damned_institute | Night 47: Hall of Armor

Night 47: Hall of Armor

[from here]

Like the previous hallway, this room was well-lit by the lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Kagura swept her flashlight around the room and was surprised at what she found - armor and weapons. She counted nine suits of armor in all, and each was carrying a different weapon.

For a moment, Kagura was worried the nine suits were going to come alive and attack them, so she approached them with caution. The first armor she came across was definitely Japanese in origin. She'd been around the real thing enough to recognize her culture. Her hand slowly reached out for the katana that reminded her of Shishio and removed it from the armored figure's grasp. As she slid back the sheath, her eyes examined the blade.

"It's real..." That fact alone caused her to raise her guard. Kagura doubted they were getting these things for free.

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"I'm in the habit of picking up dangerous pets to deal with other dangerous pets," Hime replied with a bit of a raised brow at Teresa's comment. Was the warrior implying something about Kagura? She'd keep it in mind, but otherwise hoped this didn't escalate any more than just words.

"Well, one can only hope its nothing so boring as wooden dummies," she replied, following Kagura through the door.

Inside, Hime had a similar thought as the other girl, but when the suits did not, in fact, come to life to attack them, even when Kagura took one of their weapons, it seemed they were safe, at least for now. The presence of the katana was interesting, but more interesting to Hime were some of the other stands of armor. In particular was a large suit of medieval armor with ornate designs not unlike the ones worn by her former honor guard. Exactly like it, now that she looked closer...

Even odder was that paired with it was, of all things, a chainsaw. She could see the blood that stained the many teeth along its chain. Expression neutral, the Royal walked over and picked it up, feeling the familiar heft and weight of the machine in her hands. Her fingers curled around the handle of the pull cord, comfortable in her grip. Then she gave a mighty yank, one with strength belying her small frame. The engine immediately roared to life with a deeply satisfying growl of gears and gasoline as she held the trigger and let the chain spin for several seconds, a dark, thin smile spreading across the Royal's face.

"What an unusually helpful gift we've been given," she said as she turned back to the others, letting the blades go still and the engine idle, its puttering rumble filling the room. "I wonder whatever could be the price for these?"

For a moment Depth Charge's jaw tightened at Teresa's 'pet' crack and not even the fact that it was aimed at Kagura rather than him managed to loosen it up again, though it had saved her a fist to the face for the insinuation that he was anybody's slave. That one seemed to at least get a reaction from Hime- unfortunately for her, it was entirely the wrong one, given the situation.

"Who're you calling a pet?" he snapped, narrowing his eyes at the pair of them and folding his arms defensively. Tch. That was the trouble with women. You never knew where you stood with 'em.

But then, maybe they weren't alone in that. Because, walking into the next room and looking on as it opened into a deep cavern gleaming with armour and weaponry, he remembered that you never knew where you stood with the Institute either.

The sight of so much armour drew a faint pang of longing- those smooth, metallic forms were just close enough to his old body to stir a few memories- but on closer inspection (and a sharp tug of a gauntlet or to), it was perfectly clear it wasn't going anywhere. Oh, well. At least the weapon slid out easy enough- a long, narrow sword, edge sharp and just begging to be used. The thick sheen of red across the blade was decidedly creepy, but the temptation was too great to resist. "Who knows? Whatever it is, they're gonna put us through the Pit anyway," he said flippantly, testing the weight of the sword before turning- and staring.

The word 'surreal' just about summed up the sight of Hime and her new toy: a pretty girl, armed to the teeth with an old-school chainsaw that purred like a kitten. He gave her a flat look. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Hmm, I see," Teresa replied to Hime. "Such a pet tends to one day bite the hand that feeds it. Do not expect me to interfere when its instincts take over. You cannot tame youma."

The rows of armor the next hall contained, many in styles she'd never seen, were impressive. It was a pathetic armory by the Organization's standards, but she'd take what she could get. Moving down the hallway, she passed by the man and her lips curling up slightly. "You are not youma," she said to him as she continued on.

Hearing the sound of blades being drawn, Teresa's silver eyes fell upon a suit of armor at the far end of the hall. A grey body suit with gleaming spaulders attached the rondal to cover the shoulders and upper back coupled with a plackart with faulds to give the armored skirt appearance, it was definitely a replica of the Organization's armor. Yet, there was no tabbard and glyph identifying who it belonged to. Curious though that was, more curious (and a little frustrating) was that the armor was secured to the stand. How disappointing. She would have liked to have had armor back, especially with a youma in the hall with her.

Her hand moved to the back of the armor and she drew the large claymore from the back of the suit, most of its length hidden by the half-cape that hung from the spaulders. Over five feet long, it felt very, very good to have a claymore in her hand. It wasn't her claymore, but similar to the ones they trained with before they were fully whelped. Unmarked with a glyph, like the armor, it was well-balanced and an appreciative smile was Teresa's immediate response, even if the blood that stained it was crimson instead of violet.

Silver eyes then moved down the hallway to the youma as Teresa held the claymore one handed to the side, parallel to the ground. Now that she had a proper sword, she should kill the youma. Yes, it had a weapon, too, but she was the Number One; it would die if she deemed to deal its death.

Luckily, a sound she had never heard before drew her attention and the hybrid found Hime with a horribly loud... thing. What was that and did she expect to be able to use such an unwieldy thing as a weapon? Lowering the claymore slightly, she could not hide the look of confusion on her face.

"What is that?"

"I doubt the institute will let us stay bored for long, especially after giving us all this..." Kagura said before she was interrupted by the roar of Hime's mechanical weapon. For a moment, she was confused by the sight of a chainsaw in Hime's hands. Not only was it out of place amongst the other weapons, but also as far as weapons went, a chainsaw wasn't exactly Kagura's first choice. The unwieldy weapon had issues concerning its weight, sharpness, and fuel, but Hime seemed pretty pleased with her new toy. However, Kagura wasn't so enraptured by Hime's new find that she missed Teresa's little comment. A youma? So that's what she thinks I am. But then what would that make her? Teresa's words left Kagura with more questions than answers. She didn't know if she wanted to take Teresa aside and talk to her or not, although, it didn't really seem like a good time now. Then again, their misunderstanding might affect how a battle went. The last thing Kagura wanted to worry about was getting stabbed in the back.

"That's a chainsaw," Kagura said, answering Teresa's question. Despite her apprehension towards the other woman, she felt no ill will or contempt. However, that didn't mean she wanted to stay trapped in a small room with Teresa, especially while they both held weapons.

"You're okay with that, Hime?" Kagura would have thought something refined like a rapier would have suited the blonde noble better.

Hime resisted the urge to say something snappy in reply to Depth Charge, only because he wasn't a pet. Dangerous, maybe, but not a pet. Besides, Teresa made it clear enough that the comment was not directed at him.

"I'll keep it in mind," she replied blandly to the warrior's warning. "It can't be much worse than keeping a werewolf." Though really, werewolves were known for their loyalty. Well, that just made it worse when they turned.

"As the name implies, it functions by rotating the blades on the chain at high speeds, ripping into and tearing apart whatever - or whoever - is so unfortunate to be on the receiving end of it," the Royal elaborated after Kagura's short answer.

"Perfectly fine," she replied with a dark smile. While a rapier was certainly her sword of choice, she always did have a taste for more interesting toys than mere swords. Fine for duels, but in an all out massacre, there was nothing quite like a chainsaw.

[Anyone particularly want to take the test? Hime, of course, is more than willing to find something to tear up if no one else wants to]

... youma? What the slag was that? Whatever it meant, at any rate, it wasn't referring to him. Depth Charge gave the woman a cursory scowl but let her pass by to pick out her weapon without comment, even if he resented that little smirk she'd been wearing. Tch. Wasn't worth his time.

Shaking his head at Hime distantly (well, it was her choice...), he went back to studying his sword. It reminded him a lot of his tail blade- the relative weight of it in his hand felt the same, and the shape of it was strikingly familiar. Almost tailor made.

... well, if that wasn't an ominous little thought. He eyed his crowbar for a moment before tucking it carefully into the back of the waistband of his pants- not ideal, but who knew if these things were entirely safe?- and folded his arms, turning back to the others. They'd all picked. "Not to interrupt your precious conversation," he said, "but what do we do now?"

Teresa heard the youma speak but gave no indication that she had. It wasn't until Hime had explained the... chainsaw that she responded. "That is an impractical weapon. Slow and unbalanced. I doubt the power behind it is worth the trade off," she said, tilting her head at the thing. "Bone and sinew can easily catch in that chain, rendering useless, but if that is your choice, so be it."

At the man's words, Teresa turned away and headed to the door down at the end of the hallway, by the Organization's armor. Automatically, she went to sheath the claymore on her back, the move so ingrained into her that she paused and frowned for a brief moment before bringing the great weapon back to her side. Stopping at the door, she raised an eyebrow at the other blonde.

"Lead away and show me how one uses a... chainsaw. The first thing to attempt to kill us is yours."

If Hime was confident with what she had, who was Kagura to say otherwise? For all she knew, Hime was proficient with chainsaws as weapons and used them on a daily basis. Although, the only instance Kagura thought a chainsaw was useful would be in a video game with zombies. "Looks like we're ready, Hime."

Kagura sheathed her katana and let it rest at her waist. The familiar feel of a katana in her hands filled her with strength. Even though there was no basis for her confidence, Kagura felt ready to face whatever monstrosity was on the other side.

It was obvious the rest of them had their doubts, and Hime acknowledged that it was not the most practical of weapons. This was a matter of style though. After all, a little black dress wasn't exactly the same as body armor. What was royalty if not having the power and influence to worry about aesthetics rather than practicalities? Of course, that exact treatment had been denied to her here, but now that she had been once more provided the luxury of choice, she was going to exercise that right.

"How generous," was her dry reply to Teresa's offer, though she wore a smirk. Finally, something she could just defeat rather than wandering around at night, wary of vague shadows. Childish, perhaps, but it would be a nice opportunity to vent any frustration that had been building since arriving here, as she was sure some of the others were keen to do. Besides, it would be a good opportunity to see the others in action as well.

"Well, let's see what the doctor has in store for us," she murmured, taking the lead and going to the door. Her dramatic statement was undercut though when the door at the end of the room refused to open at her touch. The Royal went as far as giving it a good shove with one hand before turning back to the others, rather than show the indignity of pushing and shoving against it with all her might to no avail. It seemed obvious this was like the door out of the ballroom - one person alone could not open it, no matter how strong. Given the strange change in resistance from Teresa's mere touch on that one, it was likely keyed to only accept groups of people. There was, of course, a sense of foreboding to that thought - a test that require multiple people, all armed, as ordained by a sadistic doctor? - as there was no guarantee this was the "target practice" Alkaid had mentioned. Still, there was no point in turning back now.

"It's another door that needs more than one of us to open," Hime stated plainly, not in the slightest embarrassed about her failure to get through by herself. This was simply another aspect of the situation. Instead she simply had the air of someone who was just slightly unsatisfied that yet another insignificant but easily surmountable obstacle was impeding her progress. After the first door, Landel had established they were a group; at this point, it was just an annoyance.

Teresa didn't shy away from stating just how impractical she thought the chainsaw was, and, to be honest, Depth Charge couldn't blame her. Now, if it had been Cybertronian grade, that might have made a difference... well, whatever, Hime seemed happy enough with it. So long as he didn't end up cleaning up after her. He readjusted his grip on his own newfound weapon, rapping his fingertips lightly on the hilt as he watched her sweep towards the door, chainsaw in hand, only to have it barely even budge under her hand again. Figured.

"Anything to make things just that little bit slower," he said with a sigh, jamming his flashlight into his pocket so that he could put a hand to the door, but he didn't push just yet. Presumably, this one would take three people as well. No point in wasting the effort when it wasn't going to open without Teresa or Kagura pulling their weight.

Speaking of which... his eyes flickered briefly over both Hime and Kagura. They'd both armed themselves and seemed confident enough, but that same old cynic in him just wouldn't keep his mouth shut. Teresa looked like she could defend herself well enough, but whatever was waiting for them past this door wasn't gonna be child's play. Sure, Hime was taking the spotlight now, but if anything went wrong he wasn't just going to stand by. Same went for Kagura.

Hah. He hadn't been enlisted as a body guard, but something about the entire situation just begged for it. Depth Charge didn't get the feeling either of 'em would be too happy about the idea that he thought they'd need defending, but frag that. He'd never been good with doing as he was told anyway.

On the contrary, Teresa thought Hime would be perfectly okay with the idea of someone thinking she needed defending if only because then that poor fool would step in the way of an attack meant for her at some point. It was precisely that reason she was not inclined to aide the girl when it came to combat, especially now that she was armed, if one could call it that unless asked. And even then she might not. Combat is what she was created for, but that didn't mean she thirsted for battle. It was simply a fact of her existence.

Placing her hand on the door and giving a little push, the door swung open easily. "By all means," she said to the shorter blonde, not moving a bit into the room. If Hime thought a chainsaw was an appropriate weapon, let her prove it.

Kagura directed her light into the abyss, revealing nothing sinister, yet. After she made sure the immediate area was safe, she moved out of the way for Hime.

Hime was more than willing to accept the help of others; that was, of course, what vassals were for, though she wouldn't call those gathered here that. But a king was nothing without his people, so as a princess, Hime knew just how important an entourage and bodyguards were. She had no illusions about striking it out on her own, hence her spending her first few days gathering compatriots to explore the basement with. The fact that the doors here could not be opened by one person alone only reinforced that.

Not that this was going to stop her from taking the spotlight, as it was. Well, perhaps she'd leave a few things to kill for the others (provided the others weren't the things to kill).

A confident smirk on her face, Hime stepped forth through the door and into the room beyond.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/830838.html)]

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Night 47: Hall of Armor

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