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damned_institute2007-03-14 06:55 pm
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Nightshift 22, Sun Room
Raine stopped just outside the Sun Room, which was only a little lighter than the rest of the Institute now because of the skylight; the moon was apparently out. She wondered briefly what the moon looked like, here, but pushed that thought aside. She didn't hear anything from inside...
Standing just outside the doorway, so anyone inside the room wouldn't be able to see her, she looked back at her companions. "It sounds empty. Let's go in." She'd only gotten a few looks at the room during the day, but she was fairly certain that once inside, they should take a left to get into the Arts & Crafts room; it still sounded like a poor place to find weapons, but it was worth taking the chance. She had yet to meet a god at full power, but the myths she knew were informative enough. If they could just retrieve what Amaterasu needed to perhaps get her to a stronger state...
Raine clicked her flashlight on and jumped into the Sun Room's entrance, flicking the beam of light around to hopefully reveal any monsters hiding in the shadows. She held Reinforce's discarded crutch, her only real weapon, at the ready just in case; she wasn't letting herself be caught off-guard just yet.
Standing just outside the doorway, so anyone inside the room wouldn't be able to see her, she looked back at her companions. "It sounds empty. Let's go in." She'd only gotten a few looks at the room during the day, but she was fairly certain that once inside, they should take a left to get into the Arts & Crafts room; it still sounded like a poor place to find weapons, but it was worth taking the chance. She had yet to meet a god at full power, but the myths she knew were informative enough. If they could just retrieve what Amaterasu needed to perhaps get her to a stronger state...
Raine clicked her flashlight on and jumped into the Sun Room's entrance, flicking the beam of light around to hopefully reveal any monsters hiding in the shadows. She held Reinforce's discarded crutch, her only real weapon, at the ready just in case; she wasn't letting herself be caught off-guard just yet.
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Staying far enough from the main huddle of the fight to keep logical track of those involved, he twirled the knives in his hand speculatively. The fact that the assailant had disappeared kept him from completely dismissing the struggle as worthless.
He ignored most of Aidou's vaguely taunting words, but the question made him blink.
"Sakura's a genjutsu-type," he said, voice slightly confused and brain obviously not making the normal connection. "I started out a ninjutsu-type."
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Aidou's lip curled in disgust. Normally he would've, and with pleasure. Normally, it was his responsibility to prevent this sort of unsightly behaviour. Now he didn't have the strength to spare on his own, and there weren't any aids around to charge with stopping the creature for him. And considering the number of witnesses should he attempt to put a collar on the situation...
It was no good. His involvement would only cause more trouble. The only upside to it all was, in this place, Aidou wasn't automatically recognized as a vampire himself.
He came up just behind Sasuke's shoulder - the kid was short enough to allow him to keep an eye out from over his dark head of hair, but still provided cover for Aidou should anything come at them. Even being unable to see Sasuke's full expression he could still tell the kid hadn't grasped the innuendo behind his question.
"I meant is this Sakura your type in a biologically, you're-a-young-man-and-she's-a-young-woman way." But genjutsu and ninjutsu? That was an odd way of putting it... "Were you trained together, then?"
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The boy wasn't so lucky with dodging his two assailants though, the crutch hitting him square in the shoulder before falling uselessly to the ground and the male assailant-- hadn't he burned him earlier? To think he would have learned...-- had slashed at him leaving a large gash running down his forearm. Glaring hatefully the boy kicked the man away before firing a shot at him, aiming for his abdomen rather than his chest-- like he really wanted to. Yet just before Hisoka could do the same to the others closing in on him he stopped short at the loud shout.
"Hisoka!"
Hesitating for only a moment, the boy turned to see a strangely familiar man running towards him...
Wait, Tsuzuki?! Hesitation gone, Hisoka's face became expressionless and cold. That bastard was always disregarding the rules and it was about time he was brought into line!
With that in mind, the boy's eyes narrowed and he fired four shots-- two at Tsuzuki, two at the the patient running slowly towards him with his eyes on the gun. Without a moments pause Hisoka then swung around and fired a shot at the patient who created the light in attempt to put it out.
Six bullets left.
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She seemed to have been forgotten by the boy--Hisoka, apparently--for the moment in the sudden chaos, and that was more than fine with her. Her strength felt lower than it should have, even here; her body just felt heavy with... well, with grief. Try as she might not to think about what Hisoka had told her, it was impossible not to, and the fact that she didn't know if he was lying to her or not almost made it worse.
Wanting to keep the others safe, she tried casting Barrier when Hisoka raised his gun again, only to discover she couldn't do it. Whispering the words and sketching the symbol did nothing--it was simply too high-level for her here. Running for cover wasn't really an option, so she stayed where she was and just watched; because of her current state, she would act only if she absolutely had to. The room was getting crowded enough so they had a fair chance of getting away while Hisoka was distracted--if anyone else in her group would actually run this time.
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Firstly, that the only three mortals in the room did not stand a chance against the kind of power that the inhuman one possessed.
Secondly, that the weapon which spewed fire could not be allowed to fall into the demon's hands. That thing wrapped in dead flesh was an abomination to the natural order, and for that reason if for no other Amaterasu was forced to make her decision rapidly.
She couldn't protect everyone. A human body had limitations, and further without her Celestial Brush she could only draw a straight line for so far before it became curved and her power dissipated. Therefore, while her heart ached to interpose her power and save all of them from the terrible attacks... she simply could not do so. And in such a case, she had to do what was best for the entire world.
As the gun began turning to her, Amaterasu focused all of her power on the brush in her hand, pointing it to the left of Hisoka. The weapon aimed at her shoulder, the barrel gleaming in the light of her own sun, green eyes glaring at her with inexpressible malice and hatred.
Then a roar greater than the mighty voice of Susano-wo-no-kami, God of Thunder, rang throughout the Sun Room. There was a flash of fire, time seemed to slow down as Hisoka pulled the trigger...
...and Amaterasu cut her brush straight across, one smooth stroke cutting like the blade of a sword. Her divine power infused that single motion; gun and bullet and wielder were attacked as though she had swung a blessed katana at all of them at the same time. Such was the might of Power Slash.
But yet, despite having destroyed both bullet and gun in that attack? It would seem that she had indeed succumbed to the terrible power of the inhuman one's attack. The crimson marks on her face and body, the proof of her divinity, faded entirely as her holy power was utterly drained by her exertion, and she collapsed to the ground as though dead. Only the faintest of breaths escaped her lips, her heart nearly still as she succumbed to exhaustion.
And the brush, being a mere thing of man's creation, shattered from the holy energies that had infused it, the fragments falling to the ground next to Amaterasu's motionless body.
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His makeshift bandages had soaked through quite thoroughly, and there was more still coming through. All the movement had kept it open and bleeding this whole time. It wasn't enough to cause more than a little light headedness, but... He was so unforgivably weak in this place. A gun causing so much damage to him? It was almost unthinkable. Up until yesterday, the bullet would have simply flattened as it hit his skin, leaving him unhurt.
More than anything, he was furious at himself for being such a fool. Allowing his attention to wander when things had seemed safe, wasting any chances for attack and making such a humiliating scene when that light--sunlight?!--had hit his eyes.
The gun was out of the hands of the attacker, in any case. But now there wasn’t a chance of him getting the damn thing, either. He’d just have to try to get some knives…
…If he could get up. Recluse swore colorfully through whatever languages came to mind first as his adrenaline started to leave him for some quality time with the wound in his leg. He focused on the pain, trying to get the better of it. Dignity was already a lost cause, but damned if he was going to let a minor problem like this stop him from getting something done.
He just hoped those still fully functional would do the sensible thing and kill that boy.
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Or so she thought until Amaterasu's power manifested itself again, attacking gun and wielder both. The way before he cleared, she completed her charge with the swing of a fist at Hisoka's throat. Her strike had to be debilitating, lest he produce a backup weapon or use his movement ability again to procure one.
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This was getting too crazy. Zelos lifted up one arm to block the kick, but he wasn't so lucky with the bullet. He'd had a feeling the boy would fire, but close range like this, there wasn't much Zelos could do but try and jerk away. The bullet still tore through skin, but it was a graze, and Zelos grimaced before whispering quick words. First Aid. It still stung like a bitch, but that was no big deal. At least he was on his feet.
He really wanted to avoid killing this kid if he could, but it was starting to look like mercy might not be an option. Amaterasu was down for the count now, and Zelos couldn't even check to make sure she was alive or dead.
Instead he attacked in combination with Rein. As the woman punched Hisoka, Zelos made a sweeping kick to knock the kid off his feet. Once the kid was down, Zelos could point the sword straight at his throat. He hoped, really hoped, the kid would get the message and give up already.
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He was momentarily stunned as the bullets were stopped, Hisoka was attacked, and a woman nearby suddenly collapsed motionless to the ground. Tsuzuki couldn't tell what had happened, but he knew she had done something to save him. He now was torn between helping her and going to Hisoka's side. Ultimately, it was the continued attacks that spurred him onwards towards his partner. If he didn't stop this now, more people would get hurt, not just the woman.
Despite attacking him and injuring others, Tsuzuki just couldn't abandon Hisoka. When he had been possessed by the demon Sagatanasu, Hisoka had done everything in his power to save him and had almost died by his hands in the process. Tsuzuki was willing to go that far and more if that was what it took to help Hisoka.
This time, Tsuzuki knew he was close enough to do something about the attacks. Throwing caution to the winds as usual, he sprinted forward and lunged at Hisoka, grabbing him by the shoulders and tackling the boy to the ground. It helped that the red-haired man had planned to sweep out Hisoka's legs which would leave him already off balance. The momentum of the tackle landed them both on the ground with Tsuzuki covering Hisoka with his body in an attempt to block any further blows.
"Stop! Stop attacking, please!" he shouted hastily to the others, his worry and concern overriding any kind of sense of self-preservation. His grip on Hisoka was tight to keep him from squirming away (he might be a reckless idiot, but he wasn't a fool), but Tsuzuki was careful not to grasp onto any exposed flesh. He knew the kind of damage that could cause, especially right now.
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A woman with a brush suddenly drew a...well...it looked like a glowing, white streak in the air, and it sliced through the gun, the discharged bullet plus the attacker. Damn it!
What the-
Being in such close proximity to the streak gave him a slight burn too. So it had holy properties then? The vampire tried to stop, skidding a little as the momentum from his initial lunge still pushed him foward, till he was teeter-tottering, a few degrees short from falling over. Someone shouted, and his room mate was suddenly lying atop his target in quite the compromising position. Wasn't this an interesting night.
"He attacked us first."
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It seemed mostly over, though. And it didn't look like the attacker was in mortal danger yet -- Sasuke had no desire to step in on something unless he had to, but the kid was under control of the Institute, and if he'd managed to fend off this many people (even if some of them were wounded), he might prove a valuable ally.
He'd gotten close enough to the door that it would be easy to slip out. Sakura hadn't noticed him, fortunately enough, and the fight had wound down enough that Alucard wouldn't need his help.
"We went to school together a long time ago," he said in response to Aidou's question, and left out the part about having been on the same team. Even then, they hadn't technically trained together all that often. Just under the same jounin. There was a pause while Aidou's original meaning pinged, and then a look of strangely impersonal irritation. "I have no interest in Sakura."
"Alucard. The situation seems to be under control, so I'm leaving," he stated, loud enough that the man would hear, but without any giveaway urgency in his voice. Breaking into a faster stride, he nodded briefly at both of them as he headed towards the door.
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"You shouldn't defer to him like that, it only encourages him. But maybe next time we talk, you'll feel like telling me what you're really doing with that bag of goodies."
With the other one - Hisoka? - momentarily brought down by a man who seemed to know him, Alucard had come to a standstill, which was good. This girl, however, had his full attention. Lifting her upper body off the floor and supporting it with one arm, like one would expect someone worried over her health to do. In actuality, his mind was making cold calculations - Aidou examined her carefully, more interested in the sudden lack of red marks than her exhausted state. The broken pieces of brush were from a regular paintbrush, nothing special.
She had cut a line, and there had been a strike like a blade. And earlier she'd drawn a circle towards the ceiling... and then a miniature sun had appeared out of thin air. This girl had done that of her own power. Had she been using the brush as a conduit of some kind? But how? How?
Touching her face, Aidou tilted the girl's head towards him. Passed out cold. "Come on, you're uninjured. Wake up."
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Fools.
Hisoka prepared to retaliate as the female crutch-throwing patient and the male patient he had burned moved to attack. Before any punch could be thrown though, the boy was thrown to the floor, his wounds jolting painfully from the impact as Tsuzuki attempted to
rapeprotect him from further blows. Reacting quickly, Hisoka's eyes rolled backwards into his skull as his body slumped.The perfect image of unconsciousness.
Remaining as such, Hisoka listened to all around him-- the thoughts, the voices, all-- as he began to prepare his next barrage of attacks and allowed himself to heal. Let them think him defeated, in all due time they would see otherwise.
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With Amaterasu likely in no condition to run for the next few minutes at least, and the group being less than unified (not that Raine trusted them all completely yet, honestly), she was resigned to staying in the Sun Room for a while longer. At least there were couches in here, and it might be best to put Amaterasu on one if she didn't wake up for a while... if Hisoka's apparent lover was willing to take him out of there first.
If he wasn't, or if Hisoka was only pretending to be unconscious, now that he no longer had the gun he was going to see what Raine could do even with an improvised weapon; she had no objections to taking out her stress on him.
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Amaterasu, her body limp as it was cradled in a vampire's arms, was utterly motionless even despite Raine's concern or Aidou's cold calculations. Her pale skin was drawn over the delicate bones of her human face, and the goddess was cool to the touch, like the sun behind a bank of clouds; her spirit blazed as brightly as ever, but until this strange new shell recovered her light would be trapped as in a stone tomb.
And perhaps it was the hope of the brothers upstairs turning into despair, or perhaps it was a sign that the battle was not yet over, or even a simple token that the goddess did not have the praise she needed to blaze forth in her full glory... but the sun she had drawn finally died. The brilliant light was surrounded by darkness, struggled for a few futile moments... and then dimmed into nothingness, leaving the Sun Room as dark as it was before. In the sudden gloom, Amaterasu's pale skin seemed to gleam ever-so-faintly, like a distant star.
Who could tell when she would awaken from such a state?
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“What the—“ Why hadn’t he noticed that before. The message board… As he tried to concentrate on it, it became unfocused. But it was still glowing more brightly than the moon outside. What? How... I suppose I'm hallucinating now as well. He hadn’t known it, but his attempts to block mental intrusion had made it near-invisible to him before.
He spoke up, trying to catch someone’s attention. They’d ignored him pretty thoroughly before now
just like back when he was human, but with the attacker down…“Excuse me, but I seem to be loosing quite a lot of blood.” He couldn’t bring himself to act like that was actually making him weak. “And either I’m hallucinating, or the message board has a 404 error.” Please, tell me I’m not hallucinating. That would be so embarrassing.
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Much though the wounded, adrenaline-high human and the old self in her demanded she inflict some kind of permanent damage on Hisoka, he did look to be unconscious, and his rescuer showed no signs of letting go of him. Not equal to her gunshot wound and whatever had been inflicted on the others, but as long as he didn't do further harm it was acceptable. Had to be acceptable. She just had to keep him incapacitated... with as dark a look and intonation as she could muster, she addressed Tsuzuki. "Keep him secured or we will do so through you."
With that she knelt quickly to the ground, gathering up the remaining unspent rounds from the shattered remains of Hisoka's firearm and depositing them in her pockets. They were smaller than the cartridges used by the Knights for reactant-binding, but she was sure they'd be more than enough with her reduced powers here. Whether she could overcome the general suppression remained to be seen but at least now she had a potential workaround for her limited capacity.
The sudden fading of Amaterasu's miniature sun brought her attention back to the rest of the room. She quickly spotted the fallen god and began to rush back to her, but the... strangely calm request for help from partway across the room demanded her attention. Amaterasu was already being attended to by Raine and another youth- her priorities were clear.
She made her way to the sitting patient and knelt by him, inspecting the wound on his leg. More severe than her and Zelos'... though she should probably do something about those too. Using strips of cloth from her shirt and a pen, she set about making a pressure bandage and tourniquet. Here at least her knowledge was useful.
Ordinary people would probably have found something strange about a lone man sitting in a chair while he bled out calmly describing his wounds to the themselves-strange passerby. At Landel's, and from Reinforce, it apparently evoked little wonder.
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"So - friend of yours?" Zelos asked. One hand was on his hip and his head cocked to the side, waiting for an answer.
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"He's my partner," Tsuzuki replied without thinking to the red-haired man, avoiding the gazes of his roommate and the woman when they spoke. He didn't want to have to address why Hisoka was shooting people. It probably had something to do with the 'brainwashing' that Renji had told him about, but thinking about it actually happening to Hisoka was difficult. And painful. Like that cold and calculating look that he'd seen in the boy's eyes before the shots had gone off.
"I lost track of him when... when our last assignment ended." Tsuzuki had almost mentioned what happened with the Kyoto incident. Almost. Except that it still hurt too much to think about. If it wasn't for him, would either him or Hisoka be here right now? Probably not.
Looking back down, he frowned at the sight of his partner, the worry building up again. "Hey," he called, shaking Hisoka just a bit. Had he really been hurt that bad? Tsuzuki had seen the boy remain conscious from wounds much worse than this... But there were already enough things that didn't make sense here. Why not add one more?
When it didn't seem that the boy was going to wake, Tsuzuki loosen his grip, despite the warnings of the woman. He really didn't think Hisoka was going to get up again, being out cold as far as the shinigami could tell. There were splatterings of blood all over from the boy's wounds, something that made Tsuzuki feel uncomfortable. Hisoka didn't deserve to be like this, even if he was being controlled... Lifting a hand, he made to wipe a bit of the blood off his partner's face before thinking that perhaps he should move off of him. People might start to wonder things if he stayed where he was...
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A quick glance around told him most of the patients were still on the alert, and Aidou was hunched over the unconcious girl who, created a bloody light sword with a paintbrush. He saw the reddish marks fade from her flawless skin, but she was unconcious and no questions could be asked.
The vampire loomed over Tsuzuki and their unconcious attacker. He didn't care if they knew each other, the fact remained that the other boy had openly fired his gun at the others. In fact, he was poised to strike already.
"It doesn't matter. Now hold him down, or else," Alucard spoke sharply when Tsuzuki relaxed.
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Aidou watched the others from over his shoulder, inwardly agreeing with Alucard - that alone made his mouth pucker into a frown. The faint touch of telepathy was sending slight shivers down his back - he could sense it, despite not being prone to the art himself, and harbouring even less of an interest in learning. It meant the kid was faking unconsciousness, and probably planning another wild assault.
It only brought his earlier question to the forefront of his mind: why someone dressed in the same unsightly uniform like the rest of the captives was mindlessly attacking them? It didn't add up. Of course, he'd expected humans to do stupid and nonsensical things, but still.
Slowly, Aidou's gaze returned to his current issue. How annoying this all was! His night had been wasted putting up with absurd creatures (undead E classes included), and now he had an unresponsive woman in his arms that obviously wasn't about to revive herself anytime soon. With the sputtering (and not unwelcome) death of the faux sun, a product of her power, it was irritatingly apparent she was beyond simple exhaustion. He wanted to know how she'd done that! Effortlessly rising to his feet, Aidou dropped her on the nearest horizontal surface, deciding slapping her to wakefulness wasn't the best of plans. Unless she died, he'd get answers from her eventually.
And now, it was about time to deal with someone else. Knocking around that one until he got his due reparations was a nice thought. At least there'd be one minor piece of business settled.
"Or else nothing, Alucard. You may have a fondness for men and little boys, but don't think I'll let you lay another paw on them!" Aidou snapped. He levelled a finger at the other, pointing at the space directly between his eyes. "We have an unsettled score. You know what I'm talking about! We can't do it in a room this crowded!"
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The shinigami quietly thanked the heavens his wounds were no deeper, muscles were such a pain to mend-- they itched like hell too-- and bones were obnoxiously loud when they snapped back into place.
Hisoka quickly abandoned this train of thought as he felt Tsuzuki loosen his grip on him. It was almost time. His wounds were not completely healed, but this was not the time to worry about such things. Now he only had to wait for the perfect moment...
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