Nightshift 24: Entry Room

[transgenix]

( coming from here.)

The hall was dark and quiet as Max led the way deeper into the building and away from the dorms. She could hear the faint murmur of voices coming from... somewhere, but couldn't quite pinpoint a location

Comments

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia was torn between stopping to talk to Vice Captain Hinamori and staying with Colonel Mustang. On the one hand, she was here tonight to assist the Colonel, and protect him (which he clearly needed, considering his apparently weakened condition) while he tried to open the door. On the other, Rukia has to assume that Vice Captain Hinamori had only just woken up here tonight; none of the other Shinigami had mentioned seeing her. While Rukia had no doubt that Hinamori could take care of herself, shouldn't the other Shinigami at least be informed of their situation?

Rukia was confused by Hinamori's words. She paled a little, unable to find words for a moment. Hinamori thought Rukia had been executed? Then... she must have been brought here before waking up, and after... Aizen.

Glancing behind her at Colonel Mustang and the two boys, Rukia said, "I... Vice Captain, it's hard to explain, and I've got to help them right now, but... I'm okay. Ichigo sav-- well, my brother saved me. But it's very complicated. And some of the others are here, too, but nothing bad happened to them... Captain Hitsugaya is here." Most every Shinigami who had been around for more than a decade knew that Hinamori and Hitsugaya were childhood friends. Rukia just hoped it wouldn't upset Vice Captain Hinamori that her friend was here.

"I must go now, but... Will you meet us at breakfast in the morning? Or you could come with me now...?" Rukia shifted, half turning to keep an eye on her companions.

[hajike_tobiume]

Yes, indeed complicated. Momo wasn't sure how even Kuchiki Byakuya could stop the Sokyoku and prevent the Execution from going through. It had even been a pipe dream that the ryoku would have been able to change things, but stranger stuff had happened. This was something she immediately pushed from her thoughts when Rukia mentioned Hitsugaya.

Momo's eyes went wide and she let out a half-strangled "Shiro-chan?" She quickly shut her mouth and swallowed hard, once again refusing to cry. Now was not the time. Focus on the mission. She had to focus. And she was higher ranked. Acting Captain she was, so Acting Captain she would be.

A quick hand to her eyes and any trace of tears were gone. The shinigami drew herself to her full almost-five-feet height and nodded sternly.

"To your mission then, shinigami," Momo responded. "I am with two others in the file room over there," she gestured to the room Integra and Alucard were. "Should you require my assistance, simply ask. I will not hold you up any further."

[broken_exorcist]

Allen wasn't usually one to eavesdrop, but his suspicions made it difficult. His focus was torn between Mustang and the two small girls. He heard the jingle of metal as the Colonel fumbled for his keys and hoped the man made it quick.

But he caught that word again, from the new girl. Shinigami. Gods of death or something, hadn't Renji said? It seemed arrogant to refer to oneself as a God, though he knew from his travels with Master Cross that there were dozens of different religions. Some believing in only one God, some in many. They couldn't all be right, but...

Allen frowned. There was that gray area again. Why couldn't things just be simple black and white? He focused his gaze back on his present task. Was he supposed to be watching the way they'd come or were they waiting for something behind the door? If there was an Akuma close, he'd know.

[notmyfather]

Valyn kept his attention on Mustang. He wasn't entirely happy about playing nursemaid to some strange soldier, but he wasn't about to shirk his duties. And he was very good at ignoring conversations going on right beside him - years of tuning out his father's political wooing and the idle chatter of maidens had honed that skill.

He did pick up a hint of something in the air. Charged emotions, which didn't surprise him. He lifted his knife, just to be ready. Just in case....

Maybe things would continue going as smoothly as they had.

[muted_flame]

Finally, after picking out the correct key, he got it into the lock and felt it click open again. Biting down hard on his lip, he pushed forward and while the door was pushed back slightly, it wasn't long before it stopped completely.

Roy stared, and then pushed harder, leaning against the door and putting his weight into it. While it opened a crack, that was all. There was something on the other side of the door, barricading it.

Dammit. He banged the side of his fist against the door, but he knew it would do no good. It was more an act of frustration than anything else. Of course it wouldn't have been that easy.

How was he supposed to explain this to the rest of the group? He turned around slowly to face them, but found he was speechless for the moment. He had just dragged them on a wild goose chase, after all.

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia bowed, saying, "Thank you, Vice Captain Hinamori. Please be careful."

With that, she turned and joined Allen, Valyn, and Colonel Mustang at the door. None of them had said anything to her, but she could practically feel disapproval radiating off them. She supposed she had earned some of it, since she was here to protect the Colonel and had stopped to talk to an old friend. Still, Rukia knew that it had been necessary. If she had simply ignored the other Shinigami and reported her presence to Captain Hitsugaya later, she would no doubt have earned an angry glare.

Rukia was ready for an attack when the Colonel pushed on the door. A moment later, though, she frowned when it refused to open. "What is it, sir?" she asked. "Is there something blocking it?" Rukia moved forward, shining her flashlight at the small gap between the door and the door frame.

[hajike_tobiume]

Momo nodded to Rukia and watched the shinigami continue on her mission. It appeared that the tall dark-haired man had a keyt to the big door. Did that mean he had a way out? When the door refused to open, Momo returned to her place by the file room Integra and Alucard were in. She'd let Rukia handle her assigned mission while the vice-captain would continue hers.

She decided to keep an eye on Rukia's group, though, while she waited for Integra to finish with the files.

((Momo jumps back up to whence she came from.))

[broken_exorcist]

Allen watched Mustang struggle at the door. It seemed to budge only for a moment, then the man gave up! Allen wasn't sure if it was his place to say so, but Mustang didn't exactly seem the strongest among them. Shouldn't they try harder?

He coughed and did what he could to look strong. A difficult task given his small height and lean build. "I can do it," he said firmly. Afterall, he'd made his way through much thicker walls than these before. "Please, move aside."

Allen hadn't been at the top of his game when he'd arrived, at it was true he hadn't had a decent meal yet, but even going to his first level shouldn't be difficult. It should be more than enough to get them through. He concentrated this time, his arm glowing brightly for a moment before it burst into its battle form. A bright green light circled his upper arm and below it, the once burned-looking, reddish flesh was now pale yellow, in plated armor running up the length of his arm. Which had more than doubled in that instant. His arm nearly hit the floor at the elbow and that was only about a third its length. It ended in a claw at least half Allen's size, with wickedly sharp points.

Allen was almost sweating from the exertion of invoking it. It wasn't usually so difficult to maintain. With a grunt, he heaved his arm toward the door, connecting with a heavy thud that seemed to even shake the walls around them.

[notmyfather]

While Allen was performing whatever magic he had - what had he referred to his 'weapon' as? - Valyn was gathering his own power, squeezing his power center and stoking up what remained of his abilities. He could at least manage a fireball, if Allen was unable to break open the door.

Of course this wasn't easy. But he had been roped into this, he was going to do his part. He held his hands near his chest, one atop the other, as though he was holding something between them.

"Stand back if you can't manage it," Valyn warned, a spiraling ball of flames gathering between his hands.

[muted_flame]

While Roy had been preparing to try and stick his hand through the crack in the door, it seemed that his company had other ideas. He knew that when someone told you to move aside, the best thing to do was listen, and quickly. So he backed away, watching with quite a bit of interest as Allen's arm morphed into something much heftier.

It was almost like the reports he had read about that homunculus, Wrath... Fascinating, really. He was curious to hear how that worked, if time ever permitted such a conversation. It probably wouldn't make much sense to him, as it had already been established that Allen's world was quite different from his own, but he couldn't help being curious.

Valyn was gearing up for something as well, it seemed, so Roy backpedaled even further. These three seemed to have a good amount of manpower between them, now that the time came...

And yet it didn't seem to be working. The door had barely budged. He glanced at the others and sighed. "I don't believe we're meant to get through. Not tonight, anyway."

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia quickly got out of the way, surprised by Allen's sudden transformation. It reminded her a little of the powers hat some of the Arrancar possessed, how they could grow larger or change shape to become stronger. She couldn't help but stare for a moment, but soon recovered, taking up a position off to one side in case they were attacked from behind.

Then Valyn was conjuring up magic of his own, but this was more familiar to Rukia. While he hadn't needed an incantation, summoning fire was something she could do as well.

Between the two of them, she was sure they would be able to break through whatever was blocking the door. Yes even Allen's powerful hit hardly seemed to do anything. At the loud sound, Rukia glanced around, nervous that they might be attacked.

Looking at the Colonel, she couldn't quite hide her frown. "Not meant to, sir?" Did he mean to say that nothing they did mattered? That it was all up to those who controlled this place? It had certainly seemed that way on occasion, but Rukia refused to believe that.

[broken_exorcist]

When Allen saw the magic flames from the corner of his eye, he'd almost hoped it was Ravi summoning the flames of his giant hammer, but no such luck. He didn't know what good that kind of... power would do against the heavy door anyway.

"I'll handle it," he managed, when the man, er... elf? offered his assistance.

When his first hit had little effect, only some large dents, he made a fist and swung again. The noise was louder this time, with more force behind it. The door was sturdy, certainly, but how long did they really think it could stand up to that kind of damage? If he kept hitting it, they were sure to get through.

[damned_monsters]

Something was tired of the pitiful bashings of the weak little things on the other side of the door. Something was annoyed by all the unproductive banging. And something was quite, quite hungry.

The door was ripped from its hinges by claws as long as a man's hand.

There was enough time for those inside to catch the hurried impression of matted black fur, and ragged wings, and the TEETH.

It roared, the sound ancient, angry, and deafening.

The stench of rot rolled before it in a sickening wave.

[notmyfather]

"Ancestors!"

For the first time in the night, Valyn's expression changed. To an honest expression of fear and shock. When he caught a flash of whatever was on the other side of that door he felt a wave of fear he'd never felt before. Not even when he faced his father - as frightening as Dyran was, at least he had been familiar to the young elven lord. This wasn't. The sound, the reek... it took his mind back to the horror tales of the creatures of Evelon. he took a step back, what little color there was draining from his face.

Raising his hands, Valyn readied his fireball. Changing his mind at the last moment, he set the spell into his knife, coating the blade with flame. It wouldn't last more than a blow or two, but maybe it would do something....

[muted_flame]

When he felt the building shake a second time, Roy started to get nervous. He remembered how the building had reacted to being damaged in the past, and while he hadn't heard stories of anything of that sort happening recently, who was to say that he could completely write off that danger?

He had been about to order Allen to stop, and then divulge more of his thoughts to Rukia, but as expected...

The institute retaliated.

Pure instinct forced him to respond, quickly jumping further away from the door and the monster and falling into a combat position. "I warned you!" he barked, some irritation coming through in his tone. His hand was dipping into his pocket for his lighter within seconds.

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia had been off to the side, wary of an attack from behind, when the door Allen had been pummeling simply wasn't there anymore. In its place was a huge creature that she couldn't see very clearly, but the sound, and the smell told Rukia all she needed to know for the time being. She had a moment to be thankful that Renji had made her take his sword, and to hope that he wasn't in need of it right now, before she slipped it from the makeshift belt at her waist.

Taking a step toward the wall, she hoped to get a strike in before the creature - whatever it was - had gotten fully through the doorway. There was no sense in waiting around for it to get its bearings. Rukia shifted her stance to account for the Zabimaru-replica's weight, and darted forward, aiming a slash at the creature's huge clawed hand.

Hopefully the others had some combat experience that would come in handy.