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server room->library

She'd cut her hands once already, on the metal frame of a server. There were a dozen hard drives in her bag, packed between swag shirts as gently as possible. Sweat ran down her neck in nerves, those were some of the main ones-- but what was next? Would it be worth it to get data that might be kept redundant already?

Felicia wished desperately that she understood the labeling system better, and the groaning of the floor beneath her let her know it might be time to ******** hustle out of this place.

Think. Think. Think.

Data. Data existed in more than just the digital format. The library. Felicia ran outside of the server room and then the labs with all of her muster, holding the bag as still as possible. Once outside, she laid it somewhere safe and out of stomping range, before delving back inside.

Time was ticking. Felicia used the voice to text function on her phone to text.



Felicia burst through the doors of it, eyes scanning wildly. There-- a cart used to reshelve, empty save for some papers. She tipped it over entirely to empty it and scanned the shelves, looking for s**t that looked old.

Lex had never seen Leslie's weapon before, but he knew it was different somehow. It looked tacked on, modified - something Lex was both familiar with and not. Vague memories of events passed flashed through his thoughts, but this was not the time. Helping Leslie and the infirmary patients was his purpose, now.

"Yeah, go on and grab the next one!" Lex half barked, half affirmed to the younger Moon, before hoisting his charge over his shoulders in a fireman's carry, then barreling out of the shaking building and setting them by the last one, popping pain pills in their mouth and slapping a bandage on their legs.

Another tremor shook the infirmary, and Lex didn't hesitate to sprint back in to find Leslie.

This was his purpose on Deus, the man realized as he crashed through the rubble and medicinal debris. This infirmary was where he belonged, and by God he was going to save it and everyone in it.

"MIller! Where are you!"

lizbot

lurks beneath

Her phone beeped and she read it with a lemon face. She knew, she knew. Time was running short.



She set the timer and moved, reaching the section where books were old and ancient with thin-pages. There was knowledge, here, Felicia knew. Most of it beyond her knowing or care, but it felt so wrong to just abandon it.

Tick, tick, tick.

Felicia started stacking them high, not looking at the names or reading them at all. The biggest ones, at first, and then it was on to the next section, some with the name V. Delacroix as the author, although she didn't read them.

Thirty seconds. Thirty seconds to get books out of the library, and the pressure was immense but it was better to leave too early than a hair too late. A few dozen books was all the cart held, and she lost a few as she pushed it through the door. It was like racing grocery carts but high stakes, navigating through debris and not minding any additional losses.

Running, running, running, arms burning, eyes burning, throat burning, lungs burning. Her body was a flame but she was outside, and that wasn't enough: out of blast radius. Felicia grabbed the bag of hard drives and went further out, due to paranoia, heart racing, and safe.

As soon as Lex agreed to the act, Leslie was off like a bullet train, back into the debris. He dug at it with his shield, and there was one more he could get. One more he could save.

Wide-eyed and alert, Leslie braced himself as the building shook. If only he had more time.

"To the left!" he snapped at Lex, using the shield to clear a chunk of drywall and cement as large as himself. "Last one we have time for. This place is losing it by the ******** second."

Right on cue, the walls groaned. Leslie pulled the comatose patient's arm over his shoulder, dragging him with new inner strength (or was it inner? was it the blue that graced his weapon and spread through, cool and clear and blue, so blue--) down the halls.

Under normal circumstances, Leslie wouldn't accept help. But under normal circumstances, their home wouldn't be coming apart at the seams, either.

"Mary Worth, sweetheart. And naw, I just came to help the folks trapped in here, same as you I'm guessing?"

As she climbed he politely averted his gaze, and explained, "There's likely to be a few secure rooms around here. Some of these labs are built to handle more than just some explosions and a building falling down around them, y'know? Just gotta sniff 'em out and open 'em up."

Somewhere between the training grounds and the lighthouse

Maybe this is what it felt like when cars used the nitrous oxide in those Fast and Furious movies because Milo felt a sudden burst of speed, like more than he had ever felt himself be able to meet. It felt pretty awesome. His hands seemed to glow, he realized. It was like a Power Ranger upgrade.

And more importantly, he was catching up.

They were well past the training grounds by now, the lighthouse not too far away when he was just an arm's length away. Milo pushed himself forward, putting as much weight as he could to throw himself into her. The pair of them collided, they fell and hit the ground and rolled. She recovered quickly, pushed herself to a crouching position and leered at him with those black eyes as he skidded to a stop, using his new-found armor as a buffer. He was still on the ground and maybe she was using that as an advantage as she tackled him and threw a punch. But his arms went up to block her fist quicker than he even thought about it. Huh, reflexes too then. Milo pushed her off, sent her stumbling back and got to his feet properly.

< Summon me! >

The girl moved on him again, her footwork rather fancy as she threw another punch at him, she had done this before. He managed to dodge her fist, then another before having to block a kick that she threw in following a spin. Maybe she was a close range fighter, or a kung fu master or something. Not his specialty, especially with how much Koume had grown. He was more of a mid range fighter (maybe he should spar more with Peyton, he realized) but the enhancement of the crystals allowed him to get him this far. Quickened his response time, helped him defend himself from her blows.

< Then you should SUMMON ME! >

But she didn't seem to be calling her's. Was it screaming at her like his was? "Oi! Stop!" Milo barked, grabbing onto her arm and twisted, trying to get her to yield. She didn't give, she swept a leg right under him but he didn't let go and just brought her down with him. His other arm circled around her waist, trapping her in his arms as they hit the ground together again. The wind felt knocked out of him but he still held on tightly, pushed with his elbows and flipped them over to pin her to the ground. An arm was pressed down on her back and the rest of his weight on her legs to hinder an escape.

"Snap out of it!"

Basement lab level 1

The daggers had sunk in with surprising ease, slicing through skin, through muscle, through tendon, through bone. Down to the hilts. The clone never jerked, it never so much as twitched before it's awful head rolled back, flashing that terribly familiar smile at her one last time before falling from thin shoulders to bounce off the ground with a soft thunk.

She took a step back as the body followed, pale eyes lit up with righteous sense of satisfaction and power. It shouldn't have been so easy, but it was.

The voice at her back was still calling to her, still pleading, but Peyton might as well have been deaf to it, for all the attention she paid it. Instead she stepped over the body, closer to the wall it'd been carving at a moment before. Curiously, she brought a hand up, let Warrick slid back over her knuckles, so she could trace the barks with her fingertips.

Only then she noticed the crystals, black and spiked.

What is that?