damned_institute | Nightshift 25: Discplinary Therapy Room Hallways

The trip to the halls where the experimentation happened wasn't nearly as long as Sora had been expecting it to be. He made certain to commit that path to memory, as it was one he might have to travel many times in the future. He hoped not, but even the bearer of light had to be realistic about certain things.

As they reached the proper hallway, the boy prepared for a fight. There was no way such "important" rooms wouldn't be guarded, but they had at least come with reinforcements.

Still, the monsters that were there to apprehend them were of a sort he hadn't seen around thus far. They were similar in structure to the thing with the huge triangle on its head, which meant that they might have quite the fight ahead of them.

When he heard Renji's order to run if a certain amount of people fell, Sora mentally shook his head. No, he wouldn't run this time. He had to save Kairi, no matter what.

Though when Renji seemed to be waiting for him, Sora bit his lip. "The Keyblade usually only comes out when I really need it. I have to wait for them to attack!" Dangerous, yes, but there was nothing else he could do. The creatures were on their way over, so he steeled himself and waited, staring forward unflinchingly.

The creatures each seemed to narrow in on a target. Shambling in stilted steps, they advanced. One drew up before the first group, bladed fingers raised high, mouth open in a silent scream. How could the thing sense them - blind, without ears, how did it sense their presence? And how did it pick Renji as their leader? For it was Renji that those bladed claws swiped down at, glowing with the same eerie dull gold as the rest of the creature's body.

The claws fell in a slow but precise arc.

As the creature moved forward toward him, Renji shifted on his feet, ready to dodge. Mentally he cursed himself for only being armed with a knife; the range was about comparable to that of the creatures. It was better than nothing, but a longer weapon would have been a welcome advantage.

He was ready when it swiped at him. Thanks to the fight with the necrits earlier, all traces of the painkillers from earlier had been burned from his system. Even the pain from the relatively minor wounds they had caused him left him sharp and ready.

He dodged downward and to the side to avoid those swiping claws, coming up to thrust his knife at the creature's momentarily unprotected side; on a human, it would have been the soft section between the floating ribs and hip. Not an ideal blow, but a good opener; it was hard to fight with one's bowels punctured, after all.

Artemis nearly shrieked when the claws came forward to slice Renji to ribbons. But somehow, he held his ground behind the man. For once in his life, he was going to do as he was told.

This is no game, he told himself, I could end up maimed or dead if I do something moronic. Artemis turned to Sora, his eyes clearly full of sheer terror.

"Any chance of that Keyblade-thing making an appearance soon?" He asked, his voice shaking, "We could really use it, I believe."

Sora's breath caught in his throat when the monster went straight for Renji. He wanted to do something--jump in the way, or push Renji out of range of the creature's attack--but he knew better than to act recklessly just because he felt vulnerable without his weapon.

In the end, Renji did a fine job of dodging. Still, there was no way he could continue watching like this. He was supposed to help, and as Artemis pointed out, he needed the Keyblade for that.

He nodded to the other boy, and then threw all caution to the wind by charging straight for their foe. He needed to get himself into some serious danger, and then he would be able to actually contribute!

Renji's blade struck the side of the beast. It bounced off with a sound that was almost metallic, reverberating with the force of the blow. It seemed to have had no effect on the creature. But Renji was no longer its target. Sensing Sora's approach, the creature turned with a jerk and swung at the boy. It brought its arm around in a clumsy arc, claws extended to catch the boy on the shoulder.

Renji grimaced. Of course it couldn't be that easy. Nothing was, in this place. He ran through a quick mental catalog of cheap shots. Without obvious sensory organs to go for, the next best place to try was the armpit, which he couldn't get to right now. Which left kidneys, or going for the back of the legs.

All of this crossed his mind in a split second. He swallowed down the urge to leap to defend Sora; if this was the only way for Sora's weapon to appear, it had to happen. And he trusted Sora, believed in him, and he hadn't been wrong yet.

...at least about that sort of thing.

Renji took his opportunity to dive into a roll and come up behind the creature.

Artemis saw the claws coming at Sora, but for some reason his legs refused to move. He was still rooted to the spot, staring at the beast dumbly. All around him, there was activity. People swinging various weapons at the beasts without speaking. It was too eerie.

And the intercom sounded. The boy's head snapped up suddenly, his eyes wide.

"I have countries begging for the fruits of my research; it is only through my own pitying patriotism that I stick with this sad bunch of short-sighted military men!"

"Research...!" He breathed. And then Renji rolled to the back of the monster, and Artemis was left quite unshielded.

The intercom's message was the last of Sora's concerns at the moment. The good news was that his plan seemed to have worked. The bad news was that that meant he was in imminent danger.

Still, he was more than prepared for the clawed hand coming for him, and leaned back at the waist in order to avoid it. Normally, he would have been able to arch his body forward again and then attack, but he couldn't move as agilely in Landel's.

Which meant that he ended up losing his balance and falling back onto the floor. However, he felt a stirring in his heart and before long, he had his Keyblade. Now he was just at a serious disadvantage, so he did his best to scramble to his feet again.

Renji was ignored. Artemis was ignored. The creature's sole focus was Sora, Sora who had been knocked backwards. The glowing gold creature bent, one shoulder jerking down and then the other following as though controlled by some mechanism. Again it swiped at Sora, either uncaring or unaware that the boy was now armed.

"Move it, Sora!" Renji shouted, then clamped the knife between his teeth and dropped to a three point crouch. The monster was bending down. Which meant, he hoped, that it was off balance. Rather than wasting a lot of time randomly poking it in the back with his knife, he thought it'd be better if he could simply help it overbalance and fall. Maybe they could keep it from getting back up. Maybe it'd reveal and obvious weak point, maybe it would give them a chance to search for one. Maybe...

Knife clenched between his teeth, he launched himself at the knees, throwing his shoulder against them and all of his weight behind it.

Artemis drew his hands up to his face as the monster turned its sights on Sora. Wait... it wasn't going to attack him? Why? Sora and Renji were both armed, he would have been an easy target. He pondered this, taking it in for a few milliseconds, then came back to the battle.

He wasn't doing any good standing in front of the thing, that was certain. And the way Renji was crouching now, it was impossible for the boy to tell where his supposed shield would be next. So for the time being, he stood there, scalpel in hand, flashlight in the other. Should he try stabbing it? Should he do anything at all, really?

Wait for the moment... you'll need every scrap of wit you can muster, that's certain.

And so he waited, and continued to stare dumbly into the face of the beast.

Sora wasn't one to hesitate in the middle of battle. Renji's order combined with the monster coming for him was enough motivation to get him moving. He scrabbled backward on the floor, his weapon held clumsily in his right hand.

Then Renji went for a tackle, and it seemed exactly like the sort of foolhardy thing he would do. (Hadn't he just charged the monster unarmed, after all?) Still, the distraction was a welcome one, and it gave him enough time to get standing again.

He glanced over his shoulder at Artemis, who looked a bit out of place, flashed him a grin, and then turned back to the fight at hand. He needed to find an opening so that he could join in the assault...

The tackle from Renji caught the creature completely off guard. It went down with its mouth twisted in a soundless scream, flinging out its arms in an attempt to slash anything within range. It rolled and bucked under Renji, attempting to throw off the attacker. There seemed an almost desperate rage in the thing now, now that it had been knocked onto its front.

Renji hadn't expected it to work that well, but he didn't pause to thank his good luck. He was on the downed creature's back, scrambling up to plant his knee firmly between its shoulder blades and bear down with all his weight. The other leg was over the side, foot firm on the ground as the creature twisted beneath him. It would - hopefully - be enough to help him keep his balance, stay on the thing's back, and thus keep it on the ground.

He yanked the knife from between his teeth and took an experimental cut at the back of its neck. "While it's down!" Renji yelled. "Gotta find a weak point!"

The radios turned on in the confusion; he caught little of what the man said, but he did hear the demand that they listen, and the comparison to children - the doubt. For someone that claimed to be helping them all, the man had a funny way of doing it. Emotions riding high in the battle, his first urge was obeyed. He yanked the radio out of his waistband and smashed it on the creature's head.

Artemis was startled when the thing fell forward--so startled that he took a step backwards. He still had his scalpel in had, but was still unsure of how he could help.

The only obvious weapons this monster has are its claws. If those are disabled, defeating it should be child's play. Artemis was hesitant to act though, as the monster was flailing wildly. Right at the moment Renji brought his radio down on the monster's head, Artemis aimed a wild swing of his flashlight at the monster's right claw--putting as much strength into it as possible. The boy was hoping to injure the thing's arm or hand or whatever it was.

At least he was trying to help now.

Renji's tackle had worked! It seemed like they wouldn't have too hard of a time overpowering it now, unless the monster still had something under its sleeve. Sora was going to do his best to stay positive, though. The sooner they killed the thing, the sooner he could get to Kairi. She was so close now, behind one of those doors...

Focus. Renji was telling him what to do, and he was more than ready to comply. He watched as Artemis stepped forward and made a swipe at one of the monster's hands, and decided he would go for the other one. He swung his weapon around and sent the teeth of the key into creature's hand.

He hoped the other groups were doing all right, but he didn't have the freedom to check on them just yet.

Every blow seemed to strike metal, causing no damage to the creature. It twisted and writhed like some great, grotesque fish, or a corpse shot through with electricity. Its claws rose and fell in stilted movements, striking out against those who tried to harm it.

Renji twisted and bounced with the creature, determined to keep his weight on top of it. His knee was starting to feel rather bruised, but it was the least of his current worries. So much of his attention was taken up by simply just trying to stay on the creature and keep it down that he couldn't really see what Artemis and Sora were up to.

He did have an idea - rather than a point by point check of the creature's back, which would take a long time, he set the edge of the knife slightly to one side of its spine and dragged down, searching for any place that felt different. It covered more area, and would make the search faster - assuming there was something to be found.

He just hoped that it would have a vulnerable spot somewhere. And on its back, preferably, since that was all they currently had access to. At least having it face down was making the creature's attempts at fighting far less effective.

Apparently, Artemis' flashlight wasn't strong enough to injure the whatever-it-was. The boy winced as the shock of the impact ran up his arm. It felt as though he were beating a tank with a flashlight!

Before he could back away, the monster started flailing, trying to get up or get rid of whatever was attacking it. And in this instance, being in front of the monster was the worst place he could be.

The first swipe got his leg--cutting through his sweatpants with no effort at all. Artemis yelled in pain, collapsing to grip his injured leg. The other claw came forward and sliced open the boy's coat, shirt, and shoulder.

"AGHHH! Agh...!" Artemis spouted off a few of Butler's most creative phrases, grit his teeth and dragged himself away from the swiping claws with his good arm. Blue sparks were already teaming on the wounds like shining maggots, trying to repair the damage.

"I need that..." Artemis muttered through gritted teeth. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to make the magic flow stop. With the extent of his wounds, it could take a while.

The strike with his Keyblade just caused a hard, scraping noise--it really was like hitting metal. What was this thing? It didn't move like it was as heavy as it should be, and yet it seemed impenetrable to any attack! There had to be some way to finish it, though--that was how it always worked!

Unfortunately, Sora wasn't able to avoid getting hit by its thrashing, either. When it flailed with its claws, he was close enough that they ended up hooking into his skin slightly below his knee. The boy let out a cry and then instinctively tried to wrench himself back and away from the pain.

He was able to keep his footing, at least, though it seemed like Artemis was out of commission. And he had that blue stuff around his wounds again, like when they had gone to the bathrooms... Weird.

Maybe it was the creature's legs that were the weak spot. Seemed like a long shot, but nothing on its back was seeming to work. Ignoring the pain, Sora started to get around to the other side of their foe.

Renji's knife hit a point near the lower part of the creature's back and everything changed. The knife sank in as though into flesh, thick golden blood spurt forth from the wound, odorless and flowing heavily even from so small a wound.

The creature's struggles renewed with a tenfold, it writhed and bucked and twisted as it tried to escape, no longer trying to harm but only trying to flee.

Renji took that as his cue he'd done something right. He sank the knife into the creature's back to the hilt, barely staying in place, his hands quickly becoming slick with the golden blood. As he began to slip off the creature's back, he viciously twisted the knife, the effort combined with the broken bones in his hand drawing a rage-filled yell from him.

"Lower back!" he shouted, loud enough to be heard over the sounds of battle. "Near the spine! It's got no armor there!"

Artemis heard Renji's cry, saw the blood pouring from the monster, and knew that they had done something right. The armored thing was now moving with a sense of panic--as though the only thing on its mind now was escaping the death that Renji's knife was swiftly bringing upon it.

And he turned his head just in time to see Hitsugaya shout about the group not having a weapon... and then fall. It was a lot of blood, but compared to sewing up Renji's arm, this was nothing. He felt the scalpel against his leg. They would need it--badly now. And he was, after all, the on-call medic.

The boy stumbled to his feet, the magic ceasing with his renewed bloodflow. His pants were soaked, and so was the back of his coat and shirt. The room shuddered as Artemis' knees threatened to buckle under his weight. But he was determined. He drew the scalpel out of his pocket. "RENA!" He shouted, lifting it above his head, then lobbing it towards her.

He didn't see if she caught it or not--his attention was on Hitsugaya. If he could use the magic that was already swimming back onto his wounds on the small captain, perhaps it would be put to good use. He stumbled over to the white-haired boy and fell beside him, ducking the claws by a near-miss. He lifted his hand and knit his brow in concentration. Artemis imagined the sparks abandoning his leg and shoulder and coming to his hands. He opened his eyes, and one spark darted quickly back into his palm.

"Dammit..." Artemis cursed and resumed his concentration. He had to hurry, otherwise Hitsugaya could bleed to death on the floor.

It was a good thing Renji was there, as Sora hadn't been able to contribute much of anything to the battle. Already, the older man had found the weak spot, and now the monster was gushing blood. Sora stared, his hand which had been clutching the Keyblade so tightly falling limply to his side as the weapon disappeared yet again.

Gold blood? It was a little gross, actually, and the boy put a hand over his mouth. He had seen black blood, but gold was just another step closer to completely abnormal. What was this thing supposed to be, anyway?

Though none of that mattered. The other fights were forgotten about, too, when he quickly recalled why they were here. He turned to Renji.

"Kairi! Where's Kairi?" His eyes skated over the doors on one side of the hall, hoping he could somehow know which one she laid behind.

Nightshift 25: Discplinary Therapy Room Hallways

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And Renji goes for the rugby tackle! <3

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