Nightshift 28: Bus 2

[misterprince]

Sanji was blinking furiously, trying to figure out why he still felt awake though everything was dark. The sedatives, just recently injected into his system, were working full force and he was having difficulty figuring out which way was up and down. All the sounds were reminiscent of something out of a nightmare. Was that what this was

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[notachick]

Okita had been so busy doodling on the windows, he hadn't noticed that the darkness had fallen. It wasn't until the monster machine stopped and the monsters actually appeared that he snapped to attention. His head was still groggy and he was slower than he would have liked. He didn't have confidence in his agility or even his aim at the moment, either, but they were in danger.

The swordsman had never seen such horror in his life. The scalpels and needles burst from the nurses' skin and their bodies twisted, dirtied with blood and whatever other horrid matter that the night brought. Creatures were landing on the rooftop and people were panicking, screams and the sounds of uncoordinated attacks richoted around the metal deathtrap.

And all Okita could think was what a shame it was that he hadn't been able to finish his drawing.

Three enemies each at the front and back of the bus, and unknown numbers outside. He needed a weapon. The human side of him winced at what he was about to do, but his practical side saw the scalpels protruding from the nurses and smirked as he stood, carefully tucking his candy away in a safe place again. "An opportunity presents itself, Himura-san, if you don't mind dirtying your hands. I'm going for the scalpels. I hope you'll join me."

Okita leapt over the back of the bench, maneuvering his way down the aisle and toward his goal. He saw Homura and smiled at him as he passed, noting that two more people were already attacking the creatures at the back. With their numbers, it would be difficult to fight, but hopefully easy to destroy these creatures.

[screwthegods]

What he saw before him was something new to even Homura. It seemed not even five hundred years could prepare a man for everything. The twisting of bodies, the screams of agony; Homura could do little more than watch this transformation, which in a way made him feel sympathy for the staff that surrounded him.

So they were as much prisoner as the patients, then? Several thoughts crossed his mind then about the vanished, but they were quickly banished away. Such worries had no place on the battlefield.

Okita was by him like a flash, but Homura caught the grin, and answered it with one of his own. So they had ended up on the same bus. Highly fortunate, given their alliance. He turned to Sanzo with a smirk, and nodded.

"Now I'll take my leave, Konzen. Good luck with whatever you try tonight." WIthout waiting for the snide remark, Homura was out of his seat, following after Okita towards the back. A single type of weapon presented itself, and while it was hardly a sword, the demi-god knew they would have to make due.

Besides, it would do no good to hesitate. So with determination, Homura headed to the back with his fellow.

[damned_nurses]

The monstrous nurse gained her feet, swaying back and forth. For a moment, she seemed to look at her hands, an unearthly scream bursting from her throat. Then, as Okita approached, her head snapped up, then lolled to the side as she jerked forward, one hand, palm pierced with needles, raising to lash out, the other going to her tattered coat pocket.

[Katsu/David - Katsu will post during the evening, David if a post is needed during the day.]

[notachick]

Homura was following and he could only hope Kenshin was doing the same. The Battousai might not be able to fight tonight, but he could be the eyes and ears that Okita desperately needed. The fog in his head wouldn't clear despite the adrenaline rushing through him and he suddenly regretted finding sedation so funny. The nurse with needles attacked him and he dropped low to avoid her hand. The last thing he needed was another stab with one of those.

Worse yet, he doubted they were clean.

Finding a patch on her arm void of needles, he kicked hard to keep her hand out of her coat pocket. Okita didn't know what could be in there, but he didn't think he'd like it.

[screwthegods]

The problem with the fight was it's location; the aisle was cramped, their ability limited by the space of the area made precious by it's lack. But that would stop none of the men from their fight, even the one who should be listening to certain signals his body.

"So it seems." Homura returned Kenshin's smile, but didn't focus on the man. An opening was what he needed now. Okita was completely unarmed, as were they all, it seemed. All except for the nurses, of course, and in the end that was the goal. To rip the weapons they had free of their bodies, even if it meant taking limbs with them.

Hopefully Kenshin wouldn't have a problem with it. Though it didn't matter much, really. Homura knew Okita would be fine with the idea in the end, and Kenshin was hardly able to stop them.

"Stay back unless there is no other choice." Stepping forward, Homura pulled the scarf from his neck. The long blue fabric wouldn't last long, but it would give them a small advantage while it did last. A quick knot in one end created weight, and when Okita kicked the one arm away, Homura aimed for the other. It was a move he'd done countless times before with his manacles; wrapping chains (now fabric) around the limb and pulling it taunt with an end in each of his hands, trapping the enemy and then attacking.

"Get around behind it if you can!" Homura shouted to Okita. They needed space, to surround the creature and kill it quickly. The night had just started, and the couldn't afford injury.

[opposingheaven]

He was unarmed, outnumberered (or at least, outclassed, sort of) and surrounded by a crush of people all trying to get to the same place without much organisation. Just that kind of odds that he liked!

He climbed up onto his seat and across it over the top towards where Homura and the others were, trying to get to one side of the nurse so there'd be an attack on three side.

"Want one more?" He called out to Homura when he was a little closer. "Didn't think I'd get to fight with a Toushin Taishi again!"

[damned_nurses]

Okita's blow was well placed, and the nurse's hand was knocked out of its pocket, leaving whatever it had been reaching for still in its pocket. It screamed again as Homura's whip of cloth wrapped around her other wrist, and she tugged backwards with nigh supernatural strength to wrestle the fabric from his grip. It reached again for its coat pocket with its still-free hand.

[notachick]

The nurse's tenacity was amazing, but it only meant whatever was in her pocket spelled bad news for the History Club. It was time to kill her, rip her arms off and run. When Homura wrapped his scarf around the woman's arm, Okita ducked beneath it and slid into position behind. One other was down and the swordsman thought he'd seen Captain Jack in the flurry of activity. That didn't matter now, though, as dividing his attention was the worst thing he could do.

Unarmed as he was, Okita had to resort to dirty tricks in order to kill this woman. He didn't care if she had been a nurse during the day. The nurses were all going to die - every single person on the staff was going to burn forever at his hands and he didn't care if they were good people otherwise or not. They'd stolen Hijikata. Grabbing the nurse's free arm, he tried to wrestle it behind her so she couldn't go for her pocket. Whatever was in there, it was his job to keep her from getting it. Angling the woman's arm, he tried to stick her with her own needles, shoving the bone hard at an unnatural angle to try and break it.

[screwthegods]

Homura couldn't help the way his smirk widened when Kenren joined them. The man's eyes were ablaze, so much like they had been back in the days of Heaven, when the group of four had made their mark in that imperfect paradise. Kenren in particular had been the troublemaker, having no qualms with upsetting the higher ranks, and throwing himself into as many fights as possible.

"Of course, Kenren Taisho!" So of course the man's basic personality appealed to the rebel in Homura, and the man gladly welcomed his inclusion. "I'll trust you to find an opening for yourself."

But Homura of course, had a fight to focus on, and barely enough time to aim when the nurse pulled him forward. He didn't let go of the scarf, nor did he resist and risk ripping the fabric. Instead he let himself be pulled forward, risking jabbing himself on any needles that might be protruding from the nurses stomach in favor of using the momentum to his own advantage. His knee came up swiftly, aimed for the once-human's stomach. Did these things still breathe? Perhaps it didn't matter. The force could help Okita by driving the woman back into her own hands.

Kenshin, for the moment, was ignored. So long as the man didn't physically interfere, Homura would simply mark his comments as a difference of opinion. Perhaps they were once human, yes, but their will was clearly gone, and to the demi-god, mercy in such a case meant death.

Besides, there was the small matter of the nurses trying to kill them.

[opposingheaven]

Kenren's smile only widened at Homura's agreement, his eyes shining with excitement. He hadn't had a real fight since the one with Hakkai a few nights ago. "Of course!" He said, focussing on the creature before him to find an opening. The needles were not going to make things easy, but contact was still needed.

He quickly pulled off the t-shirt that they'd given him for the day and followed Homura's example, but wrapped it around the nurse's throat, starting to pull it as tightly as he could. For a moment, he had the unnerving sensation that it would be chain that he was holding, a staff with cutting blades, but he shook it off, not allowing himself to be distracted by that other person's memories.

He grinned almost savagely at Kenshin, a little surprised by such reluctance to kill them. "They aren't human now! Would you rather they slaughter us? Or the children on this bus?" It was probably a low blow, but there had been many children present.

[damned_nurses]

As Okita tried to break the nurse's arm, several needles already poking from her skin shot out like quills, imbedding themselves into Okita's flesh. The impacts burned rather than simply stung; there had been something in the needles. The nurse's arm snapped at the elbow and she screamed; it was an all too human sound, a wail of agony and despair.

Homura's knee hit her stomach, needles and sharp metal greeted it, similarly toxic as the ones that had struck Okita. The nurse would have doubled over if she weren't already held; as it was, she swiped at Homura with her remaining hand, still screaming with the pain of her broken arm.

Not even Kenren's shirt around her throat stopped that sound.

[notachick]

Like it mattered if these nurses used to be people or not. Unlike Kenshin, Okita had never strayed from his path, never gave up on his life as a---

He noticed the movement a little too late and couldn't avoid the needles that slammed into him. Whatever was in them burned like fire and he fell back, losing his grip on the woman's broken arm. He ripped the needles out of him quickly, but it was too late. His head swam and he felt nauseous, dropping him to one knee as he fought the urge to throw up. He covered his mouth with one hand and saw Homura get the same treatment, the other stranger's shirt wrapped around the woman's throat. It was time to kill this beast.

Struggling to his feet, Okita grit his teeth as the wounds began to burn. Every step felt like the needles were still in him and he suddenly understood why it was so bad. He'd been drugged earlier and this must have been the two poisons mixing in his blood. Joyous. He'd have to be careful when they left the bus. Finally standing under sheer willpower, Okita ran forward again, stumbling as he went, and slammed his hands over her ears, trying to burst her eardrums. He didn't wait to see if it worked and grabbed her head in his hands, twisting it hard. He wasn't going to stop until she was dead, and if it meant breaking her neck and twisting her head off, he'd do it.

[screwthegods]

It took everything in Homura not to scream as the metal pierced his skin; the agony was so much more than simply stabs should have brought, hot and burning. Poison of some sort? It didn't matter to the demi-god, who cringed in agony as he ripped his leg free. There was an enemy there, and Homura wouldn't stop until it was defeated and dead.

"It is better they die than live against their will in such a way." To be transformed into such a creature, to suffer such agony. Homura had little doubt that this fate had been forced upon them. And given the slim chance that they hadn't, that they had chosen this gruesome task...well. "And if they have chosen this life, then they must face the consequences of it."

Salvation, or judgment. Either way, Homura felt no guilt over what he would do.

Risking his arm, he blocked the woman's strike by bringing his forearm up against her wrist. He only had a moment, but that's all he would need. Best to end this quickly before Kenshin tried to intervene again, creating unnecessary risk. With his other hand he gripped one of the scalpels protruding from the woman's arm, ripping it free from her body. Okita created the target by baring the woman's throat, and Homura was quick to take advantage. His slices were quick, effective, sawing away at skin and tendon and vein until Okita could pull the head away as he pleased.

Blood didn't bother him. Neither the monster's, nor Kenshin's behind him.