Abandoned Subway Tunnels, Los Angeles, Saturday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

"Stealth said that this place is a kind of refuge for homeless people who didn't want to shelter up on the surface," Banzai said, leading the way through the subway tunnels. "They're really good at policing their own; making it safe for women and families to stay down here. No drugs, no violence, that kind of thing. Isn't perfect, but pretty damn good for people with nothing. But nobody's heard anything from anyone down here in awhile and she wants someone to check in with them. There was no indication that they've had contact with anyone infected, but the silence is weird. She's hoping they're just hunkered down and waiting for this to blow over."

Flickering lights overhead didn't do much to dispel the gloom, illuminating only the area around them and leaving the rest shrouded in darkness. There were sections where the lights were out entirely and that meant that they would have to travel for several yards in true darkness, at least until they reached the next, intact light. "We should be coming up on sentries soon. They might have weapons, so please let's try being nice first?"

[For those guys with her! And NFB]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm always nice," Dante said, supporting a mildly worrisome grin as he walked along. "Don't worry."

It was Dante. Someone was going to get punched sooner rather than later.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah," Banzai said coolly, keeping her eyes on the subway tunnel directly ahead of her. "Sure you are."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante didn't add in much else. He couldn't help tweaking Kathy while this was going on - an innate inclination towards stirring shit - but he could actually be on the ball when he needed to be.

He squinted at the darkness, Rebellion a visible presence against his back.

[spin_kick_snap]

Banzai right now, Dante. Banzai. Vigilantism was still illegal, remember?

"See anything?" she asked. She was not in the mood to have her shit-stirred today, stomach still a knot of uncomfortable and conflicting feelings. "Or anyone? I think we're just entering into the range where we could expect to be met by someone. I'd like to see them coming first, if possible."

Granted, she glowed like a beacon in her bright white gi, but some warning might be nice.

[rebelseekspizza]

It'd be a cold day in hell when Dante as much as remembered the name was Banzai, but at least he hadn't blurted her name out loud again. So far.

"Not catching anything but shadows," he said.

He was taking slightly bigger steps, trying to make sure he'd be the first one hit if something was coming at them. And yes, he'd rather shoot himself in the face than admit it.

[not_every_mage]

"I'm not looking for trouble," Anders said mildly as he glanced around the tunnel. "... People live here? Really?"

He had never liked closed spaces. They made him feel trapped, and the idea there might be zombies in this one didn't make him like it any better.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Beats living up on the street, or in a car, or staying in an abusive relationship because you don't have anywhere else to go," Banzai replied. "Or even in a lot of homeless shelters. Those places range from the decent to the brutal. Down here, they've at least managed to build a community that keeps them safe."

She peered into the gloom, trying to get a glimpse of--anything, really.

"Can you make a light?" she asked him. "Like, make your staff glow or something?"

[spin_kick_snap]

There was a weird noise in the tunnel now, like a clacking, but hard to tell where it was coming from with all the echoes bouncing around.

"What's that?" Banzai asked. "A signal or something, maybe? You think I should say something?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"If you don't know the signal..." Dante said. His hands were aching to draw Rebellion already, but: no starting trouble this early. So the options were limited.

"Hey?" he called.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Stealth told me what to say, but she didn't say anything about chattering," Banzai told him. "Hey!" she called down the tunnel. "Stealth sent us to check up on you. She says--" she paused to make sure she remembered it correctly. "--In a tree by the brook there's a songbird who sings sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiving."

Whoever came up with the passphrases was a Zepplin fan. Cool.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Somebody's a music nerd," muttered the pot.

He squinted into the darkness. More chattering. Weird. "Maybe they changed passcodes?" he asked, eyes darting back to Kathy.

[spin_kick_snap]

And now the kettle was going to try to eat him.

"That's a really terrible password if they did," Banzai muttered. "I don't--fuck." She pointed to the wall. Or rather, the smear of blood across it, roughly at head height. "Guys, this might possibly not be Kansas anymore."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante followed the stretch of her arm, and pulled a face.

Yeah, never mind, he was drawing Rebellion now, the sword outstretched by his side. "Last chance," he called. "Anybody there?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Please, somebody, say something," Banzai begged softly. "This is a community of something like a hundred people, give or take. There are little kids here. Please, say something."

No words answered her. Just that chattering--and more of it.

[rebelseekspizza]

Rebellion cut through the sound, letting off a gleaming, impossibly sharp chime as Dante filled it up with energy without really thinking about it. "Yeah, I don't think anyone's listening," he said, stalking forward. "Hey, chatty Cathies!"

[hollywoodex-tra.livejournal.com]

Kathy pulled out her shéng biāo. It was the closest she had to a distance weapon. Wrapping that around her upper arm, she loosened her bokken in its sheath on her back. She had her knives, too, and would use them if she needed, but her bokken was strong enough to break bone. The knives, she'd have to go for softer, more vulnerable parts.

As Dante came forward, the three zombies shuffled over to meet him. They'd been standing by a closed door until they'd heard the approach. They raised their hands to grasp and clutch, their teeth chattering so hard they seemed likely to splinter.

Their gore-streaked teeth. They reached for them with grasping hands, nails blackened with tattered flesh beneath them. Their mouths were bloody and chunks of them were missing.

[rebelseekspizza]

Letting rip a drive felt like overkill, but frankly, Dante had had a shitty week and overkill was exactly what he was feeling like right now. He cut clean through the air, abruptly letting go of his tight control on the ambient energy running through the blade.

One cut. Two cuts. Three cuts.

He was still many feet away, but the zombies came apart as if Rebellion had cut through them physically. "Think it's time to let her rip, Kat."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I think you're right," Banzai said, nodding. She picked up speed blitzing through towards the door, not looking at the bits of zombie on the ground around it. "There still might be living people beyond this door. They might have been trapped here by the zombies here."

She was clinging to that hope, even as she banged on the door. "Hey!" she cried. "If there's anyone alive in there? We killed the zombies, you can come out now!" She paused, giving them time to respond. Willing them to respond. To say anything to let them know there were living people beyond that locked door.

This was supposed to be a safe community. Please, let it still be safe.

[rebelseekspizza]

Yeah, Dante wasn't putting a whole lot of chips on that bet. He put Rebellion back on his back and got the girls out, striding up by Kathy's - Banzai's - whoever's side.

He was keeping his eyes peeled.

"Not hearin' much."

[spin_kick_snap]

Banzai knelt down; the door was locked but she could open it easily enough. She pulled her lockpicks out of a pocket and set to work. "Listen," she urged both of them. "Put your goddamn ear to the door if you have to and listen."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante rolled his eyes. He wasn't pressing his ear to any doors, but he was moving in a little closer.

He was listening.

Just... not for signs of life. He did not have an inch of Kathy's optimism.

[spin_kick_snap]

Through the door came the faint sounds of chattering. Or was that simply the sound of Banzai's picks, clattering against the tumblers and pins in the lock?

The lock clicked as the last pin got pushed. Banzai rose, and tried to open the door. It started to move, then got caught on something. "Did they build a barricade?" she asked. "Maybe that's why we can't hear anything."

She stepped aside next to Anders, figuring that Dante was the best chance to shoulder the door open. "We're coming in!" she called. "We're here to help!"

She was going to believe that everyone was okay until she had no other choice.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yeah, sure, a barricade," Dante muttered. "You two get ready."

He didn't need his hands to do this, so he kept his guns out. Just banged his shoulder against that door real hard, and it went crashing open like nothing.

"... No barricade. Get your weapons up, we've got shamblers."

A whole fucking hall full of them. Great.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Fuck!" That was only the first word of Banzai's blue streak and it was the only one in English, but the entire diatribe was lengthy and fervent. She'd nearly finished when she saw what the door had gotten stuck on; a mostly-eaten body that had likely been trying to get the door open to flee. That wound her back up again, adding about another thirty seconds to her diatribe and a whole other language to the mix.

"If there are any survivors in hiding, stay there!" she called out. "We're here to help! We'll be securing the area and then we'll let you know if it's safe to come out!"

Odds were looking grim there was anyone left alive in that place to hear her. But on the off-chance there was, she was going to give them some hope, dammit. If there weren't, however, she'd just gotten every zombie's attention for nothing. Oops.

Whatever, she was blitzing inside at full-speed, already tracing out a trajectory in her own head. "Kindly don't shoot me!" she yelled. "Or hit me with magic!"

[rebelseekspizza]

"K-- Be careful!" Dante yelled after her, and hey, it was a damned miracle her name hadn't made it out again.

He was moving after her, fast but not that fast, both guns locking on the first thing that even moved at him. Was it chattering?

Yeah, it was chattering. Fuck it, he was shooting it in the head.