[ MISSION ORP ] Two Minutes to Midnight - EXIT PAGE 32!

[Zoobey]

The wind howled furiously outside the cave entrance, as the trainees stepped inside. For a second, nothing else, silence.

And then the ground shook, quavering as the cave shifted, unraveled around them, the walls stretching, changing shape, the exit effectively sealed off.

Darkness. The vague outline of four blank walls, illuminated only by the barest of lighting. The sand was gone, but the inky black outlines of the cave still remained, stalagmites curved wickedly upwards. The room itself was not very large, but there was something about it, silent and oppressive. At first it was difficult to pin exactly what was different until realization kicked in at full force.

They could not hear their weapons. In fact, all their weapons had disappeared right out of their very hands. The horsemen, Medea most likely, had effectively sealed them.

Silence again, cold and harsh. The buzzing of something, in the distance, and the sound of voices, echoes, and then what sounded like a small beep, and the movement of shadows, figures. Two voices, slightly familiar, talking.

And then a sharp click, a series of footsteps.

A very familiar figure stood at the far end of the room, though even in the sparse lighting, it was almost impossible to mistake the appearance of the Death division lead. Of course, he ignored the trainees, focused on his cell phone instead, as if waiting for them to approach his highness so that they could be gifted with the glorious art of further instructions that probably involved dying at his expense.  

[Blade Kuroda]

They were inside the cave now that Robert had done away with the giant centipede that remained. But... something was definitely not right. Aside from the darkness, Tooley had gone silent. Normally, the doppleganger was constantly humming softly in the back of his mind. There was none of that now. And it made Deryk a little more nervous than he was before.

There was.. also the fact that he didn't have her summoned anymore.

"...s**t. s**t. Shitshitshitshit....." he uttered quickly, starting to panic a bit. This was definitely not a good sign.

Fidgeting, he looked around, pausing as he heard a pair of voices. Cael was up ahead. It didn't look like he had Circe. Just his cellphone.  

[lizbot]

The hooded figure of the doctor crept up quietly behind Caelius. Noticing Deryk, he placed a finger to his lips with a smile.  

[Sosiqui]

Madison started as Kouki's hilts dissolved out of her hands; she stumbled, feeling for the scabbards, but their reassuring weight was gone as well. Her fists clenched tightly. Kouki... damnit, Kouki- There was no answer, nothing but silence.

But she didn't feel pain, no ache like a pulled tooth or a body sliced in two, so... "You better be there when I scratch my way out of here, damnit," she said, under her breath, before stepping forward. Yep, that was Caelius. Yep, he was still an a*****e.

Commander a*****e.

"Orders, sir?" she said, keeping her voice as even and steady as she could.  

[its me debz]

Clerise had been nothing but ineffective as the worms went down. Shrugging, she pursued Caelius, following his beacon in the dark.

Sure, yes, this is totally going to plan. Probably.

Yep. That was sarcasm.

Kostya just winced, hunkering down in the darkness, following a redhead.  

[Lilwolfpard]

If it was not enough that a giant sand whirlpool just ate them and sent them into their depths, then what about a cave room that was SUDDENLY expanding and becoming something else?

Ceres suddenly wondered if she was dead. Pinching her arm proved painful, so maybe not.

Not only that, but it was suddenly REALLY apparent that...her head was quiet? The gentle thrumming of Takeru in her mind had suddenly vanished into nothing. Keru? ...Keru!? Had they been captured? "Oh hell oh...bloody hell." She looked around for a familiar face to cling to, seeing a few but unsure which to latch on to.

Only suddenly she saw Caelius.. and H. They seemed at total ease? Maybe that was a good sign...

She stayed close, but not in the front of the pack at all either.  

[Rown]

Ofelia followed into the cave, glad to be out of the storm, when Rue suddenly vanished from her hands. It was a strange feeling, being unable to hear her voice, but this time even with taunting her weapon didn't respond. It felt cold, it felt weird, and she rubbed her knuckles with her palms and she moved over and stood near Deryk. She felt strange, nervous as hell, and being near him was sort of easing the pressure. Everyone needed to stick in groups, right?

"What. . . what now?" She whispered to Deryk, looking at him. The nerves from before were back, more so now that the death guy and creepy doctor were there. Division heads other than Allan were never a good sign, right? "Can ya hear Tooley at all?"

Ofelia kept her voice low, trying not to make too much noise at all. Her tone was more of a hiss though than a whisper, and she kept rubbing her knuckles. This was very bad bad.  

[Zoobey]

Caelius coughed, re-buttoning his shirt as he stared back at H, one eyebrow raised, and then back at the trainees. "Well," He began, before clearing his throat again, taking on a more serious tone with what looked more like his usual expression, putting his cellphone on one of the stalagmites before crossing his arms, "You had specific orders to wait outside, so your orders would be, to <******** wait outside. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until Medea's illusion wears off before we can consider breaking out of it."  

[Blade Kuroda]

And then there was H.... sneaking up on.. Caelius. Deryk stared at the two division leads. Did he try to notify his direct superior? Wait. No. H might do something terrible to him if he blew this. Fidgeting, he just... didn't say anything, keeping his lips in a thin line. Thankfully it seemed that the death lead noticed the doctor anyway.

Suddenly hearing Ofelia asking him about Tooley, he looked over towards the sun trainee, then shook his head rapidly.

So this was all an illusion then. Medea seemed to be incredibly powerful in that regard, as he recalled her work her magic in that area below the school awhile back too. The power to seal off their weapons. That was... really kind of frightening.  

[Baneful]

The moment he said they should stay on their toes the entire world erupted into a shifting nightmare of sand, where he couldn't see, could hardly breathe, and through it all could only desperately hope that Harrison ended up in the same place as him. Inside the "safety" of the cave, he tried to catch his breath, only to realise with a sinking chill of panic that Tracey was gone.

<> he mentally called out, seeking for the familiar voice. But was met with nothing. Nothing but the most ominous sort of silence.

Cael and H were here. That wasn't even slightly reassuring. Their investment in trainee survival was slim to none. But mention of an illusion did made him raise a brow. So this was like that fight on the cliffs in the golems? Just that dumb b***h pony ******** with their heads. He rolled his eyes irritably to mask his flighty nervousness.

"Women and their ******** mind games I swear to ********>  

[Bloodlust Dante]

from the sands to a cave, yep.

He would have preferred going to see the olympics right now. yes, olympics trumped over missions into certain doom. But he was instead here, in a dank, dark hole and without a chainsaw. or an annoying, hungry snooty voice in his head to keep him company.

"Nid, you're quite, and i like it." he wispered cockilly as he began to sneak down the dark barely illuminated path.

Far enough to see H sneaking behind cael. With deryk not far behind. and a dark smirk crept over the life hunters face. he just had to do it.

Without much of a thought process behind it, he began to creep right behind the blonde assassin.

Blade Kuroda

His sneak is 38

 

[lizbot]

He got caught. But that didn't keep H from continuing to close the distance until he was right behind the Death leader. Wrapping his arms around Caelius' waist, he placed a kiss on the side of his neck. Resting his chin on the taller man's shoulder, H smiled at the gathering hunters and trainees, "Your timing was off there, guys. But we're about to break for lunch anyway."  

[iloveyouDIE]

Bix sidled up next to Ceres. His expression seemed worried, especially since he couldn't hear Mina. Without his weapon Bix felt even more like cannon fodder and so he waited to see what was going on.  

[Rown]

Deryk's response was accepted and Ofelia raised her hands up in the gloom, showing that her knuckles were bare. Hopefully that was enough to indicate to him that her weapon was also silent, and she was going to open her mouth and say something when Cael's snap at Madison sent her flinching and actually leaning a bit into Deryk's side. When she had her weapon she'd felt cocky - now with Rue gone and silent and the cold soaking in she was nervous again.

If this was all just an illusion there was only one thing that came of this - Ofelia freaking hated illusions. That also meant magic tricks would soon follow behind at that result and anything that would leave her wondering.

" . . . . . " She didn't move from where she was, only watching as all the others came and the doctor was like. . . macking on the death guy. Lunch break?

Was this. . .not as serious as she feared?  

[Zoobey]

"I was rehearsing." And then Caelius pretty much pouted. Full on man pout. He checked his cellphone again, leaning precariously to one side to glance at the screen. "They're gonna start again in a few hours, and you know how they get."

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, pulling out a few crumpled pieces of paper to wave in front of H's face, leaning backwards, just slightly. "Lines?"