Logs:A Panicky Interlude

A Panicky Interlude
Dramatis Personae K.C., Lael, Naomi, Marcus
In Absentia	2020-12-05 "What happened out there?" (takes place in the middle of jailbreak.)
Location Across the Rift -- Shippenville Prison -- Shippenville, PA
Outside it's quiet, and cold, large fat drifts of snow fluttering down around the buses where they've been left to sit quietly under Kavalam's watchful eye. Inside the bus has just very abruptly grown one K.C., wide-eyed, hyperventilating; she's just sprouted into the aisle and immediately sat herself into an empty seat, hand fluttering at the air. She's rocking back and forth, shoulders hunched, head shaking. "Human -- human -- human," she's muttering to herself, and then. "Oh no oh no, can't do it can't do it can't do can't do can't --" What follows after this is a high-pitched keening sound between clenched teeth. Thankfully it breaks off soon enough, replaced instead with: "Dead. All dead all dead all dead." No doubt exactly the kind of interruption you want when you're waiting for jailbreak news. Lael had his head bowed in prayer up until now, though it seems doubtful K.C's news(?) is exactly the sort of intercession he was asking. He winces and shifts a couple of aisles down to sit across from her, his hair squirming quick and agitated. "What happened out there?" He looks very tempted to ask another question, but bites it back firmly, glancing around at the other kids around them. Marcus has been curled up in one of the seats, tracing light snowflake patterns in the frosting that's accumulating on the windows with one thin fingertip. He sits upright abruptly when K.C. reappears, panic blossoming in his mind as visions of the others smeared bloody in the snow flash across his mind. "-- no. Where they. Can't do -- what." Naomi had been lying across two seats in the front of the bus, staring at the rooftop emergency exit while picking absently at there nails. She sits up when she hears K.C., eyes wide with worry. “Who’s dead?” Her breathing speeds up as her mind races to imagine the worst case scenarios - first Spencer and his team facedown and bleeding out, joined steadily by the forms of each of their other classmates. Twin spirals of fear and guilt twisting the images into further horrors. K.C. is still rocking, and the questions pull another sharp keening sound from her. It quiets quicker than the first time, though, soon followed by a choppy rush of monotone words. "Not dead yet. Soon dead soon dead stupid K.C. so stupid panicked can't do your job so stupid too much death too much dead all be dead bad plan bad plan can't do it can't do it all dead --" This breaks down again, her rocking growing sharper, head banging against the (thankfully padded) backrest of the seat in front of her. Lael's eyes have grown wide and unblinking even before K.C. elaborates, in her own way. The hand he brings up to massage his temple is shaking visibly. The explanation does not help him contain his incipient panic. "But they's goin' ahead anyhow?" He casts around the bus, his gaze landing on Marcus. "We got anyone else as can do this? Not what she does exactly just--" He casts about for words that don't come, this time. Marcus's eyes are lowering, his knuckles lifting in a small mirror of Lael's to press to his temple. He brings his knees to his chest, head shaking very slow from one side to another. "Nnooo," he starts, slow, "Nobody can stop. The robots to alarming." His eyes lift very cautiously, fixing on Naomi. "But you can stop. The guards." <<Not dead yet.>> The relief this brings is minute, the panic spilling over this one reassurance in a wave. Naomi’s eyes, already wide with fear, are bouncing from Lael to K.C. to Marcus, hoping for some plan. When Marcus looks at her, her breathing stops for a moment. Stares at him with confusion, slow in her panic to turn into understanding. “I - I can stop the guards,” she repeats in a whisper. “Oh my God, I can -“ and she’s on her feet, scrambling for the door lever and jumping out into the snow, running in the direction of the prison.