Nightshift 43: Cafeteria

[ran_on_empty]

[From here.]In Sync's eyes there was no such thing as falling 'gracefully', especially when it was face first onto the floor after a rather sloppy escape. The teen had fallen several feet from the door, having used a burst of strength to at least pull himself as far away from the last room as possible

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[dahliahasthorns]

Something was on her face. Something was on her face. First thought was "eww," second was to let out an undignified shriek as her face was plastered in goop, the third was to actually scream the moment that goo stopped being just mildly annoying and something began dragging her along, the rushed, panicked sound of commotion around her being the only hint of what the hell was going on before she lost her own footing and was literally pulled off her feet and yanked forward.

What was this. WHAT WAS THIS.

Unfortunately for Sync, he had more to contend to than just the webbing in his hair. When his head slammed into the door, guess what was the first thing her face hit? And when the graceful little idiot fell forward, just guess who went down with him!

AAAAAAAAAAARGH.

THIS. WAS. EMBARASSING. Dahlia? Dahlia would KILL that. little. PUNK. She was going to get up and KILL. HIM. She didn't care if she had to use her face and the noddle attached to it like a whip, she was going to END. HIM.In the meanwhile? Her nails did good on clawing

[gald_digger]

When the costumed weirdo suddenly shot something in their direction, Anise let out a startled yelp and broke into a run. Whatever it was, it hit Sync and Dahlia, and...

...and then Sync ran both of their heads right into the door in the most ungraceful display she had ever seen from the God-General. Anise had to pause a moment to wince, but remembering they were still being pursued, she quickly followed the pair into the Cafeteria. Once they were inside, she whirled around to close the door, only to see their attacker do it for them. A second after the door shut, the girl sighed with relief. At least he wasn't following them.

"Um, are you two..." Anise turned to look at the fallen pair. When she did, and she began to realize just what the problem was, her voice grew shaky as she tried to stifle her laughter. "...a-all right?"

For all the terrible things she'd been through that night, seeing Sync in that state almost made up for it.

[ran_on_empty]

Maybe it was because of the headache he was nursing, but Sync could only smile wickedly at the sudden pain that shot up his neck. He refrained from chuckling at Dahia's words, though the temptation was certainly there. Was that a threat?

"Do you want to die that badly...?" His voice was low, just loud enough for the redhead to hear. It was obvious that he didn't really care what Dahlia thought of him, though he guessed all women acted like their words actually mean something

[dahliahasthorns]

Did she? Did she?!

"Y-yes! We're okay!" But Sync wouldn't be. If he didn't shut his mouth, they'd be seeing if rage was enough to unlock the Kurain Channeling Technique and just how long she could bring down Mike Tyson. Pathetic brat! The second he had to do more than bash brains in, he failed miserably! How could a woman ever depend on someone who couldn't protect her or help her dodge out of the way?

It was a good thing Sync's head was in the way of her face, because she had a feeling Annie might have been put off by the redhead's scowling.

Her pale arms went to wrap themselves around Sy's shoulders and she put her weight on his back like this was the piggy-back ride from hell. Until this goop dissolved, she couldn't do much of anything but let this moron take the lead for her, so why not make that task easier for the both of them? UGH, this was embarrassing. Fine. Whatever. But if he dropped her again...

"Can we go now...?"

[falseblack]

[From here.]

The sprint had somehow widened the rips along his right chest, forcing the child to collapse a few steps from the threshold in pain. He pulled an arm closer to his torso, eyes blinking to stave off tears. A simple bite shouldn't have to be this painful. Or reeking of iron. His fault for not stopping the bleeding earlier.

[udo_retrovirus]

He'd seen things being thrown across the room as they bolted through. Dark as it was, their silhouettes were easy to make out, and with his brothers ahead of him, it gave the redhead the peace of mind that he could at least make sure nothing big was headed their way.

But once they were through and Nigredo collapsed, worry started to set in. Nothing was going right tonight, and he hadn't even seen anything headed their way. What if it was something smaller, something more dangerous, and it had hit the youngest? Then again, he'd smelled blood earlier, when he'd been fighting with Albedo, and now this. That was probably an even more worrisome scenario.

"What happened!?" the redhead cried out as he crouched beside his brother.

[purpletaint]

Another time, and the stunt Nigredo pulled would not have went over well. Even now, Albedo almost frowned, keeping pace regardless. Move? And these constant contacts? Even one so accustomed to needing touch, this amount from this brother in particular was suspicious. That scent, thick and familiar, seemed stronger, but Albedo thought to file it away. There was no need for that now. This room was empty, and he could question

[falseblack]

Honestly? The blood was the least of the variant's worries. The eating sensation at the base of his neck, however, was becoming unbearable. Either the drugs had finally worn off, or he had incurred more damage in the past hour than the initial bite. He stared ahead when Rubedo got down beside him, trying his best to focus ahead.

"Nothing," he replied flatly. "I just pulled something." Skin, tendons, maybe some blood vessels. Regardless of the actual damage, it was becoming increasingly disadvantageous to use his dominant arm. He made a mental note not to.

Nigredo was about to prove the extent of this "nothing" by rising to his feet when Albedo spoke. Or more appropriately, ordered. He glanced back at him with a blank eye, before reaching down and pulled up his shirt on one side, to where the zombie had left its mark. The area was wrapped and bandaged as expected, but now a darken spot was slowly spreading over the dull white.

He watched with indifference. "Get me a piece of cloth, and I'll take care of it."

[quickdrawbkiddo]

[from here]

The Bride's eyes noted the apparent emptiness of the cafeteria as she entered it. The last time she'd been in here on a basement run, that bitch had been positioned here. Hopping up onto a table, Beatrix took in the whole room from her higher vantage point.

It was still empty. Good.

[icy_demise]

Well, it looked like Venom couldn't even sneak appropriately. SubZero didn't comment on that, though. He was tempted to make a comment about snakes, but that just felt like it would be asking for trouble on multiple fronts. He couldn't help but smirk slightly as he recalled the battle against Ophelia.

That had been a good fight, even if it had been mostly a waste of time. At least he'd gotten a good weapon out of it. There was something to be said for not having to use up his ice if he didn't want to go unarmed into a fight, even if it was annoying to have to carry the thing around the whole time.

[poolcuemurder]

That was completely unnecessary on all accounts. 1) he preferred to not have paintings thrown at his head. 2) he could protect himself and would have been just fine dodging out of the way like a sane person. In fact, he had just done that before Arlene was needlessly flashy (impressive, but still needless) and jumped in to take care of the problem like he was a child and couldn't do it himself. He was perfectly capable of handling the situation and if they were making an attempt to see what use he was, they could have left it to him instead of acting as though he needed someone to hold his hand. He had had enough of that with Millia and, frankly, having them doing the same thing was not going to win him over

[quickdrawbkiddo]

Beatrix would have been lying if she claimed she hadn't been catching glimpses of both Bill and O-Ren out of the corner of her eyes since they entered the cafeteria. The difference was, she knew those two were dead having killed them herself. Out of all the murders she'd committed, those were the only two that ever revisited her mind - one her lover and BB's father and the other her best friend. Still, they were dead and she wasn't about to go chasing after ghosts

[poolcuemurder]

Again he was tempted to leave the two men on their own, even turning his head as they started to leave (he had seen more than his fair share of violence, but seeing how red the man's flesh was turning still made his stomach knot in disgust), but something Arlene had said earlier came to mind the instant they touched the metal doors. She had mentioned why she needed his assistance this night, didn't she? That even though they had the keys, they needed a larger party than what they had in order to open the door. If he let the two enter the Cafeteria alone, there was a high probability that, being the assassins they were and in the condition the two were in, Arlene and SubZero would have no qualms making hostages out of the situation. It would have been no better than if he neglected to tell them about the Sun Room

[sanguinario]

Though Edward was surprised to see their newest acquaintance follow after them, for the moment he had no complaint (though it helped that he wasn't thinking of potentially causing them harm). Normally, the addition of one more human by his side wouldn't make much of a difference, but the pulsing pain in his side reminded him that things had changed. Drastically.

Yet it was still strange to feel ill-at-ease because of a message on the building's intercom, strange and fragmented as it was. Aside from his burns, the room seemed to grow frigid, the skin of his neck crawling. Human responses to fear were blossoming in a body that hadn't felt it in nearly a century. Everything but the heartbeat.

The wide breadth of darkness in the cafeteria made it seem easy to imagine further hallucinations... but, as he looked harder, these weren't the same as before. Not walls and pipes, but shadows, all human-shaped, light wisps of hair and trailing gowns and hushed echoes of laughter.

Then, the voices. But not just one set - many.

"Don't worry," a

[chainsaw_royal]

[Time-warping in from here to the present!]

Hime slowed and stood up from the crouch she'd been running in once they entered the cafeteria. There were a few other people, and no signs of combat. a safe zone? Those thoughts were put aside for the moment when the intercom finished counting, screams and a new voice taking the forefront.

Martin? Hadn't that been Landel's first name? Some kind of enemy of his had taken over I.R.I.S.? It didn't make much sense to the Royal, and neither did the chill that ran up her spine. Nothing sent chills up her spine, yet for some reason she felt on edge.

"Let's keep going," she said, just barely keeping her voice the same aloof tone she'd had all night. There was no point in showing weakness, not when they were still in dangerous territory and Hime had no reason to suspect it was anything more than just a feeling. Hopefully it wasn't a symptom of something worse to come...

[16hitmagnum]

"The kitchen's just a few doors away!" Kagura said. "And then the pantry's really near-by, just in case you wanted to get a snack." Her not-so-subtle suggestion made it clear what was on her mind. Food and lots of it.

As for the Martin and I.R.I.S. switch, she paid no attention to it. People tended to say a lot of stupid things over the hospital's radio. She'd given up on it having any interesting songs and contests like a normal radio station does.

[chainsaw_royal]

"Knives first, then food," Hime consented. Considering the hospital had fed them a passable steak and fries dinner, she couldn't imagine that they were really for want of food around here, so it didn't seem like raided food would be some kind of special commodity. The girl was probably just hungry. However, after having accompanied her this far, she wasn't about to begrudge her servant traveling companion some small compensation for her services, even if they'd yet to encounter something worth kicking.

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