Shattered Dimensions

[The Painted Lady]

Fiora just pursed her lips and remained silent, eyes trained in on the fight in front of her.

[Lykaios]

Baird was in wonder. Damon Baird was confused, having just been on an intercept course with the fan, he was finding the fan suddenly turned off, and the amount of polyps (or whatever those things had been) had reduced to zero in a few short moments. He looked around. His squad was out of sight, which was bad news.

"Corporal Baird of Sigma One to all callsigns, who's receiving?" he asked, finger to his earpiece. He waited a minute. Two minutes. Three. No responses inbound, not even Control. He was concerned, but he didn't let it show.

"Where the hell is everyone?" he said to noone in particular. He shouldered his scavenged Longshot from the crashed grindlift, and checked the ammo clip in his Lancer; it still held 30-40 rounds. He knew he had five clips in his ammo pockets, so he was comfortable with that. His Longshot had a round in the chamber, and his Boltok pistol on his thigh was loaded, ready if neccessary.

"Cole? Jace, you there?" he hailed again. Still nothing.

"Shit." he said in disgust. The signature COG answer for everything.

He revved the chainsaw bayonet, and started walking. He had a long trek ahead of him, so, despite the skull-crushing boots bearing down a hugely metallic weight on his feet, he had no other choice. He'd been a gear for fifteen years, it was all he really knew these days. So the walking was no real problem. He just had to be at the ready. He had no intel, no way of knowing if there was or wasn't any Locust or Lambent activity out there, so he did his best be on-guard.

He'd been walking for five minutes, before he heard the tell-tale signs of combat. But it was a form of combat he didn't really know all too well, because most mundane hand to hand combats were lost, fighting grubs. He heard steel on steel, and raised his Lancer, ready stance, and slowed his pace. He crept towards the sounds -as best his heavy boots allowed- and looked around the corner. A tall silver-haired man was fighting an identical silver-haired man, one in red, one in blue. The blue wielding a katana, the red, a thick, long sword. He watched, hesitant for a moment as to what he should do, then watched in shock as the blue man sent a giant blue hand slightly less than corporeal at the red man, who swatted it aside like he would a fly.

"Shit." he said with quiet enthusiasm. This was not in the books. He wasn't sure if these were human, or monsters. He was less inclined towards humanity, and more inclined towards monsters. He hung back, back against the wall he peeked out from to spot them, gun ready to pull up should the need arise, and he poked his head out for the briefest moment again for another look. It was then he noticed a strangely dressed woman, and a boy in blue.

He decided in an instant to stay out of sight, but made the decision of 'worst case scenario': they'd spotted him, and were approaching his position. Fifteen years of combat had driven the flee response right out of him, and instinct immediately blinded out higher cognitive function, for survival. He was ready, should he need to be.

[Renegade]

Vergil gave the smallest of smirks. "Did he? Well, I guess I must stick to the tried-and-true tactics that you're humanity never allows you to learn from!" Again, Vergil swung out the blue hand, though this time it was not for Dante, but for Fiora. The demonic hand lunged for her at an increadible speed.

[Elario Luminus]

Dante cursed and leapt towards Fiora in an effort to tackle her out of the way, while at the same time throwing Rebellion at Vergil to distract him. He'd seen too many people fall to his brothers careless disregard for life to let it happen again.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Yami, who was standing in front of Fiora, took one step back and raised his hand as the giant spectral hand came towards him. His puzzle glowed, a strange eye appeared on his forehead, a large golden shield of energy appearing to shield himself and the others from the attack.

[The Painted Lady]

It was fruitless, however. The hand moved at a ridiculous speed, faster than Red could rush back to Fiora, faster than she - or the others around her - could react. The glowing hand penetrated the still-forming shield, claws wrapping around her waist. She felt resistance as she passed through the quickly solidifying wall, but the demonic strength of her captor pulled her from Yami's protection before it could engulf her. She felt her breath knocked out of her as she was wrenched toward the intruder. Despite this, she still stubbornly squirmed against his grip.
"You might be taking the 'rough handling' thing a little too far, Blue," she protested as she tried to loosen his hold.

[Lykaios]

He heard the scuffle as it continued to develop into a full scale war, between these two. He poked his head around the corner again, instantly noting the fact they were still mostly intent on the fight which had now grown to include the oddly dressed woman. Now, she was no Anya Stroud, but she seemed strong-willed enough. He didn't like seeing his women in a fight, but if they could handle themselves, he was less disturbed. He looked at her intently, but all he could see was the giant blue freakin' hand probably ready to squeeze the life out of her.

"C'mon, brew. What're you doin'??" he asked himself, as he shook himself out a bit to try and recover his equilibrium. New location that vaguely resembled Ephyra after Prescott's Hammer strikes worldwide, no comms to his team or Control and a couple guys about his size dukin' it out with swords and magic or something twisted and insane, with a kid who looked like he'd had too much time with a knife jabbed in a power socket for his radiantly spiky hair?

What the hell's goin' on, here? he wondered, as he raised his rifle. He had to move out there now, and face this insanity head-on. He started walking forward, not exactly creeping, but not doing his utmost to draw their attention. He took aim, guiding his reticle over the joints in the giant glowing hand. He only hoped it was corporeal enough to shoot the damn thing. He fired two short bursts after the hand had started to stop back at blue, so as to avoid being hit with substantial recoil.

"Alright, mind if I join the party? Or am I just gatecrashing this gig?" he said, gun still raised, but now aimed directly at the blue guy.
"Now, who the hell are you? I don't care why, but noone has the right to use a lady as bait. Regardless of whether or not she can handle herself. So just, put the girl down." he finished off, revving the chainsaw for effect. He wasn't pissing himself with fear at this moment, but that demonic hand? Certainly belonged to neither Locust or Lambent. This group was messed up, even by Gear standards.

[Renegade]

As the newcomer came along and directed some kind of 'morality' judgement at Vergil, he turned to him and smirked condescendingly, apparently not giving two shits. "Why, Dante?" He said, shaking his head. "Why must you fight for such weak creatures? They break so easily. Yet they are you're weakness. A son of the Legendary Dark Knight, weakened by humans. Such a scar on our name is a tragedy. A tragedy that even the deepest demons weep for!" He held the woman closer. "You could have so much more."
Vergil held the woman in his left arm, while he thrust the demon-arm back at Dante, while simultaneously summoning long blue shards and firing them in a spread formation toward his brother.

[Elario Luminus]

Dante clicked his fingers, sending a yellow aura around him. He dashed faster than the human eye could see, seemingly teleporting a few meters away from where Vergil tried grabbing him. Seeing the phantom shards, he clicked his fingers again, causing a steel coloured aura to shine through the devil hunter. Dante braced himself, holding his open palm out away from him. When the shards reached him, they shattered on an initially invisible barrier, which went red with each impact.
'I have enough already. Maybe your lack of humanity is why you lost the last time we fought.'
Without warning, Dante released the energy absorbed from the assault, sending a shockwave towards his brother.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Yami hissed when his shield failed to protect the woman, hearing Yugi give a cry of horror in his head.
Relax Yugi... he cautioned the boy, eyes flicking to the newcomer who'd charged in and made an attempt to threaten the man in blue.
He was a large man, wielding a weapon of the kind that Yami had never set eyes on before. It was remarkably brutal looking, which made such words of reason seem severely out of character.
"If you have any value over your life, stranger," he began, addressing the newcomer. "You'll let these two... individuals, duke it out in their own time."

[The Painted Lady]

Fiora huffed as captor ignored her.
"I suppose the whole 'honourable' argument isn't going to be so effective on you, is it?" she sighed.
She started to brace for the impact from Red's attack.
"What the hell is your problem anyway? And why did you have to drag me into it?!"

[Lykaios]

Baird was completely ignored by the guy in blue, as he paid out a new attack on the one in red. Whoever this blue-wearing jackass was, he was a prick. And Baird didn't like pricks. That was normally his job. He grumbled incoherently as he looked around, keeping himself out of their scuffle, while noticing the young man with...what the hell was it? Some kind of reptilian alien stood on reversed legs near a young man in a -of all things- school uniform, it hadn't even occurred to him about the reptile alien on previous inspection, so he could have sworn it could be cloaking itself and then uncloaking for him to have spotted it only now. Some strange shit was going down, and this Corporal was completely lost and baffled. Even fighting Lambent and Locust seemed much simpler to him than this sudden turn of events. He had slowly minimised the gap between himself and the boy with his alien, when he heard the kid speak to him. But it wasn't a teenager's voice, he heard. It was a very much adult voice. On closer inspection, the kid seemed taller than his clothes were designed for, and the voice and face were just a little too old for the school uniform.

"Value my life? You kiddin' me? I ain't jumpin' in on that kinda brawl. I'm not that stupid." he responded, his surly disposition slightly at a loss on how to respond to the scenario at hand. He took a careful look at the alien, and -when he was certain it wasn't going to use him as a chew toy- shouldered his gun, next to his scavenged Longshot on his back. But, just in case, he kept a hand on the Boltok pistol at his thigh. Safety first. And for that very reason, he always left the safety catch off.

"Are these two whack-jobs fighting about anything important? Because -with the exception of dino here- you lot are the closest things to human I have communication with. Oh god...tell me you're not Stranded?" he said to the boy, wincing at the final realisation of the possibility. He still wasn't sure who they all were, and was not sure if he wanted to know if they were in fact Standed, but they were the only people around.

"And who's the petite brunette getting brutalised by that prick in blue?" he added.

[Renegade]

Thel placed himself between Yugi and the newcomer. "Release your weapon, before I unleash mine" he managed to make it sound polite, despite the clear threat as his hand fell to his sword's handle.

Vergil smirked at the woman. "Because, you were the closest piece of meat. Plus, I know my brother well."
As he said the he used Fiora as a shield and absored the blast with her body. He then tossed her at Dante with the demon arm.

[Elario Luminus]

Dante cursed as Fiora went soaring right at him. He ran forward and jumped towards her, catching her easily and dropped to the ground.
'You okay, lady?' he asked, the fact that he was fighting his brother again etching pain into his eyes.
Before he could get an answer, however, Dante dashed away from her lest Vergil attack again. Sure he was far enough, he charged at Vergil.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Yami regarded the newcomer with cautious curiosity. He seemed normal enough - certainly not a demon. He couldn't help but smirk a little though when Thel stepped forward to place himself between him and the stranger, such unspoken loyalty was a trait Yami had not come to expect from many in this century. He did not sense any threat from this man... he was mostly cautious of them.
"I do not think it is this stranger we need worry about," he said, those words directed to his alien companion. He then turned his attention back to the stranger.
"To my knowledge the... 'whack jobs' are dragging us all into some sort of impromptu sibling argument."
He made no bones about his displeasure.