Night 47: Courtyard

[number1smiley]

[from here]With a little push from her hands on the top of the wall, Teresa gained enough momentum in her vault from the greenhouse yard to be a good couple feet away from the wall. Landing in a three-point stance, the large metal weapon barely clearing the ground, Teresa too a quick look around. She didn't see anything, didn't sense anything,

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[damned_monsters]

The light still flitted about within the tree's branches, apparently unaware of the person speaking to it, then after a moment drifted farther into the courtyard to play in another tree. And then, abruptly, it vanished -- completely and utterly gone, leaving the man alone in the dark courtyard.

[usoppsenchou]

This was not the night Usopp had expected. Actually, when he thought about it, he wasn't sure what he'd expected, but this wasn't it, he was sure of that.

Keep the patients safe and inside. Keep them from wandering off. Try not to hurt them too much, they're sick and all. It wasn't complicated, there were no scary monsters or dinosaurs or assassins, and he was even in a good position, for once. Usually Usopp found himself in a struggle by surprise, and wound up having to try to scramble to make up for it. With luck, there wouldn't even have to be any of the usual screaming and running and hitting with heavy objects here.

First some woman did a jump out of nowhere over the wall, landing and running out of range around a corner before he could stop gawking and fire. He'd thought about following her, but it was important he stayed here. So Usopp'd waited patiently, and then someone else came along... led by a weird, shiny light that vanished, leaving the poor crazy guy standing talking to nothing. Was crazy here catching? Was

[oneman_onekill]

[from here]

Niikura was the first to drop down into the courtyard, and he immediately had his flashlight out and sweeping the area, searching for any sign of movement. Flowers, trees, a bench or too...nothing that seemed too dangerous. There were two other patients in the courtyard as well, but they seemed to be having a chat rather than scrambling for the pond or the shed near the pond. That was good; maybe they hadn't heard the woman over the radio.

He glanced back toward Morgan. "Looks good; all clear so far."

[swornandbroken]

Getting up the wall was perfectly easy, even with the pipe, which Mello set on top of it as soon as he could reach that high, and picked up again for the jump down. "Perfect," he said, grinning again as he straightened from the crouch he'd landed in. "Let's see what the big fucking deal is."

If there were anything worth finding, there'd better be two. Niikura had managed to mostly counteract Mello's first impression of him as clueless and clumsy, but any spoils to be found were, obviously, morally Mello's.

There was, however, a more immediate problem, he saw when he got closer to the shed, in the form of the fruit loop with the slingshot between them and it.

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura could feel the thrill of excitement now; he had no idea what would be in that shed, no idea what was even considered desirable in this place (besides a gun and an elevator to the head doc's office), but like any person engaged in a hunt was eager to see what lay at the end of this short trek.

As they drew closer to the shed, though, Niikura realized that his initial impression of a conversation was completely off. A quick swipe of the flashlight confirmed that one of the men was armed with not only a sword in the form of his nose but also a slingshot - which was a low-level weapon at best, but the way this man was handling it suggested that he had mastered its finer points.

The question was, would this tengu let them pass in favor of his current target, or was he going to multi-task? As vicious as he could get, Niikura didn't enjoy fights against people he had no beef with. But if he had to..."Ah, boy, this is going to get a little messy, ain't it?" Hey. No reward without a little risk, right?

[usoppsenchou]

[from up here]

"Hey! Don't think you can sneak around the legendary pirate Usopp, I see you!" Usopp shouted, jogging further past the shed he'd used at first for cover, no longer pretending to hide for sniping. That never worked. It always came down to chasing, screaming, and blunt objects, not to mention way too much bleeding. He reached over his back with one arm anyway, pulling around the body-length green slingshot Kabuto, his left hand rummaging in his bag to put away the smaller-ranged pachinko shooter and get out something more helpful.

[deadlyjuliet]

[from here - he tossed his chainsaw over, wrapped in his jacket beforehand]

Worst. Plan. Ever.

Grell climbed to the top of the wall only to find that there were three patients facing off against each other and another fleeing somewhere else. If their conversations were any indication, then the boy with the strange nose was one of those people who'd been made the Institute's lackey for the night. Grell sighed and seated himself on the wall, crossing one leg over the other as he thought out his potential plan and tried to ward off the headache he was developing.

He needed to get to the shed and this boy was in the way. If Grell killed him, there were too many witnesses. Unless...he killed them, too, but then wouldn't that be a nasty mess to explain later? Not that he wouldn't mind killing them all, but he didn't want to do more work than he had to when there was no potential gain. Without the Records to view, it nearly destroyed his desire to randomly end someone's life. The blood was an incentive, but not nearly as

[deadlyjuliet]

And the worst plan ever just kept getting worse. Whoever that boy was, he had his powers back and now he was throwing explosives around like candy to pauper children. Who in their right mind just did that?!

When the stranger screamed out some weird phrase and released his shot, Grell pulled the chainsaw out of the jacket so he could use the clothing as a sort of shield. He was not getting dirt in his hair if he could help it, and huddled as he was near the courtyard wall, he was a fair enough distance from the actual field of battle. Fair, but not far enough apparently, because bits and pieces of dirt and the shock from the explosions hit him, sending him jostling his shoulder into the wall. "I swear, if he does that again, I'm taking his head," he grumbled to himself, lowering the jacket just enough to see what was going on.

"Oh he--" The blond was running for the shed, leaving his partner behind. And while Grell commended his ability to survive like that, he didn't want him to run toward the shed. That was where he was

[deadlyjuliet]

Good, the stupid man was going back the way he came. Best to leave the cannon fodder to be just that since he had better things to do than cover them. He could hear explosions and a scream of a bird behind him as he hit the shed, his shoulder ramming uncomfortably into the door. Unable to keep his frustration down, Grell shrieked and began pushing harder against the door. "Why are you locked?!"

It made sense these places would be locked, but still! So inconvenient! Grell kicked at the door a few times, but for fear of breaking his heels, he gave that up and began hitting the handle of his chainsaw against the lock. With each crash, he could see the lock giving way and as the sound of the fight got worse behind him, Grell threw all his weight against the door one final time. It was times like these that he was glad that he still had even a small percentage of his power left over, making him somewhat stronger than the average person. The door gave way and Grell stumbled, falling into the dark.

[to here with permission]

[unmocked_lawr]

[from here]

From Javert's position on top of the wall, it looked as if more than one group of patients had decided the shed in the courtyard would be their best bet. It didn't surprise him. Nor did the sight of a fight breaking out. It stood to reason any site mentioned on the radio would be well-guarded.

He glanced at Threepwood to see how he was faring with the wall. It was true the pirate had at least twenty years' worth of fewer aches and pains, if his appearance was any indication, but Javert had one hand more. "Need help?"

[sheepwood]

"No, I've got it," Guybrush said, eyeing the wall with an intimidating glare. He put his hand on the edge of the wall, finding a small crevice for his hook- he uttered something impolite regarding his hook and how it was useless in its dulled state- and took a small jump, hoisting himself to the top after scraping his feet along the side bricks.

From his new position, he got his first look at the Courtyard. "Looks like we're late to the party," he noted, surveying the area. "They look busy and probably don't want to be disturbed, so I say we sneak past them and grab the treasure before they notice we exist."

[unmocked_lawr]

The corner of Javert's mouth quirked upward slightly. So this was what he had come to, sneaking around fights with a pirate in order to beat other patients to some unknown treasure.

"We are called Search and Rescue for a reason, Threepwood," he said, watching the fight. An explosion lit up the courtyard briefly, giving him a chance to look toward where he remembered the shed to be. Just beside the wall; not a far run ordinarily, but there was clearly a Special Counseling patient present. That complicated things.

He slid off the wall, landing with a soft thud and dusting off his greatcoat. "We'll stay close to the pond," he said. "If we're attacked, or if the other group appears to be running into difficulties, I will engage the patient. You will keep running. You're faster than I am; you ought to reach that shed sooner. The door is almost certainly locked and will need to be broken down--if it is not, someone was there first, in which case you will tell me and we will return over the wall."

[sheepwood]

Guybrush nearly fell off the wall as it rumbled from the nearby explosion (what were they using out there, cannons?), but he managed to stay on the structure, his grip with his legs and good hand tight as possible. He took one more look around the grounds, looking for the key points Javert mentioned. Fine, if they were the Search & Rescue Club, then searching and rescuing it would be. If treasure happened to be there during the mission, it could be searched and rescued, too.

He hopped off the fence and landed next to Javert, watching the fight until he mentioned how he'd be the one attacking the wild patient. Guybrush looked the older man up and down, skeptical. "You sure that's a good idea?" he asked in his very best attempt at tact. "That guy looks pretty spry and explosion-prone, and you're kind of... experienced."

[ninelivesonce]

[just poking her head over the wall from here]

The only way she was going to be able to see what was going on was to stick her neck out and see what shot at her.

Taura levered herself head-and-shoulders up over the wall.

Scorch marks on ground and clothing -- someone down there had some real weaponry. A flamethrower, or similar. But where was it -- and which of the men had it.

Light blazed. Taura shut her eyes as quickly as she could, but the damage was done. When she opened them, a halo of green ringed the men, who hadn't yet moved. Whatever kind of energy weapon it was didn't matter; she needed to report back. She flexed her forearms, and then let herself drop back to the ground.

[and dropping back the way she came]