damned_institute | Nightshift 24: Recreational Field

For a moment, all of the shouting and the sounds of the radio were drowned out. The razor-sharp discs screeched as they dug into the armor on Indra's body, the piercing sound filling the entire Recreational Field until the demon withdrew its hand once more. Just barely had Jack avoided getting his arm caught between those sharp blades and unyielding armor.

That beam of light finally illuminated Indra's face, and James could see where blood seeped between the crease in that mask, dripping onto the ground as Indra suddenly froze.

Its only motion after that point was to begin raising its lance towards the heavens once more. Once more the air felt tense, like the calm before a storm, the faintest tingles of static electricity betraying Indra's intent. Soon lightning began crackling from its body once more, hungry and vibrant and unrestrained; not at all like the sparks Ginji had attempted shortly beforehand.

But who would be the target of its attack? The one Indra had already sought to devour? The most wounded of the three? Or the newcomer, who was begging for retribution for his insolence?

Jack inched his way around Indra, hoping that the new comer and his attention-grabbing antics would keep the creature distracted. Moving towards Ginji, he hissed, "Hey, let's get out of here!"

The kid didn't seem to hear him, so he tried again. "Let's go! Let that guy fight if he wants to, but I'm not sticking around." Jack knew he was in pretty bad shape himself, but wasn't sure the extent of the injuries Ginji had suffered- another thing a flashlight would have helped with.

Jack looked at Indra, though, when the demon begain to crackle with electricity. He had meant to ask Ginji later what the deal had been with HIS electric move earlier, but it hadn't occurred to him that Indra would be able to act in the same manner. Only its electricity appeared to be stronger. Jack slowly backed away, glancing first at Ginji to see if he was going to follow, and then at James, to try and determine what his next course of action would be and how he could benefit from it.

That can't be a good thing.

This was definately not one of the creatures James was used to dealing with. Whatever switch had occured here in Silent Hill meant that acid-spitting was no longer the most powerful thing these demons could do. Still, this creature wasn't as bad as Pyramid Head could be.

"Hey! I said over here!"

James waved his arm again at the thing, dancing the beam of his flashlight over its face. He was hoping to distract it even as he edged right towards the courtyard. Going to the left looked like a dead end.

"Move you all! Get somewhere safe!"

He hoped they could hear him over the sizzle and pop of electricity. If that thing went nuclear or gave chase, he was running to the right. What he didn't know was if the monster was faster than he was or not.

"Come on you ugly thing!"

Ginji wasn't Ginji anymore and Raitei had no interest in running away. He tried to summon some kind of power to heal the injuries to his side and shoulder, but nothing worked. He was completely empty, which angered him more than he had been in a long while. It was worse because he couldn't attack.

The... thing... started to give up its own power and all Raitei could do for a moment was stare in hunger. Then he was up and attacking it. He had no real care for injuring it, only for stealing the energy coming off it. Once he had it, even if it hurt (which it wouldn't have if they were any other place rather than here) he would be able to heal and either find a way to kill this thing or find a way to the shed to get a weapon to kill this thing.

It had hurt Ginji, badly; it couldn't be forgiven.

This was about hunger, now. James Sunderland's taunts returned to him void, the monster no longer interested in his distractions. Jack's back-pedaling went unmarked, unnoticed by the massive creature.

No, its focus was entirely on the one who had once been Amano Ginji. Its focus was on the hungry look in those eyes. And its hunger was far greater than any mortal man's.

The flashlight's frantic beam illuminated the mask sliding open once more, that maw opening wide in what might have been a grin of triumph. Electricity crackled between them, power shooting between their bodies as though they were dynamos instead of demons.

Then Indra roared. It was a roar that could deafen men, a primal howl of hunger that might have sent primitive men huddling in their caves and ancient priests setting up offerings to appease the god-demon's insatiable hunger.

And what an offering had been given. Raitei's flesh and blood tingled, as different from that of normal mortal's as night and day. Despite all of those wounds, Raitei was still fighting, punching and striking at Indra's unholy body with far more fury than had previously been shown. Even Indra, the mighty demon, felt the sheer power behind each strike.

The reward? Indra swiped at the attacker with its left hand, either driving off its assailant or cutting deeply with its discs... then it pointed Vajra, the Celestial Thunder, at Raitei. Once more lightning shot out, aimed directly at the one who had struck Indra. If he wished for power? If he hungered for the lightning which put his own to shame? Raitei would receive it.

Jack stared in awe at Ginji and Indra. Here he had thought Ginji was injured; apparently he was just gearing up for a battle. Impressive as it was, Jack wasn't looking to make HIS state of being worse and increased his distance from Indra. He continued slinking back until he got to where James stood.

"Hey, let me see that a second," He said, turning the beam of James's flashlight away from the skirmish and at himself, opening his coat. It wasn't as if the fighters needed further illumination; they were lit up like a bug zapper already.

Hm. Well, the second flow of blood didn't appear to have made it to the outer layer of shirts yet, though the evidence of his first fight was still apparent. And even if the clothes were effectively soaking up the blood, it didn't lessen the pain any. Jack smirked at James. "You don't have any bandages or painkillers, do you?"

So what if there was a deathmatch going on a few feet away? It obviously didn't concern Jack anymore.

James was incredibly impressed by the whole battle going on. What in the world was going on? He didn't even notice much as he turned the flashlight in the direction that Jack wanted, watching the ongoing skirmish with openmouth wonder.

"I don't, no. I did last I remember, but I woke up in a room back there somewhere, and... what's going on?"

Silent Hill was weird, no doubt about it, but he hadn't seen anything like this yet.

"Where's Angela? Or Laura? Have you seen either of them?" James asked, keeping a weather eye on the battle as he directed the beam of light more on Jack's injuries.

"What part of Silent Hill are we in? Is this Brookhaven Hospital again? I was at the Historical Society in the tunnel."

The electric attacks only fueled Raitei's anger. He used the power that his body could take to create sparks around his body, his injuries closed very slowly, much slower than normally, but he still didn't stop his attacks. Lightening did nothing to this monster, it would be like someone attacking him with power. It would only make him stronger... or it would have normally. At Landel's he had a limit before it started to hurt. He jumped back quickly when the monster moved to attack him and then came at him again. He didn't care if he got hurt a little, the power he was stealing from the monster would just heal him again, though he was thinking enough to avoid life-threatening injury.

When then massive lightening attack him him, he felt extreme pain course through his body. He wasn't burnt the way he should have been, but his muscles felt as if they had been hit by something heavy. He had to fight through it, and he did. Pain was no problem to him. He got rid of pain or he ignored it. That was his job. It pissed him off that he couldn't just take in the power and hold it as he would have been able to back home, in Mugenjou.

He attacked anything on the monster that looked vulnerable, not caring that his knuckles broke when he hit hard parts too.

Jack was ignored. James was ignored. They were no longer of any concern to Indra; not when Raitei was right there. The demon was tough, durable, but obviously not invincible; its exposed body was beginning to yield to those furious attacks. Each sharper blow made the demon pause, each stronger strike causing Indra to falter for a moment.

But only for a moment. That mighty lance swung through the air with far greater ease than any man could have attained, its left hand with its fatal discs slicing through the air with a whistling hum as the demon sought to cut, impale, rend... pin Raitei down long enough to get another good bite in.

Meanwhile, lightning was still streaming from the demon, arcing between the two of them and building up once more. In that light, the inhuman mask which concealed a demonic maw seemed only more alien, only more removed from anything approaching 'mortal'.

Angela? Laura? The only girls Jack had met so far had possessed Asian names. "Sorry, pal. I can't say I've met them."

What part of "Silent Hill"? Where the hell was Silent Hill? Jack asked as much, hoping to get a gauge on his location if this mundy did, in fact, unconsciously know where this institute was. While it was worrisome to Jack that perhaps he was in a dimension other than the mundy-realm, it would still be useful to find out about his surroundings.

Speaking of mundys, Jack was beginning to wonder if perhaps "Ginji" wasn't something of a Fable himself. He seemed a bit more than mundy, at least. Jack would have to ask Ginji, but after he finished his fight, as Jack had no interest of coming closer to Indra, and Ginji looked a bit more bloodthirsty than he previously had.

He'd have to wait and see what happened. Sighing, he sat himself down on the ground and watched from afar. It was better if he didn't move around too much, anyhow. It would give his injuries a chance to close up again. He gave James another mischievous smirk and arched an eyebrow. "No bandages, huh? How about a cigarette?"

James' attention moved back to the creature grappling with what he had assumed was a man at first look again. He wasn't an overly imaginative man, most likely why Silent Hill hadn't broken his mind as badly as it did some. Unless the horror was there and up-front, he didn't see a reason to be afraid or run from it. Where a person with too much imagination might see monsters in the shadows, James only saw plain darkness.

Turning down his radio, James shook his head and made himself focus on Jack. Whatever the hell was going on would make sense soon enough. It had to.

"I had a few medikits on me and drinks before, but I lost those somewhere. What happened? What is that guy?"

James waved a hand towards the two of them, wishing he had a weapon or something the higher pitched that battle became.

"Where are we? Who are you?"

Each blow from Raitei's fist was supported by all the rage inside of him, rage that usually found its way out in electrical attacks that could level entire tall buildings and leave craters the size of their foundations in the street. In Landel's he had lost most of his ability and was forced to steal what he could from other sources, like this monster. If this had been a real match outside of the prison disguised as a hospital it might have gone on for days, with both of them feeding each other the power that they generated. However, Raitei was stuck in this place and as much as he wanted it to be different it wasn't. He had to deal with the fact that he was exhausting himself and that taking on this much power, which should have been nothing more than a slight power surge to him, was beginning to make his muscles ache and his movements slow.

There was also the slowed healing rate to consider. He couldn't just use the power he was taking to instantly heal after the monster actually made contact.

So when the arm that was shaped into a lance made contact and shoved itself through his stomach, he actually screamed with pain.

That scream was drowned out by Indra's roar of triumph. Vajra pierced through Raitei's stomach and out the other side in a spray of hot blood, the blades dripping with Raitei's own life... and then the demon hefted the lightning wielder up into the air.

Indra held its opponent up to the heavens, as though announcing its victory over the one who had dared challenge it. It exulted in its conquest, gloried in its own power. And with Raitei suspended so far away, the dynamo effect died between them, the power sizzling to a stop and leaving only the stench of ozone behind.

In the darkness, before the flashlights could be brought to bear, there was once more the sickening rip of flesh from bone. Indra was tearing out the insolent one's calf muscle, its maw consuming flesh once more as it sought to devour its prey from the feet up. Enjoying the death throes of its worthy prey...

"We're at Landel's," Jack said dryly. Really, he wasn't going to be sticking around here much longer, so why did he keep getting asked to do explanations to strangers? It implied to him that there was a lot of incoming traffic...

He grinned and looked upwards to James. "Me? I'm John Trick. You might have seen my "Jack" films?" Or maybe not, as no one here had yet. It was still worth a shot, should he find someone amongst the crowd at some point. "Anyhow, I don't actually know who lightning-boy is, other than his name is 'Ginji'. Or did you mean that thing?" Jack pointed to Indra. "Because I have no fuckin' clue what to-"

As the Fable was gesturing, the demon speared Ginji. Jack stopped mid-sentence, eyes wide. Well, shit, that wasn't good at all. He watched, not moving, as Indra raised Ginji off the ground and the lightning stopped.

"Hold on, kid!" Jack cried, trying to get back to his feet and aid Ginji. He heard the ripping noise from in front of him and steadied himself. He started to move towards where the pair had been before, reminded every step of his own pain. He pushed back his doubts; again, he reminded himself that "Jack and the Beanstalk" was too popular a story for the Mundys to waver and allow the hero to perish on a soccer field in a middle of nowhere mental institution. Right?

Leaping into the darkness (and into a world of pain, as his wounds were stretched out), Jack attempted to tackle Indra or to knock him off his feet long enough to collect Ginji and make an escape.

"Landel's? Jack films? Ginji?"

James never had been one for watching movies and the like. He'd always let Mary pick whatever they were watching instead of doing so himself.

All that was interrupted when the thing stabbed the other boy. James winced, sympathetic pains jumping through his own midsection. As much as intelligence would have dictated getting the hell out of Dodge, he couldn't leave an already injured man to take on... whatever the hell that thing was.

"Damn it," he muttered to himself as he got moving.

Catching up with Jack, he tried to scuttle around Indra and go at the critter from the other side. Maybe if it had two targets, one of them could grab that 'Gingi' and get him out of there. Otherwise, they might all be mincemeat before it was over.

Raitei didn't scream as the thing lifted him up and started to eat his flesh. His jaw clenched but he refused to scream again, even as the pain drove whatever rest of the control that Ginji had over him far away. The lightening was also gone, which meant that he had to save whatever his body had stored up from those attacks. He needed to heal and it was pointless to waste it against the monster as it would only drive it more into a hungered frenzy.

Raitei tried to use the leg that was free to kick at the monster. Anywhere would do, especially since the blood dripping from him meant that he was starting to feel weaker. Weakness couldn't be allowed, especially not when he was fighting for his life.

He showed no sign of even knowing the other two men had come to his aid. He wouldn't have cared even if he did know.

For a moment, Indra struggled with its prey. For a moment, there was nothing but the struggle of prey and predator, Indra devouring whatever it could get in its maw- the pants were shredded as Indra tore into them, a slipper was ripped off along with part of Raitei's foot, blood streamed down and bathed the demon, rivulets dripping off of its halo and its mask and its chin...

But then Jack tried to tackle the demon, and James was circling around it, and with Indra knocked off balance, it could no longer hold the flailing Raitei aloft. It wavered, nearly toppled... but then righted itself. With one motion, it retracted its spear, letting Raitei fall to the ground- and possibly onto Jack as well. With one motion, it swept around with its disc-encrusted hand, the motion hopefully driving away its attackers. With one motion, its mask snapped shut...

...then it stopped. And it stared with sightless eyes. Even at that distance, it could tell that there was something sweeter, more nourishing, something that would go down its maw much more easily than the three men gathered before it.

Therefore, with no more attention paid to them- as though they were beneath a god's notice- Indra turned and began making its way, step by silent step, towards the wall adjoining the Field and the Courtyard. It had fed, but it yet hungered.

((Going down a thread.))

Jack blinked in surprise. The thing was just going to leave? After all that? Not that he was complaining. He quickly turned his attention to Ginji.

"Hey, are you awake? We need to get out of here before that thing decides to finish what it started."

He didn't know if he could carry Ginji by himself with his current injuries, but perhaps with James's help, they could at least make it to somewhere less dangerous. He glanced towards the unhurt man. "A little help? I don't think I'm gonna be able to handle this on my own."

Jack hurt, but not enough to run off yet. Not when there was still potential to make some use of these people, albeit probably on another night.

James headed after Jack, keeping a weather eye on the monster. At least it was retreating or so it looked like. It reminded him of the patient demons that would slither away only to get back to their feet and try to attack later.

There were far too many questions in his mind. Landel's? What was a Landel's? He didn't remember anyplace in Silent Hill named that. Concern quickly enough replaced confusion as he joined Jack at Ginji's side.

"Damn it."

James went to slide his jacket off to offer it to Jack only to realize he didn't have it anymore. Out of the three of them, he was the only one that was uninjuried and thus earned the right to be packhorse if needed.

"If I can get him on my back, I can carry him. We need to get out of here incase that things changes its mind."

Crouching down beside Ginji, he fought back the desire to turn away from the mangled man. Could he even live through being injured this badly? Moving him might very well kill him.

"I think I can lift him, but I need you to steady him. I don't want to rip him open any worse getting him up. Or you."

James nudged his hands under Ginji as gently as he could, wincing at the slick warmth of blood.

((Feel free to have Ginji smack, move away, or James not pick up Ginji if you want.))

Raitei knew the injuries were bad. He could feel the pain and the pain gave him more control. He felt exhausted and as if he were slipping away. He didn't care that the other two men were trying to help him.

He only had a little bit of power left that he had taken from the demon, and he had to use it to save Ginji's life.

He started to spark. The energy gave his skin a slight glow and small bolts of azure snaked across his skin.

Anyone touching him would have gotten a zap about the same strength as touching a finger to an open light socket. He didn't care about the discomfort he would cause the other two. He wanted to heal.

His wounds started to mend themselves. The stab wound in his torso closed though the skin was still red and raw and though his leg and foot weren't completely whole, he could walk without having to shove aside the limp.

If he had been outside Landel's the wounds would have disappeared completely and he would have been whole.

He expected that once the power was completely used up that he would disappear again, but he was still there.

Ginji was gone... maybe forever.

Jack, as suggested by James, had been attempting to help steady Ginji when the sparks appeared. He stepped back, not wanting to be shocked by this strange power the boy seemed to possess. Again with the lightning! There really was something up with this kid.

"Do you see that?" He cried, looking at James and pointing to Ginji. "What is he doing?" Jack tried to come up with any Fable in his mind with a dominion over lightning. Failing to do that much, Jack toyed with the notion that perhaps Ginji was something more like the Pathetic Fallacy had been, but again could not think of any such being with similar powers. This meant either he was a Fable that, for some reason, Jack hadn't encountered in his travels (which was entirely possible, as Jack couldn't claim he knew them ALL) or something else.

Perhaps a Mundy like the ones that sometimes were on those "Believe it or not" shows. Jack had always thought they were full of crap (after all, he knew what REAL magic was and psychics just didn't cut it). If that were the case, perhaps there were ways Jack could find to use this kid to his advantage.

As for this other guy, Jack was curious about HIS story. Maybe he had hidden talents to profit off as well. "Hey, what did you say your name was, again?" He ventured to James...

James dropped Ginji good, fast, and in a hurry, stumbling back and clenching his hands together tightly.

"See it? I felt it!"

James shook his hands and the studied them, looking for any signs of wounding or the like. What the hell was that guy? Never before had he seen such a thing. Sure, the things in Silent Hill were dead and spit acid or the like, and then there was Pyramid Head, but that? Never.

Backing away from the two of them, James shook his head, wishing he had pockets or his jacket to shove his tingling hands into. The question was now stay or go. Something about these two was off, perhaps dangerously. Whatever horrors were in this part of Silent Hill, they seemed capable of handling.

"James. James Sunderland."

Raitei sat up slowly when the two of them were talking and then stood up, testing his newly healed leg. His uniform was a mess, a bloody hole in the stomach and tattered bloody strips on one leg. He stepped out of his other slipper. No point in clinging to it since the other one was missing.

He said nothing. He wanted to kill these two men, simply for being annoying. But he didn't have the power and his muscles ached from the fight. He turned. Might as well keep going where Ginji had been heading. That meant finding a shed out here.

James Sunderland....he'd remember that. "Tell me, James,-" He began, planning on buttering the other man up. However, suddenly Ginji was miraculously up and walking. That Jack found to be QUITE interesting.

"Whoa, whoa! Hold up," Jack said, cutting in front of Ginji. Had he HEALED? Why was THIS kid able to heal away damages and he had to suffer a broken collarbone and chest wound? The universe once again was being unfairly cruel to its favorite son, Jack Horner. "Maybe you shouldn't be walking, buddy. At least let one of us look at that stomach of yours."

He glanced to James for support. "Don't you think he should probably take it easy, James?"

Really, Jack just wanted to confirm his theory that somehow this kid had healed himself. Jack might not have had HIS healing available at this point, but if he could sweet-talk Ginji into helping him out, perhaps he'd find a way to fix that.

James was just as gobsmacked as Jack seemed to be. He wasn't quite sure how to take someone who had looked mortally wounded a few seconds ago being completely healed all of a sudden. The only things he had seen capable of such weren't exactly good creatures to be around.

"Uhh..."

That was about the best he could summon on command given the situation. Gesturing towards the right, towards where the Courtyard lay instead of the dead end of the soccer field, James edged a step in that direction. Whoever this Ginji was, he didn't look exactly safe. The fading tingle in his hands was enough to tell him that.

"You two should be careful. Most of the things here in Silent Hill don't let you walk away afterwards."

He had to keep moving, find some sort of landmark that he knew. With his maps gone, he'd have to start redrawing them all over again. At least he had a book for it this time instead of whatever paper he could scrounge. Giving the men a nod, he headed towards the courtyard and started climbing the small wall between them.

((Going to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/128465.html)))

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