damned_institute | Nightshift 31: Staff-Only Outdoor Patio

As promised, Rena had followed Arlene throughout the outing in silence. The only sound resonating from her was the tiny beating of her feet touching tile, and they were often drowned out by the movements of the other patients. The girl had to admit, this mission had an urgency unlike the other nights. She even felt her heart jump to her throat in anticipation.

Being outdoors didn't help that feeling. Though, she had to admit, the nightly breeze was refreshing after spending so much time in a stifled environment. If only it kept one's hair out of one's eyes... Rena had to curl a finger into her bangs in an attempt to pull them away from her line of sight.

She paused, however, when addressed. The town? Rena had to consider her words carefully at the woman's statement, partly because she honestly had no recollection of what occurred after Doyleton. Worrying Arlene would not be the best move on her part, at least for now. "Right..." she whispered.

Tonight the danger came not from the giant birds that lurked on the rooftop, but from another sort of winged creature. The smell of sulfur and ozone was diffused because they were outside, but the stink still wormed its way through the air. Silently, a long serpentlike creature slid from the roof and toward the two intrepid patients. It was no bigger than the length of a man's forearm but armed with massive wings and at first glance seemed completely harmless. No beak, no claws, large pale eyes, nothing threatening so much as grotesque.

But even without a beak, the tempest ate. It craved blood and flesh and death like the rest of the monsters here. And it had one great advantage that not many others had here - it didn't need to get close to its victims. Slipping through the air, the snakelike bird landed on the outer railing, tilting its head at Beatrix and Rena. It watched them for just a moment, before it arced its wings back and snapped them forward - sending bolts of lightning shooting towards them.

[Kaze - sup sup]

Beatrix had been moving toward the door, ready to usher Rena in when the stench of rotten eggs slithered up her nose. She stopped, muscles tense, as she peered through the moon-lit darkness in search of where the scent was coming from. She found the creature as it landed on the rail, confusion in her eyes for a moment; the Bride had never seen such a creature before. It if hadn't been so bizarre and disgusting in its disproportionate shape and the way it moved, one may have found it fascinating.

Shard of glass readied, the Bride started moving to ward it, hissing a little at6 Rena to make sure the girl saw the thing. It looked harmless enough, but the Bride knew that harmlessness was something many predators exuded to get closer to their prey. Any assassin worth their salt knew that.

And yet, here she was moving toward it. Shame on her.

Beatrix pulled up short, uncertain as to how to approach the creature or even if she wanted to when the hairs on her arms started to stand up. She narrowed her eyes and then suddenly there was lightning streaking her way. Not only toward her, but Rena, too.

Any sane person would have taken cover behind a chair or one of the tables. The ex-assassin never claimed she was sane, though. A maternal instinct took over and she had to protect her ward. The nearest set of tables was closest to the girl anyways.

The Bride stepped into the path of the lightning, giving Rena a decent one-handed shove toward the table set, and braced herself for the hit, arms crossed in front of her. The bolt struck her, hitting the barrier of her arms first and then laced further up her arms. The searing pain overrode her senses and she briefly blacked out.

When she came to a few seconds later, she was laying on her back twitching a lot. She'd lost her grip on the glass shard when the bolt knocked her to the ground, but didn't have the presence of mind to look for where it lay only a few feet to her right.

In fact, she was trying to remember why she was staring up at the night sky and smelling someone's horrible attempt at barbecue.

A putrid smell fell on her nostrils, and the girl, too, was forced to search for its source. Imagine her surprise (and dread) when a most unusual-looking creature met her eyes. A snake? She narrowed her eyes. No, a set of wings immediately destroyed that hypothesis. Whatever it was, it appeared to have landed on the patio's rail, more interested in observing their activities than anything else.

Of course, its interest had to extend beyond the looking. Few inhuman creatures seemed to care for the cold shoulder philosophy. Rena supposed the attack was to be expected.

She hadn't, however, figured in the lightning. Much like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle, the girl stared dumbly at the bolt of electricity coming toward them, only to regain her senses when Arlene shoved her toward a nearby table. She dove under the plastic cover, her hands and knees slapping roughly against the concrete. Though the pain was enough to make Rena cry out, watching the woman hit the ground caused her to scream.

"Arlene-san!" The cry was no use; her "guardian" wouldn't be standing up any time soon. Given the lightning-shooting monster was nearby, Rena had to find a way to drive it away. They would not have a chance, otherwise.

Scrambling to her feet, the girl made a mad dash to where Arlene lay, grabbing the nearest plastic chair at the same time. With all her strength, Rena hurled the object in the vicinity of where she thought the monster was located, hoping the impact would jar its intent somehow.

The lightning struck and the tempest rose from its perch, arcing its wings back for another blow. The little one, the one that had avoided the blast, however, decided to throw one of the plastic furnishings at it. Plastic was something that would refuse to conduct. Unfortunate.

The tempest dropped from the railing and swooped to the side, arcing around and speeding at Rena this time while Beatrix was still down. Electricity was already crackling in its wings and all it needed was one touch to send all of it pulsing through the girl's body.

That smell... was her own flesh.

Beatrix shook her head, hissing at the pain of moving, as she began to recall the bizarre snake-bird and the lightning and shoving Rena...

Rena. Move, Kiddo!

Coughing and breathing heavily, the Bride rolled over onto her stomach and forced herself up onto all fours. Her hair hung limply about her face as she fought to draw air into her protesting body. She'd taken a lot of electricity and her muscles were still having trouble connecting the synapses to allow her to move. She looked over at Rena, barely able to focus on the red-headed girl.

The snake-bird was diving at her ward and there was nothing the Bride could do at the moment to help her. She could see the lightning charged up and knew, from the amount that she'd taken, there was little chance for a girl Rena's size to survive a direct hit.

She shifted, forcing her body to move faster, hoping that maybe, on luck, she could throw herself onto the girl. Then her hand brushed up against the glass shard, cutting the back of her hand. Without thinking, much less paying attention to the damage being done to her hand, the Bride grabbed the shard.

"Under the table!" She yelled as she threw the large shard of glass at the winged creature, aiming for it's center. She hoped her accuracy wasn't off too much, but she couldn't be certain how much she'd been effected.

Please hit!

No good. The chair hardly deterred the monster, evident by the fact it was now finding alternative means of attacking. Means she did not quite understand until she heard the low buzz in her ear and saw the rope-like form arch toward her.

Stupid! It's going to rush you!

Rena backpedaled, hoping to grab another chair, but soon found her efforts lacked the necessary time for execution. Before she could even lift a finger, the creature shot forward. It didn't take much speculation to guess its intent.

In a state of panic, the girl did what was first suggested (not quite understanding it was a conscious Arlene who spoke). With a running start, she dove for cover beneath the closest table.

How a creature screamed without a mouth was unknown, but the tempest let out a bloodcurling screech as the glass shard flew at it. Luckily, Beatrix's aim was off thanks to the shock she took earlier or the poor bird would have had something stuck in its chest rather than in its leg. The glass piece sank deep into one of the round balls that formed its feet and the tempest cried in pain, releasing the electricity gathered in its wings without aim. Large arcs of lightning snapped at random around the patio and the bird flew higher in the air, trying to shake the glass piece off.

Silver blood dripped from the wound and the creature glared daggers at its attacker. It arced its wings again, gathering more energy, looking to kill rather than stun this time. Twice it flapped its wings, three times, four, and then the lightning broke and raced toward Beatrix and the table that hid Rena.

The scream of her target tore through Beatrix's senses and, as the snake-bird flew higher, she took off running toward the table Rena was hiding beneath. A crackle of lightning struck close-by the Bride from the errant strike as the ex-assassin altered her approach, red blood from her hand mingling with drops of silver from the monster upon the ground.

All she knew right then was that they didn't have the means to defeat the creature. Injured though it may be, it was in the air and out of her reach and her only viable weapon was gone. Throwing a chair wouldn't be effective as the monster was graceful in the air enough that it could easily maneuver around the larger, clumsier thrown object. As much as she was loathe to admit, they had to run.

Assuming they didn't get fried in the process.

Shouldering the table out of the way, Beatrix scooped Rena up into her arms (thank God the girl was small), crying out in pain at the pressure suddenly placed upon her burnt arms. She didn't let go, though, as she threw the two of them toward the door with all her strength, her injured hand cradling Rena's head protectively against her chest.

She would at least keep the girl safe.

The tiny, invisible hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, as if detecting the miniature thunderstorm nearby. The girl had no clue what the creature was up to, but if exploding tables and chairs gave any indication, it was likely bad.

Clutching her hands over her head, Rena forced herself closer to the base of the table, away from the lightning strikes. The scrambled pieces of her thought process tried to sort themselves out, but no matter how she shaped the possibilities, there was no plausible way of defeating electricity. Not with their current status. Of course, she should have bolted for the door if she had any concern about her life, but...

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden pour of moonlight, and the girl realized with a mix of horror and relief Arlene was pulling her off the ground. Before she could figure out exactly what was happening, Rena found herself in the safety of the woman's arms and--a moment later--in a sprint towards the door.

[ To here. ]

When Sora was greeted by a light show, he halted suddenly and drew his arm up to his face to stop himself from being blinded. To go from the almost pure darkness of the hallways into the patio being lit up by flashes of lightning was hard on his eyes.

There was the smell on top of it -- that plus the fact that it looked like two patients were fleeing the scene gave him the feeling that whatever that monster was, it wasn't something to be taken lightly.

As his eyes slowly adjusted, he got a better look at the patients -- or more notably, the one being held in the arms of the other. "Rena!" he cried out. Was she hurt? He couldn't tell from this distance, but he was resolved to make sure that their attempts to run weren't hindered.

It would have been helpful if his Keyblade wasn't so reluctant to be summoned, but he knew by now that he had to be in more danger than this before it showed. With that in mind, he sent a split-second glance back at Kairi before racing across the patio in the direction of the weird bird thing that was apparently causing all of this trouble.

It had all happened too quickly for Kairi to even realize. One moment the two of them had been having a light conversation, and the next, there was a blinding light. The teenager lifted her hands up as well to shield her eyes nearly the exact moment that Sora did, concern flashing through her body once the light dimmed down. “What was that?”

But seconds later she caught sight of the creature, and disgust crossed her face.

Seconds later her head was snapping in the direction of the two other people in the room – Rena and a woman she didn’t recognize – before her attention was returned to Sora. There he went, sprinting in the direction of the creature without a second thought. Worry flooded her entire body and she took a step forward, and yet she knew she would be of no help without a proper weapon, especially since the bird appeared to be able to control what appeared to be lightning.

She had seen lightning magic being used before, but she didn’t know exactly how to stop a blast from hitting. Of course, Kairi knew about using things to block electricity (the island often had bad thunder storms), but from the looks of things, there didn’t appear to be any rubber nearby that she could see. Or anything that looked useful, to be honest. “Be careful, Sora!”

More people, more lambs to the slaughter poured out of the door and the tempest raised itself higher from the ground. There was nothing these pitiful humans could do to get away from it. The door would give them no comfort, no escape - the tempest would not allow it. Arcing its wings, the tempest shot five bolts of lightning at the door, aiming for Kairi and the two patients who had enough gall to flee from it.

No one escaped. They were to be burned and devoured, used for fuel for the lightning.

Turning its attention to Sora now, the bird dove from the sky, looking to grab hold of him somehow. Shooting lightning was all well and good, but one good shock from direct contact usually got their little human hearts to drop dead instantly.

Beatrix hit the ground hard, Rena still held tightly against her, and she rolled, barely missed by that volley of lightning sent at the girl's hiding place. Cuts, scrapes and bruises were nothing the Bride wasn't used to, but the burning sensation of her seared arms was neigh unbearable.

But bear it she would. There was no choice; there never was - she had to.

Each roll and impact on her burnt arms pulled a gasp of pain from her, so much she was almost whimpering. What would her ward think of her, hearing such pathetic sounds from her? Here was proof that the girl's guardian was not invulnerable. It was times like this that she wished Pai Mei had taught her how to completely turn off her ability to feel pain; she was certain the old man had known how. But yet, pain was the one thing she could always feel. Block it out when necessary, but she still felt it.

Work through the pain, Kiddo. You've got to!

Beatrix could hear the sounds of two others joining them outside with the bird-snake and she silently thanked them for their interference. Maybe the creature would give them some reprieve.

Or not.

When Beatrix caught herself in one of the rolls enough to take herself, and Rena, back to her feet, she glanced over her shoulder to see the creature send a fresh wave of lightning, rapid fire, at both of them. She shoved Rena toward the door, pulling back just enough that a bolt of lighting struck the ground between them, and then bolted after the girl. Another bolt struck right where she'd been standing a moment ago.

The last of the group sent their way, struck it's mark. Beatrix cried out as the lightning hit the back of her left shoulder. The electricity raced down her body and froze her muscles up; she even stopped breathing for a moment, eyes wide. The momentum of her sprint toward the door caused her to barrel into the door, and unfortunately the teenager she'd just sent that way.

She collapsed, the impact forcing her to breathe again, and found she couldn't make her muscles work again. She was fighting to stay conscious, and she whispered, barely audible to Rena, "Get... inside... now."

She had barely heard her name when a white flash obstructed her vision, a shattering crack splitting her ears. Before the girl knew it, the pair hit the floor, and though the blunt of the damage transferred to Arlene, Rena couldn't say she felt nothing from the impact. If not for the overcoat, one side of her arm would surely be scraped.

Just as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Rena was pulled up and back on her feet, only to catch multiple bolts headed their way. Arlene's shove was enough to send the girl back against the door as the ground exploded between them.

Unfortunately, the cement wasn't the only thing that was hit.

Rena watched in horror as, for the second time, electricity struck her protector and sent the woman tumbling right into the door and consequently, her. Pain from the impact shot through the girl's upper torso, her wind completely knocked out of her. Surprisingly, even under Arlene's weight, Rena still fumbled frantically for the doorknob. Injury or not, she had been instructed, and it was best she did as told.

When the bolts of lightning were shot past him, Sora stopped for a moment, gasping and spinning around as he realized that the others were going to be hurt, rather than him. He was the one rushing the monster! Why did it keep trying to injure those who were already hurt?

"No!" he yelled, especially when he realized that some of the lightning was headed straight for Kairi.

Before he could see whether or not she dodged, though, he heard a rush of movement from behind him and realized that it was his turn to be in danger. He gasped again, falling to the ground and into a roll in hopes of avoiding the dive-bombing creature. Things that flew were so much harder to fight!

It had been a split second reaction. Kairi didn’t even know she was moving until she was moving through the air to her left, the heat of the lightning so close to her skin she thought, for a brief moment, that she had been hit. When she hit the ground and somehow rolled once before managing to land on her feet in a crouched position, the once Princess quickly came to the conclusion that she had not been hit, and instead had moved.

Her fingers tips burned slightly, yet there had been no contact between her and the lightning.

Oh.

Kairi didn’t have time to think about things then. There were other things at hand – like, for instance, the fact that the creature was still there, and that the two other people were looking to be extremely hurt. Moving in a crouch across the ground slowly, she tried to get towards Rena who appeared to be trying to open the door, even with a body of another woman sprawled across her. There had to be something … “Rena, stop for a second! I’ll – I’ll help!”

With her senses suddenly on overdrive, Kairi’s head suddenly snapped to look behind her and towards the monster, which was swooping towards Sora. Eyes wide, her fingers suddenly switched as the tingling slowly began to move up her fingers. “No!”

Ignoring the ones at the door now, the tempest chased after Sora. When the boy rolled away, it arced in the air, twisting up and over to come back at him. No matter what, it would kill tonight and feed on their flesh. It needed to replenish its energy, after all, and these little tidbits would be perfect for that task.

Flying higher, the snakelike creature flapped its wings again, thunder cracking as it sent two new bolts of lightning toward Sora, hoping to slow him down. Creatures on the ground had to be slowed or the tempest would never be able to get a solid grip.

She felt very sluggish, disconnected from her limbs. Rena was fighting against Beatrix's weight to get the door open and the girl's frantic movement dislodged the Bride. Sliding off the girl to the ground, the impact sent white-hot searing pain coursing through her body, shocking the ex-assassin's senses but having the advantageous side-effect of keeping her conscious.

Groaning and trying to pull air into her protesting body, Beatrix managed to find her way up onto all fours. "I can... move.... Rena," she said, forcing the words out. "The door..."

It was insulting to her pride, but Beatrix would drag herself, crawl even, into the next room somehow if only the damn door would open.

No talk, no delay. Once the weight passed from her shoulders, the girl took immediate hold of the door's handle with both hands. No words, no sounds registered in Rena's mind. Too focused on the task of escaping.

Open... The joints between her fingers cracked under the mounting pressure. Open!

A single heave granted her wish, the door frame shaking from the force. Not caring what lay beyond, Rena rushed over to Arlene's side, pulling at the woman's arm towards the interior. Her eyes, however, fell on the other two patients.

"Everybody!" she called out. "Inside now!"

Things were looking up! He had managed to dodge, and his Keyblade had seen that close call as its cue to come out. He held tightly to the handle for support, using it to help him get back to his feet.

However, just when he had stood up, another attack came straight for him, this time in the form of lighting strikes, which were much harder to dodge. As an instinctual reaction, the boy drew his weapon in front of him, but the lightning shot through the metal of it directly into his arms, giving him a nasty shock that threw him off of his feet and back onto the ground with a yell.

He was stunned for the moment, but he heard Rena's voice, even though he couldn't quite catch what she was saying. He needed to get up! He knew how to use his Keyblade as a projectile weapon, and he could hit that thing if he got half the chance! But at the moment, his body refused to cooperate...

Numerous things had happened at once, it seemed to Kairi. She could hear Rena shout about running inside, followed by – or was it before Rena? – the woman speaking, followed by the sound of a crack, followed by a thud.

All at once, the girl’s eyes were on her fallen friend, thoughts completely erased. One minute she was moving towards the door, and the next she was moving towards Sora’s fallen form, the monster – what was it?! – looming close overhead. Without thinking, Kairi threw herself in front of the boy, her body crouching over slightly while her arms poised themselves as if she were to attack. Fingers curling as if claws, the once princess felt the invisible fire creep up her arms.

And yet, she knew she couldn’t do that. There was no way she was going to allow herself be controlled by the darkness again; not until she had it under control. Taking a step back, Kairi moved slowly towards Sora, so that when she was close enough, she could grab him by the arms and try to make a run for it. The keybearer had saved her more times than she could count … and it was time to return the favor.

The others were escaping - sad, they wouldn't become a meal - but two remained. Two that were delicious and slow and in pain. Flapping harder, the tempest gathered more energy, silver blood dripping from its injury as it focused the pain into anger and anger into energy that surged forth from its wings, thunder shaking the area as the lightning broke and raced toward Kairi and Sora. The tempest didn't care who was killed anymore so long as it ate.

It would have its revenge for the one who dared to harm it.

Beatrix cried out in pain as Rena's hand encircled her burnt arm, sending pain coursing through her, but she moved. The girl wasn't strong enough to drag her through and the Bride couldn't quite get to her feet, but she managed to move into the next room like a beaten three-legged dog desperate for something.

"Run now, children!" The Bride summoned the strength to call loudly through the open doorway to the two still in the sights of the snake-bird monster. It was the best she could do given she was unarmed and injured as she was. She sat down on the ground just inside the door and grabbed Rena's arm in a vice-like grip. She just had a feeling the girl was going to run out to help the other two, but the ex-assassin knew there was nothing she'd be able to do other than become another target once out there.

"No. Stay here with me," she said, yanking the girl with as much strength as she had left down onto her lap and in her arms. Whimpering with the pain the action caused, the Bride rest her head back against the wall. Holding the red-headed girl tight, the Bride tried to recover as much strength as she could. Who knew how many more creatures would they face? She needed to recover some.

Closing her eyes in an attempt to hide the tears of pain that had collected in them, she held Rena tightly. "Just stay. I need you, okay? You have to stay safe. Can't have anything happen to you. Can't... can't..." She repeated those words over several times, barely audible as she listened to the fight going on outside.

((Skip Beatrix from now on as she's in the next room, but since shift changed I'm not creating the new area.))

Helping Arlene through the door had not exactly been a pleasure: the woman was heavier than expected, and each cry of pain sent ripples of guilt into Rena. Never mind how necessary the action was.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." she managed hoarsely until they were safely in the interiors of the next room.

Of course, Arlene was not the only person in her mind at the moment. The other two patients had yet to run over. Only one possibility existed for the delay, which resulted in a fervent need to rush back outside. Rena thought she recognized Sora and his friend Kairi; if the duo were in trouble, she had to help them!

Except she couldn't. Not with a steely hand around her arm and a jerk that brought the girl closer to Arlene. Her face froze in shock, her eyes glancing up at the woman in confusion and desperation. An order was an order, but these were friends. Friends who'd help her in the past, even. This request... It simply wasn't something Rena could swallow. At least not without snapping.

As sounds of struggle escalated outside, something hot and wet welled up in the corner of her eyes.

When Sora realized that Kairi had come back over here, rather than staying safe, he wanted to say something; he wanted to yell at her to get away, out of the range of those attacks.

But there wasn't time for any of that, and she was already trying to help him up. He heard some yelling from behind them, but he couldn't focus on that right now. The monster was injured, but it looked like it still wanted to roast them, if possible.

Seeing the movements that meant it was charging up and preparing to attack, Sora grabbed tighter onto Kairi's arm with one hand and pulled himself up with her help. At this point, this thing wasn't worth killing. "Run!" he yelled, trying to pull his friend back. But how could they be faster than lightning?

At that moment, Kairi didn’t care about her well being. Every thought, every movement … were all so as so she could keep Sora safe. The boy had kept her safe more times than she could count, and now that she finally had a chance to make sure he was okay, to make sure she could protect him …

She was going to take it.

Making sure her body was in front of Sora’s own, Kairi waited until he was fully standing before giving him a shove in the direction of the door, making sure he wasn’t touching her by the time the lightning hit one of the targets. Feeling her fingers brush against Sora’s for one final moment, the once princess gave the boy a smile before the lightning hit her back.

She could smell the burning of something before she felt the pain, and by the time Kairi realized that it had been her own flesh that had been burnt, she was slowly being sucked into the dark. Knees giving out, she let out no sound as she slowly fell unconscious, landing with a dull thud against the ground.

It was worth it, was the final thing Kairi thought before she felt herself slip away completely.

Nightshift 31: Staff-Only Outdoor Patio

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