[ There's a sharp recrimination clamoring through Hei's mind. This is what you get for coming here. The lift subsides lower, lower, but still the creatures hover on the encircling staircases, eye-glowing, whisper-creeping. The quiet menace coming off of them -- more than menace, outrage and affront -- is palpable. ]
[ Beside him, he senses Korra step into battle-mode. His own isn't quite so apparent; how can it be, when it's a default state? He flexes the fingers of his hands, keeping his cold gaze fixed on the illumination of those eyes. ]
[ When the lift touches the bottom floor, Hei yanks the rattling door open. ] Let's go. [ He doesn't take her arm. But he does usher them down the echoing passageways and drafty chambers at a fast clip. When they're at the ruined doorway, he nudges Korra out. But he doesn't make it after her. (Later, analyzing and retracing the scene, he'll remember a piercing cold that catches him in the chest like a blow. The floor seems to give way under him. Not give way -- melt -- and swallow him as if in a viscid pool of black. A million cold fingers -- feelers? tentacles? -- pluck him, handle him. Spreading dread and disquiet.) ]
[ (It's midnight, a voice croons, and it seems right by his ear. There's something else it says, something else he feels. But he never knows what. Darkness engulfs him.) ]
[ To Korra, it'll seem as if he was right behind her. That he vanished in an eyeblink, right when she stepped out of the building. ]
⊕ Friday!
[ Beside him, he senses Korra step into battle-mode. His own isn't quite so apparent; how can it be, when it's a default state? He flexes the fingers of his hands, keeping his cold gaze fixed on the illumination of those eyes. ]
[ When the lift touches the bottom floor, Hei yanks the rattling door open. ] Let's go. [ He doesn't take her arm. But he does usher them down the echoing passageways and drafty chambers at a fast clip. When they're at the ruined doorway, he nudges Korra out. But he doesn't make it after her. (Later, analyzing and retracing the scene, he'll remember a piercing cold that catches him in the chest like a blow. The floor seems to give way under him. Not give way -- melt -- and swallow him as if in a viscid pool of black. A million cold fingers -- feelers? tentacles? -- pluck him, handle him. Spreading dread and disquiet.) ]
[ (It's midnight, a voice croons, and it seems right by his ear. There's something else it says, something else he feels. But he never knows what. Darkness engulfs him.) ]
[ To Korra, it'll seem as if he was right behind her. That he vanished in an eyeblink, right when she stepped out of the building. ]