Night 75: First Floor & Basement Security Station

[lighthearted]

[From here.]

Beyond swaying for a few seconds, Sora's dismount from the warp pad was actually pretty graceful. The first thing he noticed about the room was all the screens mounted on the walls, letting off a faint glow -- though the corners of the room were still left in shadow.

He saw different hallways, different rooms, places that he recognized, along with areas of the basement that he'd seen if only briefly.

"Wow, this is really something. I cant believe they were actually watching our every move..."

For a moment, Sora was too distracted to consider what might be lurking unseen in the dark.

[OOC: We'll be attacked in this room!]

Comments

[lighthearted]

Sora was a little shocked when the nurse went down so easily. He probably should have gotten out of the way earlier, now that he was looking at the body sprawled out on the floor.

He couldn't look at it for too long, as it only led to him thinking about the women who helped them during the day, who seemed to only want the best for them.

"Next time, if there are more of these attacking us than just one, you've gotta let me get into the line of fire," Sora said, turning toward Link with a slight frown. "I want to be able to help you." At least neither one of them had been hurt.

[his_legacy]

With a short grunt, Link yanked his sword from the nurse's chest. He dragged it against the sole of his boot to clean some of the blood. He looked up to Sora when he spoke.

"If there's only one, we can't have both of us charging in." He took a deep breath, settling from the adrenaline rush. No, friendly fire would be the worst way to die in a place like this. "Sorry, I... if it isn't obvious, I'm not used to fighting like this. I just don't want you in danger if you don't have to be."

[lighthearted]

"Right, I know it's hard with one, but... it's not always going to be one." Sora, on the other hand, was used to fighting in a team, but he was also used to being able to call out his Keyblade whenever he wanted. The added problem of having to purposely get attacked made things difficult.

But they'd covered how to handle whatever attack came next, so for now all they could do was move on. Sora gave the nurse's body one last look before glancing at the next warp pad, which had lit up as soon as she'd died.

"Should we keep going?"

[his_legacy]

Link nodded. He understood that. Perhaps he had not stumbled into hordes as Sora had, but he knew that enemies rarely came in singular numbers. Another nod with Sora's suggestion of continuing.

"Gods know how much time we have left."

It was just as he was moving to step on the next panel that the sirens sounded. Link cried out in surprise and pain, his sensitive ears not used to such a harsh noise. He looked to Sora, his eyes wild and alert. Was this a good thing? Or a bad thing?

More than likely, he supposed it would be both.

[freewill]

[From here.]

While Ryuuzaki had mentioned that Sora and Link should be somewhere on th third floor as well, Castiel wouldn't have expected to encounter another them so soon. It seemed that these two had already handled the nurse that had guarded this room, which worked in their benefit.

For once, it felt like something close to teamwork had been achieved.

The sirens were still going off, and Castiel couldn't say why -- they clearly all understood the danger at this point. He waited for Lloyd to step off the warp pad behind him, and then nodded to the two younger patients.

Both of them were armed, he noticed, and they clearly knew how to take care of themselves, judging from the body laid out on the floor. He hadn't known what to make of them during his brief interaction the night before, but they'd proved themselves now. "We're moving on to meet up with Lana and Ryuuzaki," Castiel explained. "They're just ahead. If you could watch our rear, we may all make it through this alive."

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd had half expected to be attacked as soon as they appeared in the room. As soon as he'd stepped on the pad, he'd tensed, gripping his sword as tightly as he dared without compromising his grip. Once the light of teleportation faded, though, Lloyd blinked even as he reoriented himself. An empty room, a monster - he'd expected either of those. He hadn't expected to see someone else there, let alone two people he knew.

"Sora, Link," he greeted them both. He knew Sora a little better than the Hillian (it was 'Hillian', right? He wasn't an elf or half-elf. Lloyd remembered at least that much) but they were both familiar faces, people he knew who'd survived. The warmth in his voice is mixed in with an equal part of relief.

Then his eyes landed on the body and his gut clenched. "Is she...?"

The nurse is a bloody mess. He shouldn't have even started that sentence.

[lighthearted]

What startled Sora even more than the sirens themselves was the way that Link cried out, as if he'd been hurt. He rushed to his side, but it looked like he'd only reacted that way because of the loud noises. Maybe his pointed ears allowed him to hear better than the rest of them.

When Sora heard someone come over on the warp pad, he whirled around, ready to defend Link if need be. But it turned out that it was the man from the other night, Castiel, and Lloyd wasn't far behind him. They'd caught up after doing their work in the records archive.

"Lana and Ryuuzaki? They're the ones who shut down the security system?" The sirens might be annoying, but this was actually a good thing, right?

Lloyd's question caused Sora to look back to the nurse's body, and after a moment of hesitation he nodded. "Yeah, we--"

He was interrupted when a banging started at the door. It looked like there were more monsters where that came from. "You guys should go on ahead! Link and I will make sure nothing follows you." This time, Sora would actually get the chance to fight.

erk sorry, I guess this never went through!

[his_legacy]

Link glanced to Sora when he rushed to his side and dared to lower a hand from one of his ears to give a signal that he was all right. He was on high alert as well and whipped around to face Castiel and Lloyd they entered the room. He relaxed upon confirming that they were friendly, offered them a ghost of a smile, and remained quiet as Sora and Castiel spoke.

He was already getting busy making sure they weren't followed. Link yanked a chair over to the door with a small grunt and wedged the backrest under the door handle. The more tightly they could jam it shut for now, the better.

[freewill]

Unlike Lloyd, Castiel didn't feel much when he looked at the nurse's dead body. While she may not have had much control over herself after the effects of night took over, Sora and Link had only defended themselves, as anyone else would have in the same situation. Sometimes unpleasant things had to be done for the sake of achieving a goal.

Since the two of them looked prepared to handle any problems that might arise now that the alarms had been sounded, Castiel had to agree that it would be for the best if he and Lloyd kept moving. He didn't enjoy running from a fight, but he also knew how to delegate. That was a basic facet of tactics.

There was a possibility that Sora and Link could be overwhelmed, that they might even lose their lives, but they all had to take that risk.

"Let's go," Castiel ordered Lloyd. He nodded his thanks to the other two patients and then stepped onto the next warp pad.

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd jerked toward the door when the pounding began, heart racing all over again. Something was out there, trying to break in, and it wasn't likely that it was another patient. When it broke through...

He opened his mouth to protest, then closed it, torn by the thought of leaving anyone behind, but knowing they might need the precious minutes that Sora and Link could buy them. Besides which, Lana was already hurt. If monsters attacked Lana and Ryuuzaki, it would be even harder for them to defend themselves. They couldn't afford for Lloyd to waste time arguing here.

Still, Lloyd couldn't just go. Not without saying something. It wasn't in his nature to leave something like this alone. He fixed the two with an intense look. "Don't die," he ordered fervently, almost begged. "Don't turn this into a sacrifice." He stepped onto the warp pad, but kept his eyes on them, as though he could will them into staying safe somehow.

He was still looking when the light from the warp pad swallowed him and Castiel.

[To here.]

[lighthearted]

Sora could tell that Lloyd in particular didn't really want to leave them to fight on their own, but they couldn't waste any more time. Landel was probably already working to get the security system back up. They had to get to him and put a stop to things before that.

As much as Sora might want to confront the man himself, there was an importance in the fight here too, and so he'd keep a path clear for the others. After his failure to be of help in their last fight, he planned to go all out this time around.

Castiel and Lloyd disappeared on the warp pad, which left the two of them. Sora glanced over at Link and smiled. "I don't know about you, but I don't have any plans to die."

The chair held the door for now, but Sora knew they'd break through eventually. He faced the door with his shoulders squared and waited.

[his_legacy]

Link maintained eye contact with Lloyd until he vanished from the platform. Now it was just the two of them, and the fate of those who remained could very well rest on how much time he and Sora were able to buy.

He faced the door beside Sora, knuckles white from their grip on Soma's sword as the door rattled and threatened to snap open. The sounds that came from outside... At the very least, they had the starting advantage that the enemy only had the span of the doorway to enter. As long as they kept that secure, they might be able to last.

Link glanced to his roommate, his friend, as he spoke. He responded with a grim smile and a shake of his head. No, they weren't going to die.

At the very least, he would make sure that Sora didn't.

[lighthearted]

There wasn't much else to be said, not when the door was about to get broken down. Sora was confident both of them were ready to fight their hardest to keep everyone else safe, and he got the feeling that if he could just get his Keyblade out, they would be a great team.

The door didn't want to give so easily. It had been designed to keep the patients out, and so the monsters struggled with it too.

The security system was down, though, which meant that eventually a muzzle full of teeth gnawed a hole in the door. Sora squinted at it, trying to figure out what kind of monster they would be dealing with, but he got the feeling that would stop mattering after a while.

"I'll keep right, you keep left," he told Link while he still had the chance. That would prevent them from getting in each other's way, and if they ended up back to back? Well, Sora was used to that.