Night 46: Sun Room

[arc_wrench]

[from here]

And now it was time for the traditional cautious entry into the Sun Room, the old classic of carefully scanning the area for the enemy that will surprise you anyway, and then the venerable tradition of running in an attempt to not become very lumpy wallpaper.

HK had done this so many times by now, it at least felt like it deserved

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[sheisthecause]

Meche didn't see anyone at first. Right up ahead of them, Remy from earlier in the day was passing through the room with another young man, but the way the two of them were talking together told her they weren't brainwashed, at least not in the way Special Counseling patients were. There wasn't a fight going on at the moment, either. It was so quiet that she'd almost managed to convince herself that there was no one dangerous in here after all when she finally noticed the man in the strange clothes.

Now they really had a problem, because they needed to get past quickly--but Meche knew for a fact that Remy was new and unarmed, and she wasn't sure if he'd believed her about the brainwashed patients. The three of them might be able to sneak by while the man attacked Remy and his partner, but the two young men might be badly injured if they didn't have help. Who knew what kind of powers the attacker might have?

But then, the choice wasn't really up to her either way, was it? She at least had to give their team leader the first crack at making a decision, even if he was a kid. For now she should just try to give him more information. "One of those guys in front of us is probably going to be in real trouble if it comes to a fight," she whispered to Sora. "If we run past, do you think we could manage a distraction, at least?" Surely they could handle that much, Meche thought.

[madeinthehrl]

The fact that so many patients here had received their own clothes with no apparent brainwashing involved was more than a little disconcerting. Soma wasn't sure why so many of them persisted in wearing those clothes; it didn't seem as if most of their outfits aided them at night in any way, and it only served to make it more difficult to tell when someone was truly brainwashed.

But it helped that she had come into the Sun Room expecting a fight; that made singling out the potential candidate easier. Soma tightened her grip on the spear, glancing at Sora and Meche. She wasn't sure what abilities Sora had, and Meche was still learning to use a spear.

"A distraction will most likely be necessary, regardless of whom that man attacks," she said quietly. "I'm getting used to the limitations Landel has placed on my reflexes. I can draw his attention away from the rest of you."

[scintillatingly]

Any thought of just trying to get past the Special Counseling patient was thrown out of Sora's mind when Mercedes told him that the pair in front of them might be in trouble. That seemed even more certain when the brainwashed guy walked up to them -- and now Sora could definitely tell that he was holding a gun. It reminded him of his fight with Xigbar a few nights ago. While the Nobody had only had a bow and arrow as a substitute, that had been bad enough. That gun could probably do a lot more damage than that...

Sora wasn't sure if Mercedes had been referring to Scott or the guy with him when she'd said that, but in the end it didn't really matter. They were going to need help, that was for sure.

Still, the idea of a distraction was a good one. Maybe if they just jumped in for long enough to give the other two a chance to get away, then they could also work their way toward the cafeteria. They couldn't get tied up here all night, in any case. Though chances were they were going to lose their race with Hitsugaya's team now. Still, sometimes sacrifices had to be made when you were a hero, right?

"Okay," he said once his mind had been made up. He glanced to Soma, seeing how she had volunteered. "We're gonna go up there and help them at least long enough for us to try and make an escape. Mercedes, head toward the cafeteria and we'll meet up with you once we're done. We'll try to send the other two your way, too."

Right now, there wasn't time to wait for their confirmations. Nodding to Soma, Sora broke into a run, heading straight for the three up ahead of them.

[To here.]

[sheisthecause]

Here they went again. Her first impulse was to run after them and try to--to do something, anyway, maybe try to knock the heater out of that guy's hand with her spear. But if she did that, they'd have yet another situation where everybody on the team was taking damage trying to protect everybody else, and they'd already seen how well that worked out.

No, she decided, she probably shouldn't charge into the fight; the last thing she needed was for the gunman to feel threatened and start shooting at everybody. (That sure didn't look like a sproutella gun to her.) But she wasn't just going to scurry away into the cafeteria like a good girl, either. Someone needed to get Remy out of there. He looked like he was practically rooted in place with fear, and Meche didn't blame him for a second.

"Remy!" she hissed as loud as she dared. "This way!"

[tiny_chef]

[From here.]

As he ran to Meche's side, object in hand, Remy heard another shot. It was followed immediately by a cry from Scott. He had an impulse to turn back, but now that his legs were moving, he couldn't stop them; it didn't occur to him to consider how useless he had already been in the fight. In another two seconds, he reached Meche, then looked back to Scott.

"He got hit," he said, sounding frightened and worried.

Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Scott was back in conspicuous action, and Remy felt a little flutter of relief somewhere under all his panic. But Scott could get hurt worse than he already had; they all could. He tucked the thing that Scott had thrown at him -- to him, he realized -- under his arm, and brought his hands to his chest, where he made anxious, twiddling little fists with them.

To a person who didn't know anything about him, it might have looked something like prayer.

[sheisthecause]

"I know," she answered grimly. She'd been watching the whole scene. Those definitely weren't sproutella darts. "He'll be fine if we can just get him and everyone else out of here. I'll patch him up myself."

Even though the older boy had been shot, he still seemed to be moving all right, and Sora was obviously confident--hopefully not overconfident--in their ability to take the twerp with the heater down. Soma could handle herself, too, so three on one really weren't terrible odds even if two of the three were children, Meche told herself. She and Remy were both just standing there, having trouble taking their eyes off the fight, but now she started moving again. The whole point of a distraction was for someone to get past safely. If things looked bad, she could come back once she'd gotten Remy to the cafeteria.

"Come on," she whispered to him, trying to sound confident and encouraging. "Let's take our chance while we've got it. I know those two, and they'll have that guy out cold the second he stops to reload."

She hoped, at least.

[tiny_chef]

"You know how to do that?"

It was comforting to hear it; if something happened to Remy, and he got hurt, maybe Meche could help him. He'd noticed in the kitchen at Gusteau's that humans didn't lick their wounds most of the time, but in this body, he wasn't really sure what he would do in case of an injury.

When she started moving, he followed her. Not staying around to help made him feel guilty, but getting killed wouldn't be of any use to anyone at all.

"Are we going to the cafeteria?"

[sheisthecause]

"Yes," Meche said, to both questions. The sounds of gunshots and screams rang out behind them, and she picked up the pace, striding fast and continuing to talk in a low voice. She wanted Remy to stay calm and focus on her, not whatever was happening back there. Truth be told, she wanted to keep herself calm, too. "I can't promise anything too fancy; it's mostly all basic first aid, but at least I can make sure your friend will be all right until the morning. In fact, if you want to learn, I'll show you. It's a good skill to have."

She didn't think she'd said a single really useful thing, but having something to listen to other than the fight did make it easier for her to keep moving forward with Remy instead of running back. In that way, Meche managed to make her way across the Sun Room and to the relative safety of the cafeteria doorway.

[to here]