High-Potency Sedatives

Shannon risked a peek out the door before closing it quietly. "I don't think they spotted us yet...I thought you were supposed to transform when you felt threatened?" she looked over her shoulder at Kento, who sat hunched over on a hospital bed.   "I...thought so too...but....my mind feels like...mush for some reason..." he panted. His pupils looked dilated and his breathing labored. Shannon frowned and walked over to examine him. She felt his forehead and cheek with the back of her hand then gently depressed his carotid, barely feeling a pulse. His eyes looked half-lidded. She placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from tipping over and blinked when she thought she felt something. She pushed his collar away and saw a small dart stuck into the skin just between his neck and shoulder. She gently tweaked it out and examined it: it looked much smaller than the ones used by Chief Perry. She sniffed it gingerly before recoiling and holding the dart away at arm's length.   "OOF!! Jeez, Kento! This stuff's potent enough to knock out a herd of elephants! How are you still conscious?!"   "No....no idea..." Kento wheezed. Shannon glanced out the window: way to high to risk a jump down, and if Kento didn't have the strength to transform he certainly couldn't summon Armor. She gasped when she heard a distant bang like a door being kicked open further down the hall. She reached down for the Ronin Cross, but even if she could signal the others, they wouldn't be able to arrive in time.   "They're really gonna go door-to-door until they find us..." Shannon fingered the pendant: she couldn't tell if it'd completely lost its power after the guys Armors were changed, but it didn't quite feel the same as it used to. She had no idea if she could use any elemental domain to protect themselves.   "Can't you give me an adrenaline shot? You know...like your dad did that one time?" Kento suggested as the sounds grew steadily closer.   "You mean epinephrine?" Shannon raised an eyebrow and jerked her head back slightly. Kento nodded shakily, looking ready to keel over at any moment. Shannon made a face and shrugged. "I guess...here, lemme see if they have any..." Shannon used her key to unlock the nearby medicine cabinet and fished around, examining vials before finding one and retrieving a clean syringe. She prepped a alcohol pad but nearly dropped it when she heard another distant crash. These guys aren't stopping! She swabbed Kento's arm and thumped the skin until she saw a vein then administered the dose. Kento's breathing remained shallow and he didn't show any signs of responding. She pulled the syringe out and disposed of it and checked Kento's vitals again. His breathing slowly quickened and his pupils contracted.   "Any sign of the big guy?" "Not yet!" "Keep searching! They can't have gone far!" Shannon looked over her shoulder when she heard distant voices.   "Well? Is it working?" Shannon whispered.   "I-I'm not-sure...I..." Kento stammered and grimaced. "S-Some-thing...something's...wrong...." his brow furrowed and he looked panicked. He placed a hand over his chest and doubled over, nearly falling off the bed. Shannon rushed over and placed a hand on his shoulder. His skin felt very warm.   "Oh no...I think you're suffering tachycardia...that's bad: epinephrine's supposed to treat tachycardia!"   "No...it's....it's not my heart...my head...something's wrong..." Kento whined, his face contorting with pain.   "I can fix this! Just hang on! I can give you some-" Shannon turned and reached for the cabinet again.   "GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Kento lashed out with one arm and sent her sprawling against a stand. He didn't sound angry, rather almost desperate. Shannon pushed herself up on her side and glanced at him wide-eyed as he slipped off the bed and landed on hands and knees.   Unlike her father Charles, she had never seen Kento transform first-hand until now: it looked every bit as horrific and painful as the movies as his features changed rapidly. She could hear bone cracking and tissue tearing as his body swelled under his clothes. His human cries of pain melded into the rattling bellow of a beast as his skin changed from pale pink to gray-lavender. His nails-now thick sharp claws-dug into the floor and his blue-black hair thickened and curled around his face and neck like a mane. The process finished and he remained on the floor panting heavily. Shannon rose to her feet shakily: she had no idea it could happen that quickly.   "...Kento?....Kento...you okay?" she asked timidly. Kento tilted his head up and looked at her, his irises white and pupils round. Then his thick eyebrows furrowed in a scowl and his pupils contracted to slits, a deep growl rattling out from his throat.   Without thinking, Shannon bolted out of the room and down the hall. "Look! There she is!" " Get her!" "WHOA!!" The agents closing in recoiled as something large crashed through the wall, shattering the door frame. Shannon didn't dare pause or look back when she heard the beast-like roar and kept running, skidding as she rounded the corner and pelted down the adjacent hall.   She yelped when Kento plowed through the corner wall, narrowly missing her and stumbling into the opposite wall before getting his bearings and charging after her. She had no hope of outrunning him, as fast as he moved. She did the only thing she could think of and grabbed the Ronin Cross, extending it into its claymore form and turning around before plunging the tip into the floor. She knelt down behind it and placed her hand over the Strata Sapphire, hastily summoning an air shield. Thankfully the Cross responded and protected her in time.   Kento slashed at it furiously, jolting Shannon all the way to the core and sending cracks through the floor as his blows forced the shield down against the tile. Shannon cried and squeezed her eyes shut as her body shook from every blow. She had no idea what would happen first: that the shield crash through the floor, or that Kento would tear through the shield. She gripped the hilt tightly and bowed her head, dreading the worst. Even when it seemed the blows stopped, she dared not open her eyes...   "....Shannon?" Shannon blinked and tilted her head up, seeing Kento standing infront of her. He stared down at her with one arm raised mid-swipe, bewildered. He blinked several times and glanced about at the cracked floor and nearby walls then lowered his arm and looked at his hand. "...Oh no...Ohhh no...what...what have I...?" he took a step back and stared at his claws, horrified at what he'd almost done. Shannon scrambled to her feet and dismissed the air shield, reverting the Cross back to it's pendant form.   "NO! Nonononono! It wasn't you! It wasn't you!" she consoled, placing her hands on his shoulders before stroking his cheeks. "You had a bad reaction to the epinephrine!" He looked beside himself with guilt. The two looked back down the hall when they heard approaching voices and footfalls. "Look, you can beat yourself up all you want later! We need to get out of here NOW!" Shannon urged and the two took off running towards the nearest window. Kento crouched briefly, allowing Shannon to climb onto his back and wrap her arms around his neck.   "There they are! Get'em!!" the agents shouted as Kento shoved the window clean out of its pane and sprang into the air mightily. Shannon yelped when she heard several objects whizz past and Kento hastily reached back and shifted her around to his front, holding her securely in his arms. He hissed in pain when bullets struck his back, digging uncomfortably into his skin.   It's those armor-piercing bullets! Those could've split her head like a melon! They're not trying to kill me: they're after her!! Kento glared over his shoulder as he landed on the ground. Shannon hooked her legs around his waist and held onto his neck for dear life as he dropped to all fours and bounded away before agents outside the hospital had a chance to react. He sprang onto a building wall and scaled it effortlessly before dashing along the rooftop. By the time helicopters arrived to give chase, they'd be well beyond reach.