damned_institute | Nightshift 26: Hallway Outside M41-M80 Block

What the hell, stupid cat!! Was that thing supposed to be radio active? He swore to god that when he got home, he was never going to complain about Shamisen's claws getting too long. He'd be allowed to sleep in his bed every night too! Shamisen was a good cat. Not like this godforsaken thing!!

He gave Kon a shaky nod not really being of much use anyway. He kept his back to the wall the best he could, backing up until his free hand touched the wall. He didn't want that thing getting another sneak attack.

Fucking monsters. That what it was, one of those damn monsters he'd been hearing about. He looked back at Kon again and wondered just for a minute what he was. He'd never seen anyone kick a cat quite like that before ...he seemed to have a handle on the situation.

Huh, so much for being the leader. At least Tamaki will have a demonstration subject when they finally get to the meeting. Damn that shit stung.

The cat continued to clean itself casually, enjoying the taste of Kyon's blood. Its prey didn't seem to be going anywhere. It could wait.

"..." This was frustrating, because Kon felt like the cat-beast was making fun of them. He frowned at it a bit more than before, then shifted a little more to try and step towards it slowly. His head turned again, eyes still on it, and he talked quietly to Kyon in hopes that the cat wouldn't hear, or couldn't understand him.

"I want to try something. I don't know if it'll work or not, but. Do you think you can trust me on it?" The idea of trying to carry Kyon was quite crazy. He might've been about the same height as him, but he was probably heavier. Sure, he'd gotten Ichigo's body, and he was built well enough, but. He wasn't sure how easy it'd be to jump up if his legs had been limited as he suspected they were.

It was a risk he guessed they'd have to take, if they wanted to get out of this alive.

Kyon cocked his head towards Kon and gave him a questioning glance. What? He stared back at the Cat-monster-not-Shamisen and then back at his friend. He gave him a nod and in a low voice he replied,

"I'm for whatever you have in mind, if it gets rid of that thing." He said bluntly.

Though, we really didn't have a clue what Kon could possibly be thinking right now. Not that he really could focus much other than watching the cat and trying to block out the throbbing pain in his back. It was getting worse, and he knew he was losing more blood than he really should.

It finished its cleaning ritual, stood up and then began to pace back and forth. It could smell the fresh blood from the boy it had dug its claws into. The longer it waited, the weaker its prey would be. It just had to find out a way to get past the boy with the kick.

There would eventually be an opening. It never let its eyes look away from them, constantly watching for any chance to strike. As it did, the sound of its purring echoed down the hallway.

"It gets us away from it, at least. Keep your flashlight on it so I can see." Kon waited for a moment before he flicked his off and put it with batteries and radio, eyes staying on the creature even if he couldn't see it quite as well. With that done, he leaned down a bit and held his arms out free on either side of him, looking like he was prepared to launch off at the cat.

"Get on my back. I don't know how well this idea'll work, but it keeps you away from it. You can't risk getting more hurt than you already are." Shit, this was way too risky, but it wasn't like he had any other choices. If he left Kyon there to try and kill it--it was a threat to a human life and he couldn't have that, couldn't--there was the possibility it would get around him and attack the weaker of the two.

Wasn't like they had any other choices, anyways. They had to get somewhere, and sure as hell, they would.

What? Get on his back? Wait a minute now, Kyon did NOT get that close to another guy. Hell no.

He thought this until Kyon felt the continuous throb in his back again. God dammit, he needed to do something about that, and they both needed to get the fuck out of there. He sighed and ...swallowed his pride. As the flashlight in the others hand flicked off, Kyon tightened his grip on his.

He stepped up behind Kon and awkwardly put his arms around his neck, hoping that he didn't weigh to much for him. He was a bit on the skinny side despite that kick he'd given to the Cat-hell-beast.

The hunter stopped its pacing, pausing to stare quizzically as the weakened prey got onto the back of the stronger prey. It didn't quite know where this was going, but it didn't like it at all.

It hunched back down into a crouch, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

Shifting, Kon grabbed hold of Kyon's legs behind his knees and lifted him up easier. Okay, it was like he expected. Kyon was bulkier than he was, but that wouldn't be too much of a problem. Hopefully. This probably would've been easier if Ichigo had a bit more of a build like Chad, although he couldn't be sure running would be as easy if he were bigger.

Whatever. He didn't even ask for Ichigo's body in the first place.

"Hang on. And don't move any. If you do, I might lose my grip, and you'd be in trouble." With that said, he rushed forwards towards the cat. God, his running had been weakened, too. That was all he needed. But he didn't complain about it. Instead, he timed himself, before pushing off and jumping at the cat. Not as high as he could. Not good not good.

Well he could just hope, of course, that the cat didn't react fast enough to the leap.

Kyon instinctively clung to Kon as he heard him talk. Yeah, looking at that stupid cat thing, there was no way he wanted his friend to lose the grip on his legs, whether this looked incredibly gay or not.

Continuing to push the pain he was feeling farther to the back of his mind, he ducked his head down closed his eyes. He felt Kon start to move foward, still wondering how strong this guy really was. Kyon opened his eyes enough to see him push off the ground.

Oh he hoped to god this went well. He did not find the idea of becoming cat food amusing at all.

The cat's instincts were fast, but it hadn't been expecting its prey to start charging it. What had originally been a planned assault quickly turned into a defense as the cat arched its back and hissed loudly.

As the boys lept over it, it too late realized what was happening. As the boys landed, the cat quickly turned, got a running start, and jumped at his back, yowling as it leaped.

"Shit!" Okay so he'd expected to land further away, but that was just being used to jumping further in the first place. Fine tuning was long gone if he didn't have the jumping powers he had before.

Kon twisted uncomfortably once he landed, awkwardly moving to try and face the jumping beast-cat that was aiming to attack once again. Once he had Kyon at least facing away from it, he let go of his legs, hoping he would drop relatively safely to the floor. "Run, now!"

Really he had no idea what the hell he was going to do, because this thing was fast just like an actual cat. Just bigger and more trouble. And he'd originally been a cat person by default, plushie be damned. Well, better than nothing was to try to at least knock it down the hallway. He twisted again, hoping to at least get a leg between it and himself to spare Kyon some time to get up.

Kyon couldn't help but to peek behind him as he heard a rather angry yowl. After he did, he kinda wished he hadn't. Grasping a little harder to the other boy's shirt he yelled, "Kon!!" as he felt him twist around. Not good, not good, not gooood.

As he stumbled to the floor, he didn't completely lose his footing and fall. He took a few steps back and straightened himself up just as Kon ordered him to run. Wait, what?

Okay, so maybe Kyon was scared shitless right now, but there was noway he was going to leave Kon with this thing alone.

That was until it hit him that standing there as a defenseless target was only making Kon's job worse. No, if he ran, he could get some help from the meeting they were going to anyways. It wasn't that much farther anyways. He took a few steps back and shouted, "I'm getting help! I'll be right back!"

A few more steps and he thought, Don't you fucking get killed, before running down the hall.

Kon was quick enough to get a leg between him and the cat, but the beast didn't seem to mind. The cat latched onto his leg, its front claws digging in to give it a hold. The back claws and teeth would come next.

Kyon was completely ignored. It wasn't a glutton. One human sized prey would be more than enough to feed it for the night.

Kon had expected that to hurt, and quite badly too, especially judging from Kyon's reaction to it on his back. He had not, in fact, expected it to hurt as much as it did end up hurting. He yelped, visibly expressing his shock as the not-quite-real animal dug its claws in, not entirely enthused at the thought of it being fully latched to the limb.

His legs were like his prized possessions: he did not want them ruined.

With that in mind he moved a little wobbly, swinging his leg and trying to dislodge it from the limb. Kicking it in the head would've been the best option, and he would have no qualms over it: this thing was a threat, and thusly, had to be eliminated. Hollow or just fucked up creature of the weird hospital land he'd ended up in. However, kicking it would require the other leg, and he wasn't about to put himself into such a vulnerable position.

Shaking the leg around and trying to smack the overgrown cat into the walls would have to do. "Get the fuck off!"

After one smack against the wall by the prey with the exceptionally strong legs, the cat knew better than to hold on further. It jumped off of him as he swung his leg against the wall again, then kicked off and pushed itself back, just out of range of those powerful legs.

Then, once free, it ran forward again, this time not jumping so that it could dodge any of its prey's powerful kicks if necessary.

[[From M31-40 Hall (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/183215.html?thread=13736367#t13736367).]]

Reinforce ran out into the hall, scanning for any sign of Kyon's friend or the foe they'd encountered. After a few panicked seconds of searching in which she thought he might have fled and been pursued somewhere they didn't know to look, or been killed already, she caught sight of him in the dark, back to her and facing a large catlike creature. The thing looked decidedly fitter than the creatures she'd encountered until now...

But before her hatred for doubt and devotion to her duty such considerations meant little. She would find a way or she would not, but she would act now. She ran down the hall towards the two, staying close to the wall to keep a clear line of fire to the cat. There was a distinctive crackle and whine, and a yellow orb of magical energy formed before her.

She fired the first shot quickly, to get the thing's attention, allowed a half-second to anticipate its movement and correct her aim, and then fired continuously as she approached, eight shots in all. Though they burst into impressive spheres of light on impact, the physical damage dealt by the projectiles was negligible, unlikely to kill or even cause disabling injury.

For her purposes, though, the pain and disorientation the released magical and electrical energies caused would be enough. A few hits and she'd have an opening for Kon to escape, and for her to attack.

Kon's yelling certainly made it easy to find him; Raine was glad to see that he was on his feet and fighting back, although less than effectively. The sight of an unarmed child (teenager) facing a monster he didn't know how to fight just enraged her; gripping her broom tightly, she stopped as close to the creature as she could without getting in Reinforce's way. If it got within reach, she'd bash it straight into the wall. All they needed was to stun the thing, and then they should get the upper hand just long enough to kill it.

"Get behind me!" she ordered Kon, edging towards him to cover his escape. He needed to get out of the way and to safety, and she needed him close enough to briefly check his wounds. The cat didn't look too hard to take down, but if Kon was bleeding badly enough it would still be too long.

Kon was quite glad the animal got off his leg, although wasn't too excited about it running back towards him. But then there was a crackle, and he knew well enough to move out of the cat's direction and towards it. If Kyon did get help, he got some reliable people. He stumbled at first once he got his leg down, wincing, before swallowing it back and putting on a frown to cover it up.

Without a glance back to the cat, he moved towards the white-haired woman that showed up, quick but feeling sluggish either way. What happened to him? Why couldn't he do anything like he used to? He skidded past Raine somewhat, before stopping and looking both ways down the hall. Just as a precaution that there weren't more monsters coming from the sound of the brief scuffle. Then, he looked to the second of the magic users.

"I owe you two... Kyon made it all right, then?" he balanced on one leg while asking, shoulder against the wall so he could take a look at his bleeding leg. Well, it looked bad, but not as bad as he thought.

The cat stopped in its tracks the moment the magic bolts of energy shot towards it, ignoring its original prey in favor of its own survival. It managed to dodge to the side just in time to avoid the first blast, but the remaining seven caught it straight on.

Dizzy and disoriented, the beast turned around and tried to run as best it could in its present condition. It knew when it was outmatched, and it had no desire to remain if it could help it.

Reinforce charged after the cat, swiping at its legs with Tamaki's sword as it turned. Attacking the creature even as it fled was not hard to justify- there was every reason to expect it would attack any easier prey it happened on after they'd left, and a canny hunter that stalked the weak and knew to avoid the strong was especially dangerous. Here and now, though, it was the abiding wrath within her that drove her to attack. She might now be dedicated to the protection and support of humanity, but her hatred for those that flaunted the will of her righteous master was no less.

A deeper hum filled the air and a dark aura, barely visible in the dim light of the hall, surrounded her fist as it followed the sword. She would crush it utterly...

Without enough energy to use both Photon and First Aid later, Raine let Reinforce deal the final blow; she was just the healer, not really much of a support mage anymore. Besides that, there was someone here who needed her attention more.

"Yes, he's fine," she assured the boy, turning to him. "He found our group and asked us to come after you. I'm a healer--do you have any other injuries?" His leg looked bad, but Kyon had overall looked worse, despite having been the one to get away; she guessed Kon had a better idea of self-defense than his friend did.

If possible, she wanted to look at them both before she healed one of them--she hated having to choose, especially when there were only two injured patients to begin with, but it couldn't be helped. The fact that Kon was still standing, with only one apparent injury, was promising; it could be entirely adrenaline that kept him on his feet, but as long as it lasted long enough to get him back to M35, it would do.

"I'll be all right. This is the only one..." Kon shifted to get a better look at it, frowning even more at the sight of it. He was a little disappointed that he had to get the injury in the first place, but it was well worth it if Kyon did indeed make it to where he was heading in the first place. He cocked his head at her afterwards, green eyes focusing on her now as he considered it. A healer? Like one of the divisions of Soul Society...

A shrug, and a flash of a smile, he spoke again. "Kyon needs the healing more than I do. Cleaning and wrapping this should be fine... I might not have as much strength in my legs as I did before..." he paused and considered it for a moment. Was it really this place to blame? "Before I found myself in this screwed up place, but I'll still be better off than him."

It wasn't a choice for Kon: he still had the adrenaline rush, still had the mentality of 'protect protect protect,' and there was the mere fact Kyon definitely needed it more than him.

There was no way to avoid the attack. The cat looked back at Reinforce, the last image before its head was crushed by her fist was a painful, terrified look of utter hopelessness.

Rein could feel some pity for the creature, to see it so. Everything died, but hopelessness was a terrible thing. Pity, though, was not regret and would not have stayed her hand. She had done what needed to be done.

She turned to Raine and the boy, and caught the end of their conversation. "Let's head back for now. If we make it back without any trouble I can heal one of you." She hadn't expended that much power in one night before, but in theory there should be no problems. The energy was pre-stored. Flimsy thing that her magical theory was in this place, though, she was probably better off waiting until she was in a safe place to try anything...

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per-ardua.livejournal.com - 2007-09-13 22:58 (UTC) - Expand