阿散井恋次 ([info]stray_shinigami) wrote in [info]damned,
@ 2008-04-25 22:50:00
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Entry tags:artemis, farfarello, leon kennedy, mark, max, rangiku, renji, thursday, tk-622

Nightshift 31: Walk-in Refrigerator
[from here]

Renji let the ladies through ahead of him, then shut the door. He wasn't going to hold it shut or anything, but he didn't want it open in case something was following them. He'd become remarkably paranoid in a short time.

"Okay," he said. "I think... there's a tile or something, back there. Artemis was the one that found it last night." He pointed in the general area he was talking about. This time, he would actually pay attention to how the hell they got through to the basement.


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[info]transgenix
2008-04-26 05:02 am UTC (link)
Max brought up the rear, making sure Thursday was in an safe before she turned her attention to what was to be done. Her lips quirking at Renji's doubting words about how they got downstairs, she moved on ahead of the other two, not needing much light to search for anything out of the ordinary.

"Thank you, fearless leader," she teased the redhead as she passed him and moved deeper into the refrigerator. It was cold and her breath puffed visibly in front of her face as she brushed her hands brusquely over her arms.

Dark gaze scanning the tiles, she spotted one that looked different than the others, a little darker, a bit more worn. Finding that odd, she bent to inspect it curiously.

"Bingo," she spoke up, reaching down and fidgeting with it. "This one seems loose, if I can get it pried up..."

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[info]jurisfictional
2008-04-26 02:43 pm UTC (link)
Thursday crouched down beside the tile, running her hands along its edge.

"The man to whom I spoke mentioned stairs in the kitchen," she said as she got her fingers underneath the tile. "They're probably under here."

She shivered slightly in the cold of the refrigerator. Weird place for the entrance to some fabulous underground coliseum, that was for sure.

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[info]stray_shinigami
2008-04-27 06:05 am UTC (link)
Renji considered the problem of the tile for a moment. He hadn't watched Artemis deal with it before, which he regretted. They needed something to pry it up. It probably wouldn't be so bad if he could just get his fingers under it.

After a moment of thought, he took one of the pens out of his hair and jammed it point first under the tile, wiggling it around. It actually worked; it raised the tile enough that he could get his fingers under it and pull it away. He dragged the tile a little ways across the floor - it was heavy - and dropped it there. From the sound it made, it might have broken, or the one beneath it might have, but he didn't care all that much.

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[info]transgenix
2008-04-29 06:06 pm UTC (link)
[I am so sorry for the wait guys ;_;]

Max peered down into the space that had been exposed and the narrow staircase leading down into the darkness. Pausing to make sure she could hear nothing below, she then glanced up to look between Renji and Thursday, giving them a crooked smile.

"Well, here goes nothing," she remarked, before wriggling down through the open space and descending into the darkness below.

[Going here.]

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[info]fuyunohanabi
2008-04-29 02:16 am UTC (link)
[From here]


It was with some relief that Rangiku stepped into the cold air of the fridge, although her hand tightened on the hilt of her katana as she looked around. She couldn't forget the last time she'd been here, seeing that huge creature. It was a shame that Tatsumi seemed to have vanished. He'd been a good man to work with.

Content that they weren't about to be attacked immediately, she stepped aside to let the two men enter and went over to where the tile had already been shifted.

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[info]small_fortune
2008-04-29 07:47 pm UTC (link)
He looked over at the hole in the floor, a rather unassuming entrance for the spot that had been the talk of the Institute for so long. Then again, 'so long' was relative, wasn't it?

Then he looked between the other two, waiting. However they were getting down, Mark had no intention of being the first in.

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[info]officer_leon
2008-04-29 10:47 pm UTC (link)
Leon shivered as they walked into the fridge, his breath misting slightly in the cold air. It reminded him rather eerily of the cold storage facility in Spain, where they'd stored all those regenerators... He shivered again. Hopefully they wouldn't run into anything even remotely like that here.

Shaking his head to clear it, he looked at the hole in the tile floor. "That the entrance?" he asked with a frown. "Looks like someone else has beaten us down there." Which might be good, if they were friendly. Otherwise... he didn't much relish the idea of fighting other patients, especially if they were well-armed.

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[info]fuyunohanabi
2008-04-30 03:41 am UTC (link)
Rangiku rubbed her arms absently, feeling the goosebumps rise on her skin. At least they didn't have to spend any great amount of time in here. She approached the hole warily, worried that something might jump out.

"Well, at least they'll probably be the first to encounter any monsters." She hoped. She didn't relish the thought of encountering anything on the stairs. "I'll go first. Be careful on the steps. It's a long way to fall," she added with a wry smile. "I speak from experience." She took a first step down into the darkness, feeling for it with her foot.

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[info]small_fortune
2008-04-30 03:53 pm UTC (link)
The center, either the most dangerous or the safest place to be depending on one's companions. Mark decided for now that it was the safest, based more on the fact that he had few better choices than on any concrete facts. The chaos they'd passed on the way in safely left behind, for now, it was time to go find new and even more exciting forms of danger.

A ballroom, isn't it?

[Into here]

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[info]broken_exorcist
2008-05-06 06:38 am UTC (link)
[[from here]]

Allen was rather pleased with their progress. So far they hadn't even run across any monsters. Well, not real ones anyway. The child in the Sun Room hadn't done much to hinder them.

He rubbed his arms, chilled by the change in temperature. "There," he said quietly, noticing his breath on the air. He pointed to the far corner where a large tile had already been moved. It reminded him a little of Crowley's castle. That place had so many strange secret passages and winding staircases, it was a wonder Aleistar had been able to keep track of where he was going at all!

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[info]boot_i_licious
2008-05-07 03:34 am UTC (link)
Rinali spotted the open trap door almost as Allen pointed it out, and rushed quickly to the opening. She shined her light down, scanning for any monsters, yet she couldn't help but think back to that boy. No matter what Leon had said, he still looked so young and innocent. It was difficult to think of that as a monster.

"All clear," Rinali called to Allen and Leon. There were no sounds of fighting, either. If not for where they were, Rinali would almost have called the atmosphere in the room 'peaceful.'

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[info]for_marian
2008-05-09 09:39 pm UTC (link)
[OOC: I know, epic fail from me this nightshift. ;_;]

Though he had known in theory that they were going under ground, the cold air in this place and the trap door down into darkness caused Leon a moment of pure terror. He hid it as well as he could and fought to compose himself.

As long as there was no water down there, he would be okay. Probably. It didn't smell damp, at least, which allowed Leon to start breathing again and calm down at least a bit. He was not going to die that way again, not alone, cold, under ground and under rushing water... and as long as he kept reminding himself that the past was done and this was different, he'd be fine.

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[info]broken_exorcist
2008-05-10 07:17 am UTC (link)
[[Is ok! Hope you're feeling better!]]

Allen hardly noticed any hesitation, only looked encouragingly to both of his companions before he began his descent. It was almost exciting. He was really just relieved, it felt like he was actually helping with something useful this evening.

[[to here]]

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[info]secret_orchard
2008-05-07 10:15 pm UTC (link)
[from here]

There was someone else in there. Armand gave them room, knowing that the trap door to the basement would still be there when they'd passed by. He only hoped they wouldn't run out of time.

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[info]reanalyze
2008-05-09 12:16 am UTC (link)
"There we are," Citan said, softly, as he followed Armand into the refrigerator. "Let's not dally. We're nearly there." And who knew what was down there tonight?

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[info]loyal_soldier
2008-05-09 01:48 am UTC (link)
The trapdoor had already been opened... well, at least it meant that if there were any hostiles down there, it was likely that they'd be occupied with whomever had gone down already. It probably wasn't morally right to look at people as meat shields, but morals were never really his strong point. Just laws, and his training.

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[info]secret_orchard
2008-05-09 01:58 am UTC (link)
Well, at least it was obvious where to go. This room was cold, though he didn't feel it much while wearing his jacket. Mindful that he'd lost his own light through carelessness, Armand carefully kept hold of Citan's light as he descended through the trap door.

[gone here]

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[info]blazing_general
2008-05-10 05:33 am UTC (link)
[[From the Kitchen.]]

Signum was in a hurry now, and was pleased to find that the room contained only wall shelving and not the more haphazard sort of arrangement that could have hidden an ambushing enemy. Sparing only a quick look around for anything obviously useful, she headed for the corner and the open trapdoor.

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[info]offduty
2008-05-10 05:03 pm UTC (link)
Reno followed Signum down the trapdoor without hesitation, not too eager to stick around too long in case anything else interrupted them.

Though, seriously. Trapdoors. Couldn't there have been something more original?

[here]

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[info]k4t4str0ph4l
2008-05-11 12:53 am UTC (link)
[Coming from here.]

Finally. Schuldig had begun to wonder if he'd ever get Crawford this far; the man had a tendency to show up too late in the night for them to even make it here.

"There," he said with a slight nod at the discolored tile. "Pry it up."

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[info]never_learns
2008-05-11 01:05 am UTC (link)
He'd wanted to jump in and protect Artemis, even if the kid annoyed him. There was something about that priest guy which just screamed psychopath, so he was surprised they'd just been waved through. But the more pragmatic part of Yohji was firmly telling him that Artemis was with Farfarello and the assassin's attention was on the enemy. It was probably a safe place for him to be.

He moved over to the floor tile and slid the edge of his knife into the gap between it and the next tile, prising it up a little, enough for someone to get their fingers beneath.

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[info]jei
2008-05-11 09:51 am UTC (link)
[from here]

As carefully as possible, Farfarello got Artemis settled on the floor of the freezer. "Keep talking, I can't do anything about shock." All he could do was keep Artemis awake enough to fight it off a little. Grabbing a bag of frozen peas, Farfarello handed them over. "Use your good arm to hold that against the burn, you'll be a better judge of the right pressure than I am. I'm not touching the arm, morning's too close to be worth the risk of you passing out while I set it."

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[info]byname_bynature
2008-05-11 10:00 am UTC (link)
Artemis looked paler than usual, which was quite the feat, considering how pale he was already. Moreover, he looked as though he was going to be sick. He tried not to think about his arm dangling, useless, at his side. His left arm, no less. Damn it, Renji and Hitsugaya would know. Not only did he have a burn on his neck, he had a rather obvious broken arm now.

He took the bag and held it rather awkwardly against his neck. "I feel as though I'm going to pass out. He'd better not touch him...!" His mind was obviously thrown for a loop as well. His sentences were formed haphazardly.

Artemis looked up at Farfarello, marveling at how even in a freezer, he was still in a cold sweat from the pain. His breaths were coming short and sharp, and he prayed that he wasn't tempting Farfarello--but he couldn't help it.

"Wh-why, why did you apologize?"

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[info]jei
2008-05-11 10:09 am UTC (link)
"Judging by what that asshole said, I'd lay odds your friend can take care of himself. I can always have Schuldig confirm it." Not that Artemis' peace of mind was typically a major concern for Farfarello or Schwarz, but right now Farfarello was mostly interested in keeping Artemis conscious and not in a panic.

And while the presence of so much pain was certainly purring away in the back of Farfarello's mind, this night had managed to see Artemis through the jump from 'potentially interesting toy' to 'potential protege', and it was enough to make his pain much less of a temptation for Farfarello. If the situation was less urgent, though, it might still be a problem. "You did well tonight. It's a good lesson, that the wolf who has you in his jaws also has you within reach of his throat." Artemis' strike may not have succeeded, but he'd had the presence of mind and the balls to try it, despite being in a very significant amount of pain.

Farfarello crouched by Artemis' side, part of him still wary and ready for danger--from below if not from outside the door--but mostly just watching Artemis. "And I apologised because I broke the terms I gave you. Your arm being broken hampers your ability to defend yourself, and I should have been able to prevent that. I don't have morals that you or most sane people would recognise, but I do take promises seriously."

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[info]byname_bynature
2008-05-11 10:22 am UTC (link)
Artemis nodded slightly, "H-he can. I'm certain he can, but... still. Whatever Caleb is, it's fast. So fast. And once he realizes what's been done to me, he'll go hunting for what did it."

He couldn't let that happen--he wouldn't. Haku couldn't know that a human-like monster had done this to him. It would be rather difficult to protest, though, now that he had a burn mark in the shape of an upside-down cross on his neck. That was the mark of something intelligent, after all.

The boy tensed as he felt his magic reset both of the bones. This was going to set him back quite a bit if he let it heal him completely. He began focusing on stopping the flow.

"I-it's fine, Farfarello," Artemis ground out, his eyes flicking around from triple-vision. "I'm not dead, and my arm will heal soon enough. Meanwhile, you probably noticed, I'm ambidextrous. If he'd broken both of my arms, then yes, I would probably be a little more upset." He gave a weak laugh.

"Thank you, though. I banked on the fact that he would block my first attack, which was why I displayed such an obvious target. I didn't, however, think that he could break my arm with only his hands. That was the flaw, I suppose."

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[info]jei
2008-05-11 10:32 am UTC (link)
"The speed is a problem but if you're ready for it, it can be gotten around. One-on-one is a bad idea, though. Better to prepare your friend completely, tell him everything, and make sure he goes with allies, than to try to hide things and risk him running off on his own with only a fraction of the information." Farfarello didn't know anything about Artemis' friend, and maybe the boy was wrong about how reckless his friend could be. But just in case, he gave the advice best suited to someone prone to diving into fights without hesitation.

Farfarello nodded slightly at Artemis' analysis of his own failed plan. "You should have picked up on his strength when he threw you, but that's a mistake you won't make again. You're getting to think in the right patterns and starting to make plans on the fly, and that's a good beginning."

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[info]byname_bynature
2008-05-11 11:02 am UTC (link)
Artemis shook his head, "He's not like that. He's an assassin as well, and far better trained than I am. He won't run blindly into a fight just because a would-be-preacher broke my arm in half."

Still, he couldn't forget what Haku had said before.

"And when you came into the room tonight and saw me on the bed, what did you think?"

"I was worried that you were hurt. That someone had hurt you."

"No, no one hurt me. But if someone had hurt me, what would you do?"

"Kill them."

This could get very dangerous very fast if he didn't spin his story somehow. "But I'll still let him know what happened, just in case. I sincerely hope that he doesn't come across that thing, but it wouldn't hurt to be safe."

Artemis nodded, taking in the instruction. "I should have. However, it doesn't take much to throw me against a wall, as you should very well know," he said with a weak chuckle. "But yes, I felt this fight was different from my other ones previous--even though I was very badly beaten."

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[info]jei
2008-05-11 11:14 am UTC (link)
"Then trust him to know what to do with the information, and give it to him." Farfarello was glad, in two ways, that Artemis' friend was an assassin. First, it would be another layer of protection around the boy. And second, being close to an assassin would help keep the Do-Gooder Arts & Crafts mentality from sinking in so deep that Artemis would become useless to Schwarz.

"Ah. Yeah, that's another subtle thing you'll have to pick up over time. People like me--human but well-trained--can make things like that look easy, but there are always signs of effort if you know where to look. He genuinely didn't need to put any effort in to fling you around like that, which is different." The preacher's shirt hadn't been so tight that Farfarello could see perfectly how his muscles bunched and moved, but he'd seen enough to know that the man hadn't been working his muscles very hard at all.

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[info]byname_bynature
2008-05-11 11:35 am UTC (link)
"I will, I will..." Artemis said with a nod. He'd trusted Haku with a lot, lately. One more thing, and then another. It was endless, it seemed.

It couldn't be that way for much longer. If there was one thing Artemis took away from this experience, it was that he needed to figure out just what his motivations were and where his loyalties lay. And for what purpose. He couldn't continue running with whoever the highest bidder was, he needed to figure out what he was doing.

"Signs of effort," Artemis repeated. He was starting to feel rather tired, but the triple vision hadn't ceased, so he was wary to plead for sleep. Plus Farfarello probably wouldn't hear of it. "The next time I fight something I'll remember that. I have to get used to remembering all of this while fighting, as well. Currently I can only remember bits of things while a fight is going on--it isn't automatic yet."

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[info]jei
2008-05-11 11:42 am UTC (link)
"It won't be automatic next time you fight, or the time after that. But you'll pick up more each time." Provided he had backup to keep him alive when his own knowledge and skills reached their limit. But if he had too much protection, he'd never push past his current limits and reach new levels.

"Always assume an enemy has not yet shown you the upper limit of his abilities. Better to overestimate the opponent than underestimate." Unless you needed them alive for questioning, but that was a subtlety far, far beyond Artemis' current abilities, and so there was no point bringing it up.

Hopefully Artemis would remember some, if not most, of this, come morning. Which was soon. He was tired and hurting, but not necessarily concussed, so his memory would probably be reasonably decent. "Almost dawn, I think. It has that feel to it."

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[info]byname_bynature
2008-05-11 11:55 am UTC (link)
Artemis nodded again, but just a little. His head was still buzzing from the adrenaline numbing his arm. "Always overestimate, yes. I'm familiar with that tenant." The last time Artemis had underestimated someone, Butler was nearly killed. Never again. Certainly, there would always be surprises, but he tried to keep those to a minimum as well.

"No doubt. And Caleb said--"

The announcement sounded.

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