Nightshift 23: Second Floor, hallway containing disciplinary therapy rooms and nurse station
[From here!]
The lock to the smaller hallway's door had burst. The door had slammed open. And Ashton had crept in, signaling to Xigbar and Naminé behind him with the end of a long metal ladle, gripping the other one tightly, ready to attack with his makeshift weapons if need be.
He didn't see anything yet, but that didn't mean that something wasn ( Read more... )
The lock to the smaller hallway's door had burst. The door had slammed open. And Ashton had crept in, signaling to Xigbar and Naminé behind him with the end of a long metal ladle, gripping the other one tightly, ready to attack with his makeshift weapons if need be.
He didn't see anything yet, but that didn't mean that something wasn ( Read more... )
The thought moved through her mind, chanted in the way she often voiced, and with it she rocked in tune. Back, forth, back, forth. It wasn't enough for her to be entertained, the internal rhythm was, after all, too slow, but it was enough to distract. For a short while she would ignore all else and live in her own little world, the one where she was huddled on the floor, back pressed to the wall. She continued to move back and forth, arms drawn around herself protectively.
She didn't look up when the kick broke through the lock, nor did she when it swung itself against the wall. She continued as she was, the only difference being the change of thought. It switched from the routine and had become blank as she waited.
It wasn't long before there were footsteps to the side, a fair distance between herself, the intruders, and the door. Here she began internally twisting the sounds into words, forcing them to rhyme. When the chain rattled, she turned her head, tilting it so that she could take in the sight of the two creatures that stood guard. Before now, she probably hadn't even noticed their existence. Maybe if she had, she wouldn't have remained so calm the entire time. Or perhaps she would have, considering that she resumed her previous actions. She wouldn't watch this, not right now. She didn't want to.
I'm loved, Manah thought, voice bordering eccentric in that melodic way of hers. With her face now buried within her arms, she waited.
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The scrape of chains alerted her and Naminé instinctevly backed away, almost going back out of the hall. She had to go and get help. There was no way Ashton and Xigbar would be able to handle this creature on their own, especially if the nurse was going to step in for round 2.
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"Namine, skedaddle out of here! And Ashton, keep tall and gruesome occupied if you can; I'm going after the brains of the outfit."
With that he broke to the left and began running past the solitary confinement rooms, hoping that the orderly would be too busy with Ashton to do anything about it. And if he could handle the human-looking chick, then that'd make things a whole lot easier. The big guy looked strong but dumb; that'd make him easy to take down if he couldn't think for himself.
As for the other person? Heck if Xigbar cared for her; if she caused a problem she'd get a pen to the eye. Otherwise he had bigger things to worry about.
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If Xigbar was doing what Ashton thought he was doing, he was going to take out the nurse, the one who seemed to be giving the orders... so that meant that his job was to keep jumping around and dodging, to distract the big lug, especially since he looked like he was the target (the nurse had pointed at him, after all.) He'd wait to attack until there was a more obvious opening...
Although the way his muscles were responding was disconcerting, and he had the sinking feeling he'd be injured somehow before the whole charade had been played.
It was just his luck.
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Following its orders without a single protest, the Orderly began to wildly attack the swordsman. The man may have been quick, but the creature was just as persistent, following his every movement before raising its arm again to send the chain flying at its target. Meanwhile, the nurse saw Xigbar approaching, that ever cheery smile still on her face despite this.
Before he was able to reach her, however, she suddenly moved back and threw a wild arm gesture towards the latter. At first the action didn't seem to mean anything, but soon enough its purpose became known as gases began to seep right out of the pores of her skin and towards the man.
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It was like a dance.
She smiled to herself, slowly focusing more and more on the events that were moving before her eyes. Xigbar, physically at least, was the most interesting. He was going after the one in charge, trying to take them out. Manah, who now was torn between smiling and frowning, glanced toward the nurse. She isn't loved, she noted, contempt clear from the dialogue, They aren't loved, they try to be loved, but only Little Manah is loved. They aren't loved because they don't love. It's only Little Manah. Only Little Manah can be loved.
"Because," she whispered against her robes, gleeful, "Manah loves them." But the Watchers wanted them to play, they wanted them to play. She was their pawn, so she had to watch. Watch like the Watchers?
Manah sprung to her feet, laughing lowly to herself.
"Little Manah knows," if she was here, the Watchers wanted her here. She would do like the Watchers wanted. So she had to pick.. She waited, barely aware of the orders the nurse was giving to its pawn.
"Naminé," she spoke.
The hall's door slammed shut.
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Kinda made him wish he hadn't left his shirt outside.
Hoping that Namine could handle the crazy girl, and Ashton could handle the orderly, Xigbar flung his pokeball right between the nurse's eyes, withdrawing a pen and flinging it at her throat while he was at it. He really needed to take her out as soon as possible, or otherwise this was going to get dicey.
Still, because he was Xigbar, he glanced over at Manah with a grin. "I'd say I love you, but that'd be a lie. Why don't you go beddy-bye like the other good little girls?" If need be, he'd be happy to send her that way himself.
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The orderly was dishing out attacks as fast as Ashton could dodge them. He'd have to attack if he was going to get anywhere, and jumping out of the way was getting tiring. If he was going to end it, he was going to have to end it soon.
Through the flashlight beams, he caught a glimpse of something gaseous seeping from the nurse's hands. Poison gas, he thought. At home they had charms to protect against such things, and aquaberries to cure poisons. Here.. what did he have besides preventative measure?
...But there was no time to pull his shirt up over his face! All he could do was use this opening provided by the chain's momentum and attack. Sometimes the best defense was a good offense, right? If he could take it out now...
He lifted his two trusty ladles and brought them down in a twin motion, using all the force in his body, aiming for the orderly's neck.
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Meanwhile, the Orderly seemed as wild as ever, thrashing its arms around in attempt to corner the swordsman. It raised its arm back to let the chain fly at its target, only to stumble back several steps when Ashton pierced both ladles into its neck. Because of the force of the attack one of the 'weapons' successfully lodged into the skin, thick ooze seeping out of the wound. The Orderly gave a roar, taking this opportunity to swing its arm at the man in an attempt to throw him against the wall.
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But hey, at least he'd stabbed her?
It was the fog cloud that had him worried more than anything else. More than the pain, more than the flailing chains, he had a pretty good idea that it was the gas that'd do them in, especially in an enclosed space. There was only one thing to do.
Give fanservice to all and sundry. Use what little clothing he had as a breathing mask. Thankfully Xigbar wasn't a prude though virgin eyes were likely to be horribly scarred at the sight of him in just underwear, and so it was the work of moments to wrap his pants around his face, the cloth providing at least some filtration of the gas. To add to that, he kept backpedaling, trying to stay at a safe distance for as long as possible.
Then... then he kept attacking. The pokeball went flying at the nurse again, followed by another pair of pens aimed at her eyes, the sniper trying his best to kill her as quickly as possible. The shriek didn't do anything to him, nor did he feel any real remorse for killing someone who looked like a regular nurse. He was a Nobody; lack of feelings just went with the territory.
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And the nurse shrieked. 'Mr. Eyepatch,' as Ashton had called Xigbar before knowing his name, was doing all right over there. And Ashton was, too - he'd come back from the attack with only one ladle. The other one had successfully lodged itself in the orderly's neck. That'd made the giant back up a few feet, during which time Ashton dropped his coat like a bad habit and pulled his shirt up over his head and up around his face. Did someone say fanservice?
After all, poison would kill him slowly if untreated. Ashton hated fighting dirty and half-naked like this, but he'd do what he had to do. For Axel.
He'd just finished and was charging up to the orderly, reaching out to push the ladle further into the wound, when the giant recovered and came back swinging faster than he expected. The blow hit him on the front of his shoulder (right in the nasty, already-swollen bruise Xigbar's pokeball had left - ouch) and sent him flying against the wall, the force making him gasp.
And now he was cornered! Hurray.
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... And then bulls-eye.
The pair of pens made their target, each one piercing into the cornea, past the lens and lodging into the optical nerves. This time the nurse didn't just scream, her shrieks echoed along the walls of the hallway as she blindly flailed her arms about. Blood only continued to seep out of her neck, her footsteps clumsy now that she was unable to see her target.
And, as if they shared the same mind, the Orderly's attack fell short as it gave out its own roar, swinging the chain wildly around as if it lost sight of whatever it was supposed to be attacking.
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But now she was blind and flailing, which meant that Xigbar had the clear advantage. It was now just a matter of flinging the pokeball over and over, hoping to bash the nurse into unconsciousness or more. She couldn't see him to dodge, after all; and once that was done, maybe he could handle whatever the Orderly could dish out. Who knew?
And he was totally willing to teach Ashton about 'decency.' Or at least the wonders of not having any at all~!
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He caught his breath then and scooted under the wildly flailing chain. He was on the same side of the room as the (what!? almost naked?!) Xigbar now, and the nurse looked like she was almost down, so he drew close to the blinded woman and brought the end of his one remaining ladle down, attacking whatever flesh he could reach.
They could take care of the orderly after this, if it didn't somehow magically fall with the nurse. ...At this point, he didn't even care if he killed her outright.
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Each strike connected with as much force as the last, blood now seeping out of her neck and chest. With one last cry she crumpled onto the floor, arms excreting one last cloud of gas. After that there was nothing.
Meanwhile, the Orderly was now without control. Though it hadn't fallen when the Nurse did, it was easy to see that it was now greatly weakened. Having been unable to tell the difference between flesh and steel, the creature was now relentlessly throwing the chain against the wall.
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He crossed his arms, not really caring about how he looked at the moment or that the Orderly was flailing about, and he added, "Well, congrats on riding in and saving the day. Real smooth operation there."
While he was at it, he walked over and gave the nurse a nice kick, acting like a spoiled brat a hunter who'd had his kill stolen. Which, to an extent, he had.
And yes, it was that important to him. The Orderly could go fly a kite.
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