Night 75: Third Floor Security Station

[damned_monsters]

The security station that monitored the third floor didn't differ much from any of the others, but where normally at least one distorted nurse would have been waiting, there were instead bodies littered on the floor. Quite a few belonged to nurses, and it appeared that the monsters which had been unleashed in greater force on the institute had decided to attack indiscriminately.

The nurses hadn't been spared, and neither had the doctor who had worked so hard to get away from a group of displeased patients. His body laid crumpled on the floor, throat torn open by the mountain lion that stood over him. It didn't seem particularly proud of its kill -- no, it really only seemed hungry as it ripped the doctor's neck further open with large, greedy bites. As if some fresh meat might repair the damage to its own body, that telltale taint of rotted flesh and exposed bone.

Screens lined one wall, still displaying footage which cast enough light to show off the grisly scene. The security feeds revealed that there were monsters in most parts of the third floor now, occupying rooms where the patients had only just been.

As they arrived on the warp pad, the mountain lion's head jerked up and it bared its teeth in a snarl. The muscles in its legs coiled as it prepared to pounce.

Comments

[freewill]

The smell was the most immediately noticeable thing upon entering the room, something that assaulted Castiel's senses much as it did Ryuuzaki's. It wouldn't have bothered him if it weren't for the fact that he was practically human at the moment, which apparently meant that he felt everything with more intensity, even something like this.

The mutilated bodies didn't affect him much, as it wasn't anything Castiel hadn't seen before, and he was far more interested in the cause of the deaths. The mountain lion was even larger than the more common mutated cats that he'd run into here, and it wouldn't go down easily.

Castiel was poised to rush it with his blade, but Ryuuzaki got a shot off on it first, the bullet sticking in the creature's shoulder and causing it to hiss and yowl in pain. It thrashed around, as if it could rid itself of that pain, before eventually turning its anger onto them.

It rushed forward, and then --

Something surged through the room. It wasn't anything visible, but Castiel felt it as if he'd just been rammed into with two tons of pressure. It almost caused him to stumble back, except that what followed was far more familiar. He felt his Grace blossom inside of him after it had been withered for so long; felt his wings spread wide from his back, no longer weighed down by this place's limitations. He was an angel again, he was himself again, and the feeling was so sweet that he could have termed it bliss.

Not that there was time to dwell on his relief at this turn of events, not when that beast was about to pounce on Ryuuzaki. Castiel acted on instinct, his free arm stretching out, muscles drawn tight as divine power poured out of him.

"Shield your eyes!" he snapped to his three companions as the entire room flooded with an impossibly bright light.

[fourstonewalls]

Lana was slow to shake off the disorientation from moving -- the nausea and dizziness were stronger this time. Or it might have just been that it was followed by the stench of blood and bowels. Whatever the cause, she was still blinking her eyes and getting her bearings when Ryuuzaki's shoulder tensed beside her and he brought his gun up. A single gunshot rang out beside her, and she followed his aim to a creature she could only see part of -- furred and spotted and huge. And injured; he'd hit it, but it was moving fast and

Had that been chewing? She didn't have time to consider it, or even to try to step clear for her own shot, because Castiel was moving and shouting. She obeyed on instinct, throwing one arm over her eyes and hunching down into a crouch behind Castiel; it didn't cut down on the light, since there was no shadow she could stand in, but it did put him directly between herself and the creature she still hadn't gotten a good look at. Or what it had killed -- the doctor, most likely, in the only kind of justice this place meted out.

Swift, violent, and entirely random. They were all going to die here, weren't they? She wouldn't even get to see what had killed her.

[redcladidealist]

Just a bare second behind the others, Lloyd appeared on the warp pad, barely holding back the urge to gag at the overwhelming stench of death. He wasn't used to death - never would be, even if he'd had to deal with it before - but this was-

He didn't get the chance to finish the thought, or even brace himself for the cat's lunge, before something slammed into him, through him. He gasped, nearly losing his balance, when power, foreign and familiar and raw and unexpected, roared through him with the force of a river crashing through a broken dam.

But it wasn't just that. Maybe if it had just been strength, he could have held, but it was strength and sound and a burning pain in his hand that up until now had been nearly numb, surging up through his arm, through his body, across his back, strangling his gasp and building up into something, and everything was too loud too bright TOO LOUD, with monsters' claws clicking on cold floors down the hall and screams from throats that could be human or could be animal, light catching on surfaces a million different ways, from shiny metal to dull dirty fur, and footsteps that sounded like thunder in his ears-

-and then a gunshot rang out, almost deafening him. Lloyd fell to his knees, clutching his ears with a cry, the clatter of his own weapons hitting the ground adding their own agony. He squeezed his eyes shut against the light - too much light! - and blessedly missed being blinded. He was too preoccupied to be thankful, though, the burning feeling of mana in his back building, surging, racing until it was more than he could bear. Another cry escaped.

And then something released. Castiel's light faded (and with it an odd almost awareness of it that Lloyd couldn't begin to describe), but in its place, the room was still lit up with a soft, blue-green light - a light that matched the color of the two broad wings spreading out from behind Lloyd's back.

[ryuuzaki]

Many things happened at once. It was difficult for L to know which to pay attention to, particularly when he only had a split second to react, particularly when following the wrong instinct would likely be fatal.

His bullet hit the mountain lion, but didn't do much to stop it. Lloyd let out a strangled gasp, fell to his knees, cried out, in the absence of an obvious source of injury. Castiel rushed past them all and commanded them to shield their eyes, as the room began to brighten, quickly becoming almost unbearable. Looking away from the cat that was looking at his throat seemed to L to be a bad idea, but instinctively, he turned his head towards Lana, burying his forehead in the crook of his arm, covering his eyes with his elbow.

The point of having companions, especially well-armed companions, is that they might be able to protect you if you can't protect yourself. Vice-versa, too, he imagined, although no one would ever look at him and make a conscious decision to bring him along as muscle. Either he looks like the brains of an operation, or there's safety in numbers.

Castiel was well-armed, but more importantly, he must know what the light meant, and why the impulse to look away from its terrible brightness was a good one. It couldn't be coming from nowhere, and it wasn't a mystery to him.

That suggested that it wasn't only light, bright and inert. It must be active -- it must accomplish something. It had to, or it was a waste of time and their lives were nearly over. It was weird: the stench disgusted L, but he wasn't any more afraid than he had been at any other time, all through the evening.

Eyes covered, he completely missed the unfurling of Lloyd's wings.

[freewill]

Lloyd's screaming from Castiel's side may have been a distraction, but not one so great that Castiel was pulled from his task. The light faded from the room (though not entirely) and the mountain lion thumped to the floor, its body smoking after being burned from the inside out by his divine power. Castiel hadn't smote something in far too long, and he couldn't deny that it felt good to have such strength flowing through him again.

They wouldn't have to worry about any stray monsters getting to them now, not when he was among their number.

With the threat eliminated, Castiel lowered his hand and turned to the rest of the room. Lana and Ryuuzaki would need a moment to recover from what had just happened, and Lloyd might need even longer than that. Castiel had sensed all of the power that rushed into him too, something that wasn't quite divine but close to it. Kratos had tried to explain it to him once, that they weren't really angels despite the wings, and Castiel could feel that now.

Even so, he could tell that Lloyd had his own power to spare. Between the two of them, taking down Landel actually felt doable -- so long as they didn't end up losing everything they'd just regained.

Lloyd appeared to be overwhelmed by the sudden shift, which was understandable. Castiel walked over and offered him a hand. Lloyd needed to push past it, and fast. "We should move as quickly as possible now." Castiel could have flown them, if he had any idea where they were going. Instead they'd have to take the long route.

[fourstonewalls]

Lana felt Ryuuzaki lean into her; she hoped he'd done the same as she had. Even through closed eyes the light had been bright enough that afterimages were swirling on the insides of her eyelids like ghosts in a movie. The glow had diminished, though not receded, and she uncovered one eye. "It's alright," she murmured, intending it for Ryuuzaki's ears -- if he was smart (and all evidence pointed to it), he wouldn't have opened his eyes yet. She'd only done it because someone had to be the junior partner, and with a still-sore ankle she was the more expendable of the two of them. "I think," she added, in the same low voice.

She blinked, and blinked again. The green glowing wings sprouting out of Lloyd's shoulders weren't afterimages; they stayed put. And were lighting up the room.

She tucked her flashlight into a pocket, not turning it off, and stepped carefully off the pad. They did need to get moving, and she wasn't going to argue with that, though she would need a moment more before she could move quickly. But they could talk while they walked; if Castiel had a weapon that could kill Landel's monsters that easily, they didn't need to be quite as circumspect in their explorations, after all.

"Mind telling us what the hell that was? And where you got those?" She punctuated the last with a courtroom flourish aimed at the glowing green wings in question, in case anyone had any doubt about what she was talking about.

[redcladidealist]

Neither Lana nor Castiel had been speaking very loud, but Lloyd still flinched even with his ears covered, as though they'd shouted just inches from his head. Ugh, what's going on?! It wasn't just his hearing either. He was aware of them like he never had been before, dim and fuzzy impressions in the case of Lana and Ryuuzaki, but Castiel's presence just in front of him blazed in the back of his mind. Lloyd forced himself to crack his eyes open and look up, half-expecting to be blinded despite the fact that Castiel's attack (or whatever it had been) had already faded out. But the man didn't glow. In fact, he looked as normal as ever, though his features seemed sharper and clearer than before in the soft light that filled the room.

No, wait, it wasn't just him. Everything was easier to see, coming into focus as though Lloyd had been half blind and never realized it until someone put glasses on his face. But he wasn't wearing glasses. The only thing that had changed was the light. Light that was coming from-

Something fluttered on the edge of his vision, almost out of his range of sight, until he turned his head and-

Lloyd froze. No. No, that wasn't what he was seeing. It couldn't be. He wasn't- He didn't even have- Horror dawned on him, freezing the breath in his lungs, as he jerked his left hand down to stare at the Exsphere embedded in his skin.

Only it wasn't just an Exsphere. It wasn't even his. It was his dad's. Kratos, who was-

'I am of Cruxis.'

And blue-green wings, just a shade away from his-

'I am one of the Four Seraphim.'

No way. No way, it wasn't possible, he wasn't-

But the damning words tumbled from his mouth before he could stop them. "I... I'm an angel," he said numbly. It still felt like he couldn't breathe. What did this even mean for him? Up until now, he'd worried about becoming an Exbelua, a monster who would attack mindlessly as his mana ran out of control, but he'd forgotten he wasn't dealing with a normal Exsphere here. His father's Exsphere was a Cruxis Crystal. And a Cruxis Crystal without a Key Crest to control it...

He only needed the memory of Colette's lifeless eyes to know exactly what kind of danger he faced. It wasn't just his mana at stake. Now it was also his soul.

Swallowing around a suddenly dry mouth, Lloyd shakily lowered his other hand. Everything was still too loud, too loud, including his pounding, terrified heart, but that same terror was also now driving him to act. He took Castiel's hand, letting the other man pull him to his feet. He didn't know how much time he had.

"Y-you're right. We... we should go." He didn't know if he should even say anything else. Was this what it had been like for Colette? Pushing herself to keep going, not telling any of her friends what was happening to her because she knew they couldn't afford to dwell on it?

Or was he just in too much shock to think?

The way it felt like the world was still rocking, swords at his feet almost forgotten, that was definitely possible.

[ryuuzaki]

What had happened?

A scream, a thud, a smell, a new scent in the room, and then L could hear Castiel moving around as the brightness faded. Lana took care of the reassurances, which he didn't need (Castiel's would have been enough), and also the questions, which he would have asked if she hadn't.

L opened his eyes.

The light had faded to a soft, hazy glow with a cool tint, not the sharp overwhelming whiteness that he'd had to shield himself from. A glance around the room showed the cat lying on the floor, very dead, small plumes of smoke curling into the hazy air above it. The light itself seemed mostly to be coming from Lloyd, who had already explained it.

Did he and Lana literally have angels watching over them -- or one angel, anyway, and one open question? Over and above the idea of safety in numbers and well-armed companions? He had been conscious all along, especially since she'd been hurt, that they were both physically fragile, even as people here went. Were they now more shielded than he could have imagined?

"We should move, but..."

He glanced back and forth between his companions, frowning. A light so bright that he had been warned against looking at it; a pair of wings. For the moment, it wasn't worth debating what these new revelations meant in specific semantic terms -- they could all do that, and confirm the details, later.

"Exactly how much can each of you do from here on out?"

Was that a one-time thing, or could Castiel burn anything he felt like burning? Was it some kind of pyrokinesis? Something like that had no place in L's reality, but he'd been forced to accept so many things in recent days, and the cat was dead whether or not he questioned how it had been killed. As evidence went, it was hard to argue with, unless Castiel was in league with Landel. But that had never seemed very likely.

And did Lana have any abilities he wasn't aware of?

[freewill]

It was understandable for Ryuuzaki and Lana to be so baffled by the sudden shift. Their senses likely weren't fine-tuned enough to understand the gravity of what had just happened. And if they came from worlds where this kind of thing was nothing more than fiction, then it would be even more of a shock to the system.

Although if anyone was suffering from that, it was Lloyd. His face was pale, his eyes wide, as if he hadn't yet processed the sudden surge of power that had assaulted him all at once. It would be a lot for anyone to take in, but in Castiel's case this was actually a relief more than anything else. He finally felt like himself again.

They deserved to have their questions answered. Lloyd's explanation wasn't particularly detailed or entirely accurate, but it wasn't worth getting into the specifics of it right now.

Castiel turned to Lana and Ryuuzaki, drawing in a breath as he prepared an explanation. "Our powers have been returned to us." Obviously. "In my case, that means that I have the divine strength to smite any enemy that crosses our path, among other abilities." The list was too long to rattle off right now, when their time was so limited.

His gaze then focused in on Lana. "You mentioned an injury before. I should be able to heal that now, if you wish." Not every human was so open to the idea of an angel touching them, even if it was a healing touch, so he wouldn't do anything until she gave her consent.

As he awaited her response, he turned to look at Lloyd, who remained standing there in a daze, not having retrieved his weapons yet. "Will you be all right?" he asked under his breath. It wasn't truly concern that spurred the question; he wanted to know if he had to consider Lloyd a help or a liability as they moved forward.

[fourstonewalls]

"It's minor," Lana said, stiffly. Her eyes had flicked back and forth amongst the three men while her mind tried to catch up. An angel? Moreover, an angel who didn't know he was an angel? And divine strength?

Were they all dead, then? It was one of the weirder explanations for all of this that she'd entertained. Ema would have a stranger one, surely, if she were here. But an explanation, whether flight of fantasy or pure truth, was nothing but a distraction. She'd heard crazier testimonies, and while part of her itched to get to the bottom of it, it couldn't be a priority. They would, after all, have all the time in the world to talk about it later. Whether that was over a plate of -- was it waffles tomorrow? -- in a miraculously restored cafeteria, or while Landel sat in chains at their feet didn't matter.

She didn't bother volunteering any information about herself; she was, in fact, completely unchanged, and it should be readily apparent. If they couldn't gather that, they could ask.

Castiel was still looking at her, though, and Lloyd clearly needed another moment to gather himself. Well, then perhaps some experimentation was called for.

"...Alright. I don't mind if you take a look, if you'd like." She stooped down, wincing as the motion pulled the scab on her leg loose, and pushed up her pants leg and peeled the corner of the dressing down. Minor was a slight understatement; the wound could debatedly have used a couple of stitches rather than just a cover, given that she was going to be running around on it, but it showed no signs of infection. "Quickly, please."

[redcladidealist]

Would he be all right? He didn't know. He didn't know. Things hadn't been all right since the day he'd gotten here, and they'd only been getting worse with each day that passed. Getting his powers back might have been an improvement if it had just been his powers he got, but this- and without a Key Crest-

I have a Key Crest. The thought penetrated the fog of shock like something electric itself. He looked down at his hand, which had curled tight around the two piece of metal and the gem they'd found in the last room, refusing to drop them even when he'd all but lost his senses to the power crashing through his veins. A shaky breath escaped him.

Two Key Crests. One of them already made for an angel.

"I... Yeah." When his voice didn't come out as confident as he would have liked, he said it a second time. "Yeah. I- I will." He'd have to be. They couldn't afford anything else.

With another breath, a better attempt to mentally steady himself, he transferred the precious items in his left hand to his right, then bit the tip of his glove on his now-empty hand so he could pull it off and let it drop to the ground. Another gem, similar to the one in his hand, sparkled in the light of his wings, though this one was literally embedded in the skin on the back of his hand. Angry, scarred flesh surrounded the Crystal, showing the evidence from when his Exsphere had been surgically removed, but Lloyd didn't think twice before fitting one of the rune-inscribed plates around it.

Kratos's Key Crest. He couldn't trust his own to be able to handle a fully developed Cruxis Crystal. Dad...

The effect was instantaneous. Lloyd hissed as the inhibitor ore reacted, sinking what felt like thousands of tiny teeth in. After so many days of numbness creeping up his hands, the sensation was almost more than he could bear, though it was over almost as quickly as it began, soothed away by a deep, deep relief. Lloyd unconsciously released tension he hadn't even realized he'd been holding as his turbulent, unsettled mana stilled. Shakily, he flexed his fingers, checking to make sure that everything still worked.

"I'm... not sure what I can do. If I've got my normal powers back, then I'm stronger, and I can be faster, and I can use my mana - my energy - in attacks." It was more complicated than that, but it would take too much time to explain - especially if any of them didn't know what mana was. "But being an angel..." For a moment, he felt helpless, at a loss to explain, and his eyes darted to Castiel. Something about the man felt like... like...

He didn't know what to compare it to. He'd never been able to feel mana like this before. But he couldn't shake the feeling that Castiel was somehow like him, and that he might have answers that Lloyd didn't.

Except he wasn't from Lloyd's world. He couldn't know. It was a feeling that didn't make any sense. Lloyd shook his head, trying in vain to dismiss it.

"In my world, angels can do all that and more. They can fly, and they have holy magic, and..." And again, all the little things tied into the angelic transformation were so much more than Lloyd could even begin to explain. Not needing to eat, not needing to sleep, the potential loss of humanity... And that was only the tip of things. They didn't have time. Even pausing for long enough to let Castiel heal Lana, there wasn't enough time for it all.

Shaking his head again, he placed his Exsphere and Key Crest into the most secure pocket on his tool belt, then reached to collect his glove and his sword. The last vestiges of his shock were still there, and it helped to focus on something physical. A simple task. Easy and uncomplicated.

"I don't know," he repeated, trying not to twitch at the motion of his wings as they fluttered behind his back. "I know what my d- what Kratos can do, and it's his Crystal I've got, but I won't know if I can do what he can do until I try." But even not knowing, he still had to wonder...

Could he do magic now?

[ryuuzaki]

Angels. At any other time, L might have rolled his eyes, or stared at them in stupefied wonder. Now, they didn't have time, and what he felt was a hint of triumph, maybe premature. If what Castiel said was true... it wasn't as if it hadn't come with a demonstration... the tide might have turned definitively in their direction. If not -- they really weren't any worse off than they had been five minutes ago.

"Whether or not you can do anything of that nature," he said to Lloyd, "it looks like we may be in good shape going forward, as long as time doesn't run out. If we're lucky, what we've done to the systems before now might give us some leeway. If not -- we'll have to reassess in the morning. If it comes in the same way that it usually has. I don't know what will happen at dawn."

If it comes and they fall asleep the way they have as long as he's been there, if they're allowed to interact when they wake, if there's any staff to place them in their beds, if they're even allowed to wake up, at this point. If any of the chaos they've caused is reversible by their opponents at all. If it's not, they may need to continue to hold out against what they've unleashed for as long as they can, on the understanding that the other side has to hold out against it, too. But Castiel's abilities would almost certainly make it easier.

He looked over to see how Lana's ankle was doing. She was still quite herself after all, nothing to declare.

"If she can be healed, we can take the flanks, but we can't do much in comparison to Castiel. My bullet didn't stop that cat, and it took several to stop a nurse last night."

After a momentary pause, he turned his attention back to Lloyd. "Are we in any potential danger if Kratos's skills don't work as expected?"

If they were, they'd have to risk it.

[freewill]

It didn't take Lana long to switch from a stubborn remark about her wound to revealing it for him to see. She had to realize this wasn't an offer she could pass up so easily, given what laid ahead for them. The unknown, essentially, though they had to hope Landel would be at the end of their path.

As he stepped over to Lana, Castiel could feel as all of Lloyd's lashing, uncontrolled power begin to stabilize. Those items that they'd found in the other room appeared to be doing their work, which was good. The last thing they needed was for him to let out some surge of power that either drew attention to them or harmed one of the humans in their group.

Even as Lloyd explained, Castiel stooped down to peer at Lana's ankle. It wasn't in any danger of infection, which made sense since the staff here normally cleaned and dressed their wounds -- the sort of hypocrisy this place was known for. Castiel doubted that it was comfortable to walk on, though.

He reached out, gently setting his hand an inch or so above the wound. Then suddenly, without any indication (no noises or glowing light or anything at all), the injury had disappeared, as if it had never existed in the first place. Castiel stood then and nodded to Lana, a quiet there you go.

"For now, I can take the lead and Lloyd can take the rear until he's determined what he's capable of with his new abilities." It was the safest route, since Castiel should be able to obliterate whatever they came across all on his own if he had to. It wasn't difficult at all for him to fall into a leadership role again, given that he'd commanded his siblings in battles in the past.

He scanned the group. "Is everyone ready?" At this point, they had to be.

[fourstonewalls]

Lana wasn't sure what she'd expected, but whatever it was, it didn't come. Nothing changed, except that the dull burn in her leg abruptly ceased, and when Castiel's hand pulled away, her skin was bare and intact. All that remained as evidence was a shaved patch; she hadn't gone to the trouble of extracting a razor from the nurses since just after she'd arrived.

Even effusive thanks (which Lana had never been prone to) seemed insignificant for what most people would call a miracle; he'd done it like it was trivial. So she just rolled down her pant leg, and nodded back. They had a job to do, and even if she and Ryuuzaki were pitifully equipped compared to angels, they had eyes and could sound an alert. She stepped into place just behind Castiel. "We are," she said. Whether Lloyd really was or not, she couldn't tell for sure; Ryuuzaki she was certain of. At least he was as ready as she was; overwhelmed and exhausted and merely human, but determined. And Lloyd would be if they had confidence in him; Ema had surprised her over and over again with her strength, and she'd have to trust him to do the same.

Of all the things Landel had done, he had succeeded in bringing out the best in everyone he'd brought in. She kept her mind focused on Ema, and on projecting confidence in Lloyd; reminiscing about anyone else would be useless at best.

[freewill]

Lana spoke for the entire group, but Ryuuzaki and Lloyd didn't offer up any protests. They all understood the lack of time they were dealing with here, and the last thing Castiel wanted was to have to experience his powers being wrenched away from him again.

Granted, Lloyd's lack of reply might be due to how disoriented he was, but Castiel trusted that Lana or Ryuuzaki would see to it that he made it through into the next room.

And so he inched toward the pad with its soft glow and stepped on, wondering just how many more of these trips they would have to make before they reached the end of the line.

[To here.]