Sanders Sides (power rangers au)

Chapter 16.

Virgil had been fighting panic since they had fallen down the sinkhole. He'd been counting every breath, watching every step, and doing his best to ignore the ever growing dread that sat in his stomach like a weight. Admittedly, getting out of that room had helped, until he had noticed the soft tapping 'tink' noise coming from behind him. Then they had been moving away from it, and Virgil spent his time counting the taps as they walked, or looking at the various stock photos or inspirational "Hang in there" posters that made Virgil want to tear the poster and shove it down someone's throat. By the third poster, he began to think they were going in circles. Had to be. Then the tapping stopped and Virgil instantly wanted to bolt. There was something about a noise like that which Virgil had originally panicked about, but now that there was no noise at all, it was somehow worse.

Then there was that fucking roar.

Virgil hadn't really needed Roman to tell them to run before Virgil was scrambling his happy ass up the stairs faster than he thought possible. He had just enough time to notice that they were on floor B4. Virgil only had four flights. He could make that. Then, the next thing Virgil knew, he was staring at the sign reading GF. He hadn't remembered running up the stairs, yet his chest was heaving and Virgil could hear the others right behind him. He struggled against his mind, which told him just to book it, and instead opened the door slowly to check for anyone.

There were people. So many people. However, they were all just people. Not weird tapping monsters who kept pictures of him on their computers. He was just about to walk out, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. He jumped back and swung around his lance violently, before recognizing the others.

"Jesus fucking christ. Don't do that."

"Language."

"My apologies." Logan said, raising his hands in the air. "I was merely going to suggest we avoid large crowds until we can remove these," he gestured to himself.

"You wanna go say hi to the tippy tippy tappy friend instead?"

"That is not what I suggested. I was trying to state that we should-" Logan's words were cut off as a shaking moved the ground Virgil and the others were standing on, and Remus and Janus wobbled from their spots on the stairs. There was a loud bang, and other small popping noises that came from the other side of the door, and Virgil opened it to see the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. Long spindly legs with sharp points, a creepy face with far no eyes and a gaping mouth that stretched its face, and black skin that flickered less like rock and more like glass. Then Virgil noticed the red in their arms, which were human.

"It looks different than the one I saw." Janus said.

"Not the focus right now." Remus fussed, pushing passed the others and out passed the door. Virgil noticed that the red in its arms was a very aggressive Roman, who was hitting it with his sword. Remus charged forwards and swung his mace at the creature, which simply moved to backhand Remus, dropping Roman in the process.

Janus was the next to charge, dragging Logan out with him, and threw his daggers at the creature. Logan yelled something about not having a weapon anymore, before a blue light appeared and then Logan was swinging the axe that had disappeared earlier. Patton was watching from the door, but Virgil now had his eyes trained on the front door, which was clear of people from the commotion. He could just book it. He didn't know these people. They weren't his problem. He could just run and not look back. Then he heard heavy breathing. Virgil paused for a moment, thinking that it was his own, before seeing Patton squat down to the floor.

"You ok?"

"I'm terrified of spiders. I can't go out there. I can't. I can't. I... ah... I... This is..."

"Okay, okay." Virgil said, and glanced back out the door again towards his chance of freedom. This was his chance. The monster wouldn't be distracted by the others for long. He needed to run now. Leave Patton and just save himself. Instead, Virgil knelt down to Patton. "Try to focus your breathing. It's ok. You don't have to fight."

"But... the... but the others... but..."

"The others chose to go out there. Roman could have kept running up the stairs, Remus could have stayed with us, as could Janus and Logan. I think... I think that we don't have to do this if we don't want to."

"I want to help."

"Okay." Virgil paused, watching as Patton swayed slightly from the amount of oxygen in his brain. "Then let's get you some cover."

"Cover? Why?"

"You got a bow. If you focus, I bet you can bring out an arrow or two as well. You can make them whatever you want. It's your call, but you don't have anything that will work like theirs. You're gonna need some space to do it."

"Right." Patton said, and shakily got to his feet. "I got this. Let's go."

Virgil nodded, then opened the door. Sure enough, the creature was no longer too distracted by the others, and was instead searching for something as the others seemed to whack it uselessly. Virgil pulled the door open and noticed a hidden spot behind some rubble where Patton could hide. Virgil grabbed the pink guy's hand and pulled him over, before crouching down beside. Patton was distracted by his bow, staring at it intensely, before a soft pink light appeared, and an arrow sat, notched into the bow. Virgil heard a loud grunt, and looked up in time to see Roman's sword lodged in the creature's side. It didn't look like the creature cared much, and with one of its hands, threw a nasty punch that sent the guy in red flying. Before Virgil knew it, he was up.

"You got this Patton, I'll keep him out in the open for you." Virgil said, then charged forwards. He had no idea how to use the lance in his hands, but his body moved for him. He could see himself slam the flat of the lance into the ground and push himself upwards, before lifting the lance upwards and charging it downwards towards the creature's head. Virgil hit his target more in the back than the head, but the creature let out a yelp and spun around to grab Virgil, who in turn pulled the lance upwards again as he sat himself on the creature's back. The tapping sounds were insufferable as the creature, Virgil decided to call him a spider guy, danced into the open to get Virgil off of him. Virgil just held on for dear life, wondering what the fuck was wrong with him to be doing this for complete strangers.

When the spider-guy was moved into a space where Virgil thought it would be easier for Patton to make a shot, he jammed the lance into the spider-guy again and used his weapon as leverage to launch himself back into the air. Virgil had just enough time to think that his landing would be so sweet, before he landed on the ground face first. He groaned slightly, before jumping back up and spinning around. The others were all in various stages of trying to fight, and Virgil could see Patton attempting to make a shot with his bow.

"Yo!" Virgil yelled, but his call went unheard. He tried a few more times, before an idea clicked and he jogged over to Roman, who was trying to pull his sword out of the spider-guy. "Hey! You gotta call everyone back, Pat- Pink has a plan!"

"What?" Roman grunted. "How do you know it will work?"

"Trust me."