NIGHTSHIFT 27: SUN ROOM

[uruz_vii]

[ From here.]

Sousuke rushed into the room, immediately turning around in a circle, his pole at the ready. It didn't look like anything was in there, but Sousuke still felt uneasy. His soldier's sense was prickling. But maybe it was just his imagination

Comments

[thebloodyacacia]

Perhaps Sousuke shouldn't have moved so fast. Then again, speed didn't matter - if you moved, you made yourself apparent.

He stepped out from the corner where he lay in waiting, seizing the great sword that was leaning against the nearby wall. Stepping again, his sword swung blade-down into the carpet and slowly dragged along behind him as he made his way toward the sudden arrival in the room.

thump

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thump

[i_promised]

Zoro moved swiftly but... something was wrong. This wasn't his normal speed. Moving the same way he used to (head low, arm on his hip in an infuriating habit that reminded him that he didn't have his swords) put more strain on him than it should have. Was this what Luffy had been talking about?

He frowned and said nothing. He would just have to adjust, if possible.

This Sousuke guy seemed to know what he was doing and, for that, Zoro was thankful. The swordsman was in no position to ensure the safety of others. Even Mousse, at least, seemed accustomed to battle.

His sharp ears caught something but Zoro couldn't be sure. Head swiveling to verify the sound, he cursed under his breath just loud enough to alert his two companions.

Why did all the damn shadows look so suspicious?

[myopic_mousse]

Mousse trudged along behind the other two, letting Sousuke lead the way and hanging toward the back in case something should come up after the soldier's warning. Mousse didn't know WHAT "hostile" thing he could expect, but he'd learned that the best first strike was a volley of projectiles from a distance.

Not that he was expecting run into anything. Still, hearing the swordman curse, Mousse pointed his flashlight in his direction. Hm. HE was looking elsewhere. Now what had upset his mood? He followed Zoro's gaze with his light and wondered what there was to see.

[uruz_vii]

Sousuke's soldier ears perked up--there was no way he couldn't have picked up such a noise. He froze instantly.

"Lights off," he commanded, then hit the floor. He crawled behind one of the couches, heart pounding. Whatever was out there, it scared him, which was rare. Perhaps the fact that he hadn't gotten a good look at whatever it was added to his panic. If he didn't know what he was going against, it'd be hard for him to strategize.

[navigating]

[ from here ]

Nami was creeping into the Sun Room, Alfons and Arietta beside her. If they were going to make it to the kitchen, after all, this would be a test of speed and skill at sneaking. She noticed the door was already open, so she handily crept in, turning behind her.

"If we see anything, we're going to run. Understood, Alfons and -... what's your name? I'm Nami," she whispered, doing her best to calm down. But how could she really calm down, there were monsters around?! Honestly!

Upon further inspection, Nami noticed a crowd in the room. She'd just missed Zoro - which was probably a good thing. At this point, she was ready to beat all of her crew members on the back of the head for poor organization.

And there was something else in here, too, with a big pyramid-shaped helmet on. A monster?! She turned back to her two companions, backing up against the wall and unconsciously turning out her flashlight; her brown eyes were wide with fear. "Oh my word, we're going to die, it's a monster."

[clockworkblond]

Alfons, for his part, was glad that Arietta had decided to come along, even if she hadn't accepted his hand. Nor did the boy really hold a grudge about it: he knew that some people just didn't like to be touched, and so he just accepted it and moved on. At least the girl was with them; that meant she was going to be a little safer, perhaps.

Or at least, so Alfons thought until he saw that thing with a pyramid-shaped helmet. It looked kind of human, but Alfons didn't need any kind of experience to know that it was very, very much not.

When Nami turned to him, her eyes wide with fear, the German boy tried to smile and rest his hand on her shoulder, hoping that would help. "No, we aren't," he firmly said, forcing himself to be brave for the sake of those with him, "we're going to go around it and we're going to be fine, all right?"

[bloody_howl]

Arietta was going to tell Nami her name, but as they entered the sunroom she quickly caught on that something was not right. She had already tensed up by the time she saw the strange creature. What was that on its head? It wasn't like any of the monsters she knew. She grit her teeth and shuffled up against the wall as Nami did

[navigating]

"How can you say we're going to be fine if we're trapped in an insane mental hospital with a bunch of monsters in it!?" Nami hissed, panic evident in her voice. "For all we know, there's five monsters behind the door on the other side waiting to get us!" No, no, no. She just wanted to be at home, back on the Going Merry, on her way to Skypiea where the technology was interesting and the people had wings. How fanciful an idea, and how utterly an idea that she would never see made flesh

[sasuke_of_sound]

[[from here]]Sasuke's hand remained on the wall as he slipped subtly into the room, listening as hard as he could to separate the sound of his own and Kakashi's movements from the noise in the hall and the mess in the Sun Room itself

[raptscarecrow]

Kakashi stayed close at Sasuke's back, keeping sound to a minimum. There were more people than he had thought, primarily because most weren't actually engaged in battle, but the bulk of his attention went to the man -- no, it was man-shaped, but the sense it gave off wasn't human -- that was trudging after a fleeing group. He was huge, some seven feet, with a sword to match. On his head --

There's talk on the bulletin board of one with a large metal helmet that sounds dangerous.

Found him. Unless Landel's lacked variety.

Not wanting to obstruct Sasuke's hearing, Kakashi spoke to him quickly, although he might have already figured out who the enemy was from that thundering gait alone. "It looks human. It has a metal helmet shaped like a pyramid -- " And there was Lee, already in the action of going straight for it.

[sasuke_of_sound]

[[Repost for new deveopment, sorry!]]

Despite himself, Sasuke felt a slight thrill of excitement. He'd seen enough talk of this monster that it interested him, even if he was fully aware that he was at a disadvantage.

Perhaps not so much, though -- from the sounds of it, the thing wasn't moving at a rapid pace, and it was certainly heavy . And if Kakashi had noted that it was humanoid, then there would doubtless be some point of weakness. He was about to ask Kakashi to locate Lee when he grew aware of an odd whistling noise, as if something was falling --

With a startled sound, Sasuke realised that it was coming from above and sidestepped hastily, but not quite enough to avoid something large and unwieldy that fell partially on him, knocking him hard into the wall and catching briefly on the sword before sliding to the ground

[thebloodyacacia]

((From two threads up. o the fun we will have))

He turned to face the new arrivals, hauling his sword around to once again drag behind him.

thump

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[steel_maiden]

[[from here]]

The vampire’s tall frame blocked her view as they entered the room together, herself just two steps behind him. On a whim she’d clicked off her flashlight at the last moment, thinking it may be a beacon for whomever was thrashing around on the inside. Even if in all likelihood, any demon would see her as well as Alucard in the blackness.

“We have to get around them.” Integra instructed outright, one hand lightly fisting into the back of her servant’s shirt to not lose him as she kept her eyes to the ones leaping back and forth in the dim -red?- moonlight.

Something clearly inhuman stood out at the forefront. Its movements powerful, yet slow. A freak to be killed had this been any other day. But unless its attention shifted here, Integra would not waste Alucard’s energy on the beast. The room was large enough, perhaps they could outskirt the other's mess altogether.

[madvampireking]

"Noted."

He could make out the monster's form clearly, even in the darkness. A hulking, humanoid form, dressed in a cumbersome, triangular helmet, an apron; and dragging a huge sword. The scent of an old slaughterhouse followed it in an almost intoxicating cloud.

Alucard felt his master's hand grab onto his shirt, and then started moving into the room, making sure to stick close to the walls. His mood was already getting sour, seeing how he had to just...bypass such an interesting challenge. Their task was so mundane. Why couldn't they have been assigned something less boring?

[not_rly_fai]

[[ From here]]Well, it definitely wasn't the most pleasant of scenes that greeted him as he slipped in the door to the Sun Room. The room was bathed in a reddish light and a very large person wearing... some very strange armor was carrying around a big sword. Without the metal triangle thing he might have been close to Kuro's height, but not the same build, and Kuro had never wielded a sword like that one

[steel_maiden]

She could tell by her servant’s voice that he was less than thrilled, but as he stopped short of actually whining about this, Integra didn’t retort. He couldn’t believe collecting scrap metal was any honor for her either could he? But while she half expected the creature to take notice and interfere with their mundane task, the first real interruption came from another source.

Integra turned at the sudden voice, eyebrows lowered towards a stranger’s face she couldn’t clearly make out in the dark. “Grotesque would be the word.” Did this person really have so little common sense as to try and startle strangers in the dark? Violence could have easily been the response. Little fool.

[unmocked_lawr]

[from here.]

The glow from the other patients' flashlights illuminated the Sun Room well enough. It was difficult to miss seeing the - thing with the sword.

Javert stiffened, one hand tightening convulsively on the baseball bat. "What the hell," he said slowly, carefully, "is that?"