damned_institute | NIGHT 64: MEDICAL WING HALL

The Once-ler held the katana loosely at his side. To be perfectly honest, he had no idea how to use the blade. It certainly wasn't an axe. For one thing, it was longer, yet lighter. Well, if worst came to worst he could always try swinging it with the same motions as an axe.

He waited behind Soma as she swept the area. It seemed like there was something sinister in the air, but that sensation could have been triggered by the nerves that activated when he had been handed live steel.

Nonetheless, he gripped the hilt tighter and stood still.

The sight of Soma did make Loki feel a stab of regret, but he had little choice in the matter. There was a task to be completed, and he wasn't one to let sentiment stand in his way.

He was rather relieved to see she had a companion, and one that didn't seem to have any idea how to hold a sword properly. If Loki wounded the young man, Soma would likely take care of him and thus be stopped as well.

An excellent initial solution, though it would have to be tested.

From further in the darkened hallway, an illusion of Loki said, "Is that you, Soma? Dearest, you look a bit pique-y. You really oughtn't be out."

Soma's head snapped up at the sound of Lingormr's voice, a smile flickering across her features in the brief instant before the beam of her flashlight landed on his clothing and relief gave way to apprehension.

Special Counseling, she thought. Of course. Anything else would have been too easy.

"I did say they pit the patients against each other, didn't I?" she muttered to the Once-ler, knuckles whitening as she tightened her grip on her gun. "Second hallway on the left, second door on the left. Remember that if we get separated."

This was probably a mistake. She hadn't forgotten what Lingormr had told her about his powers. But he was standing in the way of a potential cure to her illness. She couldn't let the fact that she considered him a friend stop her. Best to get this over with now, and any apologies on either side could be made in the morning.

Louder, she said, "Lingormr. Please tell me you just got your clothes back and you're not looking to fight."

The Once-ler was startled when another man's voice called out. While he was unsure about what to expect, he hadn't anticipated something so human. He gave Soma a sidelong glance, leaning over to speak softly. "'Dearest'? I guess you know this guy?"

Ah, so this was an example of patients forced against each other. He nodded. "Yeah, you mentioned that. So he's in the same boat as us, huh? Doesn't seem too concerned about the situation." The Once-ler was none too thrilled at the prospect of either combat or separation. "Second hall on the left, second door on the left. That's easy to remember. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that."

Straightening, he stepped forward to stand next to Soma. "We're just here to get something, that's all," he said, addressing the strangely dressed man. "We're not looking for trouble."

"Both of your observations are correct," Loki said, smiling crookedly. "I do seem to have my clothes back, and I really would prefer this not get ugly. I do rather like you, you know. But I'm afraid this isn't really a good place for you to be. I mean... look at this frightful mess, all over the floor. I shouldn't want to meet the cause of that."

The real Loki, wrapped in total invisibility, pulled a dagger from the air and approached the Once-ler silently from behind, intent on a disabling slash to the back of the young man's leg.

"He's a friend," Soma returned in an undertone. "They've brainwashed him. It happens."

She took a few steps forward, gauging the distance between her and where the image she thought was Loki was standing. Probably not a good idea to make a run for it. Not in the state she was in.

"It's the cure to the disease," she said instead, dully aware reasoning wasn't going to get her anywhere but hoping she could buy enough time to think of a Plan B. She'd never been a good actress, but she tried to put more desperation into her voice. That wasn't fake, at least. "You know I'm sick. All I want is the cure, and then I'll be out of here."

Belatedly, Marie flashed a warning, the spike of energy almost managing to drown out the pain in her head. Soma whirled, her gun coming up instinctively, knowing she was too late to do anything but unable to prevent herself.

“A brainwashed friend. Great.”

The Once-ler frowned as Soma stepped forward and addressed the man before them. “I’m not sure that’s the smartest idea. If he’s really been brainwashed, I don’t think he’s going to-“

His words were cut off as Soma suddenly spun around. Surprised, he started to turn as well. “Wha-“

And then there was a searing pain in his leg. The momentum from his turn brought him to face the door to the hall, even as he fell backwards yelling out from surprise and pain. The katana clattered to the floor as he scrabbled backwards, desperate to put distance between himself and whatever had attacked him.

The invisibility shredded from around Loki as he interacted with the environment, revealing the lightning fast - far faster than human - strike. He rode the momentum, turning, spinning, the knife whipping from his hand and at the gun Soma held.

Without pausing to see if the dagger found its target he dropped, rolled, and grabbed the katana, flinging it away at the wall.

Back up on one knee, he paused, watching the two mortals. "Go back, Soma. I really would rather not hurt you. But I will if you make it necessary."

Soma nearly stumbled back herself in surprise, her gaze going from the image in the hallway behind her to the very solid Lingormr who had just apparently stabbed the Once-ler in the leg. Right. Magic. It was always harder when you didn't know what to expect. Magic could mean anything.

Her brainwaves spiked again, this time just in the nick of time; she sidestepped, but not quite fast enough, and hissed as the dagger left a thin red line across her forearm as it sped past.

"You're in the way of the door," she panted to Lingormr as she hauled the Once-ler back to his feet by the collar--or tried to, at any rate. As he was a foot and a half taller than she was, she didn't get very far. "Sorry if I don't."

She almost wanted to go back for the katana. It had been Senna's; even if she didn't quite know how to use it, it seemed wrong to leave it behind. But sentiment never got you anywhere in a fight, and she was uncomfortably aware of just how outclassed she was in this particular fight.

Firing a shot at the floor just in front of Lingormr, she yanked sharply on the Once-ler's collar before she turned and ran for the hallway, letting off another at the apparently-not-Lingormr still blocking their way. Hopefully guns would be unfamiliar enough to provide a distraction--though something told her she was probably wrong about that.

The Once-ler winced as Soma pulled him up. It hurt a lot. "You failed to mention he's got a twin and can turn invisible," he muttered, gritting his teeth. The man could feel blood running down his leg; his mind flashed briefly back to the hallway outside. That explained where the blood smears had come from.

He flinched as the gun went off near him, then nearly fell again as Soma yanked him forward. Running really was their only option at this point. Cringing at the second gunshot, he began limping after Soma, sending shocks of pain up his leg with each step. At least it was still somewhat functional; the slash had landed off-target when he had turned around.

He tracked the aim of the gun precisely - he'd seen those things before, when Thor had his little adventure in Midgard - and calculated precisely the trajectory of the projectile. Sentimental, Soma. He didn't so much as flinch at the sound.

Loki laughed as he stood, a low amused chuckle, and vanished. His image appeared to both sides of Soma and the Once-ler, and ahead of them. All three images pulled daggers from the air and threw them.

Invisible, Loki himself leaped after them, whipping two more daggers through the air, one for each. He didn't pause as he landed, running ahead.

Edited 2012-06-29 04:11 (UTC)

The laugh was what gave her pause more than anything. She was aware Lingormr was brainwashed, but she hadn't thought the quiet scholar capable of finding such joy in a fight. It was something she would have expected of Allelujah--or even herself, if she were perfectly honest. She wondered what they'd told him, what he thought he was doing.

And then there were more of him, and Soma had just enough time to grit out, "He doesn't normally do this!" before she threw herself to the ground, rolling in an attempt to avoid the daggers. It must have worked, she thought muzzily as she tried to scramble to her feet. She didn't feel anything except the rushing of blood in her head and the sensation of every muscle aching.

That was before something very real and very solid sliced across her side, and she cried out in anger and pain. Even now, it was pointless to stop and inspect the injury--deep, she could tell, but not immediately life-threatening, and that was good enough for her. She kept moving forward, trying to keep her flashlight on the Lingormrs around her and failing miserably.

The Once-ler wondered if he was losing too much blood, because now there were three more Lingormrs and that couldn't possibly be right. Still, he willed himself forward. When the three men whipped out daggers and flung them, he practically threw himself to the side to avoid them.

He, too, was surprised when none of the daggers hit him, and continued forward, leg protesting every step. He hissed as a fourth and very real blade whipped past him, drawing a line of red on his side. At the same time, Soma cried out and he saw she'd been hit too.

Heart pounding in his ears, the Once-ler lengthened his stride, drawing level with Soma. If she stumbled, he could pull her up as she had done for him, and with the way she shone her flashlight around erratically he feared that could be a very real possibility.

"To be honest," he gasped out, "I think I'd take any of his moods over this!" Where was the second hall on the left? They had to be getting close.

"This cure had better be worth it!"

Invisible once again, Loki nimbly jumped over the two foolish mortals still trying to move forward. The illusions multipled; he let Soma and the Once-ler run through a few of them, let the illusions splinter into random bits of light so they could realize that most of the images weren't real.

And then behind the crowd of laughing, grinning images he stopped and let the invisibility drop away, putting himself directly in the way of the Once-ler as if he was just one more illusion, his knife out and at the ready.

Likely the mortal would either be foolish enough to run in to him - at which point Loki was basically an imovable object with a sharp point ending in a point at waist-height - or the Once-ler would try to dodge around and Loki would have the chance to hamstring him or even more ideally cut one of his tendons.

He hoped that would be enough. He really didn't want to have to do the same to Soma. "You realize that there isn't a cure," several of the images of Loki informed Soma as she moved past. "It's just another part of the game. They're manipulating us all."

Soma flinched as Lingormr appeared in front of her, too close for her to slow down in time, but she found herself running through it, light falling around her as the image dissipated.

So he couldn't quite duplicate himself. Not fully. That was good to know. It didn't even the odds, not by a long shot, but it was better than nothing.

"And you're all right with that?" she gasped, wishing she had some sort of walking stick to prop herself up. Trying to talk someone out of anything was a lot less impressive when you felt likely to fall over at any moment. "You're all right with them using you like this? Being turned into their weapon?"

She kept running; a few more illusions collapsed in on themselves as she passed through them. Hopefully the Once-ler was hard on her heels. "I don't know that there isn't a cure, but trying and failing is better than waiting for the inevitable."

[OOC: Sorry this is so late! ~~Mega storm~~ Land hurricane came up and knocked out power to over 2 million people in and around DC. Took 'em forever to get it back online.]

He instinctively braced himself for impact when Lingormr appeared before him, but the illusion splintered around him as he hit it. Several more images vanished as he ran through them. The Once-ler had no idea how the man was doing this, but it seemed like each one before him was just another illusion.

Soma was still trying to reach through to her friend. The Once-ler felt a pang of concern at her gasping words, which surprised him. They had only just met, and he already was worried about her. Perhaps he had been missing human contact, no, any contact more than he thought. He truly hoped that Lingormr was brainwashed; he didn't like the idea that Soma considered a psychopath her friend.

Again Lingormr appeared before him; this was getting really tiresome. The Once-ler continued straight forward, intent on ignoring yet another illusion. Slamming into a very solid and very real Lingormr shocked him so much he didn't register the sharp pain at his waist for a few seconds.

The Once-ler looked down in surprise at the red stain that was beginning to blossom around the hilt of the blade in his side. Eyes wide, he looked back up, locking eyes with Lingormr.

A part of his brain noted, with some amusement, that without that ridiculous helmet on Lingormr would be almost half a foot shorter than the Once-ler. Dumb thing to think about, really, with a knife once again sticking him. He was starting to feel slightly light-headed now.

With a groan, he pushed himself back from Lingormr, clapping a hand to the new stab wound as he curved around the other man. His injured leg faltered, and he fell against the wall. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

As the Once-ler locked eyes with him, Loki tilted his head slightly to the side, gaze cool. He sometimes wondered what mortals saw if they really looked - thousands of years of life? Power? A mirror that showed them how far removed they really were from each other?

It didn't really matter, either way. He stepped back as the mortal fell against the wall, a practice flick of his wrist transferring an oddly neat line of blood from his dagger onto the floor. The wound wasn't one intent to kill - and Loki was quite good at picking his targets - but it would certainly interfere with Soma and the boy continuing to move forward.

A slight gesture with his hand and he replaced himself with an illusion, vanishing simultaneously.

"You act as if I've a choice, dearest," the closest image to Soma said. "You probably ought to see to your friend," he observed a moment later. "He seems to be in a bad way."

Suddenly he grinned in a flash of teeth, an expression that utterly lacked humor. "Inevitability. You don't understand the true meaning of the word." Inevitable was being a monster growing up in a shadow.

He made no move to attack her, not yet. He wanted to see if she would continue on or turn back.

More illusions, all of them smiling. Soma was suddenly and inexplicably reminded of them, of drifting powerlessly in space while an orange and white mobile suit tore their forces apart, laughter echoing in her mind. The hot spike of anger propelled her forward a few more steps before she realized the Once-ler wasn't following her anymore.

She turned slowly, sweeping her flashlight back and gasping involuntarily at the blood seeping from between the man's fingers. In the darkness, it was impossible to tell how severe the injury was, but she knew this little venture was over. Mission scrubbed. The Once-ler might only be an acquaintance, but she couldn't let even an acquaintance be injured in her stead. Not when people had died trying to do the same in the past.

She let off a shot at Lingormr again, this time aiming for his feet, but the figure only burst into light and dissolved. Too late. He could be anywhere now.

You always have a choice, she wanted to say, but she knew precisely how stupid it would sound and decided not to bother. Instead, she moved to the Once-ler's side, murmuring, "Can you stand?" before looking up again.

"We're done here," she said, and she tried to hide the frustration and defeat in her voice, but she had always been terrible at acting. "If we retreat, will you at least let us do it in peace?"

The Once-ler snorted slightly at Lingormr’s words. “Yeah, no thanks to you.” Even in his injured state, he wasn’t ready to just give in. That wasn’t how he had launched his multimillion-dollar enterprise. It wasn’t how he had survived through a year of regret and loneliness.

Another gunshot, and then Soma was beside him, asking him if he could stand. “I think so. Just a misstep, that’s it.” Probably. He could hold out until they got to the x-ray room; it couldn’t be too far now….

“We’re done here.”

He stared at Soma in shock. “What? No, we’ve gotten this far and I’m not about to have been stabbed for nothing!” He bunched up the bottom of his t-shirt and press it against the stab wound at his waist. Giving up the cure for a man she had just met was ridiculous.

“Look,” he started rolling the fabric on his injured leg up, intending for it to serve as a temporary bandage. “This is a medical wing, right? There’s got to be a first aid kit around.” The Once-ler hissed as he pressed the roll of fabric against the slash on his leg. That would probably slow down the bleeding somewhat. “I’m not gonna die from a few cuts. Believe it or not, I’ve been closer to death before.”

He got to his feet slowly, putting his weight on his uninjured leg and resting a hand on Soma’s shoulder to steady himself. “It’s not too far now, we’ve still got a shot at this.”

At least Soma had some sense. Loki backed off silently, since the entire plan was letting people leave unmolested, so long as they left. Two illusions appeared next to Soma, bracketing her, looking dispassionately at the wounded young man.

The Once-ler's words pleased him far less. Just to make his point, he threw one of his knives at the man, passing close enough to cut before it embedded itself deeply in the wall.

Hopefully neither of the mortals would be foolish enough to try to grab the knife before he called it back to his hand.

The illusion to Soma's right spoke. "Soma is wise. You ought to listen to her, fool," he had the presence of mind to not actually say foolish mortal, as much as it was habitual. He still had a certain story he was playing to.

"Leave and I shall not bleed you further. You have my word on that, dearest Soma. Continue on, and I'll find it great entertainment to whittle your friend down like the stick he so resembles."

Soma's jaw tightened involuntarily. Of course the Once-ler would have to protest. It wasn't like realizing how much they needed to leave was difficult enough already.

"You will have been stabbed for nothing if we keep going like this," she said, a little more sharply than she really intended. "There's a storage closet with supplies here, but it's at the other end of the hall, and I don't want to keep fighting Lingormr every step of the way. Trust me, it's smarter to leave now."

At least she had the advantage of mobility, even though every movement she made pulled at the still-bleeding wound in her side. The Once-ler might be bigger, but she doubted he could fight her on this.

"We'll be going, then," she said grimly, and pulled on the Once-ler's arm in a manner she hoped was gentle but firm before she started to head back towards the exit.

The Once-ler flinched as the blade embedded in the wall next to him. “Someone really needs to revoke your knife privileges,” he snapped irritably. He considered grabbing the knife, but Soma was pulling him back towards the entrance. He sighed. Giving up was not something he liked doing, but Soma was the one who needed the cure, and if she was so adamant on leaving, there wasn’t much point in continuing to argue.

He hesitated when someone yelled out in pain near the entrance to the hall. The Once-ler frowned. When Lingormr had slashed him the first time he’d made a similar cry, and though it was impossible to tell the illusions from the real one by mere sight (a fact he’d learned rather painfully), the fakes had never been able to hurt them. Whatever had attacked the man at the entrance had to be very real.

“Your friend’s the only thing attacking people in this hall, right? And he can only be in one place at a time, yeah?” The Once-ler gestured at the entrance. “Sounds like he’s left us for now.”

He tugged Soma gently. “Look, neither of us is in good shape. We’re both bleeding, and you’re sick to boot, and I really don’t want to give Stabby another opportunity to cut me by waltzing on past him.”

The man clenched his teeth as he pressed the wad of cloth harder against the stab on his waist. “We should get to that cure. There’s probably a first aid kit or something there, too. We can grab those and patch up before going to this storage closet you mentioned.”

He gave Soma what he hoped was an encouraging grin.

“I said we still have a shot at this. Let’s take it.”

An illusion appeared, standing slightly behind the Once-ler and Soma, as if he'd been listening in to their conversation the entire time. "That would be a very silly thing to do," Loki commented. "And saying it so baldly, right in front of me. You really are quite the incautious thing, aren't you."

Of course, what the Once-ler said was true, but Loki had other tricks up his sleeve as well. Not deadly, but severely disorienting.

Soma's head shot up at the scream, her flashlight beam quickly following her line of vision. The victim of the attack looked vaguely familiar, but it was the girl beside him who caught Soma's attention.

The Once-ler had had a point, and Soma would have been willing to take him up on it, but seeing Rapunzel right there, probably in danger, and Lingormr appearing right behind them again--she couldn't risk it. Not here, and not now.

"Don't mind him," she said flatly, irritably. "He's delirious and in pain. We're going."

Her katana was lying only a short distance away, and Soma carefully picked it up by the blade and sheathed it in an open, obvious movement, as if to indicate that she didn't intend to use it. Then she tugged at the Once-ler's arm again, as if she had the physical capability to drag him anywhere at the moment.

The Once-ler ignored Lingormr’s words; he had no intention of arguing with an illusion. Instead, he waited for Soma’s response. The way she had reacted to the scream, and how she focused on the girl next to the injured man… he saw where this was going. And he was the delirious one?

“Oh no. Oh no.” The Once-ler grabbed Soma’s arm to keep her from advancing further. “This is not happening. We are in no condition to help out!”

He moved around her, placing himself firmly between the girl and the trouble at the entrance. Placing both hands on her shoulders, he tried to reason with her. “Think! We got this far with just the two of us, and they’re more heavily armed than we were! We’d just make it more difficult for them if they have to worry about us as well!”

A part of the Once-ler’s mind noted how odd it was that he cared so much about this. Soma was the first contact he’d had in a year, and it had been even longer since he’d interacted with anyone without the clout of his wealth and power behind him. He’d been missing it, possibly for longer than he had thought. And this was what drove his next course of action.

Without warning, the Once-ler wrapped an arm around Soma, lifting the girl off her feet. Thankful that the girl was a lightweight, he put his other hand against the wall for support as he started down the hall as fast as his injuries would let him. To keep his mind off the pain, he began muttering Soma’s directions to the room as a mantra.

“Second hall on the left, second door on the left, second hall on the left….”

NIGHT 64: MEDICAL WING HALL

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[autoing with permission!]

[Skipping for a final douchbag post with permission]

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