[PRP] Artifacts 101 (Lucky, Gale, Rep, Mark, Carl)

[kuropeco]

LIGHTHOUSE


"If you slap me," growled Gale, "I will bloody punch you in your bloody face."

His cheek still smarted where Samuel had slapped him - twice - and he wasn't keen to repeat the experience. Gale pushed Mark off of him, heaved a breath, and said, "We were in a room with pods. And green, a lot of green. They tried - one of them tried to attack me, it dragged me into one of the pods, and Samuel got us out."

His expression was almost thunderous as he glowered at the Division Assistant.

"Of course we're going to save him. How do we get back out there?"

zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

Lighthouse

The next five minutes was just an arduous waiting around for Mark to figure out what was wrong with the portals system. It involved rebooting, using the helper again, calling Life Division for rune malfunction phone tech support (this lasted for 30 seconds before the other line just straight up hung up), and then finally, while the loading bar was stuck at 99%, getting dramatically on his knees and crying to the sky about the injustice of not being able to make portals himself and how he would never abuse this.

All in all it was rather educational for Carl who during the last four out of five minutes was just trying very hard to pretend Mark didn't exist because it wasn't good to talk to homeless people all the time and make them more assertive.

Finally, surprisingly, the loading screen hit one-hundred percent and Mark looked like he was going to cry in relief, kissing the air a few times before running and suddenly pausing right in front of the portal. "Uhhh, you guys first. I'll uh, I'll take care of- of getting you back." In terms of half-assed excuses, this was actually a relatively important one.

"Should I come?" asked Carl, who still looked like he had been ran through a drying machine on delicates only. He looked excited for about five seconds before it turned into a very neutral expression when he saw the caterpillar still gnawing on Rep's coat. "I'll stay."

"Right, so go in, get Sam, run out, I'll keep the portal running." Mark sat down thumbs-uped the two. "Maybe uh, don't bring any more jars of mass destruction home, I don't care what anyone else says about them!"

The other side of the portal would just be snow, straight up snow, and then Sam's coat in the snow, covered in blood.

kuropeco

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

Lighthouse

Rep wasn't a patient guy, and having to wait for Mark to sort s**t out was always excruciating, not just because he wanted to go help the other man out, but also because he felt so useless the whole ******** time. He wanted to be able to help but just couldn't, so he paced, up and down repeatedly on the floor, his stress levels building and building.

He gave the portal a momentary concerned look, not keen on going back in if the way back out again was going to be subject to breaking down for however long this had taken. But someone was out there and they were the only ones who could help him.

Giving Gale a nod of co-operation, he jumped in.

"Ah ********." he said grimly at the coat when they arrived.

 

[kuropeco]

LIGHTHOUSE > ARCTIC


Gale did not like just standing around doing nothing; instead he paced, walking back and forth in an attempt at working off some of the excess energy and adrenaline that was still thrumming through his veins, though it was mostly impossible. His mind still felt stupidly sluggish, his chest tight.

He was not the only one, it seemed, who was impatient, because Rep was also pacing, and when it was finally time to go through the portal, Gale sucked in a breath of mingled relief and tension, his pulse rapid under his skin. He returned Rep's nod with one of his own, and then stepped through.

The coat was scarlet, a blot on the landscape. Gale stared at it, then stepped forward and carefully lifted it, the cold biting into him, the snow howling around them.

"Damn it." Gale turned his head, his heart in his throat.

"Do you see anything, Rep? Samuel!"

zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

Lighthouse

Gunfire from the distance, and then sounds of a shotgun. Silence for five seconds, and then the sound of footsteps in the maelstrom of white. It was just a dark shape, and then Samuel running towards them. His leg and side were covered in blood and for a moment he looked like he was running purely on instinct, green eyes not even noticing Rep or Gale for a second, raising his weapon again.

"Gale?" Samuel lowered his runic weapon. "Rep? You guys are here to rescue me right?" It seemed he didn't have much confidence in the two.

kuropeco

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

LIGHTHOUSE

Rep hunted hopefully in the snow. "No." he said, anxiety building until Samuel finally found them instead. His relief bubbled over into a surly smirk.

"Well no if you are going to be that ******** way about it." Rep said huffily, evidently a little bit hurt about the implication that he was somehow surprising to see on a rescue.

"You look like s**t though mate." he added.
 

[kuropeco]

The gunshots weren't exactly a good sign. Gale's fingers tightened on Samuel's coat, his other hand curling against his palm, resisting the urge to summon Jinhai just yet, though he could have used the weapon's familiar weight in his hand.

The blood was so startlingly red. Gale's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Yes," he said, casting a wary glance at Rep before looking back at Samuel again, but he didn't quite extend the coat or a hand to help just yet. "Are you okay? That's an awful lot of blood."

zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

Sam grimaced, following them to the portal, still hobbling on one leg. "Smartass," he managed to whisper to Rep. His face looked incredibly pale, as if he was barely hanging onto consciousness.

Mark was waiting at the portal too, shouting and waving to them the entire time until they exited. The second they did, Samuel all but folded and collapsed on the lighthouse floor, not bothering to keep up pretenses. He was barely breathing.

"Crap, crap, crap," said Mark, folding up Sam's bloodstained shirt to assess the damage. There were faint specks of green in his blood. "He's been- he's been uh, infected. Where's the uh, antidotes?"

"Backpack," the latter gritted his teeth as the Death assistant pried the backpack off. "Go for it."

Mark pulled out a modified first aid kit, removing the hypodermic needle. He unfastened the seal on one of a series of green vials that looked similar in colour to what he had injected Lucky with earlier, and then suddenly paused, looking at Gale and Rep. "Uh, I um, I got it handled, seriously."

Baneful

kuropeco

 

[Baneful]

"He's no ******** awright." he said with an edge of panic. "And infected too?" Part of him assumed that infected was a death sentence unless you were lucky and had someone like Mimsy to look after you every day for the rest of for ever.

Rep crossed his arms at Mark.

"When do you ever have anything ******** actually handled ever?"

 

[kuropeco]

Gale had knelt beside Samuel instinctively as he'd collapsed, stretching out a hand over him, the blood so very bright against the his skin. His eyes flickered towards the shirt - and the green, something in Gale's chest twisting, his heart beating a little faster.

He shot a look at Mark.

'Let us help," said Gale flatly. "What can we do?"

zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

"If I turn into a Last of Us zombie monster," Samuel coughed blood, "I am going to kill you Mark-"

-"Hey it's not my fault," Mark countered. "Hold this," He gave the kit for Rep to hold. "By the way you still owe me four hundred fifty bucks."

"What? I don't owe you- ow."

Mark extracted the cylinder from Sam's arm and give the two a thumbs up. Two seconds later the victim did the same, giving a very shaky thumbs up with his free arm-

- Before his eyes rolled up and he passed out cold.

"It's fine - it's fine-" Mark said hastily, propping Sam up with his shoulders. "I'll get him to the infirmary you guys - uh, you uh, can you let boss kn- oh I'm the boss well good job guys cool, yeah cool. You can give me the kit back later."

Baneful

Good place to wrap tyy!

kuropeco

Good place to wrap tyy!