Rock Lee (ロック・リー) [via Cager] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
awokentospring) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
damned_institute2012-08-16 12:59 pm
awokentospring) wrote in damned_institute2012-08-16 12:59 pm
Night 65: Entry Room
[from here]
"Be on your guard, now," Lee whispered as he led them through the doorway. He scanned the room quickly with his flashlight, trying to gain his bearings in case they were caught off-guard by some hidden enemy.
It seemed like a typical entry room. There were desks set in relative symmetry, and otherwise the room seemed harmless. Mostly, anyway.
Slowly, Lee crept across the carpet, silent in ways he typically was not. There were three other doorways out of this room, but only the large double-doors across from them seemed like a promising exit.
"Be on your guard, now," Lee whispered as he led them through the doorway. He scanned the room quickly with his flashlight, trying to gain his bearings in case they were caught off-guard by some hidden enemy.
It seemed like a typical entry room. There were desks set in relative symmetry, and otherwise the room seemed harmless. Mostly, anyway.
Slowly, Lee crept across the carpet, silent in ways he typically was not. There were three other doorways out of this room, but only the large double-doors across from them seemed like a promising exit.
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Flora shook Lloyd's hand, eyes widening. "You have, really? That's very surprising!" She didn't doubt him at all, and he didn't sound like he was lying, but it just made things all the more muddled. There shouldn't have been any monsters left on Earth to fight, she and her friends took care of them all. Maybe he wasn't from Earth? It was certainly possible--after all, she wasn't, not originally--but that voice on the intercom specifically mentioned humans. They weren't capable of off-world travel yet, either, and lived on the one planet, so, how did that work? She must have been missing something. The important thing, though, was that Lloyd had experince with this sort of thing. "That's pretty incredible Lloyd, and should come in handy, even if I hope that it doesn't." She smiled brightly.
Her mood took a bit of a plummet though when he looked a way. Flora felt awful for having brought it up. It wasn't an easy decision to make, and Lloyd was obviously trying to move past it and look at the bigger picture despite the fact. She would do the same. "No, you're right. I'm sorry." She shook her head, her tone gentle but firm. "We'll just have to do our best." If she didn't believe in what she was doing, she wouldn't get very far at all. With all this help they'd all hopefully be getting, she felt a bit better, though. Of course, they still had to get it, first. Flora was sure that she didn't know the half of it, but this place sounded incredibly formidable and would be best tackled by a lot of people.
"Oh!" Flora raised a hand to her mouth, taken aback. She was about to correct Lee on her name, but then he added "-san" after Lloyd's name, too. It sounded like it was deliberate. She'd never heard it before, and wanted to know what it meant. She smiled back at him, his own had been pretty infectious. How interesting! She would have to ask him about it later, though. It wasn't that important, right now.
She followed Lee through the hall, nodding slightly to herself as she looked around, even though he wouldn't see it. It'd be hard not to keep her guard up in this place. There! Double doors. That looked like it could have been the exit.
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"Yeah," Lloyd said, keeping his voice down now. "I've had to do a lot of traveling, so I've run into a lot of things most people haven't." His tone was distracted. He wasn't boasting. It was just the truth, as far as he was concerned, and not really remarkable. His mouth quirked up in a smile, which he tossed in her direction. "Do our best, huh? Yeah, let's do our best. Dwarven vow number one, let's do our best and work together, for the sake of a peaceful world."
He swung his flashlight in a slow arc around the room, taking note of the contents just as Lee had. He let the beam play on the smaller doors set near the desks, but it was only a moment before he turned to the double-doors as well. His footsteps as he crossed the room were nowhere near as silent as the ninja's, but the indoor slippers he wore muffled what noise he did make better than his customary boots would have.
Putting his hand on the knob of one door, he tried to turn it, but it wouldn't budge. He frowned, crouching down with the light shining directly on the knob. "Damn," he said when he got a close look. "If I had my lock picks, I might be able to pick it, but they took those when they took my other stuff."
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Lloyd said an interesting thing, too. Whatever code he lived by, Lee could definitely get behind it. "I have never heard of a Dwarven vow before! How lovely!"
At least he was managing to stay relatively quiet, despite their soft chatter. So far, it seems they were safe from any monstrous predators, but alerting anything with too much noise would just add to any escape bumps they might run into along the way. He heard the unyielding click as Lloyd tried the knob. Well, so much for being silent.
"Seems we will have to break it down, then." Lee glanced back behind them one last time, then shook his arms a bit to loosen the muscles. He attempted to pool a little chakra up into his shoulders, but it moved in a sluggish way. Odd. He knew there was some limitation here, however, and tried not to dwell too much on it. He would see the extent of that issue in due time.
Lee then turned his gaze to the other young man. "On the count of three then?" He stood back, prepared to ram. "You may count if you wish."
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"It looks just like an ordinary door, but be careful. This can't be too easy." Flora watched Lee shake himself loose, putting a finger to her chin in thought. It was obvious that he was going to hit it, even if she wasn't quite sure how. It looked like he might try hitting it directly, which didn't entirely surprise her even if she thought it was very interesting. People trained for this sort of thing, or used magic to boost their physical power. Did Lee know magic, though, or did he have some kind of other special training? Either way, he looked comfortable in this, used to it. This clearly wasn't the first time he'd done anything like this, even if potentially punching a door seemed pretty incredible to her. She'd just keep quiet and watch. With luck, she'd say something at a critical moment and throw him off his focus.
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"The Dwarven Vows are the rules and proverbs dwarves try to live by," he explained. "My Dad made sure I learned them all when I was little."
Once again something nagged at him. Something felt... not so much wrong as just off. He'd noticed the feeling when he woke up this afternoon, but hadn't been able to pin what it was. Now it stirred again as his mana focused. He frowned, trying to ignore it. He was still pretty sure it was the result of something Yuan had done, but whatever it was, now wasn't the time to deal with it. He'd just have to work around it.
"Okay, Lee, I'm ready. On the count of three. One... Two..." He adjusted his stance. He should be able to do this, even without blades in his hands. He wasn't trying to cut the doors, just bust them open. "Three!"
Lunging forward, he turned so his shoulder slammed into the door, and the moment he did, he shoved the energy inside his body straight into the wood. Blue energy flashed around him, leaping out, and for one brief moment it almost seemed to form the snarling visage of a-
"Beast!"
He'd done the move dozens of times before, maybe even hundreds. He was expecting to feel the drain of mana leaving him. What he wasn't expecting, though, was the wave of exhaustion that left him literally staggering once the technique was done.
"Wh-whoa!"
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"... Your father must be a good man." His voice was a little strained but otherwise he gave no indication of his intense focus.
When Lloyd started the count, Lee tensed at one, relaxed on two, then rammed at three! His shoulder hit the door with plenty of force, along with... whatever Lloyd had managed to do. The door gave a little but not enough to bust the lock. Lee had heard the loud groan that came from the hinges starting to bend. Maybe just one more hit...
If Lee hadn't been so star-struck from seeing a giant beast head erupt against the door next to him, he would probably have been a bit more rattled from the impact.
"Th-that was...!" But Lloyd's sudden teetering had Lee trying to shake off the ache in his arm and reach out for the boy. "S-steady now, Lloyd-san! That was amazing!"
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"Yeah, that technique was pretty incredible," she nodded in agreement, "but maybe it won't be such a good idea for you to do it again. Is this normal for you, Lloyd?" She couldn't help worrying. Maybe it was, but she wasn't so sure. They didn't know how much ground they had to cover--it was best to assume a lot--so using such an exhausting-looking technique so quickly just wasn't practical. Was it the institute's sinister enchantments at work?
There was something else about this place that was off and was bothering her for a while now, too. Something she more felt instinctively than thought, but it was there all the same. She wasn't outside just yet, but there was something wrong with the trees, what she could hear of them here. She'd investigate it soon enough when they got outside, though. First off, she had to make sure her partners were okay.
"You both did a great number on that door, though. It shouldn't need much more after that." She smiled. "Hopefully, I can finish it." She wasn't sure about Lee, and she didn't want to see Lloyd push himself further if he didn't have to, especially since she had yet to use her own power. That wouldn't be right.
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"That wasn't..." He already had to take another breath. That wasn't a good sign. "It's not supposed to... tire me out. Not like that."
Taking another, deeper breath, he tried to pull away from their support, to stand upright by himself. It was hard. He felt exhausted and his shoulder hurt from ramming it into the door. Still, he wanted to examine the result of their efforts himself. He put a hand against the door and pushed. Something creaked in protest.
"I don't... I don't know what went wrong, but... I think you're right." He closed his eyes for a moment, resisting the urge to lean against the door. Maybe if he just took a moment to rest... No. There's no time. He opened his eyes again. "Maybe I'm... still sick. From whatever happened to me, before I got here. But I don't think I can use... anymore mana right now. We'll have to finish this the... normal way." He took a few more shaky breaths. He was so tired. Then he looked to Flora and Lee.
"Maybe... all three of us together?" He was already leaning, already ready. Maybe one more good shove would be enough to break the door from its hinges.
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But Lee wouldn't hear of Lloyd trying again. As much as it went against his code to make girls to heavy lifting when they weren't trained shinobi, he would take Flora's help for the last leg of this venture. Lee placed a scarred hand on Lloyd's shoulder, then carefully steered him away with firm force, practically ushering him back a few paces to sit down.
"Not all three. Flora-san and I can handle the rest." The concern that shone in Lee's eyes was apparent, but not as strongly as his clear insistence. "You are in need of a moment of rest for now. When we have taken down the door, you will need to make sure you have some strength in case we encounter any other obstacles."
He was trying to be reasonable. Hopefully the young man would take his advice.
Turning to Flora, Lee started queuing up his chakra again. He really, really hated asking a girl as small as Flora to perform an act of brute strength, but as it was... "If you would, please count us off."
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She eyed the door. She felt different, that was for sure, and worse still , maybe she didn't understand the entirety of it. That sudden exhaustion came as such a surprise to poor Lloyd...but she had no choice. Time to see how much her own powers were affected. She could only hope that she'd be alright soon after, she hated the idea of being a burden.
The breath left her in a slow exhale, eyes set. "Alright then, Lee. One...two...three!"
"Autumn Wind!"
She raised her hand and a large burst of green light formed around and left her hand, exploding into iridescent leaves as it hit the door. Flora planted her feet more firmly against the floor, bracing herself for whatever was going to hit her--but nothing happened.
She looked at her hands as if they held the answer to this conundrum. She felt fine, mostly. Well, um, okay then!
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They didn't. When Lee shoved again and Flora used a wind magic technique he'd never seen before, the door groaned and the hinges snapped, bits of wood splintering where they'd been attached. Suddenly it didn't matter that the doors were still locked, because one whole half wrenched away from the other and toppled outward under the sheer force of the combined impacts.
Exhausted or not, Lloyd's spirits soared, and hope gave him the energy he needed to climb back to his feet. "All right!" he cheered. "Let's get out of here! I don't know about you guys... but I don't want to stick around to see... who heard us." He still felt a little winded, and it showed in his voice, but determination kept his stride almost steady as he stepped through the doors and outside.
[To here.]
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"Presuming this is actually from Harrington at all. And that he's actually attempting to help." They'd been betrayed before, and even Marc and Landel had had a surprisingly easy time forging a truce.
What she was about to say was ridiculous. Completely and utterly. But the extent to which a certain A. C. Doyle quote was trite was also the extent to which it was true. This place put the impossible back into play, but there were rules to it; they just didn't have any option for figuring them out other than taking chances and being smacked down for it. "It's also possible this isn't being done just to irritate us." Irritate might be putting it mildly, but pretending helped keep the fear at bay. "Supposedly, they need us."
Which led inexorably to the fact that they wouldn't kill them off -- or force them into doing it to themselves -- without reason. It was, at least, a nice thought.