Night 52: West Wing, South Hall 2-B

[dual_worlds]

((From here.))This corridor was empty as well, which was not surprising when one took into account the lack of activity in the previous area. They passed a door to their left, one that lacked a clear label on the maps Spock had seen. While there were several possibilities of what it entailed, Spock knew he would need to make some inquiries from

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[slipperymagic]

Howl was announced by the sound of glass sliding across the tiled floor, propelled by a breeze that seemed to touch nothing else. It gave the whole thing a look as though the shards of broken bulbs were politely stepping out of the way of the man who was now walking down the hallway, straight towards the pair. He moved with purpose, but beyond that, Howl knew he was impossible to miss, particularly in a hall as dreary as this. The deep red of his suit, the unnatural gold of his hair, it all served to make the grey surroundings look that much more muted. He actually liked the image in his head quite a bit.

Still, his confidence was not so great that he wished to get too close to these individuals. He stopped a safe distance down the hall, beneath one of the lights that hadn't been overwhelmed by the power surge. It wasn't the best light, but it still made his hair glow with a striking golden halo. (Or so he hoped. In fact, he was certain it did if he was a wizard worth his salt, which he was. He cut no corners with his spellwork, unless he specifically knew they were cuttable.)

"That's about far enough." Howl's voice rang through the hall, clear and pleasant. He raised a hand to gesture for them to stop, sleeve hanging down delicately from his arm. How he hoped they would turn and run. That would make his evening easier than he could possibly articulate. Besides, he was sure that his responsibilities were ranked above whatever these poor souls had been convinced to do. "Return from where you came. For my sake and for yours," he continued, although there was an edge in his voice now, joining in with his accent. The sharpness in his eyes was infrequently present, and spoke of something almost like determination. He felt cornered like this. No choices, no options, no escape. But it was for the best, really.

[ai_no_minako]

Released? Minako's eyes narrowed at that; she'd been here long enough to know that "released" was code for "brainwashed" and sent off to... wherever people went when they were brainwashed. Outside of the Institute, at least, which was the important part here. So, what, Alfred didn't think he was a country anymore? It was probably an improvement, but it seemed to have disturbed Arthur and he was friend enough by now that that annoyed her on his behalf.

"I hadn't seen him, so...." And there she paused, alerted to the arrival of another -- and one kind of familiar. Except he looked a lot nicer now than he had the last time they'd spoken, and he'd managed to get some new clothes, too. How did he get so lucky? And why was he trying to get them to leave? Was there something down this hallway that he was trying to protect?

Minako tilted her head to one side a little, giving the man a curious look and completely ignoring Arthur's own annoyance. "Howl-san? What's down there?"

[slipperymagic]

Howl greatly desired to focus on the lovely young woman that knew his name and yet was not spitting venom at him or crying, but his eyes were still set on the man. The dark corners of the room, as few as they were, seemed to deepen, and the glass on the floor trembled. Howl opened and closed his hands, feeling the magic that built up in his veins and fingertips. He could almost hear Calcifer in his ears, roaring and ready, egging him on. Where Howl expected to hear a voice and some acerbic commentary though, there was only the fire in his head. It didn't bother him much when there were other annoyances occupying his mind.

The energy in the room built swiftly as Howl filled it. He no longer had to ask, it just came to him. He recalled the years of pleading and coercing the magic to do as he willed, but now he only needed to focus on his anger and they joined hands naturally. Howl lifted his arm across his body, pulling as though there was a great weight behind it. He still smiled, but it had grown overtly false and dangerous. Not a bit of it reached his eyes. The Witch's involvement in his life could be blamed on no one but himself, but Howl's terror sometimes felt like anger or desperation. If he thought about it in the right way, it became something manageable. At the moment, the insult was more than he was willing to bear.

"None of your concern, my dear," he said distractedly to the lady, with only a slight strain in his voice. His mind swiftly went over the calculations, feeling the energy he had gathered and stopping short of anything that would cause irreparable damage. The tension was perfect, as was his intuition for this sort of thing.

"But I must teach your companion a lesson that's been a long time coming, I believe. He'll think twice next time he opens that unsightly mouth and inflicts us all with his stupidity," and in time with that final word, Howl threw his arm outwards against the magic, projecting it, throwing it. A wave of forced rippled through the hall, focused and precise, sweeping past the girl and right towards the man beside her.

[ai_no_minako]

Okay, now this was different. Kind of familiar, too, in a disturbing way, and not something she'd expected from Howl. There'd been no sense of anything evil or nasty about him when she'd met the man, and there still wasn't now. Maybe her ability to notice an enemy was as much on the fritz as her ability to transform? What she wouldn't give to have Rei there right now -- or, well, any of the senshi would be pretty welcome. Even Artemis would be good.

Still, no time to think about that. Minako had automatically lifted her arms to protect herself as the blast of force headed her direction, but when it passed her by and knocked back her companion instead it alarmed her all the more. In but a moment she'd shrugged the chain off her shoulder and stretched it between both hands, taking up a defensive stance that placed her directly in front of Arthur. He was injured and she wasn't, even though he sounded quite determined to take down the... wizard? himself.

"You can't just go picking on someone for no good reason!" she declared, thoroughly wishing that she had the real and not broken version of her chain right about now. "I can't stand by for that kind of thing! In the name of love and justice and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, I will punish you!" Maybe he wouldn't attack. Sometimes they didn't. But if he did, she was ready to fight as best as she could.

[slipperymagic]

"You two are both so quick to judge others," Howl complained, looking up from straightening his suit. Some dust had gotten on it, kicked up by the magic, but as soon as Howl realized it was there it was gone again. "One runs about making insults and boasts, and the other comes to defend him when he gets what he deserves. Quite a pair."

Howl was quite determined to show that their attitudes would get them nowhere, but he was equally interested in comforting his bruised ego. The man was still spitting insults at him, and while Howl felt his home had never been terribly kind to him, he couldn't resist the defensiveness boiling inside him. Meanwhile, this young lady rushed to her unsavory companion's aid despite the verbal abuse being slung at Howl! Verbal abuse that contained some bizarre references, he realized.

Regardless, Howl needed to demonstrate that he was not merely some garden variety kitchen wizard. "Now, both of you, leave," he commanded. The lines between his body and the magic blurred, and when Howl lunged forward toward them, he had dissolved into a coiling cloud of black smoke aimed right for the pair. Ideally, they would run, and Howl could put them out of his mind.

[ai_no_minako]

Considering that Arthur was injured and all Minako wasn't terribly pleased when he moved up to stand beside her, but she didn't argue the point. It was partially because she realized that he probably didn't want to look weak, whether in front of her or Howl (if it really was Howl; she wasn't quite positive about that) and partially because she found herself distracted for a moment by the way the shadows slid and shifted against the wall nearby. That looked almost like -- but that had to be impossible, she was just imagining things. And imagining things at a really bad time, too.

She frowned, grip tightening on the chain she held as she cast a sidelong glance toward Arthur. There he was not making sense again, but... whatever. Crazy or not, he didn't seem like there was any harm to it. And besides, there were more important things to worry about. Things like Howl attacking them, maybe.

"Maybe we should go, Arthur-san," she hissed, but anything else she might have said was choked off in a soft gasp as Howl started to change. This was something she couldn't face as just herself with a broken chain -- she couldn't even figure out what she should try to hit, much less how hitting smoke would do anything anyway. It was almost an automatic reaction to danger by now: she lifted one hand in the air, releasing that end of the chain, and called out, "Venus Crystal Power, MAKE UP!"

She felt the Venus Crystal throb once like a second heartbeat, warm and full of power, and then... nothing. Once again she could do nothing, and she only stared at the oncoming darkness, eyes wide as Arthur stepped in front of her.