[b][i]Catherine and Balthazar 'Thaz' Carlton[/i][/b]

Thaz moved to send out another assult towards Catherine, creating chains of steel to try and bind her...only to see the Energy Mage be assaulted by an horde of spirit creatures, taking her out of the battle for now. This left the Team Leader with a severely shocked Elizabeth Cortes, whom, she was sure now, was not the one they were looking for.
 
"Akira...he's mad..." spoke Eliza. "The game engine Lands of Gremania, his game, it's unstable...it's like he deliberately wants to overload people's sensory impresssions!" Thaz, despite being, well, a jerk, couldn't bear to tell this civilian that that was what A.K. wanted; she was sure now that he was the culprit. After all, he had the same initials as SAO's villain!

Thaz looked around at them before deciding to go on and pursue Akira, who, she can sense, was operating some sort of Timespace magic (or magitech? She found it hard to sense the difference without Law) in order to try and pierce the Time Stop; another sign of his genius and ability to predict things. Leaving Axel and Genevieve to handle the mysterious troops, Thaz left to pursue Akira...

[B][I]A Few Seconds Later[/i][/b]

Thaz raged as she was bound by chains of mist, chains of mist that she could counteract, if not for the very real death threat that hovered over her and the others. She listened to the assassin try to play mind games with a mysterious 'Silas' guy, before a moment of silence fell, a moment of silence ended by the Mechanical Spider self-destructing, though the magitech that ran the Time Stop seemed to be intact.

Then, the assassin resumed her berating of both the Agents and the Assassins, causing her blood to boil. How dare she?! How dare she malign the good name of the Agency? That said, though, she did have a point against the 'hitmen'; they were incompetent; even the one that had turned to their side. [I]Heinz, you ketchuppy fool; why do you keep recruiting thugs and criminals into our ranks?[/i]

Once the mist faded, she would resume her pursuit of Akira, who was now protected only by invisibility and clones, clones programmed to explode with Law energy (small-e) if they reached her. So, her counter - her counter was not to let them reach her; basically, she would detonate them beforehand. Then, she would rip apart his invisbility, only to find him no longer operating the magitech device he had sensed.

Rather, he was wielding an agony gun, one of those types that shot a burst of low-level sound that prevented one from concentrating. This set back Balthazar for a moment, before she, out of desperation, created an explosion that drowned out the sound, before conjuring up a set of earmuffs (Matter rocked!). However, Akira was already sending out arcs of Law energy, arcs which might prove fatal if they reached her...

-------

Ascot felt fear.

True, he was unbound, but that didn't stop him from being scared, scared of the assassin that had outsmarted them all. At the same time, however, he was absorbing all information that he could about said assassin, and felt certain that the Agency had encountered her before - in fact, she may even be [i]that person[/i] the one who had managed to enter the Agency building and given Amelia such a scare.

He weathered the succeeding taunts and insults with surprising calmness, always looking for an occasion to spring into action. And, when it came, he moved, moved with a swiftness that cannot truly be said to just be magic. Once the mist ceased, he was now moving towards Eise, drawing a sword, a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalis]Kalis[/url], one that also doubled as a [url=http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Nemesis_Force_Weapon#.U6NjZ_mSwZl]Nemesis Force Weapon[/url], one of the strongest weapons the Agency had in its arsenal.

This sword would be just as sharp as Eise's claws, and able to parry the same. Ascot's strikes, that of a small eskrimador combined with a small acrobat, would be like little hammers against Black Cat, while the boy himself can match him in swiftness. At the same time, however, the boy was not lending things to either chance or his own abiltities, for his next mental command to Silas was:

[i]Sile, sorry to interrupt you in your moment of grief, but I need you to turn against the guy I'm facing, right now![/i]

Meanwhile, as for the spider, it began to self-destruct, dissolving into motes of metal, in order to make sure that there was no evidence of ArcU's involvement. Same for the bodies and equipment of its 'Ghosts'.