The Real Xanatos Gambit

The Real Xanatos Gambit
Date of Scene:	09 March 2013
Location:	Traverse Town - District 1
Synopsis:	Hades invites himself over for tea, things get ultra complicated.
Cast of Characters:	Deidra, Skoll Ulfang, Mercade Alexander, Zia, Avira, Cronus, Sora, Brooklyn, Hades, Skyline, Emi Dennou, Percival, Evja
Tinyplot:	Manhattan Restoration

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Hades has posed:
The pieces are all set, the time is right...Madam Ode has given you the way to the final shard. Even as the scroll left with the TDA and the defenders of Manhattan rests in their hand on their way to Merlin's place...

All hell breaks loose.

Heartless come in greater numbers than ever seen before throughout Traverse. Negaduck's attack the previous day was just the tip the iceberg. It caused damage, structural damage, it caused chaos...the city hurt, but it seemed the infection was going to spread as the heartless started their swarm.

You're smart people, you know there is a force behind the Heartless in most things. Odd that they would get so organized so fast, especially when their numbers have been bolstered by those of strange souls. Dark things that possess cars, appliances, cause strange and painful things for those defending to occur, but their ability to directly harm is limited.

You guys, right as you get close to Merlin's home...are cut off. Heartless appeared to have surrounded you. However, they're not attacking. Their only blocking. Cutting one down replaces it quickly with another. Soldiers and shadows make up the numbers here...the more natural Heartless to Traverse.

Mage heartless of Various colors also float above them, but again...they are still.

Then, there is the sound of clapping. It is from the pair of only one hand...but it is joined by the heartless who also start clapping too. It is... awkward at best for them. "Give her a hand, ladies and Ghouls." Hades is heard saying as a puff of Brimstone signals the Lord of the Dead's arrival. He is clapping, with a grin on his face.

"You've come so far, worked so hard and it seems everything is at a end...but you forgot two very tiny, itty bitty, almost insignificant little details." He looks at Avira, "Oh don't look so surprised, my dear, you knew this was going to happen...but maybe it's a bad time?"

"You're comin' with me." he says to her, waving her over, "No time to wait, come on, I got things to do and we're going to do them," He yawns.

Brooklyn has posed:
So many Heartless. When they came to him and told him that they had a way to return Manhattan, Brooklyn was on board immediately. He had no doubt that the Heartless and the forces behind them would do everything in their power to stop that from happening, but Brooklyn fought to the last man to protect Manhattan, and he would damn sure do it to bring it home.

At Hades' appearance, the red gargoyle frowns. He had never trusted Hades from the first time he laid eyes on the Underworld's ruler, and his instincts seem to have been dead on. As Hades calls to Avira, the white haired creature turns his head to peer at her. She's not going to side with Hades, is she? Or does she really have no choice.

Zia has posed:
Heartless. One moment she had been surveying the damage done to the city, and the next Zia is among those surrounded and cut off, turning to face the horde that seems to be closing in from all sides. Her eyes flash a warning red as she hisses under her breath, crouching like a beast rather than standing like a human fighter might against such numbers. Her eyes shift in all directions, her taloned hand clenching as sparks rise up from it, ready to fight their way through if that's what it called for.

Then, the clapping stops her dead in her tracks. The white gargoyle had seen some of the tournament, so the Lord of the Dead is not an unfamiliar face. Nevertheless, she straightens, wings caping, taking a step backwards, conscious of the Heartless and the other heroes around her. "Avira? Wha's goin on, lass?" She asks, uncertain. Her first instinct is to protect, but she has no idea what Hades is doing here, or why the Heartless seem to be his to control. Not good.

Skyline has posed:
Hersnd one resident of Manhattan deserved another. The loss of that world was devistating to Skyline. The push of the heartless from the city she lived in clear to the city was one thing, but losing even that last bastion of hope had been awful. It was enough that the steel-skinned gargoyle had been reclusive for weeks as a result. When she was told that the city could be restored her vigor returned in an instant. Since Brooklyn was here, Skyline was right at his side to aid him. Seeing Hades, once again, caused her to frown just the same. Something never felt right about him from the start and now with the endless wall of Heartless allowing him to pass. . . well, this was certainly going to be a problem. She'll just be quiet and fight the urge off to try and shoot the greek god of death in the head for a few minutes..

Avira has posed:
The 'way' to the final shard was apparently in that scroll handed out yesterday, right? Read at midnight in the moonlight on a saturday it should point the way, right? At least that's what Avira had heard. So tonight, Avira fully thinks that they're going to restore Manhattan tonight. Unless this darn scroll pointed the way to another elaborate fetch quest to find this Spirit Shard soul person.

Perhaps all the Heartless ever attacking was a sure sign that they were nearing completion of their goal. Heartless were attracted to Shards and Shadow Lords were very anti worlds-being-restored.

So as everything quickly went bad to worse, Avira armed herself and stuck close to the rest of the TDA members with her as they cut their way through the Heartless swarms, making slow progress.

Then Hades shows up.

"No I didn't! Since when are you a Shadow Lord?!" There's a horrified look on Avira's face and she frantically looks from Brooklyn to Zia. "No! No way! I am NOT going with you."

Deidra has posed:
Deidra was a mage of some skill and from Manhttan she wanted to see her home restord even if she'll not fit in there properly ever again. Just so it's all right is enough for her and prehaps some of her new nature is indeed protecting her place. She'd failed there's heartless everywhere though today she's had a large two handed sword on her back, not cloud bad but still pretty big. Prehaps incase she runs out of the abilty to cast spels given what seems to be coming, he contiunes to dive into their ranks hacking and slashing. She's concerving her spell power for the moment.

Then she stares for a moment as hades appears she's not sure what to think of this but seems to be pretty damn suprised at this turn events.

"Avira?!"

Sora has posed:
Oh dear, there's a lady in trouble.

Edit that, there is a VALKYRI in trouble.

That pisses Sora off. That really, really does. "Hey!" The Keyblade Wielder says, stepping forward, the Kingdom Key shimmering to life, a bright glow in his hand. "You can't do that, you know!"

"You can't just say someone's coming with you, that's wrong!"

He moves over towards her, his lips thinning. If Mercade doesn't directly stand in front of her, then Sora will. Knight Complex.

(Even if Avira is no damsel.)

Percival has posed:
Cut off from Merlin's house by the Heartless, the Bronze-Skinned Gargoyle, takes a moment to observe their surroundings. The Heartless were still, and while that he was tempted to try and break through him he thought better of it.

Clapping calls his attention to their master, and a grim smile touches expression. He couldn't say he was suprised by Hades' presence, and he was all too tempted to yell 'Curse your inevitable betrayal!' He decided to leave that to the others, it was more their thing.

As the proceedings unfold, Percival turns to look upon Avira. The inevitable and expected betrayal had taken a suprise turn. He wasn't inclined to believe it at first, but then again he didn't know why Avira might have bargained with the Lord of the Dead. Instead he chooses to believe the best in her, and turns to the face Hades, his expression becoming a mocking smile. "This has all gone pear-shaped, but I believe the good Lady Avira has made her choice. Your move."

He hooked his shield upon his right arm and then with his left hand, he withdrew an ornate rapier within from its scabbard. Those who were particularly attuned to magic or the darkness might hear a faint heartbeat stirring within.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade was just enjoying today.

He was just planning to head back to the Cloud Nine for something to eat, when the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. He could feel /something/... oppressive... weighing down. For a moment, he staggers...

And the shadows move. Mercade looks up, seeing the golden, unblinking eyes of the Heartless, innumerable and unending. "No."

Mercade says, looking at the numbers. "Not again. Not like this." There is an explosion as Mercade begins unloading gunfire into the horde.

The battle rages on, the team meeting up and working together to stop the Heartless from simply crushing them with weight of numbers... And then Mercade finds that they are trapped. He looks up, around, staring at the containment horde of Heartless...

And he looks up to Hades. "You!" He yells... And then ice clutches at his heart as he realizes what he's saying. "Wait, WHAT? Avira?" He looks over to her in shock, then back to Hades, then back to Avira. She tells him to go home. Good enough.

Mercade doesn't stand in front of Avira. She doesn't need defending like that. He stands beside her. "I'm not letting you take her." He says, determination and anger edging his tone.

Evja has posed:
Heartless.

So many Heartless. So, so many Heartless.

The resident Vieran Judge was in full armor today and leaping from rooftop to rooftop, cutting through a heartless here or there until he stopped on the outskirts of town when he saw a giant swarm of heartless surrounding a familiar group of would-be heroes.

But just as he got ready to leap...

Evja stopped. He stopped, then tensed, only to raise a spear and fall still again once it strikes the top of a roof. "I... I am sorry." comes a soft whimper, to himself mostly while he was still atop the roof, before leaping down and smashing into the ground with a resounding thud right in the middle of the group.

Great, Evja had come to he--...why was he pointing his spear at Mercade? In fact, he had landed directly behind Mercade with his spear leveled, silent, looking towards him. However, anything regarding the Viera was masked by the armor and the silence. Motivations, reasons....

Nothing. Just... betrayal.

Emi Dennou has posed:
OUTSIDE WILDKAT CAFE

"They're going to find the Spirit Shard now, and with that they'll be able to get their home back, Shida of the Network explains to Cronus from a previous plotline thus helping bring up those who are behind up to speed."
Cronus rubs at his face, "Ignoring half of the <goosehonk> you said, what's this gotta do with me? Seems like they've all but got it handled."
"Mm...that's right...but The Network is concerned...that if there is any moment that the Shadow Lords will strike..."
"OH HO HO HOOOO!!!" SUDDENLY, A VOICE FROM OUTSIDE LAUGHS HEARTILY. "EVIL IS IMMORT--" The door rattles. "--CURSE THIS INFERNAL DOOR! IS IT--OH YOU PUSH IT IN, I SEE, HA HA HA HA!! THIS DOOR CANNOT WITHSTAND MY BRILLIANCE!!!"

Cronus and Shida exchange looks as Feige storms inside, in full power armor, laughing heartily all the while. She points one of her armored arms--towards Shida. "A Legion that has perished and come back to life... I must have her for testing...and dissection... I have no business with you, Cronus." Feige smiles widely. "Will you leave us be, then, Cronus? We'll leave you alone, just like you wanted--I think that's a fair trade..."

HERE

Emi of the Network has come along to this advneture, concerned that there would be trouble, leaving the others on standby to serve as 'backup'. She pauses as they are suddenly cut off by Heartless-- And pauses.

"Hades..?" She looks towards Avira. "What do you mean...?" She looks back to Hades. "Why would she be going with you?, The Network inquires."

She frowns faintly, sliding towards Avira. Why would she be going with him anyway? Something is missing here. Of course, Avira might not need that kind of defense, but Emi is expecting another ball to drop. Two balls at least.

"We can't let that happen." She says.

Hades has posed:
Hades looks around...

And nature is already taken it's course. Heroes start defending Avira, Avira is...how we say, resistant to the idea. But...

"Oh you forgot one thing Avira. I OWN YOU!" he says, as flames turn red and flare up, "It's cool. I think we just need to remind you. It's okay, you're a bit forgetful." He says, with a dismissive tone, like at a child.

The scroll is unrolled, "Remember this? Remember that little...PROBLEM you had? Yeah. Well, you're on MY time now, Avira-babe." he says, and she can feel it. Oh man can she feel it. Hades typically would let the transformation be painless...not today. It was time to use the choke chain on his favorite mutt.

Evja already moves into position, pointing the spear at Mercade. "Good good! Very good. Evja here made a bargain with me too, you see...they wanted into the Hades cup. Avira here...well she was too ashamed of how she looked. You see, it's not MY fault that this is happening." he says, with a grin.

"Avira baby, it's my turn now. If you don't wana come...then fine. Help turn these suckers into heartless. Then go get the shards and bring them to me." he says, and with a finger, points it at Evja.

"Oh and you'll need a boost won't you. Can't have a useful tool die so easily." Hey Evja, TAKE A DRINK FROM THE DARKNESS HOSE!

"Now, I am sure you all want to try and beat me. You can't win suckers. I hold the winning hand."

Zia has posed:
The white gargoyle takes a step closer to Percival. Among these here tonight, she knew his fighting best, and it would help to have someone watching her back. The sword is something new, though. It's the one from that escapde into that Pirate Captain's lair, but there's something else about it, something darker. The red in her eyes fades slightly as she looks at it, then at him. A question for another time, perhaps. Though, if this is the new face of the power he wields, it might be time to ask for her father's sword back.

She meets eyes with Avira, offering her own sort of wordless support with a nod, ready to offer her magic should it be needed. Even a god could hurt, at least she would assume so. Then, a great armored creature comes down to level a spear at Mercade, her eyes narrow. She may not know the man well, but he's a comrade to a good number of her friends. It raises a growl from her, eyes flashing red a second time. She had only met the Viera a couple of times, and never in full armor. She might not have even recognised him had it not been for Hades stepping in to introduce him. So kind of the Lord of the Dead.

"Avira... ye didnae..." She knew about the beast form that had taken hold of the VALKYRI leader, but had never thought to ask how she had it reversed. All anger drains out of her like water. Disbelief shows on the white gargoyle's features, but it only lingers for a moment until Hades threatens to turn them into Heartless. "Ah willnae let ye turn any of these people inte Heartless. 'N Ah willnae let ye take away our chances of findin our home." She growls then, narrowing her eyes at the god. She might not be a fighter like some of the others, but there are some things worth fighting for - worth dying for.

Avira has posed:
"Not here not now..." Avira mutters, edging back behind Sora and Mercade. The leather of her fingerless gloves creaks as she tightens her grip around the tailbone hilt of the spine. With each word he says, her stomach twists and suddenly it becomes extremely hard for her to look anyone else here in the eye.

Evja, though, that's a surprise. But this thought is so far away from her head right now as she tries to stare down Hades and fails on so many levels. "Don't-" she starts, her face turning red, "-don't tell them-please don'tAAARRRRRRGH!!"

Avira falls to the ground, her weapon clattering out of her grasp. In what is no doubt a familiar sight to Deidra and Zia, she writhes as her body begins to warp and change into a form that was...allegedly fixed. Somewhere during the process, she manages to grab her steel breastplate and rip it off herself, leaving it mostly in-tact this time.

In a painful series of snapping and stretching, she becomes a mutate once more. When the transformation is finally finished, she's left panting for breath on all fours. "N..no..I'm not going to hurt them.." she trembles, her voice barely a whisper.

Her head remains down. She can't bring herself to look at anyone here.

Skyline has posed:
Between Hades getting angry, Avira changing into a monster, and Evja apparently betraying them all, Skyline can't help but feel a little out of the loop. Well, she had been kind of shut-in since the city vanished, can anyone really blame her for not -entirely- understanding what was going on here? Still, with the clear rise in agression from all parties, the steel-skinned gargoyle steadies herself, talons set near the holsters for all her weapons, ready to draw at a moment's notice. "Brooklyn," she asides, "You need to catch me up on everything, later."

Emi Dennou has posed:
It seems, though, that Avira was just tricked or manipulated, Emi deduces, so there's no reason to make any exclaims of surprise or anything. If she could blame someone for making deals with HAdes, she'd have to growl at Isaac. She shakes her head. "Don't worry about it, Avira, The Network request." She turns back to face Avira when suddenly

GREGOR SAMSA!

Emi rushes over to her, resting a hand on her back. "Avira...!" She says, eyes wide--it's not until the transformation is mostly finished that she realizes what's going on.

"Avira, hang in there..." She murmurs.

The ground smashes open as Evja touches down. Emi's eyes widen faintly.

"The rabbit...!" She murmurs. "...You would interfere with the Restoration of Manhattan? IS that why you were there for all shard gatherings? To try and take them back to Hades? ... No wonder you were so interested in obtaining them yourself, The Network will not allow you to succeed. Our backup is on the way as well."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade suddenly feels the spear at his back as Hades plays his TRAP CARD. One of many, clearly. He flicks his eyes to the side, looking over his shoulder at Evja and frowning. "I see. Et tu, Brutus?" He doesn't complain about it. He just looks forward again, waiting for it to unfold further... And then he grimaces at the realization of what Hades is saying. "You... You what?" He says, trembling.

At the sickening sound of the transformation, Mercade watches, eyes widening. "Avira!" He yells, and kneels next to her heedless of the spear at his back. He knows what's happening, he doesn't need to ask. "I believe in you, Avira. Don't give in!" He also puts a hand on her shoulder.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra cringes at Avira, she knew about the horrible situation she was in, she's in one very much like it, though Zia is the only one who knows the truth of that matter here. She frowns for a moment as she sees what's going on with Avira but now Evja as well her eyes turn red and she's not very happy at all here. She puts her blade back over her back she's not sure how good of an idea she seems unhappy.

"So you were using us the entire time Evja! You <GOOSEHONK>. You played us all. All those demands you made ... it all makes sense! You been working for him the entire time! You won't succeed." Her tablet is out and her spells are brought up she's not happy she looks to see Hades and Evja.

"Your more clever than the myths say Hades."

She has to give him credit but she's looking at the Judge. She then realise it's not worth it and she's more worried about Avira.

"Avira....your not alone..."

She sees the rage fades for a moment she needs to think and get ready. She does realise what happened to her? Had it not she'd not be in a postion to help now, she'd have been killed or swallowed by the night. Maybe for her it was ment to be she'd started to accept it but Avira? No this wasn't right.

Percival has posed:
And now the Viera Judge was pointing a spear at Mercade. Percival watched Avira's transformation with visible horror in his eyes. Already he could feel his control slipping as Hades began to gloat. His eyes turned white, and the air around him stilled. Everything around him darkened momentarily, the faint heartbeat quickening.

And then abruptly the darkness faded away, the heartbeat returned to a steady rhythm. His eyes showed no sign of his previous anger. "You know, Hades, something occurs to me..."

The Gargoyle tossed aside his shield into the brush, and drew the sword Zia had given him with his right hand in a reverse blade manner, in a manner like it were a knife and not a full length sword. "You're pretending to show your cards, but in truth you're bluffing. I never thought I'd see the Lord of the Dead sweat like that."

The Gargoyle turns to his side, holding the rapier ready in a casual low guard at his waist. The other blade at the ready behind him. He dared steal one more glance at Avira, before murmuring. "Oh lord, in our time of need, strengthen us."

A look at Zia, and a nod, as if to say that he would follow her lead.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll can be seen, far in the distance, running the rooftops. Not moments before, a group of heartless set upon Traverse Town. And a certain other district is currently boiling over with darkness and big bads. The werewolf is quite busy keeping down the heartless population -- after all, he has his sister to protect! There's no way she could save herself from an invasion like this right now. And while he can trust Faruja to take care of some of them... he rather not take that chance.

It is that constant fight that leads the werewolf to a rooftop quite near Avira and ends up actually both overhearing and seeing quite a bit of the events that occur.

'I OWN YOU'! Hades had called out, and the werewolf's attention had been caught. Amidst the conversation, he shatters a Heartless Shadow with his fist, then turns to look their way again. And he gets to watch Avira... begin to transform. She was never cured... she...

The werewolf feels his heart beating fast. Then, as she transforms further, shouting not to tell anyone... that feeling changes. As if someone just reached into his chest and grabbed his heart tight. The youth reaches a hand to his chest. And as then girl's transformation finishes, and her hearing certainly has improved as a result there-of... they youth whispers.

"Avira... you didn't..." He looks at her, and his expression is... well... he's apalled. Disappointed. Disgusted in a ways, that she would have made a pact with the Lord of the Dead instead of trusting her friends. Her darkness had been gone, but she couldn't live as what she'd been then?

The youth stares at her a little longer... stares at Avira... and then slowly averts his head... and then his eyes. He tightens his bite on his jaw and just sprints away. Angered. Punching the living daylights out of a heartless as he does so.

She'd lied to him.

Evja has posed:
Evja can feel it.

The hatred.

The eyes burning into his armor.

Betrayal.

Anger.

But all that is there inside the armor with him is guilt. Guilt, and shame. Yet there was nothing to say. Hades said it all. No matter how one coated it with a confection, it was betrayal. For a brief moment, Evja's gauntlet shivered, grasp faltered as the entire armor shook. "I...I..." he began to say then suddenly darkness.

"AAAAAAAARGH!" A deep-throated and reverberating cry came from the Viera as darkness permeated his very core, power flooding through him, surging, the very armor on him changing physically. The spikes and gnarls that were common in Jylland Armor begin to elongate, grow spikier. Slowly the armor fades from bright and crystally-silver to a dark and light-sucking shade, darkness leaking.
And the Viera stands back up once again, silent as the grave. Nothing. Nothing is said, simply raising his spear as if he was going to strike Mercade through. He ceases the attack and instead launches high into the air, high above the crowd as if preparing to attack.

Brooklyn has posed:
For his part, Brooklyn is silent, as he watches the goings on. It's not that he has nothing to say. He has a lot he wants to get off of his chest, especially towards Hades. But now is not the time. The time for that sort of thing is after the battle is over, after the villains have been defeated. When the so called god lays prone at the Gargoyle's feet, that is when Brooklyn will say his peice.

His mind is working quickly, however. He has to assume, as much as he hopes Avira can fight it, that she will lose and fall prey to Hades' magic. If Goliath cannot resist the magic from something like the Grimorum, he doubts that she will be able to resist the magic of a god. Evja has made his allegances clear, there are no questions there.

A glance to Skyline as she asks him to fill her in later. He actually smiles, if only faintly, at the statement, "Once we get through this, I'll give you the whole backstory. Promise. For now, get ready."

Evja has posed:
And when Evja gets to the height of his jump - he begins to throw spears down into the ground towards several targets. The large darkness-wrapped spears carry a lot more power than they normally would, quite literally attempting to pierce through various peoples in the group.

Sora has posed:
Sora frowns, tucking his hands against the grip of the Keyblade. Once again, it looks just a little bit too long for Sora. The Keyblade Wielder takes a few steps forward, looking at Avira, then Mercade. Then he smiles.

It is a big, brilliant smile. "Mercade, Avira, remember what I talked about! It's when the darkness is at it's worst that our hearts will shine the brightest! That's why you have to hope - that's why you have to keep fighting!"

"I beleive in you! Believe in yourselves!"

"You're mine!" He rounds on Hades, showing off a speed he normally doesn't as he moves in on Hades, the Keyblade flashing in a few swift motions.

Hades has posed:
"And remember Avira...all of this could have been avoided...if you had just come with me like I asked." Hades says, with a small smile. Sometimes, daddy needs to spank the errant children. Then Sora soars right at his face, which causes him to look slightly annoyed. The keyblade hits, but after a moment, the force is gone...

And then Hades was gone, aiming to appear right behind Sora. There was only a FIREBALL to thank him for his efforts, aiming to blast him like a rag doll. "Is that all you got?" he mocks the little keyblade wielder.

"Don't you wana know why I am so interested in you Avira? Well, I'll tell you, WHILE killing your friends. You see, I got a place DOWN below for you all, I mean...it's what you want right?" he says, with a grin.

Pillars of fire erupts under everyone. Aiming to launch people into the air, before fireballs appear to explode everywhere around them, aiming to smash them back down..and then another pillar, once more aiming to launch them back up.

"Feel the heat!" he says, "Oh yes, as I was saying...you know you're a very important person, Avira...more than you realize. One might say...almost a princess." he says, hopefully THAT was enough for her to get it. Maybe not, good was dumb.

"Oh such HEROIC speeches! But there is a problem...you see, I Am a god. You're just hero wanabes."

Zia has posed:
The white gargoyle bears her teeth in a display of anger that is far from commonplace for her. She misses the cameo from a certain werewolf, only catching some movement out of the corner of her eye that she can only guess are other heroes of Traverse Town trying to fight back against the tide of Heartless.

The way that the god moves is like nothing she's ever seen, so it seems almost impossible for her to react fast enough to avoid being singed by the pillars of fire. Why is it always fire? Shaking off a strange feeling, Zia is halfway through a reactive leap, drawing her feet upwards and flapping her wings hard to get some altitude. A quick blast of air helps, launching her skyward where she can get a better view of things and move without being hindered by the throngs of Heartless.

"Ah'm gettin a bit tired of hearin tha blowhard talk." She speaks over her shoulder, fully expecting that Percival will be joining her shortly. He's quick like that. Catching sight of him using her sword, she offers the faintest smile, but it doesn't linger. Too much to focus on, and right now, she's managing to keep her eyes on Hades.

Those sparks that had started in her hand grow, and with a quick motion, Zia hurls them down towards the Lord of the Dead.

Percival has posed:
Percival watches Sora spring into action, and hearing his words, he states it aloud, in a quiet murmur. "I believe in all of you." With a final look at Zia, as if to ask if she were ready, he flares his wings fully open. And then he charged. Along the way he had run nearly headlong into a pillar of flame, and he leapt through it, his wings closing in to protect him from the worst of it.

He immediately closed in and started to try and put Hades through the paces. "Now now Hades, if your wit were as big as your voice, I might actually believe that you're a god." He gave the Lord of the dead a sort of absurd mocking grin. Despite how serious the situation might have been, he was actually trying to enjoy himself in his swordplay, emulating some absurd spectacle as if he were in some old timey Errol Flynn movie.

At close range, he even took the time to salute with the rapier to his forehead before he began a fluorish of thrusts with the rapier. "I think worship would be improper under the circumstances, instead..." He drops down low, and spun himself around, letting his tail aim towards the god's legs in an attempt to unbalance him. "...I'll say a prayer /for/ you." And then followed with an uppercut from his offhand pommel, aiming right smack at his pointed chin.

Skyline has posed:
And now the battle begins in earnest. Skyline dashes to one side when Sora closes distance with Hades, hoping to get an edge on where to assault the god of the dead from. Problem is, it seems Hades is ready to attack a whole bunch of them at once! While she manages to avoid being EXPLODED into the air the first time, the second time she finds herself flung skyward, spinning out of control for a long moment. Her wings snap out, she steadies herself, and then she decides to throw her lot in against the one revealed to be the mastermind behind a whole LOT of things!

One hand pulls a dagger free, the other takes a pistol into it, and then she's soaring downward for Hades. First she tries to get the hilt of her dagger to smack into his head before bringing her sidearm to try and do the same. Once fully landed before Fire-Noggin she rushes forward, slashing again at Hades as she tries to dash by.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is tracking the Dragoon Judge for a moment as she leaps up into the air. She watches them come in and she shifts, somehow she's got a spell off which takes the full force of the strike. The barrier shatters like glass due to the force of the hit and now Evja has a very angry Gargyole in her face.

She startst chanting in latin and then coems the curses trying to drag them down, sap their power and render them vunrable as the spell finisehs she notes.

"So what was it, what did Hadews OFFER YOU!?"

Avira has posed:
"Mercade..." Avira's voice is gruff and gravely now, spoken through the warped windpipe and muzzle of her lupine face. She can't look at him. She can't face him. If there was any advantage to this form-to the dark brown fur now covering her face, it was that it no longer allowed people to see it burning red with shame.

But the enhancements of this form had other advantages-or disadvantages. Her hearing is much better. Just barely she can hear Skoll's voice and for a few seconds, she finally lifts her head, staring off in its direction. He saw. He /knows/. For a few more seconds she manages to look at Mercade before she pulls her shoulder away (and before he must inevitably evade being stabbed in the back by the Judgebunny).

"Oh God..." she mutters, shakily pushing herself up to her feet. "I'm so sorry..." Hades might think she's apologizing to him...but no, she's not. It's the others she's directing her feeble words to. Stumbling forward, she scoops up her Spine.

"Stop it! Stop hurting them!" Her heart aches and she pushes herself to actually charge the Lord of the Dead.

But, abruptly, the charge stops as the rest of his words reach her. Contrary to popular believe that good was stupid, Avira was not stupid. Then again, she wasn't exactly very good right now. "...that can't be right. I'm not even royalty or anything." she takes a step backwards, "You've got the wrong person!" Because if it was true, then going with Hades or being indebted to him would mean Manhattan ain't NEVER coming back.

Emi Dennou has posed:
A spear lances across Emi's arm. cutting up a vicious wound in it. She sinks to a knee, shivering in pain. Her eyes narrow faintly. She closes her eyes lightly, taking in a deep breath. Hit him hard and fast, she thinks. He's clearly trying to end this fight as quickly as possible, but she has to last as long as she can!

"Is this your justice? Do you honor deals you know to be crooked?" Emi rasps, struggling to stand, but the pain is exquisite. She hasn't felt this much since Cronus. Hang in there, she tells herself.

"You shame Fluorgis." She says. "It is no wonder that we had to save it rather than rely on a Clan judge." She straightens herself up finally, managing to get up to her feet. "The Network has been tricked before, do not blame yourself for what we could not see through your actions. It is all very clear now. It is obvious there is much we have to learn yet."

She lashes out with her hand, unleashing a wave after wave of electricity, intending to hit him fast and quick, even going so far as to try and weigh down his armor to make it more difficult for him to hit. She snaps her hand back shortly after, reversing the electrical flow to pour back into herself, absorbing it.

"We won't let you hurt Mercade. He saved us, The Network explains. We will help save their world...we must, so we can see that much more of them."

She pauses a moment as Hadews reveals some important information. She's quick enough on the uptake to know what's going on.

"--You're from Manhattan... Avira... have the Heartless been giving you any trouble before now?... Odie wanted you to open up that box too..." She looks on over to her. "There's nothing to apologize for. We know you wouldn't hurt us intentionally. You've saved us before, after all."

Brooklyn has posed:
Everything that was happening, it was not what Brooklyn wanted. The treason, Avira's transformation back to a mutate. None of this should be happening, and as much as Hades may claim it's not his doing, Brooklyn doesn't care anymore. He needs something to take his frustration out on. That boiling rage that has been building within him ever since Manhattan fell to the Heartless. The rage he has been trying to supress, to keep contained. Hades' fire roars around Brooklyn, and while it scorches him, he uses it to his advantage, the heat from it generating enough of a thermal to launch him into the air.

Once airborne, the gargoyle finds himself in his natural environment, and he moves on Hades. Swooping down, his intent is to land square on the god's head, feet first, and drive him into the ground, and then latch on with those stone crushing talons and haul Hades back up into the sky with him, to take the blue skinned villain on a bit of a ride.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"It doesn't matter." Mercade whispers, his eyes unfocusing for a moment...


There is a hissing noise, and Mercade's eyes flick to one side. Mercade launches himself out of the way at the last moment, the Dark Spear tearing through his coat and shredding a hole in it as it catches the edge. Mercade tumbles, hitting the ground as he looks up at Evja. The blue eyes narrow, looking for something there... And he nods. "You're right, Sora." He says, standing. "We have to believe. I've spent too long running away. Wondering what would happen if I failed. If I let the people I cared about down." His fists clench, as he looks back to the gloating Hades. "But people are stronger than that. You think we're going to break just because our world is destroyed, that we're some kind of refugees? You think I'm going to reject Avira just because you've forced her to look like a monster? It's not that easy!"

He point to Hades. "You're not going to take Avira, Hades. I don't care if you're a god. I'm going to put everything I have on the line!"

There is a swift motion, as Mercade turns, pulling something from his coat. It's a hat, a plain leather fedora, that he puts on his head. "Now, COUNT UP YOUR CRIMES! BECAUSE JUDGE OR GOD, I'M GOING TO FIGHT! FOR AVIRA, MANHATTAN, AND THE SAFETY OF THE WORLDS!"

With a flourish, Mercade pulls a pearl-handled revolver in one hand, and the other, he produces that shotgun. He launches himself at the first assailant, Evja, and he charges, lunging as he unleashes a single blast from the revolver for the Darkness-reinforced, nigh-demonic helmet. He spins, leaping upwards and throwing the gun into the air as he levels the shotgun with a KA-CHAK. BLAM! The Shotgun blasts, raining down a storm of bullets upon Evja as he lands on the opposite side, shouldering the shotgun. He holds out a hand and catches the revolver and spins it as Evja begins to realize what Mercade just did.

Sora has posed:
Sora skids as Hades disappears, the heels of his clown shoes making a sharp, almost irritating noise as he whirls around. The Keyblade and his other arm come up in a quick x-shape across his body, shielding him from part of the attack.

The fireball lances around him, knocking him into the air, where Sora rolls around, before landing back down on the ground. He grunts, and rolls tiredly to his feet, his teeth gritting at the mock, as he gets called a wannabe hero.

"Huh... Princess..." SOra nods. Things are making a LOT more sense. But there's a death god to pummel to death.

... ha. Ha. Hah.

Sora quickly dives back in again, his keyblade flashing around his frame - Sora is unfortunately a melee fighter and that's problematic against a lot of people, mostly Hades. Which is hilarious, right? But that's why Sora lays on the speeeeeed.

He then nods approvingly at Mercade. Yup. That's the Mercade that they need right now.

Evja has posed:
Despite being in the air, despite being powered up by the Darkness, Evja's body isn't his own. He's not his normal self. He's not in his own comfort zone, in 'the zone' as it were, and despite the flailing out, he hasn't managed to actually do all that much. With Deidra suddenly in his face he jumps backwards in the air before crying out at the sudden attack, lashing wildly with his dark-tainted sword before flying down towards Emi, attempting to take /her/ out temporarily instead.
CRASH!
Evja lands and lunges at Emi with his sword, once again swinging wildly, almost like the darkness was controlling him more than even he himself. Emi had seen the Viera fight before... and apparently Deidra had too somewhere. Thus anyone who had seen such could easily see he's not fighting like he normally is.

There's no Finesse. No grace...
It's like a caged animal pitted against something else, forced to fight, to kill, to get their freedom.

"MY FIGHT IS NOT WITH YOU!" Evja's voice reverberates through the area as it echoes like a bell in a chapel. Deep, dark-sounding, only to finally break off and charge towards Mercade directly. He closed in on Mercade fast and flashed away, vanishing from sight before reappearing behind the man and whispering something soft, something meant only for him before four spears appeared in his hands, two in each like bundled sticks. And in one swift strike, he attempted to pierce right through Mercade, trying to end him, trying to finish the Detective that he was so tasked with doing. That isn't all, however.
The shame and pain that comes from Emi, the lashing words... it's enough to tear into every fiber of the Viera's solid morality. The foundation of just who he was, everything about him. It clawed heavily, so much so that Evja's attack on Mercade fell off as his hands loosed and the spears just clattered to the ground. "No... please... I cannot... I cannot do it." comes a soft whimper as Evja is suddenly peppered with gunfire from Mercade, flattened. "I must."
"I cannot!"
"I MUST!"
"NO!"

And for a brief moment... Evja fights with himself before the darkness overtakes him again and cries out, "MY OATH IS LAW! I CANNOT BREAK IT!" and the spears that clattered down vanish. Spinning around and standing, Evja throws his sword straight at Mercade before the darkness of the knight begins to soak into the Judge. Everything began to grow dark, dark dark, pitch black dark.
Sight became hard, and instead of a golden bright light coming from the Viera, instead, Darkness poured from him as it poured through him and raged at those who had attacked him, primarily at Mercade. Floating off the ground with the darkness, Evja began to shoot back and forth like a bullet as he surged in straight lines through the various members, attempting to skewer them.
Flatten them.
Impale, explode, destroy crush and flatten them all! The sooner they were gone, the sooner he could turn his sights on the real target in this fight.

Hades has posed:
Hades laughs...

Oh boy does he...until Zia zaps him something fierce. Hades smokes for a moment, blinking as he looks down and notices he is himself a bit more..smoky than he wanted.

His eyes glare at the GARGOYLE. "YOU! Aren't you a feisty one? I bet you use the word GARGESS right? I bet you think you're s-..." He pauses as Perci talks. He pauses...he just stares at Perci for a long moment. Fire erupts from his hands as he just stares at Perci. Zaping Zia and Perci, as Skyline and Brooklyn move together...

And find themselves hitting nothing but air. Hades disappears, moving closer to Perci to stare at him. The look of the god is just...blank. "Sorry, I just had something stupid in my ear...did you just sa.." THEN SORA!

Sora dives in, but once more Hades steps back, narrowly avoiding being cleaved. Fire blasts upwards to try and send Sora away from him.

"Did...did you just /say/ that to me? I am HADES! LORD OF THE DEAD YOU IMBECILE! THAT'S IT...EVERYBODY DIES!" he says, erupting in RED hot flames. Uh oh...

"YOU! AVIRA! NOW! NO MORE GAMES! I /COMMAND/ YOU! BURN THEM! LIGHT THEM AFLAME! YOU CAN NOT RESIST!" he says, completely cheesed off.

Then, Hades becomes a cornea of flame, fire erupts EVERYWHERE, as he walks, his hands coated with flames as he points them into the ground...creating a large pillar which catches EVERYONE around him...and then...

Flame rains from the sky, aiming to catch them. Hades looks significantly calmer now.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra her comrades are right, they can't run they have to keep fightings. She thinks about her parents she may never see them again but she'll not leave them condemed to the endless void or worse. She growls for a moment it's not very human as Mercade lawys down the law both verbally and with force of arms. She prepares and looks right at the judge bunny for a moment.

"Your willing to condem over two million people." The latin starts now as she's chanting again the chant is longer more complex and then comes the massive storm of ice shards, spear like ice blades are launched at Evja intending to strike him down.

She's horribly urt she's bleeding as the attack from the juidge just impales her she manfges to shift it away from her major organs, it's bad. She still chanting and then the ice finally strikes she's going to rip him apart with force of magic.

Avira has posed:
For every moment her heart aches from Skoll's reaction to her betrayal, there are the words of Mercade or Percy that reach her. It still makes her heart hurt, but in a sort of...good way, if it was anything. What continues to bother her, though, is Evja. Everyone was so angry with her...

Avira didn't feel any different. Her circumstances felt the same, maybe even worse. Her deal was based on vanity. She didn't want to look like a mutate.

"NO-!" Avira shrieks as Hades starts screaming at her. He's right though.

She can't resist. Her wings spread out and with a powerful leap, she propels herself into the air, magic swirling around her body, taking the form of blue glowing flames. Her lips pull back to reveal her sharp teeth as her entire body shakes. The magic she summons is deafening, though it doesn't exactly burn.

It freezes in the form of massive comets that descend from the sky, cold trails of ice flowing behind them. It serves as a strange counterbalance to the hellfire that Hades summons.

When the last comet falls, Avira remains hovering in the air, wings flapping furiously to keep her aloft. "...."

She trusts her friends though. They had to survive this.

Sora has posed:
Oh -hell- no.

Sora is knocked up, down, and around, and he lands on the ground, one of his spikey hair points on fire. Just the one. It's almost like a candle. Then Hades just starts /blowing up/ - almost quite literally. The Keyblade Wielder, using the Kingdom Key as a crutch, struggles his way to his feet, painfully.

He lets out a gasp, a harsh chuckle, even as the comets come down. This is Sora- he gets in one final, almost snarky comment to Hades. "Heh... you're undestimating us heroes, you know."

Then comets fall. Sora enters REACTION TIME MODE.

He fails to hit triangle.

At the end of the bursting eruption, across the way, there is a crater impacted into the wall. Sora is sitting against it, one leg pulled up, the other one sprawled out lazily. The Keyblade, in his grip, shimmers away into nothingness, as Sora lies there, his eyes closed. His hand, holding the keyblade, limply falls to the ground with an almost...

Scary soft whump onto the ground next to him, palm up.

Zia has posed:
Maybe mocking the Lord of the Dead isn't the best idea, but Zia doesn't really have time to warn Percival against that. Maybe it would have been a good thought. At least, that's what goes through her mind before the flames hit. There isn't even time to make a sound as she's blasted backwards. Her wings fan open at the last moment as the ground comes rushing up at her, and it gives the white gargoyle just enough time to avoid becoming street pizza.

"Damn ye." She curses under her breath, wobbling in the air. Right now, her highest priority is to avoid that aura of fire that the Greek god is giving off. Yet, he isn't the one she's looking at. Instead, Zia's eyes are on Avira. "Fight 'im lass." It would be hard for her voice to carry over the tumult, but the thought is there none the less. When she takes to the air, Zia's eyes follow, and she calls out again, louder this time, "Fight 'im!"

And that is when the world turns to ice. It is by some small miracle that she manages to avoid taking the brunt of the attack from Avira. Seeing the others hurt doesn't help matters, as the want to defend them boils up in her mind. Grr.

Since Hades is using fire, might as well try a different tactic. She pulls water out of the air, possibly out of Avira's own attack, gritting her teeth through the pain and then closing her taloned hand. From below Hades, a guyser errupts, threatening to douse him in water, and which then starts freezing over.

Skyline has posed:
And just as Skyline is getting into her groove Hades decides to go completely BAT@#$ so he can kill everyone. Well that is just great. So lets see what we have here: Fire from Hades. That sends Skyline skidding backward with a yelp. Then the flames erupt from below like before. No avoiding that. Then comets start streaking down all around! Well one catches her right in the back and slams her right back down to earth. A yelp, a wet cough, but somehow she's actually managing to stagger back onto her feet. "Ngh.. is that all you got?" she rasps.

Careful what you ask for.

The last thing Skyline expected was the sudden lashing out of Avira toward everyone around. Well not from Avira, but from the heavens above. First fire, now ice? Really? REALLY?! ... Really. This time when the steel-skinned gargoyle gets hammered by the celestial storm a pained cry rips out of her muzzle and she goes soaring backward, slams to the ground, skids a few feet, and ends up down and out. You could count to a hundred, she's not getting up right now...

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi narrows her eyes faintly as Evja has his freakout. If that's how it is, she can understand that, but even so she has her obligations here. Evja strikes out, but Emi enters TRANS AM mode, she just has to last a little longer. She dashes to the right, Evja's strike glancing her across her left arm. What she's not expecting, however, is Avira to strike at her as well. Is the contract that powerful??

"Comets!! GRAAHH!!" Emi cries out, an erupting blast knocking her far and away, rolling across the floor a few times before coming to a stop. "Avira..." She manages. "The Network...forgives you."

She flumps back down, she's having difficulty moving. The pain's too great.

Is it going to end like this? Have they truly failed? They're all too strong and with Avira in the mix, can they make it out of this intact?

But then...

"Hey...what's this <Goosehonk>?" A familiar voice says, Cronus steps in, blood covering his two hands. He cricks his neck a bit and glances about, and then up towards Avira. "Oi, Avira." He says. "You didn't tell me 'bout this. Well don'tcha worry." He looks on over to Hades. "You forgot to call, but I do owe you one all the same." He cracks his bloody knuckles and grins faintly. "And besides... you remember what you told me right? It's nothin' to blame yourself with..." He punches his fist. "So you're a god huh?" He asks of Hades. "Man.. that gives me the chills...!!" He looks over into the darkness. "oi, give 'em a hand here." He looks down towards Sora, who seems to be having a good deal of difficulty.

"This the keyblade guy eh?" He approaches Sora and ducks down by him, hefting him up into his hand. He draws out an elixir and pours it down Sora's throat, dropping him unceremoniously back into the ground shortly after. He snaps his finger and slams one down into his chest--

--shifting time and speeding up his recovery. "Run away if y'gotta, Avira, I'll cover for ya. Ha ha ha!! THIS IS SO EXCITING!!" He grins widely.

Shida steps out, she seems uninjured. "Sorry... Feige attacked us."

"Yeah yeah, showed her not to play me like that, heh... Escaped at the last moment. Who the <goosehonk> says 'Evil Science is Immortal' anyway?"

Shida steps out, breathing out--and then unleashes a wave of electric power, intending to provide some health back to her allies and friends.

Percival has posed:
Hades gets up in his face and calls him on his foolishness. As he was about to respond with a riposte to the face, flames erupt everywhere, and the Gargoyle finds himself scrambling to get out of the way. He takes the brunt of the flaming pillar hard, using the aftermath of it to buffet him aloft. As he did so, broken off pieces from the giant comets of the ice would batter him, nearly knocking him out of the sky outright. He could hardly see any longer, the one two combination had nearly killed him outright. Through blurred eyes he looked upon the others, and saw that they were no better off than he.

While the sounds of battle still raged around him, it was deathly silent for his ears. All he could hear was a thrumming within his hands from the rapier, coaxing him towards temptation. With the situation as dire as it was, it didn't take much for him to give in. His eyes began to glow an eerie white, as is common of his kind. Turning the rapier in his hand into a reverse grip, he would descend rapidly aiming to stab both blades downward into the so-called god's shoulders. And then he would release both blades at once. Snarling in an animalistic rage he then would literally just try to tear the god of the damned apart with his bare hands and talons. There might have been biting too. Hard to say, it was Disney and trying to eat someone was like to be censored by the aura of blackness the rapier was now exuding.

Brooklyn has posed:
It's happening all over again. The overwhelming odds, the betrayals. It's the Battle of Manhattan all over. Brooklyn manages to evade the rampaging inferno from Hades, and thinks he's in the clear to move his next attack on Hades. That's when the ice strikes him in the back and sends him sprawling out onto the ground. He knew it.

Avira. Evja. Will. Demona. The Guard Captain. Xanatos. They're all the same. Traitors. And yet he continues to allow himself to be suckered in and stabbed in the back. It must be in his nature to be betrayed, even when one can see it coming from a mile away. There's one person here who won't betray him. Himself.

His loyalty is unquestionable. His resolve is undenyable. His will is unshakable.

Forcing himself back up, Brooklyn launches himself at Hades, the cause of all of this pain and suffering that everyone around him is being forced to endure, preparing to unleash everything he has on the Lord of the Damned, multiple strikes coming from the Gargoyle as he roars in anger and frustration, eyes burning white hot.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade is not dead yet. Despite his bold words, he's living on the edge here. The deadly spears come again from Evja, and Mercade launches himself out of the way. Evja is so fast, however, that there is a burning pain across his chest, the lance slashing a long red line across his body. "UGH!" He says, hitting the ground...

And he looks up at Evja. He heard something. "The law is imperfect, Judge. You may be bound by your oath, but even so I can't stop fighting. I'm sorry." He is then interrupted.

The freezing comets from Avira smash down onto Mercade, pounding him into the ground. He lies there, shaking for a moment, as he pushes himself up, forcing himself to focus. If he doesn't... everyone will die. "Avira..." He says. "I still believe in you." He staggers back to his feet, and looks up at the sky, before he fires several quick shots, trying to wear Evja down with MORE BULLETS. Shida's electrifying assistance comes in handy, even if he does feel like he's getting hit with a defibrilator.

Evja has posed:
With as much as was going on, Evja was beginning to get angry. Angry, and scared. Frightened... the darkness was seeping into the Viera's heart more and more and not because he was letting it on purpose! Abandoning the very things he's used as stability for so many years, so many things he has held as concrete. His actions are morally wrong, but they are condoned by a God, forced by an Oath.

He had to.

But he didn't want to.

He really didn't want to.

So much so that he thought about ending it right now. However, when he brought a spear up to wound himself, he stopped inches from his body, hands quivering. He would be breaking his oath. "I... have to... d--"
Then Mercade spoke out against the Law. 'It was imperfect'.

"NO! THE LAW IS PERFECT! LAW IS ORDER! ORDER IS PEACE! PEACE IS PROSPERITY! PROSPERITY IS HAPPINESS!" Normally such a thing wouldn't bother the Viera that much, but with so much darkness permeating his very core, well... it's kind of countering his morality despite how hard he's fighting against it. Evja vanishes only to appear in the air, flying straight up. Above his head he summons a half dozen gigantic spears that he begins pouring dark energy into. "LET IT BE DONE!"

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, the spears launch at once down to the ground like a bomb towards the group he was fighting with.

Deidra has posed:
Here comes Avira she looks with a expression of horror on her face as magi is summone and destruction rains down from the heavens. It's only missing a inhuman scream to go with it. DEidra on the other hand is casting a number of barriers go up nd every last one is shattere and she's still caught by the force of the blast she's still got some fight in her and then the network comes through with some healing she feels some of her wounde knit them self back up and she feels a little bit better.

She does not feel so for long as Evja rants about the law.

"Pure order is opessive, unbending, uncaring, unforgiving."

She flares her wings out as she still stands looking at Evja.

"You do not understand the spirit of the law only the letter."

She starts chanting again the latin words come with a rather harsh as she unlahses more ice again it's just a single lance this time which she directs with a hand gesture at Evja and it launches itself.

Avira has posed:
Devistation rains down from the sky and Avira watches it all. She does see several of her friends manage to evade taking direct hits from at least /her/ magic, but combined with Hades's it proves too much for some. Though she didn't know Skyline at all, seeing the gargoyle take a direct hit breaks her heart. This is doubly the case when she finds Mercade also suffering beneath the extreme level of ice magic.

This. This right here was why she doubted the whole 'princess of heart' thing. She'll have to think over Emi's words about Heartless harassment later. Right now, she's too overwhelmed with shame at her own actions. While Mercade and a handful of the others can still manage to forgive her for this, "...but how can I forgive myself..." she murmurs.

A familiar face shows and Avira's eyes widen at the appearance of Cronus.

"...yeah. Yeah, I remember." her wings flap, taking her a little higher in the sky. Run away if y'gotta, he says. Given all that's happened here and continues to happen...

She doesn't give any warning at this point. No parting words of hope or disappointment in herself. No shouted words of defiance at Hades-in fact, she'd rather not attract his attention right now lest he tell her to do other things she'll start to regret.

Freewheeling through the sky, Avira dodges Heartless after Heartless that quickly start to follow her before she plunges into the nearest corridor she sees.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade hits Evja's buttons. He pays for it. The spears rain down, and one of them impales him. He jerks, eyes widening as he staggers to one side, collapsing to one knee. He pulls the weapon from his body, letting it drop to the ground as he oversees the overwhelming dizziness that threatens to take him.

"The law is not perfect." Mercade grates. "It is made by imperfect people. Something perfect cannot come from imperfect people. We make mistakes. We condemn others for things they are not guilty for. The guilty escape punishment. There is no such thing as a perfect order, a perfect law. But if you feel that you need to strike me down because of this fact..." He narrows his eyes. "Go ahead and try."

Hades has posed:
Hades grins as the flames eat the Keyblade Wielder and one of the Gargoyles. It was pretty much it right there, victory was assured...

However, there was some fight in Zia. Freezing happens, Hades, despite being FLAMING HOT, is not less flaming hot. He looks annoyed...downright REALLY annoyed. He flames upwards, unfreezing himself. "Oh don't you think your CUTE..." he says..

And then Perci just can't get enough. But THIS time...Hades arches an eyebrow, defending rather than disappearing. The man was rabid...innnnnteresting. He can use that...but not today. He puts that back in reserve. The claws tear out, causing the God some discomfort...this were getting too di-

And there is BROOKLYN, diving into Hades, causing the God to be flung back from the attack and landing, but just barely on his feet. Hades starts to roll up a toga sleeve... oh yeah, this is about to...

THEN CRONUS INTERRUPT. Hades pauses...looking at him for a second. "Alright, seriously. No." he says, and snaps his fingers. Suddenly here is a young toga'ed woman. She turns around...

SNAKES FOR HAIR! "Meet my minion, the Gorgon. Nice lady, has a face that can turn people to stone though... literally." he says. Oh yeah, right... The finger snaps again, and the Gorgon is gone..

However, that little small detail is all Avira needs. Hades looks up... "Wait what?" he says, he looks around, wait who was Skyline? Ooooooh that thing he blew up earlier. Huh...wait why was this important? "HEY!" he shouts at Avira...nope, too far gone.

Hades looks annoyed...this wasn't in the plan. He looks to the remaining people, his goal here was gone, and it was funnier to watch Evja get her crap kicked out of her. "Welp, that was fun. However, you're lives are meaningless to me, and as Avira as...how we say, departed, You get to live." He looks at Perci, "Except you. Evja, kill him too."

And then he turns to leave. The god gone in a puff of smoke.

Evja has posed:
"..."

Kill him too.
Damnit...

"NO! THERE IS NO TOO, HADES! OUR BARGAIN HAD ONE FAVOR AND MERCADE IS IT! NOW DIE!"

Flying down to the ground, Evja curled up in a ball and slashed out with two spears, trying to deflect her attack and shoot right through it towards Deidra. Instead, he wounds up taking it head on, helm blown off and revealing the Viera's face beneath. Not that it might be obvious...
But he was crying. The viera had tears in his eyes. He didn't want to do this, but...

He had to.

Bunny was going for the kill, weapon out. And fast. If anyone wanted to save Mercade, they better shoot Bunbun down.

Zia has posed:
Does Zia think she's cute? No, not really, mostly she just thinks she's a crispy critter and the water seems like a nice change of pace. Her expression is one of confusion and obvious pain as she keeps herself barely in the air. Avira is gone, Hades is gone, and all that's left is Evja. Betrayer. Gargoyles have that whole sense of revenge that goes along with their honor at times, and right now, a certain tin-canned rabbit is all that's left to receive it.

"Forces of Nature, heed m'call." Lightning crackles at her fingers, drawing down from the skies without the force of a full storm, but certainly with enough vehemence to sting mightily. After this, she is going to need healing, and stone sleep, or both.

Sora has posed:
Cronus forcefeeds potions down Sora's throat, and then dumps him back to the ground, bruising him up a little bit more. The end result is Sora eventulaly coming oto, just in time to see Hades disappear. The Keyblade Wielder looks at Evja, realizing Avira is gone too.

"No!"



He then launches himself back into the fray, pushing himself harder than he should after being practically dead five seconds ago. The keyblade is glowing an ominious bright red, the ending result appearing as Sora points it straight up into the sky - and then brings it down in a series of short, swift strikes, even as comets rain down around Evja, Ragnarok Arcanum.

"Mercade, /Run/!"

Brooklyn has posed:
With Hades gone after Brooklyn's assault, the gargoyle frowns when Hades up and vanishes. Avira is gone as well. Quickly, Brooklyn runs to where Skyline had fallen, crouching down next to her and pulling her up into his arms, to make sure she's still breathing. He doesn't have any sort of medical abilities, but he knows the basics of whether someone is alive or not.

Cronus has posed:
Emi goes down under Evja's latest round of destruction, she hits the ground, blood rippling under her, pinned to the ground by the spears. She wheezily speaks up, "Avira...stay safe...The Network..." She falls back and Shida starts screaming as well, grasping at her head and shaking it from side to side. "ERROR, NETWORK SUFFERING FAILURE. HEAD SERVER DOWN. GRAAAAAAAAAH!" She shrieks, falling over and grasping at her face, tears pouring out in copious amounts. "ERROR, ERROR, ATTEMPTING CONNECTION, ERROR, ERROR, CONNECTION FAILED." She keeps on screaming this.

Cronus chuckles lightly, "So that's it..." He says. "A princess of the heart... You ready God?! I EAT GODS--" His eyes flare open which, really, isn't the best idea when suddenly a Gorgon appears before him.

Cronus erks and tries to turn his head away--but too late! "D..deceleration!!" He shouts.

But it only slows down the inevitable. Already, his left leg is already turning to stone. He jerks his head and sees Emi has fallen and Shida cannot help her. He says, "Dammit...!!!" He growls, stumbling forward and tripping, hitting the ground face first.

"YOU <GOOSEHONK>, I'M GONNA <GOOSEHONK> YOU <GOOSEHONK> <GOOSEHONK> <GOOSEHONK> GONNA MAKE YOU FREAKIN' <GOOSEHONK> <GOOSEHONK> YOUR MOTHER <GOOSEHONK> <GOOSEHONK> AND <GOOSEHONK> YOU!!!"

He stands himself up, wiping blood from his nose, the stone is already progressing. Well, it'll take some flexing.

"DIE!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!" He screams, throwing himself--with some effort, for Evja, intending to get in the way of the strike. He spends some of his attention decelerating Emi's blood loss, but this leaves him open as he's already straining himself--

The fact that he's also unleashing a sudden deceleration field for Evja, intending to pin him in place so he can put the hurt on, reach into those wounds--and burst his blood vessels, reverse their flow, as much pain as he can inflict in this one moment.

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!" Cronus screams. Still not quite a hero type, it seems.

Percival has posed:
With Hades gone, his quarry had thus escaped. While his mind wasn't thinking very rationally right now, there was still some sort of recognition that recognized that most of those whom were left were friends and categorized them as such. The Viera's betrayal did not put him on that list. He was currently charging, about to reacquaint the Viera with the reason why a bunny should not anger a predator.

And then the Viera judge is blasted out of the sky by Zia and Sora. That normally wouldn't have halted his advance, but something within him screamed at him to stop, and stop he did tumbling head over heels as he suddenly put on the brakes. Between his shame and his wounds, it takes him a while before he rises, and with agonizing slowness walks over to Brooklyn and Skyline. He croaks out a few words, and that effort alone is painful as the superheated air from Hades' assault had likely burnt his windpipe. "How is she?"

Skyline has posed:
At this moment in time, Skyline's right wing is shredded pretty good, the rest of her is either in the after effects of being severely burned or frozen, BUT? She's breathing. This is good. She's breathing and when Brooklyn goes to move her a loud wince slips out of her, but she isn't waking up. That count is up to about 1837 and still climbing.

Brooklyn has posed:
For his part, Brooklyn will just hold onto Skyline and make sure she doesn't get any worse until somebody with some potions shows up. The rest of the crew has the traitor in hand, and the others got away. Nothing they can do about it right now.

Evja has posed:
Even as Evja sped down like a bullet, the others weren't going to let it happen. Even as the Viera spun and tried to dodge and counter the attacks by throwing spears towards the ones who intercepted him, it didn't matter. Magic and sword strikes rained down and hit the Viera square on, and indeed... looked to have done the job as there was a giant explosion from them!
But, wait!

The Viera still hurtled down straight towards Mercade! He's still going to - then Cronus interferes and Evja winds up slamming into the ground next to Mercade and screaming out in agonizing pain from the mans attack. Curled up ball screaming, the pain shredding through the Viera, in fact the only thing keeping him conscious was just that.

The darkness begins to bleed out of Evja slowly, eventually leaving the Viera looking how he did originally. Crystally-silver armor, bright and shiny... less demonic-looking spikes on his armor. However, he was injured badly and the attack from Cronus only made it look worse as the Judge was curled up, voice finally a hoarse cry from the pain of having that magical attack burn through him so, well...
Effectively.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade looks upon Evja, and prepares to accept his incoming destruction.

Okay, maybe he's not going to accept it, he's totally planning to do a last minute epic john woo dodge with amazing things, but it proves unnecessary. He can barely move anyway, oh well. Mercade looks down as Evja is brought down, Hades vanishes, and Avira escapes...

"Avira..."

A moment later, Mercade collapses onto his face, falling unconscious as his wounds catch up to him.

Zia has posed:
On shakey wings, Zia manages to land a nearby rooftop, the burns feeling as if they are still smoldering embers. Her eyes look skyward, to that place where Avira had vanished, and her ears tilt down. Was all hope lost? We shall see.

Cronus has posed:
A spear pierces Cronus in the chest. It's a bit of an accident from throwing his way into Evja's attack. He doesn't slow down this injury, he just keeps the deceleration on Mercade and Emi's injuries, along with his stone. He's trying to keep them alive as long as he can.

"Ha..." Cronus says, letting his hands drop. He wants to try and murder him, but right now he can't move his legs anymore.

"Fitting end for a monster like me..." He mulls, looking up into the sky. "...Oi kid..." He tells Sora. "...All I ask of ya... is to make this worth it, hah?"

The stone comes up to his chest. "Make sure they live, a guy like me can't make requests, but you owe me...make sure...cghnhnkkk....they..."

And the stone overtakes his head, the lance lodged firmly in his stone form.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is impaled she's bleeding very badly, but she refuse to go down, she will endure it but she looks like hell. She clutches her wound as she stand she says something over a head set comm unit. "I hate to say this but we need to make Evja is alive to face the music for what they have done." She cltenches her teeth she just has to hang in there till she sleeps and then she'll be fine but she's in no condtion to do ... much.

"Avira ..."

there is nothing she can about it but Cronus and grimaces.

"We will."

She could try to break the curse...but she's just out of magical power she can't do a thing...

Sora has posed:
Sora looks over at Cronus, his shoulders shaking as Evja just - drops. The screaming hurts him to his core, and he flinches, even as he kneels next to the man.

"Yeah, I do owe you. I'll make sure their world is returned. I promise. I'll try to get a hold of Avira too. She's more special than she realizes, I think." Sora promises again.