Night 52: Bus Unloading Area
[from here]As they stepped outside, Kratos took a deep breath, taking a moment to savor the feeling of fresh air, even though it was still tainted with the silent evil that surrounded the institute. Then, moment finished, he returned to the task at hand
( Read more... )
Now that they were outside, the man backed away from the entrance just enough to get a better view of the exterior. It was pretty basic, nothing he hadn't scaled before. Of course then he'd usually had the proper tools needed for the job and right now he was left with nothing but the clothes on his back, some playing cards, a flashlight, a radio, and some pens. This wasn't exactly wall climbing material and as much as he'd been thinking it over on the way out he couldn't quite figure out how to make this wall climbing material. He just had to hope the building itself had some options available to work with - vines, a drain pipe, anything he could get some leverage on.
There were windows further up - the ones near the sun room, no doubt. If they could get there they'd have a better chance of reaching the next floor up. Usually he could put his boosted agility to good use, but he could feel that he wouldn't be able to jump as high as he usually did. No, getting up there was going to require a little more skill. He just hoped he didn't end up making a complete fool of himself in the attempt.
Reply
Of course, obviously he wasn't from Cocoon anyway. At this point, Lightning wasn't sure whether or not he should be glad for it, unusual 'mutant' traits aside. "I see... 'Gambit' it is," she answered simply, echoing what he'd said earlier, and left it at that. It was a strange name for a strange person, but she certainly wasn't one to judge.
For a few moments afterward, the young woman's gaze went up into the dark sky, silently searching for the floating continent again despite already knowing its position wouldn't have changed in only a day's time. Being cut off from it entirely still made her uneasy. There was no telling what was going on up there, amidst the people who continued to live in ignorance... or to her sister, essentially helpless in her crystalline state.
But there would be time to go reminiscent later... she and 'Gambit' were out here for a reason: 'Jihl' and the third floor. A hand found its way to her hip as she studied the building as well, thoughtful frown in place. Given the bonus to her strength and speed that becoming a l'Cie had bestowed upon her, something like this shouldn't have been a problem. However, she also felt the need to be careful. A flat expanse of brick with no footholds was a challenge even under her now-'usual' circumstances... but currently, she was not only hardly dressed for the job, but had already felt 'off' ever since finding herself trapped here.
"Looks like mostly wall," she noted blandly, then turned to her left and began walking along it at a distance. In the flickering light, it was hard to tell anything, but if she could just find something that stuck out or an inward-facing corner....
Reply
At least she hadn't said anything about the mutant comment, and he was content to leave it at that. The less time they spent worrying about each other the better, though what Logan had told him earlier in the day was still fresh in his mind. He shouldn't trust anyone, not even those who seemed just as lost as he was. But without knowing much about the situation, he couldn't just ignore help either. So he would be wary. Gambit loved the ladies, but he'd long since learned not to be duped by a pretty face.
She was right, though. 'Mostly wall' was definitely what it was. If he'd had the energy to spare (which he would outside of this restrictive place) and they weren't worried about drawing outside attention, he could create a few footholes of his own. Now was where the improvisation came in... except he'd be damned if he actually knew what he could do.
He ran his flashlight along the side of the building too. "Well, he ain't gon' make it easy on us."
Reply
The young woman pressed her lips together in annoyance. She didn't feel any more stressed than she thought she should be in a situation like this, but a jumpy demeanor didn't exactly give off the best impression. Her agitation showed as she glanced back again at Gambit, then moved close enough to place a hand on the relatively smooth wall. Trying to climb here would be near impossible... the idea was quickly becoming outright ridiculous.
"We could try back inside too," she started tensely, "There were some windows on the ceiling and a balcony beneath them in that one room. If we just... hm.
"... Hold on." There was a strange note in her voice as she stopped and then backed up to stare into the darkness of the building above them. She could think of a fairly simple solution to their problem that didn't involve more exploring or going back inside, but... it involved her Eidolon. Dare she really summon that here, in front of this man she barely knew? Something like that would undoubtedly bring up questions, and even if she refused to answer them straight it might still eventually present a risk to herself and Snow. For obvious reasons, she continued to doubt that letting anyone here find out she was formerly a Cocoon resident would score her an invitation to sit down with a nice slice of pie, regardless of her destruction-based Focus assigned by a Pulsian fal'Cie.
However, not using every resource available to her also seemed a poor choice, and in the end she had very little time to waste. An Eidolon could definitely jump higher than she could, and was generally more destructive in a knock-things-down way to boot. Pressed as she was, it seemed to her that the decision was practically already made.
So that's what she did, laying a hand over her heart as she called on the power inside her, intoning its name in personal ritual: Odin. She had no reason to believe it wouldn't work of course... for a moment it looked like it would, the brightly pink glow of her magic appearing around her hand the moment she closed her eyes.
And then something went wrong. The energy suddenly cut off with a snap, and instead of the crystallization of her rose-shaped Eidolith, searing pain rushed out of the l'Cie Brand into her chest and then throughout the rest of her body. Lightning staggered as if she'd been struck, clutching at her chest with a cry and just barely catching herself as she fell forward onto her knees, completely dazed by the nonexistent blow.
Reply
He hadn't put much thought into what abilities his new companion might have, if any, so when she started to try and activate... something, he stopped to watch her in surprise. Really, he should have warned her first. It was possible she hadn't been told that everyone's powers had been weakened here, but having not known she was going to try anything to begin with...
Well, it was a little too late to feel bad about that now. The mutant joined her at her side, looking concerned. This was going to get very troublesome very quickly. "You all right dere, chere? You should be careful. We've had a cap put on any abilities we might have. It's pretty frustratin'." He wasn't trying to insult her for not knowing, and he hoped he got that message across. He was commiserating. This was a bum deal on all ends.
Reply
"I know that!" she said thickly, her hand still pressed into the aching Brand on her chest. She just hadn't known that her connection to Odin would have been severed completely. Nothing like this had happened to her before- it was one thing if she just didn't have enough magic or something, but this kind of reaction....
Her instincts told her to get to her feet as soon as possible though, something she quickly accomplished as the pain began to subside. She'd managed to keep hold of her light at least, a result of self-discipline despite it not being her actual weapon. Deflecting any attention, she looked down at it instead of at Gambit again, frowning. As she did, however, she realized she could hear something beyond the night around them... like a muffled word or two in the distance.
"What is that?" she asked, short but quiet, and turned her head until she thought she could pinpoint the direction... was there another message being transmitted inside the building again? And here they were, following the last broadcast's clues, yet out of range of receiving any more. Annoyed, she glanced down again... and suddenly took a sharp intake of breath.
Beyond the object in her hands, the long, thin shadow cast from the unsteady lights at the front of the building was moving of its own accord. Right before her eyes too, instead of just out of the corner of her vision and when she was otherwise distracted. She stepped back nimbly, away from it, but it both followed and didn't follow her movement....
Reply
Her question caught him off guard, and he was immediately glancing in the same direction she was, listening intently for whatever it was she might be talking about. "What is what?" He didn't like not being the first one outside of Wolverine to catch anything that might be sneaking up on them, but then she could have some heightened sense and he wasn't aware of it.
And then he saw the shadows as well. It hadn't been his imagination before, then. Landel had some sort of shadow creature among the monsters here. Such a wonderful thing to run into their first night. He had another card in his hand before he'd even thought to draw it, but he didn't light it up yet. He had to save his energy.
He was suddenly and uncomfortably reminded of Golgotha. Hopefully he'd at least be able to keep his wits about him here.
Reply
For now, though, they didn't move. Only waited, anticipating an opportunity.
Reply
Because of that, she was far more willing to accept it as caused by some unseen technology or similar instead. As she took another short step back, she raised her lighting device and turned it on, shining it into the dark shapes experimentally. However, all that changed was the way the irregular movement shifted around the yellowish beam's interference.
Strange, but so far harmless. What was its purpose then? A warning of something to come? Nothing more than a simple scare tactic? At least Gambit seemed wary too... though the question was whether or not he was just as confused as she was.
"Have you seen this before?" she asked shortly, sending another quick glance at him before caution and lingering unease drove her to begin scanning the area around them. She hadn't survived thus far by being lax in keeping an eye on her surroundings... and that was likely the only reason she managed to spot anything unusual at all a little further off into the darkness. A brief glint of reflected illumination made her eyes narrow as she aimed the light in her hand in its direction.
Reply
With everything he and the X-Men had contended with over the years, however, there had to be something this reminded him of. A familiar foe would be more easily dealt with. Unfortunately, it was rarely that easy.
He shook his head. "I'm not sure." Giving an honest answer felt better when it didn't mean they were worse off for the truth. Perhaps he should have added 'but I doubt it's a good thing' like when someone else on the team back home stated the obvious. They weren't even attacking, though Remy wasn't sure how well his abilities would work against shadows anyway. Were they corporeal at all?
"You got any ideas, I'd love hearin' dem."
Reply
Reply
And so she frowned thoughtfully, decided to keep an eye on them, but did nothing so far against the weird shapes with glittering eyes, not entirely convinced they were a threat or even alive. More important at the moment was Gambit's answer, which sadly wasn't really what she had wanted to hear. Was it possible his memory had been tampered with like Snow's had? Furthermore... was it possible she had already seen this somewhere in the time between what she last recalled and her capture and imprisonment here, but had been forced to forget as well?
"Hm," she half-answered, continued to think quickly, then voiced what she'd been dwelling on shortly beforehand- "Some kind of holographic driver, probably. Or a fal'Cie trick... trying to throw us off." She paused, realizing that that was not only the first time she'd mentioned fal'Cie, but the first time she'd heard anything about them spoken aloud at all. It seemed odd to her.
"Anyway..." came her partial attempt to smooth it over, although she now couldn't help but wonder what the prisoners kept here here knew and thought of the beings beyond apparently being turned l'Cie at some point. Unfortunately though, now wasn't the time. The ex-soldier threw another look around to the area and her misbehaving shadow before jerking her head in the direction of the unusual shapes she'd spotted. "What about that?"
Reply
"Hollograms are a definite possibility..." Like the Danger Room, perhaps. This place used more advanced technology than the norm, that was for certain, though whether it had also been integrated from otherworldly locations was something worth looking into. Given what Logan had told him, it was possible this whole setup was just a series of holographic images, or a telepath altering what they saw. They might not even be here at all, but laying in an empty room somewhere...
Things could never just be simple, could they?
As far as that was concerned, Remy was already starting to squint toward the odd shapes when Lightning pointed them out. "Maybe dat's our source, non? You want we should investigate or just shatter dem?"
Reply
Only a touch against skin would be sufficient to spread their contact poison, paralyzing her and bringing her to the ground. Within reach. And with four of them, well... hopefully one would be successful.
Reply
Should they act? It was hard to say, though she did mean to give an answer one way or the other... until suddenly what were previously nothing more than earthy lumps with ambiguous faces began to move and, needless to say, distracted the young woman from any reasons to let the things be.
But even when caught off guard she was still hardly unprepared. Lightning's name was one she had chosen herself, and it definitely wasn't one without justification- she was fast as well, and training had honed her instincts to the point where she didn't have to think about what to do when the tiny creatures suddenly upgraded themselves to potentially dangerous foes.
She gasped in surprise, but then her first reaction was evasion: two long, swift strides away and then automatically, a flip backwards to what was hopefully out of range of the creatures' initial charge. However, although it might have looked like it was carried out with unusual ease from the outside, she landed a little harder than she should have, skidding instead of bouncing and bent low so that her hands nearly touched the ground. Apparently, the change in her body's strength threw off her balance. It would only take an instant for her to recover and keep moving, but...
Reply
The mutant had a card lit up in an instant, the light from his biokinetic energy created a glow of its own, casting even more odd shadows, but he ignored that for now. What had, for the most part, now become a small bomb of sorts was sent flying in the direction of the creatures. His aim was top notch, and he doubted that had been affected too much by this place at least.
"Look alive, Lightnin'!" Hopefully the explosion wouldn't throw her off too much that she wouldn't be able to regain her own balance in the meantime. This was supposed to be helpful.
He could feel the drain from that move already, and it was disparaging to know he wouldn't be able to manage too many more. It was a good thing he'd spoken with Logan and hadn't started out trying to throw a handful of cards like he usually did.
Reply
Leave a comment