Between the mysteries of last weekend, the increasing number of visions and unexplained phenomena, and the attack on Vakama yesterday, everyone is likely on edge. When Tails calls you into his lab around noon, you all are likely already aware of how this is going to go.
Once again, a surge of Chaos Energy in the city is what draws you in, though this time it is a much larger burst than before. Sonic and Knuckles are here with you as usual, with Tails remaining behind to look after Vakama and the base. Unlike before, you aren't met with robots or destruction. In fact, this city block looks remarkably peaceful, aside from where Eggman's chroma has overtaken most of the buildings.
"So good of you all to finally arrive."
The voice comes from up above. You recognize it as the one you heard last week, through that gemstone the Tails Doll had. Perched on one of the buildings is a... fox? No, he's larger than Tails, and wearing a large silver mask that obscures most of his features. In one hand he holds Vakama's missing mask; his other is extended with six gemstones floating around it, a soft teal glow from beneath his black glove marking the seventh. There's a different gemstone on the center of his chest as well, though it doesn't look like the fake Chaos Emeralds you've seen before.
"You all have the pleasure of fighting me, Infinite. I am the Doctor's trusted ally... and I have been watching you all. Your struggles with my nightmares and illusions were so... delicious. You have my thanks for the show."
He kicks off the building, floating towards you all and the ground, though stopping high enough up, still out of reach. And for those of you getting any bright ideas, a deep red begins to fill your vision, tinting the corners of it as the very world itself begins to warp around you - this isn't exactly Chicago anymore, you see. The buildings still exist, wrapped in white chroma, though they bend and twist in ways they shouldn't, making it hard to tell what's real and what isn't.
"I'll snuff out your lives here and now for the Doctor's ambitions! Let's see what you're made of!"
[This wasn't real. Something was wrong, he was forgetting something critically important. It wasn't real. It wasn't...real...]
What about-...Jayce, I killed so many people, I-
You know that wasn't you, V. And if the Council wants to make it a problem, I'll handle it. Just trust me, okay?
[How could he ever do anything else? The staff in his hand clattered to the floor, Viktor stepping forward for a tight embrace with thin mechanical arms.]
Woah--okay, easy, I've got you. [Jayce stumbled back half a step at the sudden impact, hands moving around a delicate inhuman frame. The same all-encompassing affection he'd always showed, burning with the warmth of summer sunlight.]
I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. All that I've destroyed, abandoning you after all you did to help, I-...
[...Those words echoed unpleasantly in the hollow shell that used to contain a heart. A recursion. An incident repeated, except this time the circumstances were not the same. Were not possible.]
[Viktor laughed bitterly, fingers curling in dark fabric--Zaunite colors, he had not been quite aware enough to truly recognize the change from Piltovan white.]
...I must say goodbye to this place. [He repeated his own words, heavy with guilt and exhaustion. There was...something important. Something he had to get back to, outside these familiar walls.] To you.
Goodbye-? Viktor, you're my partner-
[Our paths diverged long ago, he did not say. Not this time. Instead he pulled back just far enough to len their foreheads together--closing his eyes, resigning himself to fnd the contradiction that would split this ideal world apart at the seams.]
Promiňte, milovaný.
[Recognition that should not have existed flickered across the other man's face, and:]
Viktor, you never needed to apologize to-
[-with a statement that should not have been understood, the dream broke apart.]
[Viktor finds himself back in corrupted Chicago. Perhaps a relief, after such an emotionally intense dream. But he isn't alone - aside from his friends dealing with their own illusions, there's also his own. Jayce is still here, and though he still looks at Viktor with that familiar expression... he isn't exactly Jayce anymore, now is he? Exactly what his corruptions are, I leave up to you!
Regardless, the hexclaw unfolds from his back as well, immediately firing a laser at Viktor.]
[One, this was the third time Viktor and Jayce had met in direct combat. Both prior times inconclusive, one through a puppet and one where Viktor hadn't truly been trying to win so much as subjugate. If this was to come to a third even in illusion alone, he would not hold back out of frendship or love this time.]
[Two, he was confident they were evenly matched in mobility; the arcane-damaged Jayce wearing a leg brace to mirror the one Viktor had once needed, but without the masssive hammer slowing him down.]
[Three?]
[Viktor was fucking livid.]
You hurt my friend. You disregarded what little mercy was within my power to grant. These are not offenses for me alone to grant or deny forgiveness.
[The shot missed him by inches(11), not the slightest trace of a flinch as it rocketed past with the heat and light of a tool he designed. Metal reverberated in his voice with the strength and power of a hundred-machine legion as he concluded:]
But you will never be forgiven for this.
[His own Hexclaw twisted, firing back with no further hesitation than that.]
[That hit connected with his shoulder, the hoverboard he'd brought along clattering to the ground as Viktor stumbled back a step and wincing in pain(9). Manageable pain, and that combined with the way he moved was enough to keep him from pausing. Jayce Talis did not fight with precision, but moved like a force of nature; all power, minimal finesse.]
One more thing. If you truly wanted to kill me-
[He snapped the end of his staff into the back of the hoverboard; designed just slightly different from the others, with added stability and an adapted mechanism that relied on the staff rather than Viktor himself for steering. The intent had been to make sure he could get out of immediate danger without trailing behind anyone else, but...Well, no time to test an invention like the present, rushing forward in a streak of blue-]
[It's a direct hit. This time, there's no dodging. For a moment, Jayce's form flickers in and out of existence, struggling to maintain itself... before finally he fades into nothingness. The glitchy effect trails upwards before dissipating entirely.]
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roll: 1
What about-...Jayce, I killed so many people, I-
You know that wasn't you, V. And if the Council wants to make it a problem, I'll handle it. Just trust me, okay?
[How could he ever do anything else? The staff in his hand clattered to the floor, Viktor stepping forward for a tight embrace with thin mechanical arms.]
Woah--okay, easy, I've got you. [Jayce stumbled back half a step at the sudden impact, hands moving around a delicate inhuman frame. The same all-encompassing affection he'd always showed, burning with the warmth of summer sunlight.]
I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. All that I've destroyed, abandoning you after all you did to help, I-...
[He couldn't leave. Not again.]
roll: 19
[...Those words echoed unpleasantly in the hollow shell that used to contain a heart. A recursion. An incident repeated, except this time the circumstances were not the same. Were not possible.]
[Viktor laughed bitterly, fingers curling in dark fabric--Zaunite colors, he had not been quite aware enough to truly recognize the change from Piltovan white.]
...I must say goodbye to this place. [He repeated his own words, heavy with guilt and exhaustion. There was...something important. Something he had to get back to, outside these familiar walls.] To you.
Goodbye-? Viktor, you're my partner-
[Our paths diverged long ago, he did not say. Not this time. Instead he pulled back just far enough to len their foreheads together--closing his eyes, resigning himself to fnd the contradiction that would split this ideal world apart at the seams.]
Promiňte, milovaný.
[Recognition that should not have existed flickered across the other man's face, and:]
Viktor, you never needed to apologize to-
[-with a statement that should not have been understood, the dream broke apart.]
no subject
Regardless, the hexclaw unfolds from his back as well, immediately firing a laser at Viktor.]
no subject
[One, this was the third time Viktor and Jayce had met in direct combat. Both prior times inconclusive, one through a puppet and one where Viktor hadn't truly been trying to win so much as subjugate. If this was to come to a third even in illusion alone, he would not hold back out of frendship or love this time.]
[Two, he was confident they were evenly matched in mobility; the arcane-damaged Jayce wearing a leg brace to mirror the one Viktor had once needed, but without the masssive hammer slowing him down.]
[Three?]
[Viktor was fucking livid.]
You hurt my friend. You disregarded what little mercy was within my power to grant. These are not offenses for me alone to grant or deny forgiveness.
[The shot missed him by inches(11), not the slightest trace of a flinch as it rocketed past with the heat and light of a tool he designed. Metal reverberated in his voice with the strength and power of a hundred-machine legion as he concluded:]
But you will never be forgiven for this.[His own Hexclaw twisted, firing back with no further hesitation than that.]
no subject
If Infinite has any thoughts on any of this, he's keeping his mouth shut for once.]
no subject
One more thing. If you truly wanted to kill me-
[He snapped the end of his staff into the back of the hoverboard; designed just slightly different from the others, with added stability and an adapted mechanism that relied on the staff rather than Viktor himself for steering. The intent had been to make sure he could get out of immediate danger without trailing behind anyone else, but...Well, no time to test an invention like the present, rushing forward in a streak of blue-]
-you should have brought the hammer-![-and firing.]
CLEAR