Damian was still pouting. Well, that was what Adrian called it. He could feel Damian glaring a hole through his head from behind and he was surprised he hadn't combusted yet.
"What is it?" Adrain said.
"Nothing," Damian spat.
Adrian stopped and turned around, "You have something to say, just say it so we can continue"
They were currently going through a hallway that led to the hospital rooms and Adrian decided they could spare some time before going on.
Damian's only answer for Adrian was another glare. Adrian stayed silent and waited for Damian to finally say something. After a while, Damian finally spoke.
"Are you my handler?"
Adrain rose a brow, "Handler?"
"You know," Damian waved his hand around, "One of those people tasked to watch over hostages. Are you the one assigned to me?"
"Why would you think that?"
Damian scowled as he remembered the previous mission they had been on. The feeling of a barrel to the back of his head still lingered even after all this time. He decided to ask something else instead.
"Would you have really killed me?"
Adrain was silent, and the silence stretched long enough to become uncomfortable. Damian stalked up to him and stared him right in the eyes.
"Answer me"
"Yes"
Damian felt his conviction take a swan dive as he stepped back. He ran a hand through his hair, trying desperately to not let it show how much that answer unnerved him. There wasn't a single iota of doubt in Adrain's voice. Not even a little. If he had continued trying to escape, he would have died?
"You know I once thought you were a really cool guy. But now I can only see a monster when I look at you"
"You mean the same way you see Jang?"
Damian froze and then he turned to Adrain in anger, "What?"
"You are small-minded, Damian"
SMACK!
Damian's hand lashed out and slammed into Adrian's cheek and Adrain was sent back one step. Damian moved forward and grabbed his shirt, pulling his face to face.
"Who the hell do you think you are!?"
Adrian brought his hand up and grabbed Damian's. He then began twisting it away from his shirt. He had more than enough strength to completely overpower Damian, but he only used enough of it to make him let go.
"Hit me all you want, but you know I'm right. You only see what you want to see, Damian. Like a child that only has one perspective on the world"
"Fuck you!" Damian shouted angrily, "That boy you're trying to protect. He's the real monster here!"
"And what does killing him make you?"
Damian sobered. Adrian continued.
"If he is a monster for killing someone. Then what does killing him make you"
Damian answered with a snarl, "The hero,"
Adrain blinked in shock, "What are you -"
ARRGGHHHHH!!!
A scream suddenly echoed through the corridor and Adrian turned around sharply. He ran through the hall, following the scream to a room close to the end of the hallway. He took a step back once he got to the door and lashed out with a kick. The door burst open and he made his way inside.
Inside the room was dark with only the light of the moon coming through the window allowing him to see. There - at the window - he saw a long vine-like ting stretching into the room, its tip had a large flower blooming on it and it was currently looming over the head of someone lying on the bed. The person was lying very still and had a red smoke coming off his head and entering into the flower.
He was still screaming.
Adrain quickly reached for his gun and pulled it out. Damian entered the room at just the right time to see Adrain open fire at the vine, making it recoil and turn towards them. It hissed at them and shot out a green liquid that they both dodged. Once the liquid touched the ground it began to release smoke and melted through the floor.
Damian didn't want that thing anywhere near him.
"What the hell is that!?" he shouted
On the other side of the room, Adrian aimed his gun at the monster again and shot it two times consecutively. The first shot snapped the flower to one side while the other one tore the vine into two, separating the flower from it. The vine struggled in the sir for a while before it finally dropped to the ground and stopped moving.
Adrian and Damian got to their feet and moved closer to the bed to get a good look at the vine. Damian saw that it was spiked with strange glowing green lines running along its skin. It didn't look like any plant he had ever seen. He then looked towards the bed and felt his breath hitch.
"Jang…?"
-----
"I can't get a signal," Persephone said as she rose her phone into the air and tied dialing Adrian once more. The call didn't go through again and Thea suddenly had a very bad feeling about the situation.
"Okay," Thea said, "We have to get out of here. Let's see if we can get a signal outside."
"Uhm… T-Thea…"
Thea stopped in her tracks, "Yeah?"
"I-I think there's a problem…"
Thea turned around, "What makes you… say… that…?"
The entire area leading back to the exit was covered with vines that ran from the floor to the ceiling, blocking their way out. Thea turned to see that the path in front of them was also filled with vines.
"When…?"
There was a rumble beneath their feet, something that almost made Persephone fall if not for Thea reaching out to hold her up. And then the entire tunnel began to shake.
"W-Whats happening!!?" Persephone shrieked.
"Just hold on!" Thea said as she reached behind her and grabbed at her gun. The rumbling intensified three-fold and then the ground under her feet broke.
Thea jumped to one side, dragging Persephone along as the tunnel floor began to break apart. The center of it cracked in two and something began rising from under the rubble. A large green fleshy-looking thing that had a semi-circular head and large teeth along its edge.
Its head began to split open and Thea finally knew what it was. It looked down on them with a lone eye fanned by two large flaps.
Venus flytrap. B-class.
"Shit"
-----
Damian wasn't going to deny it. His first thought that went through his mind was to kill him. Seriously, reaching for his gun almost felt like a reflex action at this point. A seventh sense he hadn't realized he had till this very moment. Jang was just… lying there, a vulnerable target that could easily be erased from the face of the earth and forgotten about for the rest of eternity. No one would miss him, he was sure of it.
But a hand on his made him stop.
"You really don't want to do that"
Damian didn't know if it was a plea or a warning. He simply pulled his hand away from Adrian's and pulled out his gun. He wasn't going to do it now, not when he knew Adrian would stop him. He walked forward and used his leg to kick at the vine on the floor.
"Are you sure this thing's dead?"
Adrian turned to him, "Is it moving?"
"Well… no"
"Then it's dead,"
Damian looked back at Adrian with a deadpan expression. What sort of reasoning was that?
"Maybe we should make -"
The ground rumbled. Damian stumbled back and caught himself on the metal frame of the bed as the entire room began to shake.
"You're sure it's dead!?" Damian asked while eyeing the vine on the ground.
Adrain didn't answer him and Damian was about to turn back and ask the question again, but before he could, the ground cracked and exploded upwards. Damian and Adrian were pushed back by it and Damian used both of his hands to cover his face from the dust and rocks flying around. He landed with a grunt as he hit his back against the back wall of the room and then he looked up quickly.
Vines were covering every inch of the room, they rose from the bottom of the room like worms and wiggled around agitatedly, he saw one of them reach for the unconscious Jang, but a blue ball struck the vine and it recoiled with a hiss.
"Protect him!" Adrian shouted while shooting at another vine. For a moment, Adrian thought Damian wouldn't agree. He might instead use the situation to get rid of Jang. But to his relief, instead of doing that, Damian brought his gun forward and joined in on the game of 'protect the murderer'.
-----
Thea dodged around another vine and shot it down with her gun before ducking under two vines that tried to grab at her head. She turned to her left to see Persephone trying desperately to hold off a large number of vines that were surrounding her. Persephone darted in and out of their reach, using her speed to make sure she wasn't caught. But before she could make her way over to Thea - as she intended - a particularly nasty vine lashed out and grabbed at her leg, dragging her to the ground and leaving her open for another vine to grab at her arm.
"THEA!!" she shouted as the vines began dragging her towards the large flytrap, "Help!!"
Thea was already on the move. In one fluid motion, she holstered her gun and stretched both hands to the side. Lightning danced across her hands as she activated her technique, it gathered around her palm and stretched to form long blades. The first vine that came near her probably didn't even know when it died. Thea's hand blurred in a slicing motion and the lightning blade cut through the vine like butter. Another one replaced that one and Thea dispatched of it just as quickly. She fell into a rhythm of moving forward while cutting down as many of the vines as she could.
She only hoped the boys were having a better time than she was.