strikes aimed at him.

The duel between the two had been going on for a few minutes now, and it was clear that Schatten had the upper hand, he was designed for close combat far more thoroughly than Kaizer, and his skill in using two blades in combination with his DP's had the former underground leader on the back foot. "And here I thought we could be friends." Schatten scoffed, "You're a parasite Kaizer, milking as much power from us as you can before wriggling away like a bloated maggot. You don't deserve your powers...which is why I'll pluck them from you after you're mutilated to the point of being helpless!" Schatten punctuated his remark by savagely batting aside Kaizer's blade, using one to slash across the deposed criminal's helmet while the second impaled him through the stomach.

((Justicar and co are currently brawling, for the sake of not burning myself out, I'm going to Omit the rest of their fight for a while until Justicar is ready to actually fight on an even keel, instead of being smacked around.))

Noxus continued charging Halberd, firing blast after blast from his Path Blaster as he got closer to his quarry, when he was within melee distance, he quickly shifted his shield arm into a thick, spiked club made of fused armor and bone, his Spearlegs activating and lashing out with a flurry of stabs as he aimed a vicious haymaker at the criminal's ribs.

The man nodded, running up the ramp and quickly sliding into the command chair of his ship, grabbing the control yolk and slamming forward on the throttle, blasting towards the arena at top speed. The man stiffened when he heard Rift asking someone, ANYONE to respond to his hails. "You should contact your boss, tell him that you're en route with the help of a good pedestrian and give him these communication codes." 

The man sent Seras a string of numbers and letters, an encryption key and IP address for his communications channel. "Then, get comfy, this ship is capable of auto pilot, and I'm going to program it to act as air support and as a mobile sniper's nest so you don't get blasted, we still don't know if the field will effect you after all. This way you can provide overwatch for your friends while I go in and help. Got it?"

[Grufurion]

Seras stored the communication codes the odd avatar had given her, then took the time she had to reload her weapon instead of reporting in just yet, making sure she had a full magazine of bullets before laying a sniper hell on her enemies. She then tapped a button on her com device to open a channel to command. "This is Seras. I'm...approaching a new position to offer support to our field agents. Signal them to be ready. I don't want to hurt any friendlies if I can avoid it." she reported, "I've also got communication codes, Sheperd. I believe this supportive civilian or bounty hunter - I can't really tell - is trying to offer more intel."

Touching a button on her belt, magnetic anchors shot down onto the deck of the gunship, and latched on to the surface. She then knelt down on her knee, and brought her rifle up while looking out over the starboard side of the ship.

[Saber]

Rift received Seras' response, receiving the communication codes and offering them to Shepard to inspect while remaining in contact with Seras "There's a snag in that request, officer. We can't reach any of our field agents. It's like the entire arena was cut off, we can't even get a good read of the situation from our own position without getting inside of the danger zone. Be advised, we need eyes on the battlefield, survey the area, then report back!" Rift's fists were clenching tightly, worry and anxiety racking his body as he was trying to remain strong for their men, but with the current situation, it was incredibly hard to do so.

Baretta looked fearfully as Mani4c was sent flying away from her, calling out to him just as the wall rose up between them "Sorry toots, I'm your dance partner today, not the pretty boy. And unfortunately for you, I enjoy making my partners do the two-step!~" Cackling, Gat took to the skies, both barrels aimed at Baretta and opening fire. Baretta had to bring out her riot shield to protect herself somewhat as she started running from the hail of bullets, looking for something, anything that could provide cover from Gat's onslaught.

The corrupted Baretta close raced after Mani4c, the wall closing behind her as she had both claws extended, ready to lash out at the viral avatar with a merciless flurry of strikes, all while shrieking in a murderous battle cry of rage and hatred "I hate you Mani4c! You are dead to me you freak!"

Hearing Amaterasu's responses only made Katana worry more for her mother, something was twisting their words, making her believe they were dead. And something was telling the matron to kill herself, this made Katana panic and she did the only thing she could think of. She rushed to Amaterasu and wrapped her arms around her mothers in a desperate attempt to comfort, and restrain her. Her hold was tight, but still gentle, burying her face in her mother's chest and sobbing. No words could break through to Amaterasu in her condition, but what about physical communication?

Dagger was charging up his shuriken shredder. eyeing Chakram as he was overpowering his dark half. But given the conditions that created this powerful program, could he really best his dark half so easily? "Don't get careless, something could change for all we know...Be ready for anything to change."

D!Saber was continuing to press Saber's defenses, but the doppelganger's one energetic and homicidal nature was quickly turning to anger and disappointment "...You're starting to Bore me, Saber. I expected a good fight from you, but all that you've done is cower behind your shield like a scared little child...I think I'll just end your life now. And then, when we're through with you and your friends, I'll enjoy watching Hecate turn your little shapeshifting girlfriend into my personal viral slave!"

Saber's eyes widened as he heard his dark half threaten Mirror, his hands gripping his sword tightly. As his dark half came charging in for a finishing blow, blades protruded from Saber's shield as he parried both of his dark double's swords, thrusting with the shield and impaling one of the blades in the dark manifestation's side. D!Saber's eyes widened in shock at the sudden retaliation, looking into Saber's eyes and noticing a fire in them that wasn't there before.

"...I realized something just now..." Saber violently removed the shield blade, before delivering a hard snap kick to D!Saber's chest, sending him staggering back and gripping his side as it started to patch itself up "...Yes...I enjoy the thrill of combat...But there's something I never quite figured out about why I enjoy fighting so much...Something you helped me understand."

Saber's body began to glow dimly, steam escaping from his form as he started to boot up his trump card "I don't enjoy fighting for the sake of killing my enemies...No...It's something much more powerful and significant than that...I enjoy fighting because I fight to protect! I fight to save lives! And you!-" Saber pointed his glowing sword at D!Saber, a fierce glare piercing the now hateful glare of his dark counterpart "You are a threat to their safety! I don't care if it means sacrificing myself for them, I won't allow you to harm my friends!"

Saber's body burst in a brilliant flash of light, blinding D!Saber for a moment, before he needed to roll out of the way of a swift breaker wave. Saber had activated his limit breaker, and he was ready for the fight of his life.

Halberd brough his massive sword in front of his front, shielding himself from the barrage of strikes that Noxus sent his way. That's not to say that none of them got through, some of Noxus' attacks hit home, and started to chip away at his armor.