Siege of Darkshire - The Breach

[Strazio Rockwell]

Great, an optimist. Like Strazio needed another beacon of hope in his life. He latched onto Hiro’s words, and they infuriated him. Surviving this fight was not something he intended to do. Or, more accurately, he was not just going to survive, he was going to thrive. In his belly an inferno fed by those that dared to assault Darkshire smoldered. This monster that stood before him, this chitinous and alien woman, would be annihilated. She was the spark that ignited the ever-present hate-furnace rumbling behind his heart. Arrogance seeped from every pore of her deformed body. She had the audacity to strike against Strazio’s charge and for that she would suffer. It was the Defender’s duty to safeguard Darkshire and he did not take this duty lightly.

Around the trio a battle tempest swirled. Their small circle of conflict amounted to not much more than a very violent eye of an even more vicious hurricane. Between Strazio’s unyielding aggression and Hiro’s reserved yet precise attacks Kerrigan was losing any semblance of an advantage she held. However, her labyrinthian mind processed a thousand permutations within mere moments. Overclocked, but not overburdened, she plotted and despite the whirlwind of lethality enveloping her a plan was hatched. Her wings slashed at Hiro in wide swathes, creating both a curtain of blades and, more importantly, breathing room. Energy the color of egg yolk hummed in her left hand, a manifestation of her psionic will. Strazio shouted and rushed at her. The Queen stepped into her opponent, throwing off his sense of distance and timing. Dead center, her palm smacked against Strazio’s sternum and robbed his momentum. In the next moment the rage-mage was lifted high into the sky, swallowed by Kerrigan’s psionic force.

“Let me go you bitch,” he shouted.

“As you wish,” she responded. With one swift motion the infested woman brought her hand down and Strazio along with it. His body smacked against the hard earth with an audible thump. Air was ripped from his lungs and he gasped. The back of his head found a rock and everything went dark.

It took a few moments for Strazio.exe to come back online. Reality came trudging back to the exasperated mage like a misbegotten dog, starving and covered in fleas. Rolling onto his stomach the Avatar of Rage clawed up clumps of moist dirt. Catching his first full breath in what felt like eons and he used it to scream. The hate-furnace was stoked baby and it was the heart of this white-haired pain-train. A second breath fueled his ascent and the third forced him forward into a sprint. By now Kerrigan and Hiro had moved some distance away, no doubt the final step in her machination. His eyes narrowed and everything except for Kerrigan melted from his sight.

The Avatar’s charge was cut short as Dave stepped between him and his target. Tunnel-vision kept Strazio from noticing the Knight of Time’s approach until they were mere feet from each other. Dave swung and Strazio ducked, managing to avoid getting his head lopped off. In one solid motion Dave followed the momentum of his swing and delivered a spinning kick to Strazio’s side. Scrambling from the sudden attack the white-haired mage raised his palm and released a buckshot burst of crackling energy. It smacked against his assailant’s chest and sent the SBURB player stumbling backwards. Catching his breath Strazio stood up and shouted, “who in the fuck are you!?”

“Me?” Dave asked as some kind of device materialized in his free hand. Sleek and red the thing looked like a futuristic turntable, not that Strazio knew what a turntable was though. “I’m just your above average cool guy with a knack for kicking ass, Dave for short.”

“Listen here you sunglasses wearing fuck, I’m…” Strazio began, but was interrupted as a copy of Dave materialized mere inches from his face. An audible gasp escaped his lips as he stumbled backwards. Dave-clone slashed horizontally, mimicking his parent’s previous attack -- except this time Strazio had no chance to dodge. The mage raised his arm to protect the side of his head and shouted as Caledscratch carved into his flesh. Were this anywhere besides the Omniverse his arm would’ve been severed, however due to the nature of weapons within this universe he only suffered a severe gash. Dave-clone was not finished. Before Strazio could even look at his fresh wound the clone’s boot connected with his gut and in the span of just a few minutes Strazio had learned twice just how painful it was to get the wind knocked out of you. He buckled over and fell to his knees as Dave-copy vanished.

“Gamzee,” Strazio growled through forced gulps of air, “where the fuck are you?”

“Right here bro,” the troll said, stepping past his fallen friend.

Strazio stood, filling every little action with as much spite as humanly possible. Livid was no more a perfect word to describe the white-haired kid. Blood poured from his new wound. Sparks ate at the edges of the gash, cauterizing blood vessels and searing the wound shut. It was a painful and messy process.

“Do me a favor,” Strazio said to Gamzee, his voice quavering.

“Yeah?”

“Keep this prick off me,” Strazio said, a smirk curling on his lips, “I’ve got a date with a very lucky lady.”

“S’aight.”

Without another word the duo rushed forth. Strazio headed straight for Strider, who leaned into a batting stance. Just as the white-haired rage-mage came into range Dave swung with all of his might. Strazio’s body exploded. Thousands of electric fireflies erupted from the man’s form and surged past the stunned Knight of Time. Dave’s sword cut through the cloud, impotent against the formless gnats. Each mote of energy bit Strider’s skin as it passed, a thousand white-hot pinpricks. The tuxedo-clad youth glanced behind him and saw the fireflies condense into a sprinting Strazio, one that was headed straight for Kerrigan and Hiro.