Night 61: Main Hallway, 1-West

[madeinthehrl]

[from here]

The main hall was dead quiet as Soma rounded the corner. The last few nights, this place had been bustling with fellow patients; the sudden calm was very nearly unnerving.

Still, she tried to put it out of her mind. Marie didn't sense anything out of the ordinary--yet.

[to here]

Comments

[envy_the_sinners]

[From here]

This hallway was larger... And still just as empty. The other patients had made it sound like he would be fighting for his life, for crying out loud. He took another right, into a narrower hallway like the one he had just been in.

[To here]

[a_sin_for_him]

[from here]

"How was your first day?" she called over her shoulder as she moved into the main hallway. Her tone was almost teasing. She was curious who he had spoken to and what he had learned, if he had information she hadn't heard yet.

And really this place was all they had to talk about. That Lust would talk about anyway.

[gald_digger]

[from here]

The main hallway. Anise made it this far, and still no sign of danger. A couple patients passed her by on the way, which served as reassurance that she wasn't alone. That was a relief.

This was where she sometimes met up with Guy and Claude. It was probably okay to just wait until they showed up.

... Or so she thought, but not even a minute passed before she started rethinking that plan. It was probably safer to be closer to the patient rooms, and besides, it'd shave a little time off their excursion if she met her friends over by their block. The longer she lingered in the dark, empty hall, the more appealing that idea seemed. It wasn't long until she was walking again; this time up towards the mens' blocks.

[to here]

[overlimit]

[from here]

Looked like Rita was the first one here. Considering how quick she had been to prepare her equipment and leave her room, that wasn't surprising.

Standing by a wall, Rita crossed her arms and prepared to wait. She hoped Taura would be the first to show up. Spending time alone with the brat was far from her idea of a good time, and as for Okita, she didn't have a clue as to what he even looked like. He could walk right past her face and she wouldn't know it.

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

Rita was already there, and Taura waved. Good. They had two, and all they needed was one more. This might be a better idea for meetings -- send out a list of names, and move out as soon as enough had arrived for the mission.

Slapdash, and not at all protocol, but military protocol tended to involve precision. Precise times, precise locations, and all of that flew out the window. So why not throw out The Book, too?

"Rita," she said, walking up. "Good. I take it Son Goku isn't here yet? Or did you strangle him and decide to blame it on the monsters?"

[oyaji]

[From here]

Now that he was in the large hallway, Wild Tiger noticed he was close to the Sun Room. He also noticed how many patients used this place to hang out and chat with other. So is that all there was to this, someone found this slip in security and they took the run of this place at night?

Well, Wild Tiger didn't appreciate being cooped up either, but it seemed unusually dangerous when some of these people were truly deranged. People could get hurt! Who was looking after the children? No, it didn't sit well with Wild Tiger. He needed to do something about it! But what? Looking in the direction of the Sun Room, the older man remembered that there was a rail system above it. It could all be overlooked from a second floor.

A satisfied grin came over his dark expression as he began looking for a stairwell. Thankfully, there was one right across from him.

[To here]

[kings_thief]

[From here]

It was strange to only see a few people in the main hall, but he didn't think too much of it. Still early in the night, plus there was the fact he didn't actually know how big this place was. He'd, largely, stuck to the same route the last few nights and he knew there was more on the eastern end of this building that he hadn't laid eyes on either. It was like facing a new continent..and it was only one building.

Plus there was the outside. It made his head hurt to think about how little of the area he knew, better to put it aside for now than dwell on it.

"I wish there was some warning for when the night will 'end' it'd certainly make me feel a lot less paranoid." It just brought him back to the race analogy. "But, hopefully, we'll make some progress tonight." He flashed a smile, not wanting Tolten to see him being doubtful. Hoping was easier.

[age_of_kings]

"There's no 'hopefully' about it," Tolten said, firmly. "We are going to make progress tonight. I swear it by my great ancestor!" Who hopefully could hear him in this place and perhaps would help out with that goal. It worked for everyone else Tolten knew, why couldn't it work for him? Granted, it was a great ancestor he was hoping for some spiritual aide from, not a recently deceased mother or child or some such, but...

Still.

"We're already doing very well..." he continued, some of the conviction leaving his voice. Especially considering he wasn't exactly sure where they were going, other than up. But Locke didn't seem to mind, and he did display a rather carefree attitude towards 'adventuring'. Which the young king supposed really was what they were doing. Simply because it was in a strange world beyond their control didn't mean it was that different than what Tolten had grown used to over the last year. "We'll beat the dawn, I promise."

[freewill]

[From here.]

Strangely enough, this area was also mainly vacated except for one group of three. That could be taken as a blessing, as he could wait in peace and it would be easy to spot Aigis once she showed herself. The female block wasn't far from here as far as Castiel was aware, which meant that with any luck he wouldn't be waiting long. In the end, he was glad that even with his delay earlier he had made it here before her, as she was the one doing him the favor.

He carefully leaned himself against the wall, letting out a sigh as his limbs settled into place and the pain started to ease up. While he didn't know where he would be heading tonight, his two options seemed to be trying for Doyleton again (which seemed unwise to do at all, let alone on his own) or going to search Dr. Venkman's office.

There were other areas that he hadn't yet explored, of course, but if he didn't narrow his focus then he doubted he would achieve much of anything. Castiel turned his gaze to the right, waiting for any sign of a blond-haired girl.

[Waiting for Aigis.]

[no_dont_go]

[from here]

Aigis had been so intent on making it to her destination on time that she almost passed Castiel in her rush to meet him. She skidded to a halt, rocked back on her heels and turned to greet the angel-turned-human with a breathless nod. "Greetings. I do hope I have not kept you waiting."

As for Aigis, she cared not if one or one million observers were around. As far as she was concerned, everyone held captive within this institute was her ally unless they proved themselves to be enemies. Therefore, she had no qualm using Athena out in the open here, even if there were loiterers around.

"So then," she said with little preamble, knowing he probably had plans of his own to attend to as well, "shall we begin?"

[complicatedliar]

[From here]

The same hallway where he'd met Riku the previous night. Hopefully this evening would go better, or he'd give up on the entire club thing as a bad idea. At which point he'd just have to acquire his meat shields the good old fashioned way, by talking people into it rather than getting them assigned. It wouldn't be a problem, but it might be a bit annoying.

Loki took his place leaning against the wall and switched off the flashlight. Idly he traced the imperfections in the wood grain of the spears haft with his fingertips.

[And now waiting for Kratos...]

[forsworn]

[from here]

Once he reached the main hallway, Kratos switched on his flashlight and slowed his pace, scanning the wall carefully for a man that fit the description that Lingormr had given him. There were very few people in the hall at this point--briefly, he recalled a time when it seemed like a crowd was always passing through this place; how long ago that seemed--which made his task easier; it wasn't long until he found the person in question.

"Good evening." Kratos walked over, not yet turning his flashlight off. Empty as the hall was, they were bereft of the assistance of those passing by to provide them with some amount of light. "You are...Lingormr?" The name came out hesitantly. He had heard similar names before and thus had some idea to the pronunciation, but they dated back to the Ancient War and even before; such details had begun to fade due to their irrelevance.

He cocked his head at an angle, voice just a tad apologetic in a way that his face, expressionless and stony, was not. "Please forgive my tardiness; I hope I did not leave you idle for too long."

[strayfag]

[from here]

The hallways were mostly clear as he moved through them. This time because he was out early, and not so late that everyone was mostly gone. It was an odd feeling, but not a exactly bad one, knowing that he had someplace to be and something to do.

He put his back to a wall and folded his arms across his chest, waiting.

Anything could go wrong, most often just when things were going a little bit right. Special Counseling tonight... Man, he could not get stood up in this hallway again.

[hey foxy lady~]

[diamondstorm]

[from here]

Her eyes narrowed on Badou the moment she moved into the hall. Intelligent and well-versed the man might be, but his hair gave himself away far too easily for those looking for him. Renamon smiled slightly, adjusting the bag on her shoulder and strode towards him.

"Nice night," she offered more congenial than usual. "I have something you might be interested in." Coupled with a smile to show her own teasing. She wasn't willing to have him return to being hesitant about her offer.

[norainu]

[From here]

Renji quickly lead Daemon to the main hallway. So far nothing sounded bad, he hadn't felt any giant bursts of reiatsu, nothing like that. The start of the evening was usually quiet, though.

He paused for a second just to listen, then turned to head for the Sun Room. He really, really hoped that wouldn't be a giant mess tonight, but it had been nearly every night.

[thesadist]

"Vegetables," Daemon scoffed under his breath, sounding amused. "He'd never buy that. At least come up with something creative. Virgin's blood or a fountain of immortality or something. Isn't that what half of your tales about... what were they again? Vampires and Elves? Isn't that what they spoke of?"

The whole thing was vastly amusing to Daemon. Something told him his father might not see the same humor in the comparison, but that was alright. Daemon had always had a rather perverse sense of humor at any rate.

"Have you been to the basement before?" he asked, following Renji, his gaze scanning the darkened halls around them. It was quiet tonight. Eerily so. He didn't like it. "Have I asked you that before? I can't recall."

[savagestray]

[from here]

It didn't take long to find his moron of a partner. The man was already so distracted by a new pair of knockers that he probably didn't even notice Heine as he stayed clear of them and waited down the next hall.

Idiot.

As long as he didn't think they were dragging around some new girl. He was going to have a hell of a time convincing anyone to take him seriously if they kept collecting sad-eyed orphans and hard luck cases. With a few mumbled curses, he kept walking, pointedly ignoring the redhead and his friend.

[savagestray]

[here]

[vinesofregret]

[From here]

'The stairs by the entrance'. Well, that was a simple enough direction. Thankfully the hallways were clear tonight, again - it seemed the night before last had been some sort of exception to the norm. Hakkai was also trying not to think too hard about what the special therapy entailed. He'd seen enough torture and death - some of it at his own hands - to not want to consider that thought. Easier to focus on the moment of now, to keep moving, do what he could to help people. To make up for his past sins.

The door was easy enough to locate, and he headed into the unlit stairwell.

[To here]

[dualistic]

[From here.]

There were a few other patients in this hall, but not a single one that Harvey recognized. It reminded him that even here, he kept his interaction to a smaller group of people, except in those cases when he was approached at random -- which, to be far, was often.

The other explanation was that all of these people were relatively new, but either way, it wasn't his problem.

"So why are you so interested in searching the med wing in particular?" he asked. It was a legitimate question. Did Zero need medical supplies, or was the android just curious to learn more about how human bodies worked?

[dividedby]

Nothing unusual in this hallway either, same as the two before it. Zero couldn't help but feel a little anxious, despite the fact that these halls tended to be this lifeless from night to night. Sometimes it was just too hard to take it easy, especially in a place like this...

But regarding their conversation. Dent saw an operation room in the medical wing? Not that it didn't make sense for it to be there, just that Zero hadn't been able to find it yet. It sounded like a location worth visiting, to see what a human operating room looked like if nothing else. "I haven't seen that room yet, but I did find an area with a machine called an MRI. That's as far as I've ever gotten."

As for why he was so interested in the medical wing to begin with...he had two reasons. "There were drugs offered there a few nights ago," he explained first, "but I haven't been able to find them. I wanted to try to figure out how they were able to change a human's form...but I mostly want to get rid of them, if I can." He wasn't sure how he'd actually dispose of the drugs, or if Landel could simply replenish them despite his efforts, but it was worth trying anyway. No sense leaving a threat like that for someone to unknowingly get into it. And the second reason... "Also, I wanted to fill in my map and see if there's anything of in--"

A sudden gunshot from somewhere nearby cut him off and stopped him dead in his tracks; he subconsciously threw an arm up to signal to Dent to stop, too. Zero was used to the sound of a discharging firearm - hence why his reaction to this one was mostly calm, revealing an obvious familiarity with them. However, he'd flinched at the sound anyway for it was so unusually loud that when it happened, he almost mistook it for an explosion. After the sound passed, he could hear an odd ringing inside of his ears, something he'd never experienced before as a Reploid. Were human ears so sensitive that they couldn't handle loud noises like gunshots very well? Tch...this body...

More importantly, where had that shot come from? Zero scanned his surroundings for any sign of a struggle or a stray bullet hole in the wall somewhere...but there didn't seem to be any danger, only other prisoners standing around as before. What happened?

[sarcasmfordummies]

[from here]

The bigger hallway didn't give her any of the familiar faces she'd been hoping for, once again leaving Donna at a loss. She wasn't against heading off on her own - she'd might potentially get something done if she did strike out solo - but running was really he best fighting option when it came to crossing any monsters, and good as she was at it, there was only so much running she could manage before something went wrong.

And Donna Noble would be damned if she'd let herself get eaten because of running into a dead end on accident.

All the courses she knew came to mind, including the one she'd started on the night before. The way to the upstairs kitchen. She hadn't gotten all the way, but she still knew a frying pan would be a good thing to have around should she ever need an out besides running. Would be good to beat off any terrible patients that tried to hit on her as well. Oh, and the Doctor if he was being dumb.

Looking to the stairs, she encouraged herself with a nod and started off.

[sarcasmfordummies]

[gone here]

[stellarregions]

[From here.]

Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary here, either, so after pausing for a moment to make sure there wasn't any lurking trouble that wasn't immediately apparent, Gren headed to the stairwell.

[stellarregions]

[To here.]

[terriblehaiku]

[From here.]

Hijikata stepped into the main hall and stopped to consider his options. He couldn't tackle the aborted mission from the night before by himself. He didn't know where, exactly, the rest of the 'club' was heading to. And he had no idea of where in the institute, if anywhere, his roommate had been taken to.

That left him on his own, without a clear goal. Which meant he had to make one for himself. And then he remembered the greenhouse full of plants, and how he'd wanted more time there to inspect what was growing without anyone looking over his shoulder. It was a long shot that they'd have any of the medicinal plants he knew, but really, there was nothing else for him to do. That goal in mind, he set out again.

[terriblehaiku]

[To here.]

[madeinthehrl]

[from here]

"Sora wanted me to talk to you about a few things," Soma added as she and Riku rounded the corner. "How much do you know about what happened two nights ago? Back when everyone's powers returned suddenly."

Hopefully, he'd heard at least a little about what had gone on upstairs. It would make her job easier.

[m-u effects--severe]

[corvus_veritas]

[From here.]

"Before Prescott and Lydia escaped that night, they told those two patients that there's a reason we're here," Byrne continued to explain as the pair moved into the next area. "Renamon warned me that the theory might not be true, but it's still interesting to consider, especially since the rebels themselves said it. We may be here not to be pointlessly tortured by some sick bastard, but for a specific purpose. Something that this world is depending upon us for."

Oh, now he was going to have to explain the whole 'different worlds' thing, wasn't he? Damn. Byrne was feeling that headache from earlier in the day start to come back just thinking about this. Why couldn't this just be a simple matter of 'Landel is bad, stop Landel'? Nooo, it had to be Digimon and people from other worlds and crazy superpowers and unfamiliar politics and all this complicated crap.

Well, at least their journey to the chapel was going well so far. Look, they were already to the stairs almost. Practically halfway there. They could continue walking, Byrne could try his best to finish this explanation...

...but uh, weird. Weren't the stairs over there? Why did they seem so far away all of a sudden... Not to mention, that headache was suddenly getting worse. Much worse. Ow. Byrne stopped walking for a moment and put a hand to his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut from the pain. What in the world was this?

And then there was an explosion.

His body jolted at the noise, so painfully loud and unexpected. His heart was racing; his eyes were wide open. The next minute was a blur of incomprehensible feelings. He was no longer himself. Just the shell of a man, watching the fate of another through glass...feeling nothing, yet feeling everything. The air turned cold. He broke out in sweat.

He turned around and saw shadows. Looming over him, staring down at him. Long dagger. Cruel smile. Red eyes. White coat. Blood. Laughter.

Fear.

Like prey in the eyes of its predator, Byrne stared back at the shadows, his face having lost all its color, almost too terrified to move.

They did not wait for him. They began to approach him, so they could swallow him up in their darkness. He came back to himself again, found his feet, himself. Did what any sane man would do. Turned around and bolted.

For the stairs, up to freedom. Away. Run. Now! Before they devour your spirit and all your fighting will have been for nothing!

[Abandoning Badd and fleeing to here.]

[scarefaux]

[Skipping from here.]

The Scarecrow tore through the hallways, no longer fearing the unknown in the dark around him. His flashlight could keep the shadows away, but they were the least of his concerns at that second. Far more pressing was the fact that somewhere in the halls above, his roommate was trapped and undoubtedly being tortured, and someone had to help him.

He may have had only the human standards of a heart, courage, and brains; he may have been a mortal man, one who shouldn't go running off into the face of danger without any sort of a plan, but at that moment, he couldn't care. He had to get to the hallway for the sleep studies and find Depth Charge, no matter what the cost!

[scarefaux]

[To here.]

[propheteer]

[From here]

The downside of getting a late start on the night had made itself obvious from the very start: there were few people lingering in this area, which meant there was little to observe in the first place. It was... disappointing.

There was still the promise of information, of course—perhaps he could find the file room and have a look, or maybe even break into the doctors' offices to see what they had—and so Izaya pressed onward...

...only to spot among those few who lingered a familiar face, albeit not one belonging to a human.

He paused, watching as a girl headed away from Castiel, and then as Castiel began to move about before following in the same direction as the girl. After a moment, Izaya began to follow as well.

[To here]

[somesoulsearching]

[from here]

The next hallway passed by in the same blur as the first and soon Brook found himself in the larger hallways, staring across at the stairway. This was where his experience in directions would become more confused as he'd not yet traveled by way of the second floor. He'd heard from others and had glanced the maps enough to have an idea of where it was his roommate had been taken, but when it came to actually knowing where he was going?

"Well, I'm at least going to fair better than Zoro," he chuckled as a means of reassurance as he started for the far end stairs. He didn't want to miss anything by reaching the middle of the upper hallway first.

[vinesofregret]

[From here]

A quick shine around of the flashlight showed nothing immediately amiss, and Hakkai relaxed a little. "All clear out here, for the moment."

[stellarregions]

"So far so good, huh? Maybe our luck will hold out."

As much as it ever could, in a place like this. But if they could get where they were going without being mauled, he'd consider it a success.

[fonichymn]

[From here.]

Truthfully, Tear could not tell if she was making good time. The hallways were less populated--again, evidence of a late start--but that did not necessarily mean she was nearing toward the end of the night. Without a reference, it was difficult to tell. Regardless, her goal remained unchanged.

Her eyes met the staircase, and with practiced steps, Tear went toward them.