Re: DEATHGAME 9000 [S!3] Round One: Gamexus X99
08-28-2012, 09:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-20-2013, 10:01 PM by Solaris.)
Originally posted on MSPA by Solaris.
Backlash. Backfire. Kickback. Retaliation.
Whatever you want to call it, every show of power, release of force, or taxation on one's self is supposed to have a cost, be it as small as a loss of mana or as big as the feelings that were being felt by the various ladies hanging around in the Gamenexus.
Lynette, Jolene, and Eris.
All three were being or had been pushed to their limits and were doing their best to cope with what they had done or what had been done to them; each in their own way. They had all reached their limits, gone as far as their bodies and minds could take them. It is something shared by almost everyone, and if things had gone differently, anyone else could have been in their shoes.
Anyone with one exception. It was not the ghost city, which cleverly avoided stress by avoiding giving true shape to that which did not need it and was powered by what it wrought, nor was it Trisha, who knew her limits and did a good job of working with them. It obviously wasn't either of the robots, powerful as they may be, nor was it Keagan, who did his best not to test any limits his power had, lest he face the painful consequences.
No, no, no, out of each of the intruders inside the game system the one most capable of shattering their personal upper limit was the magical bunny known as Vigil.
Vigil broke rules. His entire species did, simply by existing. It wasn’t like there was a law that explicitly prevented their existence, nor did most of them have the need to go and jaywalk or start unregulated fights to the death, it was more like the sort of rules being broken when someone interferes with the normal progression of the world. Just by entering Lynette’s home universe, he had violated the rules of what could and couldn’t be in that realm, something that all of the contestants had now done, and that for the most part they would continue to do, thanks to The Incompetent.
However, as Lynette was quick to demonstrate, rule breaking was not unique to his existence. Like the Gamenexus, Lynette’s home had set a multitude of strict mandates that dictated what could and couldn't be done when it came to magic. The magic users, commonly called Mages had a specialization through which they focused their magic (be it a staff, a jewel, or their voice), with it, they could perform any sort of magical spell as long as it could fit under that specialization. Sword Mages could perform any magic on swords, Corpse Mages could do a number of things with a dead body, and Texture Mages could make a lot of things happen with a just scarf.
Due to the interference of his species, Ragazza magica, or as they are commonly called, Magical Girls, began to exist, individuals that, no matter how magic worked, if it even existed at all, were capable of almost anything under their 'element.' That is, anything that they could physically and mentally handle. On the other hand, the limits of Vigil's species were mostly determined by what the world allowed. They chose to abide by the rules as best they could, for as long as they could. And, if the time came, that one of Vigil's species felt the need to, they could shed theses rules, and in an instant unleash incredible power regardless of the consequences.
As Vigil stared down The Last Checkpoint's security drones, with a weakened Eris sluggishly recovering, he decided that it was high time to do this sort of thing. It was time for a Limit Break.
===
"Ughh... I feel like I could throw up forever." Eris looked up, weakly looking around and remembering that she was in the middle of a fight... with people who suddenly weren't there. She shook her head and pinched herself and when she realized that the group of very deadly things were really and truly all gone, without a trace, she tried to figure out who or what fought them in her absence.
A more thorough look around and process of elimination left only one possible the answer, currently on top of Hard Snake.
"Vi... Vigil? Did... did you get rid of-."
"Quiet."
The rabbit's eyes glowed, staring directly at the poker faced agent.
"I will not hesitate to do that again, this time to you. Where is she?"
Eris was kiiiind of freaked out. For one thing, she was now pretty certain that Vigil was not just a rabbit, as he apparently obliterated the other guards and somehow had Hard Snake pinned to the ground despite being one eighth his size. For another, the air just felt... off; she wasn't sure what it was, but it gave her the creeps. Lastly and most worryingly, something about the tone of his voice made her... decide to listen to his order and for the first time in a long, looooong time not say anything.
But that didn't mean that she didn't wonder, and worry, about whatever it was that Vigil did...
===
The gold clad woman who had intercepted Weaver was one of the various avatars the Gamenexus had made or to be exact, borrowed for the purposes of better commanding the operation against the intruders. As a result, rather than wasting time speaking to the robot, she was able stream her side of the conversation into Weaver, who's robotic mind responded at more or less the same rate.
"Am I correct in assuming that you wish to have me kill one of the other intruders?"
"Your assumption is correct."
"I do not accept.
"Why not? You were confident that you could defeat the rabbit, are you afraid to kill him?"
"I gain nothing in killing him or anyone else for you. Though I am in a battle to the death, there is greater benefit in studying them over a length of time before making any strike."
"Goo point. What if we were to offer you something in return?"
Even if you had something that I considered of worth, it is uncertain if I would be able to keep it for a convenient length of time."
Weaver would have ended the discussion there, stood up, and left to another part of the Gamenexus, but unfortunately, he found that he couldn't move. As a result, the conversation went on for a few more seconds, didn't really go anywhere, and was generally uninteresting until the woman started to flip out.
It was like being stabbed and then having the knife dragged across your body. As if the collision between Gomorrah and Jolene's Others wasn't enough, something, (process of elimination and later testimony by Hard Snake would confirm that it was Vigil) seemed to have eradicated some of the strongest beings in the entire Gamenexus. While the first was a shock to the system and wasn't that hard to adjust to, the second was just... more difficult to deal with. Normally a death or deletion leaves something left over. People die and they drop weapons or ammo or coins or points, spare data that represents what they were. Even Eris’ killings left some garbage data that identified who she killed. In this case, it was as if there was a spot of pure nothingness where the security drones should have been, as if they were wiped completely and utterly. It was difficult to even process the area near where they once were.
It had to act faster, before Vigil and Eris could interfere again. As Weaver proved uncooperative, efforts would have to be motioned toward ERIC and Gomorrah instead.
===
To Lynette, Jolene's Other was like a breath of fresh air. The negativity left over from her trip in that shadow-world and the swirling sin native to Gomorrah made even walking difficult. Her mind wandered around, scraping against the various evils the ghost city thrived on. It was too much for her, something beyond her, but something that she knew she would have to defeat.
Though the Other was the cause of a few of Jolene's troubles, it shared a lot of positive things with the original, making it as friendly a ghost that Lynette would get, meaning that she desperately needed it if she wanted to keep calm in the sea of despair that was Gomorrah.
The Other kept quiet, not responding Lynette’s question. Most of them did, partially trying to ignore the fact that they could and partially afraid to.
Lynette wasn't content with that. "You look familiar. Have I seen you before? You... you aren't from here, like me! Do you know where any others are? We need to get out of here, it isn't safe!" She edged closer to the Other with every word, and it responded by stepping back.
Lynette was right, the city wasn’t really safe, though she wasn’t spot on with regards to why. Though Gomorrah inherently made danger happen, the Gamenexus was lending a helping hand, leading ERIC around via various Kappa Troopers, directly to the magical girl. It wasn't very long before the robot crashed through to where the two of them were.
Lynette instinctively turned to ERIC as he struggled with the piles of kappa. She noted that he was also not native to the city and remembered him from Vigil’s descriptions. She turned back to Jolene's Other, only to spot it just as it began to run away. "Wait!" Deciding not to intervene with the possible warbots, rumble with the weirdly dressed critters, Lynette followed the eyeless dame. "I just want to talk to you!"
That was sort of the problem. Before, Jolene only saw what her Others saw. No one could speak to them, so they didn't hear. No one could touch them, so they didn't feel. Now, thanks to Gomorrah, they and by extension Jolene were being introduced to a large number of new senses, some good, many more bad. It was too much to deal with, feeling everything they felt, shifting through all of the sounds for what was happening to her, the real her, and it didn't help that all of the sudden, she started to feel something else stir.
Keagan was low on options. Jolene was struggling to stand up and they were surrounded. It wasn't as if they were that tough as Lord Hate-Good's philosophy was, on the whole, less about lasting in a fight and more about wearing the enemy down. It didn't always work, as the two Christian's constantly demonstrated, but when it worked, it worked.
Keagan was also having trouble focusing, which he would have been more okay with had Jolene not been there. He couldn't just stop and let her fall prey to them, he had to do something, he had to save her. As the mob closed in, Keagan closed his eyes and tried to cover the still adjusting Jolene.
When he realized that he wasn't being snacked on, teared apart, or stabbed, he opened one of them back up.
"Hey, buddy boy, glad to see you've decided to join us back in the world of the living, although I guess that isn't a very populated world is it?"
Keagan was confused to see a reptile sweeping away mooks with his tail. "Did you save us?"
"That's right, don't adjust your screen folks, because Noot's here to the rescue, and it isn't a young dame this time, what a guy! Now are ya just going to stand there and stare, or are you going to move out, don't get me wrong, I'm quite the looker, but you aren’t my type, and I think your lady friend needs a bit of help."
Keagan was understandably confused, both by Noot's cartoonish appearance and his decision to help him, but with Jolene as she was, he opted not to fret too much, though he remained suspicious. He hoisted the mumbling Jolene over his shoulder and began to walk behind the reptile who was mowing a path of corpses to walk on. "Thanks... but why did you save us? Where'd you come from?"
"Would you believe... fate?"
Before Keagan could disagree, Jolene started to get her bearings back. "S-s-sorry about that." She loudly coughed but still managed to stand back up on her own two feet, finally able to filter out most of the experiences of her Others.
"Hey, be careful!" Keagan tried to hold her, but she refused the help, shaking her head.
"I've been through worse." That was a lie; this was probably if not the most painful experience in her life, definitely the most taxing. "I'm not going to just roll over like that, I can carry on by myself." She managed to crack a smile, though a small one. "Let's get moving."
"But..." Keagan was still worried about her, and wanted to say something in protest.
"She's got the spirit there, buddy boy, let's speed up!"
Noot took down the demonic forces at a faster pace, beheading and bisecting with a spin or flick of his tail. Keagan hurried behind him, hoping that they'd be led to safety, that things would get less hectic sooner rather than later, and that Jolene would hold out until then. Jolene herself was at the rear, doing a good enough job of filtering out the senses of her Others and trying to dispel as many as she could.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the easiest thing to do. She tugged and tugged, trying to force them away and out of their current state, but it was like something was anchoring them firmly where they were. It wasn't as if the Other's wanted to stay corporeal either. They would have welcomed a return to nothing, an escape from the wretched realm full of corrupt forces and sin. But they couldn't.
They were trapped, forced to deal with whatever situation they had been thrust into, fully aware that the real Jolene would have to endure whatever they did. They did their best to run and hide, but not all of them were fast enough, or lucky enough, to escape the dangers inside of Gomorrah's maw.
===
Gomorrah's latest acquisition wasn't initially any more or less relevant than the other hundreds of cities it had folded into itself, but as each of Jolene's Others began to join the fair citizens of the city, an excitement entered the air. The last time that it, the core of Gomorrah, felt linked to another outsider, it waged a battle against it, and while it was a short and pitiful battle that ended without true conclusion, there was a crack left over, a smidge of hope now inside, somewhere in the city. But this one, it was very different. Though it tried and tried to resist its grasp, it showed Gomorrah something very interesting, a path directly to the living.
It couldn't do anything with it at the moment, given the interference by the Gamenexus and Jolene's efforts to keep her head on straight, but Gomorrah would definitely keep it in mind.
The city began to focus on the Others, trying to twist them away from their origins as shadows of Jolene and into something more suited to Gomorrah. Just as it had enabled them to feel, it introduced them pain and suffering. All throughout the city, the Others were being thrown, shot at, and manhandled. It was only a matter of time before one of them died, and then... who knows...
===
"Alright, that's should be enough, let's get back and pick up the treatment supplies."
ERIC turned around to move back toward the mafia boss, but when it started to actually walk, it suddenly turned to march toward Lynette, against Gan's loud, if ineffectual protests.
At that moment, another of the Gamenexus' avatars, dressed like a citizen of Gomorrah, was holding the runaway Other at gunpoint.
Lynette, hearing the possible-warbot approaching behind her, summoned her baton and opted to deal with the hostage situation.
"Make no mistake, I will shoot her if you take one more step forward. You might have gotten the jump on one of our agents, but you won't get a chance now. We've seen you, you are weak here, and you can't control any sort of the spirits here. It's over Lynette."
Lynette was silent, considering her options. It was true, Gomorrah was stronger, and resistant to her magic, but it wasn’t the only spirit around. With a sigh, she realized that there was one thing that she could do, and she hoped that it was right.
Lynette stared directly into where the Other's eyes would be and said, "I'm sorry."
Her baton and her eyes glowed, and in a moment, she forged a link with the Other.
In a flash of light, the avatar holding her was blown away, and suddenly, the Other felt better in one way, and worse in another. It was as if an important chain was broken, but also as if she grew wings. For a moment, the Other just stood there, trying to make sense of her feelings before Lynette rushed to grab her hand.
"We need to go."
The Other nodded and the two started to run.
===
With two avenues failed, the Gamenexus had one chance left. Though Vigil and Eris got an answer out of Hard Snake, the loyal agent gave them a wrong one, meaning that they would be unlikely to interfere with any other plans. This was its best chance at having one of the intruders kill another, but the selection was wearing thin.
As it reviewed the data, it noted that Gomorrah was taking note of Jolene's Others. It was a path worth perusing.
"Hey, Noot was it, are you sure this a safe way to go?" It was obvious from the sound of her voice that Jolene was still shaken, but it sounded like she was doing a bit better.
"Hey, it's like I told the other ladies, my nose only points in two directions, ‘towards’ and ‘away.’"
"That doesn't answer my question."
"Can we just focus on getting wherever there is? I don't know about you, but this is getting pretty tiring."
At least they were making progress. It at least seemed like the direction they were going in had less bad guys than the one they came, so they moved on, in hopes that they would get to somewhere safer. With most of Lord Hate-Good's forces behind them, and the end of the Vanity Fair in sight, it seemed like they would...
They wouldn’t.
They heard a gunshot, and then a few more, as one of Gomorrah's gangs started to shoot down the zombie, demon, and what-have-you masses, meaning that they were also shooting at them.
Jolene noticed that one of her Other's was somewhere in the firefight and shuddered at the thought of her being shot up into pieces like the many fleshy creatures were under the gangs bullets. "I don't like where this is heading."
"Well that's new, looks like we might want to take a third option." Noot huffed before doing a flip and jumping on a ghoul. With some fancy tail tricks, he started to pave a new path. "Come on!"
It was as the trio attempted to wade through the demon shoot out and avoid the gang and their gunfire that it happened. Jolene dropped to her knees as an intense pain flowed through her body. She began to cry and cough blood, no longer aware of the world around her. It was the pain of death, broadcasting to her directly from one of her Others. They all felt it a little, the final breath of one of their own prickling them like a needle into each of them, except for one.
"Jolene get up!" Keagan tried to help her up once again, but for some reason she felt heavier. "Jolene come on, it isn't safe here!" He struggled to drag her away from the gunshots, from the zombies. "We can make it!"
Jolene, aided by Keagan, successfully stood up once more, and with great effort, but in immense pain, tried to move out.
She could make it, they were going to make it out.
There was a bang. A gunshot rang out, led perhaps by not one, not two, but three forces toward a woman. A woman who was going to die in the arms of a sixteen year old boy who took it upon himself to save her.
He failed.
There are no heroes in Gomorrah, no happy endings.
Only a miserable life and a pitiful death.
As Trisha, Christian, and Hippocrates collected the rest of the horse goop, Hippocrates could not help but look in the direction of Gomorrah, the Dyinged City, where for the first time since its abduction, the sun was rising.
Elsewhere, as Jolene let out her final breath under the tears of a crying Keagan and a mournful Noot. Hippocrates felt the need to say "Neigh".
Backlash. Backfire. Kickback. Retaliation.
Whatever you want to call it, every show of power, release of force, or taxation on one's self is supposed to have a cost, be it as small as a loss of mana or as big as the feelings that were being felt by the various ladies hanging around in the Gamenexus.
Lynette, Jolene, and Eris.
All three were being or had been pushed to their limits and were doing their best to cope with what they had done or what had been done to them; each in their own way. They had all reached their limits, gone as far as their bodies and minds could take them. It is something shared by almost everyone, and if things had gone differently, anyone else could have been in their shoes.
Anyone with one exception. It was not the ghost city, which cleverly avoided stress by avoiding giving true shape to that which did not need it and was powered by what it wrought, nor was it Trisha, who knew her limits and did a good job of working with them. It obviously wasn't either of the robots, powerful as they may be, nor was it Keagan, who did his best not to test any limits his power had, lest he face the painful consequences.
No, no, no, out of each of the intruders inside the game system the one most capable of shattering their personal upper limit was the magical bunny known as Vigil.
Vigil broke rules. His entire species did, simply by existing. It wasn’t like there was a law that explicitly prevented their existence, nor did most of them have the need to go and jaywalk or start unregulated fights to the death, it was more like the sort of rules being broken when someone interferes with the normal progression of the world. Just by entering Lynette’s home universe, he had violated the rules of what could and couldn’t be in that realm, something that all of the contestants had now done, and that for the most part they would continue to do, thanks to The Incompetent.
However, as Lynette was quick to demonstrate, rule breaking was not unique to his existence. Like the Gamenexus, Lynette’s home had set a multitude of strict mandates that dictated what could and couldn't be done when it came to magic. The magic users, commonly called Mages had a specialization through which they focused their magic (be it a staff, a jewel, or their voice), with it, they could perform any sort of magical spell as long as it could fit under that specialization. Sword Mages could perform any magic on swords, Corpse Mages could do a number of things with a dead body, and Texture Mages could make a lot of things happen with a just scarf.
Due to the interference of his species, Ragazza magica, or as they are commonly called, Magical Girls, began to exist, individuals that, no matter how magic worked, if it even existed at all, were capable of almost anything under their 'element.' That is, anything that they could physically and mentally handle. On the other hand, the limits of Vigil's species were mostly determined by what the world allowed. They chose to abide by the rules as best they could, for as long as they could. And, if the time came, that one of Vigil's species felt the need to, they could shed theses rules, and in an instant unleash incredible power regardless of the consequences.
As Vigil stared down The Last Checkpoint's security drones, with a weakened Eris sluggishly recovering, he decided that it was high time to do this sort of thing. It was time for a Limit Break.
===
"Ughh... I feel like I could throw up forever." Eris looked up, weakly looking around and remembering that she was in the middle of a fight... with people who suddenly weren't there. She shook her head and pinched herself and when she realized that the group of very deadly things were really and truly all gone, without a trace, she tried to figure out who or what fought them in her absence.
A more thorough look around and process of elimination left only one possible the answer, currently on top of Hard Snake.
"Vi... Vigil? Did... did you get rid of-."
"Quiet."
The rabbit's eyes glowed, staring directly at the poker faced agent.
"I will not hesitate to do that again, this time to you. Where is she?"
Eris was kiiiind of freaked out. For one thing, she was now pretty certain that Vigil was not just a rabbit, as he apparently obliterated the other guards and somehow had Hard Snake pinned to the ground despite being one eighth his size. For another, the air just felt... off; she wasn't sure what it was, but it gave her the creeps. Lastly and most worryingly, something about the tone of his voice made her... decide to listen to his order and for the first time in a long, looooong time not say anything.
But that didn't mean that she didn't wonder, and worry, about whatever it was that Vigil did...
===
The gold clad woman who had intercepted Weaver was one of the various avatars the Gamenexus had made or to be exact, borrowed for the purposes of better commanding the operation against the intruders. As a result, rather than wasting time speaking to the robot, she was able stream her side of the conversation into Weaver, who's robotic mind responded at more or less the same rate.
"Am I correct in assuming that you wish to have me kill one of the other intruders?"
"Your assumption is correct."
"I do not accept.
"Why not? You were confident that you could defeat the rabbit, are you afraid to kill him?"
"I gain nothing in killing him or anyone else for you. Though I am in a battle to the death, there is greater benefit in studying them over a length of time before making any strike."
"Goo point. What if we were to offer you something in return?"
Even if you had something that I considered of worth, it is uncertain if I would be able to keep it for a convenient length of time."
Weaver would have ended the discussion there, stood up, and left to another part of the Gamenexus, but unfortunately, he found that he couldn't move. As a result, the conversation went on for a few more seconds, didn't really go anywhere, and was generally uninteresting until the woman started to flip out.
It was like being stabbed and then having the knife dragged across your body. As if the collision between Gomorrah and Jolene's Others wasn't enough, something, (process of elimination and later testimony by Hard Snake would confirm that it was Vigil) seemed to have eradicated some of the strongest beings in the entire Gamenexus. While the first was a shock to the system and wasn't that hard to adjust to, the second was just... more difficult to deal with. Normally a death or deletion leaves something left over. People die and they drop weapons or ammo or coins or points, spare data that represents what they were. Even Eris’ killings left some garbage data that identified who she killed. In this case, it was as if there was a spot of pure nothingness where the security drones should have been, as if they were wiped completely and utterly. It was difficult to even process the area near where they once were.
It had to act faster, before Vigil and Eris could interfere again. As Weaver proved uncooperative, efforts would have to be motioned toward ERIC and Gomorrah instead.
===
To Lynette, Jolene's Other was like a breath of fresh air. The negativity left over from her trip in that shadow-world and the swirling sin native to Gomorrah made even walking difficult. Her mind wandered around, scraping against the various evils the ghost city thrived on. It was too much for her, something beyond her, but something that she knew she would have to defeat.
Though the Other was the cause of a few of Jolene's troubles, it shared a lot of positive things with the original, making it as friendly a ghost that Lynette would get, meaning that she desperately needed it if she wanted to keep calm in the sea of despair that was Gomorrah.
The Other kept quiet, not responding Lynette’s question. Most of them did, partially trying to ignore the fact that they could and partially afraid to.
Lynette wasn't content with that. "You look familiar. Have I seen you before? You... you aren't from here, like me! Do you know where any others are? We need to get out of here, it isn't safe!" She edged closer to the Other with every word, and it responded by stepping back.
Lynette was right, the city wasn’t really safe, though she wasn’t spot on with regards to why. Though Gomorrah inherently made danger happen, the Gamenexus was lending a helping hand, leading ERIC around via various Kappa Troopers, directly to the magical girl. It wasn't very long before the robot crashed through to where the two of them were.
Lynette instinctively turned to ERIC as he struggled with the piles of kappa. She noted that he was also not native to the city and remembered him from Vigil’s descriptions. She turned back to Jolene's Other, only to spot it just as it began to run away. "Wait!" Deciding not to intervene with the possible warbots, rumble with the weirdly dressed critters, Lynette followed the eyeless dame. "I just want to talk to you!"
That was sort of the problem. Before, Jolene only saw what her Others saw. No one could speak to them, so they didn't hear. No one could touch them, so they didn't feel. Now, thanks to Gomorrah, they and by extension Jolene were being introduced to a large number of new senses, some good, many more bad. It was too much to deal with, feeling everything they felt, shifting through all of the sounds for what was happening to her, the real her, and it didn't help that all of the sudden, she started to feel something else stir.
Keagan was low on options. Jolene was struggling to stand up and they were surrounded. It wasn't as if they were that tough as Lord Hate-Good's philosophy was, on the whole, less about lasting in a fight and more about wearing the enemy down. It didn't always work, as the two Christian's constantly demonstrated, but when it worked, it worked.
Keagan was also having trouble focusing, which he would have been more okay with had Jolene not been there. He couldn't just stop and let her fall prey to them, he had to do something, he had to save her. As the mob closed in, Keagan closed his eyes and tried to cover the still adjusting Jolene.
When he realized that he wasn't being snacked on, teared apart, or stabbed, he opened one of them back up.
"Hey, buddy boy, glad to see you've decided to join us back in the world of the living, although I guess that isn't a very populated world is it?"
Keagan was confused to see a reptile sweeping away mooks with his tail. "Did you save us?"
"That's right, don't adjust your screen folks, because Noot's here to the rescue, and it isn't a young dame this time, what a guy! Now are ya just going to stand there and stare, or are you going to move out, don't get me wrong, I'm quite the looker, but you aren’t my type, and I think your lady friend needs a bit of help."
Keagan was understandably confused, both by Noot's cartoonish appearance and his decision to help him, but with Jolene as she was, he opted not to fret too much, though he remained suspicious. He hoisted the mumbling Jolene over his shoulder and began to walk behind the reptile who was mowing a path of corpses to walk on. "Thanks... but why did you save us? Where'd you come from?"
"Would you believe... fate?"
Before Keagan could disagree, Jolene started to get her bearings back. "S-s-sorry about that." She loudly coughed but still managed to stand back up on her own two feet, finally able to filter out most of the experiences of her Others.
"Hey, be careful!" Keagan tried to hold her, but she refused the help, shaking her head.
"I've been through worse." That was a lie; this was probably if not the most painful experience in her life, definitely the most taxing. "I'm not going to just roll over like that, I can carry on by myself." She managed to crack a smile, though a small one. "Let's get moving."
"But..." Keagan was still worried about her, and wanted to say something in protest.
"She's got the spirit there, buddy boy, let's speed up!"
Noot took down the demonic forces at a faster pace, beheading and bisecting with a spin or flick of his tail. Keagan hurried behind him, hoping that they'd be led to safety, that things would get less hectic sooner rather than later, and that Jolene would hold out until then. Jolene herself was at the rear, doing a good enough job of filtering out the senses of her Others and trying to dispel as many as she could.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the easiest thing to do. She tugged and tugged, trying to force them away and out of their current state, but it was like something was anchoring them firmly where they were. It wasn't as if the Other's wanted to stay corporeal either. They would have welcomed a return to nothing, an escape from the wretched realm full of corrupt forces and sin. But they couldn't.
They were trapped, forced to deal with whatever situation they had been thrust into, fully aware that the real Jolene would have to endure whatever they did. They did their best to run and hide, but not all of them were fast enough, or lucky enough, to escape the dangers inside of Gomorrah's maw.
===
Gomorrah's latest acquisition wasn't initially any more or less relevant than the other hundreds of cities it had folded into itself, but as each of Jolene's Others began to join the fair citizens of the city, an excitement entered the air. The last time that it, the core of Gomorrah, felt linked to another outsider, it waged a battle against it, and while it was a short and pitiful battle that ended without true conclusion, there was a crack left over, a smidge of hope now inside, somewhere in the city. But this one, it was very different. Though it tried and tried to resist its grasp, it showed Gomorrah something very interesting, a path directly to the living.
It couldn't do anything with it at the moment, given the interference by the Gamenexus and Jolene's efforts to keep her head on straight, but Gomorrah would definitely keep it in mind.
The city began to focus on the Others, trying to twist them away from their origins as shadows of Jolene and into something more suited to Gomorrah. Just as it had enabled them to feel, it introduced them pain and suffering. All throughout the city, the Others were being thrown, shot at, and manhandled. It was only a matter of time before one of them died, and then... who knows...
===
"Alright, that's should be enough, let's get back and pick up the treatment supplies."
ERIC turned around to move back toward the mafia boss, but when it started to actually walk, it suddenly turned to march toward Lynette, against Gan's loud, if ineffectual protests.
At that moment, another of the Gamenexus' avatars, dressed like a citizen of Gomorrah, was holding the runaway Other at gunpoint.
Lynette, hearing the possible-warbot approaching behind her, summoned her baton and opted to deal with the hostage situation.
"Make no mistake, I will shoot her if you take one more step forward. You might have gotten the jump on one of our agents, but you won't get a chance now. We've seen you, you are weak here, and you can't control any sort of the spirits here. It's over Lynette."
Lynette was silent, considering her options. It was true, Gomorrah was stronger, and resistant to her magic, but it wasn’t the only spirit around. With a sigh, she realized that there was one thing that she could do, and she hoped that it was right.
Lynette stared directly into where the Other's eyes would be and said, "I'm sorry."
Her baton and her eyes glowed, and in a moment, she forged a link with the Other.
In a flash of light, the avatar holding her was blown away, and suddenly, the Other felt better in one way, and worse in another. It was as if an important chain was broken, but also as if she grew wings. For a moment, the Other just stood there, trying to make sense of her feelings before Lynette rushed to grab her hand.
"We need to go."
The Other nodded and the two started to run.
===
With two avenues failed, the Gamenexus had one chance left. Though Vigil and Eris got an answer out of Hard Snake, the loyal agent gave them a wrong one, meaning that they would be unlikely to interfere with any other plans. This was its best chance at having one of the intruders kill another, but the selection was wearing thin.
As it reviewed the data, it noted that Gomorrah was taking note of Jolene's Others. It was a path worth perusing.
"Hey, Noot was it, are you sure this a safe way to go?" It was obvious from the sound of her voice that Jolene was still shaken, but it sounded like she was doing a bit better.
"Hey, it's like I told the other ladies, my nose only points in two directions, ‘towards’ and ‘away.’"
"That doesn't answer my question."
"Can we just focus on getting wherever there is? I don't know about you, but this is getting pretty tiring."
At least they were making progress. It at least seemed like the direction they were going in had less bad guys than the one they came, so they moved on, in hopes that they would get to somewhere safer. With most of Lord Hate-Good's forces behind them, and the end of the Vanity Fair in sight, it seemed like they would...
They wouldn’t.
They heard a gunshot, and then a few more, as one of Gomorrah's gangs started to shoot down the zombie, demon, and what-have-you masses, meaning that they were also shooting at them.
Jolene noticed that one of her Other's was somewhere in the firefight and shuddered at the thought of her being shot up into pieces like the many fleshy creatures were under the gangs bullets. "I don't like where this is heading."
"Well that's new, looks like we might want to take a third option." Noot huffed before doing a flip and jumping on a ghoul. With some fancy tail tricks, he started to pave a new path. "Come on!"
It was as the trio attempted to wade through the demon shoot out and avoid the gang and their gunfire that it happened. Jolene dropped to her knees as an intense pain flowed through her body. She began to cry and cough blood, no longer aware of the world around her. It was the pain of death, broadcasting to her directly from one of her Others. They all felt it a little, the final breath of one of their own prickling them like a needle into each of them, except for one.
"Jolene get up!" Keagan tried to help her up once again, but for some reason she felt heavier. "Jolene come on, it isn't safe here!" He struggled to drag her away from the gunshots, from the zombies. "We can make it!"
Jolene, aided by Keagan, successfully stood up once more, and with great effort, but in immense pain, tried to move out.
She could make it, they were going to make it out.
There was a bang. A gunshot rang out, led perhaps by not one, not two, but three forces toward a woman. A woman who was going to die in the arms of a sixteen year old boy who took it upon himself to save her.
He failed.
There are no heroes in Gomorrah, no happy endings.
Only a miserable life and a pitiful death.
As Trisha, Christian, and Hippocrates collected the rest of the horse goop, Hippocrates could not help but look in the direction of Gomorrah, the Dyinged City, where for the first time since its abduction, the sun was rising.
Elsewhere, as Jolene let out her final breath under the tears of a crying Keagan and a mournful Noot. Hippocrates felt the need to say "Neigh".