Counterfeit Conundrums: Children of the Damned RP

"Ow" Victoria remarked as she accidentally shocked herself while working on her cybernetic arm. She'd damaged it in a previous exchange and now was working to fix the dammage. So far being on a team wasn't as bad as she'd thought it'd be. Course it was in her nature to see them like cubs, people to look after. They'd be the death of her she knew she was soft and protective. This was fine however nothing was better then something worth dying for. "Cornelius get me my smaller screw driver will you?" Soon enough cold steel was in her hand it didn't let go however and the grip was tighter.

"You ever look in the mirror and think. "That's not me" yeah I'm getting that feeling." Victoria couldn't quite believe what she was looking at. "You used to be so set on what to think I look at your psych profile now though and it looks like trench warfare. Grandpa must be rolling in his grave in furry." Victoria could feel her fist clench in frustration it wasn't behavior fit for someone who thought herself queen of the concrete jungle.

"Then there is the fact your half machine but eighty percent human. You chose inferiority? You could be stronger but no, faster but you don't bother. Vision could be clearer. You settle for mediocrity though what is that? Your a soldier choosing the most dated options for what pride? Pride doesn't get the job done efficiency and resources do. Mom raised you to be more innovative then this" Victoria's hand went from fist to tightend grip eager to draw her blade.

"And then there's the relationship attempts. Kiearen your 'brother' Tori please give it a rest. Your a weapon an expendable asset you don't get to feel. And who would feel for you, a child had an x gene so you killed it. Your baby brother." The malice in those blew eyes was animalistic and fierce. "Oh don't be ashamed you did your duty. The tragedy was your little mental breakdown after. Noble Tori Traitor to Her Lineage. What a great soldier, finest guardian, most righteous and loyal!"

Drawing her blade Victoria rose to her feet and made a precise and impeccable slash. A throat would split open and poor vermilion at least in the past that was the result. Not here however the replicant Lioness caught the blade with simplistic effort. Blade began to glow iridescent violet as kinetic energy built up. Before Tori could let go the blade erupted in her hand smell of burnt flesh pierced the air. She fought off the pain going for a hook. One passively shrugged aside before a palm came up striking her nose. Bone shattered and she tasted iron as she was flung backwards the wall halting the trajectory.

Standing in front of her was something more machine then girl. It was a soldier in deadliest form. No honor or alternative goals, just someone dead set on an objective. "Fantastic."

"I gotta tell Portrait good job on the danger room, if I ever see her that is." Ronin stepped out of the gym area and into the rec room. He used the towel on his shoulders to wipe the sweat off his forehead after a good workout. Suddenly he felt a wet sensation drip onto his head, wiping it off he realized it was the brown sludge from the ceiling. "What the.." He looked up, reading the message from Portrait. She was trapped? If she was sending a message this way it would mean she was locked up in her Paint World. A world Ronin knew nothing about. "How the hell am I supposed to get you out of there?"Yelling at the message was useless, considering she probably couldn't hear him.

"Target is found." The bone chilling words crept behind Oz, revealing to him that he didn't have to find the Paint World because the Paint World had found him. Standing in front of Oz, was himself or who he once was, the Umbra Soldier. A brainwashed, killing machine, that had no conscious. His soulless eyes bounced off Ronin's fearful ones, seeing something worse than a ghost. Before another second could pass, the Umbra Soldier charged towards Oz, a blade in hand. Oz deflected the deadly attack aimed for his throat, but was unready for the knee to the gut. Umbra Soldier followed it by jumping into the air and sending a second knee to Oz's chin. Oz flew back, falling over the couch. "Target is down."

"Not yet I'm not, you son of a!" Oz lunged over the couch, sending a hard robotic fist into the doppelgangers jaw. As the Umbra Soldier stumbled back Oz jumped up, spin kicking him in the chest. Still the Umbra Soldier stood. He felt no pain, unlike most fighters. Making him much harder to take out. Not to mention this one was a paint double. "You're pathetic." The Umbra Soldier spoke with a cold whisper. His own hand darted, catching Oz by the throat and lifting him up. "You hold back, you hold back the killer inside of you. Nothing worse than a detoothed dog." He began to squeeze, causing Ronin to struggle in mid air. Their was no use, without his weapons he wouldn't be able to get out thanks to it's super human strength. "You want to pretend to be human? Fine..then you'll die like one."

Oz could slowly feel himself losing consciousness. His grip on the Umbra Soldiers hand loosening as he began to lose power, but he choked out one last message. "Yano...what makes me better...than you..? I....have....friends..."

@dwronin

DART

The doppelganger’s face was now covered in foam, he let the real Oz go.

"Equip yourself" Plex said as he tossed over Ronin's bow he had just fired and the rest of his gear to him. With a blink of an eye Plex vanished into his black fog reappearing in front of the Umbra Soldier planting both his feet into his chest. Umbra Soldier flew back hitting the wall. He roared with aggravation banging the back of his head into the wall cracking the foam off.

Plex teleported above him trying to stomp down the back of his neck, but the Umbra Soldiers reflexes were too keen and in an instant caught his feet from behind his head and tossed him into the wall. Plex got a hard hit on the back of his head, but he got himself together in time to roll out of the way of his enemy’s next strike. As he rolled he grabbed a foam chipping and stabbed it into Umbra Soldier's foot. He teleported once again getting distance, he pulled his pistols out.

BANG BANG

The shots did not come from his guns instead both his pistols were shot out of his hand. Before Plex could realize what happened still pulling triggers for guns that were not in his hands a black figure appeared in front of him and kicked him in the face. Plex back rolled to his feet. "Project PLX"

Like looking at some kind of demented fun house mirror Plex saw a black silhouette copy of himself aiming a pistol at him.

"You are a lone soldier; you think you have friends now? You say you’re clean, but we both know the truth. You disappear at night craving for those pills"

"That's not true!"

RATTLE RATTLE

The doppelganger was holding a vile of pills.

"Is this what you want? How much progress has this team made in helping you find your family? It seems like you do them all these favors with nothing in return. You know the old way was the best way. Come on I know you can’t stop thinking about it how invincible Caesar makes you feel, one won’t kill you right. It’s the only way to save them, but maybe it’s too late. Maybe that women and her daughter are screaming for their lives right now and ironically the man who can go anywhere can't find them. But all of this is pointless this chase, I think deep down in your psyche you the know the truth about them you know that if you found them that they wouldn't even recognize you and you know why?"

It was a rather nice day, at least from what Ophelia could discern; the sun was shining, everyone was going about their day, and for once she hadn't heard a single gunshot. Gothic City seemed to be growing on her a bit... but she knew the peace couldn't last here, sooner or later something bad was gonna happen. The beastling pulled open her window, being careful not to knock over he mint plant as she slipped inside the base. Closing the window behind her, the young hero turned to find... well, nothing besides the faint scent of paint. Knowing full well about the Portrait person being a member of the team, she shrugged it off as nothing. Leaving the room, she walked through the halls of the building; she was trying to find her way to the training room as Oz had invited her to a session, but she still hardly knew the building... and it didn't help the place still looked like a super-villain's hideout.

As Ophelia made her way through the many rooms, she started to smell the scent of paint again... it was closer this time. "Uhhh, Portrait person?" She called out, hoping she was nearby and could give her some directions. There wasn't any real answer, but she did hear something like running. Turning to the direction of the sounds, she found a long hallway... the lights had been broken, but she did see something through her limited vision; claws marks running down the walls, and 'footprints' leading straight down the hall. The young beastling dashed forward, now knowing something was wrong. There was a creature in the building, and whatever it was it was very bi- *THUD*. Ophelia fell on her rear as she managed to run into a wall in the darkness- except it wasn't a wall.

Looking up, she could just barely see the outline of a huge beast... but she could hear it's bestial breathing as clear as day. "Uhhhh... bye!" She yelled, running back down the hallway on all fours. The creature let out a ear deafening roar before charging after the beastling like she was a steak. Ophelia slid sideways as she tried to make a turn, taking a split-second look back at the creature as it approached the lighted up area, hoping to try and identify it.. she only managed to see red-furred paw-like hand grasp towards her before she had to continue running. Sadly for her, that split-second stop was just enough time for the thing to grab onto her tail. "AAHHH!!" She yelled out as the monster pulled her forward, dragging her claws across the floor with no luck of escape. Turning to face the thing as it stood up and lifted her into the air, her eyes widened with shock... "What...?" The young her muttered out inaudibly as she came face to face with herself, in her monstrous Wulver form.

Before she could say anything else, the monstrous doppleganger slammed her face into the wall and ran forward, dragging smaller beastling through the walls as it went. "OW OW OW!!!" Ophelia thought silently to herself, unable to speak the words through the pain. She had to think, had to think... trying to lift the rest of her body up as her head was forced through the walls, she through a kick to where the monster's head should be, and sure enough a bark was heard and the dragging stopped. Ophelia wasted no in pulling herself out of the wall and facing her doppleganger, pulling splinters out of her face as she did so. The creature's eye was bloody and closed, to which the young hero smirked. "Yeah how you like that ya mutt!" She spat out, though she mentally smacked herself afterwards as the beast stood up and snarled. She should of been running right now, but she wasn't...

A short time later....

@dwronin: @dking_plex:

"AAAHHHH!" Ophelia yelled as she busted through the wall of the Danger Room, landing a bit behind Ronin with a *THUD*. She rubbed her head as she sat up, her eyes widening once more as she examined the room. "I think I'm seeing double..." She said as her teammates faced their own dopplegangers, and that's when she remember what had just throw her in here. The young hero barely had time to stand up before the thing smashed through the same hole the smaller beastling had made, making it bigger as it charged inside after her.

Although it wouldn't seem like a good thing at the time, being thrown down there gave her not only the aid of her teammates but also more room to combat the stronger opponent in. Ophelia was now able the leap over the creature to avoid it's charge, which in turn gave her an opportunity to grab onto ITS tail. Yelling out as she exerted her rather unexpected strength, she began spinning her doppleganger around her in a circular motion, growing momentum with each second. "Plex, DUCK!" She yelled out before throwing the giant creature towards her teammate's doppleganger. They needed some time to form a plan if they wanted deal with this, and she was great at buying time.

@_ophelia_, @dwronin, @dking_plex

Elias, we're under attack!

Mairi, what did I tell you last night?

Not to wake you up unless the HQ was transported into a different dimension.

And what did you do?

I woke you up, because my sensors indicate that the HQ is in a different dimension.

*sigh*

I slumped out of my rock hard bed. Rubbing sleep from my holographic eyes, I collected all the combat gear I had spread out over the floor last night. Suffice to say, last night was exhausting. I was too tired for my total recall to remind me of all the details, but I remembered that last night's patrol had involved much more acid than usual.

So... *yawn* Who're we fighting?

Elias, do you need a shot of adrenaline?

Y'know, that might be nice.

Suddenly, every part of my body felt like it was working at top speed. I felt my tired physique transform into the pinnacle of power. My foggy mind quickly became a paragon of clarity. I prepared myself to rush into battle. The hologram concealing my helmet disappeared, leaving in its wake a darkened helm. I pulled up my hood and drew my sword. I was ready.

Hello Elias.

I turned towards the voice. The voice itself sounded like the most vicious noise one could imagine, akin to that of the snarling and gnashing of teeth that would protrude from an angry dog's muzzle. Before me stood an armored man who looked every bit as vicious as he sounded. Spikes dotted his armor and seemed to veer off in nearly every direction. He wore a long dark cloak that seemed to be covered in spectral shadow. His utility belt bulged as if chock full of every imaginable weapon. At his side sat a familiar looking particle pistol. If he hadn't smelled like fresh paint, I might have been intimidated.

Uh, hey... you. Look I'm kind of in a rush here.

Do you truly not recognize me?

Actually, I have genuinely no idea who you are.

Oh, but I know who you are, Elias Shepard.

That's fantastic, but, as I said, I kind of need to go...

The man seemed to ripple with anger. The area on his mask where his eyes would be situated seemed to burn red.

Do you, with your eidetic memory and vast intelligence, truly not understand who I am or why I'm here? How... disappointing

Oh no. I understand who you are perfectly Mr. paint world duplicate of me who believes he can kill me and become the one and only Elias Shepard. I just really needed to distract you for a few moments while I did a thorough scan of all your weaponry and equipment.

Ah. But as you spoke that hideously constructed run on sentence, I managed to complete a thorough scan of all your weaponry and equipment.

Touche.

In a flash he held a massive darkened sword in his hands and swung it with the intent of decapitating me. The first thing I realized was this knock-off was a lot stronger than me, as evidenced when my gracefully executed parry began to ricochet back towards my head.

You may know who I am, but do you know what I am?

As I managed to not impale myself in the face, my doppelganger threw an unmarked pure white pellet at me. My time perception kicked in allowing me to easily calculate where it was going to be and dodge under it. However, as the capsule smashed into the wall behind me, it released a small swarm of nano-bots that attached to me and began to eat through my armor. As the faux me laughed maniacally, an electric coat shimmered on my armor which shorted out every last nano-bot. Then I vanished.

If this is going to be an evil monologue about how you are better than me at everything, save it.

This seemed to warrant another maniacal laugh from my paint clone, as he rocketed forwards faster than I could perceive him and punched my invisible form in the gullet.

I am better than you in every way. I am you with all those gadgets you envisioned way back when. I built the lethal infra-sound gauntlets, the life-destroying retina removers, and I coated my suit in a deadly contact poison. I'm what you could have been if you still cared about efficiency.

An unexpected pillar of pure plasma erupted from my foe's sword and slammed into my chest. I flew down the hallway.

But now all you care about is friendship and teamwork. You've lost your edge. And for what? A damned seven year old in your head? You're an idiot!

My double shot towards my position and attempted to crush my head with a pommel strike. Utilizing the grappling hook in my gauntlet, I maneuvered through his legs and landed feet first directly behind him. I swung my sword down towards his neck.

I am you without morals! I am you without compassion! I am you without limits!

The before-mentioned infra-sound gauntlet caused my head to split into extreme pain. As I was distracted, my copy easily dodged my sloppy sword swing. For a split second, I saw his bravado crack. He seemed genuinely surprised the infra-sound blast hadn't exploded my head. It didn't last long, and soon he resumed his monologue as if nothing had occurred.

In the end, I am stronger, faster, smarter.

He easily disarmed me with a swift circular swing from his sword. My blade made no noise as it impacted upon the hallway floor. The duplicate took no notice, as it prepared to finish me.

So this ends the only way it could.

My look-alike smashed me to the ground with a savage backhand, and, drawing up his sword, thrust his mighty weapon through my chest. Directly through my chest.

And by my chest, I mean my hologram's chest.

As the hologram dispersed, I materialized further down the hall. The replica of me seemed surprised.

But you... What! How?

Well, when you leapt at my heat signature when I was invisible, you seemed to forget that this cloak masks heat signatures. Holograms on the other hand... they give off quite a lot of heat.

The cheap imitation snorted.

Fair enough. I would have done the same thing in your position.

His hand shot towards his particle pistol. He was obviously no longer holding back. Of course, neither was I.

Have you ever heard of Jackson Pollock?

The counterfeit me seemed slightly confused by this comment until he noticed the explosive pellets that were slowly appearing all over his body. As the holograms that I had used to conceal the pellets slowly vanished, mirror me seemed to realize the severity of his situation.

BOOM

As the force of the explosion forced my ersatz counterpart through the wall by which he stood and splattered him all over the danger room floor, I walked through the new entrance to the danger room and saw some of my teammates fighting for their lives.

Morning guys.

Then my paint clone partially reformed and punched me really hard in the face.

@dwronin: @dking_plex: @_ophelia_: @becauseimanerd:

A powerful boom rocked Hikari dreams and he stirred to life, climbing out of the bed slowly, disarmed by further erratic quakes. The sounds of bodies passing through concrete filled his ears while the smell of blood a sweat invaded his nostrils. Unaware of what he would face once he stepped beyond the door he quickly grabbed his flak jacket, placing it over the blue jumpsuit he wore and checking the pockets for inventory. "Damn, I thought I'd at least get a week in before the base was attacked. I haven't even tried out the danger room yet!" Hikari whined before opening the door. Another quake shook the facility and momentarily removed the Spectrion's balance. In a blur of fur, what he recognized as one of his teammates from a dossier shot past him, a glimpse of what looked like a large wolf in heavy pursuit of her.

The duo darted down the steps as Hikari shook his head in utter disbelief. As his head jerked to the side his peripheral vision brought the translucent luminescence beyond the window to the forefront of his concerns. "Definitely ain't in Kansas anymore," he said as he turned to pursue both his ally and an explanation for the constant quaking and collateral damage being committed in the floors below. Entering the elevator he turned and pressed "G." The doors began to slide, and just before a complete close was achieved, a three pronged kunai shot into the slit aimed for the center of Hikari's forehead.

Keen senses mixed with precognitive reflexes placed Hikari's head to the left of the kunai, which impaled the metallic wall with intense force. The doors closed shut and the Spectrion reached for the Kunai, sensing a familiarity in design. To his surprise, a man, with a spiky blonde mop of hair, chiseled features, adorning a white haori with red flames along the end appeared, gripping the kunai firmly in his left hand. Dextrous innate movement allowed Hikari to draw his own kunai and deflect a rapid series of slashes directed for his head by the unexpected warrior who was completely identical in physical appearance minus one feature, black eyes with red pupils. Insisting on maintaining control of the battle the carbon copy of the Spectrion continued with a series of close quarter strikes. Hikari matched his opponent's aggression with the artistry of agile air yoso alacrity. Light footsteps combined with soft throws of his kunai allowed him to pull off an inexplicable series of acrobatic evasions whilst teleporting short distances to keep his opponent working.

The elevator rang as it reached the rec room, and it was then that his opponent managed to capitalize. Detecting the pattern in his movement, the clone threw a feint attack, closely watching for Hikari's kunai toss. Once executed, the clone intercepted the path of the thrown kunai, knocking it off course just as Hikari activated the teleporting effect of the inscription on the kunai. Now aware of the location he would arrive in, the copy awaited his appearance and quickly grasped the collar of his flak jacket. With a chi enhanced strength the clone swung Hikari around, letting go as the doors slid open and catching him with a virulent jump kick to the sternum that sent his body flying out of the elevator with great force. His body hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop just beside his teammates. Slowly rising to his feet his eyes glanced around at the myriad of doppelgangers that filled the area, smile surfacing at the hilarity of the entire situation. "Is it me or does everyone else think we've been taken to the twilight zone?" he said with a chuckle, attempting to nudge Elias in the side to illicit a snicker at the very least. "Oh and I'm sorry If I'm late. Something tells me you all are here because of some meeting that evaded my planner..."

Jess pulled herself out of the bunk and rubbed hir eyes. Ze tussled hir blue hair. Switch should probably introduce hirself to the team if ze was going to live among them. The shapeshifter stepped forward then stopped as ze saw a familiar pair of boots just before hir on the floor. "Whaaaa…" Hir brown eyes travelled up the legs, up the torso, to the face. Ze felt faint. Was this a dream? Ze pinched himself. The image chuckled and drew a knife.

"Look at you, ya freak. If I kill you now, I'd be doing the world a favour. You're too afraid to wear your true face." The figure shifted into a flesh-toned creature with finger-like toes, a tail, and an eerie misshapen head. "As if anyone could love this monstrosity. And you know what? They never will. I'll maim all the pretty faces. Starting with your fake smile." The mirror image of her true form lurched at Switch to cut up her face.

Switch gasped and jumped back. "What's going on? Who ARE you?"

"Slow and hideous. I'm YOU, Jess. You if you had any sense. We'll be the fairest in the land if everyone is ugly. Then he'll finally love me for who I am!" Ze made a few quick jabs with hir knife. Switch dodged the advances to tumble over to hir pack. Ze fumbled around, pulling our hir own knife, flicking it open.

"Stay back." Her brown eyes were wide. "I don't know who you are or why you're here, but just go away. I don't want to kill you."

"PLEASE. How many times have you thought about killing yourself, freak? Think how happy your parents will be to finally be rid of you, you embarrassment. This will be therapeutic." The monster's body grew insectoid wings and flew toward the intersex with a shriek.

Jess screamed, thrusting the knife into the creature's shoulder. Oh, my god. It almost hurt hir. It was like stabbing hirself. Ze was crippled with anxiety, less for hir own safety but more incase someone could see the grotesque, naked creature flapping around like a demon. Blood poured from the wound giving Switch enough time to pull hirself from under it and stumble away. Ze shakily ran out of the sleeping quarters looking for someone, anyone. What the hell was going on?! The wound was covered over by a layer of shapeshifting skin before the creature flew off in pursuit.

@switch_macabre: @spectrion: @becauseimanerd: @_ophelia_: @dking_plex:

Right on cue a dart hit the Umbra Soldier in the face, covering him in foam. "Equip yourself." Plex spoke in his cold tone, still Oz felt a sense of camaraderie from the fellow LinkTech Supersoldier. Catching his equipment he watched for a moment the two go tit for tat, amazed by Plex's speed and skill. Still this was Ronin's fight and feeling as though it'd probably be therapeutic he charged at his past self. He leaned his shoulder down, sweeping Umbra Soldiers leg back and slamming him into the wall.

"Guess what? I realized another thing that's different between us two." Ronin smirked. "Wha--?" Before the dopplganger could finish his one word response Oz stuffed an arrow cartridge into it's mouth, causing it to burst into flames and melt, making a hideous screech. "I'm not made out of flammable paint."

Oz rolled onto his back, doing a kip up onto his feet. He watched across the room as the Plex double was breaking down Plex's already fragile psyche. He charged at the doubles back, jumping up and stomping on him sending his face through the glass window. "The enemy is using mind games to get into your head soldier, it's time to get back up and fight." Oz spoke sternly to Plex, giving him a hand back up.

"AHHHH!' Then came Ophelia, smashing through the danger room wall. Man Oz was going to need to hire a contractor. "I think I'm seeing double..." She mumbled to herself. "Someone has taken Portrait prisoner, that someone has made paint doubles of us to take us--" A giant beast smashed through the same hole, it's sights on Ophelia. Oz couldn't help but gape, could Ophelia change into that thing? Being distracted the fake Plex got out of the window, about to attack Plex and Ronin.

"Plex, DUCK!" Ophelia yelled, throwing her beastlike doppleganger their way. Unsure if Plex was in the right state of mind after the mental probing, Oz sprung into action, tackling his friend out of the way. The two dopplegangers smashed into each other in a explosion of paint. It wouldn't be long before they started to materialize again.

*BOOM* A huge explosion echoed through the danger room. "Come on guys.." Oz sighed, as Elias stepped into the room. "Morning guys." His greeting was followed by Hikari flying through the elevator door, landing on the floor with his teammates. "Is it me or does everyone else think we've been taken to the twilight zone? Oh and I'm sorry If I'm late. Something tells me you all are here because of some meeting that evaded my planner..." Ronin couldn't help but chuckle, even in the thick of things he was glad Hikari was always enjoying himself. Elias paint double came out and decked him hard in the jaw.

"Listen everyone! These guys don't stay down for long but it seems like mine is having a hard time pulling himself back together." He pointed at the puddle trying to form itself. "I used fire, that should--" Oz was interrupted by a scream, Jess' scream. "Here!" He threw a few cartridges at the team before sprinting down the hall.

Oz ran into a terrified Jess, "Are you ok?" He asked grabbing hir by hir shoulders and looking the scared kid over. Oz had grown affection for the shapeshifter, knowing what it was like being an orphan even if their backgrounds weren't exactly the same. "Listen, these are just paint dopplegangers, they're not real. Someones taken Portrait hostage and is sicking them on us."

Oz looked up, seeing Jess' doppleganger flying towards them. In one swift movement, he swung his bow off, set an arrow and shot it through the creature. Causing it to burst into flames. He looked back at Jess, who looked even more upset now that Oz knew what ze really looked like. "Huh, wonder what that thing was." He said stupidly, hoping to not embarrass her. "Come on, we have to help the others."

@dwronin: @switch_macabre: @spectrion: @becauseimanerd: @_ophelia_

The laughter of a little girl, the smell of fresh coffee in the morning, the sight of his container that Link Tech had trapped him in. All of these things were running through Plex's fragile mind.

"The enemy is using mind games to get into your head soldier, it's time to get back up and fight."

Plex heard the Oz's voice, but he wasn't really listening. He kept thinking about his doppelganger. He might have been right about Plex sneaking out in the middle of the night getting those urges, but he never started using again. He realized that pills don't make you stronger, but allies do.

When Plex came to he was getting up from the floor. Oz had just tackled him out of the way from a creature being thrown around like a ball. He was also looking around at his other teammates, he wasn't really too familiar with some of them only by brief introductions. One thing he noticed was everyone seemed not at all worried about the threat they faced. That is what Plex needed to do; he needed to face his problems head on like the others had. Oz gave them instructions and tossed them all some cartridges.

Plex walked up to his paint pile. Slowly a head started to protrude from it.

"Plex they can't help you, they don't understand you! They hold you back and if you bring your....muffled*"

Plex had stuffed the cartridge in its mouth and held his pistol against it.

"You're not me, I don't talk this much"

BANG

He shot a round into the cartridge and it burst into flames quickly spreading through his doppelganger’s puddle. It screamed loud and then its voice started to change pitch. The paint became a pile of ash; he then turned around stomped the last of the ember with his boot and looked at his other teammates.

@dwronin: @switch_macabre: @spectrion: @becauseimanerd:@dking_plex:

Ophelia watched from a distance as Oz tackled Plex out of the way, sighing with relief that she didn't accidentally hurt one of her newfound teammates. Her monstrous doppleganger slammed into Plex's and they both seemed to violently burst into paint, barely keeping their form as they revealed their true and colorful nature. She turned to her leader as he began to explain the situation to the group as quickly as he could; before he could finish sentence however, an scream came rushing through the building and he quickly left, but not before throwing some fiery cartridges for the team to use.

Catching her cartridge in mid air, she silently examined it for a second just to make sure she knew how to detonate it... in that second another monstrous roar erupted from the paint puddle across the room, as her now deformed and multicolored doppleganger came charging out at blurring speeds, barreling towards her like a freight train. Ophelia instinctively tried to do the flip trick she did before, but it seemed the creature learned from it's mistakes as it leaped into the air after her and grabbed her wrist and slamming her head-first back down onto the floor.

"UUghhh..." She mumbled out as she was once again lifted into the air; as she regained her composure she realized that the hand the beast had latched onto held the cartridge, only increasing the gravity of the situation. The beast wasted no time in letting her try to escape before it continued it's assault, using it's massive jaws to chomp down on her shoulder, causing her to drop the cartridge. Most people would scream in pain, but Ophelia let out a noise that sounded like two cats killing each other... following her instincts, the young beastling used her own fangs to latch onto her doppleganger's throat and rip a good chunk of it out. The beast roared before throwing her aside like a ragdoll, holding a paw to it's neck that was letting out fluid paint of every color in the rainbow.

"That tasted terrible... hopefully I don't get lead poisoning." She thought to herself as she wiped her doppleganger's colorful equivalent to blood from her mouth with her wrist. Standing up and turning to the beast, she could see that whoever created it decided to keep the physical weakness's the same as the real thing as it's throat wasn't reforming all that quickly. "Oh come on ya big b#tch, that's just a scratch!" Ophelia said through her own heavy breath, laughing a little bit at her own canine joke before getting back into a fighting position.

Her monstrous doppleganger snarled in anger before charging forward again, but sadly for it the young beastling was prepared this time. Letting it's own momentum do the work for her, Ophelia extended her claws and sent jab towards the creature's left shoulder, grimacing as she felt her claws go straight through the flesh and even through the bone. Ophelia didn't like tearing living things apart, even the the ones that would gladly do the same to her... the beast's pain filled howls didn't exactly help.

"It isn't alive, it's just paint..." The young her thought silently as her doppleganger fell to it's knees before her, holding it's now limp left arm and snarling. Ophelia looked away from the creature and quickly saw the cartridge sitting not too far away from where she had been grabbed, along with a puddle that mixed her own blood and the beast's paint. As she started to run for it, she could hear her doppleganger roaring as it began to chase after her... just as she thought it would grab her tail and throw her around again, she jumped for the cartridge and grabbed it, rolling through the paint puddle as she did so. The beast was right behind her but tried to jump as she did, completely missing her and going head-first into the wall.

"Not alive, just paint. Just paint..." Ophelia said to herself as she ran at her doppleganger to capitalize on it's mistake, clenching the cartridge in her hand as she did. Before she could get close enough to use the fiery weapon, the monster threw a punch right in her direction at monstrous speeds, the young beastling barely being able to avoid it by falling backwards. The creature's fist goes right through the metal walling of the danger room and deep into the concrete behind it. The beast growled as it tried to pull it's arm from the hole it had made, but with it's other arm being limp it couldn't gather enough strength to escape.

Ophelia stared at the beast, and then looked at the cartridge... "It's just paint." She thought silently to herself before closing her eyes, extending her claws and running forward and delivering a single heavy slash. Less than a second later she could once again hear the monster's pain filled howls, and she opened her eyes. Her doppleganger's arm was still impaled in the wall, but the rest of it wall lying on the floor and violently twisting and turning to try and get up. Ophelia sighed before jumping on top of it to try and pin it down, frantically trying to find somewhere to stick the cartridge without it just being thrown off.

Ophelia reached for the creature's jaw, only to have it bite ate her and just miss taking her fingers by an inch. Although she continued trying to find an alternative way to keep the cartridge in place during those few seconds, the young beastling eventually realized that the only way available was... messy. Staring down at the snarling monster fighting for it's life beneath her, Ophelia breathed in and closed her eyes again. "Please just let it be paint..." As she muttered the few words, she pulled her hand back and stabbed her claws into her doppleganger's chest and began ripping the false flesh out in chunks, dousing herself in the rainbow liquid as a result.

When she felt the hole she made was big enough she jabbed the cartridge inside and activated it without a second though, rolling to the side before she could be set aflame as well. Sitting up, Ophelia exhaled and opened her eyes and stared at flaming paint pile to the beside her... it was still trying to roar and howl, but slowly they became subtle whimpers as the fire consumed it. Slowly sighing, Ophelia pressed her back against the wall and held her knees in her arms. "It looked like paint, it smelled like paint, it even tasted like paint... but it was alive."

@_ophelia_: @dwronin: Switch's eyes widened as she saw hir likeness burst into flames. It wasn't so much that which disturbed hir but the words Ronin had uttered before heartlessly dispatching it. Thing. The shapeshifter felt dizzy. Ze felt certain ze would throw up. Ze clutched hir stomach, fighting back a retching compulsion. It was worse than the team seeing hir just naked. The creature wasn't just naked, it WAS hir, hir without a more acceptable shape. Switch fought back tears as ze gathered hirself. The androgyn nodded toward Ronin. He didn't know. He didn't need to know. As far as he was concerned, it was just some paint monster sent to kill them. Adjusting hir body into a more aerodynamic and muscular shape, ze bolted through the corridors to check on the other members of the team.

Jess nearly stumbled upon Ophelia curled up in a corner. Was this the real one? Yeah. Hir form shifted back into her blue-haired, androgynous human shape to comfort the young woman. "Hey... are you alright?" Dumb question. They had all been forced to kill themselves. Few things could be as traumatic even for someone with suicidal ideation. Ze stooped down to place a hand on Ophelia's shoulder. "It would have killed you. You... you did what you had to do. You did what was right." Hir words sounded hallow, but ze desperately wanted to help.

@switch_macabre, @dking_plex, @dwronin, @_ophelia_, @spectrion

Although being punched in the face by a being of terrifying evil was pretty much commonplace by this point, I was getting pretty annoyed. Generally, when one of my enemies was made subject to thirty simultaneous explosions, they had the common decency to be somewhat damaged. However, my talk-happy doppelganger seemed to be perfectly fine and had begun yet another evil monologue.

As you can see, my superiority is established. I can do this all day without receiving so much as a scratch.

My clone brought up his ebony blade, as his whispering laughter filled my ears. It was the cold laughter of a heartless assassin who delighted in the death of his target. I knew the sound well. After all, I could never forget the sound of my own laughter. Suddenly my clone shot forwards at a speed so immense I wouldn't have been able to register his movements at all had my perception of time not slowed at that moment. Our swords clashed and the ringing harmony of blades crashing together rippled through the room. The force of my copy's blow forced me backwards.

You, on the other hand, are weak. Too weak to do what is necessary.

At that moment, something in my brain clicked into place. A memory that seemed distant and foggy sprung into my mind.

It was a memory of my master chiding me for being too unfocused in combat. In my defense,it was hard to appear focused when trading blows with somebody as great as him. The man was a living embodiment of the art of the sword. If not for his old age, he would have been one of the deadliest combatants alive. Then the next day he had died.

I snapped back to reality. My clone seemed to be running at me in slow motion. His blade positioned to deliver a decapitating strike. Suddenly, as if someone else was controlling my actions, I felt my body's positioning change. Slowly, in my eyes, but almost as fast as lightning in reality, I stretched my fist out in front of my body and put my sword behind me.

And now Elias, your weakness will be your downfall!

I easily caught his blade with mine and, using my enemy's forward momentum, threw him over my head. The clone hit the ground with a thud. Before he could recover, I easily cut through the clone's leg, severing it entirely. Although the stump began to regenerate immediately, my foe was shaken, as shown by the poorly aimed slash thrown in my direction. I leapt above the feeble slash with ease, and landed behind my clone. As my feet touched the ground, a cloud of mist erupted from my gauntlets. Confused and staggered, my clone took a second too long to locate my armor clad form in the darkened mist. That second was all I needed. Satisfaction filled me to my very core, as I punched my clone really hard in the face. Drawing out an acid pellet, I prepared to continue my assault, when my doppelganger outstretched his right hand. His hissing voice cut through me like a knife.

Enough!

My clone's entire form seemed to burn a scarlet color. I felt some unseen force shoot from his hand and strike me in the chest. I flew backwards into a wall. I crumpled. I felt the air leave my lungs.

I'll admit, you put up a decent fight, but you cannot defeat me.

My clone began to stride towards me. An air of cockiness surrounded him, as he reached for his particle pistol. I continued to grasp for breath.

After all, you gave up power for friendship. Well Elias, what have your friends gotten you so far?

Every part of me screamed in excruciating pain. My clone twirled his pistol around his finger before placing it directly next to my head.

Well, Goodbye then. I'd say it's been nice knowing you, but it really hasn't.

I couldn't bring myself to move, so I braced myself for the sweet embrace of nothingness.

"Listen everyone! These guys don't stay down for long but it seems like mine is having a hard time pulling himself back together. I used fire, that should--"

Then Ronin threw something. It was a good throw, but it wasn't fast enough.

Too late Elias! Die!!!

And then he blasted compact particles into my face. Directly into my face.

And by my face, I mean my hologram's face.

Son of a bi-

I smashed the acid pellet I had been holding into my clone's face.

Faux me began to scream obscenities, as the acid chewed through his mask and pockmarked his face with burns. The object Ronin had thrown was at my feet. I picked it up and smiled. It was a flame cartridge.

Well, this has been exciting and all, but I fear your monologuing days are over.

And with that, I stabbed the flame cartridge into the hole I had made in my clone's mask. he instantly burst into flames. Raspy screams emitted from his blazing figure, until he became nothing but a pile of blackened ash. Then, as I turned to help my comrades, I heard a familiar raspy whisper wheeze out of the ashen pile.

But why? You're a hero now. You try not to kill anymore. What is it about me that you can break that rule? I'm a living being and you've all but killed me. What makes me different?

I drew my particle pistol and stared at the ashes.

Because you are a part of me. And I don't deserve mercy.

And then I shot at the ashes, until nothing remained but a large crater in the danger room floor and the smell of burnt paint.

Whoa. That was deep.

Mairi?

Yeah?

Shut up.

Okay, okay. But you do realize that this danger room is equipped with some rather large flamethrowers, right? I could have totally just hacked into those.

Well, I would have loved to know that earlier...