Log:Complete

[maintenanced.livejournal.com]

When; 9/27, the Ritual
Rating; PG-13 for language and somewhat graphic violence
Characters;
Sakura (mizrahigirl), MOMO (hilbertaffected), Ziggy (maintenanced), Jr. (red_dragon_666)
Summary; OH NO. MOMO and Sakura have been kidnapped! It's up to Ziggy to save them. And it's up to Jr. to show up late, and fill some Silent Hill monsters up with exceeding quantities of lead. Emotional trauma! Tentacles! And they all went out for ice cream afterwards [not shown].
Log;



Bad. Bad. Bad.

Sakura had been sitting in the apartment, watching out the window, trying to figure out what was going on in the central square, and the door had opened, she'd turned around, and everything had gone black. And awoken here- completely disoriented, in an enclosed space, and frightened beyond anything she'd experienced-

"Is...is there anyone here?"

Maybe Ziggy had moved her.

That was logical.

The stagnant and oppressive air of the underground was not.

It was not right, and her systems were quick to link to the network and find the problem. Kidnappings.

...Not good. But she forced her way through the data, contacting Ziggy as quickly as she could. That was the smart thing to do.

The timid voice of someone familiar reached her, and she shut down the connection temporarily to respond. "I'm here, Sakura."

Mere minutes earlier, Ziggy had been moving from room to room in the relatively small apartment, growing more and more wary as he did so.

MOMO was missing. There was no doubt about it; he didn't even need to search -- the ticking was proof enough that she was nowhere nearby.
He had been standing by the window, looking out across the City with furrowed brow, assessing the situation and deciding what to do next -- when the message came.

He quickly accessed the network, noting as he did what he should have realized sooner -- a rash of disappearances throughout the City. He cursed his earlier distraction -- but there was no point, he reminded himself, in doing so after the fact. All that remained was to make things right.

Analyzing the uploaded coordinates, he dashed quickly out of the apartment and into the street. MOMO was located some distance underground -- it would take a few minutes to get there.
Glancing around, he spotted a manhole cover -- and, wrenching it off, he descended into the underground tunnels, while sending a message to MOMO to alert her of his approach.

"MOMO?"

Suddenly, with MOMO in the room, Sakura's brain felt it would be an acceptable time to fall to pieces. She slumped onto her knees, and fought back tears.

"MOMO...What are we going to do?

I.. don't even know how I got here..."

"Ziggy is on his way." She smiled slightly as the data processed, something mundane and reassuring in its simplicity. Ziggy was on his way, with her weapon. It would be fine.

"There have been a series of kidnappings across the City. We're not the only ones." She wasn't really sure what she could say to make Sakura feel better, but she hoped the girl would be as glad as MOMO over Ziggy's arrival.

After traversing, stealthily, the various dark corridors and canals which lay beneath the City's streets, Ziggy found himself closing in on MOMO's coordinates.
He slowed his pace, wary of alerting any guards -- or, indeed, any of the grotesque monsters which gurgled in the shadows. Fortunately, they were attracted to light -- and Ziggy didn't need light to navigate the underground.

He finally came to a stop in front of a cement wall, marked with dark water stains and cracked around the edges. This is where the coordinates had led him -- and though they were accurate down to a few feet, it was necessary to make sure.
He listened intently at the wall, then rapped tersely against the wall with his metal knuckles. It was indeed hollow.

After looking around cautiously to make sure he would not be alerting others to his presence, he called out.

"MOMO! Are you there?"

She turned slightly, moving back from the wall in anticipation as she responded with a small "Yes."

It was Ziggy, as he'd promised, and she exhaled sharply, unaware that she'd been holding back from the function of breathing up until that moment.

MOMO moved closer to Sakura, intending to shield her from any debris that would result from whatever method Ziggy utilized to free them.

Upon hearing this affirmation, Ziggy assumed a battle stance, bracing himself for a powerful impact. He looked down at his right arm and moved his fingers -- just to make sure that it was fully functional. Then, he looked back to the wall and called out yet again.

"Stand back. I'm going to break down the wall."

After allowing a few moments for MOMO to move out of the way, he pulled back his arm, then swung forward with a punch so powerful that the brittle material of the wall, which was already weakened due to water leakage, exploded inward -- shattering into white, chalky dust and chunks of rock.

He quickly stood and moved into the small alcove -- which turned out to be a cell, barred on one side by a series of crude metal bars. When the dust cleared, he spotted MOMO in the corner, standing over Sakura Mizrahi.

Dust and rock exploded from the wall and rained down inside. Sakura looked up around MOMO's protective stance. Ziggy stood near the entrance he had just punched through the wall, dust settling, and pebbles still raining down from the hole.

"Ziggy! Are you all right?" Sakura stood up, and ran over to him. "You- you just punched through the wall..."

Realizing that was rather a statement of the obvious, Sakura turned around again, looking for MOMO. "Are you okay, MOMO? ...Thank you for..."

"It's nothing." She dusted herself off, glancing at Ziggy appreciatively. Just like... Old times, really. Only this time, she was prepared for his help. And they had Sakura to protect.

"We need to hurry if we're to get past the guards, Ziggy."

"Got it."

With that, Ziggy handed MOMO her bow and quickly turned to leave. He ushered the girls out, making sure to assume a defensive formation around Sakura Mizrahi. After all, MOMO could now fare well enough on her own in a battle. Sakura, on the other hand...

As they exited, Ziggy glanced backwards through the bars to see whether they'd alerted any of the guards. Though he saw nobody, he distinctly heard the patter of running footsteps coming down the cell corridor -- best to hurry, then.

"MOMO, Sakura. Guards are approaching."
He gestured down one dark, dank tunnel, in which the sound of dripping water echoed loudly, indicating that they should hurry that way. His heavy footsteps also resounded in the tunnel, however -- and with all the noise they'd made, it looked as if they wouldn't be able to avoid an eventual confrontation.

Sakura found herself in the middle of a formation heading down the hallway. She kept up with the other two more experienced fighters, feeling distinctly useless and uneasy. She kept glancing back over her shoulder, waiting for something or someone to jump out at them, but then turning back around and trotting back close to the rest of them.

MOMO turned her sensors on, adjusting herself to the dim light of the underground as she did so, bow at the ready. Following Ziggy was easy enough, although she did worry that the pace might be too fast for Sakura briefly.

"Ziggy... there's something ahead," she murmured gently, so as not to surprise him too much.

After MOMO's warning, Ziggy came to a sharp halt, holding his hand out to keep the two girls from venturing further. There, ahead, in the murky darkness, was an oblique shape. Ziggy would have mistaken it for a sharp rock, had he not seen it twitch momentarily.

The path was narrow, and the creature, whatever it was, lay directly in their path. They would have no choice but to fight it -- and quickly, at that, for the guards were probably close behind them.

"MOMO," Ziggy said under his breath, "Are you prepared to fight?"

There was barely any time for her to reply, however, as the monster suddenly made a grotesque moaning noise and began to shuffle directly at them.

It was big and hulking -- and seemed like a fusion of rusted metal and burned, scarred skin, like a large person hunched over and wedged into a rectangular frame. It was most definitely not human -- and as it charged at them with alarming speed, though limping slightly, Ziggy extended his arm-blade and moved directly in front of Sakura Mizrahi in order to protect her at all costs.

Sakura gasped as the monster lurched at them, shrinking down behind Ziggy.

She had never seen a monster so hideous to her before, and her mind went reeling at the vision of mutilated skin and metal, and tried to keep herself on her feet without clinging to Ziggy's solid frame. She stared at the ground next to Ziggy's shoe, trying to focus herself and stop her knees from buckling out from under her.

The Realian nodded, bow pulled taunt in seconds, nanotechnology flaring to life as a brightly lit arrow that she let fly at the creature as it raced towards them.

Her databanks needed to be updated - the odd creature in front of them could not be identified whatsoever. But later, she could worry about that when they were out of there and Sakura was safe.

"Ziggy..."

MOMO's arrow caused the creature to derail from its course into a wall, spurting dark blood and bile as it did so. It howled upon impact, but then quickly righted itself and continued towards the group, now lurching unsteadily, but just as ruthless.

Ziggy tensed. "Don't worry, MOMO..." He sprung forward, delivering a roundhouse kick directly at the monster's metallic protrusion.
With a clang it spiraled into the air and knocked against the wall for a second time -- yet it still kept at them. Ziggy quickly circled around to its side and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks, culminating in a flamethrower blast which managed to drive the beast backwards a few yards.

It screeched in pain, but still seemed to have no concept of fear as it rebounded again to counterattack -- it was unlike any enemy he'd ever come across, human and Gnosis alike.

"Sakura, stay back!" Though he doubted it would be necessary to warn her to keep away, the horror might have paralyzed her. Concentrating on his foe, Ziggy tried to analyze the situation -- they were in a somewhat narrow tunnel, and there wasn't enough space for him to maneuver around easily while still keeping the defensive formation. What they really needed was to get a clear shot at the monster's back.

Analyzing, derailing... Rubedo didn't have any interest in that sort of thing. He'd come down to the tunnels before to fight, so he knew his way around better than most innocents, anyway. He was still a little lost... But Hell if he was gonna admit THAT. At the very least, he was getting quite a bit of exercise running around and trying to find the location MOMO had sent him.

Every corridor looked the same, though! Not to mention there were crowds of people scattered here and there of other escapees. Fortunately, they didn't seem to notice a short red-haired boy running right through the chaotic battles in search of his friends, occasionally blowing off a head or two of any passing enemy.

He was just about to make his way down another hallway when he saw yet another grotesque beastie was in his way. Fuck! He hated these things way more than Gnosis. ...They smelled.

"Outta my way already!" He jumped up from behind it, kicking both feet at its upper back to knock the creature right onto its face. Still crouched over it, he aimed with both guns and fired until it no longer screeched and flailed.

With a sigh, he looked up ahead of him, only to notice the three of them standing there. His surprise was only present for a moment, quickly replaced with a cocky grin.

"Oh, hey guys! Right where I thought you'd be."

Sakura forced her eyes away from the stain on the floor she'd been staring at blankly and lifted her head to see Rubedo crouched over....

no..

"Rubedo..." Her voice was faint, and her eyes had glazed over- the carnage in front of her had overwhelmed her- and then there had been the sounds...

"Ziggy...MOMO...Rubedo's here..." It sounded silly coming out of her mouth, but it was the only thing she could think of to say- She couldn't look, that thing on the ground...Rubedo had just...no...

MOMO lowered her bow slowly, once she was sure the thing was indeed dead. It was somewhat reassuring to see the red haired boy in front of them, but a glance at the girl beside her was a bit more troubling.

Ziggy allowed himself to relax as Jr., guns blazing, came barrelling down the tunnel, defeating the monster with a volley of shots. His timing couldn't have been better, even if it was inadvertent.

"Jr. It's good to see you."

With that comment, he turned to gauge the party's damage.
He himself was unharmed, and MOMO seemed to be fine... but Sakura Mizrahi seemed, if not physically damaged, to have suffered some emotional trauma. She was trembling, and seemed unsteady on her feet.

Ziggy certainly didn't blame her. For a young girl to be kidnapped, and then witness such a grotesque sight...

He extended his arm and placed his hand gently on her shoulder.

"Sakura. Are you all right?"

Just as soon as Rubedo's gaze fell on Sakura, his expression crumpled. He was no longer grinning. Glancing down to the mess he was still standing over, he quickly moved forward out of it, trying to scrape the blood off his shoes as he holstered his guns, looking partially ashamed.

Well... He hadn't known they were right there! He might have tried to tone down on the gore if Sakura was around. Er...maybe. It was pretty hard to keep it from being gory when you were shooting at things.

"S--Sakura..." He scratched at the back of his neck before hesitantly moving over in front of her and crouching down. "Want a piggy-back ride? Ziggy and MOMO can take out anything else we come across. You can just cover your eyes."

Oh MAN. He would have to resist battle. This was going to be...difficult.

Sakura looked up- there was a weight on her shoulder. She stared at the hand resting there for a moment before looking up at Ziggy. "Ziggy... I'm.... fine...."

She looked down again- Rubedo was there, how had he gotten there? She looked at him blankly, not processing what he'd said.

"I...don't want to... be a burden...."

MOMO backed up a few steps, fingers slipping over the familiar shape of the bow as she waited.

There wasn't much she could say to Sakura that the other two hadn't already said, so she contented herself with accessing the network and trying to find all the relevant data. Because they were right. She could take care of herself, but Sakura couldn't.

So she'd take care of herself. "...There's been a rockslide the next tunnel over. And there are guards behind us," she muttered, passing on the most important information that they'd need. The sooner they were out of here the better.


Assured that Jr. was taking care of Sakura, Ziggy moved some yards away from the party and glanced down the tunnel.

They were relatively close to an exit -- just about a block away -- but they would need to traverse alongside another segment of cell blocks, and thus pass close by additional guards. There was the option of taking a detour through the murkier, more run-down areas of the tunnel system, but that was where monsters lurked. Though they would be at more of an advantage fighting those solitary and somewhat clumsy (if not persistent) creatures, there was still the issue of Sakura... but Jr. had offered to carry her.

"Jr." He turned back to the group. "We have two options. We can take the more accessible path, which would likely result in multiple battles with heavily armed human opponents -- or we could take a slightly longer but more isolated detour, and risk encountering one of these creatures." He cast a glance down at Sakura, who was beginning to appear totally overwhelmed -- her eyes had a somewhat glazed look.

Turning away, he spoke again. "I leave the decision up to you."

Rubedo sighed at Sakura's response. Were they really going to get into that NOW?

Glancing over at MOMO, and then at Ziggy, he tilted his head in thought. "Well... Humans would be easier to take out...but I'd rather not have to hurt people if I don't have to. As gross as these monsters are, I think we should take the longer way."

He stood back up for a second, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a handkerchief. After folding it, he turned and crouched back down, reaching out to gently tie it so that it hid Sakura's eyes from view.

"Sakura, this way you won't have to see anything bad. And cover your ears if we get into battle, okay?" Or... If he was going to be carrying her, he probably wouldn't be doing much fighting. "Er... I mean when they get into battle. Now no worrying about being a burden, okay?"

He turned away from her, remaining on his knees. "Climb on. Just think of it as playing horsieback."

Soft darkness covered her eyes, blocking the hideous ... thing from her eyes-

A small sigh escaped her- relief from the overload of horrors was a welcome escape for the moment.

She felt her way forward, trying to find Rubedo's back- there it was. Solid, warm, alive, normal. She tried to climb onto his back, letting herself cling to him, and waiting till he stood up again.

Sounds were so loud...

MOMO moved instinctivly closer to Ziggy, bow still at her side. Her systems seemed sluggish as she watched Sakura clamber onto Jr.'s back but she turned back to the cyborg with a frown, knowing there was nothing wrong.

It was, as the humans said, her imagination.

"We should take the next left, and then the fourth right. After that, it's the third right leading to a winding tunnel that should come out next to the circus." That was the map she had, created from information given out by the network. It was still incomplete, but it should be good enough to get them out of there.

The small Realian closed the connection down, turning to look up at Ziggy. "I'll lead, if that's alright?"

"Whatever you're comfortable with. Stay sharp," Ziggy warned, as he followed MOMO, now and then glancing back at Jr. and Sakura. They made an interesting picture -- she with her eyes hidden by Jr.'s handkerchief, as she clutched his shoulders nervously.
He would need to keep alert in case they were ambushed from behind.

They made their way past the gnarled and bullet-pocked carcass of the monster, down the tunnel, veering left at the first intersection. As soon as they'd done so, the structure of the underground became more and more dilapidated -- they were forced to pick their way carefully through discarded pipes and rocks, and wade through shallow puddles of dark, clouded water.

MOMO moved quickly, confident in her navigation -- and Ziggy followed just as confidently. He trusted her skills, and in situations like these, where she proved to be so capable, it seemed anachronistic to remember that she was only a young girl.

He looked back again at Jr. and Sakura. They seemed to be holding up well, though Sakura still seemed tense.

Clinging to Rubedo was the only way to anchor herself to reality. The brunette refused to think about the monster...that had been...

NO. She tried to think about how grateful she was for the blackness in front of her, the solidness of Rubedo's back, but then her mind would go back to those noises... She could practically hear them ringing in her ears...

But there was only creaking, and footsteps, and then a horrible ghastly awful noise from a nightmare- and sheer terror overcame her.

"W-what was that?"

Ziggy heard the noise at the same time, it seemed, as Sakura did -- but he had barely time to focus on the tunnel ahead of him when a thick, rectangular shape came sliding down towards them at top speed. It was a metal casing which held a body, or something like a body, wrapped in mesh and filthy fabric -- twisted limbs jutted out from its frame at odd angles, and knobbed leg-like appendages dangled from the bottom -- but just as Ziggy was dashing forward to meet it with an attack, it swung forward.

MOMO had been scouting in front, and moving quickly. She'd gotten some distance ahead of the rest of the group. And so she was the first to fall -- the edge of the creature knocked her with such a blow that she was flung, like a rag doll, against the wall, where she crumpled into the mud and fell over onto her side.

Ziggy was by her side in half a second, shielding her, one arm raised in preparation to shoot a chain of flame at the creature. With the other arm, he pulled MOMO out of the mud and turned her onto her back -- her eyes were closed, and she wasn't responding.

A jolt of cold horror, something Ziggy hadn't felt in years, shot through his spine.

He looked up, ready to unleash his attack -- but in the few seconds it had taken him to rush to MOMO's side, and in the confusion, the monster had slid past him with eerie speed... and was now moving directly towards Jr. and Sakura, accompanied by the sound of grinding metal and unearthly groans.

The sound was almost deafening to him by the time the monster reached them, and he had been trying to run forward just as Ziggy had, only to watch as MOMO got knocked aside right into a wall. It was a pretty horrifying sight in itself, but before he could move over to her, Ziggy was already at her side, and the monster was heading right for him.

And Sakura.

"Damn it! Sakura! Don't let go!" He wasn't going to just drop her, after all, at least not until he could get close enough to Ziggy. For now, he just dropped down low onto his hands, barely managing to duck a stray vine as he rolled out of the way, doing his best NOT to have Sakura come in contact with the ground.

Just as the monster was turning back around to come back, he darted over to Ziggy and tugged at Sakura's hands to pull her off of him. "Okay, let go now. Old man, how is she?" He tried to sit Sakura next to Ziggy, standing to do a quick check of MOMO's state.

...Her eyes weren't even open. He had been hoping she would just be dazed, maybe, or at least about to say something. But she was completely out.

The sudden rage he felt was so strong it made his ears ring and his eyes glitter as he whirled on the creature right as a vine whipped out. He held out his arm to let it catch in his hand, and it dig into his wrist as he yanked hard, pulling the creature close enough for him to aim straight up for what looked like its head.

Rubedo could feel the creature's filth, blood, WHATEVER it was, rain down on him as the shot made contact, and it seemed to withdraw for a second as it screeched. It was annoying how damn HIGH it was.

"Fuck! Get down here already!" He ran and jumped up, one hand grabbing onto the cage to pull him up, and he hooked his leg through the other end so that he was 'face level' with whatever the hell this thing was. It was SICKENING. He wanted to hurl, honestly, especially as one of...what were those...legs...? When one of them brushed his other boot, he felt sick.

To retaliate, he kicked at it, slamming it hard back up against the cage, resulting in a sickening crack just as a few vines wound their way around his arms.

"Shit..." He was doing his best to aim, and finally tore an arm free to stick the pistol right up to its head and fire three times. It sounded like it was in pain, and was making a mess all over him, but it was still moving.

Deciding regular shots wouldn't work, he aimed lower, right for the mid-section, and let a bit of his innate power sneak out. The red glow emanated off of the barrel as he focused the energy into one good shot, and that was enough to make all the screeching movements stop.

The creature was now splattered every which way inside the cage, and suddenly Rubedo was falling, landing flat on his back as he was still tangled in the vines, and the cage broke right on top of him.

Nearly gagging from the smell, he quickly sat up and tried to push the mess of vines, flesh, blood, and rotted metal off of him.

Things went almost into slow motion- There was another ghastly screech, then a thump of someone hitting the wall, and a dreadful silence-

A jolt forward as Rubedo ran and a jolt as he stopped, and a twist to the side as he dodged something....something that made horrible noises and noises...

And then Sakura's hands were being tugged at, and there was ground underneath her feet, and she let go and Rubedo was gone from underneath her and there were noises and then the last barrier between her and reality- the blackness was fading to light, and there was a moment of blindness-

And then Rubedo was fighting another thing, monster and there was screeching and howling and blood everywhere and Rubedo shot it again and again and again and again and again

and things were falling and there was blood and screeching and Rubedo was covered in it and all its blood and screeching and everything and he just sat there pushing it off of himself...

And she couldn't move, couldn't not look, couldn't....

In one smooth movement, Ziggy covered Sakura's eyes.

Grasping her gently by the shoulder, he turned her away from the grisly sight and sat her down on a flat rock. But he couldn't devote much time to comforting her. As Jr. wrangled with the gushing entrails and rusted remains of the carcass that he'd become entangled in, Ziggy delicately lifted MOMO from the ground and inspected her.

At first glance, she didn't seem to be seriously damaged. In fact, she stirred slightly as her systems rebooted -- but it would take some time for her to regain full capacity. And that was time they didn't have -- Ziggy heard the echo of approaching footsteps from a distant tunnel.

He stood, cradling MOMO in his arms, and looked back at Jr. He was freed from the cage, and was now standing, grimacing at his blood-splattered clothes. Sakura was seated nearby, catatonic and shaking.

Somehow, Ziggy didn't think it would help her condition if she tried piggybacking Jr. in this state.

He looked to her, and spoke as gently as he could while still conveying the urgency of the situation.

"Guards are approaching. We're very near the exit -- once we're out, we'll be fine. Sakura. Can you walk?"

Darkness, then the smooth calmness of a rock, and rocks that were only soiled by dirt...

A voice broke into her mind- Can you walk?

Good question. She didn't think she could, but she made her way up to her feet, one hand resting on the wall to steady herself. She was shaking all over.

One step. Another.

"I- I think so..."

So slow, these steps, but they were hers, she was making herself move, it was possible, they were almost out, almost out...

Ziggy's voice pulled him out of his little daze as he was trying to clean off his pistol, and he looked up and over to see him holding MOMO and inquiring about Sakura's well being.

Guilt immediately flooded him, and he looked down as he pushed his gun back into its holster. Yeah... He couldn't exactly ask her if she wanted a piggy back now, huh? Covered in this mess... When had her handkerchief fallen off? When? How much had she seen? Or heard?

Biting his lip, Rubedo held his chin up and walked over, trying to brush it off for now. They needed to get out of there. He had just done what was only natural. He'd protected his friends. He didn't have any reason to feel bad.

...Right?

"How is MOMO? Is she going to be okay?" He looked at the stirring Realian in Ziggy's arms before glancing over to Sakura, moving to follow her. He didn't want to upset her, but he wasn't going to let her or MOMO walk in front anymore. So he jogged past her quickly, then slowed down again so that he could lead. With him in front and Ziggy in back, things ought to stay okay.

Ouch.

It was painful. Slightly, in the way only a Realian knew to understand it, as a systems faliure. But her systems were quickly repairing the damage and pretty soon she was coherent enough to realize that Ziggy was holding her tightly.

"Um.. Ziggy? You can put me down now," MOMO murmered gently to the cyborg, uncomfortable in her current position. She blinked carefully, running diagnostics as quickly as she could, aware that there were guards behind them and that all it would take was a few more minutes to be free.

Ziggy didn't even bother suppressing a warm, yet subtle smile as MOMO's amber eyes flickered open and gazed up at him.
She would be fine.

"That's all right," he said, looking ahead to where Jr. had come to the end of the tunnel and was busy unscrewing the manhole from below. With some effort he pushed it aside -- and they had their first glimpse of the cold night sky.

"I'll carry you home."

The four emerged together from the stagnant darkness of the underground tunnels. Once freed, they made their way slowly, exhaustedly back to the apartments, with Jr. in the lead, and Sakura following at an unsteady pace -- and, behind them, Ziggy and MOMO.

Little by little, she relaxed in his arms, and, looking up at him, returned his smile.