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damned_institute2008-09-23 03:20 pm
givemeoblivion.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_institute2008-09-23 03:20 pm
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Nightshift 35: The Coliseum
[from here]
When she came to, Callisto found herself sitting in what appeared to be a small set of stands. That didn't last for long, as she was soon on her feet and staring around at her new surroundings.
Unlike the rest of the basement had been, this area was fully lit - almost as though it was daylight and they'd been transported outside. It hadn't become morning already, had it? Even if it had, they definitely weren't back where they usually were when the night ended. Was this what lay beyond the black doors? But the words carved in it had said that only those who had...
She glanced to the side, quickly. One, two, and she made three. Only three of the five of them were there. The two that had pricked their fingers weren't among them.
Callisto lunged for Goku instantly, meaning to grab him by the front of his shirt. "Why did you stop me?" she all but screamed at him.
When she came to, Callisto found herself sitting in what appeared to be a small set of stands. That didn't last for long, as she was soon on her feet and staring around at her new surroundings.
Unlike the rest of the basement had been, this area was fully lit - almost as though it was daylight and they'd been transported outside. It hadn't become morning already, had it? Even if it had, they definitely weren't back where they usually were when the night ended. Was this what lay beyond the black doors? But the words carved in it had said that only those who had...
She glanced to the side, quickly. One, two, and she made three. Only three of the five of them were there. The two that had pricked their fingers weren't among them.
Callisto lunged for Goku instantly, meaning to grab him by the front of his shirt. "Why did you stop me?" she all but screamed at him.
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Pushing away from the railing, she came over to kneel beside him. She glanced between his face and Qui-Gon's, winking at the latter. "Problem is, I'm the only one here not in immediate mortal peril. Good job on that, by the way."
Though she would rather be below, she couldn't help but point out the irony in their current situation. The fact that she was here, and that he was bleeding, was essentially his fault.
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If he panicked, he wouldn't be able to think rationally.
A "warning", Qui-Gon had said. He didn't want to see Martin Landel make good on his threat, but he didn't want to fight Sanzo, either. Negotiations were looking like less and less of a possibility, and yet, as a Jedi, a peaceful solution -- even surrender -- was always better than taking a life. But he also had his mission of investigating the institute to consider, as well as Qui-Gon, as selfish as that might have sounded. The thought of leaving his friend alone here made his stomach turn, not to mention he didn't think one Jedi was enough for this job. Landel's Institute, and everything it encompassed, was already much larger than the two of them, perhaps even the Order itself.
He did not fear death, but Obi-Wan knew it wouldn't be practical, or right, for him to forfeit his life, either. They needed to exhaust all other options before resorting to violence.
((To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/464766.html?thread=37648510#t37648510) to talk with Landel again.))
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He turned to face Callisto and Goku. Why were they still bickering in a time like this? If anything they should be working together -
The pain came like clockwork following Martin Landel's countdown.
Qui-Gon was startled to smell something burning and he looked down, face paling a little. His tunic, right above his healed lightsaber wound was burning up as if the invisible blade was slowly passing through the cloth, cleaving its way straight through to the exact same spot that he'd been run through by the Sith creature. The Jedi fell back with an involuntary moan as the skin began to sizzle, turning red as the "point" made agonizingly slow contact, a small, scorched hole in his stomach starting to open up. He couldn't call on the Force to heal him or help - he'd have to deal with this on his own and there wasn't much he could do about it except try to ride it out.
Most likely he would die, Qui-Gon thought in a haze of growing pain. He knew he shouldn't have survived the wound the first time, but he was glad he'd been there to see Obi-Wan become a Jedi Knight.
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The former warlord left the side of the two injured spectators and returned to the balcony, watching the two men below with the look of someone hoping for a good spectacle. They were both do-gooders of a sort. Surely one would attack the other soon.
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Suddenly Qui-Gon could breathe again, no longer feeling pinned down. The smell of his own burned flesh still filled the stands and he could still feel the point of the phantom lightsaber hovering ominously, ready to drive home again, but for now it seemed to have been stopped. Glancing down, Qui-Gon could see a new hole in his tunic, the edges blackened from the entry point of the blade, and beneath? It was pretty ugly, a perfect circle of his skin cauterized from the invisible lightsaber and still sending off wisps of smoke. It wasn't fatally deep, but it was certainly painful. Trying to sit up alone was a challenge.
But there were larger concerns here.
Qui-Gon knew why he was still alive. Glancing over to check on Goku, he saw Goku was still alive as well, and favoring a freshly injured arm. Callisto had her back to them, peering over the railing and watching something as if it was the best in entertainment.
The fight had begun.
The Jedi was propped up into more or less a sitting position that would give him a decent view of the arena floor. Working to still his beating heart, he focused his attention on the two combatants: he saw from the way they were positioned that Sanzo had initiated it, Obi-Wan on his feet in a ready stance and prepared to defend himself. His lightsaber wasn't out yet. A Jedi was versed from a young age in a lightsaber's use and yet he would only draw it as a last resort. Feeling the evil in this room, the sheer darkness and void radiating from Martin Landel, Qui-Gon knew Obi-Wan might have to draw it tonight.
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Oh, but of course fighting was bad. Wouldn't want anyone to get killed. You'd think from the way this group was reacting that they'd never seen a real fight before. Sanzo, at least, was prepared to defend himself.
"You shouldn't distract him," she said offhand to Goku without actually turning her eyes from the fight. "He is fighting for you, after all." The tone in her voice was slightly mocking.
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Still recovering from the last round of punishment, Qui-Gon remained where he was, propped up but still able to see most of the fight. He noted the way Obi-Wan moved, working to disarm the monk instead of drawing his lightsaber. And he wouldn't, Qui-Gon knew, unless there was no choice and Obi-Wan would do everything in his power to keep from using lethal force. So far Sanzo hadn't scored a hit with his gun - Qui-Gon started with surprise as the monk suddenly shot the weapon in their direction. The bullet bounced off the invisible barrier, missing Goku entirely. Somehow, he realized with some exasperation, he had the feeling this wasn't a one-time occurrence.
His commlink was still on, somehow jammed on. He could hear bits and pieces of the conversation, but it was garbled. He watched the combat down below with concern, distracting himself with that instead of dwelling on the half-opened lightsaber injury.
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The once-goddess had seen many types of powers and abilities in her brief time among the living, but this was one she hadn't seen before and she watched closer than ever. It looked like the fight wasn't going to be over so quickly after all. Excellent..
"Such a caring friend," she said with a smile. The shot in Goku's direction hadn't been missed.
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Qui-Gon was proud to see Obi-Wan make a stand...but he knew even so, before the pain hit, that it would be futile.
The minute mark seemed to be a lot longer and more intense this time around.
Qui-Gon closed his eyes, weariness settling in him even as his injury blazed again. He couldn't even move, pinned again where he was propped up. The Jedi Master struggled to keep conscious, forcing his eyes open again even as he tried to deal with this new wave of pain; he made a point of not looking down at the wound, knowing what he'd see. A lightsaber didn't have a typical blade, but being impaled by one was an experience you didn't forget - you could feel it sitting in you, burning and sizzling, and that time before had only been a split second. Now it stretched into minutes.
His connection with the Force seemed to be getting steadily stronger. Qui-Gon knew why. His normal vision now had begun to blur and gray out, but his other senses expanded. It happened before, back on Naboo, when his body failed him. He could feel Martin Landel's alarming sense of nothing, the sheer evil in the room. Obi-Wan: he didn't need the commlink, still jammed on, to hear him and feel like he was with his fellow Jedi. There, too, was Goku and Callisto, both distinct individuals in the Force, Callisto's aura particularly chaotic and volatile, Goku's confused and frustrated.
And then there was Sanzo.
The arena floored flickered in his vision as Qui-Gon covered his deepening wound with one hand, but he still flinched instinctively as the monk finished his chant. Pure energy flooded the room, whatever Sanzo did blindingly bright in the Force, as if Qui-Gon was looking head-on at several suns and just as disorienting.
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As exciting as this fight was, however, she was getting antsy. Was that all she could do? Stay up here and watch? The situation was causing her to both respect and be pissed off with the man in charge. She didn't want to be just a spectator. There was so much more she could offer.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, she leaned further over the railing. "Will you two just kill each other already??" she yelled down.
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His eyes closed, Qui-Gon used the only sense that didn't seem to be failing him. He could pinpoint Callisto and Goku in the stands with him, sense Goku's own wounds, sense his concern, sense Callisto's own little dark swirls and impatience. Martin Landel - or, to be correct, his lack of aura, his void tinged on the outside with evil. Sanzo, glowing, too bright and all over the place, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly where he stood, pure light in the Force pulsing and fluctuating.
There was the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting.
Obi-Wan had exhausted all other options, then. With the lightsaber out, he would fight in self-defense. It was difficult, with Qui-Gon's Force perception increased so dramatically, to tell whose pain was whose - he felt his own, burning in his stomach, burning right through and he also felt Obi-Wan's, felt something seem to pierce him near the shoulder. Slumped against his corner of the stands, propped up by one of the seats (the only thing keeping him upright), Qui-Gon couldn't control his emotions: he feared for Obi-Wan, felt real fear he couldn't simply accept and move on from. Even with everything growing dark, growing disconnected and yet impossibly more clear with the Force, Qui-Gon could only center on his fear for his friend. Somehow it was more real than even the damaged tissue and muscle he could feel from his injury.
It felt like that time with Tahl, when she had been kidnapped shortly before her death. There was something ugly and real there, something he could still feel there despite believing it to be gone all these years.
He opened his eyes and wasn't entirely surprised to see the world was blurry and darkening fast. His wound had been re-opened too much by Martin Landel for the delays earlier and now it was doing the rest of Landel's work for him. Just like the Head Doctor said, someone was going to die tonight. A little voice in Qui-Gon wondered if it would be him, if that would prevent Sanzo and Obi-Wan from killing each other. He didn't know. But the way his injury was undoing its healing from before, Qui-Gon knew he didn't have long.
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The mention of their prize caused her smile to fall away, however. While she was pleased that they'd been granted access to a new area of the building, not being able to bring along others meant that she would have to work with this group again or go alone.
Well, then she'd just have to go solo. She could take care of herself as long as she could get a hold of a proper weapon.
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