[center][h3]Filia – Moon Over Bourbon Street[/h3]
[@vitavitaAR][@flamelord][@invisible man][@raineh daze][/center]

One by one, the various people surrounding Filia broke off from the group in a rush, either to combat or away from it, and rapidly the schoolgirl found herself alone in the middle of a devastated Oreo road with the unappealing corpse of a taco monster growing ripe on the nearby curb.  After moving a suitable distance away from the scarcely edible carcass to give her nostrils a reprieve, Filia turned her curious, ruby-red eyes on the skies and shivered.  There looked to be no end to the things whatsoever.  With hope and confidence she paid close attention to the work of Kyouko, Krieg, and Ed, as well as two new arrivals on the scene, Tailred and Chris.  To be more precise, Filia watched the various attacks, from rain of bullets to flashing spear to dancing blade, for more often than not some building or bunch of bugs inconveniently blocked her view.  For the time being, she knew her usefulness would be terribly low, given the woeful inadequacy of her ranged options.

Her considerate interest in the condition of the others did not, fortunately, hinder her ability to notice threats to her own.  A pair of insects, having swerved to avoid gatling fire and traveled around the effective range of Kyouko, bore down on Filia now with jaws poised to rip and stingers ready to strike.  When she saw that these particular specimens featured bigger, toothier maws on the ends of their tails, the schoolgirl instinctively flinched, but recovered in time to throw a long tentacle of hair and snare one.  With a grunt of effort, Samson pulled the bug down and beat it into the crumbly, sugar-filled ground, not direct enough to splatter it but a sufficient bludgeon to keep it stunned.  “Nahh!”  Filia leaped to the side to avoid the second critter's charge, and a scorpion-tail made of hair whiffed the passing bug by a disappointing foot.  Samson spotted a third monster approaching, and growled, [b]”Enough fooling around.  Meta-morphosis!”[/b]  The ebony hair arranged itself into four beetlelike wings and antennae, and Filia, recognizing the call-out, dived forward to initiate flight.  Her wings beat frantically and managed to trap enough air beneath them to keep Filia from eating pavement, and with a suppressed shout of laughter the schoolgirl lifted a few feet into the air.  Unable to engage the insects for now, she darted around low to the ground, keeping her speed up and leading them on a merry chase.  It went without saying that Filia could use some help.

[center][h3][b][color=yellow]DIO – Joppa Road[/color][/b][/h3]
[@GameguruGG][@Azakma][/center]

The brief battle between Juri and the vile arthropods narrowly preceded DIO's full restoration.  After sparing a glance at the ruined and twitching husks of the insects left by his pretty friend on the pavement, he crossed his arms and observed with mounting disinterest a swarm crawling over a building further down Joppa Road.  Evidently, the brownish sheen of the edifice's walls originated not from tinted glass or stonework, but from bricks now made of ham; these appeared satisfactory as appetizers to a ravenous horde of insects while they kept their countless eyes out for more suitable victims.  [color=yellow]”Small wonder they're so hungry,”[/color] he commented offhandedly.  [color=yellow]”Humans are simply worthless as food.  Bone, skin, and intestines, really, no true sustenance to speak of.  All most are good for is blood.”[/color]

Taking to the air, the swarm left behind the ham building, moving like a deadly chitinous cloud toward a bus whose human contents had betrayed themselves.  Elsewhere, even greater shoals buzzed through the air or clustered on buildings.  For the moment, however, DIO ceased to find them worth his attention.  Instead, he focused his eyesight and interest on a rising column of fire several blocks away.  If not for his experience with the supernatural, the vampire might have supposed this ascending shape to be some kind of rocket, perhaps fired by some overprepared cynic, or a missile launched by a daring do-gooder to strike at an unknown insect queen and end this invasion, but DIO could see nothing technological about it.  It struck him as something more along the lines of a man on fire.  [color=yellow]”Hm.”[/color]  A pressure was building within his eyes.  A lesser man might have passed out, imagining a balloon swelling inside his skull, but DIO just bared his teeth in a sadistic grin.  [color=yellow]”Bad timing for you, burning one. Uriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”[/color]

As DIO screamed, brilliantly-glowing pink jets of liquid erupted from his eyes, shooting with the force of an industrial water-cutter into the sky.  It blasted straight through a single bug, a couple hundred yards away.  When DIO turned his head, however, his Space Ripper Stingy Eyes altered trajectory, cutting a massive swath through an entire swarm of them; including, if fortune did not favor him today, the Super Skrull.  Within the space of another two seconds, DIO whipped his head back and forth, slicing through the swarm multiple times.

The vampire let out a snarl as the beams died and he covered his eyes, dripping pink-orange fluid down his cheeks and onto his shirt.  While his eyes regenerated, they could not see the deluge of bug juices and body parts raining down over the city.  The swarm he'd blasted through splintered into several smaller groups, its numbers dramatically thinned.  [color=yellow]”A lot of vampiric essence gone...be a dear and keep me safe for a few minutes, won't you?”[/color]  By his side, the World blinked into existence, and turned its eyes on Juri.  [color=yellow]”A high-power Stand requires direction, usually by sight...but if you call out, I will automatically send the World to attack wherever you are.”[/color]  He stood still as a new sound greeted him.  New insects were coming, ones without wings.  [color=yellow]”Here they come.”[/color]