Night 53: Courtyard

[unheroed]

[From here.]Hitting the ground hard, Harvey did his best to absorb the impact and ignore the pain that ran through his body as a result of the way that he was straining his wounds. He really only had the burns to worry about at the moment, but that was more than enough for anyone to deal with

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[byhookorby]

Vibrations in the earth triggered a signal.  Patients were at large in a restricted area.  The data were processed; a decision was made.  This was unacceptable.  Steps would have be taken.  A guardian was needed.  A guardian was released.

Orange Alert.  Orange Alert.

Beneath the surface of the pond, bubbles were forming.  First small ones, barely worth noticing.   Then larger ones, joining and splitting as they floated upwards.  The last one was no bubble at all, but a white balloon, more than twice a man's height in diameter, and moving under its own power.  It rose towards the surface, tumbling and shoving water and air aside.  The center of the pond began to glow, and a soft hum sounded a second warning.

It would be the only one issued.    

[its_the_mileage]

Once Dent was down, Indy made a fairly clean landing on the lawn and looked around. The entrance to the building was farther away than the one on the rec field had been. They needed to edge past the pond along the dirt path and round the corner to the nearest cafeteria door, which might be locked. The only times he'd bothered to try to pick locks had been when Pierson was around; tonight they'd have to force their way through.

Indy had just picked himself up and started moving again when something about the pond caught his eye. When he'd first surveyed the courtyard after landing, the water had been almost still--certainly nothing unusual about the way it was moving. Now the surface was roiling with bubbles. Big ones.

That was all Indy needed to see.

"Move!" he barked, breaking into a full sprint for the door and trying to get the brush axe back out at the same time. At the edge of his vision the water had begun to glow and hum. Mechanical? he wondered vaguely. It didn't seem organic, that was for sure. Despite his innate

[unheroed]

It was true that they had a further distance to cover, but even then it didn't seem that far. Granted, everything seemed further away at night -- not just because the shadows elongated it all, but because the second something was chasing you it became a whole different story.

Harvey had thought that they were in the clear for the moment, but Jones had caught sight of something that he'd missed. He could have blamed his decreased vision due to his burns, but in the end it didn't matter. Instinct made him look back toward the pond, taking note of a glow that certainly wasn't just the moonlight being reflected on the water's surface.

Great. Much like Jones, Harvey didn't want to stick around and find out what the hell that was. At this point, he was ready to accept anything from a giant robot to the goddamn Loch Ness monster. But that didn't mean he wanted to face it.

Not even bothering to respond, Harvey took off toward the cafeteria door, ignoring the soreness that was still lingering after jumping over the wall.

[byhookorby]

The bubble that was no such thing reached the surface, and a large, white balloon launched out of it, moving almost immediately to approximately twenty feet in the air and then stopping. The whine grew louder as it assessed the situation

[its_the_mileage]

Aside from their proximity to the door, Indy was aware of two things as he ran. First, Dent was keeping pace with him, which was good. Second, there was now a large whitish ball floating well above their heads and making the third godawful, ear-splitting noise he'd heard in four nights. He didn't even bother trying to cover his ears this time, just gritted his teeth and kept sprinting. Then the ball descended to the path.

The thing was so large it didn't leave them much room to maneuver around it; they were pretty well pinned by the wall on one side and the edge of the pond and then the building on the other. Indy's gaze darted back to the pond, which was calm again now. Swimming across wouldn't be much fun in this cold. Better as Plan B.

The only problem was that he didn't have a Plan A. Then again, the logic wasn't that hard: if you couldn't go over, under or around, your only option was to go through. Indy raised his machete and made a sharp jab at the surface of the ball.

[unheroed]

What was it with ear-splitting noises always coming up when he was with Jones? Or maybe it was just this place, but it was about the most annoying trait that any monster could have.

Granted, as the thing settled down in front of them and started bouncing, Harvey wasn't sure that it could be called a monster. It was just a ball. A big, bouncing ball. He skidded to a stop, staring at it and wondering if this was some sort of joke. The only thing threatening about it was that it was twice as tall as he was, meaning it could probably crush him if it wanted. But since when did bouncing balls have minds of their own

[byhookorby]

Cooperation: unlikely. The cloth of the balloon rippled backwards, away from the knife, more quickly than air and cloth should be able to move. It rose again, roar re-engaged, louder and lower than before. It came to rest, if midair could be called restful, hanging squarely over the dark circle of the uninjured patient's hat. Light played over its surface as information was processed.

Threat levels had been assessed. Injured patient is primarily a danger to himself. Uninjured patient identification: Harry Lucas Jr. Disharmonious clothing indicates nonconformist sentiments. The use of physical methods is indicated.

As quickly as it had risen, it descended, with enough force to knock a grown man forward to his knees, if not entirely prone.

[its_the_mileage]

"Damn!" Indy swore as the ball evaded him and ascended again. The noise was back, too. He just had time to start forward again before it shot down and hit him from above, knocking him to his hands and knees. The machete came free from his right hand, skittered along the path and came to a stop a few feet in front of him.

Indy cursed again and dove forward to get the weapon. He managed to get it and wedge it awkwardly under one arm--no time to stow it the right way--and then hurried toward the door, at first on his hands and knees, then trying to get himself to his feet without stopping once he thought he was past the ball. He knew it was still nearby, probably ready to dive-bomb him again, but they might just be able to make it there first.

[unheroed]

As ridiculous as it was, the ball somehow managed to constrict, avoiding the knife entirely. How did that even make sense in terms of physics? Then again, there wasn't much point in asking when the damn thing could float up and down as it pleased.

Harvey ended up skittering backward a few more steps when the thing ascended and then dropped down onto Jones' head, sending the man to the dirt ground like he was made of cloth rather than flesh and bone. That easy, huh? Honestly, it felt like this was just one huge joke and someone was watching and laughing at them, but Harvey didn't think it was very funny.

The moment that Jones started to run forward, Harvey did as well, not even giving a passing glance to the ball to see what it was going to try next. He saw that Jones was still stumbling, probably disoriented by that hit, and so when he came side-by-side with the man he awkwardly grabbed for his arm, pulling him along as he kept running.

[byhookorby]

Message received. The patients were in retreat. This was within acceptable limits. Further correction would be administered by other agents.

It bounced along, roaring whenever either patient stumbled. Once or twice, it nudged one or the other in the back.

As they reached the door, it sent one final message.

Yellow Alert. Yellow Alert. Patients out of bounds in the Cafeteria zone.

[its_the_mileage]

Indy had made a lot of hasty exits in his time, and the number had shot up sharply in the last few weeks. But he'd never had to run for his life from a damned cloth ball before. Usually when he ran from giant balls ready to descend on him and crush him into a sticky red pulp with a very flat hat, they were at least made of rock.

He didn't have much time to contemplate that, though. The thing was still bobbing right behind them and roaring like an angry lion (Indy would know), and he was a lot more concerned with getting to the door. He hit it before Dent--literally, with outstretched hands--tried it, found it locked, and battered the hell out of it until it gave. Then he ducked through into the safety (he hoped) of the dark cafeteria.

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