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Ciri shrugged, her face growing solemn for the first time as Lucifer as she nodded to him. "Not sure whether I'd consider that very stupid or very brave, but either way I wish you luck. As for the rest of you, no reason for us to tarry here any longer than necessary" She said firmly as she concentrated again and splayed her hands in front of her. "If you could all take a step back for a moment, I need to pull on a good deal more energy than I usually do when I do this if I'm going to take so many people especially if one's fourteen feet tall >_> so please keep your distance at the start. also.... something is interfering with my senses for this. my personal guess being the giant purple beam of desolation shooting into the sky." She added with a small grin. "But so this portal's going to be a blind jump to literally any world I can reach. Most of them support life, but, well... some will probably be completely benign and peaceful on the other side, and some might be less so. So just... be ready, ok?"

Her explanation and warnings given, she nodded again and gestured for the others to back up. Ruby obliged, heaving her sister onto her back with a grunt and stumbling slightly towards one of the walls with a concerned, scared, and worried frown. Needless to say this was a lot to be taking in at such a short notice, her sister hadn't woken up yet, and whatever had happened here... well there's a good chance she'd never know.

"Everyone ready?" Ciri asked, glancing over her shoulders as her hands began to glow far brighter than they had before. a tiny pinprick heralded the opening of the portal in the worl-


///////////////////////////////////////////

Everything froze.

Their eyes, their hearts, the flickering flames around them, everything suddenly ground to a halt.

"This isn't going to work, just so you all know"

The air was frozen along with them, and yet footsteps echoed through the vast chamber from the door behind them all. The voice was ice cold, the amusement darting around the edge of it sharpening the words rather than giving them any warmth.

"She'd probably figure that out herself, if she wasn't in such a rush." A figure passed between Raime and Vash, paying the gunman and behemoth no heed as he strode towards Ciri. He was a gaunt man in dark brown leather, his boots almost up to his knees and his face as pale as death itself, save for the vague hints of a smirk on his lips. There was something about him that seemed familiar to them all, but in a way that their minds screamed they never wanted to remember. He moved to circle Ciri, stare full of analytical boredem as he spoke again. "Its subtle, but the edges of this world are very wrong. Its impressive how the work of just a few men and women could have such wide reaching implications. All this is happening because one man wondered, and his wonderings have whole worlds smashing together, their edges rubbing off onto his own. Thats all you are by the way. Shavings. Side effects of one man's questions. And despite that... you're the only ones who can do anything about it. A whole world will literally be at your fingertips in the end, to save, rule... destroy..."

He stopped his pacing and pivoted on his heel, facing the group with a calm smile as he clasped his arms in front of him.

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"So lets see what you choose. But first you'll have to get there. So tread carefully little copies, if you want to save yourselves, miss Ciri, either of these worlds and your own. There are things far more terrible than you or even I that have been drawn to this, this tear in what is and what will be, and if you cross them callously, well..."

He shrugged and raised his hands to snap his fingers.

"You'll see what I mean shortly."

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

-d's fabric. Ruby tried to speak up, to stop whatever Ciri was doing before the portal opened, to warn her about what just happened.

She didn't get out more than a "STO-" before dark grey tendrils of scaly flesh suddenly gripped the sides of the portal. Ciri's eyes flared wide, her hand tried once to gesture to seal the portal shut, and when that didn't work she reached for her sword. She all but managed to twitch her hand in its direction before the portal was rent wide open, and something flew out to skewer the girl almost half a dozen times, lifting her off the ground with a sharp gag that died in Ciri's throat as her head lolled back.

The portal was forced open farther, and the thing slithered out through the air as if it was water, Ciri limp on its talon'd limbs as its eyeless visage seemed to roam over the group. For now almost seeming to study them, no intent to strike save what it had already done. That was likely not true both ways.

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It sure as heck wasn't true for Ruby, who's let out a choked gasp at her friend(?)'s sudden end before her slightly teary eyes narrowed in a surprising determined fury for such a small form as she reached for Crescent Ro-

Oh. Right.

Instead she made a mad dash for the doors so she could drop Yang off first. THEN she was gonna open up a can of huntress buttwhoopin on... whatever this was

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Chell (Canon)
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Chell looked confused, but, from what she could gather, it had been some sort of experiment, with time... It was still unclear how it had occurred or even how she had gotten here, but, she had a feeling the man standing in front of them, the one who had just snapped his fingers, would give her answers. She took one more look around at the flickering bodies before looking back at the purple "doom laser" if it were anything like a portal device, perhaps it at least took part of the responsibility of bringing them all here... But, why? Was it all just an accident? Or, was there some sort of purpose behind it? And... What did he mean about saving their home worlds? What in the blazes was going on here? That puzzled look remained on Chell's face as she waited to see what would happen next...

Then, she saw it; Ciri, she opened another portal, or at least it looked like one to her, this time an... What could only be described as an abomination; was it a tear in reality? Chell wasn't sure, but, she needed to act fast; she usually used her environment to her advantage in those testing chambers she had powered through, but, how would she do it here? Her gaze shot up towards that purple doom laser as she cranked up her aged, but, still fully functional portal device; Chell was going to attempt to redirect that "doom laser" with two portals, in an attempt to hit that creature with it. However, she needed to see if she could even make a pair of workable portals here, otherwise this could be all for nothing... But then again, if all else fails, she could try and risk touching that thing's body with the front of her portal gun...​
 
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Whatever strange lull had overtaken the creature broke as the group leaped into action. Lucifer's blow was deflected with a swipe of a tendril akin to a whip, the crack filling the air as it was either move in midair or eat the full brunt of the strike for the dhampir. Vash's shots broke the relative silence that had fallen with far more finality as the sounds ricocheted through the chamber. Unfortunately, the shots easily pierced the beast's almost gooey hide but didn't even to make it take notice.

That changed at the headshot as the bone plate cracked slightly from the round, an alien, throaty growl filling their minds rather than the air as the beast suddenly turned towards Vash-

-only to get Raime's massive sword into its side with a crushing blow. orange liquid spewed from the wound as the beast was rocked to the side by the blow, but it didn't go clean through, instead getting caught on some bony structure inside the beast... and then in the flesh itself as the beast's skin started to knit itself back together as it raised its other claw to come crashing down towards Raime. Midway through its strike, Azula's lightning bolt thundered into it, and its attack went why as it staggared and the smell of ozone and burnt fish filled the air.

As for Chell's portals, the one to the side set itself as normal, but the laser was going clean through the room so there was nowhere to redirect it from.
 
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Raime was ready to avoid or block the attack, yanking his sword free, but Azula's blast saved him the trouble. He looked over and grunted before holding his blade in the air... Enveloping it in darkness and fire.

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The creature's annoying resistance to their attacks had quickly worn his patience thin. Sheathing his straight sword, Raime held the huge blade with two hands and began swinging at the creature's side repeatedly.

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Whatever strange lull had overtaken the creature broke as the group leaped into action. Lucifer's blow was deflected with a swipe of a tendril akin to a whip, the crack filling the air as it was either move in midair or eat the full brunt of the strike for the dhampir. Vash's shots broke the relative silence that had fallen with far more finality as the sounds ricocheted through the chamber. Unfortunately, the shots easily pierced the beast's almost gooey hide but didn't even to make it take notice.

That changed at the headshot as the bone plate cracked slightly from the round, an alien, throaty growl filling their minds rather than the air as the beast suddenly turned towards Vash-

-only to get Raime's massive sword into its side with a crushing blow. orange liquid spewed from the wound as the beast was rocked to the side by the blow, but it didn't go clean through, instead getting caught on some bony structure inside the beast... and then in the flesh itself as the beast's skin started to knit itself back together as it raised its other claw to come crashing down towards Raime. Midway through its strike, Azula's lightning bolt thundered into it, and its attack went why as it staggared and the smell of ozone and burnt fish filled the air.

As for Chell's portals, the one to the side set itself as normal, but the laser was going clean through the room so there was nowhere to redirect it from.
Not so long as he held a blade in his hands. He gripped it with both, using his momentum from his leap and the force of the tendril itself to his advantage as he carefully timed its approach to him.

Just before he slashed down with a sharp cry, seeking to bisect the appendage itself. He trusted his blade and if successful, he'd skid to the other side and turn to see the results of the other attacks with the eye of one who has hunted such creatures before.

Guns didn't seem to gain its attention, at least not till its attention was grabbed around the head. Protected obviously....And a regeneration ability as well. He frowned- And as Azula hit it with the lightning bolt, he realized its chief weakness.

And inhaling deeply, he switched to the Black Keys, making the activate in each hand as he rushed forward and flung them with a critical eye for the crack in the head.

"USE FIRE! IT CAN'T HEAL IF YOU CHAR THE FLESH! GUNMAN! TARGET ITS HEAD, WHERE YOU SHOT PREVIOUSLY! I HAVE A PLAN!!"

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Not so long as he held a blade in his hands. He gripped it with both, using his momentum from his leap and the force of the tendril itself to his advantage as he carefully timed its approach to him.

Just before he slashed down with a sharp cry, seeking to bisect the appendage itself. He trusted his blade and if successful, he'd skid to the other side and turn to see the results of the other attacks with the eye of one who has hunted such creatures before.

Guns didn't seem to gain its attention, at least not till its attention was grabbed around the head. Protected obviously....And a regeneration ability as well. He frowned- And as Azula hit it with the lightning bolt, he realized its chief weakness.

And inhaling deeply, he switched to the Black Keys, making the activate in each hand as he rushed forward and flung them with a critical eye for the crack in the head.

"USE FIRE! IT CAN'T HEAL IF YOU CHAR THE FLESH! GUNMAN! TARGET ITS HEAD, WHERE YOU SHOT PREVIOUSLY! I HAVE A PLAN!!"

@C.T. @Schnee Corp Lawyer @TheSpringwoodSlasher

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Well Luvia could do that just as well. She had been staying back sizing up the foe that stood before them. Luvia put her hand inside one of her pockets to retrieve a jewel from it. "Perhaps when you stop flailing about I will have you face my moves up front." The jewel would crack and break as Luvia formed her hand into a pistol. "Now you will face the magical skills of the Edelfelt family! Gandr!"

A black orb would form at the tip of her finger that she would fire off like a bullet towards the head of the beast in an attempt to hinder its rampage.



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Vash had a feeling that this creature here didn't really gather the magnitude of what it had done to Ciri. But that wasn't enough for Vash. This creature had taken a life and with or without it having any real conscience, it had to be put under the same knife that it had forcibly put Ciri under. She hadn't had a choice in this, nor had any of them and she had paid the price of it with her life. He watched with narrowed eyes as the few shots he had aimed at the limbs passed through without much fanfare. But the shot at the bone-plate caught it's attention and that's where Vash knew he had a chance. It brought back unsavory memories of when he had fought Monev the Gale back on Gunsmoke. He had tanked all of Vash's shots up until he targeted the face-plate and cracked it wide open.

Monev had taken the lives of innocent people just as this creature had. Vash's goofy exterior had been wiped under the rug for the moment and was replaced with the serious nature of the 'human' disaster known as the The Humanoid Typhoon. His eyes glowed dark blue and he'd seek to pocket his revolver so he could prop one of his feet onto the creature's chest and push off it to avoid any damage from Azula's blast or Raimes's swings. The sight of the orange liquid spewing from the open wound would have normally revolted him but he had to do something about this.

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To reload his gun would have taken too much time and it could have given this creature another chance to prepare some counter-measure to his gun's shots. So watching as Luvia sent an orb flying towards the same spot that he had damaged with his headshot, his left arm erupted as a gun seemed to fold out from within the arm and aiming it, he'd seek to pull back on the trigger and blast the creature once more and hopefully shatter the plate this time around. Because he usually went for non-fatal shots if he could help it but this creature had crossed the line that should never be crossed by anyone. For no one being had the right to take the life of another.

If Knives was behind this then Vash would get to the bottom of this and he'd be damned if anyone more got hurt. Even if it was someone as frightening as Raimes or someone who seemed to be as nice as Ruby. No more people would get hurt because of the mishaps of the one man who had apparently caused all of this. Such was the will of the Humanoid Typhoon.

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The corner of her lips upturned in a smile as she was rewarded with the distinct smell of ozone and better yet, the burnt flesh wafting through the air. Reminded her slightly of koi fish. So whatever this creature was, spirit or random beast of instinct...it too could burn as easy as any man. Perfect. Her smile faded when the voice of the cop came over and she just scowled. Like I need your recommendations, you savage. I was already way ahead of any of you.

Stifling her disquiet, she hopped down to their level. There was nothing left of interest up here right now. Landing lightly on her feet, she thrust her arms to either side and generated jets of fire forcefully propelling her forward. The distance between her and the beast decreasing rapidly as she stared straight at it, eyes glinting with satisfaction. The crux of every fight, knowing the opponent's weaknesses. Multi-limbed it may be, but still slow to keep up with attacks from multiple assailants and differing directions.

Child's play.

You made three errors, beast. Challenging a Princess of the Fire Nation(I'm a barista(no, quiet you)) was folly. Challenging the rest of these morons was suicide. And worst of all...invading my head with your insipid growl like a wild animal. Tsk tsk. This head is full enough, if you don't mind.

Yeah, what I said!

She skidded to a halt at the penultimate moment, a few feet away from making contact with the creature. The momentum of her fire jets continued on, however, and she fueled it even further intent on letting a massive blast of searing flame roast all over the beast.

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Whatever strange lull had overtaken the creature broke as the group leaped into action. Lucifer's blow was deflected with a swipe of a tendril akin to a whip, the crack filling the air as it was either move in midair or eat the full brunt of the strike for the dhampir. Vash's shots broke the relative silence that had fallen with far more finality as the sounds ricocheted through the chamber. Unfortunately, the shots easily pierced the beast's almost gooey hide but didn't even to make it take notice.

That changed at the headshot as the bone plate cracked slightly from the round, an alien, throaty growl filling their minds rather than the air as the beast suddenly turned towards Vash-

-only to get Raime's massive sword into its side with a crushing blow. orange liquid spewed from the wound as the beast was rocked to the side by the blow, but it didn't go clean through, instead getting caught on some bony structure inside the beast... and then in the flesh itself as the beast's skin started to knit itself back together as it raised its other claw to come crashing down towards Raime. Midway through its strike, Azula's lightning bolt thundered into it, and its attack went why as it staggared and the smell of ozone and burnt fish filled the air.

As for Chell's portals, the one to the side set itself as normal, but the laser was going clean through the room so there was nowhere to redirect it from.
Chell (Canon)
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Chell, realizing her first plan was dashed for the time being, she looked at the walls, before looking back at the beast which seemed to possess regenerative powers, carefully judging her next move... She suddenly placed two poratls, with her portal gun, one to the wall next to her, and the other directly begind the creature, running through the one next to her, she kept her momentum as she charged the creature from behind, jumping towards it as she attempted to touch it's flesh to the front, and very active end of her portal gun; it was a risky move, but, it should produce some good results, or at least that's what she hoped...​
 
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Ugh.

Yang had no idea how long she'd been out of it. Or why she'd been out of it so long, for that matter. Maybe she took one or two bumps to the head too many while she was unconscious and her aura was down, whiiiiich... made no sense whatsoever, because what the heck was "aura"? And why would it make a difference? No, it was more likely she just forgot to set her alarm after her shift last night. Which also made absolutely no sense, considering she didn't have a job. Or... did she? No, she didn't. Wait, yes she did. Or was that a dream? No wait, was this a dream? What was with the mustard gloves on her wrist? And why was her brain giving her the existential crisis equivalent of a final she forgot to study for?

A poetic person (like Blake!) might've likened her state of mind right then to a chasm. On one side, one set of memories, a life she vividly remembered living. A life of adventure. A life of bloody evolution. A life where the strong protected the weak, the good fought the bad, and Weiss burned down a forest. On the other side, a life all on its own. One with no Grimm, no hunters. A life where people faced persecution because of their ethnicity and sexuality, not because they had ears like a cat or a cute bunny tail. A life where people worried about taxes and rent, not monsters. A life that, all things considered, was relatively safe... but boring.

Aspects of each paradigm were taking turns tumbling into the chasm, getting interchanged and confused. It kinda hurt. Nothing made sense about this. Yang couldn't focus, couldn't concentrate, couldn't even tell if she had one living parent or two, conflicting accounts both yapping at her brain and fighting for dominance like a couple of dogs going at it over scraps.

Through it all, there was one thought that pervaded her mind ubiquitously. A common denominator, something shared by both lives that took priority over all else.

Ruby.

Huntress or waitress, aura or no aura, if there was one thing Yang knew for certain in this mess... it was that she had to make sure Ruby was okay. If she wasn't, if her little sister was hurt because she couldn't get it together fast enough to do anything... what would be left to even anchor Yang to this mess? Anger? She didn't wanna think about it.

Which was hard, as it turned out. Because when Yang pushed herself up to a position where she could squint past her blonde bangs and into the fray, the first thing she noticed was Ruby squaring up with something that made most grimm look like housetrained puppies.

The second thing she noticed was the dead girl.

And that was all it took. Everything else might as well've been white noise. The blonde's vision flared and tunneled. She shot to her feet in a flash, and with a resounding KABLAM that echoed and reverberated against the walls of the room, she entered the fray; rocketing straight for the beast's head to collide with it in a ball of flame and fury, one hand grabbing onto whatever could be held for leverage while the other repeatedly rained down with as many blows as it took to smash clean through whatever bony defense the thing had.

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The creature had stumbled back with a mental snarl as Raime tore his blade back out, all of its tendrils raising up to come crashing down on the massive knight like a dozen whips of spiky bone and flesh.

It never got close to its strike before flames enveloped it from one side, bullets and black keys shattered its faceplate on the other, the portal gun searing into its back, and probably most importantly, the giant greatsword cracking whatever bone was keeping it upright on the third or fourth slash.

It was probably already dead by the time Yang and Ruby's charges hit, the little huntress completing the work that Raime's greatsword cracked as the beast was bisected in two, followed up by Yang's gauntlet smashing into its now unprotected and already somewhat mangled... 'face' wasn't really the right word for it, but head with enough force that she was probably going to be cleaning Eldrazi goop out of that thing for weeks as the top half smashed into the ground hard enough to dent the metal beneath it. Both halves wriggled and twitched in death, but the danger was over again. Disergarding the danger of tossing their cookies at the godawful smell that was so much burnt eldrazi anyways.

Ruby didn't waste any time as the beast fell, retracting Crescent Rose and jogging over to where Vash had put Ciri's body after retrieving it. "Ciri, is she..." She trailed off. She'd killed enough creatures way tougher than the girl on the ground in front of her to know that those wounds weren't something you came back from, and Ciri's chest had long since ceased moving with the breath.

It was strange. She knew she'd never met this girl before. She just knew her name regardless, how her smile looked, her sense of humor, her...

She sniffed and rubbed at one of her eyes with the back of her hand before she took a shuddering breath and started to speak. "W-we.... we should-"

Whatever the little huntress thought they should do was cut off by a horrible mental screech, the sound like a dozen screams heard underwater as both halves of the eldrazi suddenly went rigid.

For a moment there was silence again, save for the hum of the laser.

Then a soft rumble started in their minds, a thousand murmurs off in the distance. Coming from Ciri's portal that the beast had come from in the first place

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The creature had stumbled back with a mental snarl as Raime tore his blade back out, all of its tendrils raising up to come crashing down on the massive knight like a dozen whips of spiky bone and flesh.

It never got close to its strike before flames enveloped it from one side, bullets and black keys shattered its faceplate on the other, the portal gun searing into its back, and probably most importantly, the giant greatsword cracking whatever bone was keeping it upright on the third or fourth slash.

It was probably already dead by the time Yang and Ruby's charges hit, the little huntress completing the work that Raime's greatsword cracked as the beast was bisected in two, followed up by Yang's gauntlet smashing into its now unprotected and already somewhat mangled... 'face' wasn't really the right word for it, but head with enough force that she was probably going to be cleaning Eldrazi goop out of that thing for weeks as the top half smashed into the ground hard enough to dent the metal beneath it. Both halves wriggled and twitched in death, but the danger was over again. Disergarding the danger of tossing their cookies at the godawful smell that was so much burnt eldrazi anyways.

Ruby didn't waste any time as the beast fell, retracting Crescent Rose and jogging over to where Vash had put Ciri's body after retrieving it. "Ciri, is she..." She trailed off. She'd killed enough creatures way tougher than the girl on the ground in front of her to know that those wounds weren't something you came back from, and Ciri's chest had long since ceased moving with the breath.

It was strange. She knew she'd never met this girl before. She just knew her name regardless, how her smile looked, her sense of humor, her...

She sniffed and rubbed at one of her eyes with the back of her hand before she took a shuddering breath and started to speak. "W-we.... we should-"

Whatever the little huntress thought they should do was cut off by a horrible mental screech, the sound like a dozen screams heard underwater as both halves of the eldrazi suddenly went rigid.

For a moment there was silence again, save for the hum of the laser.

Then a soft rumble started in their minds, a thousand murmurs off in the distance. Coming from Ciri's portal that the beast had come from in the first place

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Raime grunted 'quietly' as the creature fell. He wasn't proud they had won, simply because he'd never considered the creature too much of a threat to himself. The Knight was about to speak, when he noticed something. The child was crying. It gave him pause. He wasn't sure what to do, though he felt like he should do... something. Not that it mattered, anyways. His hand shot up to his forehead at the deafening sound. Raime roared in pain, anger, and surprise. When the sound stopped, he snarled and his head snapped to the portal.

"We need to close it. Now."



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"..."

Her eyes involuntarily widened at that...explosion for lack of a better word. Fierce and fiery. Mostly unnecessary at this point but she was still caught off guard. Very much so. For all she considered herself a people person, she hadn't expected that at all. Not from Yang. One side didn't know that name or the person behind it at all but the other knew her as a flirtatious, rowdy waitress with no concerns about showing up in the dead of night after who knows what. A far cry from the fast ball of fire and gunshots currently adding insult to injury. And her even faster sister. But then...I'm here too, with fire as well! Power I've never thought of before.

"Yang?" She questioned as the beast went through its last death spasms, passing on to whatever lay beyond in this strange place. That was the only word she was able to get out as herself before the muffled mental screams echoed out and that side of her retreated, the other surging up. She grimaced, face scrunching up in disquiet and pain before she just relaxed, loosening her face back up. The shout wasn't the big deal anyway.

The reply from the portal, now that was something. Like a legion of whispers dancing up your spine and lurking in the back of your mind. Annoying but also unnerving. A bit. The thing they had just killed may not have been spirit but it was just as inhuman. It's good I'm here, she thought with an arrogant smile. The killer of the Avatar, the human god with all the power of a thousand lifetimes. She just looked at her fingernails in disinterest before placing her palm on her hip and fixing Raime with her stare as she buried the disquiet bubbling underneath the surface when her other half heard that she was a killer.

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"You don't say?" She snickered. "Barbarian. I wager you don't even have a clue how to close such a portal. It's not going to be done by swinging a sword like a crude cudgel. No, I think the one best suited to that just died at the wild beast's hands. I know that not all people can be educated but please, do try to keep up. Can you manage that?" As scorching as her newfound and familiar powers were, her tone was the opposite. As cold as ice. Her gaze shifted over to the portal itself, stepping closer. The growing migraine in her head intensified as her other side tried to influence her, absolutely disgusted with the vanity and rudeness.

She stopped, glancing over her shoulder and speaking with their shared voice. "No time to apologize but I think I can help here. This power I have. This...chi. I'm not as enlightened as the airbenders," She said the word almost like a child, speaking an unknown word for the first time. "But I am spiritually attuned. One of the most attuned firebenders, in fact. Back home...in one of our homes...spirits and humans crossover frequently. There are portals here and there. Please don't ask me to explain." She turned to look at the one in front of them again.

"I have no idea if this one is anything like that but I suppose I could try closing it. No learning like being thrust into a situation and being forced to adapt on the fly." She admitted ruefully. Then she looked past the portal, deeper into the facility they were in. "Of course, the alternative is running. Right now. Far and fast. Whatever is whispering on the other side would be unimpeded."

"But then again, whoever ran this facility and brought us all here? They get what they wanted. Visitors from other worlds and realms. Everything goes right for them in the end."

"...Horribly right."

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Raime's eyes locked onto the woman that thought insulting him was the best course of action. He'd seen her powers. Lightning was something many had tried on him, and it had never worked. It was the same story with fire. Raime was an elemental tank. "Hold your tongue, fool, for you speak to your better." Uh-oh. Arrogance contest. "Lest I throw you through, and you find out what's on the other side first hand." When she said she could close it, he snickered.


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It was obvious that the combined onslaught was more than the creature could ever hope to handle. The sword strikes, his gun-arm blasting it in the face, the flames that engulfed it. They all worked in unison to bring this beast down just like it had brought Ciri down. Speaking of which, he'd lower his gun and glanced over to where Ruby had made her way off to the body. Following close in step behind, Vash slipped his sunglasses back on. To better hide the tears that were streaming down his face. His tendency to cry usually baffled all of the rowdy ruffians who wanted Vash's head for the massive bounty he fetched. But in truth, the humanoid typhoon and destroyer of July and Augusta was nothing more than a sensitive soul who didn't like to see people hurt or god forbid, killed.

Even if it wasn't people he had known for particularly long. Innocent town folk who feared him almost as much as the people he fought to stay alive. Their lives mattered all the same to him and when they were caught in the crossfire or intentionally attacked then it was like driving a million daggers into his chest. They may as well have just been faces to him but he valued all of their lives and well being above all else and for them to have it taken from them. Especially when they weren't willing to go. That hurt the worst and he had gone through it again here.

Taking a glance down at Ciri however, Vash couldn't help but feel some sort of connection between the two of them. Almost as if they had known each other somewhere. Maybe she was one of his many customers at the Starbucks he worked at. But that just served to make Vash feel even worse for letting her die as brutally as she did. They may have talked over cups of coffee about their days, or Vash would have tried to anyway since he was an overly talkative kind of person and always liked to see people have good days. But here she was lying on her back with holes where a monster's claws had pierced straight through her.

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Reaching out, he'd place a hand on Ruby's shoulder if she allowed him as he began to speak. "I...I can't really say with good certainty that my memory of who this lady may have been to me could be all that accurate. But she must have meant something to you as well. I promise that once this is all over, we can do something for your friend. It's what she deserves after a fate like this."

Ruby was older than most kids Vash usually helped out. But then the other types of kids didn't need any comforting from Vash the Stampede and were more than content to beat him up as they liked. Vash didn't mind because he'd gone through a lot worse than a few kids beating him up for fun. But just like with Ciri, he felt a strange sense of connection with this young girl, how polite and friendly she was whenever she came in for a cup of coffee. She was always willing to listen to Vash ramble on and on which was more than he could apparently have asked from a lot of his customers. But this still didn't sound like any kind of life that someone like him deserved. His life as he saw it was stuck to wandering the world while sticking to his morals and stopping his brother before he went too far.

Before he could say anything more to Ruby however, Vash winced at the loud screeching hit his ears. It reminded him of the buzzing sensation that Legato's power brought about when it was in close proximity to him. Only here it consisted of what sounded like multiple screams hidden within one. That was quite disturbing to say the least. Once it finally passed, Vash let out a sigh of relief. As far as he could tell it had just been the beasts's death rattle and he wasn't going to have to worry about anyone else getting hurt.

Unless the fire-girl continued to keep pressing Raimes's buttons. Not wanting to see them fight among their own group, Vash wiped away his tears and fixed his glasses. Making his way over and putting on the best smile he could muster at the moment, he chuckled and looked up at the armored man.

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"Hahaha! Oh Raimes, you always were such a joker! I know you seem pretty intimidating and frightening like a ten foot tall suit of intimidating and frightful armor but you wouldn't really throw one of us through that portal! I'm sure of it."

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Raime looked down at Vash. The man was annoying, but seemed good intentioned. Perhaps he wouldn't kill him. Azula, on the other hand, was a bother at best right about then, and a genuine threat to his chances of getting back to Nadalia, as ineffective her attacks would be against his resistances. "I might make an exception for this one. Perhaps she'll learn some humility, before this creature's brethren get vengeance." It was quite evident from his tone that he was serious, and not backing down.


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While the others made their plans and argued, Lucifer would approach the portal, perhaps one of the few suited to analyze it. Magic was not a new thing to him in his line of work and even then, he hadn't been in a position like this before without backup.

But needs must and he would consider the facts with what time they had.

One, it was obviously self sustaining. Even with the death of their comrade, it remained. Some kind of loop spell perhaps? It made sense- Ciri had no idea where they would end up, it would not be out of the question that she'd put some extra effort.

Which in turn, explained why it was here unless she survived. Harsh as it was to admit, the latter was unlikely. So first things first..... If the spell looped, like a current the best idea was to disrupt it.

For that at least, he had the perfect weapon.

Black Keys: Weapons of holy power, disrupting the spirit and burning away all counter to god. Even Servants were slightly affected, as no other weapon could.

Which was why he attempted to use them, as he slashed out at the edges of the portal in hopes of disrupting the construct and letting it collapse on itself.

Worth a shot anyway.

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For a moment, a moment all his own, the Winter Soldier found himself sequestered within a cacophony of thoughts. The onslaught came amid his brief foray into the blast doors, despite the impromptu (forced) reconciliation of his mental processes, of his... personas. Territorial bids of dominance belied the fragile armistice, with the Winter Soldier making waves beyond the others. Memories unfolded into one another, crossing lives and beyond.

A product of brainwashing, HYDRA's taint was supremely difficult to expel as was revealed within the memories of James Barnes's. The good-natured aspects of the personas, even the Soldier's own, appealed to its humanity. Arguably an extension of James's own psyche, estranged and fractured by his dark past, time could only tell if it would lead to self destruction.

Or if it would find redemption, in the reclamation of its humanity, and then James Barnes would be restored.

Underlying this all though... was a single question, purely out of confusion. Barnable noticed the intricate links, at their most blatant and faintest, between himself and his alters. This one question stood out among all the rest, of undeniably great importance. Clearly to Barnable at the least.

"Why am I missing an arm?"

Whatever followed could only be surmised as the inquisitive aspect of Barnable's personality being temporarily smothered, as a far more urgent matter presented itself.

Had he been so lost in his thoughts, in his mind, that he missed it? No, it would be made fairly self evident just how it seemingly evaded his attention. It wasn't anything of his world, so far as he could tell. This, made frankly apparent in how it effortlessly rendered time to a halt. He could not see the others. And its otherworldly nature was further exemplified in its speech, chilling as it was. He could not observe its physical form but its words alone were enough to elicit a negative resonation, as if he abstained completely from knowing what it was. How was that possible???

That mattered little. This entity knew of their situation, speaking with such familiarity. A tale was spun that spoke more despite its brief content, appended with a warning.

A resounding snap and it was gone, almost as swiftly as it'd come. The fabric of reality flicked back to its usual normalcy.

The others were in the middle of something, something that shouldn't occur. This was made readily clear to Barnes now, and he turned back in an instant only to see it was too late. Not for himself, he couldn't have done anything. None of the others could have, the monstrosity had already executed Ciri seemingly instantaneously with its murderous pronging.

On (collusive) instinct, the Colt M4A1 was lifted along and its trigger depressed, firing a trio of rounds center-mass into the monstrosity. It did nothing, the same for the sandy-haired gunman in red, which led to a momentary pause for the Soldier as he knelt, mind at full performance.

What could he do? A series of head-shots?

Keen eyes surveyed the other Flipsiders taking to battle, mounting a seemingly overwhelming offensive against the cruel creature. As for Barnes... he did nothing, merely observing them now. A hold-over from the era of the Winter Soldier's clandestine operations, he scrutinized his would-be-comrades' capabilities. A few were superior physically, a few wielded fantastic abilities, few relied on equipment, and others were merely a titan with a gargantuan great-sword. Generalizations as they were, he filed away the simple observations. They might be a threat to him in the future.

"They're our allies! We're all in this together--"

"You don't know that."

"I know a few--"

"Do you?"

Finally the Eldrazi was slain, torn apart by the attacks. Barnes surmised its death came precisely before the gruesome finale the huntresses performed. Probably. Nostrils flared briefly as the putrescent odor from its freshly slain corpse reached Barnes, reminiscent of death. Even more unsettling was what followed, its mental screech of anguish that dispersed immediately... only to be repleted by thousands more.

The mysterious stranger's words were ringing true.

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Casting the collective mental trepidation aside, Barnable would speak now, asserting his persona for the interim.

"If we can't close the portal, then our only option is to leave." He remarked, inclining his head towards the ruined blast doors momentarily. Frankly, he was completely ill-equipped to resolve the dilemma with the portal, equipment or knowledge wise. The Colt M4A1 remained still in hand, with a relaxed grip, resting against his sternum now with an easy alertness.

He shifted over to a different subject however, regarding Azula, Yang Xiao-Long, and Lucifer more directly. Despite any action they were currently undergoing.

"I know you three, distant figures in my memories. They're spotty at best but I feel... that you're trust-worthy. Nothing makes sense. That said, keep yourself at an arm's length or else." A subtle change in his voice, his tone deeper with... vehemence?

He exhaled sharply, his head tilting sidelong in slow fashion.

"...Sorry. Just a disagreement. I'll work through it. I'm still making sense of it all. Just know that I'm not an enemy."

A curt nod followed and despite a stony exterior, there was a hint of apologetic guilt thereupon his features. Barnes quickly snuffed out the vulnerable moment, returning to more a soldier's guise. He turned, staring down and out the doorways and back to the others. He would be silent for now, eyes keen on the others.

He'd trust himself to them. For now. As for the others... that was a question that would be answered in due time.

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The creature had stumbled back with a mental snarl as Raime tore his blade back out, all of its tendrils raising up to come crashing down on the massive knight like a dozen whips of spiky bone and flesh.

It never got close to its strike before flames enveloped it from one side, bullets and black keys shattered its faceplate on the other, the portal gun searing into its back, and probably most importantly, the giant greatsword cracking whatever bone was keeping it upright on the third or fourth slash.

It was probably already dead by the time Yang and Ruby's charges hit, the little huntress completing the work that Raime's greatsword cracked as the beast was bisected in two, followed up by Yang's gauntlet smashing into its now unprotected and already somewhat mangled... 'face' wasn't really the right word for it, but head with enough force that she was probably going to be cleaning Eldrazi goop out of that thing for weeks as the top half smashed into the ground hard enough to dent the metal beneath it. Both halves wriggled and twitched in death, but the danger was over again. Disergarding the danger of tossing their cookies at the godawful smell that was so much burnt eldrazi anyways.

Ruby didn't waste any time as the beast fell, retracting Crescent Rose and jogging over to where Vash had put Ciri's body after retrieving it. "Ciri, is she..." She trailed off. She'd killed enough creatures way tougher than the girl on the ground in front of her to know that those wounds weren't something you came back from, and Ciri's chest had long since ceased moving with the breath.

It was strange. She knew she'd never met this girl before. She just knew her name regardless, how her smile looked, her sense of humor, her...

She sniffed and rubbed at one of her eyes with the back of her hand before she took a shuddering breath and started to speak. "W-we.... we should-"

Whatever the little huntress thought they should do was cut off by a horrible mental screech, the sound like a dozen screams heard underwater as both halves of the eldrazi suddenly went rigid.

For a moment there was silence again, save for the hum of the laser.

Then a soft rumble started in their minds, a thousand murmurs off in the distance. Coming from Ciri's portal that the beast had come from in the first place

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Chell (Canon)
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Chell looked towards Ciri's body after the battle concluded, she didn't exactly feel... Victorious like usual, this battle, unlike most that she had fought cost not only the life of their opponent, but, the life of someone who had helped them; not just that, but, someone who seemed to hold they key to figuring out what exactly happened here. Now, there was little hope of doing so with Ciri gone... It didn't help that Chell wasn't exactly very happy about people dying, especially after the entire incident with GLaDOS and the whole testing chambers thing, and all those who had lost their lives when the testing facility shut down for who knows how long. Suddenly, a soft rumble of distant whispers occurred in her mind, emanating from the very portal Ciri had created; it hurt her head, but, Chell's curiousity spurred her on as she approached the portal, almost tempted to step through it.​
 
The first black key slashed the edges of the portal... and fell apart along the length of the cut, the metal clattering to the ground on the other side of the rift. Magic may have created the hole, but something... else was propping it open.

Ruby almost jumped out of her skin when Vash tried to comfort her, but before she could otherwise react the rumbling had appeared, and with a snarl she whipped Crescent Rose back out from its magnetic sheathe as the sniper scythe unfolded again. "We don't need to run! Whatever these things are, they're dangerous, a-and if we're gonna help ourselves and this world we shouldn't let any of them out of there! Wherever... there is" She said as she set her feet with a frustrated, still slightly teary-eyed glare at the opening.

The noise was growing louder, though whether it was dozens or hundreds of beings screeching and hissing in their minds was impossible to tell with how alien the noises were. Ruby didn't seem to care, her mind still reeling from confusion, fear, anger, and grief for a girl she barely knew that was hitting her as if she'd just lost a member of her team.


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She bit down on her tongue, stifling a vicious retort that came to mind. "This isn't the time for petty bickering, you dumb-dumb." She simply said instead, turning away and fixing Barnes with a glance. "Duly noted." She replied with a shadow of a smile. Clearly pleased to have at least a few somewhat trustworthy allies that could be used to her advantage in a time when everything just felt wrong. With that, she turned to the young huntress in training and considered. "Fighting them then? Keep any from exiting that portal...hmm." She stared at the portal in question. The actions of Lucifer did not do fit to close it. "That's good instincts worthy of a firebender. Killer, in fact." She said with a shake of her head, nevertheless stepping up closer to it and bluntly asking anyone too near to get out of the way.

"I don't know if any of the rest of you have ever read this book. I have faint recollections of reading...rereading. It interested me, as a wish to understand more. Sun Tzu's The Art of War. As ancient as it is influential. And you know what comes to mind?" She flashed a brief but cold smirk, bringing up the excerpt in her mind. "So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself." She quoted.

"And I don't make a habit out of losing."

She listened in disquiet for a few seconds as the sheer collection of alien noises built up to an inhuman wail. "I don't know what's on the other side. That's a strike against knowing your enemy. For the uneducated, that means we have to do a little forced information gathering. It's not like we have weeks or months to allow scouts and spies to do what they do best."

"Maybe you were onto something, surprising as that may be.." She said over her shoulder to Raime. "I certainly don't want to be thrown...but if that thing could come through...is there no reason we ourselves can't go through and quickly assess what's coming?"

She stared intently at the portal. "If your minds can even handle what may be beyond. Alien and foreign...something maybe beyond our comprehension. I don't know." She confessed. Then her eyes hardened. "But I intend to find out."

She settled into a firm stance, taking a deep breath before firing off a constant steady stream of flame heading right for the portal to see if it would go through. Before she would even dare to go through herself. And who knows? She wishfully imagined her flame simultaneously broiling and intimidating some of the things that might have been on the other side. That brought a smirk.

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