Trail Of Tears: The Rescue Chapter 5
There's little to say, the swarm of infected people is thick, Taggart just knocked into a wall by the wandering tendrils, which currently are searching for food. Foxheart's been pounced upon by two different figures, a man and a petite blond woman both with dazed looks on their faces. The butt of her railgun colliding with one, she flails to get the creatures off. Flinging one off, she tries to crawl away from the other to get cover. Darkwyrm, Rihko and the rest are just emerging from the door.
Darkwyrm emerges into the hallway and starts to proceed after Fox up until he sees her ambushed by two of the infected spore zombies. Growling angrily, he breaks into a bull-rush and charges towards Fox, aiming to collide with one of her assaulters with his elbow and knock them into a wall.
Rihko calls her fire to her, mentally reaching into the core of her being as she calls on her wisp. The fox-fire ignites, flickers of etherial flame gathering from Rihko's fur and coallescing as the kitsune makes ready. "Don't let them slow you down. Keep moving to the bus!" She flicks her wrist, and her wisp darts forward, the fire happily charging into the spore-zombie that had been knocked clear.
Caeli isn't about to forget the vehicle that got her here. After hauling her weakened passenger to the bike and settling into place with him behind her she guns the engine, bringing it about to follow the others. She's not about to try playing hero now, though - the synthetic girl hangs back while the others make an opening in the crowd, waiting for the right time to break through.
Taggart shakes his head, dumbly, a few times, blinking daze away as the large wolf rolls over onto his hands and feet. The side of his chest is caved in, ribs bent backwards and a few pushing through thick skin and fur to drip blood upon the pavement. His breath comes in wheezes, until he gives his massive body a little shake, ribs starting to slip back into his flesh and popping, audibly, back into place. He limps and pulls himself to stand, growling as his arm raises to protect the injured and still healing side while facing off against the horde down below.
Foxheart grumbles about picking the wrong weapon for the charge, crawling away. Once she's got enough distance, she wills a spark of flame to life to burn the woman she knocked away, just in case. Standing up and swivelling her railgun behind her, she decides to continue heading the charge. Well, somebody has to be in front. She speaks through the radio set in the gas masks. "Heey. Rihko. We're going to have to stop for Taggart later. He looked like he was having trouble." Then she's off again, though slightly more cautious this time.
Tatsu calls out, "We have to see if we can cure her. She's the base of that big creature. I promised her I'd save her." He says to Caeli. "Do you think we could make the cure airborn?" added a few moments later. He clings on, muscles barely working, wasted thin over the last month.
Solixis sticks with Caeli, wincing. "I can't make it airborne myself, but give me enough raw material, namely, like ten pounds of meat or peanuts, so I have enough biomass to mass produce the cure. I'd need water, too, since I'd a bit dehydrated..."
The group just emerging from the hospital door manages to avoid the largest wave of the controlled creatures, but a few spot them and begin to move quickly in their direction. Quite a number jump on the downed Taggart and begin biting at his reforming flesh. A large tentacle sweeps over his head. Taggart feels a wave of dizziness, something very wrong throwing his senses off. The dozen or so that break off toward the group, a few going down immediately in flames.
Caeli nods in agreement with Solixis, but grimly adds, "While theoretically possible, it may not be practical. Do you know where this individual is? Could the cure be applied to her directly?" Out in the open she has plenty of room to maneuver, and swings away from the less-than-friendly locals, keeping her distance as best she can. Spotting Taggart's predicament from where she is, she sheds a few feathers that quickly reform into missiles, arcing swiftly through the air toward the tentacle harassing the wolfman.
Quick on his feet, Darkwyrm moves a little bit away from the rest of the group, putting himself in between them and the horde. He keeps moving in the directon of the bus, but he tries to make himself as big of a distraction as he can, even going so far as to stop and jump-kick an infected in the chest that gets too close to him.
"Inari bless..." Foxheart starts, watching Taggart struggle in dismay. She primes her railgun for a shot, well clear of where Taggart is but still at the horde, and takes a shot with a loud explosion,the overloaded rifle discharging its energy into the kitsune from the backlash.
Taggart growls and shuts his eyes tight as he feels the dizziness sinking in, the number of infected jumping on him and forcing him down. He hunkers his digitigrade legs, head falling and shoulders and arms raising protectively, a shell of muscle and meat and bone as he tries to regain himself. The major damage to his chest knits as more chunks are torn from the extra flesh of his shoulders and legs, his lung re-inflating and starting to work properly once more. His body knits and heals, but not fast enough, and he feels his blackish-blood begin to flow and drip through his fur, matting it as he tries to grasp for strength. The growling of his chest starts to grow, rumbling deep before he is knocked aside by the blast from the rifle, scorching a line across the back of his shoulders. Good thing he'd hunkered down.
Rihko sends a spray of nanite-powered fire into the people closing in on her allies, ready to leap to someone's aid if needed. She points towards the bus. "Get Tatsu on the bus, get someone on the guns, and then you and I can hit the fungus stalk, Caeli. You can synthesize more of whatever that was that carried the instructions?"
Solixis frowns. "We both can. I jsut need a little water. I can replace the biomass later. Probably need both of us just to get enough of the cure if we're doing more than one." She pants, licking her lips to try to save moisture in the midday heat.
Taggart's open wounds grow wider, as thick gray tendrils burst outward. The black of his blood eats at them, devouring but the fungus grows quickly. The blast singes them, while hitting Taggart too, but it gives the blood a chance to fight back, a few still dangling twisting in the air. The creatures around Taggart stop moving in, turning away seeing the infection and now the whole army of creatures is focused on the group. Quite a few moving for the bus to stop it. The first group hits Dark, half a dozen of the creature smaking it through the fire and charging the jackal.
Caeli gives Rihko a single nod in response. "I will try. Please be careful." She spots the bus and crouches low across the bike, opening up the throttle to accelerate toward the relative safety the other vehicle promises. Faster than the horde, she screeches to a perfectly calculated halt and slides off, collecting Tatsu and carrying him inside. "Please remain here," she instructs as she deposits him into a seat. She then hurries back off the bus, leaving the mounted guns to someone else.
Rihko mutters a curse under her breath. She draws her knife and moves forward to intercept the rush, trying to buy the others more time; she holds the blade defensively, sweeping her other hand through the air as she cloaks herself with more fire and wades into the fight.
Darkwyrm flips one infected over his shoulder, slicing through the tendons under its knees before it even hits the ground, Another grabs him, but quickly finds itself with a stump for an arm and knocked away with a punch to the neck. As he starts to get surrounded, he sets himself on fire with a greenish flame to try and force them away. Wincing from the heat, he makes a break for the bus, satisfied that he bought enough time.
Foxheart sprints over to the bus. "You heard what your sister said. You're not in any condition to fight." She still seems to be trying to shake the aftereffects of the railgun off, though the moment the pain dulls a little and the gun is cool enough to hold, she primes a second shot towards the crowd of zombies then scampers up the bus to drop her weapon off, going back into Taggart's fray with her swords, one held high and the other low, slashing wildly with fire, her aim to cover the wounded wolf while he heals.
Taggart takes the reprieve from the Horde to right himself after being knocked aside. The wolf looks a nightmarish sight, to be sure, chunks of flesh missing from major parts of his muscle, dripping blackish-red blood and tendrils of fungus sprouting from open wounds, to boot. His chest is a constant rumble of a growl, his eyes the twisted emerald and crimson, full of Anger and Pain and Rage and Hunger. Pulling himself to his full eight and a half feet, his paws thump slow and heavy upon the concrete, making his way back to the fight as a hand reaches back behind him and tears a stalk of fungus sprouted from his spine with a spray of blood and a deeper growl of defiance.
Solixis sticks next to Rihko, drawing up her own fire and throwing it at the horde. Her tail is alit with the flame and she snarls, baring her teeth at the force.
Flying torn and scattered limbs cover the ground, small tendrils poking free in random directions, searching for new hosts as they grow slowly. The big towering tendrils are still swinging about searching for Taggart. One grabs one of the random people, lifting them up in the air and then squeezing the body til it explodes. Many of the creatures are down on the ground, others outright on fire. They continue to stream toward the group, their numbers only beginning to thin from the devoured and exploded ones. Inside the bus Tatsu calls out to his sister. "Please come back alive. I didn't want you to come here and I won't outlive you, Sis."
Rihko waves her knife in the air for a moment, then tries to push towards the the other building. "Haley! Cygnus! Dark, anyone, covering fire! Help us get in there and shut it down!" She pauses, the air shimmering around her as another wave of fire erupts around the kitsune, nanites in her fur converting some of her mass into volatile elements to help it along, carefully kept in pace with her own regeneration. She growls and then presses forward again.
Foxheart growls as she twirls in her dance of blades, tails fanned out behind her and swinging in each and every way to guard her from blindsides. "Taggart, when we get back on the bus-" She lops a zombie arm off cleanly and kicks the cadaver away. "...I'm going to scream at you regardless-" She lops a head cleanly off, then kicks it into another corpse. "...whether you're even listening-" Both swords impaling a walking dead and dissecting it cleanly, then a rolling dodge to avoid a blow. "Or if Rihko's doing the same." She concludes, panting heavily.
Darkwyrm breaks free of the horde surrounding him and leaps onto the hood of the bus. From there it's a easy climb to the roof. He gets in position behind the mounted gun and readies it before starting to spray bullets into the mass of zombies. It's clear he's not used to using a heavy weapon such as this, but he has the "aim and shoot" concept down readily enough.
Solixis hefts her weapon, following after Rihko. She mentally calibrates her biochemical factory for the cure, not yet producing it for lack of storage for a proper injection. She continueskeeping her own fires burning at the horde.
Taggart takes more slow, tumbling steps as his body fights off the virulent infection, muscles twitching and spasming as the mushrooms try to take over. His claws grasp various tendrils sprouting from his flesh, tugging and yanking, spraying blood and spores about him. The growling in his chest still slowly building, the wolf suddenly launches himself into a sprint, lowering his shoulders and using wicked claws to dig into concrete and propel him along. He barrels toward the Horde again, letting out a loud growl-roar, howling and slamming into... Foxheart? The wolf knocks her bodily aside just as a tendril swings down to do the same to her, and she can almost hear the soft chuckle in his growl as he passes by and throws himself into the fray of bodies and bullets.
The tendrils move immediately for the oncoming fiery Kitsune, swinging down at her with some speed, the warmth must be attracting it. Around her the various figures are burning as they try to latch onto her. Foxheart's knocked clear of another tendril, the creatures still ignoring the infected wolf, they try to claw at the prone Fox. Darkwyrm's covering fire helps Solixis and Caeli make strides toward the medical center.
Caeli unfurls her raven-black wings as she steps off the bus, breaking into a run as a low whine builds amongst her feathers. She charges straight for the attackers, but at the last moment a well-timed leap carries her straight toward the nearest one with enough height to use its head as a stepping-stone. From there she kicks off with a flap of her wings, and a moment later her thrusters engage, launching her directly toward the nearest of the giant tendrils. A quick change of orientation helps to kill her speed just before she slams into the thing, gripping it as best she can while briefly pulling back her injured arm and straightening out her fingers; in the blink of an eye she plunges the limb viciously into the giant appendage, burying it up to her forearm. Her own blood leaks into the creature from her earlier bullet wound, laced with Gemini nanites working overtime to both eliminate the fungus and produce the cure in appreciable amounts.
Foxheart tries to recover before her opponents can get any closer, though a claw snags the hem of her yukata and holds her just long enough that the zombies swarm her before she recovers. Her eyes glow brightly as her nine tails contort and fold around her protectively, protecting her vitals from the clawing horde. Then, almost with a snap, her nine tails in each and every direction with the tips of her tails surging with power, the kitsune muttering in Japanese as the tails swing wildly all around her and pummelling hard into her opponents. She buys herself enough time to pick up her swords and push back the survivors with wide arcing slashes.
Rihko shifts her attention as the newest threat targets her. She shifts her tactics as well; rather than a furious counter assault, fighting hordes with fire and steel, she begins swaying and weaving her way ever closer to her target. Fire continues to rage around her, the indiscriminate maelstrom burning anything that gets close as she ducks, dodges, sidesteps, and dances through the crowd. A grab is slipped, the attacker shoved past, and then a quick sidestep takes her out of the way of a slam, the kitsune using her momentum to shove another attacker off balance, for others to trip on. Her forest wisp dances in the air around her, darting and diving, spreading its own flames as well.
Darkwyrm uses up the first belt of ammo and reaches for another to reload. He picks off a few infected moving on Fox, riddling their heads and torsos with a spray of lead.
The big tendril picks up one of the enflamed bodies, again repeating the lift and crush action, missing the kitsune dancing around in the spreading heat and flames. The packs of still living creatures are starting to severely decay. Caeli's own fluids leak into the creatures around her, and there are sparks and flashes as they come into contact. The radiant light is much like inside when she was cleansing, the creatures pulse and stalks burst from their flesh, but they move less eratically and more controlled. The people inside seem to recognize what's happening and fight for their life, one grabbing and pulling the rooted tendrils from their own flesh. Foxheart's able to get free with the help from Dark, and her own display of power, but the creatures are immediately focused on her again, the only target close to them that isn't on fire.
Solixis charges into the fray, noting the effect Caeli's flung cure is having, decides to to the same, using her own sweat as the dispersing agent. She gives her nanites the start command, pouncing the nearest person with a tendril and ripping it off for biomass. She charges ahead, eating each tendril that tries to attack her, fueling her own chemical factory.
Taggart perks his head at the automatic gunfire from the hummer, wicked and cunning wolfmind turning. He growls and charges straight at Foxheart once more, an arm sweeping out to knock her to the ground, heavily, as the other sweeps to keep attacking infected at bay. At the next release of gunfire, the large wolf stands up straight and takes a hail of bullets through his back, watching as they spray out his chest on the other side with a thick spattering of red-black, acidic blood. The bullets have lost trajectory and the wolf hunkers over in pain after, but the gunfire now laced with his burning blood tears through the fungus infected with extra potency.
Caeli continues to cling to the huge tentacle-thing, doing her best to weaken it with her unorthodox injection of nanites; meanwhile she's free to focus on the remaining threats, letting loose a missile every couple seconds to scream through the air toward any tentacles still on the offensive. Curiously, she seems reluctant to target the infected humans with the attacks, restricting her more explosive efforts to the tendrils only.
Foxheart is unfortunately too focused to remember what the zombies hated. She continues her dance, sparks flying as blades cross and heads roll. Then, she's bowled over by Taggart with a yip after she'd just barely recovered, both swords skittering away from her, and well out of reach from under the zombie horde. Pressured past the point of control, the kitsune's tails flare up behind her again, her purple wisp swirling around her in a conflagration of bright violet flames, tongues of fire spreading and incinerating anything that gets too close. The heat is too much for even the user to manage, a horrifying cry of agony coming from the kitsune as the fire storm continues to rage, though it seems funneled mostly in /some/ sense of direction, her back exposed as she tries not to burn Taggart with what little control she has left over her fire.
The tentacles react swiftly to Caeli's attack, using the constant stream to hone in on her location. The thing slams into her, interrupting her actions with the creatures around. It begins to coil around her leg, while her missiles pound at it's flesh. Not far away, Rihko's lumbering path has taken her close to the edge of the building. Burning people all around screaming out. The nekomata's aura has returned, fueled by consuming the infection, it begins to encompass those creatures around her, which stumble away, many of them now screaming in terror, something they'd been trying to do this entire time. Liquid fungus expelling from their flesh, fleeing the bodies.
Foxheart's fire grows hot, burning her own fur and flesh and eating at Taggart's as well. The flames sear wounds, helping to close the wolf's flesh, but the fur bursts into sympathetic flame. The small kitsune looks to be attacking the beast.
Caeli realizes too late that she's made herself a target and is forced to take the impact full-on, her greatly weakened shield offering little resistance before failing with an azure flash. Thrown to the ground and dazed, it takes her a few moments to realize the thing is pressing its advantage; when she comes to her senses the synthgirl hastily grips the tendril in bloodied hands, attempting to rip it apart with sheer strength as her nanites do the same on a microscopic level.
Rihko continues her advance to the building, the untoppable cometsune holding her position for a moment as she glances around the field of battle. "Come on, quit fucking around!!" she growls. "Kill the *roots*!!" She continues, then, fighting her way to the door to gain entrance to the building.
Darkwyrm uses up the rest of his current belt of ammo clearing a path to the door for Rihko through some of the infected that hadn't come to their senses yet. He considers shooting at some of the ones still attacking Fox, but sees that they are too close to her for a safe shot. Instead, he hops off the jeep, readies his dagger and charges back into the fray.
Solixis continues her meandering path towards the stalks, trying to cure as many people as possible and get as much water and biomass to continue fueling her production. She winces at the screams, cursing her large ears.
The screaming people attract attention of the tendrils, many grabed and squished in the same way. Solixis and Rihko though manage to get to the building and begin work on getting the door open. Caeli, her personal struggle with the massive tendril is lifted into the air, twenty feet up she finally manages to burn through the flesh of the fungus, and the thing ruptures, sending her flying toward the ground as a spray of liquid gushes out. Darkwyrm's got a clear path now, most dead from fire and bullets, or screaming as their brain can barely cope with what's happened to them now that they have muscular control back.
Foxheart loses control of the fire entirely, the kitsune still screaming in pain as fur is singed and flesh is burnt, the maelstrom of flames swinging wildly out of control and burning the wolf she was trying to protect. She tries to pull herself together, though she can't manage it anymore, the nine tailed fox struggling to walk away from Taggart, as much as her body would allow. Fires lash out everywhere, incinerating anything it touches, and zombie bodies disintegrate before her wildfire.
Caeli twists in the air to land with something resembling grace, her inhuman frame absorbing the impact without too much damage. After a split-second recovery she springs to her feet and starts sprinting at top speed after Rihko toward the doors. Agile and flexible, she does her best to duck and dodge any obstacles in her path, abandoning her previous tactics in favor of Rihko's plan.
Taggart lets out a loud, bestial roar as his body catches fire, the green in his eyes flooded over in pure red. His limbs start flailing wildly around him, knocking targets aside, cured or not. The flames lick up and over his fur, obviously ablaze and not in that protective sort that seem to wreathe the kitsunes. His flesh is singing quickly beneath the charring fur, his attacks and shoulderslams hitting anything and everything in an attempt to smother the flames.
Darkwyrm winces as his brain tell him not to do what he's about to do. He whips off his coat and holds it open, diving at Foxheart and covering her with it, seeking to smother the flames. The heat licks at him, scouring his fur and licking through his lighter under-armor. He covers his face with an arm but pulls the coat tightly around the flaming Kitsune.
The roof of the building is split around the center of the stalks, emerging up into the sky and straight down twisting around one another. The floor is coated in a slime mold, sticky and cloying, and at the center of everything, a figure covered in mold, with a stalk rising out of it's chest lays frail, looking no older than ten or twelve as small as it is.
The coat smolders, but the flames are put out quickly, however the Jackal and Fox are directly in the path of Taggart's flaming murderous rampage. Creatures around him barely lasting long before they're torn apart, the blood really not putting out the unatural flames.
Solixis sees the small figure at the heart of the stalks, trying to break in the door to the building to rescue that person.
Rihko trembles for a moment, holding back a great and terrible rage. Visions flash through her mind, plans and options considered and discarded. She points her finger at the figure under the stalk, then turns to hold the doorway and make sure that Solixis and Caeli can work uninterrupted.
A charred and singed Foxheart shakes Darkwyrm hard by his shoulders with a loud growl. "You Inari-damned IDIOT! Put Taggart out, you unthinking fool!" Her yukata's burnt straight off, leaving her body bare, but the kitsune is too angry to care. She finds her swords after a quick scan, then ignores the jackal entirely and makes headway for the rampaging werewolf. With a calculated pounce, she aims for the spot of Taggart that's most alight, then risks everything in a bodycheck.
Solixis sees the small figure at the heart of the stalks, her own rage building. She looks at the stalk, considering options. "I'm going to try to cut her free, using the stalk's mass to fuel the cure. Hoist by it's own petard, in a manner of speaking. How's that sound?"
Taggart thrashes about, tossing bodies aside like the tinder that his flesh has become. The flaming wolf careens around him, swinging about in circles until Foxheart tries to slam into him. In his panic, however, he reads it as an attack and swings his arm around to try to bat her to the side. He misses, but her attack is fairly futile, even in his frenzy as he's eight feet high and ridiculous amounts of weight. The Cursed stumbles slightly and growls loud, but a momentary call from inside snaps his attention and he suddenly perks his head and bolts away from the fray.
Last of the three to arrive at the heart of the infection, Caeli surveys the scene before them with predictable stoicism. Following the neko, she gives a simple nod. "I will defer to your judgement," she replies, crouching beside the prone girl to check for signs of life - is it even possible to save one so far gone?
Foxheart follows after Taggart once she regains her bearings, her attempt to put Taggart out with her own body not quite successful. She decides that Taggart must have sensed something wrong and makes headway towards the hospital too. She's quite seriously hurt, nanites slow to restore the severe burns.
Darkwyrm composes himself but flinches at a few burns on his sides. "So much for a thanks.", he growls as he quickly rummages through the pockets of his coat and grabs his knife and leaves his ruined armor on the ground. He finally looks up and sees that half of the party has made it to the medical center, but Taggart was running the opposite direction. "Wrong way!", he yells at the engraged wolf and Fox. Scowling, he chases after them, weaving his way through the howling masses.
The girl's still alive, though the sticky slime mold over her moves to protect her, like a thick gelatanous membrane. How the girl's even breathing in there is unknown. The big tendrils quake, recognizing something at their stalks, but they are too cumbersome to reach down inside. They flail about, hitting the edges of the roof, sending metal and concrete crashing nearby.
Solixis frowns, gulps, and begins slashing and tearing at the stalk around the girl, tearing away at the fleshy fungus. She works close to the girl, but avoids directly harming her, trying to cut her free and get some of the antidote into her.
Caeli stares down at the girl for a long moment, then carefully places a bloodied palm against the slime smothering her face. The falling debris is cause for concern, but she's not about to abandon Solixis or the girl; instead she remains firmly planted right where she is, pouring energy into the nanite barrier around her, expanding it enough to offer the neko some limited extra protection. Rihko watches, glanceing over her shoulder to keep tabs on Caeli and Solixis, then turns her attention back on the field of battle, and what the others are doing.
Taggart makes his way back into the main branch of the hospital, throwing aside doors and barricades, flame trailing behind and starting to catch onto anything in his way unfortunate to remain in contact long enough to go up. He's headed in and around a corner, then down a main hall to a set of emergency showers, where he wraps his heavy claws around pipes and starts to pull. The wolf's strength is failing him, however, enough meat having burned and charred away to reveal part of his wolf-skull and the large blade of his shoulder.
Inside the hospital, the corridors remain dark, the power having gone out. Some of the cured people have crawled their way inside for safety, trying to get away from the flailing tentacles. One of them reaches down and picks up bodies and throws it in the direction of the hospital, then grabs rocks and throws them, crashing into the side of the hospital causing it to shake.
The slime mold seems to react to the attack quickly, the floor mold clumping up and wraping around Caeli's arm as her nanites sizzle and spark the substance. It flows up and around the android, pushing against her face with a surprising amount of force. It leaves a small portion of the girl's body exposed during its attack.
The tendrils regenerate really fast, Solixis doesn't seem to have an effect on them directly.
Foxheart finally catches up with Taggart and spots what he's doing. She cuts one of the pipes cleanly in two places and splices a section of pipe, water bursting out in a jet. Then she helps the wolf push the pipe, offering what strength she has left to try to push it in the right direction to douse Taggart.
Solixis blinks, flustered. "Damnit, Caeli, I-SHIT." She frowns, trying to figure out how to stop the regeneration without hurting the girl, since fire might work here, but she needs to keep it controlled...
Caeli clamps her jaw and eyes shut against the invading slime, fortunate enough to not need to breathe. Incapable of fear, she makes no move to save herself, all her efforts still focused upon weakening the fungus with her cure-augmented blood. Jolts of electricity spark through her nanite field, more for the heat it might generate than anything else.
Rihko glances back over her shoulder, and she snarls again. One more delay... she turns to fully face the stalk and stomp her way across the floor. She points towards the exposed part of the girl. "There. Inject her, or work whatever magic you do," she says, tone as calm as a glass-topped lake on a windless day. She raises her other paw, and slashes at it with her knife. Then she frowns, and slashes it a second time, and finally a third in the exact same spot, drawing a line of thick blood. The kitsune's ears go back and her fur stands on end as she slams her palm against the stalk; she doesn't know what she is doing or what she expects, but as she forces contact with the thing she focuses her rage, her fury, her burning, boiling hatred too strong and too vast to be constrained by something as silly as words and language. And, of course, that damned, damned, thrice-damned inescapable hunger.
Darkwyrm has to leap to the side to dodge one of the bodies that was flung at the hospital. It explodes against the wall nearby, leaving him to scramble to get inside for cover. "Sunnuva bitch.", he growls, holding his burned arm and looking around for Fox and Tag.
The mold forms up around the three, Caeli's push against it having little effect, enveloping the three figures almost entirely, leaving the girl completely exposed. Sol's and Caeli's auras barely having an effect on the tough mold. But Rihko... Rihko's fire and rage consumes the root of the talk internally, the flames consuming and drawing deep into it. The thing twists and shakes, the room quaking further as more concrete falls, one of the blocks striking directly onto the encased Caeli, hitting her hard despite the layer of the mold. It begins to try to crush the three, all while Rihko's fire works it's way to the surface.
Taggart reaches up and yanks at the pipes, pulling them down and out of the wall and ceiling as a huge gush from the tank rushes down over his enveloped body. He hunkers down and curls up, letting gallons upon gallons of water flood down, carrying away bits of scorched flesh as the flood rushes down the halls. Blood and flesh wash along in the few inches deep water, signaling to Darkwyrm their location.
Solixis is caught by the mold, surprised. She adds her saliva to the production line, tearing and eating at the slime mold, hoping to free herself and the girl. She roars in frustration, allowing her tails to blaze up again with fire.
Rihko is not about to just stand there and let mold climb up her face; as it begins engulfing her, the kitsune lights herself on fire again, fur smoking and skin cooking. She howls with the pain of it, and stabs her knife into the stalk a few times as a convenient channel for her anger. "Fuckingdisgustingfuckingshit," she swears. "Cure her already or I'm just going to eat her and have it done with."
Foxheart is blasted by the water as well, though she stands still even through the torrent, just watching the damage done to Taggart. Her fur and blades are cleaned of the flesh of the ones she cut and the blood spilt during her blade frenzy. She only notices now that there's a large gash down her back, that from the burns refuses to heal.
Survivors stagger into the room with the two, some of them looking in shock at horror, having followed partly to get away from the creature, partly to try to thank threir saviors. A woman runs up to Darkwyrm and grabs at him. Pleading to be killed to stop the nightmares.
Again, the mold crushes further on them, attempting to choke the life out of the three, drowning them in disgusting mucuousy gel. Each tries to invade a body once again, but is rebuffed. The fires crackle, overwhelming the stalk and the thing tears apart from the girl's body, collapsing taking a large chunk of the building as it falls. Severed, the flames crawl down the roots toward the girl.
Caeli is briefly hidden within another flare of light as her shield buckles again, crumpling under the heavy impact of falling debris like so much tin foil. The gynoid likewise collapses, dazed by the blow and compressed by the disgusting stuff covering her. Weakened but not down yet she struggles to break free of her bonds, blindly clawing at the stuff covering her face and eyes.
Foxheart notices the people approach and is about to flare out with her swords again, then stops when she realizes they're survivors. "Stay away from us." She says calmly, the expression on her soaked face unreadable. "From him, rather." She gestures to the wounded Taggart.
Solixis gives another roar, unleashing her own hunger to eat away at her bonds and prevent the fires from claiming the girl. She tears away at the mold, shredding it with tooth and claw.
Rihko would cough or splutter, if she were able, but her last breath is far to valuable to waste in such a fashion; she staggers, one paw searching for something, anything to brace herself against as her eyes close in terror and her other paw claws at her face, trying to rip away some of the mold. Unwilling to concede that her last breath might, indeed, be her Last Breath, she thrashes and fights.
Darkwyrm shoves the woman aside. "No.", he states firmly to her and leaves her. He jogs down the hall towards the sound of water. "Hey, you two!", he calls. "We gotta get out of here."
The Flames peter out with the last of Rihko's energy, expended. The root of the stalks attempts to begin to regenerate, but Solixis dives on top of the uncovered girl after bursting from the prison of mold. She bends in and gives mouth to mouth with the girl, breathing in deep, and sucking air from her lungs. As she does, her aura engulfs the roots, they begin to decay, their grayish flesh falling apart. The crushes one of Caeli's limbs, tearing her wrist off at the seam, and crushing tight, finally entering her lungs bursting in like a flood. Rihko still holding her breath, beginning to black out.
Taggart slowly uncurls from the floor, haggard and burned and bleeding. The damage is fierce, chunks of flesh missing already from his shoulders and legs, now burned down to the bone, the white also partially scorched black. Most of the wounds are cauterized, but some of them are so deep that faint trickles of blood still seep from the burned flesh. The large wolf slowly starts to stumble forward, whimpering gently as he looks around for something, the half bit of his nose left raising to try to sniff for something. Pulling on the last reserve of energy in his soul, he falls forward onto his paws, one skeletal, the other burned down to the muscle as he tries to make his way from the building.
The survivors see the strange burnt beast come right at them, and they flee, quickly away, running past Darkwyrm. The wolf is crawling out past Foxheart as Darkwyrm arrives. The battered wolf and kitsune are burnt and smell horrendous, looking no better.
While Caeli's artificial lungs are more to keep up apperances than anything else, the sensation is still not pleasant - nor is losing her hand, a terrible new experience she must bear in utter silence. A flood of crimson seeps from the new wound, the nanite-rich fluid attacking the remaining fungus of its own accord as she continues her desperate struggle. Kicked into emergency overdrive, her internal systems work to purge her of the invading gunk, the gynoid fighting for survival.
Rihko will not go quietly. As the world begins tipping and spinning and her grasp on lucidity begins to crumble, all she's left with is her feelings, her beast, and the fact that something she can't even fight is going to kill her. She lets it take over, her form shifting and twisting and changing, sharp claws gouging at the slime on her face as she tries to clear enough room to breath.
Darkwyrm stares wide-eyed at the two wounded. "Mother of god. We need to get you two back to the bus immediately. His own scorches and burns seem insignificant now that he's gotten a look at Taggart's condition.
Solixis uses the exchange of saliva to give the girl more of the antidote, protecting her from the enveloping mold. She then looks to her friends, her triumph stolen by their plight.
Rihko rips her large clawed paw out of the mold, tearing it off of herself. Her face contorting with rage and shape as the curse takes its toll. Flames engulf her again and begin to eat away at the mold. Caeli nearby bleeds into the mold, the thing changing red as the blood invades around her. It crushes tighter, trying to tear her apart from the inside, having given up on it's charge. Below solixis the girl coughs, fluid coming out frothy from her lungs, look of total confusion. Her chest still torn apart from where the thing came out, but it begins to knit and close.
Darkwyrm lets out a heavy sigh, seeing that his suggestion went completely unheeded. "You people are going to be the deaths of yourselves.", he shouts after them before picking up a jog again, limping only slightly from the burns. He emerges from the hospital, looking for anything willing to give him an excuse to punch it in the face.
Taggart makes his way out of the main hospital, dodging a flying brick but causing his paw to stumble so that he rolls and slams his shoulder into the concrete, skidding a few inches and scraping burned flesh further raw. The wolf shakes it off and rights himself, taking off again toward the trapped three and recovering fourth.
The Rihkobeast gasps for air and gives herself a shake, her low rumbling growl resonating in the room as her long, sharp claws continue raking and scraping at the muck and the mold.
Foxheart follows behind the Tagwolf, a blade held in either side as guards, considering the cover that's in front of her...and for the first time today, she's glad that there's a Tagwolf in front.
The outside field is a horror to see. Bodies burnt, torn apart, burst open, cut apart line the place. It'd be disturbing on a major level to anyone with a brain. There are craters where large rocks where thrown in the last movements of the twitching tendrils, which now lay spread on the ground, twisting up and decaying.
On the verge of being torn apart, Caeli is closer to death than she's ever been... and something inside her snaps. Focusing every ounce of energy in her battered frame upon a single point within her lungs she begins a swift and efficient purge, her Gemini nanites shredding the stuff and forcibly repurposing the material to create even more nanites. A cascade effect spreads through her, cleansing the gynoid completely before spreading beyond the confines of her body; a sparkling wave of blue washes up out of her mouth and over the mold encasing her, systematically eradicating every last particle until every trace of the stuff that was once touching her is little more than a shimmering pool of nanites.
Taggart follows what is left of his nose until he makes his way into the building where the rest of the group is clawing it's way from mold and muck. His eyes find his transformed mate first, moving over to help claw through and clear the muck from her body. The scorched flesh and portions of his bone are making very very small improvements, the charred bone having flaked off and slowly regrowing.
The recovering sputtering girl's tear filled eyes go wide at the sight of the cat. She reaches up with a frail hand and pets the nekomata, almost as if to see if she's real.
By the time he reaches the front of the hospital again, Darkwyrm is healed enough that he can move his arm and leg just fine. He moves into the charred battlefield, averting his eyes from some of the exploded and burning corpses. He scans the field for any of the infected victims that still seem hostile and, failing that, starts towards the medical center to render assistance and carrying if necessary.
Rihko finishes her clawing and fighting and gives herself a shake, then whines. It is a *very* distressed, unhappy sound. She noses her mate - very, very gently, in the least-damaged spot she can find. Then her gaze focuses on Foxheart, and there is nothing but seething hatred and murder in her eyes. She presses herself against Taggart, brushing her side near his muzzle.
There are a few infected, but they seem to be just sitting there, dazed expression on their faces, not moving.
Solixis nuzzles the hand, purring softly as she scoops the girl up, trying to comfort her in this scary environment. She notices the others, and gently holds the girl to herself, heading out to reunite the girl with Tatsu.
Foxheart is next into the room. She draws her swords first, but she realizes a fat lot of good that will do. She glares back at Rihko, her body too broken to display her anger, but her undamaged eyes conveying the same murderous look back to the Rihkobeast as she stares. She is justified, and unafraid. Skin starts patching itself in the worst damaged places, sealing over an exposed lung as she heaves for air.
Taggart gives a gentle mur as Rihko noses against him, though his breathing comes in wheezing whimpers. The wolf turns his head about and glances at the carnage around them, apparently sniffing for a few things before huffing with disdain. He turns and then starts to limp his way to the bus, rubbing some of his less damage side against his mate's as he does so, softly.
Arriving last, Darkwyrm glances around. Scowling he says, "Looks like we need to distribute a couple band-aids." He sighs, then adds "Alright, who wants t'be carried?"
Tatsu's already running out of the bus when he sees Solixis emerge with the girl. He runs forward and scoops her up into his arms, overjoyed expression. He's quite enthralled, and noses and hugs the girl who finally smiles. She's confused it seems, but she knows Tatsu, there's little doubt.
Free of the revolting blanket that had come so close to killing all three of them, Caeli recovers swiftly enough, aided by the overabundance of nanites at her disposal. The first thing she does is stare at her wrist-stump, expressionless... but rather than dwell on it she gingerly picks up her dismembered hand and places it against the stump, holding it there as the repairs begin. It's a bloody mess, but it seems to work, twisted polymers and torn muscle fibers reattaching themselves until she can give a little twitch of her finger. Satisfied with even that much, she stands to follow the others, most of her attention still on recovery.
It looks like the main spreader for the city has been destroyed, the spores in the air are clearing. However there's still that strange funnel cloud off in the distance, and the original source of this odd infection is totally unknown.
Solixis without her passenger, Solixis limps back to the humvee, cuddling her mate and collapsing, worn out. Two near-death experiences in the space of an hour is a little much for this nekomata, and she just wants to be held.
Rihko waits in the room long enough to make sure everyone is leaving in one piece, then begins making her way back to the bus as well. She does snarl and casually dig her claws into one of the infected as she passes by, ripping the poor victim open, then finds a spot clear at the back of the bus mostly out of sight to curl up and watch her mate's wounds slowly mend.
Foxheart lies down on her bus seat tenderly, her wounds sealing agonizingly slowly. She doesn't have the same regeneration as either Cursed beast does, and she can't even lean back properly. With a sigh, she starts running through her mind how in Inari's grace she's going to explain what she did and why it happened.
