[IC] Shattered Codes.

[RainbowFactory]

@Polaris North@Blizz
She listened to them through the music, raising an eyebrow slightly when Mason had to run off somewhere. The girl would turn her head as much as she could to watch him go down the stairs, and once the boy was out of sight she would look back to Will. To pass the time, which wasn't very long anyway, Juliet would try to do as many silly and stupid faces behind Will's back without him noticing. Once Mason ran back upstairs she immediately stopped, turning her head and tracing her eyes around every movement he made. Not even half a minute after he opened the door Juliet slipped inside.

Julie looked around, squinting her eyes through her glasses. "You could at least come in every once and a while to tidy up the place," she called out while flicking her hand across the wall, one finger only managing to touch it. Dust coated it completely, the girl shivering and wiping it off on her clothes. It was only the wall, not any actual objects inside the room, so Juliet figured she could roll by the "no touching" rule pretty easily by doing that. She stopped in front of the desk, trailing her eyes across the contents on it. Juliet turned to the old computer. "Maaaasssoooon, I wanna touch it."

[Polaris North]

@Blizz@RainbowFactory

When Mason said he had to go grab the key, Will nodded before looking down and then humming to himself. It was a song that was sung by his mother back when she actually cared for him. When he was just but a small child. It was a lullaby really and it always did the trick to alleviate his boredom, stress and other negative emotions despite the one who always sung it to him. He was aware that Juliet couldn't hear him, it is why he was doing it. However, he was blissfully unaware of what Juliet was doing while he was staring down and humming. Then he heard the footsteps and his head snapped towards Mason. He opened the door and the woman slipped inside so quickly it was ridiculous.

He followed soon after. He looked around. Juliet was right, someone should get in here once in a while to clean up. It was seriously dusty. He walked over to the picture frame and looked at it. It had accumulated so much dust that he almost couldn't see what was in it. Almost. He could make out Mason's parents and him when he was just a baby. Aw, how cute. He wouldn't be able to find something like that in his own house.

He then looked at Juliet when she spoke but his eyes quickly looked at the computer. He then looked at Mason after moving to the computer and nodded. He wants to look at it too!

[Blizz]

@RainbowFactory@Polaris North

Mason's heart skipped a beat when Juliet said she wanted to touch the computer, it didn't help that will had joined in with her. His expression went from impatient to furious and anxious. "NO! Get away from it right now!" He had yelled at both of them when they tried to get closer "Don't lay a damn finger on that!" Mason's voice began to shake when he got closer to both of them, his heart racing.

[RainbowFactory]

@Polaris North@Blizz
Juliet would flinch at the sudden raise of Mason's voice, raising her palm and rubbing the ear closest to Mason afterwards. "Geez, you don't need to yell. All we did was say we want to touch it, not that we were going to," she mumbled. Seconds later Julie would quickly walk past Mason, pushing him out of her way to get to the door. She slammed it behind her with dust flying up. Juliet left the two inside the room as she went out the back door to stand in the rain. Before rain could get on her head she would quickly pull her hood on then shoved her hands in her pockets. The girl would just stand in the rain, staring at the ground and wondering why Mason would yell at them so suddenly. They weren't going to touch it like what they told them to do before, they just told him they wanted to. Her brain was racing at this point.

[Polaris North]

@Blizz@RainbowFactory

Will would look at Mason oddly when he raised his voice, practically yelling at them to get away from that computer. It must've been very precious or contained some sort of secret. But then Juliet stormed out of the room, slammed the door shut and then headed to wherever. The blonde had half a mind to follow her out without saying anything. He took two steps towards Mason. "We just asked if we could. You could've just told us calmly you know." He said. Sure he was curious and they were asking for permission. If he didn't give it, they wouldn't touch it. It was as simple as that.

He narrowed his eyes at Mason. The last thing he wanted to happen was Juliet harboring some bad feelings for Mason. "You should go and apologize to Juliet. We haven't touched it yet remember? So technically, nothing has happened yet so we did nothing wrong." He then continued to walk towards the door, opening it and then heading towards Mason's room to look for Juliet. He left the door open. When he didn't see her there, he immediately went outside to see the younger one there.

"Hey. You alright?" He asked as he approached her. Both Mason and Juliet didn't seem like they were in the most stable state of mind. Unlike the both of them, Will managed to contain and repress his extreme emotions through practice. He had been told off many times before until he just heard them but never took them to heart.

[Blizz]

@RainbowFactory@Polaris North Mason realized that he had just yelled at his friend. "Julie, I-I didn't mean to-" he was cut off as she shoved her way past him, "God..." Mason's eyes fell to the floor as he let what he had just done sink in. Listening to will tell him to go apologize without looking back up. When will left the room, Mason looked over to the dusty computer that meant the world to him. He wanted to go and apologize to both of them but couldn't find the courage to face Juliet, Mason wasn't able to believe that he had just raised his voice at either of them. He stared at the dust covered screen and let out a weak sigh. I shouldn't have reacted that way. What would you have done I wonder... Mason took his eyes away from the computer and mustered up the courage to go and talk to Juliet and will. He walked outside the room and shut the back, locking it with the key and peered into his room, not there. He flew down the stairs and checked for them. Not there either, finally he checked outside, noting the rain and that they were both standing outside.

"H-hey um, Julie, I'm sorry for yelling. I honestly didn't mean to react like that." Mason couldn't look her in the eyes as he apologized, he hated upsetting other people for any reason at all.

[RainbowFactory]

@Polaris North@Blizz
The girl looked up to Will, her face emotionless but a dark look in her eyes. A single water droplet was running down her cheek, but her hood protected her from any rain. She nodded slightly. Juliet felt a bit awkward around Will when she was showing her feelings, especially since he wasn't exactly the one that would show any emotions, but at least he was company. Even through the rain and thunder Julie could hear the light splashing of Mason's footsteps as he came outside. A scowl formed on her face, now anger washing over her pain.

"By now you should know to think before saying things," she growled in response, "especially around me." In a matter of seconds Juliet would grab Mason by the shoulder with her left hand, her grip tightening as every second passed by until she managed to get the key from his body using her right. She pushed him back aside and ran inside the house, speeding to the room and finding it locked. Using the key she decided to take just in case, Juliet unlocked the door and swung it open. "If you don't want me to touch anything you only have ten seconds!" the girl would call out from the room then started to count down. Every number down was another step to the computer.

"Three... two..." Juliet didn't say one. She was in range of the computer, reaching out her arms and slamming it on.

[Polaris North]

@Blizz@RainbowFactory

Will sighed in relief as she nodded. A small half-hearted response like that was better than nothing and at least she didn't run away. He looked up and stifled a sigh. Great, he was wet again. His hand slipped to his pocket to feel his phone and there it was, lo and behold, and getting wet by the minute. Ah well, he could just dry it up later. "Hey you know-" Cut off by Mason's approach, he silenced himself and went to the side to watch. He didn't need to involve himself with these two any further. He wasn't exactly the best friendship advisor there.

Mason apologized, of course, Will knew that the guy hated having someone angry because of him. Juliet's reaction was a little less expected. He was aware that she could get violent. For a second there, he thought she was going to punch him after snapping at him with words that certainly would've stung if Will was in Mason's position. From his vantage point, he couldn't exactly see Juliet from behind Mason since he was leaning near the door frame. But then she dashed to the door and upstairs from the looks of it holding a key. "That was not how I expected things to go." He muttered to himself before pushing himself off of the wall and then dashing upstairs seconds after Juliet went inside.

He had to give it to Juliet. She would make a great pickpocket should she practice it more. She did steal Mason's key so quickly in front of him. She had that innocent face so when she steals from someone and they notice it, they'd probably be stunned first before snapping out of it and she should be long gone by then. Will reached the room and then quickly stepped to the side knowing that Mason would probably burst inside any second now. He didn't care what happened anymore, he was content by watching them so when they get violent, he could step up to stop it.

By this time, she had already reached 'two' and then opened the computer. If there was something important in that computer that Mason didn't want them to see, Will wanted to know too. Although he wouldn't exactly use Juliet's methods. There were better ways to do it but considering Juliet's emotions right now, this seemed only like revenge for being shouted at.

[Blizz]

@RainbowFactory@Polaris North "Fair enough, but I really am so-" He stopped when she squeezed his shoulder tightly "What are you doing?" he went cold when he saw that she had slipped the key away from him. She threatened to get to the computer, which made Mason's heart stop. "NO!" he bolted into the house after her, only to find that she had already unlocked the door and went inside. "Get.Away.From.There." He told her coldly as she inched closer towards it. "Julie. I swear to god if you lay a finger on tha-" He lost his voice when she had turned it on. Mason walked up from behind her and looked her in the eyes. His stare was cold as ice "Back away from it, or you will give me a reason to yell..." He warned her in a suppressed voice, hiding the anger she had given him.

[RainbowFactory]

@Polaris North@Blizz
Juliet jumped over the desk to the side where the keyboard was, standing up and furiously typing at the keys while talking to Mason. "Well you gave me a reason to cry and get revenge. You know I either never get revenge or go. All. Out," she said in a low tone through gritted teeth. Screens were flashing by as the girl would speed-read through as many things stored through there, occasionally having to go back to typing as fast as she possibly could to get into more files. She didn't make any commentary no matter how weird nor personality anything was. Juliet managed to get so far in the files things were now marked with words she didn't understand, maybe even in other languages for all she knew.

A screen popped up after pressing one of the files, the top document saying "Confidential". The girl looked Mason dead in his cold eyes, bashing the mouse button to open the files. She knew deep inside she was overreacting now, but Juliet wasn't stopping now. They were having a good time so far, hanging out for a bit and having small talk, but all he had to do was yell and specifically at her. A large amount of documents opened on the screen, most of them being named "Project..." or "Entry Number...". The top one was said to be pretty recent. "Project Libra." Just the name itself interested Juliet.

She turned back again, switching back and forth between Will and Mason. Julie was frozen in place, her right hand over the mouse and left hand on the keyboard. It was like she was waiting for someone to jump her, just letting them do it.

[Blizz]

@RainbowFactory Mason was at his limit with her, "Stop! Please stop!" he was both angry and scared beyond belief, this computer was the only thing he had left of a father he hasn't seen in years. Juliet stopped at a file called "Project Libra". All of the fear in Mason was replaced with one thing. Anger. When he saw her hand about to click it open, he grabbed her arm, his own shaking violently, not because of how strong of a hold he had on her, but because of what she had done. His voice was breaking when he spoke to her "I will not ask you again. Get. Away. From. This. Computer. " With his free arm he made an attempt to take the mouse from her. The entire time he didn't look at her or Will, his eyes were fixed on the file.

[Polaris North]

@Blizz@RainbowFactory

Will's body was ready to move the moment someone decided to do something. He was stunned at what Juliet was doing. There was something called going too far in this revenge but this was Juliet they're talking about here. She must really hold that yelling thing as a grudge. The blonde couldn't understand it too much but he knew the term revenge so he could probably relate to her if something awful was done to him.

His eyes were practically glued to the computer as well. All those files, some of them being in some other language he didn't know. Some of them he could recognize but couldn't translate because of the speed Juliet was scrolling through. He took one step to the computer to get a better look. Then something popped up, a file, 'Project Libra'. The moment Mason saw it was the moment he finally decided to act. Mason grabbed Juliet's arm.

Juliet doing it was one thing since she was a girl and couldn't possibly harm an older male but vice versa? Well that's a different story. "Mason, stop!" Will wanted to tackle him but that wasn't the right course of action. He grabbed hold of Mason's arm which was holding Juliet and then positioning his elbow on Mason's neck in an attempt to make him let go and should he get violent on him too, he could do something.

[RainbowFactory]

@Blizz@Polaris North
From Mason's attempt to grab the mouse from Juliet she would accidentally press the side of her wrist against the clicker. The file opened while she was partially pulled over the desk. The automatic thing the girl did was make a high pitched ear-ringing scream, paying no attention to the computer screen that turned completely black. Her arms were the weakest part on her body, and Juliet couldn't stand them being pressed on, even worse being pulled. She used her free hand to try pulling away as her cry echoed through the house. Her eyes watered again with her scream quieting down slightly as Juliet would yell at Mason. "LET ME GO! YOU'RE HURTING ME!" Juliet would shriek. The girl wasn't going to open the file. She only went through the things relating to Mason and opening the "Confidential" document was the farthest she was planning to go, not opening anything inside. It was Mason's fault now. He was the blame for making Juliet accidentally open Project Libra.

Juliet's arm was starting to turn red, even with her light brown skin. Both her arms were becoming weak now, and the girl wasn't exactly a punching type. In a matter of seconds Juliet would pull herself back onto the desk, closer to Will and Mason. Her legs were bent with her strongest leg, her right, positioned more to her side. "Watch out, Will!" Juliet called out to him as her foot flew at Mason's chest. It wasn't very hard, just enough force to weaken him and free her. Maybe Mason would pass out from the air being heaved out of him for all she cared. Her friend hurt her, and that would do more damage to her than a stranger doing the same.

[Blizz]

Mason's grip on Juliet's arm was broken when he heard her screaming. "Oh god, Juliet, I-I didn't mean to hurt you!" He wasn't able to believe that he had just harmed one of his friends. The sight of it filled him with fear. "I'm so sorry, I really did not mean to do that to y-" He was cut off as she kicked him in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards and fall over. Mason tried hard to supress a world of swears, some of which were covered up by a coughing fit from the blow. "God...D-DAMMIT."

After a few more minutes of coughing, Mason stood up and looked at Juliet. "My god, I am sorry, I-I didn't mean to freak out like that." Mason turned away buried his face in his hands."This is just WONDERFUL!" Mason turned and walked to the door but paused when the computer behind him began to shake. "What in the-?" The black screen that was once present now showed an image of the scale on the table. "Libra?" The symbol disappeared in a mess of static as a footlong black vortex opened up wide enough that it blocked Mason's view of the computer. "What the heck?!" From inside the vortex, raspy laughter could be heard. The voice sounded as if its owner had nothing to drink for years. What's this? The way has opened again? How can this be? I killed Linus years ago and yet the vortex to his world has opened.. the voice said to itself, it's words muffled by strange crackling sounds that distorted the voice like static when it spoke.

"What in the world is going on?!" Mason had this computer sitting in this room for his entire life and this never happened

[Polaris North]

@RainbowFactory@Blizz

The shriek caused Will to flinch but didn't let go. Wow, this girl really had a high pitched voice. When Juliet aimed a kick to his chest, Will nodded and then dodged. The kick connected with Mason's chest, effectively pushing him back. Mason kept saying he was sorry but Will still stood between him and Juliet, mostly to protect Mason actually. Who knows what Juliet might do. He then looked back at Juliet once Mason was heading out of the door. "Are you alright Juli-" And once more he was cut off when the computer began to shake.

He groaned. "What now..." He muttered to himself before walking towards the computer, placing one hand on the table as he looked at the screen. It was black before wasn't it? It had a symbol of a scale. That was the Zodiac sign of Libra wasn't it? It was a perfect match to 'Project Libra' name. This seemed really weird. Then it disappeared and the screen was enveloped in static. Then a vortex opened up, prompting Will to stumbled back.

Then a voice echoed from inside along with a raspy laughter. It spoke something about the cortex opening and that was impossible because he killed Linus long ago. He could hear Mason's question. If he didn't know about it then what the hell was happening. His mind was in a complete state of panic. Questions upon questions piled up in his head but he did address one thing that voice said. He looked back at Mason. "Mason..." He called out. "Isn't Linus the name of your father?" He didn't know much about Mason but there were multiple school activities where they had to reveal their parents or guardians. Will remembered those things.

[RainbowFactory]

@Blizz@Polaris North
A terrified and confused look was mixed onto Juliet's face as she looked back and forth between her friends and the computer. She started inching backwards to the edge of the desk, still on all fours. The vortex was fortunately not close enough to get to her, but it looked like something grabbed the edge of the black hole. More raspy laughter came from the portal until a muscular red and black hand shot out to the girl's leg. She screamed again just with a lower volume from already wearing out her throat. Julie furiously shook her leg around while kicking at it with her free one. Seconds later the girl was pulled in completely and couldn't be saved at that point.

Another hand was creeping out of the hole, dark grey and blue. The source of the laughter came from the direction the grey and blue arm coming out of the vortex. The portal shot forwards towards the two boys, the arm expanding along with it to grab Mason from his shirt and pull him inside the opening. Will was left. Another arm, orange and yellow, didn't wait to creep out. It grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him slower than the other two arms into the vortex.

[Blizz]

@RainbowFactory@Polaris North

Mason wasn't as concerned about vortex that just opened as he was about a voice mentioning the death of his father "Who is back there?!" He yelled "What do you know about my dad?!" His voice was louder than when he yelled at Juliet "I know you're back there, now ANSWER ME!" He stopped when a Dark blue and grey arm shot out of the vortex and grabbed him "What in the-?" he was slowly dragged into the vortex, as the arm reeled back in where Juliet was, he glanced behind him to see a third arm taking will in with them, what confused him the most is why he had not known about this when the computer was he oldest thing in his house. Mason had a million questions in his head, what was this thing, what was his dad involved in and why was it after him and his friends, what bothered him the most was whether or not his dad was alive.He cant be dead, he cant be.

[Polaris North]

@RainbowFactory@Blizz

Will almost stumbled back as Juliet and Mason were dragged into the vertex, the latter more panicked than the former. When they were inside the vortex, the blond had become alone. He stared at the gaping black hole in front of him, his breath shallow and irregular. His eyes scanned the room, anything that could help him. His eyes then moved towards the orange and yellow arm that creeped out of the vortex. There was nothing in the room that could possibly help him damn it. If he was in the kitchen or something, he would've grabbed something sharp like a knife so he could stab that thing.

But it was far too late for that. The arm grabbed him. By then, Will seemed to have accepted whatever horrible thing that was happening to them right now. The arm began to pull him towards the vortex, albeit slowly. It wasn't really forcing him as much as the other two. More like gently pulling him towards oblivion. "Alright, alright, I'm going." He muttered before walking towards the cortex and willingly plunged in. There was no other choice in the matter anyway.

[RainbowFactory]

@Blizz@Polaris North
The other end of the void would drop the three onto what looked like pavement, Juliet quickly rolling out of the way so the two boys would deal with landing on each other. She slowly got back up, adjusting her now dirtied and partially cracked glasses onto her face. When Juliet looked around the place looked quite familiar, like their own world, but the way it was organized was terrible. The buildings were much wider and taller, like they were formed as walls to block anything coming in or out. When turning to the only other opening, there were more buildings lined up formed like a maze. Everything was dark like the sun vanished, the only other lights being broken lamp posts or coming through cracked windows.

She turned back to where Mason and Will were at, but screamed with a disfigured orange face was suddenly there instead, falling back to the ground and scrambling backwards. An orange and yellow figure stood there, the colors faded in cracked formations around its body. It barely had facial features other than a nose and slightly unhinged jaw. The single left arm it had was limp, the right shoulder like pixels and occasionally going static with a small piece floating to the ground, bursting to small particles. Its legs were obviously weak, bent slightly with cracked pieces here and there. The inside only looked like darkness.

It made a surprised expression using what it had left then limped away into the maze, leaving Juliet confused and go back to Will and Mason to check if they're alright. She was too dumbfounded to say anything, the most she's do was stutter at them.

[Blizz]

@RainbowFactory@Polaris North

Mason was completely dragged into the vortex and saw that Juliet was well out of way, lucky for her, mason looked around and at first assume they never left. But upon closer inspection, the world was in shambles, buildings were distorted, Some were lit with pixels like fire, and there was a person wandering into god knows where. What the hell is going on? "Hey Julie, you alrigh- oh shit." He said when he realized will was still popping through the portal and could land on him if he didn't move. Mason jumped up and stepped to the side waiting for the other unlucky soul to get in here. "You good Julie?" He finally said.