Night 52: Bus Unloading Area

[spandexorgtfo]

[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

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[justthedealer]

The idea that they might be wasting their time out here stung Remy's pride just a little. If there was a way up from the inside, one would think it would have been found already. The head doctor might hinder everyone's progress, but surely out of all of them, someone would have made progress that way. Then again, he couldn't have been the first one to try this method either. Somehow or other, they were going to have to make something out of this little excursion, even if they didn't make it up the wall itself.

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.

[thestormishere]

Lightning's senses rapidly spiraled back to her, along with a great deal of annoyance and, though she wouldn't have admitted it, a strong sense of embarrassment. She aimed a sideways glare at the man's legs as he approached her, body subconsciously tensing just in case he tried anything. Weakness was something she made a point to keep carefully locked away most of the time, especially from people she didn't know. Sending herself to her knees was... absolutely ridiculous of her.

"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....

[justthedealer]

Once again, Gambit found himself holding up both hands in a placating gesture. He had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time he'd be doing that with this woman. Express a little honest concern...

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.

[damned_monsters]

The shadows weren't the only thing moving, there in the darkness outside the building. Not far away from the two humans, the glitter of four pairs of beady eyes were visible at the very edge of the light -- low to the ground, lower even than knee height, it would be easy to miss. Easy for anyone who wasn't watchful and wary, that is.

For now, though, they didn't move. Only waited, anticipating an opportunity.

[thestormishere]

There were numerous things that Lightning was reminded of, though none of them were an exact match for what she was seeing... or known for being particularly real. They were just fairy tales and fantasies- the sort of thing prevalent in children's entertainment and the like. Magic, although not the sort she'd grown reluctantly but thoroughly knowledgeable about since being branded by the Pulse fal'Cie at Hanging Edge.

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.

[justthedealer]

That was a good question, really. Had he seen this before? He'd seen things like it, surely, but right now it was hard to tell for certain if what was happening now was like or related to anything he'd experienced in the past. At Golgotha, shadows hadn't been swarming at the edge of darkness like they were here. He thought he'd seen things that hadn't really been there, but those were clearly formed images in his mind - nothing like this.

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."

[damned_monsters]

The light passing over the four creatures showed little more than peculiarly shaped lumps of moss and dirt, like mud dolls a child had created and then forgotten, leaving them to be worn by weather. And yet in what could be faces their eyes glittered with reflected light, gazes fixed intently upon the two humans. It could be a trick of the eyes, like the shifting shadows. Or perhaps not....

[thestormishere]

If Lightning had had just a little more experience gained from the world where she currently thought she was, perhaps she might have been bit warier at the odd sight a short distance away. The pressure to survive on Gran Pulse was intense; it wasn't uncommon for creatures there to employ camouflage and other means to overcome their prey and predators. Feral monsters in Cocoon, however, rarely made a point to hide themselves, particularly in plain sight. They also didn't usually bide their time- if they meant to attack, generally, it was right away.

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?"

[justthedealer]

What was that she'd said? Fallacy? Falsie? It didn't really work in context either way (and when Gambit was correcting your grammar you knew you were in trouble) so he had to assume she was talking about something she was familiar with that he wasn't.

"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?"

[damned_monsters]

It took less than the blink of an eye before they were moving, and moving very very fast indeed. Once in motion the creatures had more of a humanoid shape, albeit a vague one -- but there was no sign of fang nor claw to pose a threat. They did not attack to rend and tear, but only swarmed as a group toward the smaller of the two humans, stubby arms reaching out for her legs.

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.

[thestormishere]

Gambit also seemed not to know the identity of their newest problem, something that in one way Lightning would have considered fortunate. It wasn't good that neither of them knew exactly what to do about it of course, but she was still being careful about outing herself as ignorant of something she 'should' have already known. Vanille and Fang had managed to pass while away from their home to a point, but Lightning was cautious about whether or not she could do the same.

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...

[justthedealer]

He might be limited on energy, but like hell Remy was going to stand by and allow these creatures to attack his companion without doing anything about it. They were small, but that in no way meant that they were less of a threat than something swinging huge clawed hands their way. Whether or not they had anything to do with the shadows was irrelevant at the moment.

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.

[damned_monsters]

Their target moved, but the creatures didn't hesitate in the slightest; they continued to charge, only changing the angle to follow along after with hands outstretched to grab. Drool puddled at the corners of their misshapen mouths in anticipation of a successful hunt, running over and dripping unheeded as they ran.

They were not quite so focused on their prey that they didn't notice an incoming attack, but it did take them a moment to realize the danger and scatter. Two of them, slower than the others, caught in the force of the explosion -- but as their fragile forms blew apart it scattered both bits of moss infused with paralytic poison and globs of corrosive slime.

[thestormishere]

Lightning had the distinct feeling that it was not a good idea to let those things close enough to touch. What she could see - and considering they had yet to use any sort of obvious magic so far - seemed to paint them as not much of a threat, but chances were they probably wouldn't be going after her if they were completely harmless. Question was: how to get rid of them when she was too busy keeping them away from her? There was only so much room to move too, in the area beside the building there.

Gambit's warning didn't give her much time to prepare, but she was already used to dealing with and weathering the explosive powers of her own allies. She forced herself to keep moving- up, hopping backward and, breaking her locked gaze on the advancing monsters, turning her face away as she threw up an arm to shield her eyes

Unfortunately, the blast did set in stone one thing: the creatures were definitely detrimental to one's bare skin. The remains of the ones caught in the explosion hit her front and exposed forearm, not only burning where they'd landed, but causing immediate weakness in the surrounding area. For the second time that night, she cried out in surprise and pain.

Paralytic acid. And as if that wasn't enough, somehow she tripped too- exactly as if someone had managed to plant a foot behind her and kept it there. She went down hard on her back end, paralysis costing her the ability to use the extra momentum and roll like she normally would have. However, not to be outdone, in an instant her magic had flared up again, blue-white around her unaffected hand and the lighting device she held there. She fully intended to either bludgeon the monsters to death if they continued to near her, or finish the job with something explosive of her own.

In the chaos, there was little time to wonder why she'd fallen, or why quiet laughter suddenly seemed to be ringing in her ears.

[justthedealer]

Remy cursed as his attack ended up possibly causing more harm than good. At least he'd destroyed a couple of them, but he couldn't risk them exploding everywhere again. He should have given her a better warning, but there really hadn't been time...

Just as there wasn't time now to lament his mistakes. She'd been hurt, but if they'd gotten their claws into her it could have been worse. The mutant was vaguely aware of another presence besides the monster now, perhaps the reason the woman had fallen, but the most important issue now was that she'd fallen, and he needed to take care of her attackers before any more damage was done.

He was wearing shoes, at least - no better than outdoor slippers, but that was something between his feet and the little bastards. If blowing them up wasn't an option right now, then punting them like little disfigured footballs might be the next best thing. Remy wasted no time pondering it further, running straight at the little monsters and swinging his leg forward as hard as he could.

"Four!" ...So it wasn't a football term. Big deal.

[damned_monsters]

Two of their number were now gone, which only made the survivors all the more determined to succeed in bringing down prey. It took them but a moment to recover from their surprise and notice the man's charge; the two waited until he was closer, then at some unspoken signal scattered, moving with inhuman speed to circle around behind him and in toward the leg that stayed planted on the ground.