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This was playing out nicely. John would be pleased.

Anyone who saw this scenario would easily be able to discern who would emerge victorious from this bloody war. Hologram would watch over these few while the others would tend to other CRP-Related problems elsewhere.

(Do y'all mind playing temp charas for a bit? You don't need to post as someone else, but we're gonna leave Amy, Kenneth, and Arrow alone for a bit.)

(I Don't mind at all )

(sure )

(Great! Let's just leave them to their problems for a bit, shall we? I've given you guys each a quick summary of your temp charas in the inbox. I'm kinda giving over the proverbial steering wheel of storytelling to you guys for a bit. We'll see how this plays out. )

Austin's bike spun out of control: His mind was no longer capable of handling such tasks as advanced balance. The bike dematerialized in seconds, leaving Austin a bloody mess. (Not much worse off than he was before, physically speaking.) His eyes saw a everything in a hazy red hue, blood dripped off of his armor out of cracks, and holes which the ichor-like Infection had punched through.

Austin didn't even think anymore. He had one goal: Keep moving. That was what he was going to do. He looked around and saw that he was in some sort of small town. There were a few buildings, and a gas station, but what drew his attention was the Braum's. He did like their limeade...

Were those peoples' arms flying off by themselves?

Leaning against the wall of the Braum's, as if perhaps he didn't have anywhere important to be, stood a tall man, in a rather unassuming manor. Well... It wasn't entirely unspectacular, after all, he was wearing protective armor. No helmet though.

Dark hair, and dark eyes, and not overly large, the man wouldn't have stood out much had he been normally dressed. He looked downright normal... aside from perhaps the underlying craziness evident in his eyes, perhaps this was his name sake.

They called him Insanity, and it was indeed fitting. It was said he was unhinged. It was clear he was a cold bastard, with an obvious sadistic streak about him. No one enjoyed his job as much as he did, of this he felt certain, and he was darned good at it. How luck for John that he was also loyal.

He watched Austin, with a steely cold look. It wasn't clear what he was doing as of yet... then again, Austin was seeing some mighty odd things...

Impact grinned broadly as he held the woman in one gigantic hand. The little camp of survivors didn't stand a chance against him. He had breached the wall they'd pulled camp behind and started tearing the place up like a mad dog. he went on a total rampage as he threw people around, smashed them into walls and tore them apart. The woman in her hand was screaming loudly.

"Sarah!" someone yelled. Impact turned around to see a middle-aged man run at him. he had a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, and was already aiming the gun as he ran. his hand was unsteady however, and as he shot, impact would know that he'd miss. Seeing this as quite a fun game, he let the man try a few times. He soon got tired of the weak man and his gun, however, and dicided to make it a little bit interesting. As the man shot once more, the monster of a man that was holding the young woman sidestepped, bringing the woman in the bullet's path. Her screams were cut short as the bullet hit her in the head and killed her instantly. The man's eyes grew wide, and as Impact moved on him, he didn't move a muscle, just standing there looking at the girl he loved and killed. Impact picked him up off the ground and smashed him into a wall, breaking it and throwing the man into the house.

Not bothering to drop the woman, she just held her in one massive hand as he walked out of the camp and rejoined Insanity. "That was a load of fun!" his heavy voice boomed. he tossed the woman up and down repeatedly in his hand, just smiling stupidly. When he saw Austin, he stopped, and the woman was once again held in his hand as he witnessed him.

Austin shook his head slowly, as if trying to understand what was happening. There was a person who was killing a ton of people, and there was another person who just sat there... Not doing anything. But he was staring at Austin with a cold look, and this made him... Uneasy. Something about these two was off, somehow.

That's him. Bring him in alive. He's somehow managed to almost control his Infection. Proceed with caution. John's raspy-smooth voice came over the comm.

Austin shook his head once more, and rubbed his eyes. The red haze was... Annoying. He had tried taking off his helmet, and that didn't work. So now he was going around trying to figure out what was going on because his sight was comprised of mainly one color. All of that blood made him... Hungry. And angry.

His thoughts were primitive at best, mere emotions, not words, comprised his mind. His very clear morals were being muddled by Infection's carnal desires. His mental battle was becoming more... Mixed. It was hard to tell what he wanted anymore. Austin's consciousness was deteriorating rapidly, but he was still very dangerous. He knew how to fight, and well. He took advantage of Infection's enhanced speed and strength, alongside SET's weapons technology.

Then he finally realized what it was that was wrong! Yes! That one was killing people. And that one was somehow helping him.

It didn't take much of a push to become the beast Infection had made Austin before. But this time it was... Different. He was more in control. More conscious of his actions. Yet he still didn't feel like he totally had his mind in tact. Something was stealing his thoughts...

There was a brief moment when he wanted to attack these two individuals, of which he was sure there was something off, but he wanted to infect people to help him fight. This took a minute to think through.

Austin's conflicted mind finally settled on a compromise: Infect the dead people. He threw a few spikes which embedded themselves in the mangled corpses, which quickly expanded throughout the bodies until achieving full control of the nervous system. Austin liked this new power. It meant he could control others too! That was fun.

One of the corpses happened to be the woman in Impact's hand, who flailed around and tried to bodyslam him with sheer force. He might not mind as much due to his ability to achieve high density levels for extended periods of time, but the impact of her attack might at least move him a little.

It took a lot of willpower (of which there was not much left) to keep the Infected from attacking more innocent people. Instead, Austin focused on the one leaning against the wall. One word resonated through his mind.

Kill.

Insanity was amused. Greatly so, a wide smile spread across his face. The boy though he could kill him? With the mindless undead? What a joke. He didn't so much as break his gaze with the infected teen, paying no mind at all to the reanimated dead ambling towards him. Let Impact have his fun. It was what he was good at. Insanity had bigger fish to fry.

Already he was working past Austin's barriers, trying to find out what made the boy tick, exactly what sore spots were best to poke at, to break the boy most efficiently.

If he was successful soon, Austin might notice the street around him fading away, becoming something else, though it was hazy unclear. A voice resonated in his head. "Little Boy, Little boy, it's easier to give in." Insanity was taunting him.

Words... Somehow hearing words jogged a bit of Austin's memory.

He gritted his teeth. Being called a "little boy" was about one of the fastest ways to tick him off. Unfortunately, Austin didn't realize Insanity's powers. He charged, tendrils of ichor growing from his back and spikes appearing along his arms. A blind rage fueled his rush, and urged him to swing his right arm in a wild but precise and surprisingly fast punch. His armor's CQC systems kicked in right about now, and covered his fist in a force field of debilitating electricity. That oughtta do the trick.

Right?

Impact was surprised when the body in his hand started kicking again, but as soon as he saw the state it was in, he was all the more amused. He laughed. "Great! an excuse to smash these mindless humans up even more!" He grinned broadly as he shifted his hold of her to her legs, and smashed her into a stone wall, shattering her head and upper body. He then threw the limp body aside and prepared himself for more. FGor a moment, he looked around to check on Insanity, but he appeared to be in a mind struggle with the strange man in the suit. He wouldn't be much use for now, so he focused on the coming undead. This was going to be fun!

Wrong, It didn't do the trick at all. Now fully immersed in the boys mind he could control what he saw, what he felt... to a certain point, he had only as much control as the infection allowed. For now Austin would attack at the visage of the man, only to find that his hand met nothing at all. Insanity himself had moved several paces to left. He however would try and place his image, to Austin, as him standing just to his right.

Little Boy, it's easier to give up.

More of the undead creatures advanced upon each of the two Experiments, however Impact was doing a good job drawing their attention, leaving the practically unmoving Insanity alone.

Austin glared at the man to his right, but something told him that this one was somehow not really there... He felt a tug to his left. The Infection knew better than to fall for tricks played on the human mind. Austin materialized a SET Energy Pistol and fired off a few rounds in the direction that Infection pointed him. These shots, however, weren't very accurate, seeing as Austin didn't really see the other person. Only an outline that Infection had created.

"Not... A little boy..."

It was a close call, indeed Insanity was not used to people out thinking his tricks, and thus hadn't been all that cautious. He wouldn't make that mistake again, as the shot buzzed past him, so close he could feel it go by.

He began to move. If he stayed moving, it would be harder for the boy to follow, he projected another image of himself close to where Austin stood, while he prbed his mind for information to use against him. He was looking for people who were important to him, places with significance to him. Insanity had always found, the best way to bring someone down, was to break them emotionally... take away their will to fight.

Memories... They were hard to get to, but they were there.

Way back when Austin was in another spec-ops group, he lost his arm due to a failure to obey orders. He had run recklessly into a situation he shouldn't have, and had nearly gotten killed. He didn't care about obeying orders in that moment, though.

The base they were infiltrating was on some tropical island: The team was never allowed to know where they were. But this time they were going in on a mission to rescue a captured teammate.

Unfortunately, shortly after they had arrived, they got the order to pull out. The rest of the crew got out, but Austin continued to try and find his friend.

The regret Insanity was detecting was not because of the failure to obey orders: It was the failure to ignore them.

After a sniper had nearly torn Austin's right arm off with a .50 caliber round, he couldn't continue to search for his friend, and he was barely able to escape with his life.

Austin lashed out at the projection, clearly now very angry. The probing of his mind was bringing back... Unpleasant memories. He felt like he was being forced to remember things he had long ago tried to forget.

Another tough memory was the destruction of a large part of Houston, Texas.

He was a member of the CRP, now. John's forces had moved in and had been attacking civilians without discernment. A bomb had been planted.

Arrow, Kenneth, Austin, and Amy had been sent in alongside a few other SET Operatives to try and disarm it.

By the time they got there, it was too late. They had to pull out minutes later, still with no idea how to stop the bomb.

Austin personally felt responsible for Jack's death, despite it being a suicide. Infection had taken over completely, and Jack felt there was no other choice but to kill himself to ensure the safety of others and the prevention of Infection's spread. If they- If he hadn't have left Jack, they might have been able to save him, somehow.

Austin felt like he had let the team down in many ways. He had been hurt the most out of all of the members (barring Red and Jack) and had let himself get Infected. (Although it had been to save Amy.) He had attacked his friends, and then run off like a coward. Maybe death was the only way out...

Maybe he should have killed himself a long time ago.

Tears streamed down his bloodstained face. He hated himself, the world, John, the Cyborgs, SET. How could anything be this cruel, this ruthless? How could someone create something so inherently evil?

And now he was one of them. A monster. Some freak of science built and trained to do nothing but destroy and spread.

Words didn't really do his rage justice at this point, so he screamed instead. It was more of a roar, due to his Infectious influence, but it got the message across. Austin activated an EMP blast from his suit that hit the surrounding few yards. Then he threw tendrils of Infection wildly in random directions.

It's easier to give up...

Insanity was gathering all sorts of useful information, as each memory dragged up another person Austin had failed, he would start to see them around him, all accusing him of allowing them to die. It would have been effective, had he had time to carry it out properly, however all things came to a halt as an EMP Blast knocked Insanity off of his feet, tendrils of infection shot out at random, thankfully missing Insanity, though only due to his being knocked to the ground.

Impact, being strong enough to stay on his feet, was however surprised by the blast. All of the undead fell to the ground and tried to get up again, but they were slowed down by their own uncontrolled bodies. Therefore, Impact crushed the three nearest then looked at Insanity. "Are you allright?" A tendril shot at him but Impact sidestepped and smashed it. "What the hell was all that about?"

Oh. Oh dear.

Was I interrupting something important? I'm sorry. Because, see, I was just flying away from these crazy lunatics who want to recapture me (yes, you read that right. recapture me.) and force me to take their loony pills so I can be some kind of evil version of Wonder Woman.

No thanks.

But anyway, I'm flying and I see this small (I wouldn't say town. The place is too small. Maybe more like a few buildings built around a gas station? But for lack of a better word...) town and I think it might be safe to hide there, right? I mean, after all, nobody would look for me there!

But of course, these lunatics are actually crazy enough to set up a small army of blood-men (it's what I call those nasty things people turn into when they get stabbed with that red bloody-looking stuff. Very nasty business, if you ask me,) and two of those freaks (I know I know, pot and kettle and all that, but they tried to kill me!) ready to attack me! Of course, I did the logical thing: I fly directly over the place.

Wait, were the blood-men attacking the Science-Freaks? This should be fun!

Maybe I should help them?

Of course I do, out of the generosity of my heart.

I land, and then I punch the big guy in the nose. (Of course, my arm can be hard as diamonds if I want it to, so that's fun.) He seemed to be stronger than the other guy, and the other guy seemed to be handled by the blood-man. (Was the blood-man crying? Poor guy. I guess that answers the question of if they have feelings...)

"That's for kidnapping me, you bastard!"

Impact flinched from the sudden attack and took one step backward to control himself. "What the?" He then launched himself forward and smashed his fist at her hard. Not at his hardest yet - he wanted to test her first. See what she was made of. He prepared for a block and another punch.

This bloody idiot thought he could hit me? HAH! Not likely. I'm a bloody angel, you- *BIFF*

Ow, well, that doesn't feel too good. Not letting that happen again. I must have been knocked back a good five metres! My head's ringing now. But I get up slowly, and shake my head. He punched me in the gut, the jerk. I'm struggling to breathe, but I find my breath eventually. This time I jump off of the wall behind me and fly directly into the bastard, wrapping my arms around him and forcing my wings down, pushing us both up. (As much as I hate hugs from evil freaks, it had to be done.) I hold on for dear life as we're both falling, now. I wait... One, mississippi, two, mississippi...

Austin tried unsuccessfully to rub his eyes clear of the reddish tint. He looks over and sees... Is that an angel? She was gorgeous. But she also had wings.

Definitely an angel.

His distraction with Jane created just the window Insanity might need to attack again.