Night 52: Rec Field

[tsunagari]

[from here]This was already further than Sai had gotten the past couple nights, which was saying something. It was getting over the wall that would be the real test, though. The actual act of scaling the brick would be simple, but the night had an odd way of ending before he'd gotten beyond that point. Hopefully the same wouldn't hold true this

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[unheroed]

[From here.]

Not surprisingly, the field was already lively with what looked to be a few separate attacks. There was one man who was being terrorized by what he was pretty sure was a huge bird, and then three other patients further down the field, all of whom seemed to be more interested in each other. Maybe this would work in their favor, then.

It was funny, though, when he thought about it. When it came to whether or not they should help, chances were that Jones would want to, Recluse wouldn't, and he... Well, he could go either way. Not that he was going to tell that to either of the men. In this case, maybe Jones' need to see more of that mine would outweigh any benevolence.

"So, what's our gameplan?" he asked the two. (Was his shadow flickering against the wet grass? No, of course not.) "We could try to sneak past." And over a wall, which wasn't the most inconspicuous of actions, but if they were quick about it...

Apparently when I said "I'll be posting presently" I meant "AUGH GERMAN TEST WHERE DID YOU COME FROM

[tartaros_avatar]

Recluse was relieved to escape the flickering lights, giving his eyes a moment to adjust, the slitted pupils slowly dilating, releasing more of the strong glow within them, turning his gaze to the field. Ah, the birds were out tonight.

"None of us need to worry about the birds, but we should remain cautious and keep moving. There are often others guarding the field." Well, at least he hoped neither of the other two had gotten this far with their virginity. He didn't think they had, but really, life just loved to throw nasty surprises at him.

[its_the_mileage]

Indy was about to ask why they didn't need to worry about the birds before something about Richter's tone tipped him off. Those birds, huh? He'd never gotten any closer to them than spotting a few shadows on the roof, but he remembered a few innuendo-laden bulletin posts.

And speaking of shadows... Indy turned sharply to look over his shoulder. He could've sworn he'd seen something moving at the edge of his vision, by the door, but when he actually faced that way, there was nothing unusual there. Indy faced front, glanced back, then turned ahead again. "Must've been the cat," he muttered under his breath, but that didn't put him any more at ease. His ears rang just thinking about last night's encounter; he wasn't in a hurry to repeat it. Keeping moving seemed like a good idea.

No need to belabor the point. Indy just nodded and continued forward, walking fast. He and Dent were pros at getting over the wall by now; with any luck, this wouldn't take long.

[unheroed]

Even if they were so-called pros when it came to jumping the wall, that didn't mean that Harvey was looking forward to the process. His wound was obviously doing better than it had been last night, but his burns would never completely heal. That was fine by him in most cases (the pain kept him sharp, kept him just angry enough that he wouldn't grow complacent), but when it came to physically taxing actions like this it was always a bit of a strain.

He didn't really know what Recluse meant about the birds, but his words seemed to ring true. They were able to make it across most of the field without much trouble, though he wasn't sure if they'd be able to dodge that bullet entirely.

As they reached the wall, he started to grab a vine while taking one last look over his shoulder. Once again, something seemed to flicker in the corner of his vision. He tried to follow it and found nothing. Just how many times could he brush that off, though?

"Almost there," he said as he turned back to the wall and started to try and hike himself up.

[tartaros_avatar]

Recluse turned at Jones' odd remark, raising an eyebrow, about to speak before he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He snapped around to focus on where he'd seen the movement, but there was... nothing. "Did you see something?" He asked quietly, turning back to continue to move. He didn't think his own senses would fail him like that. That meant whatever he had seen was either barely visible to begin with, in which case it could be semi-insubstantial or invisible, or...

When Dent then did the same, Recluse turned around again, considering where he'd seen the movement. Nothing there. But at the angle he'd been looking, there had been... Damn it. If what he suspected held true, this could turn out to be phenominally irritating. At least they were exiting a heavily patrolled area, so they would be less likely to end up fighting more than one problem at once

[sixth_attack]

[Kinda timeskipping from another thread with mod approval.]

If the three escaping patients thought they could scale the wall unscathed, they were dead wrong.

A short distance away, just barely illuminated by the moon's glow, a fully-powered battle android confronting two other prisoners noticed the group's scramble for the wall. With two escaping parties to deal with, Sechs decided to knock out two birds with one stone -- or in this case, a single two-bladed weapon.

A strident KA-CHAK echoed throughout the field, shortly followed by the swoosh of a swinging blade that spanned over twenty feet in length. For a moment, the violet metals that made up the blade glistened dangerously in the moon light. The Replica then struck one end of the weapon towards the two younger patients, impeding their attempt at escape. Then the other end of the weapon was raised, and with a leap to the side, Sechs struck it towards the group of three men, sending the crystalline blade to crash into the base of the wall, just barely missing where they stood.

[its_the_mileage]

"I thought so," Indy replied tersely over his shoulder. But the cat and kid had both made themselves obvious, whereas this

[unheroed]

So it wasn't just him.

Harvey had been trying to tell himself that it was nothing, but when both of the other men brought up the fact that they were seeing things that weren't there, well... It was becoming more and more clear that this was another one of Landel's games. Thus far it seemed innocuous enough, but Harvey knew that was likely to change pretty soon. "We'll worry about it later," he said, since he didn't much like the idea of pausing in the middle of the field to have a conversation about this.

Still, they had already wasted too much time. Recluse was already most of the way over, but he and Jones were only just getting started on the climb when they were interrupted by...

A purple, extending sword that pretty much shot straight at them from the other side of the field. Great. "Guess it was stupid to think we'd get off that easy," he grumbled as he reached for his gun, just in case they couldn't outrun their attacker. He had been lucky enough to not have to make a leaping dodge like Jones had, but that didn't help his

[tartaros_avatar]

Recluse was just reaching for the top of the wall when he heard the sudden, metallic noise further across the field. He hauled himself up as quickly as he could, not bothering to turn and look, feeling an impact shudder through the concrete. Once he reached the top he turned, crouching, ready to launch himself from the wall and out of the institute's grounds if another attack came.

His gaze locked onto what had attacked them, letting out an exasperated growl as he recognized the lanky form and unkempt black hair. "He can be distracted," he hissed down to the other two, holding out a hand down to whoever could grab it first to help haul them up, before returning his attention to their attacker. "You said you wanted to fight sometime, Sechs!" he called out. "Why should I stay if you're not going to fight fair?"

[sixth_attack]

With the first two patients dealt with, Sechs turned his attention towards the three men struggling to scamper over the wall. He snorted at the sight. The field was just crawling with these dumb chicken shits! Where were the real warriors here

[its_the_mileage]

"I'm just trying to figure out where you should shoot him," Indy rapped back, but he wedged the machete into one jacket pocket--it was a precarious arrangement, but he didn't have time to attach it to the whip--and started climbing nonetheless. Richter's comments gave him his answer anyway: one of the brainwashed patients. Having been brainwashed himself, Indy would prefer that Dent didn't kill the guy, but it didn't seem like that was going to be much of a problem. Even if Dent had been firing, the odds of his being able to hit someone that far behind him mid-climb struck Indy as slim

[unheroed]

As much as Harvey wasn't the sort that liked to accept help from someone if he could avoid it, he didn't hesitate to try and grab for Recluse's outstretched hand (though not before tossing his metal pipe and flashlight over the wall, to find later). Right as he'd gotten hold, though, the crazy kid with the too-long sword struck out at them again.

Harvey had been content with ignoring the kid's taunts, not seeing them worth a response at all, but now he was getting more and more tempted to just shoot him in the arm and be done with it. He didn't need to deal with this right now, when all they had been trying to do was climb one wallInstead, the thing was practically falling apart, and Harvey was forced to release his grip on Recluse's hand and fall back to the ground, almost in unison with Jones. He watched as the other man scrambled to his feet and started trying to maneuver over the weakened part of the wall, and realized that it was probably their best shot in this case

[tartaros_avatar]

Recluse had only just started to pull Dent up when saw the blade coming, and making it absolutely clear the man wasn't going to make it. He pulled free as Dent let go, leaping to the side, just barely getting off of the collapsing rock.

Now the other two might be able to climb more quickly, but it wasn't exactly clear that they would be able to do so and keep all of their limbs intact. So, as much as he was loathe to do so, he had to play hero and distract the idiot until at least Jones got over the wall. He still needed a guide, if nothing more.

The lights of the facility were still unbelievably painful, but he stood up on top of the wall, facing Sechs, lip curled back in a disdainful sneer, an entirely heartfelt expression. This overzealous thrall was cutting into his valuable time. "Or else...? I'm far from impressed by this performance, Sechs. I don't need to stay here confirm that."

[sixth_attack]

Sechs' mean-spirited laughter filled the air as he watched the two men scramble around the collapsing wall, only to tumble back down to its base in a dusty mess. If they could only have seen the looks on their faces! And despite their fall, they went straight back to crawling back upon the wall. Just like dumb little ants! It was so pathetic and amusing at the same time! Sechs would have found the whole thing almost cute as well if he hadn't been so disgusted by that word and its annoying connotations.

One of them seemed to have had enough with Sechs' teasing though, as he drew out a gun and pointed it right at the Replica. Sechs just stood there, his shoulders slouched forward like a great beast on the hunt; he eyed the weapon with no ounce of fear in his face, but with an expression of curiosity and a challenging curve to his smile. Then the trigger was pulled, and the night air was struck once again by another metallic sound.

The bullet hit its target, but Sechs barely even flinched from the impact. Only a tiny crack was left

[its_the_mileage]

Indy paused in his climb to glance back as Dent fired a shot at the guy. It didn't work. Since "just shoot him" was Indy's preferred solution for grandstanding morons with sharp weapons too, he went back to climbing.

The guy didn't attack the wall again, so when the worst of the landslide subsided, Indy was able to haul himself up relatively easily. He edged over a couple of feet to get on top of a more stable section, where he'd be able to make a good landing on the other side. But Dent was still climbing and Richter looked like he was about to get--set on fire? Jesus, after the initial second of alarm, it was almost old hat--so Indy figured it was his turn to be the distraction. Hopefully Richter would be smart enough to get out of the way on his own

[unheroed]

Surprisingly enough, Recluse was doing a good job of distracting the kid who was antagonizing him. The man had never really come off as a team player, but maybe he was the sort of person who agreed to work with others so long as it got him somewhere. And honestly, Harvey could understand that sort of mindset, so he wasn't going to question it overly much.

He had also gotten to the top of the pile of rubble, standing up next to Jones -- though the man was now drawing the attention to him. Harvey made sure to keep his head ducked down in case any stray bits of flame came their way (there seemed to be a lot of fire-breathing people or monsters in this place, come to think of it). He noted that his bullet hadn't done a thing, but he wasn't too surprised by that; just mildly annoyed. He also noted that Jones had a pretty good arm on him, but other than that, he didn't really have much to add to the taunt.

He wasn't aiming to get targeted, after all