Nightshift 42: Tasty Burger Rooftop
[ Bamf'd from here!In a puff of sulfuric smoke, Kurt and Peter's friend touched down on the roof of the Tasty Burger. Kurt had made an attempt to shift his body underneath the injured boy's, but after teleporting he felt as though he'd been run through the dryer. His knees wobbled and the two of them went crashing to the ground, Kurt clearly out
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With Kurt and Peter gone, Brainiac 5 suddenly felt less certain about remaining here, on the roof and in the open, on his own. While he knew logically that it was incredibly unlikely that Grell or Luxord would find him up here - but hadn't he told himself that before and been wrong? - and that the area was open enough that he could keep an eye on his surroundings, he still would have felt somewhat... safer to have a wall or something to his back. It would help rid him of the pricking sensation at the back of his neck at any rate.
It wasn't easy, but he managed to draw himself up, balancing with difficulty on his uninjured foot and trying to keep the weight off the other as much as possible. He managed a couple of limping, not-quite steps towards the air-conditioning unit Kurt had pointed out earlier before he slipped and went down with a muffled yelp.
Brainiac 5 lay still for a moment, gritting his teeth at the pain and pointedly telling himself that he was not, under any circumstances, feeling ( ... )
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A scream sounded, and Sebastian's eyes fell on a short, blond-haired boy with a thin frame and numerous wrapped injuries. He hardly seemed mobile, but none of that was Sebastian's concern until Ciel commanded. In a manner of speaking, his master's orders had been to first keep the boy from being eaten, and then put Master Ciel down...but Sebastian would give him the benefit of the doubt. It was unlikely that Master Ciel would look favorably upon being drenched in undead slime again, no matter how careful Sebastian was while making his blows to avoid it.
The butler set the noble down with a gentle but brisk motion of the arm before leaping into the air again, this time aiming with his heel. The boot's bottom came down with a loud crack on the red-haired zombie's skull, and Sebastian for a moment balanced with one leg, ( ... )
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While not evident from his words alone, the butler knew his master well enough to sense the indelicate irritation that could only be provoked by prior acquaintance. He wasn't surprised; there was an aura of familiarity around the boy that Sebastian was beginning to recognize. A mark, if the term could be used so loosely...a mark that suddenly clicked into place with all the Sebastian had read on the bulletin but yesterday.
...ah. The corpse's hair was red.
That would explain the terror.
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That voice was all too familiar. His head jerked up and any vulnerability in his expression was quickly gone, replaced by an irritated look that matched the one of the boy facing him.
"Of course not," he shot back. "My roommate believed that leaving me here would be... safer." He hated having to admit that he needed protecting, but considering his current appearance, it would have been pointless to pretend otherwise.
"It would seem he was mistaken in that assumption. What are you doing here? And more importantly, how did you get here?" he asked, and while the question was directed at the other boy, his eyes were fixed on the stranger. He was beginning to wonder exactly how many metahumans, aliens, and others had been keeping their abilities secret here.
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Not that he'd particularly blame whoever was unfortunate to have inherited Brainiac 5 as a roommate. Ciel himself couldn't imagine having to wake up to that voice whining at him every morning. He was fairly sure it would drive any normal person insane.
Luckily, that wasn't the case, and as much as Ciel wasn't fond of him, this boy still had a lot of unfortunate connections to Grell Sutcliff. He'd have to continue to keep an eye on him if he hoped to prevent him from dying at the death god's hands. It was also very apparent that he had no combat skills whatsoever and could do little more against those creatures than scream in terror.
"And this-" Ciel continued, direction his gaze to Sebastian, "is an acquaintance of mine I met on the bus this morning. Dorian Gray... was it?"
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It was the only cue Sebastian needed. The butler caught his master's gaze and responded with a faint, amused smile, the lines of his shoulders shifting so quickly that even the most attentive of observers could not be sure whether his form had been truly altered.
"At your service," Sebastian replied smoothly, making a short, almost playful bow in Brainiac 5's direction. The same words, but used in a different context and tone; he had a sense Master Ciel would not appreciate it.
"This must be a sort of fate, to have run into each other twice on our day of meeting. Fortunate, as well."
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"Not that I object to the... assistance," he added, though it was clearly directed at Dorian. "But it's unusual, especially considering how you..."
He glanced back down at the corpse as though he'd only just remembered how close at hand it was and recoiled slightly. His position - sitting in a sort of heap on the ground near the thing, his clothing splattered with blood and who knew what else - also struck him at that moment and his face flushed slightly. It was bad enough that Christian had been there when he'd needed help, but being seen like this afterwards managed to make it worse somehow.
Deciding that at the very least he could prove he was capable of standing on his own, Brainiac 5 forced himself up and away from the remains of the zombie, all the while trying not to seem too dependent on his surroundings for support.
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Again, while the question was directed to Christian, Brainiac 5 was more interested in Dorian. He was likely a metahuman, which normally wouldn't have gotten much attention or interest from him, but the fact that the other man was largely silent the entire time, leaving Christian to do most of the talking seemed unusual.
There was a chance he was simply not interesting in the conversation, but...
His gaze flicked over to Christian for a moment at the question. "Beyond what can be understood from typical horror movies?"
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Being that Ciel was only supposed to have met Sebastian that morning as Christian, he wouldn't know much about the source of his powers or what he was capable of entirely, so he'd have to feign ignorance in this regard. His eye once again glanced in Sebastian's direction.
"I'm not entirely sure what happened... or how we had managed to get up here..."
He fixed a clueless expression on his face as if he himself didn't understand exactly what was going on here. He knew he could count on Sebastian to come up with a reasonable explanation.
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But all the same, he was almost one hundred percent certain he'd seen Dorian's eyes glowing a moment ago, much like Grell's had...
Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on him, just to be certain.
"My apologies," he said eventually. "It seems that with what's been happening tonight, I got a little too... suspicious." He managed a small smile. "I am grateful for your assistance, however."
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