[LN] Raphael is cool but rude, Michelangelo is a party dude...

[othersdestructive]

"Jus' - jus' five more minutes, Master Splinter."

Come on, it'd been a busy night. Couldn't he sleep in just a little bit longer?

Except...except he wasn't in the lair.

As Raph opened his eyes, he realized he wasn't even in the city.

New York was New York and after spending the majority of his life under it, and exploring every facet of it from above after he and his brothers had started exploring at night, it was practically in his blood.

Wherever he was now, it didn't look like New York, it didn't sound like New York - it definitely didn't smell like New York.

And his head felt like it'd been cracked open and...something was rushing in. Something unnameable and shifting. It was making even his memories fuzzy. It was almost like something that wasn't himself was trying to push in and make...something else into himself. For a moment, all he could do was push himself up onto his knees and hunch over, holding his head in his hands.

"Ugh, my head."

Comments

[captainbuzzkill]

Dipper pulled out his book, in case he'd need it for anything, wiping at his nose one last time.

"Mabel, warm up the kitten fists. They'll probably start sending more security guys in the longer we stay here."

[bedazzledmyface]

Mabel banged her hands together, and at once, they were adorable, mewling kittens. Pink kittens.

"Kitten fists are ready to go!" she announced, creepy image fast fading as her hands mewed adorably.

[bestnamer]

Now that was just delightful. Unexpectedly wonderfully delightful, in the middle of this totally awful day.

"Aww! Can I pet 'em?"

[othersdestructive]

"No time for petting the...really creepy kitten hands, Mikey. Let's go."

Still holding onto the knife (because hey, he needed a weapon) Raph charged forward.

They found a map and searched all the major rooms. By now many people had evacuated, and the security teams they found were no match against magic, ninjas, kitten fists, and rainbows.

There was one last room to check that might have been some kind of holding area, but when they forced their way in through the door, they were greeted by the sight of something horrible.

It was a holding area, but not for anything alive. All over were huge vats and tubes of preserved bodies, of beings that had possibly once been sentient. Various magical creatures, some even preserved fully dissected.

Raph's face was filled with disgust and horror as he looked around and when he spotted one particular specimen, he shook his head in abject disbelief.

"They killed a unicorn. Who kills an actual unicorn?!"

[spellitonce]

"Oh my God, shut up!" Nico hissed furiously at him, hastily backing up to block the doors. "Mabel, Dipper, you stay out here and keep an eye out for any other security guards, okay?"

She was not going to be responsible for a couple of twelve-year-olds seeing a dead unicorn. (Raphael was right, though. Who kills a freaking unicorn?!)

"Okay," she said slowly, "We should...We should bring them back with us. They should be...buried, or cremated or something. Not this."

[captainbuzzkill]

"Did he just say they killed a unicorn?" Dipper said to Mabel, eyes wide, making no move at all to go inside the room of what apparently was horrors.

He paused, looking consideringly at the door that Nico had disappeared through.

"You know, it's really sweet how she's trying to be protective and keeping us from seeing mind-crushingly horrible things. Misguided, but sweet."

It sounded like there was some morbid stuff in there but they had been chased by a shapeshifting monster that had taken both their forms and went all Lovecraft with them. And a monster made of candy. And lots of pretty horrifying things in general.

[bedazzledmyface]

Beside him, Mabel was blank-eyed and staring, as if she hadn't heard a word he'd said beyond, "They killed a unicorn?"

She burst into noisy little girl years. Horrific monsters with their faces and zombies were one thing, dead unicorns were another.

[bestnamer]

Beside Raphael, Mikey was also crying. Not sensitive - but - dignified - young - man tears either.

"E-even in death ... he's majestic. "

Mikey grabbed Raph around the neck, the better to sob into his shoulder.

[othersdestructive]

Just like Dipper hugged and comforted his sister in the hall, Raph threw an arm around Mikey to comfort him, too.

"There's no way we can carry all this with us," Raph said. "We should - we should bust all this up and burn the place to the ground. Cremate it here. Might not be the kinda ceremony it - they - deserve, but at least that means they can't be treated like a science experiment anymore."

He let go of Mikey to put his knife down on a table and grabbed a chair, smashing one of the glass tubes.

[spellitonce]

Nico snuffled, wiping her eyes with her finger tips.

"I can make sure everything burns," she said. "I just need to come up with a spell for it."

It didn't take her long to come up with one, it just took her awhile longer to remember the whole thing.

[bestnamer]

"Should we get the not-dead things out first?"

Mikey still remembered the unconscious surgeons.

"Or can you do a spell for that too?"

[othersdestructive]

Raph stayed silent on that as he smashed open more containers, spilling their contents to the floor, largely because deep in his heart of hearts he wanted to leave anyone in this place to burn.

He knew better than to voice it aloud.

[spellitonce]

"Yeah, I can do a spell for that, too," Nico said. "I haven't used 'take out the trash' yet."

She'd been saving that one for a special situation. But people like this, who cut all these creatures -- and people -- apart? They qualified as 'trash'.

"We're going to need to be prepared to get the heck out," she added. "This is going to burn hot and fast and I'd really prefer not to go out in a blaze of my own glory."

[bestnamer]

"Because they're trash! Haha! Nice one."

Mikey looked up from the layout map to point at the next room over.

"There's a fire escape across the hall."

[othersdestructive]

In response to the "take out the trash" thing Raph looked at Mikey and then pointed at Nico.

"I like her."

Then he smashed one last container and moved towards the door so they were ready to go.

"Let's do this."

[spellitonce]

"All right," Nico said, and then raised her voice so Mabel and Dipper could hear. "I'm going to clear the building, and then we need to get out on the fire escape so we can get out of here. Dipper, you have the snow globe?"

She'd given it to him to take care of because, of the three of them who'd originally gone on the rescue mission, he was the one with the least amount of power for offense or defense. If one of them needed to escape or call for back-up, he'd be best for it.

Once again, she brought her hand up to her mouth and worried her hangnail with her teeth. It started to bleed, again, but it also gave up the ghost and finally came off all the way. She'd have to do something else to get blood to burn the place down.

"Take out the trash," she intoned, closing her eyes and willing everyone that wasn't the five of them to be (safely) ejected from the building.

[bestnamer]

"And STAY out, yo," Mikey called after them.

[othersdestructive]

Now that that was done, Raph shouldered open the door to the twins outside, who were already ready to run.

"Light it up!"

This place needed to burn to the ground.

[spellitonce]

Nico backed out of the room, holding the door open with her foot.

Poetry had never really been her thing -- she'd preferred to turn her creativity to clothing. But she had acquired a few books of poetry, and memorized a few poems.

One, by German poet Friedrich Ruckert, was rather applicable here.

"You must not shut the night inside you," she recited as she picked at the nail bed of her index finger with her thumbnail. "But endlessly in light the dark immerse. / A tiny lamp has gone out in my tent-"

Ow. Nico raised her Staff and pointed it at the horrifying contents of the room.

"I bless the flame that warms the universe."

It wouldn't be quite as dramatic as all that -- extra global warming wasn't really going to help them here. But metaphorical warmth, from the remains of the wonderous creatures and beings that had been abused here?

She probably wasn't that powerful either, but the thought couldn't hurt.

[bestnamer]

Mikey stared at her in awe. "That was so beautiful! Did you just make that up?"

[othersdestructive]

Raph stared at her as well, eyes widening as she was briefly framed by the flames springing up through the room, bursting out as of the sun had reached a hand in to light it all aflame.

As the power burst free from her, she stood there untouched and unafraid.

It was rare that he was ever impressed or blown away by something, but for a moment, he forgot the ridiculous scalpel in his hands, forgot the dripping wound at his chest, forgot his aches and pains, forgot his confusion and anger and the lingering jitters of fear.

And forgot to breathe. For a second.

"Yeah, that was, uh..." He stared at her. "Beautiful."

He paused and rallied quickly as he ushered the twins towards the fire escape, "What you said. Was that out of a book?"

[spellitonce]

"I'll get you guys a copy of it when I'm not about to burn the lace off my skirt, MOVE!"

Nico shoved at them all from behind, trying not to think too hard about how the last time she'd escaped from a burning building, someone she loved had been dying.

There were times she might appreciate out-right admiration of her spell-casting creativity, but now was not one of them.

[captainbuzzkill]

"Hey, Mabel, I think this is the first time we've helped someone commit arson against an evil government conspiracy," said Dipper excitedly as they were rushed out through the fire escape. "As soon as we're back, I can scratch that off my bucket list along with breaking into a secret government facility to rescue someone! I have both on there."

He actually did.

And he had that bucket list in his vest.

What he didn't have in his vest right now as the book, which he had in his hands, in case they needed it.

Which was why as some armed med rounded the corner, one of them froze. He was wearing strange goggles with symbols carved on the sides - goggles that apparently allowed him to see them whether they were invisible or not.

He shouted, "The boy! The boy has the book! Artifact 1453k! Take him down!"

[bestnamer]

"Oh, something's going down!"

And it was that guy. By a fire extinguisher to the head. Thrown by Mikey. With ninja accuracy.

"Booyakashaaah! Maybe THAT'LL work to save you from rad fire witch magic! You're welcome, you giant jerk!"

[captainbuzzkill]

It knocked off his helmet, which rolled to the floor, making the strange signs painted inside visible.

The moment it was off, it was clear what those symbols were meant to block, because Nico's "take out the trash" spell suddenly made him disappear.

"Those symbols, they - they could see us and were immune to your spell," Dipper said as he ran out on the fire escape. "And he knew about the book - how did he know about he book?"