What Lovely Specimens. PLOT

[Ϛ Cylo]

Cylo was sensing a whole lot of hostility toward him, and hadn't the slightest idea why. He didn't even know the lycan, as far as he could remember, and weren't he and Eve on friendly terms? Combined with the disorientation of other recent events, he was pretty unsettled.

"Don't worry about me. I got myself shot and blown up, I can deal with the consequences."

He grinned despite it all and tested the weight on his other foot. An automatic grimace answered the question for him; it was nowhere near one hundred percent. However, he found he could walk on it, and if he could walk on it, he could run on it.

And if he could run on it, he could catch the man who'd shot and grenaded him and his companions.

"Thanks," Cylo said shortly to Rae, flashing a quick smile before running over to the bodies left from the fighting. They were mostly dead, but there was still at least some life left in them. Normally he'd feel bad about taking a life, but these men didn't possess any honour in his eyes, and even if they didn't agree with the things their employers were doing, they should not have been working for them by principle. He made quick work of draining the life out of them, and, feeling spry once more, took off down the hall.

It didn't take him long to catch up with Stephens, and he slowed as he watched what was happening, but then the man started running away again.

Oh no you don't.

Cylo may have been smaller than the man, but at the speed he was moving, his slide tackle would remove a small elephant from its feet. Stephens would most likely land on top of him, but Cylo was prepared for that, and his knife would be to the man's throat before they hit the ground.

"Move and I cut you a new mouth," Cylo growled, knowing that if he made one error the man could overpower him at such close quarters. But what he said was true; if the man fidgeted at all, the knife would stick right through his jugular and into his windpipe.

[morg]

"I know roughly where we're going," offered Morgan. She dared glance over her shoulder now, smiling at Garion. This had to be rough on the poor kid, and Morgan wished she could just hug him and tell him it was all going to be alright. But she was acting more or less on auto-pilot now, and was determined to get out of there as quickly as she could manage.

"It's not that hard," she offered, turning and speeding up. "They built this place relatively simply, probably because it's underground and stuff. Besides..."

She frowned. "I remember all kinds of odd stuff now. Just need to be a little conscious for my mind to pick it up."

Sighing, she picked up the pace again. "C'mon, the others are waiting..."

[matt]

Matt's pulse quickened when Stephens came up from behind Kiri and grabbed a fistful of her hair. The man looked like a wrestling world-champion or something. Superpowers or not, if he could crush their skulls with his bare hands, they didn't stand a chance! It felt like his heart would burst, and he felt like he was burning. Kiri's creepy-crawly friends only seemed to worsen what he was feeling; he didn't want to be eaten by rodents, nor watch anyone else be.

Feeling hot and nauseous, he gave a concerned glance to Kiri, who seemed to be doing well despite the emergence of hungry rats.

She's probably the one who called them, or something...okay, this is too weird. I'm ready to wake up now!

"Are you alright?" He asked the blonde, eyes widening as something wooshed past. "W-what the hell?! Okay, let's get out of here. Now." He tugged at his shirt collar desperately, as if loosening it could cool him, or soothe his stomach.

[Kiri Honeywater]

Holding the back of her head she sniffled glancing at Locke and the boy inquiring about her. That had hurt, but she could ignore it. It had to be nothing compared to what Locke, and that other boy had probably endured in this horrible place.

"I'm okay." She whispered getting to her feet, a little shake but she was standing. A few rats came to her squeaking up at her with round black eyes. Kiri scooped up two and nuzzled them whispering softly to them, and then set them on the floor. One went one way the other another.

"One is going to try and find Star the other is going to try and find my godfather." Her voice was low as she announced this figuring they might want to know what she had just did. "Can we get out of here now?"

A hand was held out to Locke her eyes softening when gazing at him. Her brave genius. He looked much better than she had imagined, which made her hear jump with happiness.

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion tried to speed up and catch up with Morgan, but he was tired, his knuckles were still bleeding, and Morgan was very fast. He didn't expect much.

And of course, he wouldn't get anything expected.

His legs were suddenly lighter than ever before. In fact, how could walking have ever been a chore? he bounded lightly on his feet, totally trusting Morgan.

And then the lights began to flicker, and there was a crinkling electric sound.

[Admin]

The bulky black man's easy getaway was being disrupted by some redhaired little punk. And he seemed to think that holding a little knife to Stephens's throat was enough to intimidate him. After all that had gone down in the past few hours, this seemed too ridiculous to be real. Stephens just had to quietly laugh, the knife nearly dancing along his throat.

"Kid," he rumbled, smirking now, "I was leavin' before you tackled me. If you really want to do this, you'd better be prepared to kill me. Because if you don't, I'm going to kill you, and then go to sleep at night."

He shrugged then, and met Cylo's eyes. Clearly the bulky bruiser meant what he said. His eyes flicked to the retreating children, making note of their path. The Director would want to know where everyone went.

Stephens wasn't going down to some kid with a knife, after all.

[morg]

The flashing lights caused Morgan to pause for a moment. Someone with an electro-Gift? Or were the goonies trying something to scare the captives? Either way, it wasn't going to do them any good to stay where they were.

"Pick it up!" yelled Morgan, waving her arm forward. She began running then, moving all out.

Even though Morgan had been restrained for a while, and her muscles were sore, she still was an athlete at the core. She moved quickly through the halls, most likely leaving Garion far behind. Soon she pulled up to the unusual scene.

"Kiri! Locke!" she exclaimed, grinning at the couple. She was panting due to exertion, but felt better seeing two people she knew. Morgan then turned slowly, seeing Cylo and Stephens locked in a grapple. "Hell..."

She took a step towards them, then paused. What was the situation, exactly? What should she do?

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke felt his hand glance off the big man, who seemed to ignore the charge. What? How could that be?

Agh, of course, he didn't account for the man's added muscle mass, and now he was getting away...with a fistful of hair.

Hair, DNA, fae DNA.

"We have to stop him!" Locke shouted. Everyone they captured was human, if they got DNA of something like a Fae, that would be disastrous. Before he could react he saw the blur move past them, he looked familiar...he was...the guy who chased that girl in the Physical Combat Class! He never did get his name.

Hey...Morgan was a good fighter wasn't she? And she should still be around here somewhere, he hadn't gone far...

"MORGAN! GARION!" He shouted, and then to Matt. "He can't get away, they can't get those strands of hair! We've got to do something!"

Damned if he knew what that something was, he'd have to wait and see how this played out.

[Eve Stone]

The howl made her eyes go wide and she looked to Rae. That had to be that little grey wolf that Rae knew. Not at all worried about the big man leaving them she did however mind Cylo leaving. Hand reaching out she could in no way catch him.

"What the hell? This is nothing but chaos!" Everyone kept splitting up, and that was going to make all getting out of here in one group impossible. Didn't people understand staying in a group? She easily ignored the kiss, and any other crude comment from Rae.

"Okay, they're leaving us behind here, Rae." Angry eyes turned to her girl friend. She was sick of being way in the back by the exit. They needed to find those kids already and get out of there.

[Raelena St. John]

Everyone had charged off and left Rae and Eve by the door. Like her girlfriend, Rae found this rather upsetting. But...

"Th' door," she muttered, looking behind her. She then turned to look at Eve, an abashed look upon her face. "Someone's got tae guard th' bloody door... If'n we go in, an' they snipe our arses..."

Rae didn't want to be a door guard. She wanted to go charging down there and rip heads open. Especially since Eryk was down there somewhere. And Morgan. And little Kiri. Simply too many people that Rae wanted to protect.

But if the door was lost... or sealed... they could all be screwed.

"Eve, we have tae," Rae swallowed, stomping her foot, "f**k, we have tae guard th' bloody door."

She crossed her arms and leaned against a wall, clearly pouting. "This f**kin' sucks."

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion ran to catch up with Morgan, ironically finding a new freedom in this place, of all places. He stopped short when he saw the hulking giant of a man grappling with a wiry red-head.

This was going to get ugly.

The poor redhead was going to get slaughtered, and there was nothing Garion could do. And then Locke called out his name, and Garion had a glimpse of simplistic brilliance.

He reached out with his mind, and grabbed Stephens'....

Shoelaces.

If he didn't notice them first, they would worm their way out of thier knots, then quickly tie themselves (and his two shoes) together in an intricate and air-tight knot.

[Ϛ Cylo]

Cylo liked movies. He and his many siblings had watched an endless supply of them growing up. They could teach him plenty of things about life, from lessons on what is right and wrong in Disney movies, to how to fight off twenty guys at once using kung fu. It had also taught him the same lesson Matt had learned, to never split up, but he didn't always listen to that one, and this was more of an acton movie than a horror anyway, if he had to classify it.

What was important about all this was one thing; Cylo had learned that you never, never, let the bad guys get away. They never simply stay away, and always come back for revenge. Even if you capture them and lock them up, they always seem to escape, but that was still only if you didn't let them get away.

Stephens' fidgeting had caused a pretty red 'X' to form on the man's neck, blood pooling on the small cuts, but not yet dripping. Cylo stared at it, mesmerized.

And then plunged his knife into the man's neck.

He wouldn't die instantly, but he would drown in his own blood soon enough as his jugular emptied into his lungs, probably before he even bled out. It wasn't exactly humane, but that was the last thing on Cylo's mind at the moment. His hand went to the man's neck and began draining him of energy not to make the death less drawn out and painful, but to get as much use out of the evil man's life as possible.

The fact that taking a life may have made him just as bad didn't occur to him.

*Garion's ations weren't even visible from his angle, but they didn't matter much anymore either way.

If you don't want me to kill him... I'll have to rewrite it xD

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke saw the knife pressing, time slowed down and he saw the muscles moving. He saw the slash motion coming, and Kiri was staring right at the man.

Innocent, pure, naive Kiri, would not see a man murdered and drown on his own blood today.

Wordlessly he dove atop Kiri pressing his hands against her ears. He wanted to block out the sound that was going to fill his ears. The slice, the shout, the gurgle of blood, it made him sick to his stomach. But she would not hear it...he would not be responsible for exposing her to such wickedness, he'd rather die.

Or endure it himself, and as he blocked both her vision and her hearing all he could think of was the sound that burned itself into his perfect memory.

The sound of death.

[Kirien Melantha]

Luckily, I'd only have to edit like, three words in this whole thing. :D

"Are you deaf?! I said you can't leave, dumbass![/i]"

A very-pissed off, blood-drenched Kirien stormed after the retreating Stephens, not sparing a glance or a word to her comrades. She was on the hunt, and she would not let her prey get away, no matter what.

She wasn't far behind Stephans, and the distractions the mountain of a man kept running into only served to close the gap between them. She passed the group of children without batting an eye - someone else could babysit them - and soon came upon her target.

Her red eyes narrowed dangerously as she spotted Cylo, holding a knife in the neck of her prey.

How the fuck did he get here?!

She had her pointed teeth clenched together like she was about to snap at him; she didn't appreciate him showing off the whole fight and then stealing away her toy. But she stayed a few feet away, lowering her meat-shield to the floor carefully, then resuming a fighting stance, hand firmly gripping her red-stained axe. Just in case anyone was foolish enough to come near her.

Something inside her calmed ever so slightly when she saw him, even though he had shown up only to steal her fun, and she relaxed in her stance, glad to see that he was well.[/color]

[Admin]

Stephens had killed his fair share of people.

He couldn't claim to know the exact number. It had to have hit double digits, easy, possibly triple. some of them had been direct kills: Stephens' meaty hands wrapping around a tender neck, his fists crushing bone. Some had been indirect: a carefully planted bomb, a well said word.

Years of experience with death had made the man prepared for it. Yes, he hadn't been expecting it to come from a kid with a knife. But the best killers usually died by the hands of a kid that got too lucky.

It looked like it would be that way for Stephens.

The man died eerily quietly. His breathing came in wet, rattling gasps, yes. But he did not moan. He did not scream. He did not vocalize anything. He simply breathed till his eyes glossed over.

The man known as Stephens choked to death on his own blood, dieing on the floor of a place without a proper name.