BatIM AU: Henry's Path (OLD - rewrite in progress/consideration)

Act 2, Scene 14: A Grim Defeat

Linda

Linda shuddered at the sight of the Butcher Gang. Their nasally snarls gave her chills. They were one of the only things that gave her the creeps. She wasn't afraid of them, but seeing her corrupted duplicate in the center of all the chaos in its group made her rethink whether she could be a good person. As she gripped the railing, she listened to their incoherent babbling. She could almost make sense of it, but some of their words were too warped to understand.

"We left our weapons outside. How are we going to get past them?" Henry whispered, careful not to alert the trio.

"Maybe we can set a distraction," Sammy offered. "Who wants to be bait?"

Everyone fell silent and gave Sammy a nasty look. He raised his hands in sarcastic surrender and turned to lean over the edge. Linda saw his elbow nudge an empty can off the railing, but it was too late to warn him. The can fell over and clattered to the floor below them loudly. The Butcher Gang immediately snapped their attention to it and bolted to where the can was, muttering confusingly.

"Shhh!" the three hissed. Sammy backed up, then stopped and looked across to the other side of the balcony. There were dozens of cans lined up along the railing and piled up in corners.

"I've got an idea," he said. He glanced at the puzzled villains, then continued using sign.

Grab as many cans as you can, then regroup here.

Norman and Henry began picking up cans while Sammy and Linda stayed behind. He had stopped her from following them.

"I need you to climb up there and see where those doors lead," he explained. He pointed to the cables and wires that lined the ceiling. "Then when we get enough cans, we'll hand them to you so you can drop them. Make sure it's far away from where we want to go."

"What do you take me for? A little bug that you can just order around to your amusement?" Linda scoffed. She turned away from Sammy and began making her way up the supports to the ceiling.

"That's not what I meant," Sammy tried. "I'm just doing what I think will keep us alive!"

Linda ignored him, trying to reach out to a cable that hung nearby. It was just out of reach, making Linda let go of the support beam with another hand, only hanging on by a couple fingers. She finally grabbed it just in time before she lost her grip and fell. She swung on the cable, holding on to it for dear life. This was terrifying. Now she was right over the Butcher Gang's fire; if she fell now, not only would she burn, but she would be torn to shreds. She took a deep breath and grabbed another wire, slowly making her way towards the center of the room. She saw Henry look up at her casually, then look back completely surprised and terrified.

"What are you doing?" he yelled, though he dropped his voice to a whisper so that the Butcher Gang wouldn't hear.

"Not a good time right now, Henry," Linda replied through gritted teeth. She gasped as she slipped suddenly, then regained balance. She began sweating ink nervously. She tried to control it, but nothing could stop the lone drop of ink that fell on the Striker's head.

It whipped around and looked up at Linda and roared, it's humanoid teeth at the top of its head spitting saliva. The other two were at its side and began hissing at her. Edgar picked up the can that Sammy had dropped and chucked it at Linda, just missing by a hair. Linda screamed, slipping off the cable and plummeting to the ground. She hit it with a sickening thud, curling up to hide herself from the oncoming creatures. She could hear the panicked shouts of Henry and Sammy, then muffled footsteps as they raced down the stairs to protect her. She could only hear so many of their battle cries before she passed out, her chest burning with the possibility of broken ribs.