Nightshift 31: Laundry Room (2nd Floor)

[heraldric.livejournal.com]

[from here]

Leon was surprised to find the door to the laundry room open easily when he turned the knob. It was a bit odd, given that most of the other rooms seemed to be locked, but then he supposed there wasn't a whole lot worth locking up in a laundry room. What was there to be stolen? One of the machines? The mental image of a pair of people scooting one down the second floor hallway had him cracking a smile as he walked in.

He could only hope this was the right room. After all, what other rooms fit the description? They didn't have washers and dryers like this on Expel, but he'd seen similar devices on Nede and really, all you needed was the Laundry part of the room description. No matter your level of technology, water and warmth were part of the cleaning cycle.

"See anything?" he asked Kadaj a bit hurriedly, not feeling all too guilty for rushing off without giving the man a choice. It wasn't as though he'd been all too quick to decide on a course of action himself.

Comments

[traitors-smile.livejournal.com]

He managed to steer clear of the wildly swinging fists, but the blood spattered his robes, adding more stains to his white jacket. He hardly noticed.

It wasn't easy, analyzing an opponent while in the midst of battle, but it was made all the more difficult with the darkness, the small space, and the unreliable allies he was fighting alongside. Leon was almost spent, Kadaj was going to be dead in a few moments if one of those giant fists caught him again, which left him with the all-important job of actually doing something.

The only way this beast was going down was if they actually hit something vital. The last few blows they'd struck did little more than annoy the beast. While it was distracted with Kadaj, Gin made the split second decision to begin his own attack. He just hoped this gigai would be able to move fast enough. He could use flashstep, he'd seen the others do it in the night time before, but he had a feeling it wouldn't do him any good if he didn't get far enough away.

As quickly as he could, he rushed the creature, keeping his knife close to his body and ready to strike as soon as the target was near enough. He jumped up at its back, digging in with his heels, left hand gripping the disgusting matted hair to keep his balance as he brought the knife ever close, aiming to avoid the sharp teeth and instead hit the soft flesh of its throat. One well-place blow might be enough. And if it wasn't...

A smirk crossed his lips as images of Jack's lifeless body hitting the ground replayed in his mind. Where was the fun without a few risks?

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

The assault was too much. The creature was powerful, but slow. Gin's knife found its throat, and it yowled like a thing possessed. It lurched backwards, twisting and flailing with its fists, perhaps in one final attempt to do the silver haired man injury....

[heraldric.livejournal.com]

Kadaj was down and Gin was on the monster. Leon took a couple more pointless swallows before moving towards the first on shaky feet. If his arrogant companion stayed where he was, he could still be in danger from their flailing enemy. As he arrived at the man's side, he checked the scene over quickly. Kadaj could have taken some severe damage to his ribs, so moving him should be a careful procedure, but there was only so much Leon could do.

He didn't bother to ask the prone man for permission before moving to slip his hands under the other's armpits so he could drag him back towards the exit and out of harm's way.

[reunion.livejournal.com]

While Kadaj really, really would have preferred being warned if not asked ahead of time just so that he'd know to brace himself, he appreciated Leon's concern. That didn't change the fact that being dragged like that hurt, though, and with breathing already proving to be difficult, the last thing he needed was something that would make that vital task even harder. Just his luck.

The fight for air became a fight to remain conscious, and through eyes that had been reduced to mere slits from both pain and the force of his glare, he tried turning his head to catch a glimpse of Leon just so that he could express nonverbally to the boy how stupid trying to move him like this was. Leon may not have had any other options, but that didn't mean Kadaj had to be happy about it.

[traitors-smile.livejournal.com]

Whether it was reflex or the creature actually had a little bit of intelligence, its last ditch efforts at an attack weren't quite as easy to dodge as the others had been from afar. He gave the knife an extra twist before he jerked it from the beast's neck, blood spraying everywhere from the artery that had been cut. He ignored it, more or less. The flailing was the important part. Now was the time for escape, though it wasn't exactly easy given the small quarters.

The choice was made for him when it swung backward, leaving him little room between the massive wall of flesh and the actual wall of the room. He tried to let go in time, to dodge out of the way, but the gigai's reflexes were nowhere near those of a former shinigami captain. He gave a pained hiss as it slammed into his side, his ribs making an unfamiliar cracking sound.

Gin dropped to the floor in a crouch, trying to duck under the flailing fists, and took no time in darting away from the creature. Injured as he was, Gin wasn't going to take any more chances. He noted, with some small amount of pleasure, that the two boys were already leaving. As long as the creature died quickly, he might even be able to claim a prize for himself.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

The creature fell to the floor, twitching its last, and died.

There was no indication of anything other than the monster within the room.

[heraldric.livejournal.com]

Leaving? No, Leon had come here for a purpose. If there was a chance they could search for what they'd all come and fought to find, then he was going to take it. Having moved Kadaj just beyond what he thought the creature's arms would reach, the mage watched the end of the fight between it and Gin with his hands on his knees and the occasional black spot across his vision from the effort of dragging the "older" boy's body.

As the creature fell and remained down, Leon straightened himself up. He didn't move from that spot at first, fearing it might rise again. "Mr. Ichimaru? Are you okay?" he asked. His dry throat caused everything he said to come out terribly hoarse, and trying to clear it did nothing.

Slowly and ever so cautiously, the boy made his way towards the fallen beast. Morbid curiosity bade him get a better look while it wasn't trying to kill them and he found his flashlight, running it across the body while the beam wavered in his trembling grip.

[reunion.livejournal.com]

Finally, there was silence. Good. Even better was the fact that he could breathe again, if shallowly, and once he was reasonably sure the effort wouldn't leave him pathetically gasping for air again, he very carefully tried lifting himself into a position that might grant him a better view of what the other two were so fascinated by.

He regretted this decision almost immediately, however, and mentally cursing the now fallen thing, he slowly crumpled onto his side and curled up slightly, his breathing growing labored now and eventually devolving into racking coughs. Yes, that definitely hadn't been a good idea, but at least he now knew what he shouldn't do if he wanted to spend the rest of this evening pleasantly. He should have guessed.

[traitors-smile.livejournal.com]

He cut quite the figure, tall and lanky, still dressed in the robes of a death god, and spattered with blood, none of it his own. His left shoulder throbbed painfully and he knew he might have broken some ribs as well, at the very least there'd been some hairline fractures. Great. And what did he have to show for it? Absolutely nothing.

Gin flicked some of the blood from his knife before wiping it off on a stray piece of laundry and replacing it in the makeshift sheath on his belt. Next order of business was retrieving the bottle of stain remover and the bag he'd dropped before the fight began, all while looking here and there around the room for this item that they were supposed to receive. "M' a little worse for th' wear, but I think I'll be alright. That was some handy spell castin' you did for us. How's y'friend?"

[heraldric.livejournal.com]

Leon glanced back at Kadaj, worried about how he'd curled up like that. And coughing as well... Hopefully morning wasn't too long away and Landel's would work its healing magic. "He took a pretty hard blow to the ribs," he answered. "The monster's fists are-"

The mage paused. In flicking his light back towards the creature on the floor, it had reflected off the window into one of the dryers. More importantly, it had reflected off something in one of the dryers. In a flash, Leon was scurrying towards it, hopping right over the dead monster and stumbling the last few steps. Throwing the door open, he couldn't help but blink and stare at what he saw. Well, was his first coherent thought, that's not really safe to keep in there, is it?

It was a sword. A pretty one too, and Leon wished then that he could actually wield one properly. Kadaj certainly could, and Gin was definitely a fighter, so the chances of him getting to keep it seemed very slim. Still, didn't Claude need a proper weapon? He picked it up and turned back towards the other two.