Striding down the stairs, Alex noted another line of text pop up with the screen.

> John Doe: Everything alright? Where are you? We can meet up where you're at if you need help.

Followed moments later by a reply

> Rawr_Pwr: Grernacte Redrrve

She stared at it dumbly for a second, wishing that the screen had larger text, or was at least somewhere more convenient, so she didn't have to drag her arm up to her face to see what was being said. Alright, that was an exaggeration, and quite a large one at that, but really, the type was quite small.

Deciding to try and sound the odd words out, Alex leaned against the wall next to the door. No toothy dogs were catching her unawares this time, no sir! Frowning she tried to wrap her mouth round the words, or maybe she was trying to wrap the words round her mouth? "Gre-ran-te Red-rive, Gre-ren-act-e Red-riv, Gren-act Red-drive." But no matter how she phrased it it didn't work, until that is, she worked out that it had to be a place. Thinking about that she decided on a short list of places that sounded vaguely familiar.

Red drive house - but that didn't explain the Grernacte
Glenfeild road, - no Redrrve and didn't really match the acte.
Green stead farm, belonging to the Reed family - somehow, that felt like a no.
Greenacre Reserve - Yes!

Alex couldn't believe she hadn't seen that! She literally smacked herself upside the head, which not always a good idea it turned out, as that sent her head arching backwards before colliding with the wall. "Ghhhaaaarrrrgggghhhh" She objected, rubbing the back of her head, "Gar, damn it." she stormed, before cautiously jigging the door open just a notch and peering out. Seeing no killer dogs, or any moving thing for that matter, Alex slipped outside, clicking the door shut ominously behind her.

Hoofing it up the street she kept a wary eye out for any nasties that might be lurking.

It was not excessively far to Greenacre Reserve, just a fair way. As she ran, Alex debated whether to type something into the chat thing, let them know she was here. Prove to herself she was here. Ultimately deciding that that would wast time, she just kept sprinting, heading for where, she hoped, the reserve was.

Alex skidded to a stop, there seemed to be a tremendous noise coming from across the street. Cluing her in that she was likely in the right place. The other thing that tipped her off was her gloves, the red metal folding out and coding in, both blades appearing within seconds. Slipping through a line of what in the real world were probably trees. Alex headed towards the noise, snakes crawling through her stomach. Reaching the source of the rumble, Alex gaped, staring dumbstruck at the sight; it made the tooth dog look friendly.

There was a figure, human, Akio possibly, and a massive, gargantuan snake. Looking closer, Alex decided it wasn't a snake but an excessive sized worm. She had just been in time to witness it spewing earth at the human figure. "Holy-crap" Alex mouthed, summing up the situation nicely.

Zac would have been completely lost if not for Jian. First off, he had a terrible sense of direction, which was one of the reasons he had decided to live in his place of work. Grinning, he says, "Great thinking!" He then wraps his hand around her wrist and exclaims, "Let's go, then!" Pulling Jian along with him, Zac takes off in the general direction she had pointed out.

---

A little while later, he stops as a loud crash sounds. "This way!" he says, turning down an alleyway. Reaching the end, he stops just as a large boulder crashes into the sidewalk. "Whoa!" he yelps, jumping back. He then watches as someone runs past, a massive worm-like creature after him. Grinning, Zac says, "Alright, another monster! Let's go!"

Drawing his sword, Zac jumps over the impact of the boulder and races forward. Just as the worm launches another boulder, Zac jumps between the attack and the stranger, whom he assumes is Akio. "Hey," he says before turning to the approaching boulder. Gripping his weapon in both hands, Zac slashes vertically downward, slicing through the boulder as if it didn't exist. "If you haven't gotten your weapon figured out, run for it," he says without looking back at him. "I'll handle this."

The twin cannons began to print themselves into existence under Akio's forearm as he noticed another projectile being fired off in his direction. The boulder however never hit it's intended target as a flash movement glided past his side, wielding a length of steel that both glistened under the light and cut the very air that it passed through. A loud slashing could be heard as the sword passed through the lump of earth, sending the debris off into various other directions.

"If you haven't gotten your weapon figured out, run for it. I'll handle this," an unknown voice called out as Akio slid along his shoe soles to an improper stop. He looked back at both the man and the unknown creature.

> Multiple Targets Acquired

...Analysing...

> Target 1 - Classification 'Friendly'
> Identified as 'John Doe'

> Target 2 - Classification 'Worm'
> WARNING!!! Highly Dangerous.

Akio's glasses spat out a whole heap of information, placing holographic labels on the two targets with various other data that at that point in time made no sense what-so-ever. He gritted his teeth as he breathed heavily from the military grade marathon that he just ran. This stranger he was looking at had a proud essence to him, an appearance of composure and understanding of the dangers surrounding him.

"Oh, I know how these (cannons) are supposed to work, but for a first fight... this may be a bit out of my league," while speaking he noticed a warm sensation along his elbow, a trickle that dripped to the floor below. Turning to look at his shoulder he noticed a gash along his arm, the same side that smacked into the wall while he was running. Clicking the grip buttons to dissolve his cannons from existence, he began to set foot again while holding pressure on his arm to slow down the bleeding.

"It's not deep, thankfully," he breathed with a sigh of relief as he found some fire exit stairs leading to the top of a building, "but I'll watch this fight for the time being."

"No way!" Zac says, grinning widely. "Two strong monsters in one day? How can I pass it up?!"

Lifting the blade parallel to the ground and above his head, he runs the tips of his thumb, index, and middle finger down the blunt side of the blade. "You can run off if you want," he says, "but I'm gonna stay here. Besides, if we let this thing run wild, who knows what could happen?"

Looking over his shoulder at Jian, he adds, "That creature we fought, the one that was affecting Ai International's computers? This thing has the same ability. Imagine what could happen if it decides to infect a hospital. I can't let that happen."

It took another few moments of staring for the whole picture to sink in, things seemed to be happening far too fast, like a speed up movie. Two more people had appeared from ……somewhere, although she couldn't say if anyone was to ask, even if there was no one else to do the asking. It looked like at least one of the others here could actually fight, although it wasn't entirely reassuring Alex decided, that worm would take more than one person to defeat. As she thought that, she realized that meant she was going to have to fight as well. As it was, her short blades probably wouldn't do much damage to something with that bulk.

Coming to a decision, Alex dashed across to where the three others had gathered, skidding slightly as she threw on the brakes. She stumbled to a stop next to them hearing the last of the second man's words. "……what could happen if it decides to infect a hospital. I can't let that happen." Stepping forward with a slight grin fulled by building adrenalin Alex questioned, "So, do you have a plan? Or are we just going to wing it?" She hoped she hadn't startled them too much, but it was a bit late to worry about that now. "I don't think that thing is going to wait much longer." pausing for a breath she charged on, "If you don't have a plan I reckon that if I was to be 'bait' and distract it, you could get it from behind? Possibly." It looked to Alex that one might be able to get rid of the face-plate-armour-thingie if they were to get on the neck at the back of the head, but she wasn't really sure about that.

Akio's feet made the familiar clinking sound as he made his way up the metal staircase to the top of the building. Thankfully it was only a few flights until he reached the rooftop, but from there he was able to survey the scene before him and could finally see the monster fully. Even with being at the height he was, the creature still rose up fairly close to his level. It's metallic body glowed under the lights glistening like ice.

This was an event that Akio never in a thousand years thought he would be a part of, and he stood there in subtle fear at what he had to face. Luck however played in his favour as he had been saved by the man who he knew as John Doe, and the assumed xxYangtze92 was the second person that came along. Looking down he could see a third person entering into the mix, a younger girl. "Alex?"

"Was she going to be ok?" he wondered to himself. If he was correct, she was fairly new to her abilities as well and knowing how to control them was something left to the unknown. Hopefully she would be ok, but being able to survey the scene from above, Akio could ensure that he could keep an eye on what was going on. If things got dire, he may be able to create a distraction or guide the others to safe locations, but from the look of his current state, he may not be ready for the front line of this battle.

Blood dripped onto his shoes, and he felt the warmth oozing down his arm. His wound didn't look deep, but for some reason it wasn't easing up and as he lifted his arm to examine it, he felt a sharp pain through his collarbone.

"Grrrr..."

The pain shot through his side like a hot, razor knife and pulling back his shirt with his free arm only revealed what he was dreading most. Akio saw a large black bruise forming on the edge of his shoulder. As he touched it he could feel the swelling and tenderness with a stinging pain. It must have been from that hit took when he landed against the wall, but whatever the damage was it was sure to keep him on the reserve bench for the time being. It was at that moment that he felt something crash into the entire building, looking over the edge, he could see the snake had fallen against the surface with the three others darting around underneith.

"This isn't a great place to be, is it?"

Running to the side, Akio made the small leap to the next building over before hearing the sounds of collapsing form work next door. Continuing on with his dash he made another leap towards a third structure. The last building was taller and he was only going to make it towards a small window on the side. It was enough though and as he made the leap he clicked the button on the side of his grips, watching the cannons begin to form.
"Just a bit more..."
Akio began to straighten out his arm as the cannons moulded themselves into existence.
"Come on!!!!"
Just as the cannons came into existence and pulled the trigger and made the shot.

*KABOOM*

The wall exploded into a shower of debris allowing him to pass through, but at the same time he happened to slam that same shoulder into an edge that was withstood the blast. "Fuck!!!" he screamed in agony as he knew he probably cause more damage to his injured body, but at the same time he knew it was better than having a building collapse underneath his feet.

Zac smirks and says, "No, I don't really have a plan. Usually, I just wing it and see how it goes." He then turns to Jian and says, "I won't stop you if you wanna leave." Smiling, he adds, "If you decide to go, then I wish you all the best."

That said, he charges, brandishing his sword high. The worm roars and charges at him. However, at the last moment, it burrows below ground. Seeing this, Zac skids to a stop on the very edge of the hole it had created. "Keep a lookout!" he calls back. "You don't want that thing coming up underneath you!"

Dosen't really have a plan huh? Looks it. she shrugged, oh well, it wasn't like she really had one either. And with that he had charged, …………so much for her being the distraction. Without wasting time on another shrug Alex kicked off, sprinting over for the other side of the beast, reading to leap when the worm disappeared below the ground. Sliding to a stop she frowned, somehow the direction that thing had been going………… "Oh shit" she muttered propelling herself forward as it popped back up behind her, rearing up its 'head' thrown back. She didn't really look back, or at least she knew she shouldn't, not really, but there was no way not to, it was compelling in the same way one can't look away from the grim bits in movies; morbid fascination.

Just that one glimpse of it 'looking' at her was enough to freeze Alex's feet. Swearing, she slashed her arms round, swiping at anything in the vicinity, even though the worm was nowhere near close enough for her to hit.

Of course her reaction was a cross of extremes, of course. That was the absolute worst. Fight and Freeze. Honestly. She hadn't noticed it with the razor dog, as she hadn't had to do much moving, it was just beat the crap out of it. But this monstrosity? Oh, no, this creature was terrifying enough that she couldn't move her legs.

"Oi, mister, Kill it!" She bellowed, throwing herself backwards in a vain attempt to reconnect with her stubborn legs. A massive grinding was emitting from the worm's long body, likely as it prepared to spit out more earth chunks.

Akio collapsed out of his desk chair in pain clenching his shoulder but at least this time he wasn't nauseous from correctly logging out of The Hack. The recent injury had caused what felt like a dislocation, but without proper medical attention he wasn't sure of the true damage. He looked around his room noting that it was definitely later in the afternoon.

He pulled himself off the floor and sat on the edge of his bed. His decision to leave the hack was based purely on knowing that his injury would become more of a hindrance then any help, but in the moments before he logged out he was able to watch the events play out on the ground below. Three people battling a huge beast made of metal and steel; The woman holding her ground with an energy like shield; The man dashing around like a fierce warrior, and the young girl slashing at it with arms of blades.

"Dammit," he cursed as he gripped the edge of his bed. None of this was making any sense to him. How was he getting hurt in real life when it was all inside a computer, all inside his head.

Standing up and walking towards the wardrobe, Akio pulled out a loose fitting jacket and threw it over his shoulders. He had to make his way to a medical centre and he didn't want to draw attention to himself. The car was out of the option since driving would simply be too painful so he would more than likely have to walk. Closing the wardrobe he noticed a faint light coming from his hallway. Slowly he walked out of his bedroom and turned to where the end wall of the hallway should have been. Instead of a clean wall with fresh paint, there was a charred hole leading to the outside world.

Stepping over towards the obscure feature he kneeled down and ran his fingers over the edges wondering what had caused this.

> No Target Found...

"No..." he whispered as he remembered those words appearing on his HUD when he first entered The Hack. This surely wasn't caused by him, was it? Is so then that would mean that their actions within The Hack would affect everything in the outside world, including... the fallen building!

Akio made a dash for the front door, grabbing his car keys on the way. Pain or no pain, he had to make it to where the others were fighting just to check the damage, to see if it was at all real.