ArchivedLogs:On High

On High
Dramatis Personae Peter, Sebastian, Shane, Karrie
In Absentia	2013-11-06 (Part of Infected TP.)
Location
THWP. The zipline flings out to catch the corner of a very tall building; the other end of it is currently held tightly in Peter's gloved fist -- the boy clad in a black hoodie, black sweatpants, gloves, and socks -- along with his ridiculous luchador mask plus respirator. The hoodie shows some wear and tear; slash marks across the flank, exposing the hexacomb-shaped bodyarmor he's wearing beneath -- dark blue and red. With one arm, he's swinging down to the next rooftop -- a small residential building with a garden and patio -- and with the other, he's got Karrie, tightly curled in his grip, with a few weblines tied ‘round her shoulders and his waist just to make /sure/, in case he unforeseeably loses his hold. Karrie looks like she's trying /very/ hard not to be sick. Arms curled tight around Peter, head tucked in against his chest, occasional tiny squeaks of protest as they zip through the air. The twins have no such protest. Dressed identically in boots and cargo pants and Xavier's t-shirts, though Shane wears a dark peacoat and Bastian his black HERBIVORE hoodie, they zip along behind Peter, landing on the rooftop with twin thumps. "The city -- city -- city --" Shane shakes his head with a frown. "... Looks really different from up high." Sebastian is peering down over the edge of the rooftop. In the lamplit streets below, a small crowd of bodies is thronging together, clustered around something -- someone? -- in their midst. He shudders and turns aside. The twins' heads cock in unison, though, at a soft rattling croak from behind the garden's trellises. "Hnngh," Sebastian protests unhappily, stretching tired muscles but already looking for the quickest way to the next roof. Shane doesn't look for a way off; he looks towards the source of noise -- there are several shapes stirring in the dark -- with an abrupt low growl. "Sorry," Peter apologizes to Karrie as they land in a trot, setting her down -- a quick spritz of his webshooters to do away with the straps attaching her to him. "You can, uh, recover here -- if you want. I think, I might just -- glue you to me? So I can use both arms, because…" Peter hasn't been looking down very much. It's probably for the best; if he /was/ looking down, he'd be tempted to charge in and try to help wherever he can. His expression has been hidden beneath the mask the entire time -- but the twins can /smell/ the agitation on him -- the desperation, the apprehension, the desire to just run off and do /something/ to help. There's that, and there's Peter's danger sense -- which has been gently ringing ever since they entered the city. Getting louder and louder the deeper they go in. At the sound of Shane's abrupt growl, Peter's arm /snaps/ around Karrie, lifting her up to put himself between her and the source of those noises. "--nngh," he says, before: "--Shane, don't -- are they--?" "--Oh god." Karrie has just been settling down against the roof wall to rest for a moment but those noises shoot her right back to her feet. Her eyes widen, and she is more than happy to shrink behind Peter, though it's the twins she looks to. "Shane --" It sounds at first like a caution, Sebastian lifting his hand to Shane's shoulder restrainingly. His nostrils flare. "Dead," he confirms to Peter, but after this he releases Shane with a thin sharp smile. His claws poke lightly at his brother's shoulder, and then /he/ drops to all fours, not looking to the edge anymore but charging towards the figures. Shane is off the moment he's released, with another sharp growl. Behind the trellises four of the dead have been -- well, who knows what they've been doing when there's no prey around. But with new scents and new voices on the roof, all four are heading towards the students. They might have been a family, at one point -- an older man, thinner, grey-haired, a man and woman and one smaller child, perhaps nine or ten. Supplies have been brought up here, food and water and behind where the access door leads back to the building there's a tent with warm sleeping bags. For all the good it did them. "--nngh," Peter mutters, as the twins bound off on all fours -- but that sound becomes a strangled whimper when he sees the four approaching. The sight of a family -- along with the child -- causes Peter to step back. And then, without another word, his arm -- still coiled around Karrie's waist -- pulls her closer to him, his hand moving to tuck her head against his shoulder, trying to shield her from the sight. "--sorry, I -- don't think -- you should…" Peter grimaces under the mask. "--watch this." /He/ watches, if only so he can intervene if necessary, the arm around Karrie's waist tight, but ready to spring off and start firing web-lines if necessary. "Mmmnh," is Karrie's somewhat sickened agreement. "-- I was looking. Down. While we were -- there's /so many/. Down there. They keep --" This breaks off, her head tucking against Peter's hoodie. Sebastian just /barrels/ straight into the first of the four, slamming claws- out into the woman with a growl that sounds -- oddly exuberant. She is largely unfazed by claws, still jerking forward to knock him into the dirt behind, teeth clamping down on an arm while the smallest of the four drops down closer to try and join in this delicious fish-meal. Shane doesn't try to /hurt/ the man who comes towards him. Just slams fists hard against him, shoving him backwards to let him topple over the edge of the roof and down to the street far below. Sebastian's growl turns to a quiet /yelp/ with the small teeth sinking into his side. He flips the larger zombie off him, onto the smaller one, but now his hands are kind of occupied just holding them in place. "-- web?" he asks Peter. HOPEFULLY. As the last one shambles up behind him. Web comes -- with a series of THWPs that fire off as Peter's arm uncurls around Karrie's waist, his other arm staying tucked around her head -- his legs shifting to part as he produces a soft, low level hiss. The weblines lash out to strike the zombie behind Sebastian, aimed at the sternum and shoulders -- and then violently /pull/, forcing Peter to turn with Karrie still close to him, wrenching the zombie off balance and to the side -- before a few more thwps aim to lock it to the ground. Head, arms, feet. Thwp, thwp, thwp -- anything and everything he can secure. "It's fine," Peter tells Karrie, in-between the hiss of exertion. "Keep your eyes closed. Almost done." His voice is, perhaps, surprisingly steady, in contrast to his earlier agitation. Shane lopes towards his brother, now that his zombie is safely far below them. He looks at first like he still wants to attack, claws unsheathing, but then he stops. Freezes, momentarily, and pulls his claws back in so that he can grab Sebastian and yank him back quickly, dragging him far from the two remaining zombies in the dirt. He darts in again to /shove/ at them as they start to rise, pushing them out of the dirt and onto the concrete to give Peter a better shot at them. "I'll be right back just stay here and keep your eyes closed okay--" Peter tells Karrie, in a rush of breath, his hand uncurling from her head -- reluctantly! -- as he steps forward, bringing /both/ webshooters to bare. And -- THWPTHWPTHWPTHWPTHWP -- like automatic gunfire, he strides forward, webs shooting line after line -- catching limbs, /yanking/, firing off glueballs -- rapidly working to quickly immobilize both remaining zombies. If the circumstances weren't so grim, it might be impressive just how good at this Peter has gotten -- it's clear he's been practicing pulling people to the ground and webbing them to the point of immobility for a while, now. Shane slumps back against the roof access door once the zombies are pinned down, rubbing a now-dirty hand against his jacket with a quiet showering sprinkle of dirt raining back to the concrete. "That's got like an hour, right?" He sounds a little shaky, in voice. "Can we --" "-- Yeah. For a little bit." Sebastian curls his arm tentatively around Shane's shoulders, which stirs the faintest hint of growl again in Shane's throat before it cuts off. He leans into the touch. "... it's getting worse, I think," he says softly. "Just kind of want to --" "-- kill everything?" Sebastian's teeth bare in a thin smile. "Funny, I haven't actually noticed much difference." This prompts a sudden gasp of sound from Karrie -- it sounds like a sob but behind where her knuckles are pressed to her lips her mouth is turned up in laughter. "Oh. Oh god, Bastian, you've been prepping for this forever." Once Peter's got all the zombies good and webbed down, he seems to relax -- throwing one last glance at Karrie to make sure she's okay, he begins moving toward where the supplies were stationed, shifting and picking his way through them -- grabbing bottles of water. Peter catches the conversation; his shoulders hunch up a little bit at the mention of Sebastian and Shane wanting to /kill/ everything -- but rather than respond, he soon returns to the group, holding… bottles of water. Four of them; two to each hand. Two are thrown to each twin. "Wash off any blood," he tells them, before adding: "We should -- when we get to the clinic, you should probably… we don't know how it's spread. I guess it kinda doesn't matter, you're both already… but if it's from blood, you need to be careful, not to infect anyone else. We /all/ need to--" The mask swings over to peer at Karrie at her laughter; then, Peter swings back over to look at Bastian, his white bug-eyed lenses apparently /peering/ at him. "--yeah you actually seem kind of. Sedate," he offers, though by his tone, it sounds a bit like a joke. Shane snatches both the bottles out of the air, Sebastian's reaction fractionally slower with the gnawing his arm has just received. Shane passes him a water, opening his own to splash a little bit on his face and gills first before checking himself for injuries. "We all need to be careful," Sebastian agrees, also checking himself -- the side of his sweatshirt is tearing, and he grimaces before lifting it to trickle water against his side. "-- But you're kind of putting yourself at a lot of risk with this all I think, I mean. We're /all/ infected already and Daiki --" Shane growls at the mention of Daiki, but this time it's less aggressive and more just unhappy. "Mmf," Peter responds, in reply to Sebastian, already stepping over to the supplies again as he does so -- retrieving another two bottles of water. One for him, one for Karrie. As he brings the bottle to Karrie, he reaches back for his hoodie, pulling it down -- adjusting and tugging his mask. "--they're going to find a cure," Peter insists, to Sebastian, though his tone sounds a mite weak. At Shane's growl, Peter pauses -- holding the bottle out to her, head turning to look back at Shane, worry on his face. "We'll get him back. I --" He looks back to Karrie, frowning. "--this is going to kind of suck for you. I'm sorry -- we're putting you in this… thing. Position." Karrie grimaces, taking the bottle from Peter and uncapping it to sip, slowly. "This is going to kind of suck for everyone. This /already/ kind of sucks for everyone." Sebastian just curls his arm tighter around Shane. And trickles more water over himself, before drinking someone. "... let's go," he mutters, "You're all starting to look really delicious." Peter frowns, at that -- eyeing Sebastian briefly. It's a look edged with worry and concern -- but also agitation. The mask descends back over his face; he clips the USB port back into his suit -- and turns to Karrie, tucking the water bottle in his pocket. Holding an arm out for her. "--sorry," he says again. "Just for a little longer." Once she steps forward to take his arm, he proceeds to web her around his chest and waist. The twins don't say anything at all. Karrie obligingly steps forward, only cringing up a little when she's webbed. Mostly still watching the twins, a little warily. But they don't try and eat her. They glance back to their friends and then, one after the other, THWIP their way off the rooftop.