sooner or later god'll cut you down

[metallonkardia]

Who: Group 2.
Where: The dregs of the ship.
When: ~all weekend.
Warnings: Swearing, violence, general creepiness, references to loads of death of loved ones, Stephen King-esque monsters, etc.
Notes: This will be the catch-all log post for the group of characters going to the bridge. Sure we could assume, but what's the fun of unspeakable horrors

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● MK 1

[metallonkardia]

It's directional guesswork, but the easiest way is through - they cut through steel bulkhead walls to reveal bilge chambers, dark and ominous; John thinks of the great rusted monoliths floating off the frozen coasts, hiding from the machines. He hopes they'd fare better against a laser cutter.

Things go all right until the noises start - while they're working, at first, vanishing into the dark like echoes as soon as they still. John's night vision is good, better than most, but he lights a flare anyway, casting them all with a pale yellow glow.

"You see anything?" Murmured to everyone near.

[batmanschmatman]

As soon as he realized just how dark this was going to be, Dick decided to hell with it, he was putting on the mask. Better to see in the dark and look ridiculous to his coworkers than be blind and get himself eaten by whatever the hell was in here with them.

And really, what about this wasn't ridiculous? He was crawling through the bowels of the ship in uniform, with a guy who looked like and acted pretty similar to Bruce, with a phaser armed and ready to stun whatever they encountered in the dark while some being had control of the prison ship they were supposed to be working on.

So he just focused on the task at hand, totally in the zone and ready for things to go south quickly, because this was the Barge, and things never went the way you wanted them to.

"Not yet."

[ourlastbesthope]

Capa had fallen back slightly, already starting to have second thoughts about this. He shielded his eyes from the flare when it first came up and blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the change in light. He cast his gaze around their surroundings, frowning a bit to himself at the question.

"I'm not really sure what we're going to see." He kept his footsteps light, his hands at his sides. He was ready to run at any moment, to flee into the darkness to escape whatever it was that pursued them.

"If-" He stopped, some quick shadow catching his eye. But it was gone in a moment and he instinctively moved closer to the others, hoping that it was just paranoia.

[metallonkardia]

Typically lacking in any sense of self-preservation, John moves ahead, flare held outward. "Stay still if anything comes at us," he says evenly, presumably for Capa's benefit. He knows Grayson's not gonna bolt.

Just at the edges of the pool of light, something growls. A dog? John tilts the flare forward, but there's nothing there. Scrapes - claws against metal - start to sound.

"...Keep moving."

[batmanschmatman]

Dick glanced over to see what O'Brien had noticed, but if there had been anything there, it was gone now. Wearing the mask was turning out to be one of the smarter ideas he'd had today, despite Tim's whining about this being too obvious.

He took the borrowed phaser off his belt and checked it to make sure it was set on stun - they might not be people, but he didn't really want to take the moral gamble on shooting one of the crew members while it was on kill - and gestures for O'Brien to move closer.

"Keep up. I wouldn't put it past one of them to nab any stragglers."

Honestly, Dick was seriously doubting bringing O'Brien along was a good idea after all, and Capa too, for that matter. If things got violent, it would be enough of a problem trying to watch John's back, let alone two generally noncombatants. Contained spaces didn't exactly mesh well with his highly acrobatic fighting style. He could make it work, but he'd still feel better if there was more room to move.

[ourlastbesthope]

Stay still, keep moving. Stay still, keep moving. Well, Capa wasn't exactly a flight risk, but he certainly wasn't planning on doing any heavy handed fighting. Not in this situation. He could hold his own against a person, but he wasn't entirely certain that this was going to be a person. In fact, he was quite sure that this would be some sort of inhuman monster that jumped out at them.

He steeled himself for that situation and raised his chin a bit. The noises were disorienting, and kept him alert, but he wasn't going to let them overwhelm him.

"Whatever it is, it's moving. Assuming it's just one thing."

[metallonkardia]

"If it's real, it's circling us."

John sounds serious, but not afraid; it's hard to tell how far up ahead the next barrier will be even with the light. Sometimes when he takes a step, he expects water - a truly flooded ship - but nothing's there. He's not sure if it's his own head trying to fill in the gags of the unknown, or some other sensory fuckery.

The dog - or whatever it is that sounds like a dog - keeps its distance, and so he carries on, until they reach the next wall.

"Start cutting through."

That he seems like he's just barking orders (to be fair, he sort of is; it's just how he's programmed to operate) is mitigated by the fact that he hands the flare off to Capa and immediately turns to watch their backs, assault rifle raised offensively. From behind them, something far more human and less canine begins to stir - faceless crew members, clamoring after them.

[batmanschmatman]

Dick positioned himself between the crew members and Capa and O'Brien, phaser charged and ready, waiting and hoping O'Brien could make this fast. Although really, if the crew members wanted to overwhelm them, they could just keep coming in droves, follow them through the hole in the wall, and eventually wear them down.

He really hoped they weren't that smart.

They started coming slowly, maybe six or seven that he could see, probably more hiding behind the first few, lingering back a little as if trying to figure out the best way to attack before rushing forward. Dick dropped three quickly, firing off one shot after another, hitting them squarely in the chest. They might not use guns on the job, but that didn't mean Dick didn't know how to shoot and shoot well.

[ourlastbesthope]

Capa held the flare up near the wall, giving enough light to work from. He could hear something...whatever it was...nearby, but it wasn't until the fighting was next to him did he realize exactly how much danger they were really in. The sounds of the gun made him flinch- but only once- and he focused on getting through.

"Few minutes!" he called out to the others, but he really couldn't be sure. He just focused on keeping the light still, at least until several more came from behind the others and he turned abruptly, reaching out almost blindly. He was rewarded with the feeling of impact against his hand. He jumped back, away from outstretched arms.

[metallonkardia]

John isn't used to shooting living beings; machines, crafted to hold that familiar bipedal shape, make a few different noise when you shoot them. It's a little disturbing, particularly so close up, but no reaction shows on his face as they go down.

Jeez, Capa, your luck. John turns and yanks one away from the other man, shooting it once it's staggered clear.

Their attackers thin rapidly, but there's no shortage of noises approaching them in the dark. "We're going to have to barricade behind us." Outside the lit area, where the body of one felled crew member lies barely in sight, there's a growling sound again - accompanied by a sort of ... crunching.

[batmanschmatman]

"It's barricade it, or they're following us in," Dick said, voice surprisingly level considering what they're going through right now. He's bothered by it too, dropping things that look like people, but he tried to rationalize that the ones he'd hit were just stunned. He couldn't think too hard about the one O'Brien had just split the head of, or the ones John was shooting.

But any further discussion from Dick on the matter of barricading was interrupted by another, louder growl. The vigilante turned to look and saw a flash of- was that a dog?

"Please tell me someone else saw that."

[ourlastbesthope]

He recoiled a bit from whatever it was that splattered on him. He wasn't going to turn the light just to see what these things were made out of. He looked in the direction of the growl and shook his head. Nope. No, that wasn't- but his optimistic thoughts were interrupted by Dick's question. He sighed in something like disappointment. For the first time, he actually wanted to be a little crazy.

"Yes, I saw it. And it's time to go." They were enough through the wall to get through. "Either give me a weapon and I'll go through first or one of you needs to." There was no telling what was on the other side and he wasn't going through unarmed.

[metallonkardia]

"Does any of this look fucking practical? Angle it so it can be shoved over from out side."

Bang. Crew member falls. Bang. All that comrade shit - it reminds him of General Losenko. Dead now, just like the whole fucking lot of them, blown to bits under the water with the rest of command. Some people fucking hated it, old KGB-sounding guys in with the brass. John thought he was the reasonable one.

Without looking, John removes one of the side-arms from his gear and hands it to Capa. "Already chambered. I'm right behind you, go." He backs up, still firing.