Chapter Three, B :: State of the Inhumane

[Reese]

It all happened so fast.

He only had a fraction of a second to realize the girl had a gun, but before he could move or attempt to do anything about it she was already firing. She was a poor shot, but she was quick. She got him in the arm, he stumbled a bit, and then some black projectile flashed through his peripheral vision -- right next to his head, actually, narrowly missing him -- and slammed into the DotNA girl's neck. She fell instantaneously.

He sheathed his gunblade and clamped his right hand over the gunshot wound in his left arm, stumbling aside as the strong gusting wind of a Tornado spell rushed past him and tore down the corridor, leaving a few DotNA stragglers unconscious in it's wake. He could hear Vanesse's voice through some of the commotion, but everything was happening so quickly and he was already in such pain that he wasn't even trying to pay attention to her words. And then before he knew it she was beside him and pressing into his arm with a Curaga. He was still kind of irritated about almost getting his head taken off by her flying boomerang -- which he told her not to use in these close-quarters -- but he didn't protest or stop her in her healing.

"Vanesse, Reese, get down"

Stella's voice interrupted her spell. He wasn't totally aware of whatever danger they were in, but he grabbed the petite girl next to him by the shoulder of her shirt and yanked her downward with him anyway.

One final gunshot rang out and the thudding of one last body followed.

Stella moved in closer from the threshold of the other hallway. His wound wasn't one-hundred percent healed through, but it was closed and he wasn't in very much pain. The bullet had gone clean through, so no trouble there. He unsheathed his gunblade and moved away from Vanesse a bit, his eyes taking in the litter of bodies strewn throughout the corridor ahead.

His eyes fell on the DotNA girl who'd shot him. Her arms and legs were sprawled out in awkward positions, her gun still held loosely in her lifeless hand and her head twisted at a grotesque angle. Broken neck.

He looked away, and somehow his eyes found their way to an even more disturbing sight. Tawne still lay not far from where Reese stood, still alive but barely. The Bio spell was still wreaking it's havoc, and the young man was weeping silently and struggling for air, seemingly in too much pain to even manage noise. His gunblade lay scattered aside, just out of reach. Three or four years ago, and... It could have been Reese.

Stop. he told himself. Don't think about it. Just stop.

And he tore his attention away from the sight.

"You said you didn't kill them?" He asked over his shoulder, then turned away. It was mostly a rhetorical question. He sighed. "In this place, mercy is stupid. Whether you like it or not, we will kill as many as we can." He approached Tawne, and then, as if to wordlessly make his point clear, his brought the tip of his blade clean through the youth's jugular.

[Stella]

The battle was over and she took a deep breath glancing around at her other team members. No one seemed seriously hurt. She holstered one of her guns as the adrenaline ebbed out of her. As the excitement and the thrill of battle floated away her claustrophobia came crashing down around her once again.

"God damn it" she said through gritted teeth as she placed a hand on a near by wall. You can do this Stella, get a hold of yourself. She took a few deep breaths watching as Reese strode over to the nearest unconscious man and, with a spray of blood, finished him.

"These men are DotNA. They have no right to live" Stella said in a deep cold voice as she moved passed Vanesse and started executing the men and women lying on the floor by letting lose a single bullet into each of their foreheads.

[jaimelewis]

Jaime blinked at Stella as the gunslinger went around shooting bullets into Dotna's foreheads. Then she turned towards Reese, who was executing another Dotna by sticking his gunblade through his neck. So they shouldn't leave the Dotna's alive? Jaime didn't like unnecessary killings at all. But was this unnecessary? Jaime wasn't sure now.

"I guess you're both right." She grinned ruefully. "They would kill us the moment they have the chance...and they didn't show any mercy for our friends." She glanced down at the two Dotna at her feet, who were still struggling with the Pain in their systems. She picked up one of the gunblades and stuck it into their abdomens. The third Dotna was no longer convalscing due to the extensive burns he had suffered from the Flare. She quickly threw the bloody gunblade away, as if it burned her hands.

Piling on a bright smile that threatened to crack her face open, she looked towards Reese and clapped her hands together too exuberantly to be natural.

"So, what's next on our agenda, Mr. Leader? This place is kinda stuffy, the earlier we finish our mission the better."

[Reese]

Reese had actually stopped what he was doing to stare at Jaime for a moment while she clapped her hands and grinned like a lunatic. The look of it thoroughly annoyed him and actually almost made him a little sick. How could she be that giddy about something like this?

He turned away.

"I already said I'm not your leader." His voice carried a hard edge as he sheathed his blade. "And our agenda is obviously the laboratory." He added as he followed Stella further down the corridor.

[Storyteller]

The long sterile corridor of the Outer Foyer leads the group onward past windows that look down on the Inner Foyer. However it seems the lights below have been shut off leaving it in darkness. There is no way of telling what is going on down there. Moving along there seems to be no resistance from any further DotNA members but you do not allow yourselves to relax.

A familiar smell lingers on the edge of your sense. Teasing and tempting you further and further down the corridor until you reach the set of metal stairs that lead down to the laboratory. As the four of you stand at the head of the stairs you realize that the smell you've been trying to identify is blood.

A thick trail of it leads down the stairs into the darkness below.

The only light below comes from one of the cylindrical ceiling lights at the bottom of the stairs which hangs at an awkward angle. Wires flow from one end of it sparking with electricity causing the light to flicker off and on with a sharp buzzing noise. It swings from side to side lazily hissing and crackling as if it might die at any moment. During the split seconds of brightness that the light casts you catch sight of a large dent in the near by wall. A shower of blood staining the floor. As the light swings again you spot a pile of what could possibly be body parts. Human body parts.

[Reese]

What the hell is this... ?

Reese frowned down at the lower floor from the top of the stairs. He really couldn't make out what it was at the bottom of the stairs, but the smell of blood was heavy and every time that light swung he caught a glimpse of a dent in the wall. He had never known this area to be dark and blood-covered. Something was definitely amiss.

"Wait," he said over his shoulder. "Stay here. Blood conducts electricity just as well as water."

He move down the stairs alone, carefully and slowly so as not to slip. He touched one hand to the wall as he reached the bottom and felt his way along it until he reached the breaker box. There was no way he could see the different switches, but maybe he could remember... Was it the second from the top? It should be close to the top. He felt with his fingers down to the second one and flipped it. Upstairs the Inner Foyer went dark, and the hanging light not far from him still flickered. Okay, not the second one. He flipped the third one and the hanging light went out.

"Don't move," he warned the women now that they were in almost total darkness. He felt around inside the box until he found a switch smaller than the rest, something that would trigger some emergency lighting. When flipped, the thin gap between the laboratory door and the floor suddenly filled with light.

"Okay, be careful coming down the stairs. I guess there aren't any emergency lights over us now, but at least we'll have light inside the lab."

[Stella]

Stella was fine until the lights went off.

Then it was a crash of pain and torment. Almost as if her heart was shrinking in her chest. The floor seemed to move below her as her head whirled. Memories assaulted her from all sides and suddenly she was a young woman again. The walls were so close. There was no way out. She couldn't breathe. All alone in the darkness, in the box.

"Don't move" she heard a far away voice say and she immediately stiffened in response. It was an automatic reaction. No matter what she always did as she was told. She could avoid the box that way.

A light flicked on some where in the distance. She could see it. There were more words from the man and she could hear some one breathing. Two someones. Not alone. Not in the box.

The world it came falling back down around her and Stella slowly allowed her muscles to relax. Reality seeped back in as she gazed down at the feeble light. That was her only way out.

You're far from that place now... just concentrate on the light

Her eyes focused on the slender strip of light beaming onto the floor. Concentrating on it as if she was drowning and it was keeping her afloat. In truth it almost was. For a few moments she drew in slow steady breaths. Her stomach slowly unclenched as she forced herself to calm down.

"You two go down first, I'll take the rear in case we are attacked from behind" She said hoping that she sounded brave.

[vanesse]

After seeing Cloverfield, I think the new posts make me feel creeped out like Van too XD Do the lights only light around the lab door, or is there a straight path from the stairs to the door? Or am I completely off? lol I'll edit if I'm wrong. =P
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Vanesse was laid frozen in her spot when they made it to the metal stairs of the inner foyer. The stench of blood was overwhelming, stirring the pit of her stomach like she was going to have a reflux of what she had eaten earlier. Down the stairs, it was something she had never been exposed to before. It was giving her a creepy feeling.

She placed a hand on her mouth, pressing the urge to hurl. Body parts?! Was she seeing things? The swinging light downstairs....did it just illuminate something she thought it was? She felt her breath run out when everything suddenly turned black. From below them, a door lit up from a distance.

"Okay, be careful coming down the stairs. I guess there aren't any emergency lights over us now, but at least we'll have light inside the lab." Reese told them.

Huh? When did he go down there? Vanesse thought confused, unaware that all this time, she was crushing Jaime's hand with her grip.

"You two go down first, I'll take the rear in case we are attacked from behind" Hearing that from Stella, she felt her lifespan was just cut short by 10 years. She was going to say the same thing!

"Stella..." Vanesse whispered, grabbing Stella's hand. If she spoke louder, her voice she would stutter. "Let's go, together," she told her. Taking one step down, Vanesse was thinking if they would be in trouble if Jaime were to cast a Flare spell. "Or...lighter..." she mumbled incoherently. "Reese. Lighter. You have a lighter, right?"

[Reese]

'Reese. Lighter. You have a lighter, right?'

"Yeah, but we won't be needing it now." His response was distracted and halfway mumbled. He used the light filtering through the crack at the bottom of the lab door to navigate his way there. He was only a few steps away, and once he reached the door he pressed his hand against the cool steel exterior and pushed.

Light washed into the area, illuminating the area at the base of the stairs and partially lighting the staircase for them. Without peering into the lab yet, he held the swinging door open with his arm.

"Come on. I'm not enjoying the sight and stench of this mess any more than you all are."

[Stella]

She literally jumped when Vanesse took her hand. It was all she could do not to wrench it away. The feeling reminded her of her first days at Galbadia Garden back when she hated to be touched.

Thankfully Reese shoved open the door and straight away her heart slowed just a bit. The light revealed the thick trail of blood on the stairs but nothing else and for that she was glad.

"Come on Vanesse, let's go" she said softly. Agaisnt her better judgment Stella started leading them down the stairs avoiding the blood. Her gun rested loosely in her free hand.

[Reese]

While the girls started making their way down the steps, Reese moved his arm away from holding the door and positioned his foot against the bottom edge of it, holding it open with his leg instead. Now with both hands free he would be able to unscrew the cap...

The slender metallic object was cool in his hands, and when he opened it the strong and familiar scent from within immediately eased away just a tiny bit of the tension between his temples. Teased by the small relief and eager for more, he cocked his head back and took a long swig of the liquid content.

It burned down his throat as he began to screw the cap back on and glanced up at the girls.

[Stella]

"Don't put that away just yet" Stella said as the three of them reached the bottom of the steps. Her eyes were locked on the slender metal flask in Reese's hand. If she was correct there would be some kind of hard alcohol in there and she totally needed some of that.

Without asking she took it from his hands. Carefully she unscrewed the cap and tilted it to her lips. The alcohol burned as it went down but that was how she liked it. Her eyes locked on Reese's has she drank and honestly she didn't care if he was upset or not. She screwed the lid back on and handed the flash back with a smirk.

In another situation she might have offered it to their team mates as well, but for some reason Stella got the impression that these two would turn it down.

[Reese]

Reese stared back at her with a look of mild surprise while she stood right in front of him and drank from the flask she just straight-up grabbed out of his hand. The confident way she stared back at him as she did it made him want to be more annoyed with what she was doing than he honestly was. But he actually wasn't very bothered by it. Ironically, the total and blatant act of disrespect might have even earned her a measure of respect from him.

He took the flask from her slender hand and answered her little smirk with a slightly cocked eyebrow. He slid the small object back into the inner breast pocket of his coat.

"You're welcome." It was a dry and monotone response.

[Zacke]

"Jaime, can you hear me?"

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FYI guys: Any blue text is Zacke, and only Jaime can hear him.

Lil, when you have Jaime reply, post it in Zacke's thread and make it a different color than the default font color (just so it stands out a little for me and everyone else in that thread.)

[vanesse]

Hahah I'm gonna miss Vanesse XD
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Ehh...? Vanesse felt her cheeks grow red. She swallowed as she watched Stella drink from the same flask as Reese. She figured the tension must've been that high for them to resort to some power drink. But...

"Th...Is this what they call..." she mumbled out of the blue. "I-Indirect kissing?!" She covered her mouth when she realized she spoke out loud.

I've never seen one up close... She guessed camaraderie could be shown this way too.