Nightshift 41: Outside the Institute - North

[windstwilight]

[from here]The wall came up quicker than she'd expected, and Senna was glad for that. She found the footholds quickly, and then paused on the top, willing to help any of the others if they needed help. She leaned a hand down loosely for anyone to take if they wanted, bracing her feet on the top. "Everybody cool

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[madeinthehrl]

Soma's attention was still drawn to the car. It had been too dark to see the driver, but she was certain he or she could have been taken down eventually. And then they would have had a car, and wouldn't that have been so much more useful? The logistics of where exactly to keep it after tonight were a bit fuzzy, but she was sure so much more time could have been saved if they'd stopped back then. They might even have been able to escape.

But Senna hadn't stopped, and Soma had never been one for questioning orders. Shifting the spear to a more comfortable position under one arm, she hoisted herself up, reaching the top of the wall with ease. She crouched beside Senna, watching their surroundings quietly.

[akarusa]

"It gets weirder than that?" Hokuto muttered under her breath as she hauled herself up. A talking car wasn't too far-fetched, but she'd still never expected to see one here.

Once she'd joined Senna and the others on top of the wall, she asked, "Weird how? I've seen decontamination stations before, so they're not super-futuristic or anything."

[sheisthecause]

Meche was still getting over the sight (and sound!) of the car in the middle of the rec field when they reached the wall. "I'm not the only one who heard that, right?" she asked, just to make sure she wasn't really going crazy. Kinda tough to tell these days.

She was the last one to start scaling the wall, but the pumps got surprisingly good traction on the uneven surface, and she made it to the top with a minimum of trouble. Not bad for an old lady, Meche reflected wryly--and not without satisfaction.

"I was wondering about this before you got here, Senna, but why is A&C interested in these ruins?" she asked now that they were talking about the town. "Weird or not, they don't sound like they'd have too much to do with getting out of here."

[windstwilight]

"No, you're not the only one," she replied, dropping down to land in a crouch. Senna rose, rotating a shoulder. "Talking car, check. Probably special conseling." Senna made a face suddenly, scratching the back of her head. "Maybe. I don't know what kind of place has fricking talking cars." Some messed up TV-wonderland obviously. Man

[scintillatingly]

[From here.]

Landing was still painful, but it wasn't quite as bad as it had been when Sora had done it with an injured leg. He was beat up, but it would all have been much worse if he was hurting every time he took a step. He was still grateful to Hanatarou for healing him that particular wound for him.

Sora got to his feet slowly. Finding his flashlight was easy since he'd left it on so he didn't have to go groping through the dark for it. He used it to find the extension cord, and once all of that was gathered he was more or less ready to go.

The area seemed empty, but that didn't mean that others hadn't passed through or that monsters weren't around. Sora kept an eye out while he waited for Allen.

[broken_exorcist]

Allen didn't wait long before dropping down near Sora. At least his legs were fine after the fight, so he managed to land without a lot of trouble. He still had his cord wound around his waist and didn't have much need for a torch, so he dusted himself off and was ready to go.

Now that they'd run the route a couple times, Allen was pretty sure he knew the way.

"We should hurry," Allen said, despite his body's protest.

[scintillatingly]

Sora didn't plan on delaying any more than they needed to, and so the moment he knew that Allen was ready, he nodded to the other boy and directed his flashlight at the ground in front of him so that he could start navigating over the rocky terrain. The lack of any light other than the one he was carrying meant that it was hard to judge the definition of the ground and actually know when there was a bump or a rise or a dip. What it resulted in was having to go much slower than he would have liked, but Sora knew that he would be even less happy if he tripped and jarred his wounds

[broken_exorcist]

Allen stayed about level with Sora's pace. Dashing around at night was one of his specialties; exorcists did most of their work at night and the Akuma weren't about to wait around until they could see in proper lighting before trying to kill them all.

When Sora asked him about last night, Allen wasn't sure he wanted to talk about it, but there was no reason for him to keep it from Sora either. It was just kind of embarrassing to admit how badly he'd messed up.

"I ran into someone from my world. We're... well... the simplest word would be enemies," he sighed. "I know he won't hurt anyone during the day, but it just seems like... if he started targeting other patients and I wasn't there to stop him, I'd feel responsible, you know?"

Did that even make sense? He understood the reasoning perfectly; his world, his enemies, his responsibility, right? That shouldn't change no matter where he was or what was going on around him. "So I followed him, just to see what he was up to, but... he spotted me and we kind of... got into a

[thereforeitis]

[from here.]

The landing was a little less than graceful, but Kino managed to do it without it hurting much. She didn't take the time to regard it, though, since there was someone else far worse off than she was who would most likely need some help on the way down.

Standing straight up on her feet again, Kino turned to face the wall again, waiting for the person she was now accompanying to do just that.

[hajike_tobiume]

Momo had pushed as much as she could with the leg that didn't feel numb to help propel herself over the wall and toward the ground on the other side away from the metal man. She went to grab the edge of the wall as she slid across it, but her fingers failed to find purchase. She threw her other hand up and managed to get a hold of a vine to slow her descent a little

"Aaah!"

The vine snapped, sending Momo ungracefully toward the ground. Landing was going to hurt.

[thereforeitis]

At least Kino was somewhat prepared for this; she wasn't expecting this to go completely smoothly.

She wasn't very big or immensely strong herself, but Kino rushed forward to try to catch her, and if not that be something to lessen the impact of the fall. If anything, it was better than hitting the harder ground.

[hajike_tobiume]

Thankfully, Momo was a tiny woman - a tiny, malnourished woman.

The shinigami hit the girl down on the ground, half caught by her and the other half hitting the ground with an 'oof'. It didn't hurt as much as she'd expected, the worst of it coming from her own sword's hilt partially smacking her in the back of her head when the end of the sheath hit the ground.

"Thanks," she said, righting herself into a more sitting position and wiping the torn part of her sleeve across her face in an attempt to get the blood off her face. "He won't pursue us."

Damn, her nose was still bleeding. Momo pinched her nose shut and closed her eyes as she waited for the dizziness to pass. She hated spiritual backlash. Hated it.

[itstaichoutoyou]

[ From here]

The ground rushed up to meet him, but there was nothing he could do. The shock from Lockdown's attack left him slightly paralyzed. His muscles just wouldn't react. In the end, Hitsugaya hit the ground, hard. The darkness welcomed him as he passed out.

[notmyfather]

Valyn clamored over the wall on Keman's tail - no pun intended - and slid awkwardly down to the other side. His heavy jacket protected him from most of the uncomfortable grating of the stone.

He had to sit and catch his breath, one hand over his midsection and the other splayed out behind him. It had been a while since he'd exerted himself quite so much.

"Ancestors!" he exclaimed, fear still holding him. "I can't believe we made it!"

[notmyfather]

"I don't know." Valyn sighed and leaned back against the wall, still needing a moment before he could stand. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so terrified of something so immediate. If Keman hadn't grabbed him, he fancied he'd still be standing there in shocked terror.

"Keman..." he managed, hauling himself up and grabbing the dragon's wrist. He knew Keman was hurt, and he'd see to that in a moment, but...

"Keman, I...that is I just wanted to say..." The words were there. Right there, and he knew he could get them out if he tried. It was just so damn hard! His face was a tightened mask of frustration and desperation as he struggled with his conditioning, gripping Keman's wrist tightly.