damned_institute | NIGHT 64: MEDICAL WING HALL

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NIGHT 64: MEDICAL WING HALL

_{[From here]}

Looking around, Scar wasn't quite sure what to expect upon this returning visit to the medical wing. It was silent, for now. Scar shined his light around each corner as he moved silently through the room, ready for something to jump out at him at any moment. He wasn't sure of what to expect, but he held his scalpel at the ready with his free hand. It was feeble protection at best, but Scar was a sitting duck without his alchemic arm.

He still wasn't sure if he would actually want it back, though.

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Kratos sighed as his flashlight finally fell on an unwelcome presence: Lingormr. For a scholar, he certainly owned an impressive suit of armor, and Kratos found himself wondering how the man's head managed to support that ridiculous helmet. But that was really for another time; it looked like Lingormr was probably the man behind all of the blood they'd encountered on their way in, which meant that they would have to deal with him before proceeding.

Ugh.

Even though they had the advantage in numbers, there were many other factors that did not tilt the looming fight in their favor, most of all the fact that none of them had any idea of Lingormr's true abilities. Kratos's eyes flicked briefly to the rest of his team. Rapunzel's hair could be useful in halting Lingormr's movements, which would allow Flynn and Castiel to close in and maybe score a blow or two. As for him, he could be the distraction; he was probably the only one capable of enduring a complete fight, despite his own lingering injuries. If he could draw most of attacks toward himself...that was the difficult part. Lingormr was not stupid enough to settle for whatever happened to get in his way. He would probably aim for the weakest point and then go from there, making it so that they had no choice but to retreat and regroup.

The problem was that aside from him, everyone else could be reasonably labeled the "weakest point", and even with his level of skill, Kratos could not effectively defend three people from an enemy he knew absolutely nothing about.

He let Castiel attempt negotiation alone while he edged a few steps back toward Eugene and Rapunzel. This whole situation felt wrong; there was something he'd missed.

Edited 2012-07-09 02:49 (UTC)

...A scholar, huh?

Eugene didn't understand why Lingormr was here or why he was dressed in what was absolutely the most ridiculous suit of armor Eugene had ever seen...but he did know that no scholar he'd ever met ever dressed like that.

Because, seriously. Horns. Why horns?

"Rapunzel," he whispered, "if we have to hold this guy off, you need to run."

To Lingormr, he decided to ever-so-helpfully add on to what Castiel was saying. (He really didn't appreciate being called a creepy stalker.) "Yeah, let us pass. We promise we won't tell anyone about the Great Horned Wond--augh!"

Loki's blade had found its mark. Crying out in pain and surprise, Eugene collapsed to his knees, his bleeding leg no longer able to support his own weight. "T-twice in two days!" he gasped, clutching at the wound on his thigh. It felt deep. "Same leg! N...no fair."

Rapunzel didn't recognize the man, but the sweeping horns of his helmet and the darkly confident look on his face told her enough. Her mouth fell open at the words "too late". Already come and— Who had taken it? Was that "someone" whoever this guy was? She wanted to demand more out of him, but found herself frozen where she was, dumbfounded as he rattled off names like he already knew them all. Except her, it seemed.

He had to be one of the brainwashed patients. She didn't know him, but the others all seemed to. She had heard whisperings, rumours about what they did to patients at night, but this was her first time actually running into one — and she found herself at a loss now. What could they do to get past without hurting him? If he was a patient, that meant he was on their side, no matter how intimidating or evil he was acting right now. If they hurt him while he was like this, what would that mean for the man afterward?

Then Castiel spoke, and Rapunzel realized: he really was sick. She had wondered earlier, but had been too distracted by Eugene, her own hurry, and the blood to really think it through. Now that her attention was focused on him, she could see just how bad he really looked and sounded. Now she felt immensely, horribly, disgustingly stupid for not picking up on it sooner. More than anyone else here, he needed that cure, and he was standing with weapon raised to help defend the group for it. That was the thought that shook Rapunzel into action. Castiel was in no shape to be fighting, and even freshly healed, neither was Eugene. Kratos was the most capable, but even he couldn't take on a big threat by himself. She had to do something, lend her part.

She stepped forward, raising her own weapons and ready to sling her hair if need be. "This doesn't have to get serious. We just want to see the room for ourselves," she said as evenly as she could, giving the horned man a narrow stare. "Let us pass."

Eugene started to add something, but that's when the first move was made. Eugene cried out, and Rapunzel jumped, nearly dropping her pan. "Eugene!" she yelped without thinking, whirling back around and crouching by her fallen boyfriend. She could already see the blood pooling on the ground. "No no no no no!" The pan did drop this time as Rapunzel scrambled to get a length of hair around the leg. In her other hand, she kept the dagger pointed out, ready to stab at the slightest noise in Eugene's direction. "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine" she sang as fast as she could while blood soaked golden hair red.

Despite three of them making an effort to speak reason with Lingormr, it became clear soon after that there had been no point in trying in the first place. There was a sudden burst of activity behind him, and Castiel spun around in time to watch as Flynn fell to the floor, a second Lingormr standing there with a blade in hand. It reminded him so strongly of Gabriel that he was stunned into silence for a moment.

He should have sensed that, but his powers were clearly not near to any levels that would be capable of anticipating whatever this was. Magic of some sort; smoke and mirrors.

It was the sound of Rapunzel's singing and the sensation of her own magic filling the air (somehow, he could be aware of that, if nothing else) that drew Castiel out of his daze. He didn't remember the fairy tales saying anything about Rapunzel having healing capabilities, but there was no point in questioning that now.

Instead, Castiel turned himself around to face the original figure who had spoken to them, and he was no longer interested in talking. If they were going to get through here, it would be with brute force, and they couldn't waste any more time; that would only give Lingormr another chance to pull a trick of that nature.

In the back of Castiel's mind, he was wondering how a professed scholar from a few hundred years back in time had this sort of power. It seemed that his suspicion that Lingormr was more than what he claimed had been well-placed.

Castiel rushed forward, swinging out with his blade and aiming for Lingormr's chest. If he could find the room they were looking for, Kratos might be able to clear a path for the others to get through.

[Turn order got a little messed up, I think? So I'm going to just roll with this. From now on, assuming Loki will be going after Castiel.]

Loki couldn't attack and maintain his invisibility, but he was well aware of this flaw. As he sliced through the muscle of the man's leg, he covered himself with another illusion like a second skin, then invisibility.

The new illusion looked down on the now-bleeding man (Flynn? Eugene? Silly name either way.) dispassionately, curved dagger still in his hand, now dripping red. Loki glanced at Rapunzel. "The lady has no doubt been here longer than I, and she ought to know by now the game simply isn't played that way."

To add to the fun, he built another illusion, one of simple sound. Seemingly from down the hall, someone screamed, quite loudly.

Using the two distractions to buy time, Loki circled quickly around, away from the movements of the others, and moved toward Castiel. He sent another image of himself to the side to act as a distraction, then appeared beside Castiel himself, the angle between him and Kratos. "Really, my friend. You look awful to be charging about like an angry bull. You ought to sit." He rested his hand on Castiel's injured shoulder - how well he knew that injury now - and then squeezed with all the strength of a god. "Let me help you."

Kratos's head whipped around as soon as he heard Eugene cry out. How...as he watched, Lingormr appeared close by, bloody dagger in hand. A quick glance back toward the Lingormr that had first confronted them confirmed what he suspected: the man used illusions. Illusory magic was not something he could claim much experience with. His former student had dabbled in it shortly after assuming the mantle of Yggdrasil, but Kratos, ever the honorable knight, had never touched the stuff. And now, of course, he was up against it.

What he did know was that the point was usually to provoke, to get the victim to blunder into some mistake by toying with fear and paranoia. That scream just then was probably a trick, and even if it had been real, experience kept him from bolting. He had to focus on the situation in front of him, rather than give in to distraction. They couldn't swing blindly and hope for the best.

Unfortunately, by that time, Castiel had already made his move. "Castiel--" By that point, though, his warning came too late. Kratos stepped forward, reaching to restrain the other man, but froze as Lingormr reappeared in between the two of them, one hand on the angel's shoulder.

Splendid. He inwardly groaned, and then began reaching for his mana as he continued through, bringing his sword up and slashing down with lightning speed, aiming for the only faintly unprotected spot he could see: Lingormr's elbow. Even if this one turned out to be a fake, there would be only one other "target" left: him. And if Lingormr decided to launch a swift counterattack, he'd be ready.

It wasn't healing fast enough. The glow had reached from Rapunzel's scalp to Eugene's leg, but she could feel herself straining against the limits of her magic already. The wound was closing but not closed, and that drop in energy from earlier? Felt a lot worse now, even after just a short while of healing. Being panicked and looking to defend herself and Eugene at every stray movement or noise wasn't helping.

"Just hang on," she told Eugene, trying to keep the strain out of her voice as she kept the dagger raised. She kept on the balls of her feet as best she could, ready to run as soon as he could stand again. Though, where they would run to, she didn't know. There seemed to be more and more of this... whoever this was every second, blocking every path. If she had to, she would take a cue from Castiel and go running at one of them dagger first, but she really, really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Edited 2012-07-12 00:10 (UTC)

Eugene's thigh was pumping blood and his vision began to waver. He grabbed for Rapunzel's (non-dagger) hand and squeezed it tight while she sang until he felt the familiar warmth from the magic. But, just like it had been earlier (an hour ago? Two?), something about the healing felt wrong. It was taking too long and he could still feel pain. And Rapunzel herself was weakening. As the world came back into focus, Eugene could see that, despite the glowing light from her hair, she looked exhausted and pale.

"Hey," he said, reaching for the frying pan and handing it to her before trying to stand up. The wound on his leg had stopped bleeding, but it hadn't fully closed. It wouldn't take very much to tear it open again. "I'm okay. Listen...I want...I want you and Castiel to go find the x-ray room. Me and Kratos will hold him off." He gave her a pale smile. "Just let me borrow the frying pan, okay? I dropped my little knives."

But then Castiel charged He of the Unpronounceable Name, only to have another version appear next to him and begin squeezing the life out of his injured shoulder. Eugene sagged against the wall. He was finding it very difficult to be shocked at all this magic in a situation like this. Not when the odds of them leaving this hallway relatively intact were growing smaller and smaller by the second.

He had to get Rapunzel away from here.

Edited 2012-07-12 04:30 (UTC)

Right as his blade was about to make contact with at least one of the phantoms, another one appeared and seized him by the shoulder. Lingormr clearly knew exactly what he was doing; he had his memories to rely on, even if his mind wasn't necessarily in the right state.

The point of all that being, Lingormr knew exactly where to grab and where to squeeze to cause him the most pain. As his hand crushed into Castiel's wound, a strangled sound of pain escaped his throat and he tried to desperately pull away even as his knees threatened to give out on him due to the shock.

That was going to put his healing back a few more days, most likely. Castiel tried to jab out with his sword using his other hand, ignoring the screaming from further down the hall. If there was someone else in danger, there wasn't much that the four of them could do about it at the moment.

As he jerked back, he heard Flynn behind him, suggesting that they split up, but that didn't seem like the best plan. It was true that they were crowding the hallway and it was also true that they needed to get to that X-Ray room before it was too late, but there was also strength in numbers.

Knowing that a path needed to be cleared, Castiel decided to make a more desperate move, reeling back with his blade and then throwing it down the hall like a javelin. With any luck, that would give some of them room enough to run forward.

Loki had been keeping an eye on Kratos, since he was most assuredly the greatest threat out of the group. He was ready when the man attacked, moving his arm minimally to catch the blade on his bracer rather than the more vulnerable joint. The swing was a bit jarring, but nothing to someone who had grown up learning to fight with Thor.

Loki released Castiel's shoulder, letting the angel's blade skid across his chest plate. He twisted a dagger from the air with his free hand and sent it spinning it at Kratos as he jumped back.

As he jumped, he cast more illusions of himself, five splitting off to give him a chance to regain his invisibility and go about his work. As interesting as it might be, his aim was not to get in a close quarters brawl with Kratos.

Another illusion appeared where Castiel had thrown his sword. "Not terribly bright, tossing your weapon away like that," he observed.

And the image next to Rapunzel said, "By the way, Lady, you might want to save a bit of that for Soma. She was looking a bit ill-used when I saw her but a minute ago."

Kratos growled under his breath as Lingormr shifted to block his strike. He hadn't simply let it pass through him, though; either his illusions were capable of tangibility, or Kratos had found the real thing. If it was the latter, he needed to continue pressing the attack. Kratos stepped forward, intent on a swift follow-up, only to be forced to violently twist away as Lingormr launched a dagger at him, the blade just narrowly missing his eye and slicing through some of his bangs instead.

Unfortunately, dodging forced him to look away for a brief moment, and by the time he'd regained his bearings, there were now five Lingormrs and no chance of identifying the real one. His chance gone, Kratos stepped back toward Rapunzel.

"I agree," he quietly told her. "I know you're concerned, but I need someone to focus on our original task. I'll take care of Eugene. Just find the x-ray room, and don't stop for anything else."

Go? Now? Hold him off? Eugene could barely hold himself up, let alone hold off a man in ram's armour who could be everywhere at once!

"Let you borrow the— No I'm not leaving you—!!"

A few things spoke louder than Rapunzel could in that moment: a straggled cry from Castiel, and the sound of someone screaming from further up in the next hall. Was it just Rapunzel, or had she seen a flash of white hair up ahead in the chaos earlier? She clutched Eugene's hand tight as the next series of events played out faster than she could follow — Kratos attacked, the Ram Man blocked, and Castiel was released. With what looked like the last of whatever strength he had, Castiel lobbed his sword forward at the nearest version of the man and...

He was gone.

He was back again as soon as he'd gone, along with five friends, but that bit of information clicked on a light in Rapunzel's head. The man standing where Castiel's sword had flown wasn't really there. He looked the part of the most intimidating human being Rapunzel had ever met short of Mother Gothel, but if the flight of a blade thrown by a sick, wounded person could make it through that terrifying front...

"By the way, Lady, you might want to save a bit of that for Soma."

Rapunzel's eyes went wide.

That did it. Eugene and Kratos were right. Kratos could fight with enough strength for two, and other people were depending on her right now. Castiel needed help badly, and if that scream earlier was any indicator, so did Soma. There was nothing stopping her — she had to just go.

The frying pan went straight to Eugene. She took a deep breath, making an effort not to deign the Ram Man next to her a look in the eyes. "Okay... I'll be back," she said as she released the hair from around Eugene's leg and turned to face the illusion blocking the middle of the hall. This one she did look straight in the eyes, a rare look of pure intensity on her face. She dug a foot into the ground, sizing him up.

She charged. In her tired state, she weaved and wavered some, but kept as straight on course as she could, grabbing for Castiel's hand with her free one as she bolted forward. "Get out of our way!" she shouted, ready to run full tilt into the Ram Man's chest.

Eugene shook his head when Rapunzel started to protest. "No, you have to. If there's a cure, you need to find it."

But he wasn't getting through to her. She was too distracted by his injuries, by the chaos around them. She would never agree to leave, even if it meant that they never made it to the x-ray room, never found the cure.

Ultimately, it was Lingomr--one of the many Lingomrs, anyway--that decided for her. Eugene didn't know who Soma was, but it was obvious that Rapunzel did. Soma was in trouble; Rapunzel had to help. It was as simple as that.

The frying pan to his chest nearly knocked Eugene off balance, but he managed to right himself just in time to see his girlfriend racing off down the corridor. Tired as she was, she was still charging yet another of the Lingomrs straight down, dragging Castiel with her as she went. The scene would have been almost comical if not for the fact that they were facing down an opponent who seemed quite willing to maim--maybe even kill--as he saw fit. Please be safe, Eugene pleaded silently. Please let her stay safe.

But now she was gone and they had more pressing concerns to deal with. The mostly reformed criminal gave Kratos a nod in gratitude at the part that he had played in trying to convince Rapunzel to leave. His leg felt like it would buckle under him any second now.

Eugene shot one of the Lingomrs an exhausted grin. "Not quite the getup I'd usually picture a scholar wearing. Math must be a lot more dangerous than I remember."

Castiel watched as his blade went right through the phantom he'd aimed for and then clattered to the floor. Lingormr only multiplied himself further at that point, but what stood out most was that they could barrel right through these images and not sustain any injuries. There seemed to be only one who was actually solid, and they'd unfortunately lost their chance to injure him. The armor made it near to impossible at the moment, especially with how Lingormr was flitting around.

Either way, his own wishes about remaining together as a group clearly weren't going to be adhered to. Not that he had ever voiced them, because in the end what was more important was them taking some sort of action. Castiel was hardly prepared when Rapunzel ran right up to him and grabbed for his hand, pulling him further down the hall.

Shocking as the whole thing might be, he adapted quickly, as this was exactly what he wanted. As they raced past where his blade had fallen, he ducked down slightly to pick it up, making sure that their pace didn't waver. Eventually, after passing a few of the illusions with no ill effect, a hallway opened up on the left side.

Kratos had said they should search on the left, hadn't he? Castiel tightened his grip on Rapunzel to stop her and then directed her down that hall. "This way!"

As it turned out, Kratos had been right. The X-Ray rooms were here. Ignoring the pain that was still radiating through his shoulder, Castiel pushed forward to the second door and shoved through it. Unsurprisingly, the lock there had already been broken.

[To here.]

For a moment, Loki was torn. He had a job to do, of course. It was non-negotiable. But the group had split, and he still had his autonomy on this. He could choose which part of the group was the greatest threat, which needed more than illusions and required bloodletting.

Loki didn't particularly relish attacking women, and he regarded Castiel as, while not necessarily a friend, something approaching it.

So he rationalized that decision with the last bit of free will he had: even though Rapunzel and Castiel were the weakest link in this chain. Kratos was a far greater threat, after all. And, in Loki's opinion, likely needed to be taken down a peg. He might as well see about wounding the man, since Flynn was still inconsequential and could easily be taken down again if he got stroppy.

Unseen, he moved along behind the two remaining men, calling a dagger into each hand. Simultaneously, he snapped the two daggers at the men with inhuman speed, one for each. As always, he aimed for strikes that would disable, aiming for the legs.

Kratos watched with a sense of satisfaction as Rapunzel took off down the hall, dragging Castiel along with her. In a way, this was the best possible solution. Even though he'd been hiding it, he was still recovering from last night's adventure, and with his angelic form so severely limited, there wasn't much he could do against an opponent like Lingormr, who wielded supernatural powers of his own.

So, now it was a test to see who would last longer: him, or the night. He could count Eugene too, but it was likely that Lingormr would focus his efforts more on the man who could still do something, as little as that something was.

Something whistled through the air - another knife, Kratos realized dully, as he attempted to side step. Lingormr's arm was faster, though, and the blade cut through the back of his calf. With a grunt of pain, he stumbled forward a step, but managed to stay on his feet. The cut wasn't deep enough that he couldn't put any weight on the injured leg, but it would certainly be harder to move--normally, not an issue, but it was different when his opponent was capable of invisibility and thus could attack with hardly any warning.

Even so, he wasn't ready to give up just yet. He'd sustained many leg injuries in his life and fought through most of them; he would do the same until he absolutely couldn't stand anymore. In one fluid motion, Kratos pivoted on his good foot and swung his sword down through a wide arc, directing the resulting shockwave back in the direction the knife had come from.

Eugene's heart was hammering in his throat for the few tense seconds it took Rapunzel to charge one of the not-Lingomrs, collect Castiel, and disappear through a doorway further down the hall. It could have gone so badly...but it hadn't. Rapunzel was out of harm's way, for now. And that just left him and Kratos.

And Lingomr.

Suddenly, there was another flash of metal and Eugene fell heavily onto his now twice-wounded leg, bleeding from both the new gash in his calf and the reopened on in his thigh. "T-this just isn't my day," he hissed through teeth gritted against the pain. "What's it with you and legs, anyway?" He felt weak and shaky, and even without trying he knew he wouldn't be able to stand without help, much less fight, but he held onto that frying pan anyway. Kratos was off doing something fancy with a sword, and the that Eugene could do was bang some illusory shins to back him up.

Loki had already begun to move the moment he'd thrown the daggers. He expected Kratos to be a canny opponent, after the quick way the man had reacted at the beginning of the attack, and because of the impression he'd gotten previously during the night they'd gone to the medical wing.

He wasn't quite expecting the shockwave, however.

The concussive force of the wave threw him back into the wall and he hit with a resounding crack. The shock of it was enough to break his concentration. All of the illusions temporarily shattered, leaving only him and all of the blood on the floor visible.

"Ah..." he wheezed, then started chuckling. Loki pulled himself away from the dent he'd made in the wall, cracks radiating out from the impact point. He was sore and winded, one of his ribs twinging in a familiar and unpleasant way. But he'd gotten far worse from Thor, who packed a much nastier kind of shockwave. "Excellent trick, Kratos. I've some more of my own; pity I'm not allowed to use them."

He called the daggers back to his hands, catching them with a practiced motion, spinning them idly. Even as he did so, he dropped an illusion around himself, telling it to multiply and moved quickly to the side. A moving target, after all, was much harder to hit.

Thor might have taken this as some invitation for an epic clash, a great battle between warriors. Loki was not his false brother in any way. He had no desire to make this a play at war; he simply took from it the lesson that he would have to treat Kratos with more caution.

"I thought you deserved at least one; it seemed only fair." To be honest, Kratos hadn't been expecting the shockwave either--as in, expecting it to hit. It was instinct to retaliate as quickly as possible, and he'd just gone with the option that made the most sense given his mobility and positioning.

Thus, he couldn't help but smile inwardly at this very small and petty victory, despite its cost: he was still on guard, sword raised, but already, his arms were beginning to ache--his injured one, especially--and his breath was starting to come short and fast. The damage from last night was only compounding the fatigue that came with the use of his mana, and with the injury to his leg, things were just adding up. They needed to escape this fight before it escalated any further.

Kratos glanced down at Flynn. "I'm sorry; I can do something about your leg, but not with my hands tied like this. I'll have to ask you to hold on for just a bit longer." How much longer, he couldn't say. They were back to multiple Lingormrs popping up in a dizzying sort of way, and there was no way he could launch another attack of the previous one's magnitude, not if he wanted to heal Flynn later.

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NIGHT 64: MEDICAL WING HALL

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