Labyrinth

[raptorcanaria]

Here's the thing about Milliways: It's not the Real World. Dinah has a very clear delineation in her mind: there're things that happen in the bar, and there are things that happen at home, and even if people visit from one to the other, they're very different places.

Justice League, supervillains, Oliver. Those things don't follow her in. Which is good and bad, because it becomes a place to escape. And escape becomes too safe, somewhere where actual threats aren't real. That's the problem with the place. It's not home, and it doesn't touch home, and if she wanted, she could stay in the bar, rent a room, and never have to worry about outside. And that's what's so dangerous.

Not that she's thinking of danger right now, even deep in the forest where there might be demon rabbits. She's just thinking of the run, and the exercise, and also where she wants to take Ollie for dinner tonight. That's how she manages to get lost.

And how she finds herself facing a rough hewn stone wall, with a door cut into it.

Dinah stands in front of it, stretching out her warm muscles, staring at the door. Has that always been here?

Comments

[raptorcanaria]

"Up!" she repeats curtly, nodding to the level above them. the gap is getting tight now.

Without waiting for him, she turns upwards and grabs the top of the wall with her one good arm, flipping herself over as she goes so she lands on her feet.

[boston_bruiser]

And Voodoo follows suit. He's not limber enough to roll to his feet, but he's plenty limber enough to roll far, far away from the edge.

"Lord, if you're listening, I will trade my right nut if it means we don't gotta do no more'a these walls."

Beat.

"You know. After I kick it. Not - asking you t'pluck it right now."

[raptorcanaria]

"Come here," Dinah says, reaching out a hand for his. When she gets it, she puts his hand on her shoulder to steady her as she guides her dislocated shoulder back into place.

Then winces pops it back in, as if she's done it a dozen times before.

(Not quite that many.)

Just as she's doing that, the next set of walls open a set of holes like before with the flamethrowers only further apart. Except this time, it's an arrow that hits the ground right by Dinah's feet.

"Oh for heaven's sake!"

[boston_bruiser]

There's a thwip, and an arrow buries itself in Voodoo's -

- well, let's just say he curses, reaches behind him, and breaks off the shaft, but he's not gonna get to sit until he gets the arrowhead removed.

"If there ain't a pot of Aztec gold at the end of all this," he shouts to the ceiling as he runs to the wall, climbing like he did before, "I'm gonna kick your ass!"

[raptorcanaria]

Dinah, meanwhile is beginning to laugh.

"Really? Arrows?" she yells at the room. "You know who my boyfriend is, right?"

She throws herself forward, flipping onto her good hand and over again, turning cartwheels between the flight of the arrows.

But she also heads towards the wall, and starts to climb.

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo's already halfway up, reaching for another handhold when all of a sudden -


- he feels really, really woozy. His head feels like it's been pumped full of helium and taken on a merry-go-round, his muscles feel like rubber, and his vision is- is-


- he closes his eyes and hits the deck with a CRUMP.

[raptorcanaria]

"VOODOO."

Dinah drops from her own climb and races over to him, reaching him just in time to roll him away from another arrow which tried to embed itself in his leg.

"Are you okay?" she says, peering down to check his eyes.

[boston_bruiser]

His breathing is raspy, irregular, but his eyes soon flutter open, even if they're not quite fixed on Dinah.

"My...ass...hurts."

[raptorcanaria]

"Dammit."

Dinah rolls his towards her, to check the ass in question. "Poison, dammit. Tell me you have a knife on you."

[boston_bruiser]

"Sheath. Right...side-" -another raspy breath- "-below my pack."

[raptorcanaria]

"Okay."

She scoots back as the wall approaches, and reaches down under his pack, fumbling for the knife...

... which no sooner does she have in her hand but she whips it up and backwards, deflecting an arrow.

"Just breathe, Voodoo, you'll be okay."

Then she bends over him, holding the knife. "This is gonna hurt."

But she's going to have to cut the damn thing out.

[boston_bruiser]

He can barely hear her through the fog. But the one word he hears clearly is hurt.


His breaths are raspier, but he nods.

"Do it."

[raptorcanaria]

She doesn't wait for his acknowledgment - by the time it's out of his mouth she's already down, slicing through his pants (and ducking to the right as an arrow shoots past her left ear) and into his flesh.

She pulls the arrowhead out with her fingers and presses down on the wound as soon as it's out.

"No time to dress," she tells him. "We've got to move."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo slowly gets to his feet, stumbling to a wall before grasping onto it, climbing like he did before.

He's slower, now. And the walls - they're coming closer.

[raptorcanaria]

Dinah glances over he shoulder at the approaching wall, just in time to leap in the air and deflect a second arrow heading at Voodoo.

"Keep going," she says. "Plenty of time." That's a lie, but as the opposite wall gets closer, the risk of another arrow hitting him gets greater, and she won't be able to pick him up again.

So it's time to stay level with him on the wall, grabbing on with her hands and kicking arrows out of the air.

[boston_bruiser]

It doesn't look like he'll clear it, but he does, rolling flat onto the top of the wall just before they slam shut.

"ThinkI'mgonnapuke," he rasps.

[raptorcanaria]

Dinah vaults over and lands next to him, hand on his shoulder to communicate nothing other than it being okay to puke.

Except...

The last pair of walls are moving now, and they're doing it fast.

"No time," she says. "Run!"

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo struggles to his feet and - really, the best way to describe what he's doing would be 'a slow lurch'. That or it's some kind of zombie shuffle that eventually graduates into a drunken sprint.

Here's hoping the walls don't speed up.

[raptorcanaria]

Dinah races forward, leaving him behind, in order to press the triangle and open a door, but then she turns right back and runs towards him, offering a hand.

"Come on," she says. "We can do it."

He's not going to make it at zombie shuffle.

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo doesn't respond - unless you count the labored breaths that make it sound like he's gonna heave. He leans on Dinah a little more, and soon he's got a more respectable pace going.

"Stupid...fucking...rabbit," he rasps. They're almost at the door.

[raptorcanaria]

"Yep," Dinah says. "Totally the rabbit's fault."

At 'almost,' she drops from under his arm, steps back and stands behind him, just enough to lean on him heavily and push him the final couple of feet towards the door. Then she leaps after him.

[boston_bruiser]

Shephard would pay to see the way Voodoo goes ass-over-teakettle into the room, an arrow mark on his ass and a cut on the right buttcheek of his pants. There's no graceful landing here, either - he sprawls facefirst onto the floor.

Shephard would likely pay double to see the way Voodoo scrambles to unbuckle his helmet and toss it aside before propping himself up on his elbows and-

-well. He hasn't eaten in a while, so there's no real chunky parts to it, and while it's nothing like out of Team America, it's...a couple hours' worth of bile?

He still has the presence of mind to not fall into said puke, mind.

[raptorcanaria]

Dinah catches his helmet and holds it for him while he finishes, looking up and around the room as he does.

They're still indoors, but the ceiling is no longer flat, instead forms a point around them with a bamboo lining. There are pillars either side of them holding up a raised walkway which hugs the wall. It's hard to gauge the shape of the area, in fact, because it's marked with archways and pillars and walkways with a red and gold theme.

In fact, Dinah thinks, it's sort of Japanese in style.

"Oh," she says. "Remember how you asked for ninja?"

[boston_bruiser]

"Yeah," Voodoo rasps, taking his helmet back, "what about it?"

It's not until he's strapped it on that he gets a good look at the room.




"...fuck."

He scrambles for his MP5.

[raptorcanaria]

"It's alright."

Dinah's smiling, for some reason. She takes a couple of steps forward.

"I got this."

When a shuriken appears, it's hurtling straight for her. Dinah spins and drops to three points on the ground, and the star sails straight over her head.

"Just keep your back to the wall. Yell if you need me. These are people, Voodoo. Don't kill them."

She races forward towards the place the throwing star came from and leaps onto the walkway above him.