Nightshift 38: Entry Room
[from here]The Entry Room was a lot like he remembered it, or at least, a lot like what he remembered from when he'd run into Clark here on his first night. Admittedly most of what he remembered was dark, blurred from speed, and full of argument but this was a lot like that. Just without the blurring and the arguments
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Once the gun was loaded again, she was facing a different problem: how to shoot it. She might be able to hold the gun and fire with her right hand, but she'd risk further injury by doing so. For now, she'd have to give it a shot (literally) with her left hand.
"All right," she said tiredly to the two new people, "it's been a long night. I don't know if you saw what I did to that guy, but it wasn't a whole lot of fun for him. I won't hurt you if you turn around and go back to your rooms quietly. Get anywhere near that door and you're going to end up just like him." Her voice was a little calmer now, but it still had a dangerously harsh quality to it. Mercedes Colomar meant business.
As she spoke, she was advancing slowly on them, not exactly aiming the gun but keeping it ready to fire on a moment's notice if she had to. But when she got closer and saw them more clearly...the little one was just a kid! And his traveling companion... "Donna?!" she blurted out.
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Well, two could play at that game!
Donna just had to decide if she'd continue talking him to death or wait his little hissy out by being silent herself. Or she would have decided were it not for the unmistakably familiar voice that started addressing them. There was no mistaking that with how often Donna spoke with the woman. "Meche!" Donna wasn't so much stunned as surprised and gave her roommate a big grin despite the gun pointing their way. "It was bound to happen, running into each other out in the hallways. Seems this place isn't as big as we thought, huh?" she laughed, then tiled her head at the weapon. "Where on earth did you get a gun?"
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Was she supposed to be one of those monsters? She was just a human! Albedo guessed he shouldn't have expected much more than that. With a haughty look, he added, "You don't look like a monster. Just a weird woman."
Bored of it all, and more at ease now that the two larger men were gone, Albedo started to walk across the room to the doors. She could try and stop him. She wouldn't get very far.
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"Sorry, Donna," Meche said. "But it looks like Landel isn't the one you're gonna have to fight tonight, at least not if you want to get through that door. And I'm the only one of the two of us with heels."
She was hoping Donna would just turn around and leave and take the boy with her, and ask questions tomorrow night after Manny was safe. Fat chance, of course--if anything, something crazy like this happening would probably only prompt Donna to stick around and ask even more questions, and then get angry. She braced herself in case Donna tried to make a move against her.
But it was the boy who started walking toward the door. Meche had dealt with plenty of difficult children before; she knew they acted out for attention or because they were scared. This little guy had no idea what he was doing. He probably just missed his mommy.
But she just couldn't risk letting him go.
She swung the gun around toward the boy and shot low, very low to the ground, almost at his toes. Unless he proved himself to be a lot more of a threat than she thought, she could afford just to keep him still and shake him up a little. Then they'd have to leave, right?
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Not that Donna or Meche were fifty! Donna hoped she'd never live to see the day...
"Sorry about that. Seems little boys from the future still need to learn some mann--" she attempted to apologize to Meche, but the ringing of a stranger gun shot startled her silent. Donna turned her head to see where the shot had gone, just a few inches away from her and Albedo's feet. Was Meche shooting at them? With a gun?!
But then it clicked suddenly, and Donna knew what this was. She's thought that maybe Meche had gone and found her stuff somewhere, but no. No, this was that thing they kept talking about on that board. Brainwashing was the word Donna most remembered. That explained the gun, the clothes, the heels... and specifically why Meche wasn't about to take no for an answer.
"All right, all right, I get it," Donna held up her hands apologetically, playing down the situation she'd just found herself and the little boy in. "Don't have to get all uppity about it. Come on you little brat, we're going back," Donna commanded as she forcibly took hold of Albedo's wrist to drag him away, back to where they'd come from.
So Meche had being brainwashed, That didn't make things good, but Donna knew better than to just start throwing an angry fit. Maybe if she'd been alone, but while she was babysitting? Nuh-uh. The little rugrat would have to be gone before she'd handle things on her own. Too much to worry over, and she did not need the Doctor yelling about not dragging others into dangerous situations, like she just knew he would. Hypocrite.
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A second later Albedo's body had stiffened completely. Nothing had happened. Nothing. It was just like when Nigredo had shut off the spiritual link within him, and he couldn't access his URTV powers, the strength U-DO afforded him... there was nothing... again! {Nigredo!} he hissed vehemently along the link, throwing it like a punch down the line. If he found out the younger had anything to do with this again...!
Another second, and he belatedly realized that if he hadn't given himself away before, he had now. Ah, well, this way was certainly easier. Let the younger cower in fear of what Albedo would do to him when he found him.
Still glaring at the woman, and still sustaining the hate-filled glow around his body, he took another step back. He wanted nothing to do with her. If she tried to touch him again, he'd show her other skills he had, ones that had nothing to do with power, and everything to do with military training.
Of course, being focused on Donna left him completely open to Meche. But Albedo always was single-minded.
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And then he started glowing.
Must be some kind of strange superpower on the order of Senna's, but right now Meche couldn't have cared less what it was. Donna, mercifully, had been trying to get him out of there, and that was the only thing that mattered right now. She didn't want to hit him in the ankles when there was still some chance of their leaving, so she aimed carefully for the arm that was further from Donna. As she got ready to pull the trigger, she suddenly remembered a movie she'd seen once and brought her right hand up to the gun as well, using it to help steady the weapon while she used her left index finger to fire.
Maybe that'd teach the little brat to respect his elders.
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Or maybe his eyes were just leaking.
She set her arms into a folded position across her chest, returning his glare with a far more experienced one. Oh, she'd dealt with children before and things that simply acted like children, so she had the advantage here in both that and in being a woman. Men just faltered and failed when it came to disciplining kids. Either they took a too heavy-handed approach (of which Donna was totally innocent), or they caved under the guilt. Donna would not cave, not for this child or for anyone else.
"Fine if you wanna stand there like an idiot, then go ahead! Let her shoot you up and turn you into a bloody plant!" she yelled at him, scolding and arguing all at once, "I'll be sure to come by and water you in the morning, Audrey." Or would it be Audry II? Well, three would be more accurate since it would be after the first and second, but the reference would likely be lost anyway on the future-brat so Donna didn't bother correcting anything. She was too mad to have done so anyway. "Do you like milk with your fertilizer?!"
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More nicknames. More nonsense. The woman was more mad than he was, rambling like that. But she hadn't tried to touch him again, and for that, he relaxed a bit, the glow dying down. "No wonder your friends want to attack you, loud-mouth. But don't worry about it, I'm moving," he replied, irritated.
He started walking toward the door to the outside again, watching the lady with the gun out of the corner of his eye. Albedo knew he was limited with access to his abilities (until he could seek out his dear baby brother, that is), but he was still confident enough in the years of training that equaled his age to throw out, "Don't try anything."
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Either way, he obviously wasn't about to go back to bed. In fact, he was still heading for the door outside.
No more Ms. Nice Guy. Still holding the gun with both hands, Meche fired two more shots in rapid succession, aiming a little higher up on his legs this time. She really, really wanted to get him back to his room, but he could stand there all night blowing raspberries at her if he wanted to, as long as he stayed inside the building. Maybe she could even talk some manners into him, if she could take a breather from having to shoot at him. Failing that, she guessed she could always just find a way to knock him unconscious and have Donna drag him back.
Donna... "There's still time for you to go back on your own, if you want," Meche told her, realizing she was pleading a little. "I really don't want to have to hurt you. In fact, I don't want to have to hurt him either, but kids who act out have to be taught that that kind of behavior isn't okay, don't you think?" she added for the boy's benefit.
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"Oh that is it!" Donna's hand whipped out again, grabbing hold of the scruff of Albedo's neck and wrenching him back, just as two more bullets decided to whip past. Donna's glare turned to the bullets a moment, and her rage at Albedo held up enough for her to throw some angry words back at Meche now. "And you! You think shooting at him is 'for his own benefit'?!" she hissed, "God, I hope you never have kids!"
So maybe Donna had been all for Albie getting shot full of plant, if that even made sense, but she was only trying to prove a point with the stubborn brat! That didn't mean she wanted him to start growing roses out his eyes or anything!
The both of them had gotten on her nerves now, but Meche had the excuse of being brainwashed. Little Albie had none and that was why Donna's attention went quickly back to him. "I don't care if you start glowing rainbow and spitting up Skittles, we are leaving now!"
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He wasn't dealing with this. There was nothing here that could benefit him. He made a disgusted noise, and left out the door they came in.
[to here]
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"I don't believe in corporal punishment, believe it or not," she said to Donna. "But you know, sometimes it's the only thing that can teach a child not to do something that will hurt someone else? If a pre-schooler is trying to put a stuffed animal in another girl's mouth while she's sleeping, simply because she doesn't know any better, you have to spank her so she'll know it's never okay to do that. So when I see a kid who's going to kill an innocent man if someone doesn't stop him..." Meche shrugged. "...I'm gonna do what I have to."
She sighed and turned to put herself back in front of the door, high heels making little clicks as she crossed the room. "Get back to the room and get some sleep. If you see anyone else on your way back, tell them not to come in here. I'm sick of this."
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Donna wasn't exactly an advocate of corporal punishment on children. She was all for giving a whack here and a slap there, and there were those times that she'd rather shove the heel of a Nine West as far as it could go up someone's arse, but she couldn't do that right now. She didn't have any great shoes or someone who forever needed his voice to be an octive too high.
All she had was a lead pipe and her roommate.
Turning back, Donna found herself looking at Meche's back. She was probably wrong for even thinking of taking her anger out on someone who'd been brainwashed, let alone someone who was a friend and roommate, but she could apologize later for it. Donna needed to let out some anger the boy had escaped from, and had Donna been in the reverse position, she would have rather had someone knock her out as well instead of a night full of shooting up children.
Whatever, she could justify it when the morning came.
For now, she just let her feet move as she stepped quickly to take the end of the pipe clear across the back of her roommate's skull.
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She was unconscious before she even hit the floor.
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Now with Meche was just lying there, Donna felt as though she shouldn't have reacted so violently. And she couldn't just leave the woman there like that. Really, with the darkness, someone could step on here and end up in more trouble than they realized if she came around. Eventually, Donna decided to at least get Meche out of the way of oncoming traffic. She was thankful for the small size of the woman in moving her closer to the wall and sitting her up with her back to it.
"There now, just stay there for a bit," she spoke again to no one really before moving to rise. She stopped though, catching sight of the shoes Meche had motioned to earlier. Well, it wasn't as though it would be stealing if she returned them the next day, and they had discussed how Donna would be the won to plant the vengeful heal into Martin Landel's backside. Donna only took a second to debate this particular point before skillfully slipping the purple shoes from Meche's feet. "You can thank me in the morning."
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