Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Deja Vu All Over Again
The gem had looked exactly like the ones from the city. Alex took it the same way he did back then. And caused the same thing again. Well, there were no moles yet. If moles did pop up, it said more about the school than the gem being set there already did. Still the gem itself felt like... oh. Ohh.
Nestan hopped off the ladder and sprinted at the gem, grabbing it and not breaking stride. She held the gem only long enough to chuck it down the hall. She didn't fully grasp whether the gem was about to blow or summon or some third thing but this was a split second decision.
"Clear the hall, now!" She cupped her hands and shouted to anyone who might have been about to turn onto the hallway. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Surrounded by weirdoes
Hali quickly covered her ears at the horrible sound. While Alex used a soundproof thing to stop it, she decided to try with something else. A water bubble started to form around the gem. If it was normal sound, that'll hold for a while, at least.
But then, Nestan went to throw it like it was a bomb. She raised a wall, almost as a reflex.
Did we summon an elder deity or something?
Wake me up at your own risk.
Hallway
Before the sphere could hit the floor, a flash of purple filled the hallway. The water bubble surrounding the sphere steamed away in an instant, and it was caught before the others knew what hit them. Suddenly, a man in a white tuxedo appeared before them. The same one Grem had faced a few weeks ago in the parking lot. He materialised as if out of thin air, holding the sphere like a trophy or bauble as he studied it with interest.
"Not bad. Though I suppose we should have expected you to be so clever. Unfortunately, we aren't paid for half-baked results." He tossed the sphere back towards the students before unleashing a blast of energy from his good eye, threatening to blast the sphere wide open and perhaps the gem with it. It was clear they wanted something to happen, though the question was what.
Edited by kkhohoho on Dec 18th 2020 at 6:05:18 AM
Surrounded by weirdoes
"If you are going to do this for money, then don't take this personally" Hali said, with a rather cold expression. Without missing a beat, she opened a hole in the wall so the others could act, but she turned a piece of it into a water whip, aiming a powerful crack at a rather... delicate area and tossed a mirror in front of the laser.
Hopefully at least one could work.
"Let's recover it, guys" She said.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Hallway
Nestan called the shield to her before she finished throwing the gem away. The Monopoly Man appearing pretty much vindicated that decision.
"Clever, I just threw—" And he threw it back. Naturally. They were here in this hallway. She could've found a window. She could have chucked it in the laundry room. Something that wasn't get stuck in a fight here in the dorms in the middle of everyone.
"He's trying to give it to us..." Nestan huffed already racing. "We probably shouldn't." The sister used her shield to bounce the gem back and kept the shield up to dash past the Monopoly Man and force him to deal with threats and both sides.
"Do you... really want to take a job killing students in their dorms?" Nestan said staring at their latest assassin. With all the strife in the world, Grem could probably swing Monopoly Man a better contract before morning tea. And fighting actual bad guys. "If only for your reputation, there are other jobs." Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Breath of the Sun
Alexander
"...Nestan, if that thing explodes with enough force to punch through the material I wrapped it in, then the resulting blast radius would be far too big to- and of course a villain immediately shows up." Alex attempted to explain, becoming increasingly exasperated as the mystery man in white appeared.
His hand still on the mantel, Alex flexed his power. Hali had already blocked the blast, so Alex took it upon himself to catch the bundled gem in a hastily-made funnel. Then he dropped it into the deepest hole he could make, before sealing it in a concrete case underground, just in case.
"Not very smart, attacking a punch of people with superpowers by yourself." Alex mused. For good measure, he attempted to pull the assailant's feet into the ground and trap them there, hopefully keeping the man from moving and leaving him open to Nestan's attack.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Justin
"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!!"
Things seemed to go crazy all at once - the gem started screaming, enough Justin whipped out some devices for his ears to lessen the impact. He would otherwise fear his ears might be permanently damaged by the abject cacophony. Alex started trying to work on the sphere, and this seemed to provoke some guy in a tux to just...show up. Out of nowhere. Right outta the blue.
But it seemed for whatever reason he wanted the gem to go kablammo, so Justin looked around and took out his compressed armor before activating it, the blue and black armor covering his body in short order. He'd installed some shielding on it lately, and hopefully whatever came about didn't involve an explosion of tremendous force.
I am so confused...who the hell is this guy? What's really going on with these crystals!? What the hell is happening at this fucking school and why am I even still here!?
Hallway
Before anyone knew it, the floor erupted with an ear-shattering screech. Despite Alex's best efforts, despite everyone's attempts to thwart the inevitable, it wasn't enough. The ground quaked, the earth trembled, and then a flash of blinding red light before the whole world went topsy-turvy.
If only that was the worst of it.
Hallway?
When the students came to, they'd see they were still in the same hallway where everything went kablooey. Except something was... off. It could have been that the tunnel Alex dropped the gem into was missing, even though he dug it mere moments ago. It could have been that the man in white was gone, as though he was never there at all.
Perhaps it was the lack of students in the hall, or the eerie calm that had washed over the school since they came to. And the silence that came with it. No birds chirping. No students gossiping or chattering. Not even the pitter-patter of a mouse scurrying down the halls or the hum of the AC.
Or maybe it was that everything around them was in black and white like an old 30's talkie.
That was probably it.
Gremory
When the screech happened, Gremory dropped to the floor, cursing. While his hearing in Gremform wasn't as acute as when shifted, it was enough to throw him off balance for a moment. He saw Nestan and Alex attempt to deal with it and the appearance of the Ice Cream Man. ''I thought I paid that asshole off. Typical. Doesn't even have the integrity to stay bought. Greedy bastard." Grem was already getting up, his mind flickering through possible shifts until the gem was hit with the beam.
The next thing he knew the world had gone all black and white. His time in other forms had made him used to seeing the world in more muted shades than human so it wasn't totally disorienting, but it still felt off. ''Is this another movie-themed plot? Very retro. Clean. I really really hope this is an illusion because if it's time travel, I am OUT. I don't have the brain for temporal f*ckery, and I know Justin would try to screw things up. So nope. Nope nope nope. And meeting a Young!Polly would also be quite disturbing."
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Hallway??
No. They'd seen the danger coming. They'd fought. And it came to nothing. Again. Nestan had stayed on her feet during the gem's next screech, had kept her eyes peeled despite every urge to shut them and curl up under that shriek. They'd all acted. And then there was a flash of red and it was over.
Technically, they came too
She cocked to head toward Grem—maybe Grem—when he gave his opinion. He was okay (maybe) 1. And what she'd been trying to say to the Monopoly Man moments ago was pointless 2. "Time travel is an option where we aren't already dead." she answered.
Nestan stood but did not rush anywhere. Not yet. She drew from her spirit and tried to sense Ms. Ingenue and maybe find a way back by following her. That she rushed. This was literally sudden death. And she still had things to do. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Surrounded by weirdoes
Hali looked around, trying to make sense of this.
"Did we destroy colors or something?" She asked, doubtfully. She tried to hear something, anything.
"My dad was right" She noted "In this noisy, chaotic world, not hearing anything around you can be one of the scariest things ever" She shivered for a second.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Breath of the Sun
Alexander
His efforts to keep the gem from doing... whatever it was supposed to do turned out to be for naught, and all Alex could do was try to maintain his balance as the earth seemed to explode.
When he opened his eyes, all color had vanished from the world. All color, and all sound. Other than him and his classmates, everything was in black and white, and silent.
"Pretty sure it's not time travel. The world wasn't actually black and white before the invention of color photos, Gremory." Alex said wryly.
He tested his power on one of the walls for a moment, finding that despite the lack of pigment, the world was still made of recognizable stuff. "I'm guessing this is either an alternate reality, some kind of pocket dimension, or possibly an illusion. Unless one of you wants to attempt pinching yourself awake, I'd suggest we start looking for a way out."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
AKA Nixer
Wren
“...”
Wren let out a pained grunt as she finally shifted from her position on the floor; having curled up into a fetal position whilst covering her ears with her hands due to the sensory overload. As her eyes blinked open, she appeared to panic at first—whimpering and glancing about the area confusedly as she slowly registered the fact that everything was now monochrome.
The fact that the others seemed to be experiencing the exact same thing reassured her somewhat, and she rejoined them eagerly if only to feel comforted by their proximity.
“Wren hates this. She thinks it's bad principal. Done bad job hiding. He has to make pass on se-cur-ity, yes?” Wren spat, looking around the area before sniffing the air for any unusual scents. “Has to know. If not, there's mole. More comp-licated. So Wren go for simple answer first. What do you friends think?”
bork
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Hallway??
That exact thing actually. Nestan looked at Wren, only briefing interrupting her sensing attempt.
"You're not wrong." She didn't know how compromised they were or if they were already dead but... as soon as she got out of here, she was going to kill that man. Walk straight from wherever-the-hell to his office and run him through without further ado. "I'm sorry I did not act on that sooner." Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Hallway?
Despite her best efforts, Nestan couldn't find nor hide on Katherine or the others anywhere. There was a faint trace, but nothing strong enough to latch onto. And whatever was there, it was oh so slightly... off.
Alex would find that the walls were made of recognizable stuff, but if he tried to use it, he'd feel something trying to worm its way in. There was a power running through the school. Through the ground. Through every fiber of the grass and the trees and the world. And it would spread to Alex and the others if given the opportunity.
Before the students could figure out what to do next, the silence was interrupted with the sound of footsteps down the hall. It was a slow, steady march, the footsteps perfectly paced and marching together in unison. Shadows crept from around the corner, all of roughly the same shape and size as the footsteps grew louder with every ringing step. Whatever was making those footsteps, it'd be here before long. Whether the students chose fight or flight was entirely their discretion.
Edited by kkhohoho on Dec 26th 2020 at 2:25:03 PM
Surrounded by weirdoes
Hali jumped back at the noise. This whole place was getting to her, they needed to do something. Pulling out a water bottle, she armed herself. She didn't trust anything about this place.
"Be ready to run" She whispered.
She could only hope her instincts were wrong.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Gremory!!
Grem frowned at Alex's remarks. He'd meant to think that, not say it. Maybe a bump on the head? Nevertheless, he still hoped it wasn't time travel. That kind of thing just wigged him out. Or some weird not-real different place where people were the same but not. I'm sure there's an easier way to say that.
Wren seemed on the ball, though. Perhaps a word with the principal when they got back wouldn't go amiss. He was tired of this. Too many secrets. And hungry. Tired and hungry and he didn't want to get his favorite sweatpants dirty. Grem turned to his classmates, hoping they'd choose either path from this mess. "Do we see what's making the ruckus, or do we scamper away like clever mice?" Wow, I really AM loopy.
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Hallway?
She really should've spent more time on sensing, and the Chancery had told her this. Nestan hissed at herself but kept her focus, aiming to use that distorted, faint trace if she could produce nothing else.
And then came the faux marching. Which Nestan promptly ignored. At best it was the next trick of this game that they were trapped in, and she wasn't up to play.
"It does not matter," Nestan said. "Though its not like we'll find out anything by running off in a random direction." She kept at her efforts to trace a way out. She did not intend to move. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Breath of the Sun
Hallway
Alex pulled his hand away before the strange energy coursing through this world could force its way into his body. This complicated things.
"Heads up. There's a power of some kind running through everything here. If I try to manipulate anything, it tries to force its way into my body. Not sure I'll be able to use my power to its fullest." He informed the others. "Not sure if standing our ground is the best option, but I'll follow everyone's lead."
Nonetheless, Alex wasn't completely useless. His own clothes didn't have this strange energy, so he could still manipulate them. Tapping his own chest, Alex transformed his jacket, shirt, and pants into thin but durable armor, tightly weaving the atoms into his usual force-dispersing graphene mesh, covering his whole body from head to toe.
In lieu of trying to produce a weapon from his clothes, he shifted the fingers of his armored gloves into razor-sharp claws. If I'd inherited my mother's red eyes, I'd almost be Wren. Alex mused to himself, smiling beneath his helmet.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Alexander
The gem began to scream. Exactly as the ones in the city had. Some kind of defense mechanism? The build up of energy, so powerful that Alex could easily feel it, suggested that it was about to do something bad. And that meant it had to be dealt with.
To that end, he placed his other hand on the mantel, and drew matter from the ground up through it. He quickly enclosed the gem in soundproofing to silence the noise, then wrapped it further in sheets of compressed carbon mesh.
He was left with a rough sphere of material slightly smaller than a basketball. It looked faintly like someone had taken a bulletproof vest and bundled it up into a ball.
"Not unexpected, I suppose." Alex mused, cleaning his ear with a finger. "So much for chemical tests. Though I doubt they'd help. From what I could glean, the material composition is that of a normal, if unusually large, gemstone."
He scratched his chin. "Much as it pains me to admit, I should probably take this to my mother. She'd know more about the magical aspects than I would."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?