A Clone Of My Own

Insanity vs. Sanity
The entire building shook, and Jason's eyes widened as he stopped for a moment, craning his head back the way they came. Olivia and Mary stopped as well, looking at him curiously.

"Master...are you alright?" Oliva inquired, her liquid-blue eyes gazing intently at him. "You've stopped."

Jason's eyes focused on the path they just came from. "Yeah...I'm fine..." He turned, keeping a firm grip on Mina. "Let's keep moving." They resumed running, but Jason's thoughts were preoccupied. "Iris..."

"Are you even Iris Lavra anymore?" Zinzolin looked at Iris with an expression of uncertainty. "Iris was nothing like this... a maddened beast of war....I can't even feel the purity you had. The warmth that drew everyone to you. Where did that go?"

Iris wasn't here at the moment. It was established far before; from the moment that Zinzolin had shown Iris those recordings, Iris had lost conciousness- and a beast, far more vicious and brutal than one would expect had possessed her. "Iris" snarled like a wild beast, letting out a roar which released a sonic boom, devastating the area around the two before it leapt forward towards him at high speeds, its claw extended outwards as to gouge his throat out with ease.

However, his barrier held fast, and Iris, even with her current strength, was repelled by it's force. Zinzolin's expression seemed to be one of pity. "Is she even able to think in that form? Or is this all pure instinct, an animal now? Either way...I think I need to tread carefully..." He extended a hand, and small holes opened in his barrier, sending out a flurry of ropes that shot at Iris to try and bind her, as the holes in the barrier closed themselves once more.

Magical energy flowed from Iris' body as the ropes were deflected; causing a slight disturbance in magical energy before Iris shot forward like a bullet, arms forward in their claw form as to try and tear something off of Zinzolin in immense fury. Screaming and howling like a wild beast, the Iris of now was like a berserker of legend; nigh-invulnerable, immensely powerful, feeling no pain.

Zinzolin winced as the woman beat at his barrier. Whatever it was made of, the thing was durable to say the least, but he knew that even his barrier had it's limits. If this cracked, he'd be left with simply the screen shields, which would be useless once this woman got behind him. "I have to keep her away!" He inhaled for a moment, and suddenly let out a loud shriek, a wail that sent shockwaves throughout the entire area, shattering glass and stone alike. The wail itself was strong enough to create wind currents aimed purely at Iris, to push her way with the sheer force of his voice.

Iris was indeed pushed back; being attacked by such a force of sonic waves did blow her away- sending the beast toppling over. "Iris" caught herself mid-fall; her claws scraping against the iron that composed the building; leaving marks as she slid to a halt. Letting out a bestial roar, it seemed that Zinzolin did indeed inflict damage upon the beast; in fact, he was the first person to ever do so. Magical energy charged within "Iris"'s claws, as she thrust her hands forward to release a powerful beam of pure magical energy, piercing through the air as it shot towards Zinzolin with extreme force.

"Shit!" Zinzolin braced for impact as the beam collided with the barrier, slamming hard. "What is this!? Pure magical energy!?" He heard a large cracking noise. "It can't be!"

DAY BREAK
"Do you even have a plan of action?" Tyrone asked the woman. He had gotten over his shell shock from her sheer display of power. "You seem so confident in your ability to do something, but do you have a plan at all?" This question was coming from the man whose general method of dealing with problems was "smash them".

Giselle snarked, "It's simple. We kill the- oh wait, I have a better solution." Withdrawing a silver ring from her pocket that had a clock-face upon it, she scanned it over her belt before slipping it on her finger. "Now, we get out of here via a wormhole. It's that simple. The Time Ring...well, it's pretty self-explanatory."

"He meant a plan to deal with Crux, not how we get out of here." Wendy groaned. "Just get on with it."

Giselle sighed. "Do you ever shut up? I just wish you would stop commenting on EVERYTHING I do. You are literally an oxygen thief." She opened a wormhole, dragging the others with her.

Erza put her hand around Giselle's shoulder. "I think you and I will get along very well."

"Don't touch me."

Wendy tried not to think about how literal her insult actually was as they were transported back into the original dimension. She looked back at where they had come from, thinking about the fact that she had just come from a Time Lock. It appeared those seven years weren't wasted at all.

As they exited the portal, time surged forward as they returned to the normal era. Once everyone had stepped out, Giselle closed the wormhole. Honestly she was tempted to close the wormhole on Wendy- pay the arrogant little witch back for being a bitch for the sake of it. At least, that's what she thought. "Now, we're all out. So, let's see. I have a plan for this. So, I need to get close enough to turn Crux back with my Mind Ring. Once I'm in close proximity and I can beat him, then I can restore him back to normal."

Giselle twirled her lavender hair in thought. "Now, y'see, since as a Lunarian, I can't fight much, I do have something else. Long ago, there was this girl who Hikari got along with. She was really powerful. And she wasn't bad on the eyes either. However, at the end of the day, she decided that no, she wasn't gonna be a pawn to anyone. She just packed up and walked away. She got a happy ending. Nobody can touch her and that man anymore- they're beyond tools to be manipulated."

Erza asked, "What's your point?"

"My point is we gon' open up cold storage in my shack where I prepared a clone of her 31 years ago, and then Hikari will be won over easier."

Wendy's eye twitched for a moment. "A clone....? You cloned someone?" She walked over to Giselle, glaring at her with something resembling disgust, and, even a little bit of hate. "And then you simply left the clone in a stasis tank for three decades? Do I have this right?"

"Oooh, somebody's rump's rustled." Giselle smirked. "Ever think of getting an attitude adjustment? Anyway, I do suppose that I'mma drop this now. No use in pissing a stupid little kid off. Anyway, I'm just like that Eediot in a sense. I've got plans, and you're gonna deal with 'em, whether or not they're ethical. And hey, at least I can admit my damn mistakes. Hell, this whole thing is my fault. To put it simply to you, yes, yes I did clone somebody. And if you have any problems with it, you can familiarize yourself with the left-hand evacuation proceedure."

Chelia placed her hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Try not to get mad, alright? Rude or not, it's still help. A pinch is still a chance, no matter how bad it looks. Calm down, alright?"

Wendy's teeth were grinding as she cast her friend a look. However, she did manage to regain some semblance of control. "Chelia....I'm stand down only because you yourself are so calm about it." Her eyes drifted back to Giselle, who she now hated entirely. Perhaps she should start S.P.C.W., the Society for the Promotion of Clone Welfare.

Makoto sighed. "Um...Giselle-san...sorry for my comrade. We'll abide by your plan of action."