~Thirty-Fourth Spectacle~

[quitemysterious]

[Voiced]
Game over.

Haseo, you're hereby relieved from your post, do let the hostages out now. Tifa, Chrome, I fully expect you to get the remaining people out. I do believe this has gone on for quite long enough.

Ah... but Ceasar, a word?

[Filtered to Forcystus, still voiced]The half-elven boy will be behind the front desk in twenty minutes,

Comments

This here is the epic endgame thread

[quitemysterious]

[Itsuki, for now, is pretty much just sitting idly in the storage room atop a box. Across his belt are still a few canisters of some gases, but with a sigh he removes the belt they're on, instead reaching for something on the floor. The whole room smells bad too, and there's a faint taste of iron in the air]

[nowarstowin]

[Caesar can feel the tension in Katou's body, and gently tightens his grip on Katou's wrist, indicating patience. He's positive they know they're there, and why they're acting as if they don't confuses him a little. For a moment, he wonders if they're all going to end up in their labs. The idea is sickening, but he pushes it aside, focusing on his options at that point. (He regrets not having time to record the events of the last few days, mostly.)

As they move closer, almost like a funeral procession, he struggles to make sense of what's beneath the hoods. The one on the far side is too shadowed to make out, but he swears he can see mismatched eyes beneath the hood of the closer one. It's sheer will that keeps him from gasping in horror, but even will can't stop the shaking.]

[quitemysterious]

[Itsuki lightly fingers something in his pocket, but still isn't making a move. To see a Malnosso like this... they might never get another chance like this. He waits on the others (perhaps Katou) to make the first move though... and he hopes it's soon.

The strain to hold this illusion is a lot on him]

[mercurial314]

[Well, good news for Itsuki. Katou's had enough of waiting. They've seen them, and there's little to gain by just waiting around. Possibly going unnoticed, but if what he sees under the hoods is anything even close to the truth, it's highly unlikely.

He releases Caesar's hand after nudging it slightly towards the exit, trusting him to know when to escape. Then he shifts, his hair growing longer, taking a nice shade of crimson as he goes, growing taller, scars, features changing. It's not perfect. He didn't have time to note the dead man that well. But he hopes it'll be enough for momentary confusion at least.

Well, moment of truth. And here it goes. As silently as possible, he jumps towards the Malnosso, fully intending to behead the first one with his claws.]

[ooc: Ah, Katou and his temperament... .__.]

[nowarstowin]

[Caesar feels Katou's intention as an almost tangible vibration of energy rippling through his companion's body before Katou leaps out at the Malnosso. He bites back a curse, skipping backwards to get out of the way. He still can't see him, but it doesn't sound like anything he wants a part of.

Instead, he edges around the crates and boxes of supplies, moving in Itsuki's direction. He might not like the guy much, but he's not about to leave him high and dry in a room full of Malnosso, no matter how good of an idea Itsuki might think this is.]

[quitemysterious]

[A bit faster than he predicted, but the confusion is doomed to be a bit more than Katou stabbing them, for that that moment Itsuki's control over the illusion fades, and quite rapidly they all become visible. He doubts this will make the Malnosso confused for long, and so he pulls out one of his final aces by way of crouching down fast and picking up his discarded gun, which he earlier dropped with a throw in the direction of where he is now

In the same movement that Katou uses to attempt to behind the first Malnosso, Itsuki attempts to shoot the other in the chest. That's his only bullet, but the sound of the flintlock going off is deafening in the room.

...It makes enough time of pause for Katou to rip the hood off the Malnosso he targeted -- revealing a head that had an illusion of it's own]

[mercurial314]

[Katou has no time to find out what happens to the other Malnosso, from the corner of his eye he can sense some movement but that's all. His eyes are keen on the one before him, half of the smiling face torn off by his claws, hood fluttering back to reveal black hair, tattoo, cold eyes... His personal nemesis

[nowarstowin]

[Caesar, on the other hand, watches in mute horror as the world around them slowly unravels into chaos. He knows this isn't real -- it can't be -- but there's a firecracker explosion and the creature shaped like Yuber staggers as the bullet rips through its chest, and Katou's driving a clawed hand (when did that happen, anyway?) into this Albert's chest. A second later, he realizes that whatever was protecting them before is gone, and all three of them are completely exposed to the enemy.

He shoots Itsuki a concerned glance before the Albert-thing is breaking and tossing away Katou like so much trash, and the momentary horror is overridden by the need to protect his companion. With Katou away, he has a clear shot, and sends the weighted knife the shapeshifter had given him hurtling through the air. He's close enough that his lack of accuracy isn't an issue, and it embeds itself between a pair of thin shoulders.

It pauses only to grant him a look of pure malice before continuing on.]

[quitemysterious]

[To Itsuki, the scene is far more interesting, and he can't help but begin to burst out laughing. His eyes fill with tears as both Malnosso silently move in one him, sickeningly bright and cheery smiles wide on their faces. To him... they are his parents. The loving, kind, wonderful people that he had run away from almost four years ago, never to see again. The perfectly normal people to whom his abnormality had created a gaping hole in their lives -- the people whom he had stolen a son from. Their only son.

He sticks his hands in both his pockets as they advance, but mutters something for the two to hear as they come closer]

Please move away from me~

[Mr. and Mrs. Koizumi walked slowly towards their "beloved son" with the same warm and inviting eyes as ever, and Itsuki couldn't help but smirk as he dropped the gun, idly watching the bullet pop out of his mother's chest, leaving her completely unharmed. Hell, her dress hadn't even ripped. Ceasar's knife sticks itself into his father's chest, but it too pops out seconds

[mercurial314]

[Despite the fact that his body holds no normal tissue what so ever, not even a drop of real blood, pain is still the same, sensory input of neural reaction. He bites back a cry that would have been hoarse. The mechanic arm is quite useless as he struggles up, claws screeching against the floor as he staggers up.

Only to be sitting back down from the force of the explosion, staring at the Malnosso. Both of them seem very familiar to him. One dark, other light, with wide, yet determined eyes.]

....Set...suna.. [he mutters, completely thrown out of balance with seeing his messiah and his nemesis work together in piecing together a bloody body. Bizarre.]

[nowarstowin]

[Caesar's out of options at this point. The Malnosso seem occupied, and he moves around them, unable to take his eyes off the apparition of his brother and Yuber carting off Gojyo's mangled body. He surveys the situation -- Koizumi unmoving, Katou functioning at a greatly reduced capacity, and the Malnosso on the move, and sighs.

Caesr tears a good sized chunk of the bottom of his shirt off, and moves toward the kunai that he'd thrown at one of them -- careful not to touch it, he wraps it in the torn fabric and tucks it into his jacket pocket. Next, he scrambles over to kneel next to Katou, eying the mechanical limb for damage -- the guy looks a little shocky, and that worries Caesar almost as much as the body of Koizumi on the ground some distance away.] It's not real. Whoever you're seeing, it's not them. Let's get him and get out of here before something else happens, okay? For all we know, he could have set the others to go, too.

[quitemysterious]

[Itsuki gives one last smirk as he heart stops there on the ground. One last little twist in the many twists of this game, he muses privately.

Still, the Malnosso, now with Gojyo's corpse in well enough condition to travel, through and idle glance at Itsuki, and then to the two others. It seems to be the first time they register them. After some thirty seconds, they seem to neglect the others entirely, and start to move towards the door]

[mercurial314]

I-it's not? [Katou, now wearing his own face again, hint of dark hair shifting with his, occasionally his eyes growing in width, turning prettier than before. He struggles up, still staring after the Malnosso. ]

How the hell... [he mutters, standing there with his attention clearly directed at somewhere else than Caesar, mechanical limb hanging uselessly against his side, other hand shakily carding through his messy hair.] Shit...

[nowarstowin]

No. [Caesar watches the shift come over Katou, fascinated for a moment by the strangeness. He quickly shakes himself out of it, however, his attention turning once again to the Malnosso. They're almost gone, now.]

I saw ... my brother. And a demon from my world. Itsuki was ... I think he was talking to his parents.

[With that, he turns his attention back to the Itsuki's body, a look of what could be construed as hopelessness sliding across his face for just a brief second.] We've got to get him out of here, someplace safer. I don't want the building coming down on us.

[mercurial314]

....right. [Katou mutters, straightening up as the Malnosso slip out of the room like a strange funeral escort.]

Those guys... [He shivers, narrowing his eyes at the closing door.] I dunno. Are they alive at all? Maybe they're just machines.

[He shakes off the thought, a strange emptiness in his amber gaze as he steps past Caesar towards Itsuki's body.] Yeah, lets get the fuck out of here. [he mutters as he yanks the other teen up by the front of his shirt, awkwardly maneuvering him over his shoulder.]

[nowarstowin]

I don't know. I'll see if we can get anything off that knife you gave me. [Caesar shrugs.] They may very well be.

[It seems Katou's got Itsuki, so he turns and begins picking his way towards the entrance of the room.] Let's go out the back, eh? I don't particularly want to deal with any onlookers.