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 Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:01 am
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Alice felt her heart jump into her throat. It was a complete shock to not only see her brother standing before her friends and the girl below, but then something completely unexpected happened. She told herself she was hallucinating and what she was seeing couldn't possibly be real, but Rade saw him too. She saw both of them. Jay and Tripp..... it just couldn't be. But it was.
Alice bit her tongue, trying not to yell to them. She had missed them all so much and watching as everyone was slowly reunited seemed like a miracle. But she couldn't give her place away, especially when the one person who was searching for her the hardest was just below her a couple of feet. She had noticed the poor b*****d that had dared to speak against her brother, and knew what was coming to him. Lance had lost all sense of humanity, and she knew he wanted her dead. She tried not to laugh or cry aloud, though her emotions were really starting to get the best of her. But she had to focus on the deal at hand and had to help some how.
Jay wanted to destroy these people, and Rade was clearly willing to fight her way through the mass of Institutes. But the other girl looked like she just wanted to go home and Tripp had a look of shock on his face. Even Lance looked a bit confused and thrown off guard with what was going on before him. Still, she had to help somehow, and she knew if it turned into a fight, there was no way everyone would make it, including the unknown girl they had come to save in the first place. Alice thought about what she could do to help and smirked, realizing she could help them in the most simple of ways. She was sick of running, but hell- if she could get Lance and a few men of his little army away from her friends, it would make the fight much more easier.
She stood up and a few eyes trailed over to her and widened. It took Lance a few moments to look up and see the one thing he had been looking for for months standing on a building that was right next to him. She was grinning, and she wanted so bad to just jump down and help fight, but Lance had gotten stronger over the years, and if he was gone- the fight would be a piece of cake for the others.
"Hey, Lance!" She shouted, noticing a falcon flying overhead. She paid no attention to it and kept her eyes locked onto her brothers eyes. She knew he had a decision to make, finally capture his sister or fight the rebels before him. She knew it wasn't a hard choice for him to make. She didn't wait for him to make a move, she went first and turned sharply around and sprinted across the top of the building. The buildings were close together and with a few simple leaps she was onto the next rooftop. She didn't turn to see if Lance was behind her, she knew he would be.
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:25 am
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It was a bit of a shock to see two more familiar faces. Jay and Tripp, he thought their names were. It seemed everyone from the past was popping up, well this day could get worse- and he was right. Lance had been ready to turn on the Institute guy that had spoken against him, but a familiar voice threw him off guard. Of all the people in the world that could interrupt him, his sister had to be the one. She took off heading in the opposite direction and Lance wasted no time. The rebels would be defeated by his men. He turned and ordered half of the men to head throughout the city and make sure that Alice wouldn't escape. Then, without another glance at the rest of them, his arm changed into a sharp sword and he stabbed it into the side of the building and scaled the wall until he was at the top. He could still see her, though she was far off by this time.
A few of his men were also at the top of the building with him, ready to pursue Alice, but as they ran towards the telepathtic girl, they couldn't seem to keep up with Lance. He was determined on capturing her, no matter what it took. His hand transformed into an entire crossbow even as he was running and he aimed it flawlessly at his sister. It fired and he watched with a smile on his face as the bolt flew through the air and then went through her shoulder. She fell onto the ground from the blow and then tried to stand again, but Lance was getting too close. He approached her as she tried to run and grabbed her arm, pulling it. The pain from the bolt was impossible and she fell again. Lance laughed.
"Gottcha," he said grinning, and Alice looked up at him, wincing from the pain but smiling as well.
"Not quite." Lance hadn't even expected it, but the next thing he knew his entire body was in pain. He cursed himself for not remembering his sister's abilities and held his head in his hands. His men came running over, trying to help him, but there was nothing they could do. Of course, the pain would be over in a few moments, but Alice was already out of sight.
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:59 am
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  When Lance took off to chase Alice (Radé assumed it was Alice, anyway, she hadn't looked.) Rade smirked. That had injured the fighting force that was up against her and the others by a critical degree. Whereas it would have been a moderately difficult fight before, now it would be cake.
That did leave Alice running from her brother, though... Radé sighed.
Tripp's head snapped to the source of the voice calling out Lance and again, he was dumbstruck. Alice? When she took off running and Lance gave chase, Tripp turned and gave Radé a look of 'oh s**t, what now?'. He wanted to go and help her... she had already been lost once, but Radé was here and could need his help. For the first time in a long time, Tripp was torn between two things that he greatly cared about... his partner, and the only other person that had tried to not treat him like a monster.
"Go get her, damnit! I just found her myself and am not interested in breaking back into the Institute so soon after getting out!"
Tripp didn't need any more encouragement than that, taking off at a sprint to the wall. The nice part about Lance going first, he had left nice hold points for others to scale the wall. Once up top, Tripp jumped on the Institute guy that had been posted there for some reason, tearing his throat out and letting him fall before going after the others. Tripp was catching up with the Lance's lackeys that had fallen behind, dispatching them quickly as he caught up with them. Most didn't hear the cyborg coming, others reacted too late, either way they were all dead.
It didn't take long before he came upon Lance, crumpled on the ground and surrounded by his men. Tripp stopped running, standing easily before them as he scanned the area where he assumed Alice had run. There was a slight thermal trail that was fading fast, but Tripp knew he wouldn't be able to just run around Lance's men... and probably Lance himself, assuming the b*****d could get up before his men were gone. If he lost her trail because of this... they would be dead so many times over.
Tripp reached into a pocket in his coat and grinned as he retrieved a small vial. It was one for the auto-injector at the back of his neck... and there was a first time for everything. He slid the vial into the receiver and smirked; there was a quiet hiss as the pressure in the vial was released and the drug drained. Almost instantly, the small twinges of pain that had begun acting up were gone and Tripp was lit, swaying slightly as he stood. Next came seeing if the goons were dumb enough to take him on anyway. |
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:03 pm
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 4:26 pm
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 5:28 pm
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Alice was far from Lance within a few seconds and she never saw Tripp or Jay approach her brother. She had taken to the ground instead of running over roof tops and was about to enter into a building when she saw a familiar face pursuing her. Madlax's features threw Alice off guard and she contemplated stopping to see if it was actually her. But Alice had spent enough time at the Institute in the last years to know who her enemies were, and Madlax wasn't a good guy any more. But with Lance being far behind, she figured she could take a few minutes to try and fight. Still, the wound from Lance's bolt was driving her crazy and she was losing blood fast. The bolt was still sticking out of her and she shivered with the thought of having to pull it out. She came to a quick stop and spun around to face her opponent. If Lance recovered quick enough, Alice was sure he would be here in a short while. So, this would have to be quick.
"Madlax, I don't have time for this," Alice said, and it was her first and last attempt at reasoning with the explosions specialist. Just speaking aloud was bugging her and making her feel sick to her stomach. Alice realized what a disadvantage she was at, what with fighting someone who could make things explode and having an injury that should be treated immediately. Telepathy wouldn't help after having been used so much. It seemed she would have to turn to her other ability for help. She really wanted to get back to the others and get away from all of the chaos, and Madlax was simply the only thing in her way, and although it had been a while since she had been in a fight, and it seemed she was going to have to engage in battle yet again with an old friend.
Knowing their wouldn't be any bargaining, Alice clasped the bolt that was sticking out of her shoulder and with one quick jerk the pulled it straight out and threw it to the side. The wound wasn't huge, but it was bad enough to make her weak. She winced in pain and had to catch herself from falling to the ground. Looking at it now, stopping to fight had been extremely foolish on her part and she couldn't get away now without being followed. She had been staring at her wound in shock, and then she looked up at Madlax with wide, terrified eyes. But she was smiling, as if she was ecstatic about something. The insane person that the Institute has created in the last few years was starting to come out again. Madlax wouldn't be fighting the old, sweet Alice. This was something that Alice had thought was dead, but was very much alive. Edited!
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 6:03 pm
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Lance's head was spinning and if he had gotten a hold of Alice after her little trick she wouldn't have made it back to the Institute. What Alice could do to the mind was miraculous and horrendous all in one. To her victims, it felt as if their entire body was slowly and painfully being ripped apart. The mind was confused beyond help during the few seconds of agony, and all at once Lance's conscious thought him to be burning to death, his lungs couldn't breathe as if he was drowning and no matter what he did, his actions just seemed to make things worse. His head hurt the worst, seeing as it was where the source of the attack had been inflicted to, which was why he was clutching at it, trying to make the pain die.
And it did, eventually. But Alice's ability had gotten much stronger and Lance's pain had lasted a good 45 seconds before it subsided. He stood up quickly to see a few of his men trying to figure out what had happened and two rebel faces. He knew Tripp's face all too well, and remembered back to fighting Tripp when he was capturing Alice. It had been such a long time ago, but Lance still remembered the ghastly site of the anorexic skeleton man fighting for Lance's sister's life. He had seen it as pathetic back then, but now Lance had to respect someone who would die fighting for someone minor like Alice. He was sure that the rebels didn't need her as much as the Institute did. But although he respected him, he was still with the rebels and he hated anyone who was on Retribution's side.
The second face was Jay's, the demon man Lance had refused to fight years ago. His voice brought a growl to Lance's throat. Of course he remembered Jay, how could he not? The two people that had made any attempt at killing Lance now stood before him ready to tear him apart. His speech made Lance grin and he changed his crossbow-arm into a regular human arm and he closed and opened his hand, as if making sure nothing was broken. Alice's mental attack was still having affects and Lance's head was spinning. Fighting both of them was going to be a challenge. But he had always liked challenges.
His men stood around him, prepared to protect him, but Lance knew their lives would be taken from them in a matte of moments. These two weren't to be messed with, exactly the kind of people Lance wanted to fight. "I'm not running this time." He said coldly, and some of his men took a few steps back, away from their commander. He was grinning psychotically, holding his hand out in front of him. Suddenly, his guards started gasping and looking around. Some were blinking really fast while others closed their eyes and whispered to themselves. Lance's view and his two opponent's view would change from the top of the buildings and the crumbled city to complete darkness. Everything was swallowed up and they were no longer standing on the top of a building, but instead they were standing on a black floor, which resembled nothing. The darkness continued on into what seemed like forever. However, although it was pitch black, there was still enough light for everyone to see. Lance knew if he took away their site, he would be taking away his own, and putting himself at a disadvantage and an advantage never helped in the long run.
He looked around, admiring his creation, and then looked to Tripp and Jay. His men were dumb struck at what was going on, but they meant nothing to him. They were simply pons in the way, and the thought of killing even his own men brought another huge smile to his face. Forgetting Alice and with the final effects of his previous injury, he was now focused on the battle at hand. And he refused to run away like last time. Now Lance was stronger, stronger willed and his abilities were enhanced. He waited with an eager expression for one of them to make a first move.
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:28 pm
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Madlax stared at Alice for a minute. She had seen crazy before but, this was on a whole new level. “Alice, I really don’t want to have to hurt you. Lance would kick my a** but, I think you want to make this go fast. So let’s get to it.” She concentrated on the ground Alice was standing on and blew it up. Just an opening attack nothing special. She could do way more now. More than ever.
Madlax dove to the ground as the explosion was happening and realized something, she had missed. Madlax’s explosion was two centimeters off from hitting Alice but, it still broke the ground and caused a large dust cloud. She had never been forced to fight someone that Madlax had known so close to when she had changed. This was going to be a challenge, and for the first time in a while, Madlax was scared.
She could feel the scratches from the guy that they had caught earlier. As she moved each one came open and deepened. Great, now they’ll definitely scar. Damnit. Madlax thought rolling her shoulders. On top of it all, Madlax didn’t know how long she could use her power before she went into overdrive, and she couldn’t be carless because she might kill a civilian. ******** Civilians, I’m taking Alice down. she thought and smiled. This fight might not suck so much anymore.
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:07 am
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She had been waiting for the explosion, so when Madlax caused the ground to explode near Alice, she had been prepared. And incredibly enough, Madlax had missed. Before Madalx had attacked, Alice had secretly made her first move, entering the mind of Madlax. Although this was tricky business with her powers already being half drained, she knew if she was going to have any chance in this fight, she would have to use both her abilities. But because she did not speak to Madlax using her mind, Madlax would have no way of knowing Alice was inside her head. So no matter how fast Madlax had decided to come up with the idea to blow up the ground, Alice had been a step ahead and had darted away from the debris and flying rock before the ground erupted.
The dust couldn't have affected Alice any less. She knew exactly where Madlax was standing from being inside her mind, and Alice's wicked grin grew even wider as she spotted the remains of an old car only a few feet away. She put out her hand and raised it slowly, and as she did the car lifted into the air at the same pace as her hand and in one quick motion, Alice turned on her feet and threw the car over her head as if it were a the size of a football. The car hurdled towards Madlax and Alice heard the sound of it impacting the ground. But the wound in her arm had thrown her off and the automobile had missed Madlax by a few feet.
While inside Madlax's head, Alice started to gain back her humanity. She remembered when her and Madlax were friends and realized that fighting wasn't her only option. She would hate herself if she ended up killing Madlax, and that's what this new part of her wanted: it wanted Madlax dead. It wanted to taste blood. But she didn't want that side to win over her, and while the dust from the explosion still clouded around the area, Alice turned the opposite direction from the fight. She considered using the same mental attack she had used on Lance on Madlax, but realized that if she drained anymore of her energy, she would pass out and surely be killed. She ran into a nearby building and headed up the steps, no knowing if Madlax would follow. She realized how painful the wound in her shoulder from the bolt was and how exhausted she was. Yes, she had ran out of another fight, but she had finally found her friends and couldn't afford to die. And she couldn't afford to kill Madlax. It was simple, she would have lost the fight no matter what the outcome.
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 12:45 pm
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Madlax didn’t duck as the car flew by but, the tailpipe scratched across her arm. Then she knew that Alice was running. “Don ‘t do this.” She said and closed her eyes. The buildings around her exploded in big puffs of dirt and wood as she focused on destroying the foundations. I only have enough energy to do one thing. she thought to herself.
Being trained to fight all sorts of Altered, Madlax knew that fighting a physic meant that you couldn’t think, only when you made your move could you think of what you were doing. No planning could be involved, anything in your head could be used against you or you could use against them.
Madlax moved slowly, as the explosions were still happening, she tried her best to pick out where movement was but, the civilians were making it hard. She then found it, a slight shape, like a person. Madlax engaged her last attack, Nanos. They would search out Alice, and once they came into contact with her, they would explode. Plus, the little buggers were nearly invisible.
The only problem with this attack was that, it made her extremely weak. Right now she just wanted to sleep. But, instead Madlax thought of the last person she had attacked like this, Shaw. If Alice was still in her head she would see the gruesome pictures of a man no longer resembling anything but raw meat. Madlax remembered finding his lip stuck to the wall of his office. (Ok no more goriness) It had been gruesome and amazing.
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:09 pm
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Alice was lucky enough to make it to the top floor of the building and even more lucky when the building didn't get destroyed by Madlax's wrath. But she had hung onto Madlax's mind long enough to see the images of Shaw and the Nanos. She knew the attack was coming, but the problem was that she could only read Madlax's thoughts, the Nanos were a different story. She would have no idea when or where they would be coming from. She sprinted down the hall and headed into the nearest room, she went to shut the door and the moment the door latched behind her she heard the sound of the nanos hitting the opposite side of the door. Alice had no time to react and the door was blown straight off its hinges, forcing Alice to be thrown across the room. The force had been so great it had forced her to the opposite wall where a large window was. The sound of glass shattering shook her and she fell to the ground below, not knowing exactly what was going on.
Her vision was starting to blur and Alice tried to move all of her limbs. Her left arm, the one that had had the bolt wound, wasn't moving and she turned her head slowly with fear that she might not even have her left arm. Luckily enough, the limb was still attached, but the bone was definitely broken. Biting her tongue, Alice forced herself to stand up and head down the street, hoping Madlax would give up the pursuit and go and find Lance. The fact he hadn't shown up was a positive thing for her, but could be a terrible thing for her friends back in the alley. Needless to say, Alice had been injured extremely bad from her fall and could barely walk. Still, she made her way back to the alley where the whole ordeal took place. The walk took her a long time and she noticed a few Institute men on the way, but lucky enough for her, she had noticed them before they had noticed her and she had escaped from every one of them without getting caught.
Even though Alice had had a ton of luck in only a few minutes, she wasn't feeling too lucky. She had to lean up against the walls of the buildings she passed and stop a few times just to try and clear her head. She had no idea if she would be able to make it and wasn't watching behind her. Madlax could show up at any second and it would all be over. But she reached the street with the alley and caught sight of Rade- and with the littlest energy she had left she entered Rade's mind.
"Blue house on corner, after... come find me." She hoped the message would be clear enough and hobbled into the house she spoke of. Cradling her broken arm, she headed into a nearby room and collapsed onto the floor. She kept thinking of how pathetic she had been running from Madlax. And just before the darkness consumed her, she realized she hadn't seen Tripp with Rade and the other girl in the alley. Knowing he might be fighting Lance caused another type of pain in Alice as she faded off into oblivion.
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:14 pm
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Madlax had run to the side of the house at the sound of shattering glass. She had see Alice and followed her but, with every step Madlax realized a little more that she didn’t want to catch Alice. They would probably kill her or change her, and Madlax couldn’t stand that. Madlax was so distracted that she lost track of Alice completely. “Damnit.” She mumbled and struggled to keep on her feet as she walked back to the helicopter and passed out.
Dreams are strange things, Madlax never understood the concept of them or the importance. They seemed as useless as death but, people find that strange things come from dreams. Like say, the dead come back for one more reunion, or a man dreams his house is on fire and it truly is. This concept was ridicules but, still Madlax seemed to be dreaming, of herself being changed.
She watched as a third person as Sirs slowly cut the skin on the nape of her neck and removed a black object from Madlax’s neck and placed it on the counter. The little think moved, it seemed to get bigger and move, like a black stick that grew and twisted.
Another pair of hands picked the sick up and placed it into a small computer. The screen began to flash wards across the screen, and pictures but, Madlax couldn’t read them. For, the Madlax on the table began to thrash about and scream. Her nails grew along with her hair and her eyes turned almost red. Sirs injected something into her arm that caused that Madlax to sleep once again.
Sirs looked completely worried as she took a white stick, like the black one only immobile and not growing. She pushed the white stick into the cut on Madlax’s neck and stitched the cut up. Madlax’s features became normal again and Sirs shook her head slowly. She seemed to be saying something. But, at that moment Madlax’s mind decided to say Game over.
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:40 am
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:29 pm
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Tripp refrained from attacking when Jay appeared. For a moment, the cyborg wished that the other had just stayed with Radé and the other girl instead of chasing after Lance too, but he shrugged it off quickly. Radé could take care of herself, and now he could go after Alice without too much trouble once this illusion was taken down. He grinned, turning his metal eyes to Lance's guards.
"It's time to die." Tripp laughed sickeningly, his stance dropping into a slight slouch, arms held limply at his sides. The guards, finally coming to their senses again couldn't help but laugh at the anorexic threatening them. The one closes to him stepped forward, clearly intent on finishing Tripp with a sharp blow to the stomach. Tripp lurched forward as soon as the other started moving, whipping his right arm forward as the claws extended and embedded themselves in the man's face. His screams were drown out literally by the blood that started flowing from the gaping hole in his neck that appeared in the next instant as Tripp's right hand finished him and threw him aside.
Tripp took one look at his bloodied hands and chuckled darkly, watching his opponents try and sort out what had just happened. He didn't wait long though, and had soon launched himself at the remaining guards. He was moving pretty fast, but all of his motions were perfectly controlled, powered and balanced. The machines partially controlled his motions, making everything smoother and more effective. He could turn them off if he wanted, but this was more effective... and fun. A target danced away from one of the falling bodies to a new target and Tripp followed it, rending the armoured goon's kevlar-esque jacket from his body in one swipe, then gutting him in the next. In maybe... two more minutes Tripp would be out of goons to murder.~~ "Well, we seem to have been left alone." Radé sighed, glancing back to the girl that had been under attack and shaking her head, "It's not going to be a problem, but it is kind of funny, I think."
With a flourish, Radé smashed her sword into the ground again, letting the runes in the blade begin to glow intensely again. The Institute men had become emboldened by her companion's departure, and she was about to destroy this sense of comfort for them. She cast another glance to the stranger and grinned, showing all her fangs, "If you could... stay right there... I'll be sure not to hit you... with friendly fire." The change was taking Radé as she spoke, breaking her words awkwardly as her body changed violently. Once it was done, she leered down at the men in front of her, muscles rippling under scaled skin as she reached out with a hand/claw and swatted a few of them into a nearby wall.
A growl rumbled in her throat as the Institute goons tried to regroup as Radé began stomping through their ranks, swatting the small mortals that scurried to get out of her way. Some were more successful than others... and Radé was having a riot. There was a momentary pause in her rampage as Alice's 'voice' echoed in Radé's mind. So she got away... that's good. I'll have to get her later. |
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:59 pm
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