Difference between revisions of "Home Is Where The..."

Latest revision as of 20:44, 21 June 2013

TRON has posed:
Flynn's Arcade is silent from the outside, locked up tight with only the blinking flicker of security cameras around the building's perimeter. Save for the flickering of arcade game lights from within, a casual passerby could be forgiven for believing it is still just as abandoned as it has always been.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

It has been a busy past few hours for 'Alan', Deelel, and anyone assisting them down in the hidden basement, where the newly-built laser has been stored. After their shopping trip last night for computer components, it has taken them the rest of the night and the majority of the day to put everything together.

Alan is in the basement, wearing the same clothes as he did last night, door ajar and the TRON arcade machine at the top of the stairs moved to the side to allow relatively easy passage. He sits in a dusty rolling-chair at the temporary desk upon which the computer tower, monitor, and even the mouse and keyboard are resting. The monitor itself shows the installation progress of the OS that had been salvaged from ShinRa, with the rest of the necessary software already queued for installation. The laser itself is aimed off to the side, already connected but without any directives to command it.

By now, there is little anyone else can do as far as computers are concerned, so a break has been called. Pizza had been delivered and drinks grabbed from the nearby corner convenience store. The games' reliance on quarters also allows anyone to play the games to pass the time, also providing a test run of what games work and which ones don't. The jukebox is also very much so functional, but the volume seems to have been turned down somewhat to make conversation easier and its playlist may still only have early 80's hits... unless Deelel has already gotten to it?

Avira has posed:
Avira, who is most certainly NOT an antivirus program, joined up with TRON and Deleel the previous night. At the time they had been acting as humans so Avira behaved accordingly. For the most part. Save for a few awkward questions, there were no incidents and Avira had happily helped them pick up what remaining computer components they needed.

When it comes to curiosity, Avira had plenty of it, especially where it concerns that OS they got from ShinRa. Was that even compatable? Somehow it seemed to be working.

Avira has sat herself down on a pile of discarded carboard boxes. Despite her small frame, her weight is depressing the box, making it a poor chair. But for now, it works, and it gives her a good place to sit so she can chow down on some pizza. "Randomly." Avira interjects, "This is actually the first time I've had pizza in a while."

As usual, she feels an overwhelming amount of peace while in this world-which is actually to be expected. In spite of recent certain experiences in corridors of darkness, she seems to be holding up alright here.

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
So cleaning up the Arcade. It was a harmless activity. A way he could aid VALKYRI without actually appearing like he was /affiliated/ with them. And also a good way to unwind before an inevitable confrontation with a Lucavi in Fluorgis Besides his reputation in Traverse Town wasn't so terrible, they didn't exactly care if a wanted heretic was in town. And he'd done much to protect the town in the past. So nothing could possibly go wrong.

Right?

So to pass the time, he was actually trying one of those new fangled video games. One particular game had caught his eye.

As a bearded man ran across the screen in heart printed boxer shorts, while the heretic worked at the joystick, he idly stated to Artemis, "So, I'm not certain why a single stout blow takes off Ser Arthur's armor.. nor why he throws his lance. And why does he have an infinite supply of them? Does he have some invisible squire that delivers them to him?"

He munched idly on a slice of pizza, "I must admit, though this repast? It is fantastic."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will is crashing, because crashing is what hobos do best.

Nobody is sure when he got here, he just seemed to materialize when Pizza was being served. Right now, he is holding an entire pizza hostage, and eating like he hasn't eaten in days. Will is easy going...despite the pressure of the world on him because of Avira's trip through darkness...the constant harrassment of this Garland Creep of her and Mercade, of Feige and her torture of his little sisters, or Faruja and his Lucavii problems...right now he's able to unwind a little as stuff was going down.

"...So I don't get it, what's the big deal anyway?" he never had been to the Grid before, so this was going to be an experience.

He peeks over Ramza's shoulder, "It's a video game...you just have to accept certain contrivances...like sometimes in a story a noble has a kid with a not noble, then acknowledges him as their son. Stuff like that."

Munch.

He looks at Avira, "...Sup?"

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Artemis leans by Ramza, watching with a certain interest at the video game he plays, vaguely amused by Ramza's reactions. She's only slightly more familiar with the technology, though it does not quite appeal to her as it does to him. Sure, it seemed interesting enough, but she'd rather actually spar or hunt monsters than pretend to do it in a video game.

Such a jock.

Artemis nods to Will, then smiles at his cheeky comment. "Indeed, whoever heard of such a thing," she comments, looking around then toward the others. There was pizza. Pizza was interesting. Perhaps she should have some. Seems so...greasy though. As if she had to worry about such things with the active life she lead.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac did /not/ crash here the other day. He also did not show up to eat their pizza. He /did/, however, hear that something was going on in an arcade that hadn't seen any recent use, and one that he'd been admittedly considering sneaking into to check out its stock of machines. You know, if he couldn't find the owner to convince them he was a prospective buyer or collector. Sometimes they had gems.

"It's just an abstraction for gameThere are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.</span>' He has his hands in his coat pockets (yes, plural) and is looking around the arcade with obvious interest. "Pizza's a universal constant, though. I haven't met someone who hasn't found a kind they like."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has been working pretty much all night since she returned to the Arcade with others from he part shopping trip. Things have been busy down in the basement good thing she's not been needed a rest cycle because there was a heck of lot of work to do down there. She'd made sure to get some water about for anyone working she knows any users would need that come sooner or later. It seems someone was on the ball for the Pizza as well nothing better than New York Pizza, though Deelel has never had anything else. She looks up from where she's working and just makes a bit of a face for a moment and looks over at Ramza for a moment.

"It really is fantastic. As for the games they are games really. Though not in the sort I was used to back home on Encom or my home."

Renegade has posed:

The computer is indeed at work loading up all this stuff. Processes of code fly across the screen as everything was being loaded up, not even just the OS itself, but also all the old commands. Codes.

Everything that made the server work.

A little progress bar moves along contently at the bottom with the percentage number just rolling away counting up to one hundred percent.

One it gets there, a little question pops up waiting for confirmation.

Do you wish to continue?
Y/N

Your typical stuff when dealing with computers, yet something goes-- odd about the server. Where it should have waited, the monitor starts to freak out a little bit, as if something doesn't like someone knocking on its door. The screen flickers a bit more with odd symbols and marks.

A warning really of what is about to happen, as TRON may catch some of the code. The very OS, the very system, was calling up the laser and a count down was starting with no way to stop it. The laser itself was actually slowly turning on as it pivoted this way and that. Little sparks flying from where it sat at due to maybe some malfunction.

Or perhaps this very thing /shouldn't/ be happening. Yet any attempt to abort it seemed hopeless. The system wasn't taking any commands. To pull the plug on the laser could be dangerous.

Cause after all, maybe it was Kevin Flynn himself attempting to access back home or perhaps something far worse. All that could be done was to allow the show to take place.

As for the main arcade...

Suddenly the power started to fluctuate a bit as the laser started to pull on the power of the Arcade. Those playing video games probably would notice this the most as it started to cause all the video games to reset several times; That can't be good on the hardware.

The Jukebox also started to have some issues as well, as it was caught trying to move over to the next spot on the record of the Billboard hits.

Back down in the basement..

The Laser starts to shift positions again, as if trying to get an exact beat on.. something. Yet it wasn't firing on anything here. It was as if it was indeed looking for a proper spot to digitize something to the real world. Suddenly a green beam fires out and starts to form a pattern in the air.

Welp. We know where this is going to be heading soon!

TRON has posed:
Alan watches the screen careefully as the OS installs. Avira needn't worry, this OS originally came from this particular place, so it should reinstall with no issues. Certainly no conflicts.

When the progress bar reaches 100-percent and awaits User input, Alan reaches over towards the 'Y' key--but never gets so far as to actually press it before the computer acts completely on its own. Screens overlay each other, data reflecting onto the lenses of Alan's glasses as he hurriedly but futilely attempts to type /something/ to slow the deluge of sudden information and subsequent action.

What is happening becomes brutally clear as the remade digitizing laser spins to life, actually readjusting itself to find a decent-enough target area for... something. Alan has no experience with this issue, as it was a rather automated system from his perspective--one moment, he was in the Grid version of this room, sitting at the computer, and pressed a button... then a moment of vertigo and he was... here.

The lights flicker, the sounds of game machines sputter as the power fluctuates from a sudden energy draw. "Do not come down here!" He shouts up the stairs to the others in the building, shooting out of his chair to physically block the only way in-or-out. He doesn't know what's going on, but he won't let anyone charge down here and possibly worsen the situation.

A green laser shoots to an upper back corner, away from anything important such as the computer system or stairs, but Alan doesn't budge. His eyes widen behind his glasses as a green wire-frame appears in the shape of a person, then individual square bits start filling in as the laser begins an almost pew-pew-pew sound. Too early to tell specifics, only that it's a person.

Someone is coming through, just as TRON and Deelel had before.

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Certain, contrivances.

Ramza nearly chokes on the last bite of his slice of pizza, and the man on the screen gets struck by a scythe from death itself before literally collapsing into a pile of bones.

Game Over. Continue?

Ramza gives Will a wry look, and chuckles with good-natured cheer. "Ser Sherman, If I didn't know any better I would think that you avered that my own life story is false."

The youngest Son of the Beoulve family then tries to wrest a single slice of Will's hostage pizza away, after all it looked like it needed rescuing.

Believe it or not, he actually does not jump right in when everything stares to go haywire, he stays at the top of the stairs given that Alan is blocking their way down, he just waits, and listens.

Avira has posed:
"Hey Will." Avira grins at the magically appearing hobo king. No, she's not distressed to have him suddenly just THERE. It was definitely a Will thing-nothing to be alarmed about. "Save some for the rest of us, will you?" The scarred woman smirks at him.

A laugh escapes her as Ramza puzzles through the mechanics of a video game, "Don't worry about it. They can't make it entirely accurate. Real life is too complicated. And boy do I know /that/." Long training sessions with Angantyr months ago dispelled any notion from Avira that becoming a badass adventurer would just be a matter of 'leveling up.'

Isaac shows up and Avira brightens just a little more. "Hey Isaac. How's it going?" She tries not to look for too long at his, well, 'arm' but she really can't help it. If she gets notice, though, she'll quickly shift her gaze to that shirt of his.

Inevitably she does snicker at the binary joke.

The lights flicker ominously and simultaneously, the arcade cabinets around her flicker off and on, resetting. "What the..." frowning, she stuffs the rest of her slice of pizza into her mouth and immediately following after will. "Hey! Hey Alan, is everything okay down there?!"

Will Sherman has posed:
"Okay!" Will says, taking the pizza downstairs.

"Sorry gota go mess with things!" Will says towards the people upstairs. Why avoid danger when you can /jump right in/!

"Hey so what's going on in this thread?" he says using lingo that is updated due to the fact that he's talking to a program.

Eyes.

"Hi Isaac, bye Isaac!" he says, and looks back at Ramza, "What? I don't get it?" He says, and continues on down to harrass Alan.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel pauses for a moment as she looks at Isaac's shirt she starts laughing, having to stop eating the slice of pizza she was consuming. It's so funny it's amazing humour to her. She might have trouble breathing if she needed to. She's not even sure if she needs to really. She manages to regain control and just seems to be in a good mood. Hopefully all their work is going to pay off very well when all was said and done. She heads back down at this point just as things get interesting with the system boot up.

She does go over once she's down in the basement to watch the system boot up. She doesn't think about what's going on fully on the other end just for a second. She notices as everything has a lot of problems and she pauses for a moment something is not right something isn't right at all as there's a spike from the Laser powering up. She realizes what's going on here as she calls back.

"DO NOT COME DOWN!"

Mac it, who knows what could be coming out at this point.

Then Will comes down and she says "The laser it's powering up..."

This could be bad this could be good she has no idea who or what could be coming out there. She's already reaching for the disc on her back an she looks to be very much on edge.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac raises his left hand, giving a casual two-finger salute in greeting. He walks around the Arcade for a minute, peering at the cabinets with a sense of wide-eyed wonder. He's smiling a little bit as he reads some of the displays. He pauses, peering between cabinets. "Little better. Got a prototype to play with," he says, lifting his right arm -- it moves a little stiffly -- and opening and closing the hand on it. "And I heard there was an arcade being cleaned up that I might be able to get free play credits at." He grins slyly.

Then... things start to flicker, and little resets happen. Isaac looks up immediately. Not seeing anything clinging to the ceiling, he keeps walking. He steps into the main aisle, pausing mid-stride and staring at the passage behind the machine. "Uh..." Isaac glances at whoever is still upstairs. Most everyone is running downward. "So we're going to all blatantly ignore the warning, right," he remarks, as if it's a fact.

Isaac stands at the top of the stairs. "Is everything okay?" he calls. He keeps an eye on the door instead of running down to see what's happening, because /someone/ has to.

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Artemis straightens, reaching for the hilt of her sword as the lights begin to dim and flicker, the game machines going nutty. Some kind of electrical surge? Not exactly something to get up in arms about, but Artemis has a pretty keen sense when it comes to danger. The kind of life she lives, you have to or you don't live very long.

TRON's voice calling confirms trouble. Artemis looks to Ramza, smiling softly. "Here we go again."

Marche Radiuju has posed:
The grimoire led him here.

Truth be told, Marche does not know why it led him here. He doesn't quite know the reasoning behind the travel or the details of these strange worlds. However, this time, it lead them HOME. Or some variation of it. Marche does not know.

It is tough, given that he would be like a normal kid again.

However, he is led to the arcade.

Here he is, arriving at the arcade. In front of him is the grimoire, which glows with a faint light. Passing by the games, he does notice the games resetting a couple of times. There was an instinctive urge to go up and play one of them, but.. this is no time to play the arcades, as tempting as it is. No, he does see a few familiar faces. "..Huh? The Hobo King?" One of the few people who stuck up for him.

He feels like he is forgetting something. It is something that he shouldn't forget. No. Someone. His Warden.

Ritz Malheur has posed:
Marche certainly isn't forgetting Ritz, because she's been following him around since the incident on the Giza Plains. Even if it's been at a distance, using a Clan of rabbit-women to stalk him like an animal. That's a responcible use of a Clan's resources, right? The fate of the world may or may not be at stake, don't you judge.

The pink haired girl comes jogging up in Marche's wake, forcing her way through the doors to the arcade. Huff, puff. "Marche!" She announces. "Wait. Up!" She starts stomping over to catch up with her friend, his book, and possibly destiny. At least two of those things, anyway.

Renegade has posed:

The Digital laser continues its wonders. As the blocks start to get filled in with a person floating it seems in mid air, by the posture, completely caught off guard by this as much has Alan was. The laser starts to move faster and faster to fill in the data.

The laser now splitting its lines going from two, three, up to five lines of lasers firing at once to fill in the data rapidly. Soon more details where starting to be made out. The figure was male, agile, perhaps a bit strong.

Actually as it keeps forming it starts to take a strange appearance. Like someone a few would know, it also wasn't a user. User's don't wear circuity lines on their body-suits. Yet the details were still hard to make out. Yet the more details that keep being made. The more obvious it started to become.

This was another TRON...

(( Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8217/8427952128_80f1846195_b.jpg ))

Renegade has posed:

Soon the lights stopped flickering, the arcade went back to normal and suddenly the juke box went back to playing tunes. The song that it at last got itself to play.

Michael Jackson's Beat it - http://youtu.be/TA_kyd6A-iw

The newly appeared program that was nearly a spitting image of TRON's body with a white helm, and black full face visor hiding his face. The T was on his chest. The lines were all right. However graceful landing was not included in this digitizing process.

The program crashes down onto the ground with a hard 'ouf!' that escapes out. He lays there for a moment, before slowly sitting up. "...what.." He says softly, until he suddenly notices, well, a ton of things that was /NOT/ right.

"Frag.."

The Tron(?) quickly jumps up to his feet and glances around the room quickly. His hand however was moving back for his desk as he went to take a step back, though he bumped right into the wall. It takes him a moment to register all the faces. All the details of the room. None of this was right.

Yet he suddenly comes to look at Alan, with the man's own face reflected in the black visor; along with the rest of the room. Alan's face dead in the center of the visor. "...How can you look like.."

"..how is that even.."

TRON has posed:
Alan spares a look back over his shoulder as everyone starts gathering either at the top of the stairs or trying to come down towards him. Deelel, fortunately, manages to get to the forefront of the group and keep the more curious ones such as Will or Avira from advancing further down than about halfway.

"The laser activated!" He calls back, sounding like he doesn't know what's going on any better than anyone else does. "Someone's coming through! Stay upstairs!"

The form builds from a wire-mesh frame to... No. He knows that suit. Knows the layout of the circuitry lines and the colors, even though the helmet is completely new.

Anyone who could catch a glimpse of Alan's face would see the most perfect example possible of downright uncomprehensible shock. His face goes lax, his jaw somehow not falling to the floor, his face goes completely white, and his whole stance staggers as the hullabaloo behind him is completely forgotten in light of what's going on right in front of him.

He doesn't move from the bottom of the staircase, apparently bracing himself against the walls for a moment. He has literally bluescreened.

The laser powers off just as suddenly as it had activated, dropping the figure to the ground, and the computer shuts down in an automatic reboot. Subsequently, the lights calm down, the pounding intro tune of 'Beat It' echoes down the stairwell, and the the assorted sounds and flickering lights of the arcade games stabilize and return to normal. But Alan is still staring at this scrambling white-suited Program who seems... to know him?

HOW?!

The helmeted white-suited Program speaks--it is modulated, a little distorted, but it isn't /his own/ voice. That realization finally ends his own mental bluescreen and he swallows hard. "Welcome to Userspace, Program," he states with far more calm than he actually feels. His face is still deathly pale, though. "Identify yourself."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel says "This is how I and I assume every other of my kind got here Issac."

She has no idea if the new arrival is going to be hostile but she's got her disc out and it's not powered but it's ready she seems very concerned at this point, she's very concerned and unaware of the other new arrivals at the arcade at this point. Things are just going to get crazy the laser is doing it's thing it's building someone for sure they don?t' look viral but it looks very much like the other variant of Deelel's light suit. She seems a bit on edge as she looks at them for a moment as whoever the masked arrival is? They seem to be very confused and she takes a deep breath, before she speaks.

"Take it easy you just had a heck of a shock to your system. So take it easy program."

She takes a calculated guess assuming this new arrival is a basic like TRON and herself given Users on grid are rare as hell if to be unheard of really. Save in a few very not well known incidents. Well there's one other but that's only just coming back to mind to her. With TRON asking the question she hangs back a little bit now wondering where things will go she does lower her disc, as a sign of non hostility but it's not quite on her back yet.

Avira has posed:
Not listening to warnings. LIKE A BOSS! Cheerfully, Avira announces her intentions over the radio to Isaac as well. Sure, there might be danger going down but she's not going to let that stop her. Not when she feels this GREAT.

But she does slow when he calls out that the laser activated and stops completely as Deelel holds them at bay for the time being until the coast is clear. But when she hears a new voice speaking, she pushes her way through to get a look.

Upon seeing the white-suited newcomer, she freezes. "What the heck...?" Definitely a program. Definitely confusing TRON. It takes Avira circling around the pair to see the same symbol glowing upon the white-suited program's chest to really understand the confusion. "...wait. TRON? But..."

She looks from Alan to the new program, back to 'Alan.' The voice throws her off at that point. She knows TRON's voice and that didn't sound like him at all.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Most of the people in the Arcade are actually in the lower chamber, behind the TRON machine and downstairs. Isaac is standing at the top of it, because he figures if someone were to charge through the front door and start firing death rays, there should be someone to draw fire and wait a minute, this is a /crap deal/.

"Right. I'll check it out in... just a minute," Isaac calls. He wants to get down there, but... guh, responsibility. Isaac turns to the kids coming in the door, eyeing Marche and Ritz for a second and sighing inwardly. They're armed; they can handle themselves. "Hey, you two." He waves past the banks of arcade cabinets with his right arm. His hand is visibly metallic; it looks like some kind of crazy robot hand. Maybe he's also a Jedi. "Watch out, there might be trouble."

/Then/ he goes down the stairs. Problem: solved.

"So what's this -- huh." He stops just inside the room at the bottom, adjusting his glasses and giving the contents of the room a once-over. His eyes stop on the program that just materialized. "Friend of yours?" He /looks/ remarkably familiar, but there's something slightly... off. Definitely not TRON.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will hits the bottom of the stairs only to see..

"..Huh." He says, with an interested expression. "This...is apparently a guy." he says, but isn't too worried about a guy that looks like Alan. "Nice to meet you." Will says, walking up to Renegade and giving him a hand. "The name is Will Sherman, King of the Hobos." He says, pretty not caring about this whole same idenity thing.

Though there is a faint line that connects them...it's...odd.

"It seems you had a rough time. Well, you are safe now. Assuming you don't have any nasty things following you."

He pauses, "Please tell me nothing was following you...like...not things with strange patters on them?"

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Ramza had actually been staying at the top of the stairwell as well, beside Isaac, and as he passes off /watch/ to the two random strangers, he just chortles very softly. But Ramza actually stays at the top of the stairwell. You know, because if people with deathrays came through the front door, he'd actually be the idiot who would dive in front of one of them to save someone else. It totally was a /crap deal/. So instead he leans against the railing at the top, peering down the stairs and...

Yeah he still didn't understand a thing about programs and their ecology, much less why that other program looked a lot like TRON from his perspective. Living in a world that was just /barely/ out of the dark ages did that to a person.

Marche Radiuju has posed:
Having the viera spy on Marche at every moment grew increasingly uncomfortable. Every time he went somewhere, one of them would pop up. Marche is going back to reflect on those moments with Ritz as his warden.

<Marche> Time to enjoy a nice walk through the garden...
<Viera Archer> :| Jiiiiiiii~
<Marche> ... o_O||

<Marche> Okay, I need to head to the bathro---
<Viera Fencer> Jiiiiii~

<Marche> ... Nevermind.

<Marche> *yawns* Nngghh... time to go to sleep and---
<Viera Assassin> Jiiiii~
<Marche> ... Q_Q *sleeps with one eye open*

Marche did not get a good night's rest, overall. Then, he hears Ritz telling him to wait, which is a command that he has to obey. Ritz is right. She is always right. Those are important lessons to remember to not get hit by her.

Of course, Isaac directed them to watch out. Marche looks confused for a moment. "Uhh... okay."

Renegade has posed:

"Why don't you identify yourself." The TRON(?) says. "How can you look like him?! How is that even possible!" He then goes to take a shaky step forward and places his hand up to his helm. Then he just slumps back a bit to only watch Avira circle him.

This actually causes him to jump back. Trip on a cord and nearly falls over. As he comes back around to suddenly have Will placing out his hand. The White Program does a look down at his hand, then back at Will. Then back at Alan, then back at Will. "Will.. what.. huh.."

He then tries to /get/ away from the extended hand. It was kinda slowly becoming obvious that this was perhaps slowly becoming data overload for this TRON-alike program. Yes, his voice was indeed not matching up, but he was pretty close, and ok. Maybe a smidgen shorter.

However he just keeps staring at /everyone/. His mind racing. His breathing seeming a little on edge of wanting to scream. Yet somehow he keeps from doing that. Somehow he keeps from just yelling at the top of his lungs to get some space.

What he does do however is suddenly run right past everyone, shoving perhaps poor Deelel to the side, jumping right past Isaac and then running right into one of the Arcade machines, before he nealy goes flat onto the ground.

That-- didn't go exactly according to plan.

Slowly the TRON look alike pushes himself up. He hears the music. He hears the machines. He steps around in a circle before he just then starts to run for the door.

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Artemis remains at the top of the stairs with Ramza in a similar state of confusion, her hand still on the hilt of her blade in case whatever was happening came to blows. Someone knew had appeared--somehow. It was technology so foreign it might as well be magic to her.

Art looks to Ramza, shrugging her shoulders slightly. They are out of their element, but it is sure to be a learning experience.

And Suddenly has posed:
Connections are made. Systems come online. Such things do not go unnoticed.

An eye opens.

A rumbling sound comes from above as the situation below Flynn's Arcande continues to mount. Everyone is gathered around the newcomer, asking him their questions and establishing initial interaction protocols. Handshaking may be involved.

Those who didn't go downstairs notice a large group of scruffy bikers who whoop and holler, bearing the signs of aa disrputable gang. One of them heads for the side of the building while the others begin lighting bottles on fire.

There is the noise of shattering glass. There is a snap as bolt cutters go through a power main. The systems below may be on a backup, maybe not. But the loud music above suddenly dies out, resulting in deafening silence... Which is broken by a dull thud. Another smell, an unpleasant one, begins to reach the people below.

Smoke.

Along with the smoke, there is a measured step. Tap. Tap. Tap.

People inevitably rush upstairs, to meet flames framing the front of the arcade. A number of scruffy men yell as they throw molotov cocktails at the front of the building.

More importantly, there is a man, silhouetted by the fire. In the darkness, the features are hard to see, but one can immediately note the well-tailored suit he wears.

LEXUS has posed:
And then the eyes open, and the distinctive irises can be seen. The purple, pulsing traceries become visible as they flare to life, streaking down the tie and across the head and jawline of the man.

"Well well well." LEXUS says pleasantly. "I see we always return to the scene of the crime."

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
So two Final Fantasy Tactics protagonists are together upstairs, all sorts of shenanigans should be occurring, right? She gives Artemis a strange look, then looks over at Marche Radiuju and states after giving him an appraising look.

"Well met. ...nice hair, Ser."

Ramza appears to be the only person in the history of Final Fantasy who would ever say that to Marche.

Marche Radiuju has posed:
Marche cannot help but blink, looking at Ramza in awe. "...It's like looking into a mirror, if I was a bit older..."

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Artemis looks toward Marche, tilting her head slightly as she looks him over.

Artemis looks to Ramza then. "He's adorable, can we keep him?" she asks.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will is shoved to the side, he doesn't fall over, just a little surprised...well not really. It's a normal reaction, given things...he looked like a fish out of water, and his lines...all data-y and stuff. He's a program...

Then he runs upstairs, Will who is a master of Parkour follows, running up after him only to hear the THUD of Renegade hitting something heavy. He winces, "Heeeey! Stop! This isn't the same place where yo-" through the door.

"Hey guys! Stop looking at each other! We got a runaway.." he says, and steps outisde...

Fire. He looks around, flames and smoke...what?

Tap Tap tap.

Will snaps his head towards the sound...

LEXUS.

There is a sudden shift, Will's hands explode in magical energy, red flames burn from his hand as he speaks in tones that inflect more than mortal words sure. They are FELT more than heard, as he takes a step towards Lexus.

"/YOU/!" and there he goes, immeidately diving right towards LEXUS. There was no holding back...not against this thing. This monster.

The destroyer of Manhattan.

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
"Another time, Artemis. If you haven't noticed..." He gestures with one hand towards the building, which is ON FIRE.

So. Ramza basically takes a quick glance downstairs to make certain noone is trapped, and then makes a mad rush for the front door, motioning for Ritz and Marche to follow him. And so Will is attacking.. another program, who he's never seen before. Generally he trusts that Will Sherman will only attack people who are actually /deserving/ of wrath though so he takes the approach of not asking questions first. Power thrums through his fingertips as he gathers the energy for his spells, "Precious Light be our armor and protect us. Silent light shield us from bloody iniquity!" Purple, opaque and crystalline barriers appear just in front of Artemis and Ramza, before becoming translucent and unobtrusive. He gives a glance to Artemis, then to Will, and states, "Artemis.. try to subdue whatever in Faram's name that is. We'll sort it out afterwards."

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Fairly rapidly, everything starts to go to hell. Odd encounter with Marche aside, flaming bottles are being thrown in at them and Artemis doesn't need to know chemistry to know that this is a BAD THING.

"Tch...the time for blood has come again it seems," she says, then nods to Ramza, taking off to assess who is attacking, and maybe why. Her eyes take in the bikers, but it is fairly clear who is in charge here. The well dressed one. Figures. Artemis draws her blade, falling into a fighting stance near Ramza, nodding to him when she hears his orders.

Without further pause, Artemis launches forward, sword flashing toward the being LEXUS. She doesn't know his name or what he's done. It doesn't, at this moment, matter.

TRON has posed:
Alan is too stunned to keep people back, Will and Avira jostling past him to get a better up-close-and-personal look at the situation. He opens his mouth as the basement gets steadily more crowded, but does not even get a sound out before the not-TRON bolts. He ducks instinctively, seeing a flare of white pass by, then he spins around and tries to follow--though he admittedly bounces a bit between people and the wall in his rush.

No sooner does he reach the top of the stairs than power cuts out entirely. White light turns red as backup power takes over, the games shutting down entirely to save power, and the poor overwhelmed Alan just stands in the middle of the arcade floor. Smoke, fire, shouting...

A familiar voice who should not be here.

His eyes flare pure white as he nearly rips his glasses off of his face and tosses them carelessly to the side. He grabs the white Program by the arm and yanks him back with a narrowed-eye glare. "Stay back." He raises his voice so the others can hear him. "Stop those people from destroying this building and /stop that fire/!"

He doesn't say another word, simply stalking forwards as he untucks his shirt and pulls his Frisbee Disc free from under his shirt. He strides out of the Arcade utterly heedless of the flames, not even seeming to notice as his clothing catches on fire--the black material underneath changing to pure white, circuitry lines flaring to life in bluish-white light in an identical match to the not-TRON Program.

His Disc flares to life and he spins on his heel while releasing the weapon, throwing it on an arc to catch as many of the 'scruffy men' while also aiming to tag LEXUS as well. He asks no questions, nor does he care.

Avira has posed:
The new program immediately starts freaking out. At first Avira's a little put of by this but as the freaking out continues, she silently starts to sympathize with the guy. It's very likely this Program has not been in the User World before so this is clearly some kind of huge and unfortunate shock. "Hey wait!" she calls out, running after him, passing Isaac, and barrelling up the stairs.

Just in time for the building to be on FIRE! Then suddenly IN THE DARK as all the arcade cabinets around them wink out. She spies the gang beyond but her attention is mostly upon a certain virus standing there.

"...you." Avira growls.

She never had a chance with this guy. Ever since Manhattan was restored-ever since their meeting upon the mountain while she was still a Mutate, she has not seen him.

She slams her hands together, ice magic flaring between them both. "No! This time he's MINE!" Not that she expects those here to really adhere to that but she makes it clear anyway-abundantly clear as she starts blasting air-encased javelins of ice at LEXUS.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel says "Woah slow down calm down, wait people don't crowd him." It's too late, The new program seems to be almost panicking at this point. She does get shoved aside and she goes down with a thud. She forces herself back up fairly quicky and is moving to chase after the Renegade like she'll vaunt over people to chase after this mysterious arrival. She's now up on the main floor chasing after him.

"Wait come back! Stop glitching out this isn't going to go well out there if your not prepared!"

She's following after him looking more than a little pretreated but she can understand the chaos. She had time, she was alone when she arrived, this poor program? He was swarmed by people and is likely going pop. Then there's flames and someone else attacking it seems everything is going to chaos.

"This is the worst hello world, ever."

Deelel muses as she now arrives to see LEXUS her eyes narrow and she speaks up.

"/You/, I will not let you harm anyone here virus."

Is she a bit more confident than last time yes, she's got more experience and well she damn well knows there's a small army inside and downstairs too."

Deelel's already loading several command as she grabs her disc and powers it up.

"NEWBIE THAT MANS A VIRUS! WATCH YOUR SELF!"

Renegade has posed:

The TRON(?) in question screeches to a stop across the ground, ignoring the three who seem to be completely ignoring the sudden smoke and sudden cocktails thrown to cause even more of a fire. Then there is a someone walking toward them; someone that doesn't seem to be such a friendly individual.

Not that this TRON isn't use to the idea of not friendly faces. It happens to him every day really.

He takes a few steps back to suddenly see Will prepare himself for battle and just go right for the attack. Yet there was /this/ fire problem. Suddenly its switching gears time. He takes a few more steps back and looks around the area. There had to be away to put out the fire, but nothing here looks right. It all looks wrong.

However whatever he was thinking was interrupted as Alan suddenly yanks him back and he nearly goes right back down the steps. "Oh like frag I am." He mutters to himself. As he watches Alan become TRON. "..I already.." He doesn't finish his thoughts as Deelel gives her warning.

"Whatever." He suddenly then throws his disc at the window, shattering it above. He kicks off the arcade cabnets, takes ahold of a pipe, and then swings himself around a few times. Before he throws himself right out the window and lands out side perhaps on the other side of the direction TRON was coming out.

He stands ready, white disc in hand looking at this 'virus' and his fingers gently getting ready to throw the disc but he doesn't move just yet. "So is that the custom of saying hello? Burning down the house?" The other TRON says sarcastically.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac steps aside when the TRON look-alike barrels at him. While most people assume that stepping in the way is a good plan, Isaac assumes that a guy dressed like that can just knock him the heck down. "Woah. Okay, sure, guy, just --"

And then things get hairy.

Isaac takes the stairs two at a time going back up. He passes Ramza on the way, pulling his tablet out of his coat pocket and flicking it to life. He shouts something nonsensical and vaguely arcane, flickers of blue light kindling to life inside nearby arcade cabinets. The room is quickly bathed in a dim cyan light. Another few words, and luminescent sheets fade into sight, dropping on top of the fires spread by the molotovs before they can get out of control. It's still too quiet, though.

Isaac makes a quick gesture. He frowns at what appears on his tablet's display. "Cutting the power? Really? Yeah, sorry; I don't think so." Isaac snaps his fingers with his left hand. There's another flicker of light, a dim trail of blue sparks connecting Isaac and various corners of the room. The music comes back on... sort of.

BGM CHANGE: http://youtu.be/7FC4Wk9QTKI

Isaac figures the Programs will appreciate it... and really, it's a miniscule expenditure of effort on his part. The /real/ part of his focus is going /inward/. The light builds...

Marche Radiuju has posed:
It seems that Marche came at one of the more weirder times. Why? Well, there is the sound of glass shattering. Marche quickly creens his head towards one of the ruffians that step into the building. He quickly hides the grimoire at this point, reaching for his broadsword.

The young soldier readies himself, but then the smell of smoke flares within his nostrils. As the molotov cocktails are tossed, Marche coughs and covers his mouth, gazing through the flames. With the scruffy men doing their deeds, Marche grits his teeth.

"We can't let them burn this place down! Is there a sprinker system?!"

Marche looks around the arcade.

...Oh, right. As Ramza motions for him and Ritz to follow, the boy grasps his friend's hand and he leads her out! With his sword drawn, Marche turns towards Ramza, "We have to disable the hoodlums!"

Marche takes a defensive stance, holding his shield and tightening his stance.

LEXUS has posed:
"I can expect no less of you, child."

LEXUS smiles, his eyes flaring a grim purple as the words of the Synchro Hobo wash over and around him. The ruffians in the background cringe, but LEXUS's suit whips in the wind, the Dark Virus able to stand against the force of the fae. He strikes, impacting LEXUS, but the give is... far less than Will might have hoped. With a sudden motion, he grabs Will. There is a flare of neon green as he begins to break down Will's defenses on touch. "Is that your best?" LEXUS says. "How will you avenge your precious world like that?" With a sudden move, he flings Will back, sending him flying back across the arcade with unnatural strength. With a flick of his hand, LEXUS's Identity Disc is pulled from under his suit, and it begins floating around him.

Artemis comes slashing in with her blade towards LEXUS, and he looks over, the weapon cleaving past the Disc to strike him. The blade carves into him, releasing not blood but a glittering energy that rapidly dissipates. "Leave this place and you will live." LEXUS says to Artemis. That's all he says to her, even as he levels a hand to spear Artemis with another blast of viral force.

TRON then makes his appearance. "Finally." LEXUS smiles. "No more hiding, savior of the Grid? I hoped you would return, and return you have." The Disc comes flying towards him, and he whips his own to the side, trying to parry it... But the expert rebounding strike impacts his shoulder, blasting a chunk away into shards of data. He grimaces, the wound re-rezzing into solidarity. The gangers are not so lucky. The Disc impacts them, knocking them over easily. They are, after all, only Users.

The Dark Virus simply shakes his head at Deelel as she makes her declaration. "Let me? You couldn't stop me from taking the servers below the first time. What makes you think you will do any better this time?"

Avira then adds her own objections. He laughs as he sees her. "Well then, you're looking much more fit of late, Avira. You've given me a great deal of useful data." He gestures. "It's been so long! Let's see if you've improved. You want me, you will have to come and get me." He grins. "I trust those terms are acceptable." The frosty spears pierce through him, but the unnatural ability to restore damage that LEXUS exhibits results in him only taking several shallow wounds from the icy spears.

The unknown Program makes his appearance. LEXUS turns towards him, eyes narrow. "/You/." He says, pointing a gnarled finger at the man. "Identify yourself, Program." There is something he sees there. Something he doesn't like. Isaac makes his own magic apparent, and pulls the Virus' attention from the Program. "Another child of Manhattan, looking for his revenge, is it? Don't think you'll be able to defeat me with such parlor tricks, technomancer. My powers are greater than you realize."

It's at this point that LEXUS raises his hands. "Assuming direct control."

There is a crack as the surroundings sharpen, losing reality as they enter a sort of uncanny valley. Everything becomes finer, more rendered, losing tiny details. To the Programs, it might be a slight comfort.

To everyone else, it might unsettle them intensely, as there is a sudden eruption of flames that roar across the area, consuming magical defenses and augmentations, while glittering crystals shear across the area in perfect geometry, the icy spikes lashing out to sap strength of arm. No one is spared.

Renegade has posed:

TRON(?) watches as the world suddenly changes. He steps back a few times. Seeming to be examining what is going on around him. However getting in a fight right after digitizing and not being use to your surroundings?

Probably not the best idea.

Suddenly spikes start to come down and threaten to turn him into a pin cushion. He flips away from one, deflects another, goes to throw his disc at Lexus at the worse possible time and then gets nailed by a few of the pen points.

They slash through his white armor, blue cubes, like lquid dance down to the ground from the impact. Yet the unknown program stands back up as he catches his disc. "Who am I?"

The other White Program then starts to charge right at LEXUS. He then slides down low to trip up Lexus, before he comes around to fire off his disc and then flips around, to catch the disc, before snapping it in a hard arch. "I am TRON!"

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
The eruption of flames takes Ramza off guard. He tries to take cover, by literally sliding towards the alleyway, but he's too late, as he's scoured, and his magical protections flicker, and die away, corrupted by LEXUS' fell energies. While he's sliding, he picks up a stone, and skips it in his direction. The throw goes wide. And he finds himself on his knees, giving LEXUS an appraising look.

Apparently he had underestimated the threat this creature posed, he wouldn't make that mistake again. He listens to his words, and makes up his mind.

Removing the peaceknot off his Saya preemptively, he raises another hand, "Heavenly wind, bring new life to the soul!"

A breeze of divine energy moves through the area, stripping away the corruption that LEXUS' flames had imbued into his and Artemis' soul.

And then he shifts the Katana's steel out of the Saya fractionally. There is a glint of light upon the steel, but he waits.. for just the right oppurtunity.

Avira has posed:
It may have been a long time since Avira has personally fought LEXUS, but she remembers these effects well. It is that memory that prevents further loss of SAN points for now-and boy is she running low on those SAN points after her walk through the Corridors of Darkness. Crystals jammed into her skin to drain energy are still intensely painful.

Yet Avira remains standing. "Oh I bet I have." Avira seems displeased by this. "But things have changed. A lot. For one, this is my turf." She clenches her right fist, undaunted by the fact that her previous damage healed almost immediately. Avira charges in, ice climbing over her closed fist and forearm. It seems as if she's going to go for a low blow but...

...she twists upwards instead, quite suddenly, and turns it into a vicious uppercut. Silvery energy follows the arc of her blow, vanishing a second later. Oddly enough, she has yet to draw the Spine. The weapon remains in its sheath upon her back.

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Artemis winces, though it is not visible from beneath the mask she wears. The viral energy that bashes into her is interesting to say the least. It is different, yet not completely foreign to her. De-buffs are de-buffs after all. They can be very troublesome.

The world changes around her, distorting and an unsettling way, but Artemis does not waver, keeping her focus as the geometric shapes dart through the air, grazing her armor in several places, drawing thin lines of blood beneath. But even as LEXUS attacks, she counters, slashing out with her blade in a quick cut aimed for the program's thigh, hoping to slow him down. "I am unable to comply with your request--kill me if you think you can," she says, baring her teeth to LEXUS, a smile of anticipated pleasure.

Unfortunately, she is also unable to comply with Avira's request. "Apologies Avira. I will conceded the killing blow if it comes to such," she says before dashing in, not holding back now as she whirls with her katana in a series of deadly, graceful cuts. High, low, feint, low, reverse, spin, thrust...and while the dance plays out Artemis feels Ramza's magic wash over her body, easing the troubles of the virus' effect on her body and spirit.

TRON has posed:
TRON continues to advance, catching his Disc as it returns to him. His expression is not the fury of the Users, but a cold, black, absolute lack of any emotion at all. "I see. So this is what you have been waiting for." Even his voice is void of emotion, barely reacting as a viral taint on his silver Disc burns his hand where the weapon had struck LEXUS.

The white Chakram Disc on his back whirrs faintly, the circuitry lines on its surface glowing pure white, and TRON kneels on one knee as the surroundings change. Sharpen. Become marginally more familiar yet so terribly different. But where the terrain lashes out at everyone else, the area directly around himself is absolutely still and calm.

Memories stream through his consciousness unbidden, fragments not his own but data Flynn had hacked into his code before he had even known of Userspace. The circuitry lines on his silver Disc change to white as well, but he doesn't seem to notice. He closes his eyes, diving headlong into the stream of information he would usually dam and file away into background processing. Events, faces, memories, data--so much data--flash past at speeds above human comprehension, the Security Program instinctively searching for something very specific.

If his worst suspicions are right, if this Disc holds what he /thinks/ it holds... then there is still one very important key left from Alan-One himself. He just needs to find it.

Marche Radiuju has posed:
"You will all answers for your crimes!" Marche's eyes narrow as he takes the forward charge.

However, as Marche takes a step forward, he notices that the atmosphere changes. The surroundings become finer and rendered. It approaches uncanny valley. "OH MY GOD, THIS IS LIKE STEPPING INTO THE Z-BOX! AAAAHHHHH!!!"

Marche snaps into attention, feeling the eruption of te lmes. The augmentation is slowly tearing away, those icy spikes sapping against his arms. He immediately drops to a knee.

He stands back up, then he grits his teeth. He charges ahead, bringing the broadsword back and he swings the blunt of the weapon towards one of the Ruffian's chest, followed by the swing of the sword with a flow once more. A blue and red aura surrounds the blade. This time, this will sap their speed and physical power.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel wonders about who this program is but she likes his sense of snark it's a good snark. Also like most of the Manhattnites knows LEXUS far better than they'd really ever want to. She nearly became one with him once in a very unenjoyable and chompy way. As the others pile out of the Arcade to meet the hostile virus. Isaac joins the fight. Will's here, Avira and TRON and several of the arcade goers she does not know.

"I'm not alone."

She does know a world of pain is coming for her she knows it but she's going to try to face LEXUS down once more. She had no control really, as to Deelel the world gets a bit more normal but then that hits her that's a bad thing a very bad thing. She keeps her armed disc and she looks about okay the world seems to be shifting and then there's flames a whole lot of flames. She's caught int them she's hurt but not too badly. She's already launching her disc at Lexus even as she breaks into a flat out run trying to flank LEXUS, the pain had begun and he's come for an entire system. The one that this new program is likely from.

She's not going to sit still for all the good it will do her.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will goes flying, skidding a bit before coming to a stop. He isn't hit as solidly as LEXUS might have hoped for...but it was still a palpable hit. Will stands up, looking directly at LEXUS.

"Talk is all I hear from you, virus." He says, he starts moving again, forward. The arms glow, and he dives in, this time trying to take advantage of others jumping in. The fists come down, first aiming right for the Program's chest, aiming to break through the hard defenses...and then he flips back, aiming to heel kick LEXUS' right in the back of the head and send him face first into the ground...

All the while, the strings break and wither as Will burns them away, aiming to weaken the virus under his blows.

"It seems to be all you're ever good at. We restored our world, we outsmarted you, and now you're going to face the consiquences of what you wrought." he says, those words still hanging in the air.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac isn't so much unsettled as surprised. He doesn't really know much about how LEXUS brawls. He feels a portion of the power he's been building scattered by the virus's unfamiliar technique, watching fire and ice erupt all around him. He reacts as he would with most threats, throwing out a barrier of swirling flame, digitally rendered and held into a shield.

LEXUS's flames may have gotten through, but the ice hits the conjured firewall, stopped in its tracks and shattered into pixels by merely touching it. The music pulses, the pixels turned around and slashing back at LEXUS, a magically-propelled wave of what looks like tiny squares that hit like tiny bullets. Isaac keeps casting, walling up the flames before they can harm the equipment within the arcade itself.

"Revenge? Please," he scoffs. "I don't take revenge on a piece of malware -- I just purge it." Isaac raises his right arm, the mechanical prosthetic lifting its fingers and pointing a finger-gun at LEXUS. He drops his thumb and mouths, 'Bang.'

The weird simulation abruptly rebels. Immediately around Isaac, the world reboots, a vector lines appearing as things seem to re-render into reality in slow motion. A pulse of digital fire erupts from his outstretched hand, lobbed at LEXUS much like a normal fireball with a payload more at home in an antiviral suite. The weird rebooting effect starts to extend where the 'embers' from the 'fireball' fall. He's clearly more at home with this than any /other/ mage might be.

LEXUS has posed:
The Program identifies himself, and an expression of rage crosses LEXUS' face. "TRON?" He yells. "YOU CAN'T BE TRON! HE'S TRON!" He points at the other TRON. "THERE CAN'T BE TWO TRONS! ONE IS ONE TOO MANY!" He yells, clearly angry. Every attack upon LEXUS is answered with a sudden flash of neon green, the Dark Virus punishing any contact or assault as it comes in. The Disc hammers into him, causing him to stagger backwards for a moment. "I'll simply read your ID codes from your derezzing data structures." He snarls, bleeding a noxious purple light.

"It /was/ your turf." LEXUS corrects Avira. "Now it is mine. Any time I wish. Restoring it did not stop my goals." He twists, the Disc flaring brightly as Avira hammers into the protective digital platter, the icy energy flowing around it without harm. "Perhaps I can optimize your performance? It shouldn't hurt too much..." He taunts.

Artemis cleaves into and through LEXUS, her masterful swordwork bypassing the Disc that blocked Avira. energy spatters out into the air repeatedly, dissipating as LEXUS is forced backwards. "I don't normally do requests, but for you I might make an exception." the Virus replies to Artemis.

Marche dashes in with his blade, but unfortunately LEXUS was ready for that. The blade hammers into a combination of Disc and energy barrier. There is a wash of light Marche hits it like a truck... And then LEXUS radiates an impulse of power, launching him backwards. "You've stepped into something far worse, child." LEXUS says, and then pauses. "Ugh. I'm surrounded by children and Programs. What is this?"

And then Deelel smacks him upside the head. LEXUS cringes from the hit, and he growls, turning upon the Program. "You think you're going to beat me by weight of numbers? I'm going to teach you otherwise!"

Will strikes, trying to break the connections that hold LEXUS together as he cleaves with his Fae-born powers. Did anyone ever mention that fairies and tech don't mix well? LEXUS pauses, his appearance stuttering for a moment as Will sees connections reestablish themselves. He seems to be desperately attempting to prevent a repeat of their last meeting. "You're a fool." LEXUS snarls back at Will. "I destroyed your world. I was the architect of the plan. I organized the Shadow Lords. I destablized Manhattan, supplied Sevarius with his research material, and kept Xanatos himself at bay. I think I have /more/ than established my credentials to tell you to sit down and shut up. Destroying Manhattan was not the end, it was a means."

Isaac attempts to fight fire with fire... Or ice with ice, really. LEXUS feels the technomancer attempt to wrest control of the area from him, and LEXUS. "What a surprise, someone who's actually competent?" He grunts in pain at the counterattack, and then shakes his head. "Underestimate me at your own peril. I'm as much of a person as you are, wizard." He is smashed by the fireball, the antiviral code tearing into him and consuming part of his body before he pulls it away from him, throwing it aside and leaving parts of him... missing. Slowly, they begin to reestablish themselves as he rebuilds himself in realtime. "Maybe moreso." He laughs.

A moment later, shearing beams of neon light shred across the area, raining down in a hailstorm of crushing, obliterating light. "Dissolution will not be my future!" He yells, as rips open in the air, skittering Daemon Heartess appear and begin swarming the heroes. "It seems to me that /you/ are the ones who are outnumbered here!" LEXUS augments the HEartless assault with bolts of corrupting data that begin consuming whatever they touch, preventing restoratives from working as well.

Renegade has posed:

The guy who keeps acting like TRON apparently can't help but /smirk/ under the dark visor hiding his face as LEXUS' uproar. Though he gets smashed back by viral data and cringes softly as he slides across the ground. His systems quickly start to fight off the infection as he stands back up."If that is what you believe."

"Suit yourself." The white suited, TRON-looking program quickly flips away from the Heartless as they come in trying to inflect him. He uses his disc to block their blows away, he moves with great fluidity in an almost dance like fashion of speed and control.

He then comes to land up on a closed Trash Can lid as he takes a moment to catch his breath, mostly cause the virual infection, though his systems handled a good deal of it, didn't get it all. So he tries to recalibrate his systems a bit while watching the battle take place before him.

Yeah. This guy was /not/ part of CLU's group. Just like this place was NOT Tron City. Just like many of these people-- they couldn't be programs. Maybe ISOs? No. Even ISOs look like they do. These guys are something.. different. But what?

Well, he think to himself, if you didn't let yourself get overloaded..

"But its going to be your derez cycle." The TRON(?) says very calmly. "Not mine."

Avira has posed:
"No."

Avira leaps backwards, evading a blast of neon-colored laser summoned by the Program. A roll sideways avoids a second. Then a third. With impressive agility she evades each scathing blast and corrupting bolt. As she moves, the Spine is finally withdrawn from its custom casing and immediately put to work cleaving through a Daemon Heartless.

"I am a part of this city." Avira says, her voice resolute as she plunges her way through another Heartless, easily able to manuver even in these close quarters.

"This city is a part of me." The silver glow returns, only this time, it becomes painful to look at-as if everyone suddenly had the chance to see what Will Sherman sees when he looks at 'people like her.' Winding her way through a veritable obstacle course of energy and Heartless, she swoops in upon LEXUS and strikes, slamming the Spine at the very disc he has been fighting with. She doesn't stop there, not even to appreciate the large amount of rage this second new TRON was incurring from LEXUS. In fact, she realizes that this is the first time she's witnessed LEXUS and TRON confronting each other-only later.

Avira is hard at work. Her light-fueled strikes rain down fast and fiere, interspersed with the occasional massive blast of ice magic. With one final blow of the weapon she wields, she backs off, snapping her fingers, summoning spires of ice to trap LEXUS where he stands.

She turns her back on the Program, nodding to the TRONs and, pointedly, Isaac, "All yours."

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Ramza Beoulve had literally heard enough from this virus. He decided in a moment that it truly was worthy of destruction. He just didn't believe he could manage it on his own.

He would not, however, hold back... The Neon light coruscates around the area, and he wills his barriers upwards, allowing it to catch the brunt of the force, while he raises an arm as the crushing light drives him into the pavement. The pavement gives just slightly, causing cracks to form, as he goes down on one knee. The Heartless then rain down bolts of corrupting data on him, infecting his remaining protections. His offhand, slips the Katana out of its Saya another fraction of an inch, and before he even rises a blue aura begins to lim his body. And then that energy, whatever it is, gets drawn into the blade, which begins to wisp smoke from the sudden heat, now contained within it.

As he rises, he begins to charge at the virus. It is perhaps not the best plan, a head on assault... but the program likely did not have very much data on Ramza Beoulve, if any at all. He might just be able to take him off guard... And so as he gets close to the program, he leaps into the air. He wasn't a very agile person by nature, and so he had to use a Geomancer's trick to seize control of the winds, to buffet him upwards, causing him to flip right over him, he lands behind LEXUS and...

The next movement is enhanced by the speed of his constant training with Artemis and Zack, as he's suddenly not behind LEXUS any longer, but in front of him and the blade is not only drawn, but has burst into flames. A quick drawing motion that was meant to bisect the Virus and cauterize the wound he caused in the same movement, if it managed to strike

Zantetsuken!

He had no patience or mercy for tin-plated tyrants who boasted of causing the fall of a world.

Marche Radiuju has posed:
That's right. A child is stepping up in here! That boy is none other than Marche! Unfortunately, although the boy intened to strike hard at LEXUS, his blade hammers into the disc and the energy barrier. That powerful forcefield explodes, sending the blade winding the opposite direction and the young adventurer to follow suit.

"Whoooooaaaaaaa!" Marche falls towards the ground, but immediately twists into a roll to help cushion the fall. He manages to roll himself enough to get back to his feet, then he tightens his fist as he grabs a small pebble from the ground.

As Daemon Heartless appear, Marche's eyes widen. "Whh-----what the?!" They bolt and release their corruptive nature. Their charge tear forward to strike Marche and afflict him with grevious wounds. In this, he does manage to toss the stone at some of the daemons, but it was nothing compared to the digital assault.

"I am out of my element with all of this. However.."

His eyes lift up to see that Avira, only to see a glow that makes him want to turn back, "Gaahh!" He winces, looking away from the source of light. Once Avira's assault is cleared, Marche moves forward to take advantage.

"I may be a kid, but I will show you justice!"

Marche moves forward with renewed strength, "Haaaargghh!" He swings the blade out towards the Daemon Heartless around, seeking to hack them apart. He brings the broadsword up, the green glow emanates from the blade before he swings it down towards LEXUS, seeking to destroy his energy field.

Next, the sword glows with another aura, he comes forward to enchant the blade with a yellow aura. The blade whips forward to tear against the magical force, or in this case, the data force.

Will Sherman has posed:
LEXUS's determination shatters the young lad, he goes flying from the hands of the many Daemon heartless, rolling until he stops slumped against the Arcade..

It hurts...IT hurts...but, despite it, he stands back up, grabbing the building as things start to come around him.

Then they stop. Something changes in the air around him, and the heartless EXPLODE as power unlike any othe surges from him. For a brief moment...

A Consensus is met.

"We do not appreciate you running your mouth, Virus." a fusion of perfect unity can be heard. Two voices, acting as perfectly as one speak. There was always some modulation to Will's voice when he brings his out, but now..? Both voices are heard, one speaking like will, and one speaking in such a way that REALITY itself seems to talk.

Will dives in, and is suddenly right behind LEXUS.

His hand reaches out, aiming to grab the strings that the Program has, and FREEZE them solid.

Then, with the other hand, that glows a crimson, he dives it into the back of the program, aiming for the remaining strings..

And attempts to shatter them.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac doesn't take LEXUS's counterattack well. He's honestly not that tough -- he's got immense magical power, but when all is said and done, he's only human. Bolts of corrupting data eat away at his shield, and neon light slams into and through it, slashing into his body. He staggers backwards, stepping over the staircase and hanging in mid-air.

"Moreso? I don't think so. I've met people like you, virus -- people who got a little bit of the wrong kind of power, a taste of something besides their own mortality, who let it go right to their head." Isaac brushes off a clinging blob of weird light. It slides off his jacket, leaving an oily film. It'll suck if he gets any more beat up, he thinks; white magic is going to be a hassle through this.

The technomage weaves another spell. He pulls on the pocket of stability, watching the battle progress as he cooks up something totally different. He murmurs nonsense syllables and starts constructing something out of what little LEXUS lets through. He thins his barricades, trying to keep the damage and the Heartless from spreading, leaving himself open in the process.

Little flashes of blue light play between Isaac's fingers. Small bolts of something like lightning jump into the fray, bouncing between hostiles. He looks for an opening. Avira provides it, but not big enough. More juice, he thinks.

"We've got a word for people like you, y'know," Isaac calls.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has learned one thing to not snark as much as she used to do but she's not about to give up. She listens as LEXUS regales about some of his plans and goals or what else he has at this point. Issac's comments make her wonder what her really thinks of her or TRON, she can't really much pause to think on it for the moment, she really can't do so. There's too much pain coming her way and she's not about to deal with the Heartless warm that are coming after everyone. She's fast though she weaves in and out of the ranks of the heartless managing to avoid just getting pasted by any one of them. She flips up into the air and she comes in for a landing launching her disc as she does so before taking off again trying to flank LEXUS as she gets closer.

She continues her dance as she catches her disc as it returns from her most recent attack and she launches it the virus even as her allies unload more power than she expected such as Will and some strangers like Marche throw all in at Lexus she's got an idea but her plan is going to take a moment longer to properly set up. Ramza's actions are quick and factored into the number crunching she's running in her head that a human just wouldn't be able to. Well not at the speeds she's doing.

"This world is not the one of my creation but It's still connected to mine. How many people our own kind or like the users here? DID YOU CONDEM TO THE DARKNESS? You don't even care but I won't stop here, I won't back down."

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Artemis tilts her head slightly at LEXUS's response, but dances back defensively as he tries to counter her, moving aside.

Artemis takes in the situation, listening to the various talk, especially the things said by LEXUS. So, this was a Shadow Lord. Interesting. Responsible for the fall of this world? Well, it had been restored.

Artemis looks toward Avira, her eyes watching with respectful curiosity as the woman glows with the power of a princess of heart. A princess who was pretty damn pissed off.

Heartless appear, and Artemis scoffs lightly. The attack that follows from Lexus, the light, the energy...that did a good deal of damage. That hurt.

But pain is nothing.

Artemis looks to Ramza, then gets out of his way so he can do his this, refocusing her energy for another attack if, by the time the avenger Manhattanites were done, it was needed.

TRON has posed:
Despite the sounds of chaos, TRON does not move, does not even acknowledge what is going on around him or to him.

A corrupted data stream lashes out at TRON, altering his circuitry lines' color to a lavender shade for just an instant while screwing with a few of his non-vital system parameters. Searing beams of light pound the ground around him, one searing down the left side of his back just barely missing his Disc. Those accursed Daemon Heartless swarm, their needle-like claws slicing and attempting to find purchase on his damaged form.

His eyes suddenly snap open, pure white light turning his eyes into glass-like optics. The chakram Disc on his back almost audibly screeches as his circuitry lines pulse noticeably, apparently what has been sought being found once more. "Confirmed, Alan-One. Acknowledged, Creator-Four-Nine-Eight-Three," he states in absolute calm, a benign absence of emotion in sharp contrast to his earlier cold sharpness.

"System Monitor Protocols--" His circuitry lines flare pure white, purging all signs of blue--and stay that way. "--ONLINE."

He suddenly spins where he is, baring both Discs to drive back or outright dispel the Heartless around him, as he surges to his feet. A familiar helm design suddenly pixelates over his face--the same helm design as his black suit'ed form--but there are differences. The helm itself from neck over the back of the head is white, but the opaque visor is a silver reflective chrome.

His whole stance changes--no longer the solid bastion of defense, but a fluid offensive stance that mirrors the other TRON and even Deelel--yet somehow drastically different. "You want my code, LEXUS?" He stalks forwards, arms rising to shoulder height on each side, each hand holding a Disc. "Be careful what you wish for."

He suddenly bounces into the sky, twisting 90-degrees and spinning rapidly as he throws his silver Disc directly for LEXUS and the other bouncing behind the Virus to catch him on the rebound. Without pausing or even slowing, he snatches the silver Disc out of the air and immediately throws it again in an arc, using momentum to power the throw, aiming to catch as many Heartless as possible on its way towards LEXUS.

LEXUS has posed:
A massive amount of firepower rains down into the Dark Virus. There's only so much that one can do in the face of it. There is a detonation of light and power as Avira hammers into LEXUS, launching him out of the Arcade and sending him flying into the street. He tumbles, leaving a trail of skidding, derezzing code as he comes to a stop. He looks up, pushing himself up as he looks at the shining Avira. "You're nothing but a single thread. A tenuous, all-too-mortal connection that suspends the world over the end of all things, Avira. I watched this world die once. I can watch it die again if I wished."

The ice snaps up, holding him fast just as Ramza carves through him in the classic fashion, a blade sweeping through the place LEXUS stood... And then everything shatters, a line appearing across the Dark Virus. There is nothing to cauterize, however, as LEXUS is not flesh and blood.

Isaac causes LEXUS to glare in his direction. There always seems to be time to snap off a response. "What word is that, mage?" he asks. May as well let Isaac make his point. Artemis comes in fro mthe other side, striking into him and through him and aggrivating the already critical wounds, forcing him to drop his guard from the sheer trauma.

Marche comes in right behind, cleaving into him and pinning him down. The fused fae strikes out, moving forward and crushing into his metaphysical core. LEXUS grimaces, screaming as he collapses to his knees, his body distorting and crackling with power as something begins to unravel... "It doesn't matter. One. Ten. Hundreds. Thousands. Millions. Nothing matters." LEXUS replies. He looks up, looking towards TRON's incoming disc... And it blows through his center torso, striking physically through where Will struck metaphysically a moment before. There is a shattering noise that crackles through the air as LEXUS wavers on his knees, data pieces streaming out of his back thrrough the jagged hole, and he slumps forward, beginning to dissolve.

"I..." LEXUS hisses, his body staticing out and shifting. "I cannot accept this... I will not go quietly into nothingness."

There is wa wash of black as power surges through him and into the ground. "There is always a cost, /heroes/!" He screams, as he plunges his dissolving arms down into the void, desperation on his face as purple crackling circuit-lines strike up through the air, seeking out the heroes and attempting to spear them through. Where they strike, life force is drained, converted and cannibalized into replacement data for the Virus that feeds even now upon the world around it.

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Purple crackling circuit lines scour the young heretic leader, as he hastily raises his Katana to attempt to use its flames to ward off the energy draining attack.

He was about to release those flames right into the program's face, in a burst of roiling energy, but thankfully he takes stock of the battlefield. He grimaces, as he notices in what pour shape the others truly are in. And so, he makes a very different call.

Every part of him ached from having his life energy literally wrested from him, but he still had enough strength to raise his hand. Divine energy thrummed through his fingertips as he stated the traditional incantation. "Life's Refreshing Breeze, blow with energy!"

A divine breeze washes over Avira, Artemis, and Will Sherman's fallen form, bringing new vigor and renewal to them.

Renegade has posed:

TRON(?) Watches the battle as his systems recover enough, however he watches everyone also just-- blast into the Virus Program. Well, he did say he wouldn't be the one to derez, didn't he? However it seems this virus was refusing to go down and had plans.

Plans this masked avenger didn't fully understand because in his own time on the Grid, he has never /seen/ anything like this; nor was he ever trained for something like this. "..what the.."

Suddenly dark purple spikes blast out from the ground. TRON(?) attempts to leap out of the way, however he was to slow it would seem and the Spikes impale right through him. He lets out a yell in pain as his body electrifies from the energy being drained from his system. His body cracks in locations around the spikes. His face behind the helm cringing in pain as lines travel up his face.

When the spikes pull away he lands hard onto the ground and yet, he slowly picks himself up. He staggers back up to his feet in how own defiance. His body heavily damaged from the assault.

He lights up his disc once more before he staggers a step forward. He then finds the strength and charges at the reforming LEXUS. He leaps into the air and then spins unleashing his disc down at the ground, so it bounces right up at Lexus, then bounces off to go in another direction, then come at LEXUS from another angle.

TRON(?) Kicks off and catches it with a sail backwards, before he lands down on the ground with a flip and flings the disc one way, then catches it and then flings it another way. Attempting to catch Lexus in a storm of disc rotations and movements. Trying to undo what LEXUS just did.

Artemis Eurus has posed:
"I have wanted to meet a Shadow Lord. Thus fire, I am not disappointed," she comments to LEXUS. He persists under such aggression! Artemis is spears through the left ribcage and drained. The shock of it, the pure damage almost knocking her unconscious.

She keeps living with pure stubborness and dogged training--then aided by Ramza's healing.

Artemis looks back toward Lexus, her green eyes staring him down. "I think this is done, for now," she comments, then disappears with the sound of muted thunder, reappearing to have crossed the distance between them, striking at him in mid-charge in a wide, deadly horizontal arc of her blade, a strike meant to cut a person in twain.

TRON has posed:
TRON lands on the ground for just an instant, watching as LEXUS staggers, begins the telltale signs of deresolution... but it isn't over.

As the black power surge drives into the ground and purple circuitry lines spear into the sky from beneath their feet, TRON lunges forwards. His steps are quick but sure, avoiding particularly dangerous spots while defensively swiping away the circuitry lines with deflecting surfaces of the Discs. Spinning, rolling, always in motion and always moving forwards.

"Yes. There is." He lands on the ground in front of LEXUS, the Virus' strange eyes reflecting on the chromed surface of his full-face visor. "And yes. You will."

There are no further theatrics or words. He simply drives his white Disk forwards in a punch, spinning sharply while aiming his silver Disc to slice at LEXUS' throat. He then backflips, sending both Discs flying while he is inverted in a one-two punch to hasten the Virus' deresolution.

Will Sherman has posed:
LEXUS's spikes and data tear throught he hobo lad, he screams, and is then left sprawling on the ground. He hits the ground, staggering, and falls to his face, wetness starting to pool below him. Vision starts to blur as he looks up...LEXUS once more trying to take from him what was his. Pure determination, drives them both to their feet...as Life's refreshing breeze washes over Will...

It was enough to stablize him. Will is hurt, greviously so, and he starts to drag himself back towards LEXUS.

Both hands glow, lessoned from his injury, but not defeated. His eyes blaze, his heart burns...

He drives the first FORWARD, aiming to drive it into the virus again, this time, trying to burn away the strings. Not cut, not wither...

Burn.

He holds it there, trying to finish what he started.

Then he dives back, energy gathering on his hands...

FATE BEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

A giant laser of SOMETHING...magic or SOMETHING rips through his hands, trying to litterally burn away whatever fate remained on LEXUS.

Avira has posed:
"No, you are wrong!" Avira doesn't stop. She chases after him, her boots crunching through the trail of bits he spreads along the floor as he slides away, pushed off by their combined punishment. "As long as there are survivors with light in their hearts, a world will never truly die!"

She faces him down, seeing that desperation on his face. He's cornered. He's derezzing. He cannot stand and face the twin antivirus programs. Could this really be his end? Or did LEXUS have his backup hidden away again somewhere? He was notoriously impossible for a User to kill-but maybe the Programs here could actually do the job. "Furthermore..." her eyes narrow.

"What happened before to this world, LEXUS, can never happen again. We've seen to that." Avira's light blazes in defiance-until LEXUS lashes out with his seeking circuit lines. They crawl up Avira relentlessly, the light sapped away by their touch. The huntress lets out a squeal of pain and drops to one knee before him, shuddering. Her grip upon the Spine slackens.

A second wind, or rather, refreshing breeze hits her. Avira grits her teeth and forces herself forward in one final, decisive burst of energy. The Spine is lifted as she drives it forward at the deteriorating virus. It is not the physical blade itself that will do the hurting this time, but the silvery light energy encircling the blade.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
LEXUS responds to the barrage of murder from every direction and the secondary fire of super-sass by blowing the entire room the /hell/ up. Isaac, unfortunately, is inside said room.

Isaac interposes his thinned shield between himself and the circuit-lines. It has about as much effectiveness as shielding yourself from an incoming meteor with a strongly-worded letter. The lines pierce the barrier, sliding through it as if it wasn't even there. They stab into the chest of the mage behind it, seeking life force to sustain their viral progenitor with.

On the bright side, he's in enough pain that he forgets to scream.

The life force that LEXUS pulls from Isaac is strong and vibrant, an infusion of vitality from a young man in the prime of his life and with a curious amount of power at his disposal. Isaac's body spasms, muscles clenching. He doubles over, trying to curl into a ball and stay out of the way. Through will alone he stays standing. He lifts his mechanical hand to the tines of agonizing energy, curling his fingers into a fist. He releases a miniscule amount of the power he's been building. His hand burns with a cyan light, and when he thrusts it at the parasitic data-stream, it shatters like it was made of glass.

Isaac lifts his head. His brow is beaded with sweat. He's gone pale as a sheet. His legs are shaking, screaming for relief. He ignores it. He's always been able to do that well enough. He clears his throat quietly, lifting his voice to answer LEXUS. His single-word response echoes through the Arcade, setting ears ringing and rattling loose "Anathema."

A ball of coiled, yellowish energy manifests in the air in front of Isaac. It uncoils, turning into something like a whip, seemingly comprised of hundreds of poorly-fitting shards of some iridescent material. It flicks outward, lashing out across the space between LEXUS and Isaac, splitting into hundreds of miniscule tines and leaping in every direction across the interior of the Arcade. Space around where it travels abruptly reverts to normalcy, pieces of LEXUS's unnerving killing field coming apart like pieces of a broken mirror falling to the ground.

The lash hunts Heartless and virii, touching off solid surfaces and rebounding in an utterly unpredictable manner. It spreads ever outward, ignoring the mere mortals and the Programs both, weaving its way around the heroic defenders of this place. A scent of clean air follows, and the air itself trembles at the spell's passing -- not from some sort of disruption, but as if the world needed to somehow acknowledge what had been done.

Inevitably, the web closes on LEXUS. Isaac wonders if he'll fare better than the world he tried to force upon theirs.

Marche Radiuju has posed:
There is a deep cost.

As the circuit lines strike into the air, Marche start to widen his eyes. The breath is sucked out in pure shock. It finally lances through the boy, sapping the lifeforce from the young man before he sucks in a breath. The writing pain takes over the boy as the powerful, devilish energy starts overtaking the young man. This leaves Marche drained.

Marche staggers around, then he lifts his eyes up.

"...I may not be much." He grits his teeth, "However, you control the things that are destroying my world. People like you.... are what I am fighting against! Defeating people like you will allow me to help my world!"

Marche lifts his sword into the sky.

It shines with a bright light.

"THIS IS JUSTICE'S LIGHT!"

Marche, the champion of Justice, is charging towards LEXUS. As the man sapped his energy, March is going to return it tenfold. He slams the sword towards the ground near the man.

"ULTIMA SWORD!"

..And lo, a burst of energy pieces the ground. It expands into a massive dome of energy that tears against the atmosphere. Expanding rapidly, the force of the energy rends its way towards LEXUS.

Deelel has posed:
the Dark Virus is a terror to behold he's one of the more terrifying things she's ever encountered She watches as the battle continues he goes on as he replies about how many people were fed to the darkness by his actions he truly does not care. He really doesn't care, she shouldn't be surprised but hearing such a thing well? It's hard to take it looks like LEXUS is down but he's not out as he refuses by force of will alone to not go down and then it hits her. What he is doi9ng.

"GET CLEAR HE WILL CONSUME YOU IF HE CAN!"

Deelel hits the ground hard rolling coming up and just being missed by the strange lines that are trying to consume and infect everyone around them. She's got very lucky and she knows it, she need to stop screwing about and the time for that is now.

She pulls as Baton off her leg, there's no more time to screw about at this point. The old Encom model light cycle forms about Deelel and she revs the engine . The cycle charges right at less then a second later. Within Deelel triggers the light wall to activate as she goes attempting to twist by and slide it into Lexus before she'll derezz the cycle leap off and launches herself using the momentum to launch a full out attack on him with her disc. She knows there's always a cost, she was prepared to pay it the last time she faced LEXUS she still is now but she damn well doesn't want to see anyone else do so.

LEXUS has posed:
Life, and system resource, flows into LEXUS. His body begins to reconstitute, consuming others and the environment in order to regain stability. He begins to laugh as his body rebuilds itself, about to engage in a second assault which will surely finish them all.

However, the mysterious second TRON (Tron 2?) strikes, his Disc crashing into LEXUS and shearing pieces of him away. The laughter dies into a gurgle as one arm vanishes in an explosion of data, and he is knocked back... Whereupon Artemis cuts him in half. Again. "BAUD DAMN IT!" LEXUS yells, his voice crackling and distorting from overmodulation as he rages against what he knows is coming. "STOP DOING THAT! DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH THAT HURTS?"

TRON then smashes into him, sending the remains of LEXUS flying into the air. Will seems to treat it like a Fate skeet shoot, and he levels all of his power at LEXUS, preparing to erase him from existence.

The beam fires, a burning light that would shear through anything in its path... Except for one thing.

The Disc moves in the way, intercepting the beam, reflecting it into the sky. LEXUS takes the Disc in his hand, looking down at the smoking thing. It glows for a moment, shining... And then LEXUS turns and throws it away from him, sending it flying into the Darkness.

A moment later, Avira hammers down into him, driving him back down into the ground, searing him with the power of the Heart. LEXUS continues to disincorporate, trying to hold on, even as Marche hammers into him with the power of the Ultima Sword. His tenacity is admirable, even if he is barely intact at this point, perhaps. He can't even respond properly to the assault from Marche and Deelel, his voice nothing more than a shriek of static. But then...

Anathema.

The wave of annihilating, pure light blows through the Daemon Heartless in the area, shredding them to pieces without pity or mercy. The power closes in, and LEXUS looks up.

Somehow, his voice becomes intact enough for him to begin to speak. "Don't think... you have won. Oblivion is coming."

And then the light closes in, the noose tightens, and LEXUS screams, his body vanishing in the light.

There is nothing left but a smoking spot where he lay.

Renegade has posed:

TRON(?) catches his disc one last time, to quick get out of the way of the sudden massive light show that takes place. He puts up his hand to block some of the glow, which is bright enough that it reflects sharply off parts of the black visor.

However once it is done, LEXUS is no more, or so it seems. The program then lowers his hand and then takes few steps forward. "Well. That.. is over." He says with a soft sigh of relief and then just drops down to one knee.

"Thank.. Flynn." and then TRON(?) collapses over. His shutting off-line for now as it rests in his hands. The damage done to him noticeable and he will need some time to rest before Q/A can take place.

Also, was that fire ever put out? Someone really should go check on that fire.

Marche Radiuju has posed:
Marche is likely getting dragged on putting out the fire by Ritz and the viera pack.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will's growls...

Again, he wasn't able to do it. Vision blurs as finally...

He staggers to his knees and promptly falls over. The magical energy fading from his body as he can't support it anylonger.

Mutter...not again...mutter..

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Ramza takes one look at the smoking spot LEXUS has become. For some reason, despite not having any knowledge of what LEXUS was.. he has a feeling that he hadn't seen the last of the Shadow Lord. Still, it was no longer his concern. He walks over to Will Sherman, and lifts him up, and then he departs with Artemis and himself...

He may have complimented Marche's hair idly on the way out, seemingly not noticing whatsoever that Ritz was dragging his butt away. Ahh, young love.

More healing spells were cast on Will as they departed, one after another, after another... In the end he knew that the healing didn't function quite as planned, it'd probably take a day of recovery and a few dozen meals before the young immortal was back to full health.

Avira has posed:
Can a Program eat a User? That question brews in the back of Avira's mind when she hears Deelel shout out in warning. It certainly did feel like something unpleasant was happening there for many agonizing seconds as her energy was drained away. It may very well be the fact that she stands on Earth soil that she remains standing right now-and standing until the very end.

There is a small pang of sadness felt by the woman as she witnesses what looks to be LEXUS's end. He wanted to survive. Not unlike her, he was fighting for survival. At the same time, though, all he's done to this world...

She doesn't spend much time dwelling, seeking out what remaining fires there were to extinguish, using her ice magic to suppress the flames.

"Is everyone alright?" Avira asks, just as Will and the mystery TRON flop over on the ground. Doh.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
"Yeah, that's what I /thought/," Isaac mutters disparagingly at LEXUS's scorch mark.

"I'll be fine. I'll walk it off." He waves his robot hand a little bit, as if trying to be reassuring. "Just need to -- sit down for a second." Isaac half-staggers over to a rolly office chair lying around the Arcade that somehow survived the brawl. He drops into it, left hand pressed against his chest, his right dangling. Ow. Ow. /Ow/.

TRON has posed:
TRON emits a sound suspiciously close to a growl himself as LEXUS throws his Disc into the Darkness before Isaac overwhelms the Virus in light. Without that Disc... he can't be completely sure whether this is really over or not. History states that it probably isn't, and would be safer to assume as such until proven otherwise.

His head cants to the side as he overhears the not-TRON's final words before collapsing, and his helm visibly folds back into the white 'high-collar' as if it had never been there to begin with. His eyes cease glowing, returning back to the human-like brown eyes, and his circuitry lines slowly dim back down to a visible whitish-blue. Whatever protocols he had accessed for the fight, they're offline now.

"I am... fine..." He replies to Avira while staring down at his hands, though he sounds discombobulated with an expression more like 'what the heck just happened'. He almost visibly shifts gears, looking around at everyone else as if his thoughts had bodily snapped to more pertinent matters. "We need to tend to the injured if possible. Damage to the Arcade needs to be assessed and prioritized after the wounded are taken care of."

He kneels next to his doppelganger, his brow furrowing as he redocks both Discs onto his back-spindle. "Now how do you know Flynn...?" He murmurs, almost as if asking the black visor would get him the answers. He easily picks up the slightly-smaller Program in his arms, regardless of the deep burn mark on his back, and carries him back into the Arcade. "You're not TRON..." His eyes narrow down at the white suit so similar to his own, "...but did you know one...?"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel skids across the ground and and comes to a halt she's hurt but she's not too badly off all things considered as she looks up to see the aftermath as he talks about Oblivion coming she frowns for a moment worse things may be coming and there's little she can do about it. She looks over for a moment and looks over to see the other basic as she heads over to him.

"Come on we need to get him inside he'll need to recover I think I got some things that can help him."

Looks to her friend and some of the people who'd simply come to play games and have some fun.

"I know we need to fix things and wait Flynn...? That name." She shakes her head a little bit. Great there's more questions now.