Nightshift 42: Tasty Burger Rooftop

[fuzzy_diablo]

[ 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

Comments

[emotionl4arobot]

There was a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, but Brainiac 5 barely noticed, too focused on the monstrosity bearing down on him. Despite his experiences earlier that night, he was completely unprepared for the reality of walking corpses. He'd only caught glimpses while being carried by Peter, and then he hadn't been alone, had been able to focus beyond the situation and his own emotions at the time and behave almost as he might have back with the Legion.

But something about the shambling thing coming for him with its long red hair just... broke that control effortlessly. Like it hadn't even meant anything to begin with. He couldn't even think beyond his own terror, and almost missed a familiar voice saying something behind the creature.

And then, before he even really had time to process what was happening, the zombie collapsed, its head shattering with a sickening noise under the boot of another man. Another swift, brutal kick ended it, and Brainiac 5 blinked in shock at the corpse then up at his rescuer.

"I- thank you..."

[deadlynoble]

The stench was even more horrible after they died Ciel realized, fighting off the urge to childishly pinch his nose as the rotting flesh gave away beneath Sebastian's foot. He had not doubt that more would come, especially with the three of them being so out in the open. It didn't seem like these creatures were governed by the physical deficiencies as humans and were more than capable of leaping up to the roof to get to them.

Ciel's eye fell back on Brainiac 5 as he approached him, visibly checking for any outside wounds. He appeared to have survived relatively unscathed thus far, something he couldn't even say for himself, even with Sebastian's help.

There were still more resounding groans from the ground below, confirming his suspicion that they would have more visitors soon, but moving would probably not be any safer than remaining here when all the buildings were invaded by these creatures. They would just have to stay awake and vigilant and fight them off until the end of the night ...unless this nightmare chose to persist longer.

"What are you doing here alone?" Ciel snapped at Brainiac, "Do you intend to get yourself killed?"

[blackestate]

Sebastian nodded, silent as he retreated with two steps into the background--his rightful place.

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.

[emotionl4arobot]

Brainiac 5 wasn't sure what to make of his rescuer simply withdrawing silently, but he didn't have time to dwell on the matter as the other person on the rooftop suddenly snapped out a question.

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.

[deadlynoble]

"Safer?" Ciel muttered under his breath, "Are you sure he wasn't trying to get rid of you?"

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?"

[blackestate]

Acquaintance.

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."

[emotionl4arobot]

Brainiac 5 scowled at Christian. One thing he hadn't missed was the other's avoidance of direct questions. "You didn't explain how or why you're here," he pointed out.

"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.

[deadlynoble]

Wasn't it obvious why they were there? Ciel hadn't felt the need to state the obvious, but since Brainiac was so obviously in need of an explanation, he relented. Sighing loudly and in a clear show of exasperation, Ciel replied, "We were running away from those creatures when we happened to find you in an unfortunate situation. As for being saved, you may thank Dorian for that."

He didn't bother pointing out that it was under his orders. He didn't want Brainiac 5 to get any ideas that Ciel might actually have even a modicum of concern for him.

The blood on Brainiac 5's person didn't faze him. He wasn't in a better state himself, though thankfully most of it wasn't his own. If he was injured, he'd just have to deal with it until morning since it was rather unlikely that they would be able to find any medical supplies at the moment.

He hadn't seen any clinics while walking around, and the nurses all seemed to have disappeared, something he had taken note of the previous night shift. Considering they'd kept such a close eye on all of the patients during the day, their absence proved unusual. Had they been killed or where they orchestrating these events? The latter option was his best bet. If they'd been the ones unleashing the monsters while they were in the institution, what would stop them from doing so outside of it?

"Do you know anything about the likely causes of this invasion?"

[blackestate]

Master Ciel had never fared well in conversation with peers. His intelligence made it difficult for others his own age to maintain his interest, and furthermore, Ciel often failed to consider the interactions themselves useful.

Brainiac 5...the one so eager to deny the existence of gods. There was nothing interesting about the inflexibility of his mind, nor the persistent ignorance he seemed almost to take pride in. For all his claims of superiority, his flaws were strikingly human. Even had his world no gods, whatever creator that had made him clearly shared commonalities with theirs. Sebastian wondered just how much Ciel knew of the boy's past, and how long his master's generosity would last. While naive, Brainiac 5's intelligence was clearly on a different level from most human beings', and already the boy was shooting suspicious glances at Sebastian as if he desired to drain from the butler secrets of biology.

The expression on the butler's face went unchanged, but he kept Ciel Phantomhive at the center of his gaze. There were still corpses present, after all, and Sebastian would venture a guess that without his assistance, their interruptions would be both frequent and noisy.

[emotionl4arobot]

"You were running away," Brainiac 5 repeated, no longer bothering to hide his scepticism. He glanced at the door the zombie had arrived through, and the positions of Dorian and Christian in relation to it. "How, exactly? From rooftop to rooftop? Along the sides of the buildings?"

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?"

[deadlynoble]

Ciel supposed it would be difficult to explain exactly how Sebastian had managed to get them up here without revealing the fact that he wasn't human. That much was obvious by how they'd just defied the laws of gravity to get to the roof. For someone who had just been saved by them, Brainiac was making a show of casting suspicions their way and rapidly getting on his nerve. Couldn't he just have accepted the help without question?

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.

[blackestate]

Suspicious glances indeed. Brainiac 5 had persisted in his line of questioning, leaving even Master Ciel no choice but to answer. The feigned look of ignorance on his master's face was both timely and nearly flawless, and once again Sebastian felt almost a true sense of anticipation at seeing Ciel perform in the future. When they were once again upon that stage of wills and intellects, clashing over a dripping throne to seize the right to claim it as his own.

There was a loud, piercing creak of a noise from behind him. As if by fate, one more corpse had come up directly behind the butler, arms stretched out in what was vaguely reminiscent of a desirous embrace. Sebastian's eyes glowed faintly as it approached.

"I studied boxing when I was younger," Sebastian replied without interrupting the flow or tone of conversation. In the second before the corpse bit down, the butler turned, kicked his leg up in a straight 180-degree angle, and brought his foot down on the corpses's head. When he was done, Sebastian was standing with one leg propped upon a veritable puddle-mess of rotting remains, but otherwise with the same relaxed stance as before.

"As for how we came onto the roof, the ladder should be with the group near the Grocer's now. Unless some other patient took it."

He shot an openly amused look to Ciel now, eyes teasing.

"You mustn't think ill of me for carrying you with me, Christian. As a gentleman, I would have done the same for any lady or child that had fainted."

[emotionl4arobot]

"I see," he said slowly. For a moment Brainiac 5 watched Dorian, then he sighed and pressed a hand to his temple. He was overreacting, the result of too much stress and the adrenaline still in his system. And even if Dorian was a metahuman, it was hardly an unusual occurrence in this time period or within the Institute.

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."

[deadlynoble]

At Sebastian's teasing, Ciel's shoulders went rigid with annoyance like a cat whose fur had been stroked too hard. Nonetheless, he begrudgingly thanked him, though it took every effort not to say something unpleasant in regards to that.

"Yes... well, your help was very much appreciated, Dorian."

His attention returned to Brainiac, unbelieving that the boy had so readily accepted Sebastian's explanation. No, there was still a modicum of doubt and suspicion there that wouldn't be so easily mollified. If Sebastian continued to fight in his flamboyant manner, it would be more and more difficult to conceal the fact that he wasn't exactly normal. However, if it came down to living or preserving secrecy, the former was their greater concern.

They couldn't abandon the boy here as much as Ciel wanted to. He would certainly prove to be an annoyance in more ways than one, especially considering the fact that he couldn't fight and that his injuries would prevent him from being able to run. While he had no doubt Sebastian could carry them both, that could prove... rather troublesome.

"I suppose there is no harm in remaining here for the moment. Those creatures seem less inclined to climb their way up here."

[blackestate]

Sebastian returned Brainiac 5's smile, albeit with a soft, almost knowing quality to his own expression. Ciel reacted predictably to the statement about fainting, and though the butler suspected he would receive orders from his master soon about his manner of speech around other patients, there was no reason not to indulge himself for a while longer. Casting a quick eye over their surroundings, Sebastian noted dispassionately that this rooftop was one of the few that did indeed have markedly fewer undead haunting it. Whether this was by luck or some "higher being's" just as planned remained to be seen, and Sebastian could not pinpoint exactly how he felt about not being able to sense the nature of the person whose doing this all was.

[emotionl4arobot]

He didn't like to admit it, but Brainiac 5 did feel much better about the prospect of company - even if that company was Christian - than being left here alone again. It had been another matter when Peter had been worried about protecting others; it would have felt wrong somehow to insist on company then, so he'd pushed aside his lingering nervousness at being alone. But now that there were others here, he was privately glad that the pair had elected to stay in this area, rather than continuing on their way.

Edging his way past the remains of the zombie, he managed to limp a little closer to the other two patients before sinking to the ground in a tired heap. Pride aside, he simply didn't have the strength to stand for that long, and didn't see the point in doing so anyway if they were remaining here for a while.

Comfort wasn't much of an option on the cold rooftop, so he settled for as comfortable as he could manage before redirecting his attention to the oldest member of the group.

"I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself sooner. I'm Brainiac 5. But you can call me 'Brainy', if you'd prefer. Did you only arrive here recently as well, Dorian?"