28 Bleach Vats Later

[subconmodo]

WHO: Avery Atchison (subconmodo), Imelda Rivera (no_dejare_de_quererte), Héctor (unpocoloco), Peter Parker (made_up_names), Souji Seta (punches_fog), Shuuji Miwa (willnotbeyourneighbour), Ellie Williams (elliexir), Fakir Ansel (schwanenritter), Bumblebee (thebreakfastbug), Orihime Inoue (leekspins)
WHERE: North Dakota
WHEN: January 18th, 2019
WHAT: Obtaining funding for the Academy at the cost of one's dignity. Unless you're in the cleanup group.
WARNINGS: None atm. Will update as they pop up.
Note: Full mission details/plotting can be found Here

To Avery's credit, he had tried to prepare his students for this. The zombies had been the easy part. The corpses were slow and weak and as long as none of them did anything stupid they wouldn't be in danger. Wouldn't help the smell or the grossout factor, but such was life, death, and undeath.

Their clients were another matter entirely.

"It's not death that's going to be our enemy here," Avery had said during the briefing. "It's customer service." And if he wasn't allowed to rip into this bunch of stuck up jerks (literally as well as figuratively), neither was anyone else. He'd let minor acts of passive aggression slide, but that was it. And maybe, just maybe if they were lucky enough, Avery might be able to convince the bigwigs to let one or two of them fire off something or another.

---

The cleanup crew is much luckier. The smell may be worse (rot and burning flesh and whatever scents habe wafted up in the wake of Coldsteel's blow-shit-up-themed office party. Avery looks to be just Abbott on his last legs as he suits up alongside everyone and hands out holy water and runecasters, all the while grumbling about how he needs a pay raise.

Comments

sliding this in here to drag hector back...

[no_dejare_de_quererte]

[It's thanks to Peter's distraction that no one notices Héctor's disappearance for a solid few minutes. But when they do, Imelda immediately climbs onto Pepita's back, taking to the sky for an aerial search.

It doesn't take long to hunt him down. A person can only get so far on foot, and it's not nearly far enough to outdistance Pepita. The large chimera circles in the air overhead, descending only when Imelda spots the runaway and gives the order to land.

There's more than enough time for Héctor to prepare himself for this confrontation--and yet, maybe not enough time at all. The chimera lands on the ground, each paw making a soft thud and an indentation in the ground. Imelda slides off her familiar back with her jaw set tight and fire in her eyes.]

And where is it that you think you're going?

[unpocoloco]

[He doesn't know what Peter's doing and he's not looking back to see. The moment he starts ahead his thoughts are on Coco and what it's going to take to survive this and see her. He's already been drawn back before, by Avery, but this time he's going to make it. This time--

His heart, the one that is decidedly not in his chest at the moment, gives a lurch then, the sight of a chimera's shadow flying over him. He whirls fast, looking up to the sky just in time to see it descending upon him. He stumbles back, landing upon the ground, and his body flickers with light. He's human again, just in time, but in time to run.

His arm raises to shield himself, like it might protect him from a giant jaguar.]

Imelda...!

[He crawls back, dragging his bad leg, still glancing about for an escape.]

I... I...

[no_dejare_de_quererte]

You what, Héctor?

[Her anger is palpable, much like their first meeting in that banquet hall. She all but stalks over to him, coming to a stop just a few feet away and crossing her arms over her chest.]

You didn't think I was going to keep my eye on you? You thought you could just run off in the middle of our mission like we wouldn't notice? Is that what you're trying to say? When I signed up for this mission, I hoped you would at least take this seriously. But I guess some things don't change, do they?

[unpocoloco]

[Her words swing down on him merciless and he cringes from each one, trying to make himself smaller, like that could possibly help. Only when she's done do his hands go out.]

Imelda, wait, you don't understand--

[no_dejare_de_quererte]

I am tired of you telling me what I do and do not understand, Héctor!

[She cuts him off again. He's so pathetic, cowering on the ground like that. The urge to yank him to his feet is intense, but at the same time, she doesn't want to move closer.]

This mission is important. What we do at the Academy is important. This is not some field trip that you can take for a joyride. Do you understand that?

[unpocoloco]

This mission? [He frowns, the first bit of incredulity working into his voice. At last, however slow and shaky, bracing on his knees, he rises to his feet.]

Imelda, we are serving drinks to a bunch of rich bastardos while they blow up the dead! They're leering at you and they're sneering at kids every moment they aren't shooting things five times more than necessary! This isn't important, it's disgusting!

[He steps back, head shaking.]

The mission is just about over anyway. They don't need me here and they certainly don't need me at the Academy. I can't do anything for them! They probably wouldn't even notice I'm gone!

[no_dejare_de_quererte]

Those bastardos work for a company that funds the Academy. Do I like it? No! But it's work, Héctor. It's what we need to do to make sure that Daybreak survives. Because if it doesn't? This world won't survive, either.

[And in the end, regardless of the fact that this is some rich private school, that is the fact that Imelda focuses on. At some point, possibly soon, the world is going to face a crisis, and Daybreak Academy needs to be there. If that means dealing with a bunch of pampered military assholes for one day? So be it.]

There are billions of people in the world right now, but only a very small fraction of those are with us. Believe me, I never in a million years would have chosen you to help with something like this, but if the Academy has brought you in, then it needs you--for whatever unfathomable reason.

So this time? You don't get to decide when you've had enough. You're coming back with us whether you like it or not.

[unpocoloco]

[This isn't like all his tricks, all his games, where he could pull out a lie and smile. Imelda knows him-- or at least, she did once. And he's not going to lie to her even if she doesn't know him now.

She holds up the world and their mission, smart and responsible Imelda. She even suggests, knowing it can't be true, that he must have some value back there. But he can't. He can't do this.

And even as she cuts him with those words, brings his breath to draw, somehow he still manages to stare her down.]

No.

[He shakes his head, and takes another step back.]

No! No, I'm not going back! I don't care! Hate me all you want to! I'm not going to the academy, I'm not going to Europe, I'm not going back on that plane! I'm going home!

[His voice cracks. And then, sharply, he turns.]

[no_dejare_de_quererte]

[The outburst surprises her. He was all but groveling a minute ago, and now-- He turns, and instinct takes over. She starts forward herself, reaching out and grabbing him by the arm in a tight grip. She pulls him back towards her with a yank.]

Home? Are you joking? That is over a thousand miles from here. [The look she gives him now very clearly details how insane she thinks that is.] Are you planning to walk there?

[unpocoloco]

[Even just that tug from her gets his head spinning. It tears at his heart. Still, there's no change in her that's about to stop him. The look she gets in return is one detailing exactly how little he's joking.]

I've walked farther. I'll make it.

[Of this he's sure. Even with his broken bones.]

[no_dejare_de_quererte]

[This is insane. He's insane. She tilts her head, staring him down like she expects him to cave... but he doesn't.]

...You have no food. No water. No map or transportation. You don't know where any cities are--and even if you did, you have no money to buy supplies. Did you even think this through? [Her guess? Probably not.]

What happens when you get mugged on the side of the road? Or picked up by the police?

[unpocoloco]

I don't nee-- [He cuts himself off, trying again.] That's not an issue. I can handle it. And no one's going to mug me, I haven't got a peso. They'll think I'm a drifter and everyone will avoid me.

[The police could be a problem but he's dealt with that before.]

[no_dejare_de_quererte]

That's not the point.

[Then what is the point? She catches herself suddenly, only a few inches between them and the only thing on her mind is that he's going to get himself killed. The realization is like a splash of cold water in her face.

Focus, Imelda... She takes a breath, and then uses her grip on him to push him towards Pepita.]

The point is, I already told you. You're not going back to Santa Cecilia. So you can either come back to the plane the easy way, or the hard way.

[unpocoloco]

[He's thinner than he used to be and weaker too. When she pushes, he moves, stumbling between that, his leg, and the way he tries to dig in his heels.]

No, no, Imelda--!

[And then, hard enough he fears he'll have to fix his joints later, he yanks away.

He looks back once, then starts walking fast from her.]

[no_dejare_de_quererte]

[She doesn't expect him to stumble the way he does. It's a bit of a surprise--enough that when he sets off away from her, he gets a small head start.]

Héctor!

[She calls him once...and only once. If he's not going to stop, then he doesn't give her a choice.]

Go get him, Pepita. I want him back here in one piece.

[The chimera turns then, bounding across the ground instead of taking to the air. It is a swift, but not an altogether silent approach.]

[unpocoloco]

[There's no turning back for her this time. His walk speeds up, until he's running as well as he can. The jaguar descends on him, landing hard off on the ground to throw his balance, only for the beast to catch him by his arms.]

No! NO! LET ME GO!

[He twists and kicks out and the chimera rises higher. He pulls and pulls yanking one arm from Pepita's grip.

He immediately tries to free the other, pushing against those claws. He glances to the ground and back, breathing hard. His eyes squeeze shut, power lighting. The flesh of arm dissolves away beneath his sleeve and he shoves.

Then flails back into open air. His breath catches. This is going to break more than a few bones, he knows. He braces for it. His eyes close and his body lights once more and just as he feels it really start up, he lurches. Gripping tighter than before, Pepita takes him back up.]

NO! COCO!

[no_dejare_de_quererte]

[It doesn't take long for Pepita to bring Héctor back to her. (If only it had been that easy the first time...) Her gaze on him is steely when the chimera lights down again, waiting obediently for her mistress's next orders. If she heard him shouting, she doesn't show it--not except for the tinge of...something that flickers through her expression. Sadness? Regret? It's hard to tell, but it only lasts half a second as she breaks her gaze away from him and moves to climb onto Pepita's back.]

Good girl, Pepita. [She scratches the familiar behind her horns, then settles herself more securely onto her back.]

Let's go back now. We'll be leaving soon.

[unpocoloco]

[When Pepita drops him down, he goes right to his knees. He can just barely bring himself to look up at her, and when he looks she'll find in his face anger, betrayal, desperation, a deep, deep pain-- but no hate. As she breaks her gaze, his head immediately drops back down, a breaking breath like a sob from him, but nothing more.

The moment they reach their destination and he's released properly back to the earth, he walks but a few feet, to the nearest wall he can slump against. He stares blankly ahead until sporadic gold flickers bring him to draw in on himself.]