[Ah. Hmmm. Don't like that. DON'T LIKE ANY OF THAT.
But, ah--well, they're both familiar with the Institute, right? Surely they have some idea of a good bluff location. Or... he leans down, murmuring quietly to Dahut, the epitome of a good assistant.]
Do we need to verify authorization? [SURELY THERE'S SOME KIND OF BUREAUCRATIC NONSENSE THEY CAN USE TO GET OUT OF THIS. As he does so, he glances up, looking over the prisoners. Is this a sight they should be used to, as researchers, or is it exceedingly unusual and horrific?]
[DAHUT JUST SITTING HERE LIKE :man_standing: OVER ALL OF THIS HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON. He glances between Sheba and the prisoners, before leaning back just enough to listen to Luke. S...surely yes, surely... the bureaucratic nonsense will save them.
He'll clear his throat, looking back toward Steve who is now his enemy.]
We'll head there after we see your ID for clearance. Can't be too careful after the last incident, you know?
wait what does that mean. sheba narrows her eyes, looking from the prisoners and glaring daggers at steve's back.
(did piers know this when he asked me to switch with him? she wonders, briefly - and is immediately ashamed by the thought. no. she trusts piers. this is treachery on the guards' part, not on anyone from the corps.
it has to be, right?
he wouldn't do that to me, she thinks, desperate to believe it. he wouldn't.)
she has a mace tucked away at her side, in case she needs it for patrols, and without really thinking about it, one hand comes to rest on the handle. just in case. she isn't drawing it, but if anyone tries anything, if push comes to shove - she'll defend herself.]
steve laughs. it's hearty, genuinely amused, and cruel.
"Authorization? This is your authorization." he makes a grand gesture to the empty hallways, the turned down lights, the lockdown. "Come on. You should've been briefed already. Let's get to work or if these guys are late then we're about to have way bigger problems. I'm not letting your nonsense get me in trouble with the director."
but among the number of prisoners that luke glances to, he'll see a face looking back at home, expression puzzled, as if trying to place if they've met before. luke might not recall him from this life, but maybe another, if he really focuses.
this is a new level of horrific, unfortunately. perhaps there's a reason why most other researchers are given explicit instructions to leave or stay in their little labs]
[I'm so sorry to Aki but once again Luke is not going to be helpful; he's too busy staring at this oddly familiar person, who is staring at him, too. Growing up in the Institute has helped him develop a decent ability to control his expressions, but he can't stop the way his eyes rove over the prisoners, over Sheba, and then back to--who?
He should probably shut up and allow this to happen. He really should. He fucked them over already the first time by getting them into this. But this... something's wrong, here. This, more than the warning they saw on the computer, is unsettling him. And he knows how things work on this island, he does, but--
He gently, subtly, touches the back of Dahut's arm.]
[WHAT IS HE SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS. He has no idea why Luke is touching his arm because he isn't the one suffering from visions of ghosts in this lineup of prisoners. Instead, he's trying to figure out how to bullshit his way out of this one. If only he had strength in his tiny green bean limbs so he could just knock this guy out and be free...
He'll glance back at Luke briefly, and then:] Your attitude is terrible but your point is fair.
[Before turning to head in the opposite direction they'd come from. He does reach out while he turns to tap the back of Luke's hand twice, though.]
okay, here's the thing. sheba narrowly escaped the institute's researchers once already; whatever these prisoners have done, she can't in good conscience hand them over to a fate she would have run from, herself. they may be death row inmates, but it's not fair to hand them over to some demon. aren't the royal guards supposed to be better than that? aren't they all supposed to be better than that?
so.
she draws her mace. dahut may not have the strength in his little green bean arms to attempt to knock someone out, but she's trained, and she's strong. she doesn't want to kill the guy, though, just incapacitate him; so she turns it and grips it at the part of the handle just above the spiked ball, leaving plenty of the solid wooden handle ahead of her.
plenty to smack steve, hard, in the back of the head with. hopefully a roll of 17 is enough to actually do that and she's not too short to reach him.]
this is the country beloved by death, and so what exactly are you all expecting to happen when you try to cling to life? do you think science is made from nothing at all?
sheba attacks and steve—well, he's a royal guard but he is just steve. he's disoriented by the blow, but he's not unconscious. he makes a yowl of pain, but he will respond by drawing his sword rather swiftly after, making a blind sweep at whoever is closest to him.
but the prisoners aren't exactly here to be grateful. there's no loyalty to any of you. researchers who would experiment on them. corps that'd send them right back to jail. the disorganization means there's weak links and they also want to live more than anything else.
jenna will take sheba's focus on the guard in front as an opportunity, using the shackles that bind her hands to slip over sheba's head and trying to press the metal against her neck. the corps are her enemy too.
aaron can't place where he knows luke—but he doesn't like it. he immediately goes to close the distance between them, trying to drive his knee into luke's stomach to knock the wind out of him yet again.
there's a bundle of prisoners and they're all tethered together—so not all of them can move at once. but another one near the front will try to tackle dahut right down. green bean.]
THANKS FOR SOLVING THIS SUPER AWKWARD PROBLEM, SHEBA
Except Luke doesn't know Sheba for herself--he only sees chaos, which is an opening in this case, but just barely. Aaron still has some of his attention, but in this life, Luke knows Dahut, and that's where his attention is immediately pulled.]
Dahut--!
[But in lunging to try and protect Dahut, he leaves himself open for Aaron. And while he is in... relatively good shape for a man whose life hourglass is nearly out of sand, he isn't a trained combatant here. The blow catches him, a prisoner's desperation far more potent than even Luke's protectiveness, and he goes down with a hard grunt, trying to keep Aaron off of him so he can scramble over to help Dahut.]
Dahut hardly has time to register what's happening before everything explodes into chaos. Any enemy of Steve's is a friend of his, but he hardly has time to focus on her since, likewise, it's Luke that he knows in this life. He's so distracted watching Luke get fuckin kneed in the gut that he doesn't even notice the one that moves to tackle him until his head is knocking against the ground. ITAI.
Well, this is fine, he's just trying to kick and push at this prisoner while simultaneously attempting to wiggle in Luke's direction, as if his ass could do literally anything to help even under normal circumstances, let alone when his ears are ringing a little.]
[well. this didn't work out quite how she'd hoped..
steve sweeps out with his sword and sheba is the one closest to him, since she got in close enough to strike him in the first place; she backs away on reflex but the tip of his sword still grazes her arm. it's just a scratch and not as bad as it could be, but she hisses in pain anyway and strikes another blow at his head with the handle of her mace. go down, jerk!!
...only for that hiss to become a choked gasp when jenna gets those chains over her neck and pulls. focused as she was on steve - and, perhaps foolishly, thinking that if the prisoners were going to try to attack it would be after the guard was fully incapacitated so she didn't need to immediately be wary of them - she is left open to the attempt. she struggles, jabbing back with an elbow to try to catch jenna in the gut and make her let go, or at least loosen her grip; if she succeeds, she'll wedge the handle of her mace in the gap between her neck and the chain so that she can push forward with it, almost like a lever, and create both some breathing room and enough space for her to slip her head free of it.]
steve goes down with the second hit—his sword goes clattering to the floor. if any of you would like to make some wild grab for it, roll! you'll be competing against on of the prisoners who also sees it, and is aiming to gain an upperhand.
the prisoners, for now, are empty handed, but they are full of rage and desperation. they were on death row for a supposed reason, unrepentant. some of them have eyes that glow bright blue, a sign of a reliver—and their sense of remorse or guilt for harming others has all but disappeared. you are the enemy. so their feet bash down on your arms, shoulders, teeth seeking to take literal chomps out of you if you don't get out of here.
jenna can be winded, socked in the gut as sheba tries to get free—but another prisoner still seeks to tackle her down. that's the trouble with all the prisoners being attached to each other via chains. it'll be a bigger pain to carry a corpse among them out of here, even if it may come to that.
fight for your lives, if that matters to you! do any of you have backups? uh oh.
and perhaps be wary, in case you might attract some attention with your scuffle. wasn't someone expecting these prisoners...?]
[Luke is definitely not thinking about the person that's expecting these guys--maybe he should have ASKED QUESTIONS so that he'd KNOW what the fuck the crazy lab is, or what the director has been doing with these haggard prisoners and why the sight of one of them itches at his brain. And he's, y'know, smart, he grew up in the Institute, so if he stopped to think about it long enough he could probably figure out the basics of what this is, but there's too much happening right now, and his immediate priority is protecting Dahut and trying to get this situation under control.
As a child, he'd never been one for sitting still--and there isn't much in the way of active entertainment here, so he'd hung around and picked up a few things about using swords, but that's so, so different from a life of being trained to wield one. But he doesn't trust anyone else here with it, either, so he attempts to grab Dahut's wrist with one hand and yank him close, then grab for the sword with the other, dodging the prisoners' frantic attacks. Between a 10 and being distracted by Dahut, though, he definitely doesn't succeed, and probably gets kicked and bitten at least a couple of times. Ow. I hope he turns into a TB zombie.]
[DAHUT IS ALSO NOT THINKING ABOUT THE PERSON THESE GUYS EXPECTED. He's just a little lad of 15 who has lived an average life with an orphanage nun for years?? His will to survive is strong, but not as strong as a bunch of ruthless criminals on death row, so between that and the fact that he is simply not built for physical combat, his ass is struggling. He's going to be bruised all to shit and also become a TB zombie considering he has at least one feral bite dangerously close to his jugular since these fools are aiming to kill.
But fortunately, being small does have some advantages. Like being able to wiggle away from the flailing hands of several people in a damn prison brawl HATEFUL. He spits out a mouthful of blood after taking a last blow to the face on his way out, but eventually, he'll scramble over to Luke.]
[sheba also lunges for the sword - not to wield it herself but to try to get it out of reach of the prisoners - but between the tackle from one of them and luke also going for it, she doesn't manage to swipe it or even knock it away.
if anything, she just knocks heads with luke. oopsie.]
Ow, ow--!
[this is a nightmare. she's grateful piers didn't have to deal with this, but she's simultaneously annoyed that she has to. perhaps if she makes it out of here she'll ask for two slices of cake instead.
(it's funny, the sort of nonsensical thoughts that cross your mind when people are literally trying to kill you.)
anyway, she is combat trained, so although she's taken some hits and is bleeding (there is a nasty bite mark on one arm. thanks, prisoner.) she gets back to her feet, readjusts her hold on her mace, and puts herself between the prisoners and luke and dahut.]
[if you run, you'll alert more guards. if you run, you're witnesses. if you run, you're the enemy. (you already are the enemy, you always were. everyone's an enemy in this godforsaken island.)
neither sheba nor luke are able to get the sword, but one of the prisoners is. are they combat trained? what was their life before this? it's hard to say for sure the details, but they move like a murderer. that's why they were here in the first place, after all. the true dregs of society, those who get a thrill from hurting others or have lost the ability to feel remorse for it. with wild slashes, there is the full intent to get right past sheba and cut down both luke and dahut. the other prisoners in the chain get caught up, stumbling and not quite able to make it easy—but the attempt is still there. take your injuries as you like.
the others are still aiming to take sheba's mace right from her, through whatever means necessary. jenna takes the lead, dauntless. sheba will have to bash her brains in and wonder what was the point of all this was. was she trying to save them? because they sure have no interest in saving her.
it's hard to hear amidst the chaos but maybe if you have extremely good ears, there is the sound of footsteps drawing closer. calm, measured, closer still.]
[If they run, they're the enemy--and maybe, if things were just a little calmer, Luke would consider staying. He would notice those footsteps, and he would grow vicious in trying to turn the tide in their favor, formulating lies and excuses to get Dahut out of this, if nothing else. Dahut isn't like Luke, whose time is almost out already, who has yet to decide if survival is worth the loss of his love. Luke would be smart about saving him, if he could.
But the prisoner doesn't know any of this, and why would they? Even if they did know, why would they care? They slash, and Luke doesn't have the skills to avoid it. He staggers as the blade bites into his thigh.
He can't be smart about this--he can only listen to his instincts, and right now, the immediate best course of action is to get the hell away from this chaos. It's only Sheba who breaks through the panic in his mind, and he freezes, looking at her for just a second--wondering why she did this, why she's risking herself for two complete strangers. MAYBE SHE HATES STEVE THAT MUCH? Incredible. Steve, you did this.
In another life, Luke would never let her stand alone. But in this one, all he can do is struggle to stay on his feet, nodding at Dahut so they can try and book it outta here.]
Thank you-- be careful--
[He doesn't know her, but he knows what she's done for them, in this; he won't forget that.]
Anyway very funny because in another life Dahut would have dipped from this fight so fast and gone to find a vent to escape through, but he hesitates, because he's never had to leave a kind hand unthanked before.]
Wait—! Come with us!!
[Yelling at Sheba but like WHAT'S HIS ASS GOING TO DO ABOUT IT he can barely keep himself upright, especially after taking a nasty slash to the thigh that's bleeding generously. He's dimly aware of the fact that they're causing such a ruckus and in his panic, he can only really think to try dragging Luke and this girl to some side room before more guards show up, but they're broken and half-formed thoughts that take a backseat to the primary desire to get the hell away from the big tangle of dangerous people.]
Go, dummy! They'll catch up to us if someone doesn't stay to hold them off!
[and whether she likes it or not, that's her job, isn't it? she's a part of the corps. she's supposed to protect people who need protecting, since the royal guards clearly can't be trusted to do it. she may detest the institute's researchers on principle, but they're people just like the others she's sworn to protect.
so no, she will not be going with them.
the prisoners are trying to overpower her, and she can't let that happen. she wants to live. she doesn't necessarily want to live at the expense of someone else, but -
she has no intention of laying down and dying, either. she brings down her mace on anyone who gets close, not striking with enough force to kill at first. but as they keep coming, she finds she doesn't have a choice.
they won't stay down. it's kill or be killed. she knows that. she knows that, she has trained to fight if needed, and she will defend herself and the two behind her -
but without fully understanding why, she finds herself choking on a sob when jenna crumbles, and her blood stains the ground. she fights through her tears and through her injuries - even with their movements hampered as they are by the chains, the prisoners are able to land blows on her - with a single-minded determination to live, even as her heart breaks and she can't understand why.
who is this prisoner to her? why should her death hurt like this?]
the prisoner holding the sword knows that he's probably next—but he doesn't want to go down alone. he charges for both dahut and luke, arm raised high.
but someone's hand around his ankle stops him. aaron grabs onto this crazed man's ankle, holding on. he seems confused at his own actions. he's not sure why. and yet when he seeks out luke's gaze, the only word that leaves his lips is: "Go." save yourself. live on.
it is his final word before the prisoner holding the sword sinks the blade between his eyes.
it is carnage and disaster. a well-intentioned attempt at saving people who were never meant to be saved. are some perhaps fated to meet their end here? it's question to ponder as two canisters suddenly drop and roll toward the whole group, emitting a noxious gas. it fills the space, obscuring the figure that rolled it toward them. the gas rolls in their lungs, clogging their pathways uncomfortably. it's not a gentle sleep, but rather a very aggressive dragging under the veil of unconsciousness.
[THE HILARITY OF REAL 15-YEAR-OLD DAHUT TRYING TO RESCUE A TRAINED CORPS FIGHTER FROM THE MOB WHILE GERIATRIC 22-YEAR-OLD LUKE IS LIKE "THANKS BYE" IS REALLY GETTING ME
And it's not like Luke wants to leave her either, but quite frankly, he thinks her job will be easier if they're out of the damn way. But it doesn't matter much anyway, because the prisoner with the sword charges, and Luke has a split second of intense fear, his body tensing up because he may not have the same hero complex he once did but he will throw himself in front of Dahut here--but it doesn't matter, because another stranger intervenes. ...Or...?
Their eyes meet--and then, only then, does Luke get hit with that flicker of memory. Very suddenly, Luke realizes that this man once saved him. That he's important. But when? How? Who?
He doesn't have time to wonder, or to process the anguish that cuts through him just as deeply as the sword would have, watching this man die in front of him. The gas fills the hall, and Luke only has time to yell Dahut's name before the darkness ruthlessly pulls him under.]
Now they're all idiots passing out in the hall together because he's too fuckin disoriented by everything happening to even recognize what those canisters are at first, let alone react to them properly. It truly feels like a blur where he's facing a blade and then watching bodies fall and there's so much blood everywhere that all he can really think to do is turn and blindly grasp out for Luke--
But just as his fingers find purchase, the gas spews out, and he's losing what's left of his coherent thought in a matter of seconds. He bonks his head on the ground again as he falls. HIS CONCUSSIONS. Goodnight moon.]
it's hard to say how long passed while you were unconscious. when you awake, surprise surprise, now you're the ones in chains. steve and the other prisoners are long gone.
you are in... a laboratory? perhaps. perhaps it can be called that. it is dark, dreary, and filled with the stench of death. long gone are the clean tiles of the institute, replaced only with blood-stained stone and instruments that have certainly seen better days. the drug is beginning to wear off, although there is probably still this uncomfortable clogging feeling in your throat, like some residue left behind. the three of you are strapped to examination tables next to one another, all in a row. luke, dahut, sheba in order, and if you turn your heads, you might be able to catch a glance. the memories in your brain become more jumbled, foggy, and recognition might come easier.
someone in a white coat stands nearby, though their face is obscured in shadow. their voice is unfamiliar to you as they speak, something haughty and deranged about it.]
[Imagine if I suddenly grabbed the wheel and made this a hatoful CYOA
But no, they are still here on this shitty island. And. Well. Waking up strapped to a table, groggy and in pain, has never really been a good sign of anything? I DON'T THINK THEY HAVE MOVIES HERE but they don't need them for Luke to know this is bad.
At least, he'll probably know that in a second--right now he's struggling to get his bearings, his head lolling to the side. All he can really see is Dahut from this angle, but it doesn't take geniuses like them to figure out that Sheba's probably not far, either.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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But, ah--well, they're both familiar with the Institute, right? Surely they have some idea of a good bluff location. Or... he leans down, murmuring quietly to Dahut, the epitome of a good assistant.]
Do we need to verify authorization? [SURELY THERE'S SOME KIND OF BUREAUCRATIC NONSENSE THEY CAN USE TO GET OUT OF THIS. As he does so, he glances up, looking over the prisoners. Is this a sight they should be used to, as researchers, or is it exceedingly unusual and horrific?]
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He'll clear his throat, looking back toward Steve who is now his enemy.]
We'll head there after we see your ID for clearance. Can't be too careful after the last incident, you know?
[WHAT LAST INCIDENT.]
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wait what does that mean. sheba narrows her eyes, looking from the prisoners and glaring daggers at steve's back.
(did piers know this when he asked me to switch with him? she wonders, briefly - and is immediately ashamed by the thought. no. she trusts piers. this is treachery on the guards' part, not on anyone from the corps.
it has to be, right?
he wouldn't do that to me, she thinks, desperate to believe it. he wouldn't.)
she has a mace tucked away at her side, in case she needs it for patrols, and without really thinking about it, one hand comes to rest on the handle. just in case. she isn't drawing it, but if anyone tries anything, if push comes to shove - she'll defend herself.]
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steve laughs. it's hearty, genuinely amused, and cruel.
"Authorization? This is your authorization." he makes a grand gesture to the empty hallways, the turned down lights, the lockdown. "Come on. You should've been briefed already. Let's get to work or if these guys are late then we're about to have way bigger problems. I'm not letting your nonsense get me in trouble with the director."
but among the number of prisoners that luke glances to, he'll see a face looking back at home, expression puzzled, as if trying to place if they've met before. luke might not recall him from this life, but maybe another, if he really focuses.
this is a new level of horrific, unfortunately. perhaps there's a reason why most other researchers are given explicit instructions to leave or stay in their little labs]
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He should probably shut up and allow this to happen. He really should. He fucked them over already the first time by getting them into this. But this... something's wrong, here. This, more than the warning they saw on the computer, is unsettling him. And he knows how things work on this island, he does, but--
He gently, subtly, touches the back of Dahut's arm.]
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He'll glance back at Luke briefly, and then:] Your attitude is terrible but your point is fair.
[Before turning to head in the opposite direction they'd come from. He does reach out while he turns to tap the back of Luke's hand twice, though.]
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okay, here's the thing. sheba narrowly escaped the institute's researchers once already; whatever these prisoners have done, she can't in good conscience hand them over to a fate she would have run from, herself. they may be death row inmates, but it's not fair to hand them over to some demon. aren't the royal guards supposed to be better than that? aren't they all supposed to be better than that?
so.
she draws her mace. dahut may not have the strength in his little green bean arms to attempt to knock someone out, but she's trained, and she's strong. she doesn't want to kill the guy, though, just incapacitate him; so she turns it and grips it at the part of the handle just above the spiked ball, leaving plenty of the solid wooden handle ahead of her.
plenty to smack steve, hard, in the back of the head with. hopefully a roll of 17 is enough to actually do that and she's not too short to reach him.]
no subject
this is the country beloved by death, and so what exactly are you all expecting to happen when you try to cling to life? do you think science is made from nothing at all?
sheba attacks and steve—well, he's a royal guard but he is just steve. he's disoriented by the blow, but he's not unconscious. he makes a yowl of pain, but he will respond by drawing his sword rather swiftly after, making a blind sweep at whoever is closest to him.
but the prisoners aren't exactly here to be grateful. there's no loyalty to any of you. researchers who would experiment on them. corps that'd send them right back to jail. the disorganization means there's weak links and they also want to live more than anything else.
jenna will take sheba's focus on the guard in front as an opportunity, using the shackles that bind her hands to slip over sheba's head and trying to press the metal against her neck. the corps are her enemy too.
aaron can't place where he knows luke—but he doesn't like it. he immediately goes to close the distance between them, trying to drive his knee into luke's stomach to knock the wind out of him yet again.
there's a bundle of prisoners and they're all tethered together—so not all of them can move at once. but another one near the front will try to tackle dahut right down. green bean.]
no subject
THANKS FOR SOLVING THIS SUPER AWKWARD PROBLEM, SHEBA
Except Luke doesn't know Sheba for herself--he only sees chaos, which is an opening in this case, but just barely. Aaron still has some of his attention, but in this life, Luke knows Dahut, and that's where his attention is immediately pulled.]
Dahut--!
[But in lunging to try and protect Dahut, he leaves himself open for Aaron. And while he is in... relatively good shape for a man whose life hourglass is nearly out of sand, he isn't a trained combatant here. The blow catches him, a prisoner's desperation far more potent than even Luke's protectiveness, and he goes down with a hard grunt, trying to keep Aaron off of him so he can scramble over to help Dahut.]
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[OUT OF ONE PROBLEM AND INTO ANOTHER, DAMN.
Dahut hardly has time to register what's happening before everything explodes into chaos. Any enemy of Steve's is a friend of his, but he hardly has time to focus on her since, likewise, it's Luke that he knows in this life. He's so distracted watching Luke get fuckin kneed in the gut that he doesn't even notice the one that moves to tackle him until his head is knocking against the ground. ITAI.
Well, this is fine, he's just trying to kick and push at this prisoner while simultaneously attempting to wiggle in Luke's direction, as if his ass could do literally anything to help even under normal circumstances, let alone when his ears are ringing a little.]
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steve sweeps out with his sword and sheba is the one closest to him, since she got in close enough to strike him in the first place; she backs away on reflex but the tip of his sword still grazes her arm. it's just a scratch and not as bad as it could be, but she hisses in pain anyway and strikes another blow at his head with the handle of her mace. go down, jerk!!
...only for that hiss to become a choked gasp when jenna gets those chains over her neck and pulls. focused as she was on steve - and, perhaps foolishly, thinking that if the prisoners were going to try to attack it would be after the guard was fully incapacitated so she didn't need to immediately be wary of them - she is left open to the attempt. she struggles, jabbing back with an elbow to try to catch jenna in the gut and make her let go, or at least loosen her grip; if she succeeds, she'll wedge the handle of her mace in the gap between her neck and the chain so that she can push forward with it, almost like a lever, and create both some breathing room and enough space for her to slip her head free of it.]
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steve goes down with the second hit—his sword goes clattering to the floor. if any of you would like to make some wild grab for it, roll! you'll be competing against on of the prisoners who also sees it, and is aiming to gain an upperhand.
the prisoners, for now, are empty handed, but they are full of rage and desperation. they were on death row for a supposed reason, unrepentant. some of them have eyes that glow bright blue, a sign of a reliver—and their sense of remorse or guilt for harming others has all but disappeared. you are the enemy. so their feet bash down on your arms, shoulders, teeth seeking to take literal chomps out of you if you don't get out of here.
jenna can be winded, socked in the gut as sheba tries to get free—but another prisoner still seeks to tackle her down. that's the trouble with all the prisoners being attached to each other via chains. it'll be a bigger pain to carry a corpse among them out of here, even if it may come to that.
fight for your lives, if that matters to you! do any of you have backups? uh oh.
and perhaps be wary, in case you might attract some attention with your scuffle. wasn't someone expecting these prisoners...?]
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As a child, he'd never been one for sitting still--and there isn't much in the way of active entertainment here, so he'd hung around and picked up a few things about using swords, but that's so, so different from a life of being trained to wield one. But he doesn't trust anyone else here with it, either, so he attempts to grab Dahut's wrist with one hand and yank him close, then grab for the sword with the other, dodging the prisoners' frantic attacks. Between a 10 and being distracted by Dahut, though, he definitely doesn't succeed, and probably gets kicked and bitten at least a couple of times. Ow. I hope he turns into a TB zombie.]
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But fortunately, being small does have some advantages. Like being able to wiggle away from the flailing hands of several people in a damn prison brawl HATEFUL. He spits out a mouthful of blood after taking a last blow to the face on his way out, but eventually, he'll scramble over to Luke.]
Luke—!!
[GRABBING AT HIS ARM LET'S BLOW THIS POP STAND.]
no subject
if anything, she just knocks heads with luke. oopsie.]
Ow, ow--!
[this is a nightmare. she's grateful piers didn't have to deal with this, but she's simultaneously annoyed that she has to. perhaps if she makes it out of here she'll ask for two slices of cake instead.
(it's funny, the sort of nonsensical thoughts that cross your mind when people are literally trying to kill you.)
anyway, she is combat trained, so although she's taken some hits and is bleeding (there is a nasty bite mark on one arm. thanks, prisoner.) she gets back to her feet, readjusts her hold on her mace, and puts herself between the prisoners and luke and dahut.]
Run!
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neither sheba nor luke are able to get the sword, but one of the prisoners is. are they combat trained? what was their life before this? it's hard to say for sure the details, but they move like a murderer. that's why they were here in the first place, after all. the true dregs of society, those who get a thrill from hurting others or have lost the ability to feel remorse for it. with wild slashes, there is the full intent to get right past sheba and cut down both luke and dahut. the other prisoners in the chain get caught up, stumbling and not quite able to make it easy—but the attempt is still there. take your injuries as you like.
the others are still aiming to take sheba's mace right from her, through whatever means necessary. jenna takes the lead, dauntless. sheba will have to bash her brains in and wonder what was the point of all this was. was she trying to save them? because they sure have no interest in saving her.
it's hard to hear amidst the chaos but maybe if you have extremely good ears, there is the sound of footsteps drawing closer. calm, measured, closer still.]
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But the prisoner doesn't know any of this, and why would they? Even if they did know, why would they care? They slash, and Luke doesn't have the skills to avoid it. He staggers as the blade bites into his thigh.
He can't be smart about this--he can only listen to his instincts, and right now, the immediate best course of action is to get the hell away from this chaos. It's only Sheba who breaks through the panic in his mind, and he freezes, looking at her for just a second--wondering why she did this, why she's risking herself for two complete strangers. MAYBE SHE HATES STEVE THAT MUCH? Incredible. Steve, you did this.
In another life, Luke would never let her stand alone. But in this one, all he can do is struggle to stay on his feet, nodding at Dahut so they can try and book it outta here.]
Thank you-- be careful--
[He doesn't know her, but he knows what she's done for them, in this; he won't forget that.]
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Anyway very funny because in another life Dahut would have dipped from this fight so fast and gone to find a vent to escape through, but he hesitates, because he's never had to leave a kind hand unthanked before.]
Wait—! Come with us!!
[Yelling at Sheba but like WHAT'S HIS ASS GOING TO DO ABOUT IT he can barely keep himself upright, especially after taking a nasty slash to the thigh that's bleeding generously. He's dimly aware of the fact that they're causing such a ruckus and in his panic, he can only really think to try dragging Luke and this girl to some side room before more guards show up, but they're broken and half-formed thoughts that take a backseat to the primary desire to get the hell away from the big tangle of dangerous people.]
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[and whether she likes it or not, that's her job, isn't it? she's a part of the corps. she's supposed to protect people who need protecting, since the royal guards clearly can't be trusted to do it. she may detest the institute's researchers on principle, but they're people just like the others she's sworn to protect.
so no, she will not be going with them.
the prisoners are trying to overpower her, and she can't let that happen. she wants to live. she doesn't necessarily want to live at the expense of someone else, but -
she has no intention of laying down and dying, either. she brings down her mace on anyone who gets close, not striking with enough force to kill at first. but as they keep coming, she finds she doesn't have a choice.
they won't stay down. it's kill or be killed. she knows that. she knows that, she has trained to fight if needed, and she will defend herself and the two behind her -
but without fully understanding why, she finds herself choking on a sob when jenna crumbles, and her blood stains the ground. she fights through her tears and through her injuries - even with their movements hampered as they are by the chains, the prisoners are able to land blows on her - with a single-minded determination to live, even as her heart breaks and she can't understand why.
who is this prisoner to her? why should her death hurt like this?]
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the prisoner holding the sword knows that he's probably next—but he doesn't want to go down alone. he charges for both dahut and luke, arm raised high.
but someone's hand around his ankle stops him. aaron grabs onto this crazed man's ankle, holding on. he seems confused at his own actions. he's not sure why. and yet when he seeks out luke's gaze, the only word that leaves his lips is: "Go." save yourself. live on.
it is his final word before the prisoner holding the sword sinks the blade between his eyes.
it is carnage and disaster. a well-intentioned attempt at saving people who were never meant to be saved. are some perhaps fated to meet their end here? it's question to ponder as two canisters suddenly drop and roll toward the whole group, emitting a noxious gas. it fills the space, obscuring the figure that rolled it toward them. the gas rolls in their lungs, clogging their pathways uncomfortably. it's not a gentle sleep, but rather a very aggressive dragging under the veil of unconsciousness.
maybe this'll dry your tears.]
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And it's not like Luke wants to leave her either, but quite frankly, he thinks her job will be easier if they're out of the damn way. But it doesn't matter much anyway, because the prisoner with the sword charges, and Luke has a split second of intense fear, his body tensing up because he may not have the same hero complex he once did but he will throw himself in front of Dahut here--but it doesn't matter, because another stranger intervenes. ...Or...?
Their eyes meet--and then, only then, does Luke get hit with that flicker of memory. Very suddenly, Luke realizes that this man once saved him. That he's important. But when? How? Who?
He doesn't have time to wonder, or to process the anguish that cuts through him just as deeply as the sword would have, watching this man die in front of him. The gas fills the hall, and Luke only has time to yell Dahut's name before the darkness ruthlessly pulls him under.]
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Now they're all idiots passing out in the hall together because he's too fuckin disoriented by everything happening to even recognize what those canisters are at first, let alone react to them properly. It truly feels like a blur where he's facing a blade and then watching bodies fall and there's so much blood everywhere that all he can really think to do is turn and blindly grasp out for Luke--
But just as his fingers find purchase, the gas spews out, and he's losing what's left of his coherent thought in a matter of seconds. He bonks his head on the ground again as he falls. HIS CONCUSSIONS. Goodnight moon.]
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it's hard to say how long passed while you were unconscious. when you awake, surprise surprise, now you're the ones in chains. steve and the other prisoners are long gone.
you are in... a laboratory? perhaps. perhaps it can be called that. it is dark, dreary, and filled with the stench of death. long gone are the clean tiles of the institute, replaced only with blood-stained stone and instruments that have certainly seen better days. the drug is beginning to wear off, although there is probably still this uncomfortable clogging feeling in your throat, like some residue left behind. the three of you are strapped to examination tables next to one another, all in a row. luke, dahut, sheba in order, and if you turn your heads, you might be able to catch a glance. the memories in your brain become more jumbled, foggy, and recognition might come easier.
someone in a white coat stands nearby, though their face is obscured in shadow. their voice is unfamiliar to you as they speak, something haughty and deranged about it.]
Coming to? Wake up, or you'll have to be woken.
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But no, they are still here on this shitty island. And. Well. Waking up strapped to a table, groggy and in pain, has never really been a good sign of anything? I DON'T THINK THEY HAVE MOVIES HERE but they don't need them for Luke to know this is bad.
At least, he'll probably know that in a second--right now he's struggling to get his bearings, his head lolling to the side. All he can really see is Dahut from this angle, but it doesn't take geniuses like them to figure out that Sheba's probably not far, either.
Raspy:]
Where...?
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