Something Unexpected

[animusmods]

Characters: characters selected to go into the elevator
Setting: the admin levels
Format: any
Summary: The admin elevator has been left open, its destination preprogrammed. Where is it going to take you?
Warnings: general horror warnings for now

The elevator doesn't announce itself when its doors slide open. There's no alarm, no message to be found about it. It sits open and waits for anyone curious enough to enter. There's a barrier on it that locks out anyone without a collar, and it isn't going to stay long, but aside from that there appears to be no security. There's nothing stopping someone--or multiple someones--from climbing into the elevator and going down.

Where's it going? Who knows.

Hub Area
A lounge area with sofas and chairs. It's large enough to hold the entire group, constructed similarly to the dorm rooms, and is connected to five doors.

Door One
???

Door Two
???

Door Three
???

Door Four
???

Door Five
???

Comments

[justabignobody]

[Riku yelps when the gravity shifts and he crashes towards he ceiling - this time there is no time to do anything, but curl up, his Keyblade disappearing as he wraps both hands around his head to protect it.

He screams upon impact, blazing pain shooting through his spine, black spots dancing before his eyes from the pain. He lies there for just a moment, catching his breath, trying to focus past his injuries as he forces his left arm up and twists his wrist as he calls upon magic - the first thing Terra had done when they had started training was to break him off his habit to cast barehanded, but in the end that's still how he's first learned to use magic and old habits die hard (Not to mention that Cure Potion has currently several advantages over Cura, even if it isn't quite as efficient as it's true counterpart Group Curaga - first of all being that it won't just effect him... but also any of his 'allies' in close enough proximity).

He sighs in relieve as the magic takes off the worst edge of the pain, it's not ideal, but it's enough to clear his head some so that he can roll onto his stomach and push himself up onto his knees. One step at a time.

Next to see what happened to the other two.]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[Legolas sheathed his blades, not wanting to stab himself or lose them. His first instinct is to tense up, protect his head and body but he'd been taught when he was an elfling that a fall could be less painful if one was relaxed. This was kind of the same. Right?

Except it didn't help. His head cracked against the ceiling hardest and his vision spun as a result, the wind was knocked from his lungs and he was left gasping for breath.]

Nîdh!

[neverbeamemory]

[In the seconds he had before being smashed into the ceiling-that-was now acting as floor Sephiroth had only two thoughts; dismiss Masamune and curl hard. If there had been more time he may have been able to force some sort of telekinetic wave to cushion the blow but there wasn't time and his bearings had been flipped too quickly.]

ARGH!

[At the same time as the wing dismissed on impact, in a plume of smoke-like feathers, pain erupted like colorful fire, shattering shoulder blade and reverberating in a vicious shock wave through the armor on that side. Delivering numbness all the way to his fingertips. Thankfully he'd managed to tuck his head far enough into the curl, but as the first movement he tried to make was to raise his head and look around there was the whiplash from the shock to his back that had been taken. His vision swam violently to that side as he tried to make sense that they had landed on the ceiling and how logically this couldn't be the end of it.

Sephiroth soon had that familiar sensation though, as the cells at the core of his DNA started to wake up to regeneration. Needing to kill pain as quickly as they could they would work with the adrenaline to start with - provided Sephiroth could get to safety soon and take five, the healing would come quickly.]

[animusnpcs]

[One of the three monitors reads "access successful". Two more to go.

Gravity hurls itself abruptly against one of the other walls, taking those in the room along with it.]

[justabignobody]

[Riku has just been struggling back up to his feet when he feels the Gravity grab at him again, and while he's just as unprepared now as he was last time, this time at least he isn't quite as panicked by it, flipping in the air again so that he falls feet forward.

He does intent to land properly this time.]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[He felt like a rag doll, something a child just threw around for fun, as the center of gravity switched again. The elf braced himself once again for impact. The good thing about being an elf was how extraordinarily durable his body can be and how much abuse it can take. If this keeps up though, he's not sure how long it will be before it takes a toll on him. There has to be something that can help them stop this nonsense.]

[neverbeamemory]

[Sephiroth's been expecting another shift since the moment he realized they had impacted onto the ceiling. When the gravity shifted again he forced himself to tumble into it in the hope to be able to face the incoming wall with a little bit more judgment. Hands outstretched before him he tried to push telekinesis to work and aim a wave of it against the wall/floor, using his willpower to force his cells to ignore the near blinding pain coursing down his back.

He still hit the wall again, but hopefully the psychic force either slows the velocity some or cushions the blow.]

[animusnpcs]

[Almost as soon as they all land they're bucked off, like the room was some sort of great, angry beast they were attempting to ride. This time, as gravity shifts, a bright line of lasers shoots at them through the air.

If they don't avoid it, they'll find some of their body parts cut apart by those lasers.

The second monitor now reads "access successful". But there's still one more.]

[justabignobody]

[He grits his teeth at the landing; it's not ideal, but at least he's standing at his feet and hurting much, much less than the last landing. This time he is prepared and unsurprised by the gravity shift, eyes narrowing when he sees the lasers.

There is no question on how to defend against those - he really has only one safe option in that regard - but Dark Shield can only cover so much of him. It's despair and instinct (and just a tiny bit of inspiration of having Aqua seen do similarly) that has him thrust out both hands to his side and draw in his feet as he focuses on the familiar taste of Darkness and magic mixing as he pushes... and blinks when he realizes that he's holding up a (just a bit unstable, admittedly) barrier instead of a shield, just enough to reflect the lasers away from him.]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[Ugh, there will be bruises. Many bruises but at least this hurt less than the first had. And then the lasers appear. Legolas has no skill in dodging in midair, never had to train any sort of skill like that or the means to train that kind of skill.]

Ai Elbereth, have mercy.

[neverbeamemory]

[Sephiroth too had landed a lot softer than before, albeit on his front this time. Though the apparent buck from the wall soon flung him painfully back into the air and he forced himself to flip again with the momentum so that he could at least see the room.

It was just as well as the lasers came right at them. Nothing like something urgent to have to dodge; Sephiroth wasn't going to take a chance and see what happened if they hit him.

Pity that crushed shoulder just seemed to spasm to draw his attention right at the second he'd needed that wing to appear again. He took the tiniest split second too long to avoid the laser completely. As Sephiroth dodged into the air as rapid as his abilities would let him, so a laser ripped past him a little too close. Cutting leather, skin and muscle quite deeply across his leg just above the knee; despite the immediate burning, slicing pain it would just have to be pushed to the back of his mind for now. He needs his other abilities to work, and it's only a flesh wound after all. Bleeding would stop.]

[animusnpcs]

[The room twists wildly now, as if it had been spun by some cosmic hand from the outside. More lasers shoot through the room--the best way to avoid these, if one cannot deflect them, would be to resist being thrown away from the walls.]

[justabignobody]

[Riku can't hold the barrier any longer, letting it flicker out of existence as he draws in a deep breath; rather than to focus on the walls, he focuses on the lasers and his instincts, and draws the magic in short bursts rather than to concentrate on continuously maintaining it - he knows which of those is more draining on him.

It takes a good bit of judgment and luck to invoke the spell always exactly the moment before he is in danger of being sliced by the laser, but Dark Shield is Riku's second most practiced spell, one he's practiced over and over again under Mickey's careful supervision in those weeks before they had separated (it feels like a lifetime has passed since that time), and the spell itself hasn't changed, only the form he's drawing it into.

At least that means there isn't any danger of it exploding into his face.

There is enough hazard going around without him adding to it on accident.

Still, he hopes this will end soon. The room can't keep up spinning the whole time, can it?]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[The laser managed to tear apart his shoulder and arm, a bloody mess covering his tunic and cloak as the elf hissed in pain. If he survived, this was well beyond his pitiful healing abilities; he'd need Gandalf's help if he ever hoped to use his arm again. Biting back another cry of pain, the elf draws his knives again when the room moves once more. Jamming them into the wall was his best hope right now. It'll only make the mess that is his shoulder and arm worse but it's worth it if he lives.]

[neverbeamemory]

[Way too many close scrapes Sephiroth. There are probably a fair few black feathers being whipped around the room now as well before being vaporized by the lasers, near misses as he's had to dodge about in midair at the last moment too often.

Damn, fast lasers. It shows by the amount of hairline, though some being significantly gaping cuts that are starting to appear on Sephiroth as the twisting room with the lasers continues. It's not easy for him to keep to the walls when your flight is reliant on telekinetic ability which in turn requires some level physics and/or gravity to work with! Or at least bearings that aren't so random.

The resulting blood loss is crying out now for his attention but iron-willed as ever Sephiroth is keeping himself on his supernaturally fast toes, or rather, wing. But indeed eventually, by trying to stay close enough to the walls it did seem to limit the amount of last-minute dodging he had to pull off.]

[animusnpcs]

[And now the third reads "access successful". The three screens display three buttons.

The room whips around at breakneck speed now, and the laser blasts are more random in direction and seed.]