((Collab between the Almighty Savato and the delicious Potato [woaaahhhh, we're throwing around the eating ploy now, are we Sav? Damn you!]))
Self-destruction. That was the only term that caught Patel's attention as Cedric got really desperate there. The computers were about to explode and Patel could guess this would lead to danger. Swiftly, it used a tendril to rip out a steel tile from the nearby floor and use the force of the vector to shield itself from somewhat strong explosion. Cedric would be defended just as much as Patel would be, as it wouldn't be his time just yet, it had plans for him from now on. However, before it could proceed to its final act, something wasn't right. The creature had stopped its walk entirely and could barely hold its posture, bending over just slightly in reaction to Scarlet's latest technique.
It seemed that she had stopped the Walk of God - a feat that no common mortal could achieve, mind you. If Patel had been tranquilized or knocked unconscious, the feeling of being dragged into her dream would be equivalent to simple falling into an even deeper sleep but because she dragged him from waking, it felt much like it was being dragged down into a thick liquid that held Patel despite any resistances. It was only when he had been dragged down sufficiently that his senses finally picked up. Strangely, being in a dream engineered by someone of her skill felt much like real life only in this reality, the laws of the Universe were at her beck and call. Patel itself woke against a tree that cowered away from the stormy winds that were ravaging the entire area. A lighthouse gripped the edge of a storm-bitten cliff, it's harsh light slowly revolving.
Someone was calling for it, for Patel. It did not comprehend what was going on, what this was, where it was. All it had in its head was move forward and reach the control room to finalize the plan and finally dispose of these Reformists. This place, it didn't recognize it, not even in its past life. It marched forward, keeping its usual, slow gait. Aimlessly walking through the strange medow of mysteries, its hood kept following the direction of the wind but would never uncover the monstrosity behind it. Even in this dreamworld, the attachment it would have with the concealing of its appearance overpowered the overseer's will as of now.
As it walked along the meandering path, it finally came across a wounded fox, its high-pitched yowls of pain giving away the mortality of its injuries. Patel found its powers returning once more, the tendrils slowly snaking out from its core - they were weakened compared to reality but they were very much there. At that, Scarlett appeared behind it, a thin spectral apparently conceived from the small wisps of light that escaped from the field around it. Her ghostly white dress blew in the wind, dancing parallel to her hair which had darkened to a tar-like black. "What's your name?" She was unsure if the thing could even talk but its actions would betray it - the fox was blocking its path.
The created stopped dead on its tracks when its strange all around vision picked up Scarlett's silhouette right behind it. It didn't have the compulsive need to face her, but oddly enough, it took the time to. Patel could already take notice of the bizarre effects of this "world" it had been forced into. Its powers randomly came back, albeit with weighing nerfs, and its eyes had become visible through the gaping abyss within its hood. It glared right into the apparition's soul, never uttering a single word. Without a single warning, one of its trendrils began to vibrate, but nothing significant had happened. It was visibly on its guard.
Scarlett's head tilted to the side, showing her curiosity towards the thing - it was only a dream and she could wake up from a dream which meant the threat of its powers was vastly diminished. Briefly, she wondered if it was even a living being - she could bend anyone's mind to her own will: women, men, children but it seemed to hold firm against the growing tide of her powers over him. Almost as if the lights themselves were only what made her, she split into each component part of wispy light. As quickly as the lights broke apart, they reformed her behind it again, this time beside the dying fox. "I'm the only one who's ever halted your advance, perhaps that in itself deserves an answer?"
It did not understand what this all meant. A dying fox? Its advance? It couldn't recall too well the recent events, or at least falling into this realm. All it could remember was preventing an explosion from harming its perfect white coat. The nearly mindless monster asked itself if it really did stop before reaching the objective point. It made it nervous, too nervous. But now, she'd get her reply.
"............."
She got what everyone else got during the massacre, a wave of nonsense under the form of eerie whispers that echoed throughout the imaginary land. In response to these calls, the vibrating hand cross chopped the talking figure instantly after. Once hit, she would be sliced in half, however considering the rules of this world, Patel would be in for a strange surprise.
Her figure split, her features echoing a stab of pain before the thousands of light that made up her body scattered, noisily scurrying around the field like a small tornado. It was only after a couple of seconds that the lights finally rushed to it, overcoming Patel's vision in a blinding white which slowly took up everything it could feel. The sound of waves hitting the cliffs died away along with the feel of the grass against its legs and the whining of the fox. It was only until the blinding movement of the wisps faded that it would realise that it was no longer in a field but staring at the sun along a scorching hot road. "If you wish to kill me, you'll have to do it when we're out of here." She reminded it, forming beside him with a backpack, boots and a map that seemed to show random scatterings of light. Strangely, Isabella was also there, pointing along the map as if both her and Scarlett understood its features.
The scenery had changed, but its effects did not disturb Patel what so ever. All it could do it glance at whatever she could have been planing, and in this case Isabella was there doing something it had never seen her do before. It was puzzled as to why she was here in the first place, but it could at least stay put as nothing would happen to it. No attacks were affecting her, while nothing affected it. It couldn't assimilate more than that. It barely understood what here was, so how could it come out of it? It stayed put, vectors docile and its red eyes drowned in the darkness.
Isabella gave a final roll of her eyes and pointed in one direction along the incredibly straight road. Scarlett smiled and turned away from her, packing her map away as if undisturbed by Isabella's anger. While Patel was turned away, Isabella faded into nothingness. Scarlett kept walking for a few yards before turning back to it. "Well, come on then, we haven't got all day!" Urging him with a soft smile and a wave of her hand, she turned back and began walking. The exercise was strange but it made some sense to her - she needed to establish trust with this one.
It didn't move for a few more seconds afte being sollicited by the ruler of this world. It could sense the danger lurking ahead, as any animal could. However, it quickly realized what little to fear there was in reality. It took a first step forward to follow her, but would never accelerate its rythm to keep up with her.
After a few minutes, she jogged behind it and began to push Patel along the road. "Come on then, it's waiting for you!" She murmured, sounding almost optimistic as she pushed the strange creature forward along the road. "When did you first meet it? I know you've seen it before, your mind has been touched. Don't think I can't see into your memories, Solf." She lied, of course, but he didn't exactly know that.
The monster's heartbeats froze for a fraction of a second before racing heavily. Its memories were compromised? It terrified Patel, the idea that someone could see into its mind and acknowledge every bit of its monstrous life. It angered it, not only because it put it in an atrociously stressful position but also for making it doubt its efficiency on the field.
"[b]... Go... Away...[b]"
It uttered those first tangible words with a voice that seemed to encompass many others such as different female, male and even children voices before unleashing a frenzy of invisible vectors on the imginary field of dreams. Its will and wrath had become like pressure on the entire area. The tips of the vectors clawed through the scenery as if it were a giant poster, creating fissures of darkness and emptiness everywhere they thrashed about.
Finally! She got through that thick skull of its only to find something that she didn't entirely like. Sure, Scarlett had pushed it into a corner it didn't want to be in but Patel was much like a wild animal, corner it and you'll awake something that would tear you to pieces. It's voice alone was horrifying enough, nevermind the fact that it began to tear apart the very strands that had made up their dream. That alone was what terrified Scarlett - no one had ever been able to manipulate the dreamscape except for her father and her. Stepping back slowly, she tried to regain control of the situation. "This is not what it wants, Solf. Like David when he slew Uriah's wife. What you're doing is not its intentions."
With each step she took back, it took an extra two just to intimidate her. Like an animal, it could sense her fear and would inevitably exploit it. Steam ran out of the the hood's hole when the dream master had decided to reference litterature and spirituality.
"... Know... Your place. I... am but HIS tool..."
It took a faster pace as it tried to close in on her and catch her face to face to reach a point of dominance it kept so high in the real world. The darkness within the hood had begun to merge with the general pressure it was applying on the artificial world, as if its obscure and devouring subconscious was imposing itself on the woman's ability to bring that same subconscious out. Darkness began to swallow the area and Patel was only a few meters away from its prey.
Scarlett backed further, not even realising that like with a wild animal, her fear was what drove Patel forward, her fear intoxicated it. It hit here then, everything that made up his mind summed up to a loud ticking noise that resonated deep within her. Solf was like a train - he had a single destination in his mind and only self-destruction could stop him from reaching that destination. Anything that got in his way would simply be anhilated. That terrified her beyond reason - how does she stop something that is quite literally unstoppable? Strangely, it was the voice of her father that answered. Blow the fucking line to pieces.
Breathing, she stepped back in terror and tripped over herself, sprawling back against the asphalt. "Every tool breaks, Solf, it's inevitable." With an outstretched hand, the very boundaries of the dream converged to a single point and kept squeezing down. Her consciousness became naught but a weapon that forced itself into every pore of his being as she attempted to overloard the fabric of his being. A normal human would have been put into a coma so deep that they'd never wake at this point but Solf was not a normal human. He was the very opposite of that.
The darkness it had created merged with the random composites of the dream were all concentrated on one point, which was Patel's being, and it did faze it. It did not pursue the female anymore, but instead fixated the world as it saw it dive into its body. Its mind was being overloaded with ideas and emotions, though most of these would be tenderized by its already lobotomized way of acting. Nonetheless, sensations of doubt and hopelessness could be acknowledged by the creature, prompting it to react accordingly. It let its red eyes pierce Scarlett's very soul as it employed its unnerving voice once more.
"... God is our refuge... and strength. An-ever pr...esent help in trouble..."
The voice echoed and vibrated in the non-existing air of this world, causing multiple areas of the dream to crack and breakdown, strongly limiting Scarlett's attempt to destroy its mind and basic functions. The concentration of thoughts and fantasms stopped, and Patel did not move.
"Such insolence... You... Spit on Him... On GOD. O' foul... demon... may my fire str... ike down a thousand and one... sinners."
It said in a butchered manner. Its voice was still broken despite having a mix of pretty much every conceivable english voice. However, its next bit would be completely devoid of these pauses, imposing an even more tense and intimidating atmosphere to the scene.
"... And you will be held guilty of this divine Judgement, O' child of of the false hell, child of Nightmare."
The falter was her downfall. Its threats fell to the wayside, meaningless to her due to the fact that she wasn't in the least bit religious. Its rebellion against her attempts only pushed her further over the edge, forcing her to focus all she had into bending and ultimately breaking its mind. She only faltered when it mentioned her father - there was no way that it could know about her father, the chink in her armour. Her attack fell back, momentarily pacified just enough for Patel to make a mistake - to do what it desired. Scarlett had it figured from the start; it desired her to suffer, to feel fear, and it wasn't going to turn down such an opportunity.
Reality warped. Understanding exploded. Both were thrown back into the endless sea of normality as she woke up, drawing a staggering breath - every limb felt like it was being violently dragged from each socket and now she was lying helpless only a few metres away from the creature that swore justice would find her.
The monster had returned to reality simultaneously to the female meta, its body curving back to a straight posture. It wouldn't be visible as of yet, but its anger had hit a peak. With full on sadism, it tightened its grip on Wessex's armor, slowly crushing Cedric's body inside. It wasn't trying to kill him, but to make him a bit more obedient. It walked at the center of the control room, only to release it's normal looking gloved hand. The hand was wielding a sphere that morphed into one of these drones similar to Cedric's. It would be used to record Patel's current position and send it all to Isabella. She was going to be the one to decide what would happen to Cedric and if it were to be broadcasted or not. Being linked to the Reformist broadcast channel, she could also do one of her little smug speeches to terrify the populace as well.
