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]

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.

[thestormishere]

Even as Gambit was moving and the monsters were trying to recover, Lightning was dragging her legs back underneath her- she might have been on the ground... but by this point she was beyond furious. There was little that could overcome someone driven, desperate, and hopped up on adrenaline, and the fact that her skin was burning and muscles more or less worthless under where the first two monsters' remains had landed hardly seemed a concern at all.

Enough was enough.

"Dodge this," she snarled, and throwing herself forward channeled magic from her own body and into the lighting device clutched in her hand completely. At that, energy resembling but not quite raw electricity flowed down its length, arcing and throwing out pale purple sparks into the night air; with a pop it shorted out instantly, glass on the end shattering as the former soldier swung it towards the tiny beasts going for Gambit's leg.

Of course, at such close range it was entirely possible some of that would jump to and affect her companion too, and because the device's shell was uniform it would probably rebound on her a little as well... but at the moment she was only interested in ridding the world of those creatures. Forever. A strike like that was a show of speed and magical force rather than an outright explosion like Gambit's had been, and there was no way that it wouldn't hit at least one of them, regardless of their unusually high speed. If she could hit both, then that was even better.

[justthedealer]

Fast little bastards, weren't they? That didn't make it any less embarrassing that he'd missed, especially since he had an audience, but his wounded pride was the least of their worries at the moment. Lightning was preparing some sort of spell, most likely something that would drain her of more energy than she could actually spare. Maybe it was necessary in order to rid themselves of these creatures, but if there really was a greater threat present beyond these (as he was beginning to believe there was) then she'd just have less energy to deal with that threat.

Years of working with his teammates had him rolling back out of the way automatically when she began channeling to avoid being hit with it as well. He knew an attack coming when he saw one. This woman was very versatile if she could be both a fighter and a spellcaster. Most witches he'd seen, if it could be said that he'd seen many, didn't spend a great deal of time on the front lines.

Remy moved closer to her, but avoided getting right in front of her. She'd be down for at least a few moments, and if anything was still coming after them he wasn't going to let her take the brunt of the attack.

[damned_monsters]

The blast indeed caught one of the creatures full on, as it dodged the wrong direction entirely in an attempt to avoid it. The amadan's misshapen form essentially dissolved under the force of it, and the reek of charred moss and dirt rose in the air, overlaid with an unpleasantly bitter tang.

Now that the odds were completely against it, the lone survivor abruptly turned and melted away into the darkness. There had to be weaker prey wandering the grounds tonight, and it was by now far more interested in preserving its own flesh (such as it was) than its hunger.

[thestormishere]

As Gambit had predicted, Lightning went down and went down hard. The backlash from the spell shot up her arm and threw her back, and she didn't even try to catch herself as she twisted and fell, landing on her side on the short, cold-deadened grass. Completely forgotten for obvious reasons, the now-useless lighting device went tumbling across the ground in the opposite direction, along with the remains of the creature she'd managed to kill.

Needless to say, the pain from her Brand was much worse this time. In a sort of stunned, unbalanced state, she briefly wondered if somehow she'd managed to rip out or explode her own heart... or at least come close, considering it quickly became apparent to her that the pain throbbed in time with her pulse and that she didn't exactly seem to be dying.

And so again, out of sheer force of will, she pushed herself up on arms that both burned like they were on fire, determination not to stay down overriding any physical discomfort. However, she still remained in place, bent almost double and with her legs twisted awkwardly beneath her. At that point she realized that she was actually shaking in pain and exertion, and breaking out in a cold sweat because of it- not good when it was already much colder here than she was used to. But despite this, she made herself look up... mostly to see if Gambit was still alive, and what had happened to their assailants.

Instead, something else entirely usurped her attention.

"Good job, Claire," started a smooth, amused-sounding voice, unnervingly familiar and far too close for comfort; regardless of her distraction beforehand, she should have noticed someone getting that close- close enough to touch. Surprised, she jumped and leaned away, staring in disorientation at the darkened form that had suddenly appeared by her side. That name was...

"Now that was a close one."

[justthedealer]

With the last enemy running off, Remy was ready to rush over to the woman's side and see if she'd be all right. So far, tonight had been a bust, and that was immensely frustrating given that they'd barely walked outside the door. Was he a world renown thief or wasn't he? Tomorrow night he'd have better plans, better equipment... better anything than what he'd had tonight. He had to keep optimistic that it wouldn't always be this difficult.

But for now, he had an exhausted companion to deal with. "Hey, chere. You gon' be all--"

His question was cut off, as in the process of moving to her side he walked through something dark and lifeless. Had the shadows stepped free of the darkness, finally, now that their other attackers were gone? The feeling was oddly familiar, like something he'd faced before, but he hardly had any time to think further on that before what felt like a cold hand grabbed him by the shoulder and tossed him roughly back in the opposite direction, hard enough that he hit the ground.

Deep, unfriendly laughter sounded nearby. Despite the slight distortion, he knew right away it was a twisted version of his own. After all, this wouldn't be the first time he'd faced a reflection of himself.

"Always de gentleman, Mr. LeBeau."

So they had themselves a whole new set of problems. Somehow, Remy didn't find himself the least bit surprised.