Tell every creature of the night

[biiowiired]

Who| The Ψiioniic, Sam Wilson sizeofyourbaggage, and Clint Barton cognitived
What| One hell of a misunderstanding
Where| Catacombs, one of its belfries
When| 6-14
Warnings/Notes| Death by magic wand blast. It won't be pretty.

He fucked up.

"GO, get going, the wingbeathtth won't thtop!" he shouted to Sam, who he could hear on the stairs amidst the commotion of ringing bells.

The two men had initially come into Psii's musty hiding crypt to escape tracker jackers. Then Psii had discovered some new rooms and foolishly tried his hand at the belfry puzzle, confident in his genius. But intermittent bat attacks and screaming ghosts had distracted him, and he'd tugged the wrong rope. Now he sported several bites where small mouthfuls of his skin had been chomped by the bats, dribbling yellow blood. Perhaps they'd had enough of him catching them for food and wanted sweet bloody revenge. Or the bells were just making then crazy.

Behind the chaos of sound, a low thrumming pushed insistently at his auricular lobes. It did not echo, so it was not far away, but perhaps just behind the stone walls. Then the air from a small window up above changed, shifted. Anyone with eyes would have seen the light quaver before many tiny shadows. Buzzing erupted in the tower.

"FUCK!"

A glow of red and blue surrounded him as he charged the air, sparks leaping everywhere, even over Sam, a harmless web of telekinetic fingers trying to see where everything was at. Then he concentrated zaps in the pockets of air closest to them and felt some limp insect bodies begin to plop to the ground. Tracker jackers could go fuck themselves; they were nothing like Psii's favorite insect, his peaceful, hardworking bees.

Comments

[sizeofyourbaggage]

"Fuck that, I'm not leaving you!"

Sam's had more than enough of having to leave his friends and keep going lately, he's not doing it again. He likes Psii, more than just because he knows that he means something to Kurloz, and there's no way Sam's going to leave him to get eaten by bats.

He still has his wand, and fortunately it works better on bats than it had the tracker jackers that they were trying to escape. ...and of course, as soon as he has that thought, the air hums over head, and a goddamn swarm of the things swirl in to mingle among the bats trying to take chunks out of them.

"Oh you've gotta be shitting me, how the hell did you get in there?"

Sam's not sure what Psii's doing over there, but it seems to be working, so he ignores the sparks and the bees and focuses on zapping the bats. Particularly any of the ones that go near Psii, so they won't disrupt him from taking out the insects. Which means it kind of looks like Sam's firing wide bolts of electricity from his wand at Psii, but whatever, Sam trusts his own aim.

[cognitived]

Clint's been pretty done with this Arena since the second it started. Already wounded, robbed of a run at the Cornucopia -- although really, that was the better option -- and stuck in a costume that really didn't offer many advantages, it was clearly destined to be great. But he's managed, as he always has, as he always will.

Which really just means he probably jinxed himself, if this was any indication. Luckily, Clint's managed to avoid the bees, though the bats take chunks out of him where they can and that's not helping one bit. He knee threatens to go out from underneath him, and the sight of shelter ahead is one he's going to take. Even if it doesn't work out exactly how he planned.

He isn't, however, expecting to bust through the doors, dodging bats and trackerjackers, to find Sam and one of the trolls pinned down. Nor, really, does he have the full picture. But Sam's got sparks flying over him, arm up, electricity crackling around the other tribute.

"Sam!" Clint skids to a stop, dodges a bat aiming for his face, and shoots at the troll. Not aiming to kill, but to distract, to throw him off guard, just enough to grab his partner and go.

[biiowiired]

"You're a fucking idiot and you're going to get creamed!" Psii shouted back at Sam. Didn't Sam remember that he was human, that the stings would penetrate his skin that much more easily?

Psii couldn't make out the words of the new arrival, with the zaps from Sam's wand exploding bats so close to him. All he knew was the thrum of a bowstring and something hitting the back wall so very close to his head. The tracker jackers buzzed even more angrily.

He doubled the sparking shield around Sam, afraid he was next. All he wanted was to save a friend. He was tired of people dying. Having visions of death and the specter of his prolonged future of torture didn't help. The Helmsman was the exact opposite fate he wanted, but here he could do something different.

His lips peeled back from his fangs in a hiss, his sightless all-black eyes turned in the vague direction of the new voice. He threw more sparking lengths across the ground, trying to find who had shot at him. It didn't cross his mind to yell don't shoot! Asking a Tribute in an arena not to shoot was like asking that sky to stop striking people with lightning.

[sizeofyourbaggage]

"You're a jackass!" Sam snaps back. "And don't even think about trying to zap my ass, I've got something to get you back!"

He's just talking smack, the way he falls back on in battle - but he sounds angry, gritting it out between shooting at the wildlife attacking them, and he is real damn annoyed that Psii is actually trying to get him to leave. Sam's had enough of self-sacrificing jerks lately, he's not going anywhere.

When he hears someone shouting his name, he turns, wand up and ready - and then changes his aim when he sees that it's Clint, zapping over his partner's head at a bat.

"The damn things just keep coming!" he shouts at Clint.

It doesn't occur to him to tell them not to shoot at each other.

[cognitived]

Clint doesn't really hear what they're shouting at each other, the crackle of lightening and the beat of wings overwhelms what hearing he has left. Which mostly means all he hears is the tone, sharp and angry. It's enough for him to move, even if he hadn't already been there.

So he shoves himself further into the room, a better angle, wanting little more than to help Sam. He's already lost a partner, and he couldn't do anything to help her. He won't make the same damn mistake here. Clint doesn't dodge when Sam aims at him, he can see he's off, but more importantly, he trusts him. So the sizzle of lighting striking true and the thump of a bat hitting the ground doesn't faze him, not when he's got Sam shouting, trackerjackers and bats swarming, and one of those troll kids aiming at his partner.

He makes a snap decision, even if he doesn't have all the facts, because Sam is in danger and the only option he'll accept is the one that gets them out. Unfortunately, he picks wrong. But the troll sends sharp sparking feelers at him, and Clint dodges, aiming to knock out his arm with a flash of lightening. It won't kill the kid, probably, but it'll hurt like hell and give them time to get out of here. Hopefully.

cw: gore!

[biiowiired]

Finally Psii could feel what might be shoes. He threw his sparks up Clint's legs hoping to trip him, but he was too late. He sensed the discharge of some great power in the air before he heard it. It slammed past the net of his own telekinesis shield, which had only been made strong enough for insects and bats. There was no chance for him to block it. He instinctively jerked to the side, but in the wrong direction.

What should have taken his arm off hit his head instead. Magic blasted through his skull, splattering the wall yellow with his blood. All at once, his red and blue sparks disappeared before his body had time to slump to the ground. His ruined face smoked with the heat of magical discharge, and blood quickly pooled beneath his head.

The bats wisely retreated, and the more aggressive tracker jackers were, for the moment, ambling in confused circles.