Night 59: Cafeteria

[chippforprez]

[ from here ]The cafeteria was no different then the Sun Room, with the feeling of predators already lurking in the shadows to get the jump on unsuspecting victims. It only took a moment for Chipp to locate a door as he veered to the right on instinct. It was a good choice, because he swore he heard the crunch of bone as something made impact on

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[vinesofregret]

The smile thinned a little as Carter inadvertantly pressed a little to hard on the injury at his side. Gods, they were both going to be a mess after this. Hopefully nothing here tracked by scent - he could smell the blood, even in human form.

"Aah - I don't know. I'm a healer, though unfortunately I can't use it on myself. And I can't say what the world here is like." The number of times that would have been handy...

[oneman_onekill]

[from here]"Phew!" Niikura slammed the doors to the cafeteria behind the three of them and paused, his back slumped against the cool metal, to catch his breath. "That was...well, close, but we made it, huh?" He smiled up at Mike and Shiina as he straightened up and rolled his shoulders for a bit to loosen them up: chases made him tense if it wasn't just his safety on the line. "Gettin' our exercise here, that's what we're doin

[hiddenbadass]

Mike was already looking at the men before Niikura had noticed them. He was panting lightly now. If the men hadn't of noticed them just by the noise, then they definitely noticed them by the flashlight that Mike now had; Mike had stowed the other bat in his shirt when Niikura had handed it over.

Niikura was either a mind-reader or they were of the same mind. Leaving two guys hobbling along like that didn't sit right with Mike, either. The least they could do was help. After all, they already had some weapons. There'd be another night to get more.

"Doesn't look like it," Mike commented, turning the flashlight onto the men but pointing the beam down far enough that it didn't catch them directly in the eyes. "Looks like they could use an assist."

[requitedfate]

Shiina had been quiet for most of the trip over. It took a lot out of her to keep her stomach from reacting to the smell of decay and death that had taken over the institute tonight. Carcasses of dead and dying monsters lay everywhere in the halls and this time no amount of hurrying could shield them from Shiina's eyes

[stlg13bomber]

The door slamming made Carter whirl and nearly drop Hakkai. His heart restarted again when he saw the flashlights. Monsters didn't carry flashlights.

"We're mostly okay, but my friend here got clawed up." Carter waved them over with his bloody crowbar. "Any of you got bandages? I think he can hang on until morning but I don't want him to bleed too much." He wasn't sure how infection got handled around here, but at the camps even a small untreated wound could turn deadly. And he had no idea where those monsters had been digging before they came in here.

[vinesofregret]

Hakkai immediately tensed, hearing motion in the room - but, thankfully, for once, it was not more monsters. He forced on a smile for the newcomers, though it was difficult to make it completely sincere. He'd suffered worse injuries, but the edge of pain was starting to get to him, without the adrenaline of battle to take the edge off.

"It's worse than it looks, really. We should make sure there's nothing else hiding in here first."

[oneman_onekill]

"Uh..." Niikura looked between the three of them before stuffing his flashlight underneath his arm and digging through his pants pockets for the remnant of the sleeve that he had torn earlier. Most of it was now on his arm, but at least he'd remembered to save what was left! "We can offer you part of asleeve. I kind of got on the wrong side of somethin' a little earlier, and that's pretty much what I used." With a small jerk, he produced a wad of fabric and shook it out.

"Nagasawa, can ya help me out here by tearin' this up? Hands are full, sorry. Mike-san, if ya could keep an eye out in the mean time..." He smiled at the injured man. "We'll take care of both at the same time; I think there's enough of us hangin' around here."

[hiddenbadass]

They were accepting the help. Good. Mike didn't like the idea of leaving fellow 'patients' in dire straits like that. Sure, they'd get bandaged up next morning, but that was only if nothing else went wrong. Being injured like that when the night wasn't through could get them killed. Especially since this night was turning out to be so much more dangerous than usual. It was like the entire place had gone nuts.

"I'll keep an eye out. And feel free to use my stuff, too. Still got one rolled up sleeve," Mike replied, eyes flickering around the place; he didn't like the exposure of his stump, but he figured they could just tie some of the cloth around the end if it came to that.

His comfort wasn't as important as keeping others alive. Never had been. Never would be.

"Name's Michelangelo, by the way," Mike took a moment to nod at the two new faces.

[requitedfate]

Clawed up. How awful. For it to produce that much blood the thing had to have been at least the size of a bobcat. Or else just have really, really sharp claws. She swallowed a lump in her throat, trying not the think about it.

"Sure!" It wasn't a problem helping out. It actually helped make her feel like she was accomplishing something, even if it was just tearing up fabric into strips. With the seams all ragged, it was pretty easy to tear without too much fumbling. She was just a bit distracted, however. Was the creature that had attacked that other man still running loose around here?

When Mike introduced himself Shiina felt it might be best to follow his example and inclined her head to the two men. "I'm Nagasawa Shiina."

[stlg13bomber]

Carter tried to lever Hakkai around in a way that would let them take a good look at the wounds. His face was stiff with concentration as he refused to let Hakkai drop, no matter how sore his arms were getting. He was no good at this medic stuff. Sure, he'd had his share of self-treated injuries but those were mostly burns and little nicks.

"Sergeant Andrew Carter." He gave an awkward bob of his head in return. With Hakkai leaning on him he wasn't able to get an arm free to shake her hand with. More Japanese folks, that should make his friend comfortable. "I don't know what attacked us, but I don't think it was venomous or anything."

[vinesofregret]

Now that they weren't actually walking, it was easier for Hakkai to take his own weight, shifting slightly to his uninjured leg. His injuries really weren't worth all this fussing over, and given something a little less messy than his own shirt, he could probably treat it himself. But being rude to the newcomers wouldn't solve anything, so he forced on a smile.

"Cho Hakkai. If you give me those strips, I can wrap it myself - I'm something of a healer."

Even as he put his hand out for the make-shift bandages, he saw something move in the edge of his vision, up above them. The adrenaline hadn't quite worn off from the last fight, and he was on edge, ready for a fight - he'd spent so many days like this while they were travelling that the mindset was easy to fall back into. He whipped a ball of qi at the thing before any of the others reacted. His aim was off, though, and the blast only seemed to disturb more of the things in one of the far corners of the room. The one he spotted first took a dive at him, and he got a better look at

[oneman_onekill]

Oh duh, his name. “-oh, right. I’m Niikura Shou-‘Niikura’, if ya don’t mind.” He gave a little wave before handing over the strips that they had made so far. “And that’s cool, don’t have too many healin’ types around-” But whatever he was about to say was suddenly cut off as Hakkai whipped around and fired off what totally looked like an energy ball, and Niikura’s brain short-circuited from the fanboy deluge

[hiddenbadass]

It had been a while since Mike had seen magic--especially magic of such magnitude--and he couldn't help but let his jaw drop a bit open. That was pretty impressive, if he did say so himself. Was this guy from Street Fighter?

Mike might've fanboyed if he had been Niikura's age, but he wasn't anymore. He watched the man more closely, noticing the changes to his body. Vines tattoos that moved, he grew elf ears, and suddenly almost had claws for his nails. That had allhappened when he did something with his head. Mike had only caught the end of the movement.

The tattoos then strangled one of the creatures, and Mike immediately went on edge. Hakkai could possibly take at least one of them out rather quickly, if not all three. Mike doubted he had a reason to do it, but the thought was still there.

Even with the caution, he still reached over to lightly smack Niikura upside the back of his head.

[requitedfate]

Shiina had thought they were finally getting a break from the madness of the institute but apparently the night was just getting started.

The one called Hakkai moved suddenly and threw(?) something up at the ceiling; a blast of light that spooked Shiina into jumping back. Her heart started pounding and she began to back up, but then she realized that he was actually aiming at something. Looking up, she had to suppress a scream behind a hand when she saw even more terror above them for the second time tonight. Couldn't a pair of teenagers and three beat-up older gentlemen get a break now and then?

Looking back down at Hakkai, Shiina really did scream at seeing the vines burst all over him and up the walls. That just was not normal! It was a natural reaction to scream, but she didn't feel any more courageous for admitting that to herself