What their Eyes See: Finale

[voidtreckermods]

It’s been a weird mission. The Voidtreckers have been busy investigating, making headway in mapping and saving citizens from the video games and strange illusionary creatures. Those in the fourth tier have made contacts, followed leads and gotten close to the high and mighty of the criminal underworld.

Yet what exactly is happening here is still unknown. Their new found ally Anan is as stumped as the rest of them, but even so, the hackers and technological knowledgeable voidtreckers have been successful in isolating the virus to study and make an anti-virus. A netpoint network has been set up across the city, and enough access data stolen that they can start throwing everything into the systems and networks across the city.

While the illusions remain a mystery and how they got there, finally the world is purged of the strange virus as the anomalies begin to clear up by noon of day ten. Spectura victims wake up in hospital beds, dazed and confused, while no more sightings of the impossible plague those on the other tiers.


On the morning of day eleven, the once housebound and terrified citizens leave their shelters with the first tendrils of light reaching through the fog surrounding the enclosed city. An exodus of people, from fighters of tier four to elites of tier one, are making their way into the streets...and heading down into lifts and outside, out into the smog-filled wasteland.

“It’s so beautiful,” is heard, a rumbling through the crowd as people smile, laugh or wave into the fog.

”I won.” Fighters from tier four look around in wonderment. Other exclamations, about a blue sky, a greeting to a friend fill the air.

There is a pull. The voidtreckers will feel it too, though to them the world looks and feels no different. This pull is easy to resist, or they can follow and investigate it, attempt to lead citizens back inside the city. It’s not safe in the smog, no one has canisters, but none will heed the warnings.

Nor is there time for better efforts when a crackling sounds in the air, light and colours flashing in the smog, everywhere at once and too quick to get a hold on.

“STOP THWARTING ME!” booms out, and a great force pushes them back while pulling the citizens farther into the wasteland, sand and dirt kicked up in a frenzied storm. The voidtreckers can hear the civilians in the smog, but getting to them will prove harder than they may like.

Grabbing an air canister is highly recommended for those who prefer life.



CIRCLE ONE: THE MAZE
No matter where one leaves the city from, they will find themselves in a maze of walls, of metal sheets, each blending into each other. It feels surreal, as if nothing is quite real, nothing quite solid.

But it is solid. For those voidtreckers who cannot see illusions it will look like they are merely stood in the wasteland of the world. But when they begin to move they will learn those walls are tangible, and those that look close enough will see the same almost-light as the creatures that purple team have been fighting as the source.

For those who are not immune to illusions it is a strange place indeed. No smog to be seen, just high unyielding barriers. The pathways are different colours giving off hues of brightest pink, red, purple, neon green, glowing white, darkest black. Sometimes there are symbols on the walls, Capsule Corp, royal insignia, ravager flames, HYDRA, marks of royalty. They are emblazoned on the walls, the floor, sometimes even in the sky. And the deeper in they get...

➤ WINDING ROADS
It's noisy as they move around. As well as the distant noise of the citizens in the distance they can hear an acoustic guitar, erratic piano playing, the sound of bamboo on stone. Or perhaps an eagles cry, a lullaby or a song is heard as they move their way through the maze.

Objects stand in their way, blocking paths and needing to be moved or destroyed. Larger than life playing cards, red apples, flowers. Spears and daggers hang in the air as does the moon and the sun. Water often cascades through routes, making it difficult to move through or fire creeps up walls, nonthreatening but ever present. There are clouds of butterflies and ravens perched on walls, watching their every move, and the smell of sugar often hangs in the air.

But it’s better to navigate these turbulent passages with perseverance than violence. Daggers and apples will shatter and slice apart to attacks, creating a way through to begin with - but those that try the method of destruction to solve their problems will find these walls crowding them tighter, rising higher, becoming all the harder to destroy than they were before. They will become trapped, and will need assistance from the outside to untangle them from webs or jails made from crystal.
➤ STALKING THE STREETS
It isn’t just the Voidtreckers or locals who wander the maze. Wolves, dogs, zombie sheep and ghost animals mostly mind their own business, sometimes inclined to growl or bahh, but easy to pass. But other times, you may sense that you’re being followed, a presence hovering over you...while another companion will see as well the large shadow shrouding you before a decaying hand grabs at you from above, threatening to send its victim to some other part of the maze if not stopped.

Monsters also stalk these paths from various realities. The dead will be met in robes of white while others in armours from medieval times. All are fast, unrelenting in their attacks, unconcerned with pain or stopping without being properly slain. Ghouls of all shapes and sizes search for prey, and many more seek victims.

How they act and how to defeat them may be known to some, but not all. Is it worth the effort to stay and fight illusions, however? Sometimes those illusions don’t give a choice, but in other instances, a person from the city may be found on the ground unconscious, the smog air getting to them. They’ll need help, and fast.

CIRCLE TWO: IS THIS HOME?
Voidtreckers will realise they’ve left the maze when they find themselves in an open field. It spreads out far with vineyards in the distance, a campsite, all of this leading into a forest of childrens board games. While the campsite is not a true campsite as many will realise, it is the first moment everyone will have to come together, to perhaps plan ahead. Air canisters are essential in this environment, and locals have been found needing, unconscious. Backtracking through the maze is a death wish for many, but with the talents of the voidtreckers, setting up a checkpoint here may not be that impossible before going on ahead.

And then, when they finally do…

➤ FAMILIAR
It is almost dream-like as they walk, areas changing without them fully crossing the distance needed. One moment they are in a shopping malls food court, the next the interior of a spaceship; streets of palaces, temples, and mansions line up as a mish-mash of glamour, while others offer more humble abodes, taverns, family homes, bakeries. Medieval structures blend into tech bases, maintenance bays and dark rooms. Beautiful gardens, beaches and dusty souks all share space. But as they move through it, they will be tempted towards what is theirs.

And these can be anything. Ships, palaces, home, and even singular rooms: all of these are seen, doors providing access, doors that draw your character towards it, as if they know what’s on the other side. Spaces personal to the viewer, and with the constant pressure of these illusions, somehow draining to be around, they will find it harder to doubt what they see. Even if their bedroom leads towards a volcano, a blacksmith housing hospital beds right beside it, it will not seem so bizarre to find these natural.
➤ DEARLY BELOVEDS
But it’s not only structures that exist in this labyrinth of streets: there are people, animals - family, friends and pets. Beloved mentors, a smiling loved one. The night sky will wash over, the ocean within view; your favourite plush rabbit, a worn jumper. Your favourite song playing, losing you inside this new reality.

Even people from the Voidtrecker Express are around, whether or not they’re still passengers. Feanor, Zetta, Noctis, Cassie Cage, Jin Ling; Elfnein, Link, Mami, Gyousou, Duo; Senku, Jiang Yanli, Olivia, Bucky Barnes. They walk this plane, friends and lovers of the voidtreckers, coaxing them further into the illusions. Assuring them everything is alright, offering reasons to give in.

Over all this though, they can still hear the citizens in the distance; their voices sounding more confused, frightened even. To push on the voidtreckers must walk away, ignore these temptations and push on to the third ring.

CIRCLE THREE: TWISTED HEART
For those who manage to get through the second circle, pushing away the temptations of home, they will find themselves back in the smog filled wasteland. But through the smog they will see more, always more. Once again the scenery blurs into impossibilities, from testing labs with padded beds, to other imagery associated with asylums of old, to dark cramped spaces, to hallways raging on fire. They sense fear itself, and even the most stoic will find apprehension digging into them as they make their way forward. Is this their fear? Or is it your own?

It may be hard to discern in this twisted reality.

➤ MISERY LOVES COMPANY
This time, as the scenery shifts around them, so does their own sense of self try to match what these places mean. The despair of being lost in darkness, the belief that they can’t be seen by others, all sound fading from their ears. They are on the moon, trapped there for years; at the edge of the vast ocean, on the bank of a river of lava, despair in their hearts. In a wrecked city, their own city destroyed almost beyond recognition. By opposing forces, by weapons of mass destruction.

They have lost everything. There’s no fixing this.

A Pandora box of fears have been unleashed, with seemingly no hope. Your worst enemy has been granted a second chance, family stumbling towards you on the verge of death before your eyes; forces that you were meant to be dealing with back home have found you, surely leaving your own world in ruins, from titans to ayakashis.

Or they might stumble upon a graveyard, stretched out as far as they can see where every name is someone they care about.

There are even voidtreckers of now and old opposing you: Danny Fenton, Lan Xichen, Darth Vader, Vegeta, Xue Yang. Kerry stands pointing a gun straight at a fellow passenger while shadowy ravens and terrifying dragons swirl in the sky.

All this emotional turmoil will do a number on the voidtreckers, but there is strength in numbers. More civilians have fallen unconscious at this point, and those willing to aid them can take them back to the city. But no matter how the voidtreckers move, they must keep their nerve and hold onto hope as they cross the final hurdles.

Comments

Circle Three

[namethattune]

This is a very particular flavor of hell, isn't it.

Siebren is already a bit shaken finding himself in an asylum - and it is an asylum, as if from a horror movie, old-fashioned and inappropriately bloody. It is not what he is accustomed to, but padded rooms are padded rooms, and a locked door is still a locked door.

(That one of the doors he'd passed had been incongruously modern and marked with a neat Σ had certainly not helped matters, and he'd given that one as wide a berth as he possibly could.)

It is not long before he finds Alice at the center of the madness and is summarily grabbed. Evidently this is far worse for her than it is for him.

He places his hands over hers but does not grab them, and his voice has all the calm he can muster when he speaks. "Alice, please. You do not belong here any more than I do - I believe we both know that. They cannot keep us here if we do not let them."

[irrationally]

At first Alice is fully convinced that she has found one of the doctors here. Siebren looks like he'd fit right in with them, after all. A guy on the older side, even if he's quite taller than pretty much anyone during these Victorian times would have been - but Alice's mind isn't going to sweat the details at a moment like this.

Thankfully there's no time to lash out, because he's speaking. And even though Alice's brain can't process the words right away while she's like this, she is thinking about those words. He said her name - but then again, the doctors here would know it too, even if they prefer to refer to her by her number. But then he speaks on.

You do not belong here any more than I do.

Her grip tightens, but her breathing grows uneven, confused.

"They can," she finally says, her eyes unfocused. They can keep her here. They kept her here for so long, and now she's been sent back.

There's something desperate about her tone, and her hands start to shake. "They won't let me go."

[namethattune]

Is this an illusion for Alice or a memory? He's honestly not sure he wants to know, and it is irrelevant anyway. What matters is getting Alice out of here, away from this particular corner of hell.

He holds her hands gently in his. "Then we shall make them," he says evenly. "I will not let them keep you here." It is said with all the calm and confidence he can muster, with the hope that some will spread to her as well. "Do you know the way out?"

[irrationally]

Alice stares at him, obviously hesitating. Looking like she's entirely unsure of what to say or do here, but at least there's a question she can respond to. One that isn't that hard.

She lets him still hold her other hand, but wriggles one out of his grasp so she can point at a door that seems to lead to a long hallway.

".. there. That eventually leads to the dining room, and then to the exit.."

Alice knows it. She's walked the corridor before, after all. Not often, but at least once.

But when she looks back at Siebren, her expression is just filled with despair.

"You-- You can't make them though. I.. I tried to make them, but nothing worked.. They just brought me back here."

[namethattune]

He holds her hand, hoping the point of contact will keep her steady - as steady as she can manage, that is. If she's insisting that she was brought back here, then this is less likely to be a creation of the illusions than it is a memory. If that's the case, then it's up to him to make sure the events of the past do not repeat themselves.

"You did not have me with you last time," he says. "I am certain that the both of us together will be able to make it out, and I promise that I will protect you." He nods towards the doorway. "Come with me."

He will not drag her if she resists, but he's also not about to leave her here.

[irrationally]

Siebren seems to be in luck when it comes to this, at the very least. Alice doesn't seem to resist when he starts to gently tug her along. It doesn't mean that she's taking the initiative here - she's still much too shaken up to be able to do that - but she does obediently follow him as she's being lead over towards the doorway.

At first she seems quiet, as if she's little more than a zombie while she follows him, but then she does finally pipe up.

"Why..?"

Her throat feels so dry, the word a little raspy.

"Why would you protect me?"

It doesn't make sense to her. After all, no one ever protected her, let alone here of all places. Everyone was more than happy to hurt her here, or at the very least to just let her rot away by herself.

[namethattune]

They do make it to the doorway, and Siebren looks down at Alice as he pushes it open. Whatever is to come in the hallway it hides can wait, for a short moment. "We have been teammates for some time," he says, steady and matter of fact. "I consider you to be a friend, and I refuse to leave my friends behind." Simple life truths for a complicated, difficult situation; with any luck, they will break through.

[irrationally]

.. a friend.

Alice stares at him. She looks stunned, not moving for a moment, despite her rush to get away from here - because she is utterly frozen up by the use of that word. It's not something she's used to in the slightest, and it's therefore not a word she would use easily herself. So to hear someone say that, it's.. a lot. Especially when it's Siebren, who definitely doesn't seem like he'd go around calling everyone his friend.

She looks like she doesn't know what to say to that. Because she doesn't. It feels like such a big, important thing, and Alice is way too much on edge to be able to reply to it properly right now.

Which means that the girl ends up looking shy more than anything, quickly slipping ahead of him through the door, as if that might be able to delay her having to say something for a moment more--

And apparently it does delay it, because there are two figures standing in the middle of the hallway, entirely blocking the path.

"And where do you think you're going?" The shorter one speaks up, not budging an inch.

[namethattune]

He is not expecting quite that reaction - he is not expecting to overwhelm her - but it is not abject denial and she does not shut down, and that is far better than the alternative. He'll take it.

He follows her into the hallway, only to pause as the illusion generates a pair of roadblocks.

"Out." It is terribly calm; he has promised Alice, and he will not relent. "Step aside. You will not receive another warning."

Whether he can convince himself to enact violence on them, illusion or no, will be another matter entirely - one he will likely need to face soon enough.

[irrationally]

It doesn't seem like the two illusionary guys are planning on listening to Siebren. They don't move an inch, despite him speaking so calmly and clearly. Instead one of them starts to laugh.

"You think you can get out of here so easy?"

"Must be crazy."

"Must be why he's here."

The two of them speak in constant quick succession, almost as if they're finishing each other's thoughts out loud. Alice, in the meantime, may be moving slightly closer towards Siebren, as if she's half-attempting to hide behind him - still not quite having fully regained herself in the middle of all of this.

Not that the attempt helps, since the men already noticed her too.

"Look, 'Dum, it's whatshername from the neurotics ward! Nurse's favourite lunatic."

"Oh yeah? Scrawney, ain't she? Who let her out, then? They'll blame us, most like."

"Guess that means no exit for either of you then."

[namethattune]

His throat works for a moment at the accusation. That this is not the facility he remembers does not make it any less an asylum, and to say that he is not comfortable here is to put it lightly.

But he has better controls of his faculties than Alice - who seems to be a favored target - and therefore getting them out of this illusion falls to him. "You were warned," he says, the calm not wavering, as he reaches a hand out and takes control of the illusory men's gravity. He gestures sharply upwards, and both men are yanked towards the ceiling, impacting none too gently and staying there. "Pass under them," he says to Alice, far more gently. "I will not let them fall on you."

[irrationally]

The only upside here is that Alice would never think to question the possibility - or impossibility - of people suddenly having their gravity reversed like that. It's par for the course when it comes to what she's used to in Wonderland, so the only reason she stares for a moment is to make sure the men really are staying there, rather than being amazed by it.

Then she silently stares at Siebren for a moment before passing under the men, not bothering to glance up at them until she's already past them.

But it's then that the young woman stops, turning to glance behind her.

Even though she's still not saying anything, it's almost as if she's waiting for Siebren, not wanting to leave him behind, no matter how frightened she is in this situation.

[namethattune]

She pauses, and he follows behind her, ducking his head as he passes under the men - he is tall and would prefer to stay out of arm's reach. He nods to her once he safely passes, and they continue on.

He pauses after a bit - the men stuck to the ceiling are some distance away, though still very much in view. More pressingly, they are at the edge of his range, and a decision must be made. "Will they pursue us, do you think?" Alice would know better than he would.

[irrationally]

"Yes," she says, without hesitation. "Those smelly louts would chase us until the ends of the Earth if we'd let them."

Alice knows exactly how persistent they are, after all, considering the many years she had to deal with them here in the asylum. If it had been so easy to escape, she wouldn't have been stuck there for ten years.

.. although having the help of someone with inhuman powers apparently helps a lot.

She glances over at the men on the ceiling before looking over at Siebren, looking slightly hesitant.

"Can you keep them there?" Even at a distance? She has no idea how his powers work, after all. This is the first time she's seeing them herself.

[namethattune]

Ah. They are not the type to learn, then, and that makes this...difficult.

"We are at the edge of my range," he says in reply. "If we go any further, I will drop them. I can either take them with us like so many balloons, or we can find a place to put them. A door that can be barricaded, perhaps."

There is a third, expedient route that he is ignoring. Illusion or no, he cannot willingly bring himself to suggest that level of violence, let alone perform it.

[irrationally]

There's a hitch of breath.

"I don't want them anywhere near me."

There's some anger in that, yes, but it's mostly fear. There are times where Alice certainly would have gone for that third option - after all, it's not as if she hasn't fought and killed them in Wonderland before.

But right now she's more just a scared girl. Just someone who wants to get out of here, her looking as she's turning back to Siebren almost pleading.

"I just want to go." Alice's voice sounds younger, or perhaps more befitting of her age than that usual snarky attitude she puts up at any given moment. "I don't want to be here anymore."

There is a door up ahead. If Siebren will bother to open it, it seems to lead to a hedge maze.

slowpoke.jpg

[namethattune]

"Fair enough. Admittedly, neither do I."

She sounds frightened, and he does not think he has heard that from her before, so he remains calm and gestures to the door up ahead. "Can you open the door? If it is not a dead end, we can barricade it behind us."

[irrationally]

Alice nods. At least that much she can do - if not just because she's driven by such an urge to get out of here, away from here, as far as she possibly can.

So she does push open the door, revealing the hedge maze behind. It's not quite a dead end - considering there does seem to be a path ahead of them, though it turns a corner soon enough - but it's not exactly an easy escape route either.

Regardless, Alice goes through it. Anything is better than the asylum. She even holds it open for Siebren.

"There has to be a way out through here."

She doesn't sound too sure of it. If anything, it sounds more like Alice is desperately hoping for it.

[namethattune]

A hedge maze. Why not.

Siebren makes his way towards the door, dragging his captives along by their gravity, until he reaches the entrance. He pauses for a moment, then yanks the two centers of gravity abruptly back down the hall and releases them, effectively sending the two captives hurtling down the hall back the way they came. It should give him and Alice some space to work with, at least.

He enters the labyrinth and shuts the door behind him, where it promptly disappears. Oh. Of course this is that sort of illusion. "There is, and we will find it," he says with all the certainty Alice cannot seem to muster at the moment, looking upwards. Can the tops of the hedges be seen? "Do you think this is the sort of maze that will allow an aerial view?" Taking Alice and simply floating over the top of the maze is a possibility he has not yet ruled out.

[irrationally]

She doesn't even look back at where they came from. Alice has no idea what exactly he does with the men he's holding hostage through gravity - the girl doesn't even have any idea that the door disappears behind them.

Instead the first sign of movement she makes is that she looks up when he mentions an aerial view. With Siebren looking upwards as well, both of them will be able to see these hedges do have an end to them. They're much too tall for any human to look over, but they're definitely not infinitely reaching up into the sky.

"I.. suppose so," Alice slowly says. "But in that case we might have to hope that the Queen isn't around here."

Hedge mazes do usually seem like her style, after all.

[namethattune]

Of course things are not as simple as that. They rarely are. "I see. And what would the Queen do, if she were to catch us in her maze?" Assuming it is her maze, and that she would be offended by them cheating.

[irrationally]

"What she always does."

It sounds like Alice isn't quite done talking. Like she's about to speak further, but it seems that she doesn't have to. Because somewhere - it's hard to tell from where, it almost seems to come from all around them, yet there's not a source to be seen because of all the hedges - a shrill voice starts absolutely booming down on them. Saying nothing more than just a simple: "Off with their heads!"

...

Alice doesn't say anything, but her silence speaks for entire books' worth. Yeah. That. That is what the Queen would do.

[namethattune]

Siebren startles momentarily at the voice, then blinks. That is certainly illustrative. "I see."

That said, it does start clicking pieces into place in his head. A Queen, calling for the removal of heads. A hedge maze. Twins, blocking the path, one by the name of Dum. And her name is Alice...

Ah.

But that is not worth bringing up at the moment. For now, there is an illusion to navigate. "I suppose we should proceed with caution, then."

[irrationally]

Alice stares at Siebren, but then she nods, just starting to walk. What else can they do? Even if she has no idea what's on the other side of this maze, everything is better than the place they came from.

Thankfully it seems that - for now - there is nothing blocking their way or threatening them in this maze. Even as they keep moving forward through it, taking what seems like endless turns.

"I am usually alone when I come here," Alice says. Confirming that yes, even though this is an illusion, it's familiar to her. It's somewhere she's been before, just like the asylum. "It's odd to see someone else in Wonderland."

[namethattune]

He follows her into the maze. For a bit, he does attempt to approach it logically, but the maze itself affords no logic in turn, and he lets that idea go. This is her illusion; best to follow her lead.

And then she confirms that this is indeed Wonderland, and it seems abandoning logic truly is the best strategy for the maze. "I see. Hopefully I can provide you some assistance." And then, because he has to ask: "Is it not lonely, being here by yourself?" She is the solitary type, from what he has seen, but there is a difference between choosing one's privacy and being forced to be alone.