---

---

Well the guy finally seemed to be down, so that was a good thing at least Victoria had managed to do, well, something anyway. Though that didn't mean that they were out of the woods yet, as the world shifted once again. Now she was back in her Princess Daisy outfit, and in a very familiar minigame. "Oh come on, not even actual main part of the game you have to stick us in one of the minigames?" she commented, looking at the game around them.

Zelda did have to agree with April's comment though. They were thoroughly screwed. And that was putting it lightly.

They were going to die, there was no way out of this game. Unlike the other games they had landed in which had given them a fighting chance. This one did not. It was entirely luck based, and they could die rather easily. "Entirely luck based, no way to change the odds or determine which ropes are safe... You pick one and hope you don't die. We are doomed..." Without another thought though, she went to the very first rope in the line and cut it, pausing for a moment. The anxiety rose with regards to whether she'd be sent flying or something. Luckily, that didn't happen, and she seemed to be safe. For now.

---

---

"Okay, up the stairs then," Zari said nodding a bit, before starting to follow Andy up the stairs, though she stumbled a bit as she followed along, using the railing a bit to steady herself as she went. Once she got up there, she almost fell over except for the intervention of a very familiar robotic eyeball that had a flashlight attached to it catching her and propping her up.

"01010111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101100 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 00111111"

"Well sorrrrrry I don't feel too good someone tried to poison me or something!" she complained a bit, managing to stand up straight and unhooking the flashlight from the robot. "I'm fine anyway, thanks for showing up when I called though..."

"01010111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101100 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 00111111"

Zari didn't say anything else to the robot as she followed Andy along again, her sword shifting from it's flashlight form. She saw Arcade over with the Framework, and she giggled a little at Andy's words towards him. "Surprise. Not dead you know." her brain was still a little bit fuzzy but she was still preparing to have to deal with something. She knew that she'd have to pull the others out of whatever was going on. That was definitely going to be fun.

---

---

---

Sabine was gradually becoming less and less okay with Gideon's shenanigans. Especially given the number of lives they and Mary Sue had left. "So, it is very much cursed so I would recommend not being alone with it, even to test something. Playing it seems like a bad idea." Despite her belief Dorian could handle it and be okay, she didn't want to risk it. Who's to say that losing a life in this game wasn't the end, even if you had a lot left?

Sabine heard the footsteps and looked at the others to see if they did. Dorian didn't seem to. "So those were footsteps I just heard up above, so the ghost is moving. We still need to figure out what type of ghost, right? Anything we can do before they get closer to us?"

Mary Sue knew that, even for all her provocations, Gideon was likely in real danger right now, and she absolutely didn't want her to get hurt. Going to face this thing directly seemed like the more dangerous of the two options, and so she favored summoning it directly. "Here, Sabine, can I see your salt?" She asked, before taking it from her, and moving towards the door to lay a line across the entryway. "Let's bring it in here, trap it, and then be ready to leave the room if it gets violent. Hopefully then we get it away from Gideon and can safely regroup"

After laying the line of salt down, she looked to Dorian, "Does that sound like a reasonable plan? I still don't really understand all the mechanics here, but between Gideon and those steps outside..." She started to say before drawing a breath, clearly nervous at the situation they found themselves in, "I think it's better that we act rather than wait for something to happen to us. That way, we might be able to at least exert some control over what's happening here."

---

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---

She supposed she could have gone on a large 'told you so' rant, but given their situation, it hardly seemed appropriate. Victoria did not believe in any afterlife - Not for her, not for anyone - but on the off chance that there was some, there was no need for any of them to be sent there with a grievance.

The sisters have had their turn, as Victoria deliberately lazed behind to give them the better odds, for all of the 30 seconds it may extend their existence in total.

There was a sliver of opportunity that could be taken. "I suppose I could take another stab at hacking this blasted place, and though it will most likely result in me getting slaved again, maybe this game's mechanics will prevent me from attacking you. On the other hand, there is still the remote chance that someone on the outside will check what the fuss is about and help us out.

I'd rather go down fighting, but since that would almost certainly put your lives at risk, it's your call. Should I try?" she asked, forced to snip a string as her timer was running out. Nothing happened and she stepped off, waiting to hear whether to go ahead.

---

---

---

Dorian waited for an answer from his friends, but most of what he heard was Gideon on the kitchen pacing around like a bull as she wished for the ghost to do anything. Which…was a typical interaction within this game depending on the ghost. But it was also almost always the last words spoken before shit began to go sideways and haunts began to start. He hadn't heard the footsteps coming from above, focusing more on his teammates than his surroundings as he worried about what to do next. He promised he'd protect Sabine. He had to protect Sabine. She'd voiced her opinion and he was inclined to leave it at that, that is until she mentioned the sound from upstairs. They needed evidence and fast, Gideon was losing them precious time with her antics and Mary Sue's idea wasn't half bad. What Dorian needed was a way to fuse what Sabine wanted and what Mary Sue had suggested.

His eyes darted between their hands, the room, and the items laid about. Piecing together things like he was the Miraculous Lady Bug before he finally thought of something that reduced the risks to just himself. ”OK ‘ere's t'e plan. If t'is t’ing is linked to t’e ghost and it lures it in t'en I say we use it to get as much information as we can while it is driven away from Gideon. Beanie you got the cross, if a ‘unt starts you place t’at between us and t’e ghost, it will keep us from dyin’ Mary Sue, keep the EMF on at all times and we monitor what number it's at and the ‘ighest it goes to durin’ all t'is. Afterwards we scan with UV for any fingerprints and check salt for footprints. Stay behind me at all times you got it? Don't be a ‘ero.” Dorian would be lying if he said he wasn't afraid of what might happen. Excited, thrilled, but terrified all the same. He reached forward to grab the music box, standing before Sabine and Mary Sue with his back turned to them and facing the door with a salt line. He took a deep breath and began to play the music box.

The eerie song rang out from the metal disk inside of it (all music box music was eerie regardless of song especially when it slowed down) and for a moment that was all he could hear amongst the silence. Then…the worst happened. He felt a mental drain on himself, he couldn't quite describe the feeling, but it didn't feel right. The flashlights began to flicker off and on, their shadows dancing amongst the intervals of lights, and Dorian's eyes went wide. ”It's a hunt…it's a cursed hunt! Keep the cross ready and be ready to use it. Stay. Behind. Me.” Dorian took another step forward, enough to be within the saving grace of a cross if needed but far enough forward that hopefully the ghost would go for him before the other two.

---

---

---

---

@BlueSky44@Kirah: For a man of science, magic was Arcade's achilles heel. He didn't even have time to react as Andy grabbed onto him with a ghostly, skeletal hand, his flesh rotting away where it held him, revealing the gleaming bone beneath, maggots coming seemingly out of nowhere to feast on his decaying remains. He staggered back, gripping the table the terminal rested on with his non-injured arm. "Y-yes..." he panted, sweat beading on his forehead. "I did forget something."

His eyes narrowed, before the corner of his lips twitched up into a smile.

"So did you." He turned, slamming a button quickly on the keyboard, executing a line of code he had had at the ready, just in case his help seemed to be truly incompetent. He should've known better than to trust matters to his sister - or that decrepit excuse for an android. Both Usagi and Ardere were obsolete. He didn't need them.

And even if Andy and Zari killed him, he'd still win. He'd go down in history for this - he'd be remembered for the blood on his hands.

@Patientbean@Trainerblue192@Natsu: The moment the music box stopped playing, the lights in the house started flickering like crazy, including the flash lights. The trio would be able to hear Gideon go "oh shit!" and make some noise from the other room. But in the flickering light, they'd be able to see something moving towards them, Andy Lensherr crawling on all fours, her head upside down, with strangely sharp teeth and slitted eyes like a cat's. No one had moved to hide or run, and without the crucifix thrown down in front of them, there was only the salt line - and it did nothing to stop the creature. It was suddenly freezing cold, everyone's breaths appearing before them. The EMF detector was silent.

Suddenly, Sabine would hear her own heart beating furiously, and see ghastly fingers come in from each side of her head from behind her, and gouge out her eyes, killing her instantly. The creature then vanished.

To Dorian and Mary Sue, they would see Sabine's dead body, twisted and covered in blood on the ground.

To Sabine, she would find that she was now a ghost inside this house, everything a soft grey - she could see and hear Dorian and Mary Sue, but they couldn't see or hear her.

And then, something horrible happened to all three - pain, excruciating pain. The pain of death. They were dying, with only seconds left to live. This wasn't a temporary death, not just another life lost. This was DEATH.

---

---

They were screwed. This game wasn't one they could all win - it was one that would see two of them dead, with one remaining to tell the tale. April only had one life left. If she cut the wrong cord, she'd be dead. Not just in the game, but dead dead. Her blood pressure was at an all time high, each pulse of her veins feeling like a thunderous drum. If Vicky tried to hack things again, they could die - she could be overwritten again, and kill them. Or maybe Arcade would finally have enough and kill them. But if they played this game, they'd die. There was no winning - each option had death lurking behind it.

What sort of older sister would she be if she let Zelda die - in her very first semester of school?

"I.... Do it," April swallowed, as the timer counted down, ushering her to make a choice - to risk her life. She waited till the last possible moment, when just a 1 was floating in the sky above her, before April closed her eyes and made her choice at random. There were only six ropes left. And two of them were deadly.

The cord was cut.

April's heart was pounding.

And the next thing she knew, she'd been launched into the sky - and then...

Then there was nothing.

Meanwhile, Vicky and Zelda still had to play the game. It was Zelda's turn. Five left, one of which would kill. And then, something horrible happened to them both - pain, excruciating pain. The pain of death. They were dying, with only seconds left to live. This wasn't a temporary death, not just another life lost. This was DEATH.

---

Percy narrowed his eyes, surprised by the stupidity of the others. Why had he done that to Chi Mai? He thought it had been obvious. "She threatened to kill us. I didn't want to give her the chance." He wasn't familiar with her powers, but given that she had threatened to make them explode, he hadn't wanted to find out if she was capable or not of doing so. Besides, she was merely unconscious - it wasn't like he had killed her. He failed to see why the others were shocked with what he had done - would they have stood by and allowed her to harm them?

He then focused his attention on the strange artifact - the pointed prism. It had different symbols on the sides of it, some sort of a language. He tilted his head, as the symbols slowly came into focus, as his mind translated the meaning. "It says it's called the astral prism - that it contains a small portion of the astral plane and... a person... It's Zari."

But before they could discuss that further, something horrible happened to them all - pain, excruciating pain. The pain of death. They were dying, with only seconds left to live. This wasn't a temporary death, not just another life lost. This was DEATH.

---

---

---

---

"Don't worry I'll make this quick then." Andy said, moving quickly to get within brawling range. She wasn't going to drag this out. She was pissed, Andy reached out to grab Arcade's throat, but he kicked her shin and slipped out of her reach.

That didn't matter, not anymore. Andy had been learning magic. And the strength she had gained from Ardere was still pulsing in her. She spoke a few words and a loud gong rang within Arcade's ears. It didn't deafen him, the spell wasn't meant to, but he was hurt by it. He still stood. Andy was pissed and didn't care about the consequences.

She stepped in close again and swung, aiming to punch him in his stupid face. He was still reeling from the bell and didn't dodge her fast enough this time. She punched him directly in the nose.

---

---

---

From Mai's unconscious body, they picked up a rock that Percy the Murdertwink said was called an Astral Prism. It had a piece of Zari in it, but Leah didn't get a chance to ask what that actually meant in practice. Pain overtook her, some of the worst she had felt lately. Every inch of her body was on fire all of a sudden, white hot and cutting through her down to what made her the person she was. It felt like Leah was being unmade.

She had felt horrible pain many times. Her dad had broken most, if not all of the bones in her body at some point or another. She had been surgically put back together a time or two at worst. This was up there, but she was used to this sort of thing. Death had made itself known not so long ago, that feeling of standing on a cliff, and then falling forever. Weightlessness creeping in. It wouldn’t startle her twice.

She leaned against her axe, grimaced and let out a sound like something between a growl and a groan. What was happening? Was this part of the game?

”What… The fuck is happening?”

---

---

---

---

Madalyne looked over towards Leah asking if the prism that Chi-Mai was holding was important or not she nodded towards her. "Yeah it's a pretty important item to the story of the game." Madalyne answered Leah's question as she looked to the others and she stared down at Chi-Mai's unconscious body. She could understand why now which did make more sense then as she thought about where to go next to answer Leah's question. "We try and escape the ship, and hopefully we can get out of here." She said as Percy mentioned that Zari was inside the artefact maybe that would explain Zari's absence since they had been trapped in Arcade's twisted game.

Madalyne cried out in pain as it suddenly surged through her entire body, she knew that something bad was happening as she dropped down to her knees, her vision blurring slightly. Death was coming from them and fast Arcade probably thought that they were boring and wanted to kill them all now or something. Madalyne decided to try something anything that would save them all from dying in this game as she tried to use her magic to manipulate the Framework's code.

---

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---

---

Diana really had no clue what the little thing that Chi-Mai had in her hands seeing it laying on the floor next to her unconscious body, she approved of her brother's action to knock her out. Chi-Mai wasn't even in the school so it probably was something that Arcade had thought up to use against them. "So lets find a way to get off of this ship thing then." Diana said as she approached Chi-Mai's uncosncious body to help her up.

But then she felt a sudden and incredible amount of pain going through her entire body as Diana dropped down to her knees crying out in pain as it surged through her. She didn't know where the attack was coming from she quickly realized that the game was killing them and Arcade probably was using something on the Framework to kill them all. She started to think of an idea maybe to try and get out of the Framework though that would leave the others in the game alone she turned to her brother. "I'm going to try and teleport my real body out of the Framework pod, try and do the same." Diana said hopefully this idea would work.

---

---

---

Dorian realized too late a crucial part of his plan. He hadn't reiterated the rules of the items to Sabine and Mary Sue. While he stood up front, waiting to see the crucifix fall before him on the floor, that soft sounding thud never came. Instead he watched in horror as his little horror buddy crawled on all fours, head bent upside down with hair draping over her face as she bee lined it towards the group. Then came a thud. Dorian turned to see Sabine on the floor, lifeless. But he knew where she'd be in the game. ”Sabine, stay t'ere. I'm goin to try and get you but I need you clo-” His words cut short as a familiar pain began to wrack through his body. He gripped the fabric on his shirt, as he tried to overcome the cold dark feeling that was washing over him. He'd felt a similar sensation when Andy had touched him, her powers sapping his life away slowly. For a moment, and he didn't know why, he could smell rubble. Dust from broken concrete floating in the air as the sound of a baby cried in the background.

He grasped Mary Sue tightly, holding her hand as he choked out a few words. ”Trust…me…” He closed his eyes, trying hard to pull her with him into the ghostscape of phasma. Straining as he failed to do so. Dorian eyes began to glow purple, the energy radiating off of him and around him as it slowly enveloped Mary Sue too. With a final strain he managed to pull her along with him into the otherside, watching the grayish landscape where Sabine stood. He panted, slightly out of breath as he let go of Mary Sue's hand and placed both of his on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. ”OK. Alright. Phew t'at was ‘arder t’an wranglin’ a greased up gator into a nap sack.”

Dorian stood up, his hands on his hips before finally reaching out to grab onto Sabine and Mary Sue's hands. They were free from the haunt happening within the house, but still gripped by the feeling of Death within them. His eyes began to glow once more, trying as he might to pull all three of them into the Astral Plane, to pull their real bodies into the Astral Plane. After a few moments, nothing happened. He tried once more, pressing his eyes closed tight as the glow of his powers shined beneath them. But even then nothing seemed to happen. The disconnect that Arcade had placed between them and their physical forms was too strong for him to overcome. So he did all he knew he could do, he pulled them in tight for a hug. ”I can't do it. It's too strong, ‘e's too strong. I t'ought I ‘ad a way out for us but it's just too ‘ard to do. I…I should've paid better attention in Kamar Taj.I love you guys.”

Death. Death was coming and there was almost nothing she could do to stop it. She could feel pain breaking through almost every corner of her body. She knew Dorian had pulled them into the Astral plane to try to save them, but it didn't work, and they were still at risk. She knew this wasn't real, that her body was in some tank somewhere, and that however it was connected to her brain, it was about to fry her brainstem and turn her into a corpse. She closed her eyes and tried to find the center of herself, believing that her mind was in both of these places, virtual and real, and she just had to pick which to target.

Then, at just the right moment, she was hit with a surge of power, and she knew that that was the moment. She wasn't a physicist, but she knew that wherever her constructs formed, they took up space. Displacing air wasn't a problem, it would move out of the way, but water in a sealed container? It should shatter. And it did, in a snap, her body was reunited with her mind, and she could see her body was surging with some odd power. She wanted to use it, to save her friends, and so she held her hands out to try to crush the monster that was killing them, but she collapsed to her knees in weakness. She gasped for air and felt the oxygen burn down her lungs. Sputtering and spitting up fluid, she realized she'd just come closer to death than ever before.

---

---

Zelda had been about to make a comment about how Victoria's last attempts to get into the main system for the Framework had almost resulted in someone dying. And with how things were going it had been more likely to be her since they had thrown Victoria around in self defense a bit before. And she was going on about going down fighting? That hadn't exactly been working out entirely too well for her in the past, so why try again now?

Her thoughts were pulled away from that by April. April being sent flying.

She'd been keeping track of the lives, she knew that April had only one left. Which meant it was all over the instant she got sent overboard. There was nothing else right now that her brain could focus on. Her annoying older sister was just gone. She was massively panicking so she didn't end up saying anything to Victoria as the pain ripped through with regards to losing more lives. That was the very last thing on her mind with regards to it.

---

---

Well crap, this was not good! What button did Arcade hit? A quick scan of the system made it obvious. Everyone was dying, and there was no way for them to do things fast enough to save everyone. Even if they took down Arcade, people would be dead. This was not a good thing. She saw a symbol over everyone in the tanks, showing that they were close to death. Whereas April didn't have any symbol, meaning they were already too late to save her.

"...We need more time..." she muttered to herself under her breath, the floating robotic eye with her was just watching her, as she glanced down at the watch that was on her wrist.

"01011010 01100001 01110010 01101001 00101100 00100000 01101101 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110011 01100101 01110001 01110101 01100101 01101110 01100011 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101001 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110011 01110101 01110000 01110000 01101111 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00101110 00100000 01001100 01100001 01110011 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100100 01101001 01100110 01100110 01100101 01110010 01100101 01101110 01110100 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101101 01101111 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100111 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00101100 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110010 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110111 00111111 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01101101 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01101011 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01100110 01100101 01100011 01110100 01101100 01111001 00101110!"

"Well I can't just let everyone die!" she responded, before seeing that Mary Sue had managed to get herself out of the Framework by sheer luck or something. "...Well guess now I'm going to be dragging two people with me instead of one." She tapped out a rhythm of sorts on the watch face, before a computer projection popped up in front of her with a keyboard and she started typing on it her fingers moving really quickly. "We need more time, let's get more time," she said to both Andy and Mary Sue. Andy would know exactly what she meant, Mary Sue, probably not.

After a few seconds, the computer screen disappeared and the watch on her wrist was glowing, she grabbed both Mary Sue and Andy by the arm and raced out of the room dragging them along, the glowing on the watch became brighter and brighter, before a portal opened up while they were in the hallway outside right in front of them and Zari dragged them through it. Mr. Eyeball the robot following along right behind them, figuring that the robot would try to keep them out of trouble. The portal was swirling with a dim green light as they ended up going through it.

They landed still in the same hallway farther away from the entrance to the room Arcade was in. Zari held her finger up to her mouth in a sign obviously meaning to keep quiet. She looked down at her watch and had a bit of a sigh of relief. Somehow in the chaos and panic, she actually had managed to hit her target of timeframe. "...We have about 30 minutes before Andy and I come up from the basement. We need to mess with Arcade's systems but not busting in like Andy and I did, since he had enough time to push the insta-death button on all of you. Mary Sue, figure this is probably really weird but I'll explain later, we don't have much time to fix this and save everyone."

---

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---

Well, merde.

Sabine hadn't expected to be killed off in a game, but it happened quickly. She should have been more prepared, but wasn't that the case when some ghost is strangling you? Soon, Sabine was nothing but a specter. Odd seeing as Dorian was there and still very much alive. And to Dorian's credit, his attempts to help. She stood still as he grabbed her hand and strained, trying as hard as she had ever seen him, but to no avail.

She would not take this lying down. She was not about to be killed off in some video game by some nerd!

Mary Sue seemed to have an idea. Unsure if she would be heard, Sabine felt something inside of her snap open. Like a part of her brain had been unlocked. She felt she could help, at least somewhat. Mary Sue was struggling to get out of the simulation, that much was evident. Sabine reached her mind towards Mary Sue, connecting consciousness with her and boosting her ability. Sabine felt an energy exert itself into Mary Sue and soon, the girl vanished. Sabine worried briefly she may have just killed her off, but part of her hoped, nay felt, that she got out. She hoped Mary Sue would be able to do something to get the rest of them ou-

---

Sabine looked around her. She felt...odd. Like something changed. But things looked the same. Or did they? She was still dead, which was a shame, but something happened.

Hopefully that something meant them getting out of this fucking game.

---

---

---

As one of her company snipped a loaded line and was sent flying, Victoria's thought process abandoned all input from the other. Forcing their way out might be their only chance. She was ready to download April's mind into her own chassis if she could, just so it would have that one advantage of her knowing the system to improve the odds of success. She sunk into the depths of the Framework's code again, but her search was in vain. None of April's data was to be found anywhere she managed to look.

Terminating personnel file: FLYNN, April Cassandra...
File terminated.

And more would soon follow. No choice. Ed's malware was mysteriously absent, but she was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. While she was in the code, she retraced her previous steps and abandoning all caution to the wind, barraged her way through the blocks and towards the exit subroutine. But just as she was within reach, a different part of the Framework's code activated, and the instructions passed by in the data stream.

Victoria could only look on in growing horror as the code started obliterating everyone still connected to the framework, including draining the powerplant in her own chassis. Somewhere deep in her mind, Ultron was screaming at her:

Warning! Power at 4%. Estimated time until power depleted: 0.256 s
Warning! Power at 3%. Estimated time until power depleted: 0.192 s
Initiating emergency power-down.
Warning! Power at 2%. Estimated time until power depleted: 0.128 s
Failure: Subroutine terminated by Administrator level override.
Warning! Power at 1%. Estimated time until power depleted: 0.064 s
CRITICAL FAILURE IMMINENT.
DUMPING ERROR LOG.
ARMING CHASSIS REACTIVATION SUITE.
Warning! Power at

“Well, dat just seems a little wierd, don't it? ‘ow did they cram poor little Zari in t'is tiny t'in’? I ‘ope she doesn't ‘ave clautir- claustrie- clausdri- t'at fear of small places, ‘owever you say it. Maybe t'at's why Arci put ‘rr in t'ere! We gotta get ‘er ta a quack like, right after all t'is ‘cause it can't be good for your noggin ta be squeezed into an itty, bitty living space. Ya thinking shas'as cosmic pow-”

Danni nearly vomited as overwhelming pain had him doubling over and crashing to his knees. Death wasn't a foreign concept to him. His papa could talk to the dead, his uncle was a ghost for years ‘til the rents brought him back to life, but he'd never faced it up close and personal, never experienced it. He couldn't tell if he was screaming, crying, or just gasping for breath, all he could think about was the pain. All he could think about was everything he couldn’t do, they couldn't do. Everyone was going to die.

The pain brought spots to his eyes, the edges already going, but still he could see the bright flickers of fire. His control was thin normally, down right gone in emotional situations, but he tried. God, he tried. Through the pain, he tried to grab everything but he could feel the fire slipping free.

Hopefully, he died before he exploded.

---

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In one timeline, the students of the Margaret Carter Institute died that evening. It was the beginning of Arcade's career as a butcher, the first of a series of spree killings. He would go on to torment the very best teams, even helping Doctor Doom to imprison the X-Men on one occasion, trapping them by luring their loved ones into his sinister games. And while not all of the students had died - some of them were functionally immortal - enough had died to cut a deep wound. Some of their families were alright - others shattered, falling apart in the aftermath, asking themselves why they hadn't been there when their children needed them the most.

Per the Time Variance Authority, the deaths of these children was a fixed point in the universe designated as Earth-666. They would always be massacred. If it wasn't at the hands of Arcade, then it was at the hands of his better - an old, familiar thread hurtling towards them through time and space.

So as Zari, Mary Sue, and Andy flickered back in time, rewinding events by 30 minutes, no TVA agents appeared to stop them. They would be allowed to save the others tonight simply because within the year, they'd be dead anyways. The anomaly would sort itself out - and if not, they had one of their own stationed at the school - retired, yes, but present all the same. Ser Nemo was a particularly skilled assassin. Children would not best him.

Working together, Mary Sue, Andy, and Zari managed to hijack the Framework without drawing Arcade's notice - it was easy when you had a technopath, of course - and everyone would wake up, dropping out of the tanks, freed from the Framework.

And facing an incredibly vulnerable Arcade.

Arcade's eyes widened, seeing that his hostages had escaped. "H-hey guys. Would you believe this entire system went rogue when Usagi went crazy?"

Percy's eye twitched.

April formed water into gloves around her hands, freezing them into ice - ready to beat the shit out of this man.

Gideon put her sunglasses back on, and unsheathed her sword. "So... Are we taking turns or all beating the shit out of him at once?" she asked.

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Andy wouldn't say she was used to time travel, but it was only a little disorientating. Especially since she knew she was downstairs, she was killing that freshman down there. The only thing she felt bad about was that the time travel was necessary. She should have let Zari handle it. She was the technopath. So she had when they stumbled backward. Andy waited.

The other students were freed, and all of them were angry, did they know how close they had come to death? Mary Sue did, but she had escaped and traveled back with them. Andy had gotten her licks in on Arcade. As much as she would have enjoyed draining the life from him, it would have been very satisfactory, Andy figured the others deserved the chance. So Andy waited again.

She maneuvered, blocking Arcade so he would have nowhere to run if he was so inclined. She'd make sure he was taken down tonight. After the others walked away she would be the last, and she would make sure he had breathed his last.

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”You piece of god damn shit-“ Leah was less than thrilled to hear that Arcade tried to trap them in. Or that he was going to, whichever the fuck it was. There was enough they all had to deal with already, and he just had to launch a villain arc.

”Alright, you know what! Fuck you, Ed.” Leah reached out and wet her hand in Framework tanks, and drew out runes on the ground. Kenaz for fire, uruz for power, and raidho for movement. ”You want to play dirty, I will too.”

She stood back up straight and swung her foot at the ground where the runes had been written, and a small explosion of heat was sent flying at Arcade as if Leah had just kicked a soccer ball, scorching him on the spot.

All of the fear that had gripped Dorian's heart moments ago, was now gone. That time-line abandoned as he moved backwards and was now simply playing a game once more. Then, everything went dark. It was like his senses got a Kickstart and suddenly the world came into view with one large gasp of air as the water drained from his tank. His vision was fuzzy, but he could clearly see as others began to ready up for an Arcade smackdown. He could hear Arcade practically begging for his life as the others began to enclose.

Dorian needed to act fast. One hand gripped one side of his tank, while the other gripped the other side, helping pull himself out as he tried to wrap his mind around what all was going on. He made a mental headcount and then -
Heat blazed in the room nearby as fire hurt Arcade and Leah did some weird mystical shit that he didn't know she could. That was enough to kick him into gear. Dorian quickly vanished, going ghost as he flew threw everyone in the room, chills running through them in an attempt to cool them all down before stopping right before Arcade and coming back into view with his arms spread wide. ” ‘Ave you all lost your mind?!” His eyes darted pointedly at Leah.

”Move, Dorian!” She shouted. ”I should’ve known this prick was up to no good, spending so much time here alone! I’m gonna shatter you like fucking glass, Ed!”

”No! Arcade made a mistake, took a wrong turn. But everyone deserves a chance!” Dorian said as he stayed firmly between Leah and Arcade. ” ‘eroes don't go around shatterin’ ot'ers like glass. ‘E's lost, defenseless, and cowerin’. I say we take ‘im in and allow ‘im to reform.”

”Why, so he can break his way out and someone else defenseless again?! Didn’t hear what Zari just said? got back from rewinding time because he tried to kill us all! He knew what he was doing, he made that choice, and I don’t care if it didn’t happen yet! He’ll just do it again.”

”So many ot'ers have fallen down t'e way too! Erik, Wanda, Pietro, even Pyro who is now a world's best seller! We can't go and kill or shatter anyone because we feel t’reatened. T’at's not what ‘eroes do! We ‘ave to do better, be better. Offer ‘im a chance to right ‘is wrongs and become t’e ‘ero t’is school knew ‘e could be! If you do t’is…you're no better t’an a bully or a villain. Beatin’ down on t’ose who can fight.”

Leah’s face twisted into a scowl. What the hell did Dorian know about villains? ”Villains? People like that are the reason why I’m here in the first place! We could’ve died in there if that lasted long enough! You think he’d beg for a second chance if he won?”

”I t'ink ‘e'd deserve it.” Dorian said with finality and grit in his voice. ”We turn ‘im and Usagi in for what t’ey ‘ave done. T’ey can do time, and since ‘e's young enough…I ‘ope reflect on what t'ey've done and become a better person from it. All it takes is four or five moments to become a ‘ero. T'is is one of t'em Leah, don't pass it up.”

The ground under everyone’s feet trembled.

Leah glared a hole through Dorian. He didn’t know what it was like to watch people die the way she did. He didn’t know how it felt being too slow to save someone’s life.

Her hands balled up into fists, and she contemplated burying Arcade a mile beneath the school with her powers.

”Fine.”

Every muscle inside of Dorians body was tense. He didn't know how she would react. But he knew in a contest of strength he was done for. Still, his heels were dug into the floor as he tried to stand strong against her until finally, it seemed she'd caved. A single word, uttered almost like a threat. An unspoken sentence lingering behind it, telling him that if Arcade didn't turn around, if he did kill others, that it would be on Dorians head. He didn't like that thought. But his father always taught him that everyone deserved a chance to change and be good. ”Thank You.” He looked towards the others, hoping they'd follow Leah's example and not attack.

Leah turned around and left the room, walking off to get out of this suit and back into her regular clothes.

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Madalyne's body dropped out of the framework pod as soon as it released her, she quickly started to gasp for air as she slowly started to stand up. She watched as some of the others started to come to now as well, she slowly climbed out of her pod and glared at Arcade she wanted to hurt him so bad. Leah quickly beat her to it landing the first blow on him, then Dorian quickly went ghost she felt a chill going through her entire body before he reappeared standing in front of Ed. Madalyne was beyond angry and wanted to beat the hell out of him for putting them all into a twisted game of life and death.

She listened to Dorian for a little bit she decided to go up to Ed anyway as she balled up one of her fists and punched Ed in the face as hard as she could. Madalyne turned to stare at Dorian if he wanted to give him a second chance Arcade was his responsibility and make sure he didn't go down the path again. "Fine, but if you want to give him a second chance and he doesn't change and he ends up killing someone that is all on you." Madalyne said to Dorian as she rubbed her bruised knuckles slightly and glared at Ed before walking off to the side to watch the others and see what they were going to do about Arcade.

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Diana landed in her Framework pod and started to cough as soon as it drained she slowly started to stand up and glared at Arcade as he tried to be all innocent about everything and tried to blame it all on their mentor Usagi. She looked over at the others in the room she spotted her brother still safe which was all that she really cared about. Leah decided to attack Ed shortly after that Diana felt a small chill running through her body and Dorian appeared between Ed and the rest of the group. He started to go on about being heroes and what not as Diana glared at Ed. Madalyne decided to land a punch to Ed's face but nothing else other than that Leah had walked off, and Madalyne stood to the side.

Diana wanted to grab Arcade strip him of anything useful and teleport him in the middle of nowhere and leave him to fend to himself she wasnt sure what the others were going to do to Ed if they were going to leave him alone or they were going to beat him for what he tried to do to them. Diana made her way over to her brother looking him over and wanted to make sure he was okay. "Are you okay Percy?" Diana asked her little brother before whispering to him so that no one else would hear her. "I say you and I teleport him in the middle of nowhere and leave him to fend for himself in the wilderness." Diana whispered to him hoping that Percy would be up for that.

Danni hit the floor and stumbled led as he got out of the tank, disoriented and dizzy. What a rollercoaster of a night. “Well, t'at was awful. Who's down for never goin’ in one of t'ese tanks for t’e foreseeable forever?” Danni groaned, rubbing at his eyes and stretching. He blinked as he saw everyone circling Arcade and skipped over to join in the fun.

“Aw come on, guys!! We're ‘eros and ‘eros don't kill ‘cause t'ey can, only when t'ey need. What kinda ‘eros are we if we stoop ta ‘is level? Terrible ones really. ‘Ow are peeps gunna trust us, want us ta come ‘elp t'em when shit ‘it's t'e fan?” Danni rallied behind Dorian, skipping right up next to their first villian and throwing his arm over Ed’s shoulders. “Look at ‘im. Shakin’ like a leaf, ‘e's so scared. ‘Ave some pity on somet'in’ as pat’etic as t'is.”

With a flick of the wrist closest to Ed's face, flames flickered to life in his palm. “Well, w'atcha t'ink Cadie? T'ink ya can behave til t'e coppers get ‘ere?” Danni asked cheerily, the fire a clear and present threat.