damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M1-10 Hallway

Daemon, however, let no one go there without permission - not even Renji - and took the blow to the thigh instead, shifting his body into the kick. His leg went numb and he almost toppled, but at least his future offspring were safe.

"That's a low blow," he panted out, slightly breathless from pain and exertion. "No pun intended." Then he jammed his shoulder into the redhead, putting his weight behind it, attempting to knock the male off balance and backwards after his kick.

A charge. That was indelicate. And normally Renji's thing. Instead of resisting or sidestepping, he simply grabbed Daemon's arm and shirt in an instant and dropped backwards, back hitting the floor hard. Annoying, but it was all that much easier to jam his legs against Daemon's hip and keep the momentum going, effectively tossing the man head first at the wall.

Daemon bit out a curse as Renji flipped him over him, one hand grappling against the floor to shift his balance.

It worked. Somewhat.

His breath left him in a whoosh! as his back and shoulder impacted with the wall, leaving a nice-sized dent behind him. Dazed, he slid to the floor, half-sprawled against the wall as he tried to remind his lungs how to inhale.

Renji rolled over backwards and onto his feet with speed that would have made acrobats effective. He had the advantage; he was going to press it.

He lunged at Daemon, coming in with his fist and his knee going for whatever he could hit.

Daemon's head cleared just in time to see the redhead lunging for him, and he brought his foot up to block or slow Renji's momentum. Though, pinned as he was, there was no chance to move out of the way this time. He grunted as he kicked out at Renji's legs, at least trying to bring the redhead down on top of him. Grappling he could handle much better than being pinned and beaten.

Renji was not in the mood for contact that close, not if he wasn't in charge. He struck sideways with his leg, blocking Daemon's kick with his shin. Which hurt, enough that he knew it was going to be a nasty bruise. But it was better than being on his face.

He spun back around and drove in with his fist, though more cautiously this time.

Daemon was scrambling now. Out of breath and body aching with pain, some part of his mind registered that there was something wrong with him. His reflexes were slower than usual, and while he was nowhere near as good a brawler as his brother - and obviously Renji - he was better than this. Something wasn't right.

Renji came in for another blow and Daemon instinctively threw up a shield to block. Except nothing happened, and golden eyes flickered wide in shock a moment before the redhead's fist collided with his collarbone, the Warlord Prince having made no physical move to intercept it.

He still landed the punch with all its intended force, but he knew instantly that something weird was happening. Daemon hadn't tried to block or get away.

He backed off quickly a couple of steps, still ready to defend himself, his eyes not leaving his opponent. He didn't say anything, not yet.

His shoulder ached, but Daemon got to his feet with a low snarl, something glittering in golden eyes. "Finished already?" he taunted, already preparing himself for the redhead's next move, even as part of his mind scrambled for a reason that his magic might have failed him now.

Renji gave Daemon another assessing look; he could have sworn that something wasn't quite right. But the man apparently wanted to keep up fighting, so he'd give him what he wanted.

He moved in slowly, almost lazily, feinting for a punch in the face and following it with the real punch, and undercut for the stomach.

Again Daemon tried to throw up a shield and again nothing happened. The effort made the room sway dizzily for a moment, but Daemon was prepared for it this time and he swerved to avoid the following punch, though he couldn't avoid the one aimed for his midsection. He doubled over, curled around the redhead's fist, even as he snarled out a second curse.

This time, even though he once again suspected something wrong, Renji showed no hesitation or mercy. He brought his elbow down between Daemon's shoulders, even as he drove his knee up into the man's chest.

That was the finishing move for Daemon.

There was no blocking that, not with his senses already swimming and exhaustion and pain wearing down on his body. He collapsed against Renji, momentarily losing his hold on his consciousness as his vision flared white, then black.

Renji caught the man, rather than letting him just fall to the ground. He could tell real unconsciousness from feigned. And as far as he was concerned, that was the end of things.

Daemon wasn't a small guy, but Renji was also quite strong; he half-carried, half-dragged him the couple steps to one of the room's beds. No knowing which was Daemon's, and it really didn't matter either. He rolled Daemon onto the bed into a reasonable comfortable position, then headed back over to the desk where he'd deposited his sword.

Daemon was only out for a few seconds. When he came to, he felt himself being deposited on the bed, and as the hands that supported him vanished, he rolled over, his body aching, and began to cough, clearing his burning lungs.

"Hell's fire, Mother Night, and may the Darkness be merciful," he wheezed out, rolling onto his side as he lifted a hand to his swelling jaw. He was going to have a hell of a lot of bruises tomorrow.

Renji picked his sword back up and stuck it through through sashes. Rather than just leaving, he sat on the edge of the desk, arms crossed over his chest.

"Better now?" he asked. Which seemed dumb to ask a guy in that much pain, but there'd been a point to him beating the shit out of Daemon. Supposedly.

"Brilliant," Daemon rasped, rolling back over onto his back once more and glaring up at the ceiling. He curled an arm around his midsection as he mentally probed his own body for injuries, making sure Renji hadn't inflicted anything too severe. He hadn't, but Daemon was still going to feel it for a few days.

"They did something to me."

Renji laughed at Daemon's first comment. He laugh abruptly died at the second. "Like what," he said. He wasn't sure if this was going back to when they'd taken Daemon and made him fight, or something more recent. Which was... worrying.

Daemon lifted a hand and stared at it, concentrating for a moment. No Black shield appeared.

"My craft's gone."

It had been there last night, he'd used it. So that left today. The span of time he'd been unconscious after the riot, perhaps? Or could they control that without physically doing something to him?

Renji frowned. "Just gone?" He stood up and walked back over to Daemon, looking at him like he somehow expected there to be some physical sign.

If nothing else, in that case he figured he should probably heal the guy before he left.

But it was worrying. Really worrying.

"I can still feel the webs," Daemon answered a moment later. "But the Black's no longer responding at all. No shielding, no spark. Nothing.

"Mother Night!" he cursed in frustration, curling his fingers into a fist and pounding the wall beside him. "Will they never cease meddling? As if taking my jewels didn't weaken me enough as it was, now they've taken all of it. Now I wish I'd just let go and blasted the place while I could this morning."

But he hadn't. There'd been too many innocents in that room who could have been harmed. If he'd unleashed whatever power he'd had left, he wouldn't have been able to pick and choose targets, it would have weakened what he could have done. Still, he'd done nothing, other than lose his temper. And now his magic.

Even more worrying. Renji stayed silent for a moment, thinking. Maybe it wasn't permanent, but he wasn't going to offer up a false hope that might get crushed in the next couple of days. That sort of fake cheer didn't do anyone any good.

Eventually, all he said was, "That really sucks." It wasn't helpful, but he didn't have anything helpful to offer. And it reminded him that he should have been fighting this morning, and hadn't, because Sora had stopped him.

Daemon snorted, trying to curb his temper somewhat. At least for now. It did no good to vent it on Renji. They'd done that already. He didn't know if he felt better, or just sore. He'd figure it out tomorrow.

"It does. Remind me to punch you again when I can move."

Renji snorted. "Because you had real luck with that this time around." He made an annoyed noise. "I just don't know, Daemon. Haven't heard of that happening to anyone else. I feel fine. But... I also didn't end up fighting today. So maybe... dunno. We can ask around in the morning, see if it happened to anyone else."

Suddenly, he remembered that Rukia had been in the fight. Maybe the same thing had happened to her, and that scared him a little. But she also wasn't going to be out fighting today, so maybe it was alright. She'd have some people with her, and he trusted Ed to protect her if it came to that.

He shook his head. It was too late to worry about it now. Instead he focused on what was at hand; he reached down and grabbed Daemon's shoulder. He'd have a headache for the rest of the night, which would suck, but he wanted Daemon to be able to move around and do stuff - especially now that his abilities were so hampered, he needed to be in decent physical shape.

He began to quietly say the words of the healing incantation.

"Hell's fire, Renji, save it for someone who might really need it," Daemon grumbled as soon as he realized what the redhead was about. he tried to shrug off the Shinigami's hand, but his bruised collarbone kept him from being very convincing about it.

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