We're all in this virtual space together.

You twist the door open and throw it aside as hard as you can, almost throwing the seemingly immobile object off of its hinges. Once the strange archaic door was open, the burning in your brain ceases and you can finally think clearly. You sigh in relief, but you are too soon in such an action because the strange portal before you begins to suck you into wherever the doorway may lead against your will. You try to scramble onto the doorframe, desperately trying to hold on for fear of what might be on the other side of the door. Eventually, though, the supernatural force of the door’s realm pulls you in, and you fall through the strange swirling vortex like Alice down the proverbial rabbit hole.

When you finally land, you look around you in amazement. It is the same sort of set up as the room where you came from, with no coding present around you, but there was one major difference. All around you lay giant screens, showing you and your party members struggle through the virtual space to which you had been placed. You stare in horror at the myriad of screens that surround you, coating every surface of the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room you were now in. Suddenly, the visions around you change, and memories begin flooding back, hammering your skull forcefully. You ache and clutch your skull in pain at the influx of everything you had forgotten, and then just as fast it is ripped from you, leaving you with real loss flooding through you once again. The screens have gone blank.

What do you do?

Myos jumped into the fray, smooth and quick on his feet, gliding around the packed space like and ice skater. The chess board that he and his group found themselves playing on was swung heavily in the Empress’s favor, but that wouldn’t stop them from giving it all they had to take down the countless guards. After all, they were only flesh and blood while the star studded warriors had armored suits on their side. The smooth steel flowed around him like the cape of a superhero, giving him both strength and protection against the enemies before him. his vision was as red as his vibrant hair, not caring what got in his way, though always present of his companion’s locations due to the tracking map present on the visor of his robotic protector’s screen. He alternated swinging his sturdy crossbow like a bludgeon, smashing the skulls of the unprotected guards with a loud thwack, and firing the powerful missiles. The fiery rockets tore from his weapon with a flourish, and he watched with an almost sickening glee as they collided with the packed guards, the rippling effect like that of falling dominoes as all of the surrounding men were hit by the powerful missile as well.

Soon, the once beautiful golden space was covered in blood, the battle cries of the small rebel force resounding and echoing like hollow swan songs in the cavernous space. Not long after Myos began the assault, the other three joined in as well. Achernar eagerly yanked off the golden anchor that would activate her weapon, a deadly smirk on her face as she prepared to take part in what she did best. Zeke pulled his silver ring off, an action that meant so much more to him than just preparing to fight. A sneer was plainly visible on the ravenette’s face, disgusted with all that he had bought into and all that he used to serve under the guise of furthering the glorious Alioth Empire. Amaya had long been preparing for this moment, the revenge for her mother and the rest of her abused kind being the small halfling’s driving force. Her once youthful and exuberant face was somber and cold and she reached up to spin the ever present floating tiara that crowned the blonde girl’s head. Soon, like the others, the armor had enveloped her body in all its vivacious curves and she leapt into the fray without mercy.

Myos, as well as the others, knew to stay clear from the area Achernar had herself planted in once she dived into the thick of the horde of opponents. She swung her sword wildly, like it was an extension of her newly formed steel arm. Even just getting close to the woman was deadly, the guards soon found out, because the battle hardened woman could easily switch from her melee weapon to hand to hand combat in an instant. The red and blue steel around her fists curving into deadly spiked brass knuckles. When Achernar sensed a guard getting too close to her, she merely lashed out with any of her limbs, the spikes covering every surface of the machine impaling the flesh of the Empress’s servants like butter. Her sword flashed, and a buzzing sound filled the air along with her shouts of joy. Myos grinned, knowing the chainsaw on the katana the woman wielded had just been activated. Soon, blood began to spray from every direction where she stood, lost on the screen of Achernar’s suit which was the same, crimson red of the blood.

Amaya danced around, circling around both Myos and Achernar in wide arcs, picking off the guards that danced just outside their range of weaponry with her spinning discs. Hundreds upon hundreds flew through the air like a swarm of bees, slicing through and skin they came into contact with. Thousands of cuts littered the enemies all across the floor, slowing them down and starting the agonizing process of bleeding to death. Sometimes the blonde girl even got off a lucky hit and the agile discs sliced through a main artery and ended the guard’s lives within mere minutes.

The ravenette, unlike the others, kept his bulky armor out of the true heat of the fray, preferring instead to hold his spot towards the front of the room. He held his broadsword like a hunting rifle, easily cutting down any guard that tried to storm him. Zeke’s armor was less prepared for such close combat, even though the spindle thin joints allowed him to move just as easily as the others, the large plates around his shoulders and other areas of the armor meant that he could easily be trapped within the bodies pressed so tightly together. Instead, he kept at a distance, but it didn’t mean he was any less effective. Zeke lost count of how many fell to his blade like gun, the suit’s masked face giving him a fearsome and cold faced that matched his calculated actions.

Though Myos was lost in his own sea of blood, he constantly kept his eyes darting to the small map in the corner of his lime colored computer glass, checking to make sure his companions were safe through it all. The guards were putting up their best effort, but even the technologically efficient weapons they wielded were not enough to do much but scratch the suits the rebellion wore. Yes, the battle was wearing down on them, but Myos was sure they could hold out easily against the volley of bullets that rained almost uselessly against their heavily protected plated armor. However, they did have strength in numbers on their side, Myos thought viciously, looking around him as he fired off another missile into the crowd of enemies. They must have taken out hundreds but still the room seemed filled to the brim with the anonymous faces of the guards. Though he was sure of their fighting skills, their stamina was what he was worried about. How long could Razzy’s armor suits last?

How long could Razzy last?

The thought formed clearly in his head, so clear that his glass visor misinterpreted it as a message that needed to be sent out to the others. Myos was worried since it was obvious the Empress knew they were coming, and the ashen girl was outside the room by herself. Achernar picked up the message and began heading back towards that direction in an instant, crashing through without any care what happened as the thought of Razzy being gone charged the neurons in her body to an excitable level, adrenaline rushing through her body. Zeke called out to her in warning, noticing the target the girl had painted upon herself while Achernar didn’t care. The guards now gaining an enemy that was no longer pummeling them with both fists and sword, fired ruthlessly upon the woman. While most of the rounds bounced off easily, there were a few that hit, noticeably slowing the bluenette down. Achernar seemingly didn’t care, only worried about the girl on the other side of the door.

Zeke scowled, changing his position so he could fire on the guards that were targeting the woman, and doing a bit of help protecting Achernar from the ceaseless attack. Myos wished he could go over to her, but he was trapped in his area and he knew that trying to chase after the fired woman would be suicide at this point. And so he continued his onslaught of the guards around him, gritting his teeth in the pain of leaving one of his teammates of to dry with nothing but good wishes upon the stars overhead to help her. Amaya, however, could not bear to do nothing, so with her lithe hummingbird suit, she flitted over and followed Achernar on her journey to the door, dancing through the hoards to take out the ones that were the closest to firing off a deadly shot. The blonde bounced around as though it was a dance and she was a star. Leaving Myos to wonder if the mutated DNA gave her an advantage over the simplistic human guards around her. As the cheerful Amaya was about to yell out a word of encouragement to the woman with the hair of an ocean that was just at the door, a shot the blonde was sure she had avoided crashed through the side of her helmet, leaving the sound of splintering glass and a scream cut short.