Expendable
Noctis
Carlyle
Xaltwind
The Otter
wintersoldier
TheMushroomLord
Neziul
Pen Name
LugubriousNatalie Ellis
Ever scientist that passed Natalie caused her to have to close her eyes and try her best to convince herself they weren't there. She couldn't look at anybody they passed without remembering the contents of the room they had just left. Or Project Lion. And what those scientists did to her...
She felt Archie grab her arm and squeeze it, and relaxed a little. Passing scientists became much easier now she could focus on the fact that Archie was with her. She didn't want to think about their relationship. She wasn't sure she even wanted to look at him. Had she screwed it up? Had he rejected her? If she looked at him, she'd start thinking about those questions, and they hurt. She did get closer and pull slightly, though, as if to try to communicate the idea that she was glad he was here. Like he said, she needed to take it easy, as hard as it was. As much as it tortured her to walk past every single employee here at the Spire.
Once they made it to the elevator, he let go of her arm, and she made her way over to the opposite corner before breathing a sigh of relief. However, it was short lived as they were joined by more scientists, and Natalie quickly scanned the elevator for the buttons and stared at them. The mere seconds they all spent in that elevator dragged on for what felt like hours. Nat's fists were clenched and her knuckles were white, but as she was supposed to be a scientist, looking nervous and inwardly furious about something wasn't anything too unusual so the unwanted gusts knew better than to make any comment on it.
Once they were out of that situation, mere seconds afterwards, the alarms began to blare.
"ATTENTION. PARAHUMAN PSYCHIATRIC WARD CONTAINMENT BREACH. ALL PERSONELLE RETURN TO NEAREST SHELTER AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTION."
Nat's first thought was that they were in trouble. Her second thought was 'Shit! Archie!'. She immediate went to his side and now she returned the favor by grabbing his arm in order to ground and reassure him. When he seemed to realise, as she did, that they weren't the ones the alarm was addressing, he seemed to be stable enough, so she let go again and stepped back. When they started to run, she ran with them.
"Not the time," was Natalie's short response to Lynn's comment as they followed Keaton. The party then reached a door. Nat noted the keycard reader. Archie asked her if she could break it down. Nat's response was to suck air through her teeth.
"Easily. And then we'd definitely get noticed." Instead, she watched and listned as Nic and then Lynn used their own minds and talents to analyse the situation between them. By the time they'd finished, Nat found herself genuinely smiling slightly, in contrast to the situation. One thing she didn't know that this team was capable of was that kind of teamwork. Between the work the two of them have done, she would be able to open the door without triggering any alarms. Provided that Nic was right, and provided the door could be opened from the inside. Most keycard doors could.
Once Lynn had stood aside, Nat approached the door, placed her fist to the red-hot metal, inside the circle that Nic had drawn, and pushed. Being hotter, the metal didn't need to be repeatedly punched, which might have set off some kind of concussion alarm. She just pushed, and thanks to her strength and the door's slightly more molten state, she was able to push out a clean hole. She then put more of her arm in, and began to feel around for the handle, which she found, and pulled. The door was open.
Once Nat freed her arm of the hole, only then did she notice the minor burns to her fist and forearm. The pain kicked in several seconds after she saw them, and she sucked air through her teeth again, whilst shaking her arm off.
