[video]

[turntex]

[The post that pops up in the feed in the middle of the night doesn't appear to be made with Dave's comm device, but it's Dave that pops up on the screen anyway, and he looks like hell. A split lip, a bruise blossoming along the jaw, nose bloodied, and...there appears to be a dirty sock caught on the collar of his uniform?

Honestly, the weirdest part is probably that it's a video post in the first place. He doesn't have time to sit around messing with this too much, though. Even as practiced at typing as he is, it's harder to do while moving and judging by the background, he's definitely on the move.]

Rise and shine, [PROFANITY CENSORED]. Elevator closest to the infirmary. I know y'all are functionally a bunch of temporally helpless infants, all shaky legged, eyes barely open and all that, but I need you to get your [PROFANITY CENSORED] down here yesterday regardless.

[He's not even trying to dance around the vulgarity filter. It's real bad.]

Found our baddie. Tall lady, redhead, red tattoos. She originally had on a suit and a blonde wig and some kinda mask but no idea if she's sticking with all that. Crazy strong and fast. Pretty sure she can heal herself up, so that's awesome. Lots of ninja weapons, like this [PROFANITY CENSORED] not only ripped off Tenten's skin but also her whole schtick, it's pretty insulting honestly. The skin thing's probably still a bigger deal but hey, I'd be pissed.

[He's babbling a little, half mumbling by the end there, but his expression remains flat and unreadable the whole time. Finally he seems to get where he's going and he pauses, swinging the camera around to the scene in question. Blood everywhere, dents and furrows in the metal walls, smoke still pouring out from the elevator shaft.

The camera spins back to him, and he somehow only looks more tense.]

She got Wash. Probably someone else too, judging by the blood she already had on her when we ran into her, but [PROFANITY CENSORED] if I know who or where.

[He leaves it at that.

For anyone actually sleeping like a normal person at this time, someone comes running through the dorm area soon afterward to bang on walls and make sure people wake up. Seems like Dave sent over the people that had been on watch outside the infirmary.]

Comments

[parannoyed]

Oof, you're heavy. Also that hurts. Can we not with the hurting?

[He is clearly delirious.]

I'm fiiine. S'not a big deal, I lose so much blood, all the time.

[turntex]

[It's cool, this is about the point when he gets distracted by a miraculously alive Wash anyway.]

[vampthropologist]

[Beckett was in the library, where he always is; it wasn't hard to charm the man in charge, especially when he offered to help catalogue. He's deep enough in trying to wring what he can from the incoherent collection that his first response to his buzzing communicator is to shove it irritably under a pile of papers.

When his image flickers through, he's remarkably disheveled looking. Like a man who's been tearing his hair out over back issues of National Geographic, trying to sort from context clues if they're from THIS world or a DIFFERENT world]

Where are you now, and where did she go?

[bothbarrels]

[ Oh, man. That's not good. North tries to keep the pressure even, but not too intense. ]

It's all right, Wash. We try to keep as much of it inside as we can, even if you're used to losing it.

[ A moment later, he's finished tying the cloth on Wash's leg, and he switches to using his hands for the pressure on his chest wound. ]

Tell me how this happened, Wash. Do you remember?

[turntex]

[The situation here is a mess. An abundance of blood, the walls dented and gouged, smoke still pouring out of the gaping elevator shaft. Wash is in clearly bad shape on the floor but he's got people taking care of him properly now, so Dave is leaning against a wall out of their way, catching his breath.

He glances up at the sound of more footsteps approaching and lifts his non-broken arm in greeting.]

Sup.

[turntex]

[With Wash miraculously alive and being taken care of by other people finally, Dave pops back on the network, still looking like shit.]

Still here. The bitch probably went up the elevator shaft, but some people would rather I sit around with my thumb up my ass than actually chase after her.

[hallelujahjunction]

Hey. [Yay, the kid doesn't look dead! Wash looks...cared for! Jesus Christ, things are a mess and Dan's probably about 70% awake!

He heads over to Dave in case Dave needs some physical support besides the wall.]

I'm going to hope that the fact that they're tending to Wash and not you is because you're not about to drop dead of your injuries.

[greyaria]

[Before Wash has a chance to answer, Emily comes barreling down the corridor, a large safety orange bag with a reflective cross on it bouncing over her shoulder.]

Is he conscious?

[Without losing momentum, she drops to her knees beside Wash and North, outright sliding last couple of feet and unslinging her medical kit in a single motion that suggests she does this sort of thing a lot.]

[turntex]

Yeah, 'm fine. Been worse.

[Granted, he's literally died a few times so his scale is pretty skewed. Anything seems tolerable when "peppered full of bullets" isn't even the worst thing one can compare it to.

Either way, he's happy to divert the attention from his own condition. He's been patching up his own injuries for as long as he can remember. Knowing now that that's pretty fucked up doesn't make him any more used to being fussed over. So he shrugs, mostly with the uninjured side.]

Jackie the Ripper's still running around somewhere, though, so that's great. We've really got our shit together here, that shit is fuckin' committed and wedding planning is underway.

[parannoyed]

[He is. Barely.]

Dave can explain. He saw.

[The possibility that North might be asking him specifically to try to keep him talking goes right over his head.]

Hiii, Dr. Grey.

[Is that...a familiarity in his voice? Having his head knocked around and being half-exsanguinated has put his brain into an interesting state of being. Despite the fact he should be more disoriented than ever, for just a moment when he looks up at her, his gaze is full of recognition and familiarity.]

You're going to stick me with things that make me go fwishoghdsdh. Aren't you.

[Yes, that was a verbal keysmash. He's referring to being shot up with adrenaline.]

Well, fwishoghdsdh away.

[His eyes start fluttering closed.]

S'just...more than... - more than...the usual amount of stabbing. S'all.

[He'll be fine, he's just...maybe a little too extra stabbed at the moment. He just needs to rest, that's all.]

Jus'... jus' need to rest my eyes...for a second...

[hallelujahjunction]

Alright. [Dan wants to try and do some kind of first aid, but the kid is sending mad "don't touch me" signals, and so long as no one looks near death Dan will respect that. He knows how uncomfortable and honestly humiliating it can be to feel fussed over when there are bigger problems.

It'd be a different story if there weren't other people around rendering aid, but since they aren't alone here...]

Any idea where she might go next? I'd go off and chase her but I'm pretty sure we're supposed to do that in pairs, and I don't think you're up to being wingman.

[bothbarrels]

[ He answers Emily before Wash gets a chance to speak: ]

Just barely.

[ Indeed, he'd asked the question to keep Wash awake, and it seems to have worked, at least for a moment. But then Wash closes his eyes, and North gives Emily a concerned glance. ]

Wash! It's important you tell me what happened, okay, buddy? Don't close your eyes yet.

[turntex]

Nah, didn't see anything specific since Wash decided to be a goddamn martyr and threw me down a laundry chute like a crusty sock.

[Yeah, he's still annoyed.]

All I know is up, probably. [He gestures at the open elevator shaft.] Wash did us the favor of bleeding all over the place so I'm pretty sure she'd have left footprints if she ran off in a more lateral direction.

[hallelujahjunction]

I can't say that isn't a decision I'd have made myself. [Sorry, Dave, get use to being parented by every random adult who crosses your path. That's the burden of being a teenager.

Dan pokes his head into the elevator. Naturally, just a box.]

Well, that don't leave us many leads.

[turntex]

[The poker face breaks as he frowns. Sorry, dude, this is a bad time for parenting.]

Good to know we're just absolutely inundated with fuckwits, then. That's definitely information I would have liked to have before all this went down. Y'know, so I could have avoided getting tossed around like someone's used underwear and prevented this shit.

[A sweeping gesture as the massive pool of blood and Wash completely fucked up on the ground over there. Things he could have absolutely avoided if someone hadn't decided to risk a paradox and waste what time he could buy them in a ill-advised effort to keep the youth safe.]

But someone's gotta pursue the one lead we do have, and since I'm apparently the only person around with more than a teaspoon of sense, I guess that one's on me.

[He turns away and stalks off towards the open elevator.]

[hallelujahjunction]

[Dan doesn't put up a fight. Teenager wanna teenager, rock on. Dan would likely have been that way if he'd had a normal teenagehood. He doesn't try to justify further anything that's happened.]

If you're sure...

[He deeply wishes it weren't a...16? 17? year-old making these calls. But the tenor of the room is that he should follow, not domineer. So he does, towards the open elevator.]

Alright, leader. You've got a plus-one. Can't negotiate on that, buddy system and all.

[turntex]

[Even with Dan trying to keep the peace, it still irks Dave for some reason. Maybe it just feels patronizing, particularly for someone entirely unused to dealing with well-meaning adults. Or maybe it just feels wrong being called "leader". That's never been his role. He doesn't even know what to do with that, but it rubs awfully close to some other complexes he is tactfully choosing not to think about right now.

But he's really not feeling this angsty teen rebellion thing, so he puts a lid on his shit. His face shutters, once again tough to read behind the shades, and he focuses on the task at hand.]

Okay, parter. Keep up.

[And he unceremoniously steps out into the abyss of the elevator shaft and floats gently upward.]

[hallelujahjunction]

[Dan doesn't have the option of gently floating upwards. That's just not something the Jorg has provided him.

But he does have the ability to follow through essential skill, so between the ladder on the inside of the elevator shaft and the open ledges, he follows appropriately, scrambling up any given handhold.]

[turntex]

[Good on him for sticking with it. Dave doesn't wait up, but he's not going too fast anyway, peering at the walls of the shaft for any traces of blood or scrapes to indicate where she'd gone. It's hard to see in the dark through the smoke still rising from the rubble down below – jesus, how the hell did Wash crawl out of that alive? – and having sunglasses on probably doesn't help.

Stifling a cough in his elbow, he leans in and begrudingly lifts his shades so he can actually see.]

She sure as fuck wasn't trying to keep a low profile anymore.

[vampthropologist]

[Beckett is moving, now, walking and talking to the pad, not quite facing it.]

I'm in pursuit, as best I can. I won't be able to communicate; if you see a bat passing by, that's me.

[As he speaks, his ears lengthen, growing leathery, and his face begins to press forward into a snout. Then the screen goes black.

A few minutes later, a bat zips by Dave and up the elevator shaft]

[hallelujahjunction]

[It's certainly neither ideal conditions or location for Dan to try and track something, here in the smokey dark in an elevator, but he's more than familiar with the way wounded animals (and people) move. The steps of blood up the wall go two floors, then end. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there's any way to tell if it's because she got off on this floor or if there just wasn't enough blood left to keep leaving marks.]

Either bold or desperate, sounds like. [You know how you sweat more when you have alcohol in your system? Dan's not even remotely impaired, but ugh, he should not be breaking a sweat that quick.]

Trail drops off. [Still hanging on the ladder, he points to the last few visible smears.] I think the only thing we know for sure is she didn't go to any floor lower than this one. How many more floors does this thing got?

[vampthropologist]

[A bat flutters up, lighting briefly on a pipe, in time to overhear the last part of the conversation. It peeps, derisively (if you've never heard a bat emote before, well, now you have), then flits to the floor where the blood trail ends. An outrush of displaced air, and Beckett is standing there.

He sniffs the air]

She got off here.

[turntex]

[He initially startles a bit as something flies past his head but fortunately, he doesn't swat at the bat due to the arm on that side being out of commission.

And then the bat is a guy. Sick. Dave looks up to him, giving a slight nod.]

Well, shit. Solid time to have a vampire around. Lead the way, Lassie, I'll trust that nose.

[He floats up to that landing and steps back onto solid ground.]

[hallelujahjunction]

[Dan climbs out of the elevator shaft and gives Beckett a wave.] Hey, handsome.

[Then he glances over at Dave and Beckett both while pulling the wrench from where he tucked it into his waistband.] Between the three of us, what do we have for firepower?

[vampthropologist]

Speed, strength, and claws that can cut steel. [He shows them off; they look like dog's nails, attached where his fingernails should be.

And the name's Beckett, youngster.

[That was to Dave]