WW Resistance (1v1v1)

[Coro]

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Axel joked, his eyes flashing yellow as he chuckled, seeing Cal come from a portal to the Blind. Strolling forward, Axel licked his lips, pausing momentarily to glance back at Rose, a curious look on her face. It seemed distrustful, he thought. Of what though, he wasn't sure.


"Look.... I know we've got that whole devil-may-care attitude, and lots of nasty demonic powers, but you know we're the good guys here. Or, at least, we're not the bad guys. So come with us, Rose. Meet the rest of our fucked up little family." He explained with a shrug, motioning for her to follow him into the darkness.

 

[Esme]

"If I want my brother, I rather have to." Rose said softly, almost out of hearing range. All the same, she followed after him. A sudden wave of ice hit her as the world went from bright to pitch black. Alec's voice sounded from behind her,


"You're my main concern for moving right now, so excuse me if I see a bit harsh. We're going to want to go left, once you hit a wall, follow it to the right until you hit what's going to feel like wood. There's a one way jumper three feet in front of it, puts you back at the resistance. "


A hand gripped her own, it felt far too warm and was faintly sticky. Despite the roughness, it was distinctly female, and she knew it was the Meido user. As she was half pulled half led through the darkness, she didn't know how to feel about any of it.

 

[Coro]

Axel followed along behind Cal. Becoming Riri's host allowed him a certain level of resistance to the Blind's effects. It didn't seem as cold anymore. But instead of just being fresh meat and having to avoid the creatures that lurked within, he actively had to move quickly. Being the host of Despair in a realm of Fear made the creatures really want to get to know him. Something like a reunion, mommy coming home after a long time away. He shuddered at the thought.





As grotesque as they are to you, they are still my children. And Cal's defenders and weapons. Doesn't make step-dad here like them any better. I do believe you just crossed a line, as most humans would comment. Sure thing demon-lady who lives inside my head, I'M the one who crossed a line.

 

[Esme]

In the darkness around them, Meido watched the three move. For a moment, she found herself distracted by the boy that hosted her half. He didn't like it here. Suits him right, she marked to herself. Letting her voice travel to one set of ears, she whispered softly, "I'd be careful not to let her know how you feel about this..."


Diving back into the darkness she moved along with them, just out of sight. The fresh one was...terrified. Rightfully so.


Pulling her into the portal dive, Cal launched all three of them back to the resistance. Taking in a hard breath, she knew she was running short. Giving them one final nod, she braced herself against the wall and started moving towards the closest infirmary room.

 

[Coro]

Being back in Sanctuary gave Axel a sense of home, breathing deeply and letting the stale air fill his lungs. He could breathe a little easier now, especially since they were out of the Blind.


"So, welcome to Sanctuary, seat of power for the world's greatest villains." He explained to Rose momentarily with a slight smile, before turning on his heels and darting to Cal's side. He caught up to Cal and slid an arm around her waist, slinging hers over his shoulder, so he could help her walk. This was either going to end in Axel getting hit now, or in a week's time, but he couldn't just let Cal try to limp her way to the infirmary by herself.


"Vent's probably already in the infirmary." He noted, glancing down at Cal, at his side. "Please tell me you didn't throw him out into the cold..." He whispered in question to Cal, desperately hoping her somewhat-justified hatred of the jerk hadn't gotten the better of her.

 

[Esme]

About two weeks later, Yumi found herself yet again in the second, and smaller, infirmary. She'd been spending a lot of time bouncing between the two, but she found herself lingering more at this one for two reasons. Of the ones they'd rescued from Munich, this is where the ones with the worst damage had been placed. Less running to fetch items in a room that worked well as a high status ER. And then there was her personal reason, Cal and Vent's little Victor. According to her daughter, the two had quite a nasty fright and intercepted, and in Cal's case, interrupted a mission she was doing on her own.


She'd also made a point to note that she hadn't had time to explain to Cal what was going on, and as far as she had known at that point, the little vent was thieving. She'd taken care of him as an olive branch to the man she was conning, not having known in truth as to why he was there. Yumi had assured her she'd take care of it, but she was still....something seemed odd in the way Cal talked. She wasn't sure what she read more in her granddaughter's voice, or if it was just a fever dream that was causing her to talk so painfully hurt.


From the corner of her eye, she looked over at the white haired youth. While her injuries were healing, they weren't to the point where she was comfortable with the progression compared to the time span. While she couldn't personally make wounds disappear on the spot, she was excellent at making the process go as quickly as possible. But Cal didn't say what had caused the wounds, and she hadn't asked since Axel had brought her here, barely making it, as one of her Head Med's had said to her. Hell, he was surprised she had survived at all, and Yumi didn't know what to say about it. The kid had more brush ins with death than she had as a child. And that was saying something, wasn't it?


As the thermometer she had her patient hold in their mouth beeped, she had to stop distracting herself with idle thoughts that were gone and past and taken care of. She had four more on the floor, before talking to some of the other patients that needed a bit more therapy care than physical.

 

[Coro]

Victor Raiden, or Vent as he went by, lay in the bed, unfortunately assigned to him, right beside Calandra Porter. The girl who little over a week ago, had tortured him at the discretion of Corono Deathlind, a horrifying mage who most described as the strongest mage in the world... Of course, there was Yumi Deathlind, his equally horrifying wife. And Hope Astrumregis, the rich pretty boy genius who ran Nightrise's Magic Division and Operations. Vent wondered if the three of them fought, who would come out on top?


.... That was besides the point, he reminded himself, much like he was beside Cal. Beside the source of his annoyance for the last week.


"Hey, demon-child!" He yelled, trying to get her attention over her headphones. "You're still playing your shitty music WAY TOO LOUD! Nobody else in here wants to hear your death-metal madness, we're all well adjusted human beings who don't want to burn down churches in Sweden!" He exclaimed, riling himself up as he plugged his ears for effect.

 

[Esme]

Cal never removed her eyes from the dulled screen in her lap. Merely dropping the volume again, she small skip in her writing didn't phase her much. She had no intention of responding to him, much like every other time he had complained to her about it. She knew full well the only one who could hear her music besides herself was him. Between the machines, the voices, and the constant shuffling of people, it was hard to even hear her own thoughts.


Sifting through the working file of Hope Astrumregis, her unofficial copy, not the Sanctuarty's highly edited version, she was tacking in details from their last encounter. She had wanted to do it the second she felt she was well enough to type, but Yumi had denied it. So she had a lot of back logging to do, on top of making a clear of picture in her head as possible of the manner's layout, or what little she covered, to add into the file. So, while he just wanted to fight, and she would have loved nothing more than to remove another finger, she kept herself working in relative silence.

 

[Coro]

Still scowling, Vent bit his lower lip. She wasn't biting. She could be surprisingly cool headed, even though most of Axel's jokes regarding her were about flying off the handle and being hard to deal with. She was obsessed with that file of Hope, as soon she she'd gotten it, she'd been nose deep in it since. An awful idea popped into Vent's head, hoping it might make Cal bite. Hehe, he thought, this is some bait.


"You're awfully obsessed with that guy. Don't tell me your taste in men is similar to your mom's?" He quipped, smirking triumphantly, wanting nothing more than to see Cal get angry.


~~~


Standing outside the infirmary, his ear to the door, Axel swallowed. He'd been listening in before he and Rose entered, to gauge the situation. They just seen the last couple sights left in Sanctuary and the surrounding area, he'd been sure to give Rose a great tour.


But it looked like the tour might end in breaking up a fight.


".... Your brother's got an awfully big mouth." He commented quietly, standing up straight and placing a hand on the doorknob. Raising an eyebrow, he smiled slightly. "If we have to break up a fight, I've got Cal." He added.

 

[Esme]

Cal's typing skipped a beat, and another before stopping altogether. The music pouring through her personal speakers went silent. One long breath in, one long breath out. Turning her head ever so slightly and locking onto Vent, eyes pitch black and far beyond demonic, a voice that wasn't quite Cal's managed to hiss iself out.


"If you wish to remain in tact, I suggest leaving her alone."


Her head turned back, and Cal returned to typing as if she had never stopped.


---------


Rose nodded slowly, "He tends to get us in trouble quite frequently. It's why I've learned to speak quickly and make convincing excuses. "

 

[Coro]

"You think you're gonna scare me like that?!?" Vent asked incredulously, cracking his knuckles and starting to get out of the bed.


Hearing the creaking of the old bed frame, Axel swung the door open, walking in rather quickly.


"Hey, you two, imagine running into you here! We were just in the neighbourhood so we decided to swing by!" He chimed, gesturing grandly with his hands. Hoping he'd come in at just the right second, Axel glanced between the two at odds. Cal was looking over Hope's file and doing some work, not unexpected. Vent looked like he was in the middle of getting out of the bed. Seeing Axel and Rose, however, Vent settled back down, flopping onto the mattress once more.


Glancing at Rose, Vent sighed. "What're you doing here? Should you be out picking rare Antarctic flowers, or reading a book by a fireplace while watching the snowstorm or something equally trivial?" He asked his sister, rolling his eyes and redirecting his boredom, hoping he might get a reaction out of her.

 

[Esme]

Rose eyed Vent for a moment, folding her arms across her chest and setting her center of balance to the left. She knew his game, and she wasn't in the mood to play. Particularly with him still recovering, and already on the verge of wanting to fight someone.


"Alright. I'm going to say this once, so I suggest listening. Unlike Vent, I have not, and I will not put up with your childish games. You are twenty four years old, a god damned adult, now act like it. I don't care what your history with them is, you should be grateful they've been nice to you and didn't just throw you out in the cold, or let her kill you when she had all the right in the world to do it.


And from what I know, she is the reason we even left that property alive at all, and that includes you. She has work to be doing for the organization that has so graciously extended open arms to us and this is how you go about thanking them? Picking a fight with someone whose still wounded? Disappointment doesn't even come close to what I am in you right now."


Pursing her hips, she shook her head before looking over at Cal. Digging into her leather bag, she pulled out a small jar of one of her signature good things. A little lotion that helped calm nerves and dull pain.


"I know it's not much but, I thought you could use it. It's vanilla, since I didn't really know what you would like..."


Cal blinked, looking at the red head. Accepting it slowly, a faint smile hit her face, "Thank you..."

 

[Coro]

Vent rubbed his left arm with his right hand, a habit of his whenever scolded by Rose, or his mentor. Still scowling, he looked away as Cal and Rose interacted with smiles and warm gestures.


Axel coughed, interrupting Vent's sulking and the girl's moment, as he slung off the backpack he'd been carrying. Pulling out some of his own clothes, he threw them at Vent, and then tossed the bag at Cal.


"I asked Yumi earlier, she said you guys weren't clear to leave until tomorrow. But we're going out tonight because it's a holiday and Nightrise's scanners will be down due to increased traffic. We can blend into a crowd and go out into the world. So get changed fast, I'm gonna go get her attention. Make your way to the portal room in 5 minutes." He said with a grin, pulling out a rock from his pocket. In a second, it warped it's shape into a blade, with which he cut his left arm, a gash that ran from his shoulder to his elbow. Wincing, he gritted his teeth and bore the pain.


"See you in five." He said, turning on his heels and leaving, trying not to let blood spill on the floor and leave a trail for Yumi to follow.

 

[Esme]

As the bag rather forcefully closed her laptop for her, Cal raised an eyebrow. It was a holiday? With a groaning noise, she moved her baby off her lap and swung her legs over the side of the bed. While she didn't have see through holes any more, she was still riddled with some rather nasty gashes. Which in turn meant she would be rocking the mummy look under her clothes, and as weird as it was, she hoped Axel did what he normally did to her when she didn't want it, and got her a long sleeved shirt. One quick check in the bag confirmed his consistent logic of, 'we live in ice' payed off for her.


Glancing at the curtain walls around them, Cal wasn't quite ready to go that far into the not caring territory and darted towards one of the three unoccupied unisex bathrooms the infirmary had. A few short moments later and she looked like she had never seen Yumi's version of a hospital jonnie in her entire life. Though in the same breath, she also seemed to be rocking just a hint too much green, so her making fashion statements probably weren't the best.

 

[Coro]

Running up to Yumi in the other infirmary room, Axel clenched his teeth, doing his best to smile despite the sharp pain in his arm. He really hoped Yumi would patch him up. Going out on the town with an injured arm might not be the best idea he'd ever have.


"Hey Granny, got a second? I hurt myself practicing with Umbralus." He explained, motioning to his arm, and the blood leaking out between the fingers applying pressure to the wound. "Apparently fast moving shards of rock can injure someone. Who would have guessed?" He joked, chuckling a little, and wincing as the movement of his shoulder aggravated the pain in his arm.


~~~


Vent snorted, glancing towards Rose as he caught the clothes and tossed them on his bedside table instead of getting up to get dressed.


".... Wait, don't tell me we're actually going?" He asked of Rose, his eyes widening in surprise.

 

[Esme]

Looking up from a patient, Yumi raised an eyebrow. First he asked her about release dates, and now he was coming in with a wound that was obviously not an accident, or Umbralus tainted. She knew she could have ended it right then and there, but if he was this determined, and it would do the other two something well to not be purely contained with each other.


"Talk to Olivia, she's currently free."


Olivia of course, was the large, rough handed healing mage they'd taken on about three years ago. Despite her course way of doing things, cold hands, and rather gruff way of handling patients, she was good at what she did. And sending kids to her kept them from wanting to come back.


------------


Rose nodded with a soft smile, "Come on, it'll be fun."

 

[Coro]

Axel bit his lower lip, thinking. This at least meant Yumi was busy, if she wouldn't take the time to heal him personally. Swallowing, Axel grit his teeth and nodded.


".... Awesome." He said in a low voice, having been treated by Olivia before.


Well, at least he'd make it in time to see the other three at the portal.


~~~


Vent scowled, stripping the hospital gown off, revealing a lean, well toned body with many scars and marks, from his dedicated training. Victor hadn't been the most naturally gifted magic user as a child, but hard work had payed off in the end, he supposed. As Vent, he was nothing short of a natural. Glancing at Rose as he picked up the clothes Axel had picked out, he shook his head.


"I don't do colour." He said, snapping his fingers and magically donning clothes similar to his thief's outfit, black and slim fitting. Jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, along with a scarf.


He liked scarves.

 

[Esme]

Turning around instantly, Rose covered her face with her hands. Cal looped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her through the curtains. Being guided yet again by the demon woman, Rose found it rather interesting the parallels of the two trips.


"Come on, loser, we're going drinking."

 

[Coro]

Rolling his eyes, Vent followed after the two girls. Drinking? Huh, it'd been a while since he'd had something to drink. He probably could use it, in all honesty.


Glancing around the hallways as he followed after Cal and Rose, he pouted slightly. Just how much time had Axel been spending with Rose over this last week, he wondered, rubbing his chin.


~~~


Axel shuddered, leaving the infirmary with a healed arm, but the feeling of Olivia's cold grasp lingering on his arm and chest.


He wondered why he'd had to take off his shirt for her to treat the wound, but then again, her rough grip and the wink she'd given him as he left had probably said enough on that subject. If she wasn't a foot taller than Axel and twice as muscular, he wouldn't be so worried about it, either.


Spying the other three on their way, he grinned.


"Alright, let's go! The room's right around the corner, we made it!" He said exuberantly, albeit in a hushed tone. Yumi or Corono could come wheeling around a corner at any second.

 

[Esme]

With her arm still around the red head, Cal grinned back at Axel. She was always an odd one when it came to mods, flipping between not caring and angry with ease, and generally, she did go from work into something of a good mood. Because well, she had more worth than her fists and that felt pretty nice most of the time. Also sneaking out was fun, regardless of age.


"After you, Captain Short Stack." She shot at him. She felt Rose give a small giggle, and grinned down at her and winked.

 

[Coro]

Raising an eyebrow, Axel shrugged, stepping forward into the room and onto the pad.


"Where to?" He asked, blinking a few times, asking after he realized he hadn't planned this venture out nearly as well as he should have. "New York?" He added, thinking about a large city with crowds they could blend into.


Vent shrugged, waiting for Cal and Rose to go into the room first, eyeing Rose a little funny.


".... I've never been there, myself" He stated, realizing his many travels had actively avoided large cities.

 

[Esme]

Cal shrugged, she didn't really have a preference to the scenery when the majority of the time was going to be spent in a dim room replicated just about everywhere. She looked at Rose as the red head spoke up, a soft smile to her.


"Might I suggest Los Vegas? There is usually a large amount of traffic there to begin with, where on a normal day Nightrise has troubles monitoring it. On Holidays, regardless how small, it tends to get a lot more active as well. Also helps that the majority of the casinos are owned by, well," She giggled and winked at Vent. He knew she made a lot of friends in sketchy places while he looted things on missions, they'd come in handy before and they hadn't been out that way in a long time. "I'm sure a few wouldn't mind catching up."

 

[Coro]

Axel grinned, nodding to the group.


"It's decided then, we're gonna go to Las Vegas. You know what happens in Vegas...." He started, half expecting Cal to reach out and smack him for quoting such an overused line.


Vent sighed, rolling his eyes. "I'm pretty much fine with wherever, so long as she promises to not stab me with anything again." He noted, pointing at Cal, almost forgetting about how he'd been egging her on over the last week, trying to get her mad.

 

[Esme]

Cal rolled her eyes, but grinned none the less. Glancing back at Vent, a bit of mischeif danced in her eyes.


"I promise nothing metal, " She winked.

 

[Coro]

".... Stays in Vegas. Alright let's go before things get anymore uncomfortable yaaaaay." Axel replied, pointing to the operating console, Cal being the closest to it.