Night 18: Hallway Near Waiting Room 2/Doctor's Offices

[dawning_dreams]

"Hell if I know," Cid growled back, not quite liking the demanding tone Brock was taking but at the same time likening it to his own mode of speech. "Didn't you hear the announcement on the intercom earlier? Fucker's insinuating some weird shit and I'm guessing the patients he mentioned are a part of it

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[blacksustenance]

Brock dogged after Cid, the other man pulling in the lead for the moment. Brock followed silently, mulling this over. To be truthful, he had to admit that he never paid much attention to the voice on the intercom, although he was sure it was present every night. He remembered something that first night with the cat, but last night, during their hunger throes of withdrawal, he didn't really recall much. It seemed to Brock that it was probably the head of this facility, dicking around with them just cause he could and that's naturally what power trips called for.

Brock wondered what kind of mutant or mutate Cid was. He seemed far too normal for either, both physically and mentally, from what he'd seen. If Brock didn't know any better, he'd say that this Cid was just an ordinary man.

At least he could walk without limping too much now. Brock caught up to Cid, reaching out and grabbing him by the elbow.

"Hold on," Brock said, releasing Cid's arm. "Look, if some shit did go down and something happened to the patients, it'd be better

[dawning_dreams]

Things went to shit pretty quickly, as they usually did in battles. That, Cid was used to. It wasn't a big deal to keep his eye on the pie so to speak, to make sure he was always facing the glint of red cape even when Brock charged and the reckless man fell, to keep a tight, painful grip on his meager weapon even after hearing that fucking arrogant, fucking not Vincent voice come out of Vincent's mouth.

Perhaps the pilot had made that thought so soon, however.

Perhaps he had only counted on protecting himself.

Some faint sign of blond hair came along with another figure. Cid glanced over to get a better look at the newcomers and found himself staring.

"Cloud...?" He mumbled under his breath, wondering how the hell he had the shitty luck to end up with someone whose face he knew at the last possible moment he needed it. He grit his teeth and ran in the direction of the fellow AVALANCHE member that wasn't currently in a brainwashed delirium

[soulofdiscord]

As Chusa stepped forward, almost even with her, Scholar Ling raised her arm to bar her passage, lacquer-black eyes focused on the chaos in front of her. A transformation style... that man was cut from the same mold as herself. And yet he wasn't restrained, his powers not sliced away by this place? How could such a thing be?

...more importantly, how could she gain that kind of power?

"Wait," she said, her voice absurdly calm and yet cutting over the roar of the chainsaw with apparent ease. "Hold. Watch."

She could feel something from the other woman, something about her soul was most definitely at odds with Ling's own... and she slowly looked at Chusa, wondering what had happened. What was this place, where the rules seemed to shift? Though... that could work in her favor. With the slightest bit of emphasis, she whispered, "LearnThe boy was lost, spiritually and mentally. And yet one wished to save him against the overwhelming odds of a master of transformations, armed with superior weaponry and skill? The choice was the incorrect

[blacksustenance]

Brock went down hard, huffing for breath even as the symbiote railed at him to get up on his feet for another round. They weren't sure what this other patient was - there was no sense of another symbiote, despite the transformation, and the Other was certain that they could take him if they kept out of range of the gun and the chainsaws. Brock struggled to his feet, one hand on his bruised ribs, and complied, giving a final wheeze and doggedly going after Cid's "friend" once more.

He wasn't quite sure how to tackle this new transformation though; he hadn't fought much in the way of mutants, and they were far too used to fighting with their full abilities, not when the weak Host was taking the brunt of the force.

Brock snapped out a claw again, a black circle oozing out to cover his chest, leaving the other hand bare; it wasn't much, but it was the best they could do to protect his vitals. They went after the rampaging mutant, following the roaring buzz of the chainsaw and the muscled back presented to them.

[revansremnant]

So, Cloud now had both a name and people who knew and were concerned about him. Though Cid's actions clearly indicated that he knew far more of the situation than anyone else and Cid was of the opinion that getting away from the person that he normally spent almost all of his time with was vastly important

[strengthtolive]

His eyes widened in disbelief as the creature seemed to .. mutate (change?) into something else. He hadn't been told anything like that, but then, he doubted that he would be told something important as that. Probably even overhearing what he had might have been too much. Unsure of what to do, what he could do, he was thinking of running back to the other group and abandoning the people to their own devices. He wasn't a First Class; he had no reason to be in the middle of the fray in the first place

[perfect_meld]

They froze at the sound of the chainsaw. Not out of fear though, oh hell no. It was giddy anticipation. The kind you got at Christmas Eve, and you were waitin' for the presents and Santa, only this time it was some fucker with chainsaw.

Finally....finally going to see a chainsawing!

It was Kasady's first thought, with the symbiote following straight behind, its waves of honest-to-God delight radiating throughout their shared body. The alien hadn't exactly seen one of these in action, and in person. Tonight was gonna be treat for both of them. Even if they'd gotten shot in the foot.

So this guy was some kinda freakshow. A regular carnie. Just like those mutants... those X-Men that pranced around in tights. He'd caught wind of them on the news every now and then. Seemed sorta weird.

Well, the Spider did too, but it somehow seemed less strange when he did it.

They watched from where they lay, grinning. Kasady swore that the roar of the chainsaw had his teeth rattling in his head.

Come on, come on, DO IT!

[reduxvalentine]

Seek out the weakest prey and attack.

Single eye rolling sickeningly back in his head, it paused jerkily, head twitching for a split second before darting toward the two struggling nearby.

Dashing with inhuman speed, it raised the chainsaw---

...And in a single motion swung, cleaving the heavy weapon through the shoulder of the young one and pulling. Bright red suddenly coated its eye, its head, its body as hard bone shattered under the force of the saw, and when he screamed, it convulsed and drove the saw further.

The boy stopped screaming eventually.

Tearing through muscle and ribs and flesh as viscera and blood splattered the wall, the saw suddenly jammed, coming to a screeching halt as it caught near the hip.

It released the saw, embedded in Cloud's torso, and they both dropped to the floor, broken.

[dawning_dreams]

Cloud didn't seem to be responding to the pilot's yells, and although there was commotion going on around and behind him, Cid wasn't in any kind of position to pay attention to it. The chainsaw was still roaring, his heart was still pounding, and the worst part of it all was the familiarity of the sounds, and the fact that the so-called manifestation of Vincent's sins were supposed to be a welcome relief when they showed themselves.

But not here. Not at fucking Landel's.

The sound was getting closer, and although Cid was pulling as hard as he could at the blond kid's wrist, they weren't fucking getting anywhere, and the sound was just getting louder and louder to the point that Cid was just about to turn around and throw the kid out of the weapon's reach---when he heard a hiss, felt a shudder from the kid's hand, and then heard a noise akin to a plane's propeller getting stuck in pebbled ground

[revansremnant]

She learned something new about herself in this moment. She'd seen men die before. Stood upon the field of battle, heard them scream, smelled the blood as it smoked off of her body, seen the terror and felt the lives slip away. Dim as it was, she could feel the young man, Cloud, dying.

She'd brought him here, to the place of his death. Oh, she hadn't forced him, but he'd followed, he'd trusted. And now his blood caked her, sprayed across her body and face. A lick at her lips was rewarded by a hot, coppery - and oddly sweet - taste.

She was... angry. She wasn't entirely sure why... she hadn't known Cloud, she wasn't responsible for him, but... but... he'd been with her. Followed her. He'd been... hersShe didn't like people taking away what was hers

[soulofdiscord]

Scholar Ling's reaction to what happened was quite a bit different than that of Chusa or of Cid Highwind. She didn't learn anything new about herself- for she remembered tearing men apart with as much savage glee and brutal efficiency. She didn't lose any part of herself- for Vincent's actions confirmed her philosophy, wrote out the Way in crimson in such a way that any could understand, and the boy only deserved the fate he received.

Rather, she learned about the others there. She learned from their reactions, from what they did, and in an instant, she knew how best to serve the Way.

The air suddenly seemed to be frigid, the Scholar's breath coming out as a cloud as she drew upon the frigid depths of her own soul. She changed her place in the world, to that of the cold arbiter of truth, and even if this world did not respect her place- yet- it could not help but to obey. Steam seemed to play off of her fingers as she gathered the cold into her hands, focusing it, giving it purpose

[perfect_meld]

Ooooooh, that was just as messy as they'd expected. Actually, even more so. Just like in the movies, but even better. Christmas had come and instead of a bike, they'd gotten a motorcyle. That was just how surprising but satisfying that had been. Getting shot in the foot seemed like a small price to pay for in admission to see this show.

What they hadn't expected was how loud it was, as bones shattered, and the chainsaw jammed. They saw it in clear detail, thick blood and tissue, and bits of guts flying. The kid had practically been cleaved in half, and now Kasady understood why some of those really crazy sonovabitches used chainsaws, despite the risk to themselves. The symbiote couldn't help licking their lips, partly with envy.

You humans and your weapons can be very.... artful, it sounded impressed. Savage, and sometimes primitive, but highly satisfying.

You said it, Kasady answered. That was something, coming from the symbiote. Like a compliment. The symbiote had some genetic memories of its world. The serial killer wasn't sure

[strengthtolive]

He, too, could hear the sound coming closer. In a fevered hope, he thought that it was heading to just his imagination. He stopped trying to stop the man from pulling him, long enough to just turn his head to see what was happening. A blinding pain ripped through his shoulder, screaming across his mind and shattered his delusion.

Cloud had no time to wonder about the sudden shift of reality, nor what memories were replaying for him. Instead, he could only focus on the pain, the agony, the path that it was going as he watched the saw travel down his chest in horror.

No, it wasn't quite the pain, but the shock of dying, of knowing that he was dying. He thought he was screaming, he was sure of it. But, eventually, he stopped. The saw had ripped through one of his lungs, filling his mouth with blood and muffling any further cries.

His vision faded, blotted in black, filled it.

Nothing.

[blacksustenance]

Brock skidded to a halt as he saw the chainsaw arc through the air, buzzing angrily, and then promptly tore almost right fucking through the blond kid. A spray of red blood and gore erupted from the gaping wounds, sending a wet splash of crimson at those unfortunate to be closest to the kill. Brock found himself rooted to the spot for a moment as his eyes took in the fine, nitty gritty details of the kill. As kills went, it was clumsy. Brutal but clumsy. He supposed he should feel some pity for the blond kid, but he was dead before he hit the floor, and there was really no sense in feeling sorry for what was just a mangled hunk of still-warm flesh.

Fresh meat, the symbiote shivered despite itself. It yearned, pulling even though it knew they were both not starving.

The world suddenly turned from the threat with the chainsaw, from Cid and the others, to the pitiful, tempting, beautiful corpse just lying there, with the best parts still intact. Brock quivered, even though he knew that whatever Alex did meant that they didn't have to

[reduxvalentine]

As one laudably clapped and one dove desperately for the bloody corpse of its kill, it was almost too distracted to notice the sudden charge of two more.

Almost.

Shrieking in unfortunately unavoidable pain as metal struck it from all sides, many sensitive but a few devastatingly detrimental, it doubled over as suddenly the citrus sweet stench of deadly noxious fumes rose steadily from its body, permeating the thick air.

It paused in its wake of toxin, staggering as the bodies around it weakened and ceased their attacks. Its body was twitching, convulsing, wracked with pain and almost defeated even as the heavy poison settled through the hallway.

Vincent collapsed lifelessly to the floor, and everyone else only seconds after.

(end thread)