senhime 「 千姫 」 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deontological) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
recountal2014-10-20 09:56 pm
deontological) wrote in recountal2014-10-20 09:56 pm
we're going to get up to 10 threads at once again at this rate good lord;;
[The contestants of the second season haven't been a priority of the producers in a very long time.
They're old news, after all. The fans that had grown up watching that season are old now, and only the really pretentious revamp fans go far back enough into the archives to watch them. But the producers also know from their background research that Chizuru is a friend of one of those contestants, and that Kaoru would move heaven and earth for his younger sister. The survivors have been cautious thus far and they haven't been able to get any of them back for the damage they've caused...
But Chizuru is reckless when it comes to her friends, as they well know, and it isn't a difficult matter at all for them to let the location of the second season's survivors slip. There are only three of them: Sen and two of the Designated Killers that had been selected after Sebastian's group had proved so useful in the first season, who had turned on their mastermind in the last week at Sen's urging. The rest had been lost in a terrible bloodbath and hadn't been recovered.
It's a somewhat roundabout plan - lure out Chizuru and capture her in order to lure out and capture Kaoru. The trap is a little too obvious, though, and Chizuru is left behind in safety (probably being babysat by Sebastian, because it's highly unlikely that Kaoru would ask Okita to look after his sister) while Kaoru comes to investigate the building where the survivors are being kept in stasis. It's rather innocuous-looking, a three-story office building just like any others in the town's business district.
Sen and the other two survivors are in the basement, having passed the last 48 years in blissful oblivion. The two Designated Killers are in a separate room; Kaoru will come across Sen first, seemingly in a very deep sleep. She is hooked up to an IV of some kind, and a monitor - it tracks her heart rate, her breathing, and all her other vital functions. Below the monitor is a keyboard; pressing any of the keys will pull up a command prompt.
The room is utterly silent, save for Sen's gentle breathing.]
They're old news, after all. The fans that had grown up watching that season are old now, and only the really pretentious revamp fans go far back enough into the archives to watch them. But the producers also know from their background research that Chizuru is a friend of one of those contestants, and that Kaoru would move heaven and earth for his younger sister. The survivors have been cautious thus far and they haven't been able to get any of them back for the damage they've caused...
But Chizuru is reckless when it comes to her friends, as they well know, and it isn't a difficult matter at all for them to let the location of the second season's survivors slip. There are only three of them: Sen and two of the Designated Killers that had been selected after Sebastian's group had proved so useful in the first season, who had turned on their mastermind in the last week at Sen's urging. The rest had been lost in a terrible bloodbath and hadn't been recovered.
It's a somewhat roundabout plan - lure out Chizuru and capture her in order to lure out and capture Kaoru. The trap is a little too obvious, though, and Chizuru is left behind in safety (probably being babysat by Sebastian, because it's highly unlikely that Kaoru would ask Okita to look after his sister) while Kaoru comes to investigate the building where the survivors are being kept in stasis. It's rather innocuous-looking, a three-story office building just like any others in the town's business district.
Sen and the other two survivors are in the basement, having passed the last 48 years in blissful oblivion. The two Designated Killers are in a separate room; Kaoru will come across Sen first, seemingly in a very deep sleep. She is hooked up to an IV of some kind, and a monitor - it tracks her heart rate, her breathing, and all her other vital functions. Below the monitor is a keyboard; pressing any of the keys will pull up a command prompt.
The room is utterly silent, save for Sen's gentle breathing.]
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...Sen isn't sure what became of the dead in her season, either. She also doesn't know how many seasons have gone on since her own - season two was a long time ago, but for her, it's the last thing she remembers; the end of the show seems as though it had only happened a few hours ago. And then she'd... fallen asleep?
Something had happened. That's why she's here now, facing down this strange young man in those even stranger clothes. She eyes him a little warily and tries to parse what he's saying to her.]
Your sister... [Ah. That's why his face looks so familiar - ] The girl who dresses as a boy? [She would know more than that, if Kaoru hadn't so rudely rewound her memories, but there you go.
For a moment or two, she looks as though she is wrestling with her options, but she finally comes out of her crouch and glances around the room once more before returning her attention to him.]
...let's go. I would like to hear more of what circumstances led to your being here, once we're far away from this place.
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THAT SAID, he doesn't seem to yet realize that he's responsible for setting back her canon point, good job cowabunga. He'll nod at that, though, reaching up to tuck some hair behind an ear in a gesture of anxious energy as his gaze continues to bounce around the room.]
Chizuru Yukimura, the one staying with the Shinsengumi. Anyway— [That's a discussion for a later time, quite obviously. He's a little relieved that she's agreeing relatively readily since that saves him a lot of hassle, and with a gesture behind himself, he'll turn and set back off toward the door.]
Stay to the sides, but not too close. [Just in case THE WALLS BECOME LAVA or some ridiculous shit.] We'll leave that way. As soon as we get out of the complex, the trip back shouldn't be too difficult.
[It's getting out that'll be the hard part, he assumes. When he approaches the door he entered through it's with an excessive amount of caution; he doesn't even reach for the knob with his bare hand, reaching instead to touch it with the handle of his knife first. Sen won't know how to handle things like electrical traps, after all; that much is solely up to him.]
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As for how to get out of the basement, they have two options - the staircase or the elevator. The elevators doors are open and inviting; the stairs, on the other hand, stretch up and up into a slightly murky darkness. A flickering light at the very top illuminates another door from time to time, but it spends more time being unseeable than not because for some reason keeping that light in good working order just isn't a priority of the producers.
It is eerily quiet in the building.]
...this feels like a trap of some kind. [It is a rather easy observation to make.] I take it I was the bait?
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[He casts her a sidelong glance, answering once he's observed the length of the hall and both of their apparent options. His mouth twitches downward, displeased and thoughtful.]
Not for me, but like I said, there's no way I would let Chizuru come here. [And there's a little displeased noise that punctuates that sentence, because DAMMIT CHIZURU why does he do these things for you... (Because he actually managed to sort his feelings out enough to love her properly, basically.)
That noise is quickly followed by an irritated click of his tongue against his teeth, because he's got a few annoyances stacking up here now. He gestures with the blade toward the elevator.]
Too obvious. I can't tell if they actually expect us to be so reckless, or if they're trying to play on a false sense of security. "Ah, it's such an obvious trap that it can't be one", but of course it is. [The blade is raised again and Kaoru taps it against his chin, gaze shifting to the stairs.] Not safe, either. There's no predicting what might be behind the door. Going up in buildings like this is never good; fighting on stairwells is difficult. [A beat.] We don't know how far down the elevator shaft goes. If they cut the wires, we'd take a huge hit. It'd be easier for them to trap us inside. We could always scale through the roof exit and climb the supports up...
[Being Naturally Paranoid Helps Kaoru Out: the documentary, in action. BEHOLD...]
...Irritating. I don't like either. It's not a matter of trying to pick which one is the trap - it's a matter of picking which trap we'll be better equipped to face. [A grumbled "I can't guess something like that" might be heard, if she's listening, but he'll eventually set off toward the stairs with no small measure of reluctance.]
Stay behind me.
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[Or so Sen thinks, anyway, thanks to Kaoru's meddling. But she seems to dismiss it as some strange result of whatever it is the producers have done - she's well aware, now that she is awake, that the contestant she had been so protective of was her bodyguard, though during the game she hadn't been aware of their prior relationship. The producers clearly have some way of altering memories.
Perhaps Chizuru's have been altered, she thinks. Or perhaps there are more of her own memories locked away than she knows.
Kaoru's explanation begets a thoughtful nod from her, though he seems to make up his mind before she is able to weigh in - he tells her to stay behind him, and so she does. Her balance isn't awful at all, so while he progresses up the stairs she turns so that she can walk up them backwards and keep an eye on the path behind them.
So far, so good - nothing is coming...
They only make it about halfway up the staircase before there is an unpleasant, metallic scraping sound that echoes around them.]
—What was that?
[It's hard to pinpoint exactly where it came from; it sounds as though it is coming from both the door ahead of them and the hallway behind them.]
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That said, he feels a little grateful for being on a mission of sorts with someone who actually knows what they're doing. Not that there are a high number of people among their own ranks who don't, and the noncombatants stay behind anyway, but rescue missions are always so hit and miss. They become thrice as difficult when "let's both escape" turns into "well I guess I will have to keep your ass from dying while we escape".
AND THEN THERE'S A NOISE and Kaoru tenses for a second, but doesn't stop moving. Avoiding a sitting duck scenario is a lesson that he's well learned over the years, especially since his initial fighting instincts had included much more evasive maneuvering.]
—I'm not sure.
[Not sure because he has some ideas, but they're all pretty comic book villains-y. This time, he does seek her input.] Press on? Do you see anything down that way?
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[And she's looking hard! But there is no movement coming from the hallway they've just left at all, though the scraping noise only grows louder and louder. Sen is tense and wishing for more space, too - she's not a fighter in the same vein as Kaoru or even some other demons, but she can certainly hold her own... a situation like this, though, will make that much more difficult.
She doesn't even have a weapon.
Like Kaoru, she keeps moving, but she keeps a wary eye on the space behind them just so nobody can sneak up on them. She doesn't trust the producers well enough to turn her back.
As they reach the top of the staircase, the scraping noise goes abruptly silent - there are a few long moments where there is no sound at all... until the door starts rattling, like someone is trying to force their way in from the other side.
That's okay, though, because it's locked from this side.
...which is probably shouldn't be, if Kaoru had taken the stairs down into the basement to fetch Sen.]
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...Do you see anything yet? They're trying to force us through this way, but we're going to have to get ready for a fight in cramped quarters if we try.
[A stairway fight doesn't sound particularly appealing to him, especially without knowing what they're going to be fighting or how aggressive whatever it is might be. He has a few other weapons tucked away just in case but not a lot of them are feasible for such short-range use.
After another second of listening, he pulls his jacket back a little, where the holster for his hunting knife rests strapped to his thigh. There's a secondary one there, which he quickly removes and offers handle-first in Sen's direction before stepping back to pull up level with her, even though he still faces the door.]
...I'm going to check below a little more closely. There's no way they'll just let us walk back so easily, but...
[HE ALSO DOESN'T WANT TO BE GUTTED BY PYRAMID HEAD as soon as he opens the top door...]
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No, nothing.
[She takes the knife when it's offered and luckily, she isn't totally inept! No accidental stabbing here; she looks perfectly at ease with holding the blade. There are worse people he could have been stuck rescuing, probably. At least she won't make him do all the work if it comes to a fight.]
...mm. I'll have your back. If they try anything, we won't make it easy for them.
[Bring it on, Producers. B r i n g i t. The only thing they're bringing is an increased rattling of the door, but considering neither one of them is stupid enough to open it, that'll just, you know, keep on keeping on. Whatever's on the other side hasn't even progressed to trying to break it down!
...yet.
Anyway, Kaoru will have an easy enough time checking out the area below them, which looks basically the same as it did before they started up the stairs. There's no sign of whatever was making the scraping noise, anyway!
After a few moments, the rattling of the door stops.
...a few moments after that, the elevator doors which had been so open and inviting before slide shut, and there's a sound as the elevator car ascends. Something from further up seems to have called it up to take it down to visit them, sINCE NEITHER ONE OF THEM WOULD POLITELY OPEN THE DOOR FOR IT.]
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[GOOD, NO STABBING, ONLY REVENGE. He'll walk down carefully, straining to hear.
Turns out he doesn't have to strain too hard. In the sudden silence that had followed the cessation of rattling - which already had Kaoru on edge, because why - the sound of the elevator doors shutting draws his attention over immediately. It takes all of one second for Kaoru to process what's going on aND THEN NATURALLY HE'S JOLTING BACK UP THE STAIRS. He takes them two at a time, holding his knife to the side in a defensive sort of pose.]
Something might be coming! Don't open that door yet—!
[Just in case it's a smart Pyramid Head that just pushed the button to trick them into opening the door...]
Wait, wait a second, keep your eye below!
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I'm watching.
[...and yet, there doesn't seem to be much to watch. Not for about a minute, anyway, which is how long the elevator takes to go all the way up to the top and then come back down. The doors open after that amount of time with a soft ding, but there are no footsteps and no voices.
It's still very quiet, but after a couple more moments both of them will be able to hear a shrill beeping noise. It's beeping once a second, almost rhythmically.
She wrinkles her nose and keeps her voice low.] ...whatever that sound is... it doesn't sound good. [Where has she heard that kind of a beeping before? She's not sure - it's both familiar and unfamiliar. Nothing she's experienced consciously, certainly, but she can't shake the feeling that she has heard it.
Kaoru, being more familiar with modern technology, might recognize it as the sound of a timer counting down.]
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THAT SAID, Kaoru's still and quiet for the entire duration of the elevator's descent, clearly expecting some weird creature or an army of Producer goons to come pouring out and charge the stairs. That doesn't happen, though, and he scarcely thinks that was too easy before the beep of the countdown starts.
He curses under his breath.]
Looks like we're going to be opening that door after all. [Said with an extremely sour face because DAMMIT that was a smart tactic. Having no idea when the timer is set to go off means that they can't risk going back downstairs to look for a secondary exit or a safer place to stay, and being this close to the elevator means that if an explosion does follow, they'll be caught in a very unfortunate place during the blast.
He's immediately sweeping up to the flat before the door, testingly touching the knob with his knife handle yet again before glancing back toward Sen.]
Staying here would put us both at risk, so on the count of three, I'll open it. Are you ready?
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[As ready as she'll ever be. The count of three comes just in time, however - as the door swings open, an explosion rings out from down below them, just as Kaoru had feared. Luckily, it's small and contained, only causing a minimal amount of shaking in the stairwell; a moment later, though, there is the sound of scraping metal and then a thunderous crash.
It's good that they've opened the door, because the elevator is no longer in good working order. They likely won't go back to investigate, but if they did, they would find nothing but an empty elevator shaft with the wreckage of the elevator car far below.
Once the door is opened in this room, they'll need some time for their eyes to adjust - because the lights, which had been dim on Kaoru's first trip through, are now blindingly bright. Sen hisses, but squints, not closing her eyes entirely.
Once they can see, they'll find what was causing the door to rattle. It is a large, hulking monster of a man in a gas mask and a suit, standing in front of the elevator door on the other side of the room. In one hand he has a thick club; in the other, he's holding a square box with a button on it.
Sen would dearly like to disembowel him for all that he represents, but she doesn't; she merely adjusts her hold on the hunting knife and shifts into a stance that will allow for easier movement, once they decide to fight. She keeps her attention on the masked man, and the masked man, in turn, is keeping his attention on Kaoru.]
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SO THROUGH THE DOOR IT IS and while Kaoru is also taken by surprise reentering the once-dark room, he's also relatively prepared for things like this. Life is hard in the future where they have sound cannons and flash-bang grenades... He has a vague, passing thought as he holds a hand up to shield his eyes, remembering how Stiles had tried to shove sunglasses at him on his way out the door because cool guys don't look at explosions or something, and he had left them behind with little more than a "don't curse my luck".
His eyes adjust somewhat quickly at least - and the thing that had been pestering them endlessly earlier is so large that he doesn't need to strain them much to see it, anyway. The details come into focus soon enough. Suit, gas mask, club, box. His mind works quickly: the box might have been used to set off the explosive - there may be more around. Gas mask for protection, maybe? There are a lot of gases that can do damage even to a demon. All that thing needs is enough time to capture them, after all. Containment or death could follow quickly if they're incapacitated. The fact that the man is watching him also unnerves him, since it says to him that Sen is not as high on the objective list.]
—Here. [His eyes stay fixed on the man, but his free hand reaches up to unwind the scarf tucked tightly against him inside of his jacket.] In case you need to cover your nose or mouth.
[This is also one of those moments when he wishes he did prefer guns, because it would be a hell of a lot easier to test for any traps by firing off a few rounds first. He'll have to rely on his speed, then, though he doesn't set off like that immediately. They had been planning for the arrival of a demon, after all. Maybe not him, but he and Chizuru share the same abilities, so he takes a few cautious steps forward first.]