Nightshift 62: Main Hallway, 1-West

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

Taura took up station midway between the two halls leading back into the dormitories. Alone with her thoughts; the hall was quiet. Too quiet. Dead quiet, a little voice hissed in the back of her mind.

This was no time to be getting superstitious. It was unavoidable, really, in a profession with so much risk involved in daily operations, that those who survived found things to credit. Beyond their own skill, because they'd all seen better men/women/herms when their luck ran out, and skill only improved your odds.

Her luck was holding, tonight. Was Rita and Goku's?

[Rita and Goku]

Comments

[envy_the_sinners]

[From here]

Scar was wandering aimlessly, subconsciously following the only path he had taken at night. He would have gone off somewhere else to look around, but he didn't feel up to it. The more he walked, the worse he felt, which did not bode well should something attack him. Maybe he could beat it to death with this light? It seemed sturdy enough. But what if it was something like that child that had attacked him and Lust the previous night? He would just have to run...

He frowned, curious as to the state of Lust's injured hand. Had it gotten worse? Or improved? What kind of unholy power existed in this wretched place? He also wondered if she would show up in the same place as the previous night. Scar hoped she went somewhere else, seeing that it was the only route he was willing to take at the moment. After the bulletin board disaster, he was not ready to confront her yet. Especially not in this state.

The Scarred Man plodded onward, his head heavy and stomach in a twist.

[envy_the_sinners]

To here!

[ofthemotions]

[from here--and for Celty and Snow]

The strange uplifting feeling continued for about ten feet before instantly dropping back out, Mikado's grip tightening on the strap of his bag. Again, he was here, willing to try to move and work through things, and again, he had little knowledge of what he should be doing. He paused off to the side of the hall, watching the passerbyers cautiously. Everyone seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Was he the only one hesitating?

Maybe... Maybe he should go upstairs and look for more supplies to offer Tear, if he was going to go through the deal with Dollars. It was likely the best course of action, but the fact that nearly everyone he had come into contact with had warned him not to move alone at night had him hesitating. Should he have made plans with someone, asked if they were going the same way he was? It was too late now, and he'd simply have to decide if he was going to move or not.

His other hand slid to hold onto the strap as well, and he watched for now. Thought quietly to himself as the moments moved past.

[heroesdontshave]

[skipping a bit from here]

Actually, no. He took that back. Having a light definitely did help more. He was waving his light all over the place as he walked, scanning everything around him like it was his first time out (and it kind of was his first night with a light). And he had to say, this was a lot better. No risk of walking into doors or anything. And no risk of walking into people either.

Which was great! Because as Snow wandered around the corner, guess who he saw?! Yeah, that's right! It was Ryuu! And Snow actually saw him ahead of time! And didn't collide into him for once!

As soon as recognition clicked, Snow threw up his free hand and held it high in greeting as he called out jovially. "Heeey! Ryuu! What's up? Whatcha doin' just hangin' around in the dark like that?"

Well, Ryuu had a flashlight, too, so it wasn't really "in the dark" even if it was in the dark, but whatever!

[hasnomeaning]

[hallway skipping from here, and for Byrne!]

Rei slid out into the hallway quietly, seeing nothing darker for all of the words spoken. She swallowed, her tongue thick against her throat, and felt the condition of her body as she paused. An ever-present soreness; her head, fogged and thick to the point of thoughts faltering; her throat hoarse and sore. Ayanami had been injured time and again, but sickness like this... She had no recollection of ever feeling like this. Nothing that she could recall.

Was this how it would be? She would degenerate into a monster, an entity unknown, the same as Kaworu Nagisa had been taken from an entity and pressed like clay into the shape of a man? It was the only reason she did not doubt the head doctor's words. For if monsters could be made into men, could not men be made into monsters?

The thought was cut off by a choking sensation, and Rei coughed harshly, the sound quiet despite its roughness.

[corvus_veritas]

[From here.]

Alright. Now that he was out in the main hallway, it might be a good idea to actually stop and figure out what the heck he was doing in the first place before wandering off anywhere else. Byrne parted with the usual patient traffic to pause somewhere in the hall where it was quieter, thinking.

He would have pulled out his maps to perhaps get a destination in mind from them, but without a flashlight, it was kind of pointless to. Hm. Maybe that should be his goal tonight - searching for the place everyone apparently got their damn flashlights from. It would certainly be worth the time spent if he got one.

Better than thinking about Landel's latest creepy intercom broadcast, too. Ugh. Please just be a meaningless threat. Please.

Before he could think any further, however, a small noise from somewhere nearby caught his attention. What was that? A cough? It had been so soft that he'd almost missed it. Was there someone standing near him? Or was he imagining things, thanks to headache or possible fever or... Oh, god. Not that. Not again! Byrne glanced around quickly, searching for the source that he hoped actually existed.

Thankfully, he spotted someone standing close enough to be noticeable, but far enough away to be unrecognizable in the darkness. All he could tell was that it was someone short, possibly a girl. Didn't matter, as long as they were real. But now he was curious to know who it was. Byrne approached the figure cautiously. Who could it...

"Rei?" he said the moment he recognized her, stopping a few feet away.

[complicatedliar]

[From here]

At the main hallway, Loki did pause, just to take a glance around and see if anyone he knew was hanging about. Partially it was curiosity, and partially he wanted to know who might be demanding an explanation of him later if they found it strange he was on his own.

So far, so good...

[a_sin_for_him]

[from here]

"And it's amazing what can come in handy," Lust went on, entering the main hallway with her map still open in front of her. "A pity that neither of us can perform proper alchemy. We wouldn't have to worry about finding what we need." Base materials were easier to come by than a finished product. But she was a homunculus and Scar's alchemical past was limited to identification and destruction. He couldn't make anything, even if he still had his brother's arm.

"Slow," she suddenly added, her voice dropping. There was a shape lingering in the hallway, ahead of them, too far to make details in the weak light.

[forsworn]

[from here]

--And here he was. Kratos cast a casual eye around as he assumed his usual waiting posture by the wall. There were very few people out; he had left early, perhaps almost too early, since usually Soma was here waiting even when he arrived, by his definition, on time. They would need to talk, the two of them. Something about unmerited opinions...

...speaking of things that had happened last night, there was Lingormr. He hadn't seen the man's name on the club listing earlier, so perhaps he had decided not to join. That certainly made the impending report that much easier, if that was to be the case.

[for Soma and Sonia]

[madeinthehrl]

[from here]

Kratos was already waiting by the wall when Soma spotted him, and she jogged up, inclining her head in acknowledgment.

"Good evening," she said. Already she was itching to ask about his run with Lingormr last night--by Lingormr's account, it hadn't gone too badly, but you never knew. Still, it was probably better to let it sit for now. "What's the plan for tonight."

[rocksthecourt]

[from here]

And now he was venturing into the more dangerous parts of the institute. He needed to exercise extreme caution from here forward. More so than usual, anyhow.

...He had barely gone much of anywhere so far and already the tightening in his chest felt unbearable. The hand holding his flashlight was shaking slightly, causing the beam to quiver in an annoying, distracting way. He stopped for a few seconds, a brief allowance to simply take a few deep breaths.

Calm down. Focus. Don't overthink, but focus. One thing at a time. First, he needed to confirm some things for himself. After that, he would consider this new claim of Herr Doktor's and consider what could be done about it. The man needed to be stopped. Immediately. There had to be something that could be done, even from their position, in order to prevent this from going any further. Anything.

...But then again, maybe that was just him holding onto a naive hope again. Maybe there really was nothing that could be done at all. All they could do was sit and wait for the inevitable. Maybe they really were all doomed. ...But dammit, they still had to try, didn't they? They had to.

[to here]

[dualistic]

[From here.]

Just as he thought, he'd been overthinking things. The moment that Harvey stepped into the main hall he caught a number of flashlight beams and the slightly illuminated faces of the people they belonged to. There were small groupings of patients throughout the hall, just like any other night.

Most of them didn't look like they were suffering from any symptoms, either. On the other hand, none of them were familiar. Was it possible that Peter or Scott or any of the others were bedridden with something that was eventually going to turn them into something fanged and hungry?

His mind was moving too quickly again. There was nothing to confirm that. Maybe he'd just made it out early. One of the group of five was bound to wander through here eventually. If not, Harvey wasn't opposed to stopping a stranger and demanding some answers from them. For the moment, he leaned against the wall, keeping an eye on either side of the hallway.

[For Ramona.]

[toxicspiderman]

[from here]

Sangamon Taylor was not a man to let little things stop him from doing what was right. Or what was funny. Bad news and escape attempts could wait. He slipped his flashlight through the door, arranged the fingers of his other hand over it, and flicked it on.

A lopsided bat-signal lit up the wall next to Harvey's head. He waggled his fingers, and it flopped like a dying fish. If a fish had wings, which wasn't actually possible. Two heads was -- trout were heavy-metal coal-mine canaries for rivers. But wings took effort. Forgery or a developing room. (Or gene-splicing or computer imagery, by now. Both had gotten good enough to make his skin crawl.)

Once he was sure Harvey had seen it, he stepped out of the gloom. "Peter's gone," he said. He didn't candy-coat it. Just held up the wrist with the web-slinger. "Seen anyone else?"

[unpriest]

[From here]

Seishin eventually entered the main hall without encountering anything of note along the way. Various narrow beams of flashlights betrayed the presence of other people, but Seishin had no intention to bother those people for no reason. He paused for a moment, contemplating the stairs on the other end of the hallway.

The only time he had been to the second floor was when those soldiers had taken him to the meeting room...That hardly brought back pleasant memories, did it? He wondered if Gamzee-kun was okay; the change in the boy's attitude that he had witnessed last night had been worrying, not to mention the troll had Rose-chan's blood on his hands. Seishin had been under the impression they had been friends, but he wasn't quite certain of it right now.

[For Ilia.]

[avengingfists]

[from here]

Ilia moved into the busy hallway at a trudging pace. What little high the alcohol had given her was already wearing thin and her own morbid thoughts were doing little to help the situation. Her slow pace did do her a bit of good, however. She had the time to get a really good look at all the passerbys her flashlight illuminated as she walked along, and Seishin happened to be one of them.

Moving towards him, she raised her free hand in a weary wave. "Seishin. Hey."

She honestly didn't know what much more to say. They shared a strange kinship from having witnessed the death down in the basement. That made them comrades of sorts, even if they hadn't interacted a great deal before then.

Ilia didn't have to ask him how he felt. Whether he had taken Rose's death in as bad of a way as Ilia had didn't matter. But likely, if he had any decency at all, he would want to pay his respects to the little girl just as she did.

"So, I'm going to the morgue," Ilia said, a little hoarsely. She cleared her throat. "Want to come with me?"

[tasteoftruth]

[From here.]

Badd purposefully delayed himself several minutes before heading out into the main hallway. Byrne was being hotheaded and not knowing what was good for him (as usual, Badd predicted they'd be kissing and making up again by tomorrow evening) and it seemed prudent to avoid accidentally bumping into him on his way up to the torture rooms.

Usually he tried to avoid anyone else and sought out Byrne. Now he was ignoring the rest and trying to make sure he didn't meet eyes with Byrne.

[Niikura et al]

[oneman_onekill]

[from here]

Right as he entered the main hallway, Niikura realized that he could have saved himself a ton of worry and just gone to check on Shiina in her room. He almost doubled back, but then the thought of her standing out in the hallway already waiting for him made him press on. At least in her room, she'd be okay. He couldn't leave her out here by herself, not when she was--

Heh, what was this? Him, getting all worked up and flustered...totally out of character. He needed to take a step back and just breathe for a moment. They were going to be fine. He'd figure this out somehow; he'd tear the institute apart if he had to. He could do this.

Badd. Out of the corner of his eye, Niikura spotted the detective walking down the hall alone--alone! Just like the first time they'd met...ah, how nostalgic. And he'd been in need of a distraction.

"Ah, look who it is. Evening, Badd-san."

[teabastard]

[From here]

It was early enough in the night that there were still a few people out in the hallways, lingering in one of the safer spots presumably to wait for their companions. England had no designs on alliances right now so he continued onwards without any particular destination in mind.

[Rainbow Dash!]

[rainboompow]

[From here]

—"UAAAGH!"

KABAMPH

She hadn't seen him there. At full speed in the dark, Rainbow's flashlight wasn't helping her as much as she figured it ought to have. By the time she had realized a person stood in her path, she was already colliding with their backside.

"Ow." Rainbow's elbows stung where they had scraped across the linoleum tile. As she scrambled to at least push herself up onto her knees, she had some words for the obstacle in her path: "Ugh, sorry! My bad! I'm still kinda new to the whole running on two legs thing, and you were kinda in the way, sooooo... Oops?"

[diamondstorm]

[from here, with Tear, and for Badou and Leanne]

"--It could be worse," the Digimon went on, as the two moved out into the main hall. Renamon walked to a nearby wall and slid her back against it, eyes scanning the space before them. "...'Homegrown monsters', he said." There was a beat before she went on. "It's very well possible that the majority of the creatures we have faced have been human previously, or something close to that, if what he says is true."

Her gaze turned to Tear, unfathomable. "It makes things a bit more complicated if that does hold."

[fonichymn]

They had moved into the main corridors swiftly and without unnecessary pleasentries. Unbeknownst to Renamon, Tear was eternally grateful for the focus on information. Anything else might have inflammed her concealed anxiety.

"I suppose we will have to find out for certain tomorrow," she remarked, voice grave. They could consider the complications then. Fomicry and replicas gave her more preparation in the possibility than she was willing to admit, but until they had answers, it was best to keep a neutral hold.

[inamatus]

[from here for Nigredo]

Lights from ahead told him he was reaching the larger hall, along with the sounds of people stopping to talk, the bustle of human life. His ears swiveled back against his head again and Ritsuka pressed forward. His flashlight remained dark and he closed his eyes, hugging the wall as he moved. The bumpy plaster beneath his fingertips was enough to let him know where to go. It grew more ragged in places, grimy in others, disappeared where chunks had fallen off and then--

The corner. The wall dropped away suddenly and Ritsuka opened his eyes. The main hallway gaped open in front of him, dotted with faint lights here and there that barely illuminated the faces and clothes of their owners. Hushed voices talked, some recognized, others new, but none belonged to the three men he was looking for. Standing at the corner where the two halls met, Ritsuka lingered, his breath fogging in the air. He would wait. He would wait for as long as it took. Sooner or later, someone had to pass by, and when they did, he could ask them and understand and try to remember someone he barely even knew.

[atrabilis]

[From here.]

The fever made the once straightforward trek to Albedo's room rather arduous. Nigredo had difficulty keeping his steps even and often stumbled when opening doors and passing thresholds. Fortune had him crossing patient traffic as opposed to territories belonging to less friendly entities, but the fact remained. The Head Doctor's new thing was damaging to his already shot stamina.

Still, there existed no choice. Nigredo continued forward, taking rests whenever required. The main hallway finally came into view, and he halted at a corner, eyes adjusting to the beams of light and the shadows.

It was here he spotted the familiar outline of cat ears, nearer to his location than was expected. "Ritsuka?" Nigredo called out quietly. "Is that you?" The fever made it hard to tell.

[gald_digger]

[from here, skipping a few halls]

There were others around, which didn't give Anise as much comfort as it usually did. What if that "bug" was contagious? The Head Doctor had made sure to skip all the helpful details in favor of the scary ones. Anise wished she knew what she could do, or shouldn't do, to keep herself and others safe.

The most important thing to do for the time being was to find Guy. He hadn't answered Anise's note, and while she could see her other friends getting sidetracked for a day, Guy was always perfectly reliable. It was hard not to think that something bad might have happened. Weaving her way around the other patients, Anise hurried onward to the men's blocks.

[to here]

[thecamellia]

_{[from here and about to be Sora-ed!]}

She pulled ahead a bit to make sure that there were no nasty surprises waiting for them in the main hallway, but there seemed to be only people.

That didn’t exactly relax Tsubaki. Every moment in the Institute was like a miniature calm before the storm. Something was usually afoot, even if it was behind the scenes where they couldn’t see it. And with this… illness… running rampant the Head Doctor truly seemed like he was capable (or willing) of throwing anything at them.

Hazarding a glance at Rapunzel, she said, “Are you still doing okay?”

[hairraising]

Hard to believe, thought Rapunzel, but not impossible. From what they knew, the Institute was always playing at something, whether it was the military in charge of things or Landel. There was never a time when something wasn't afoot here, and the easiest way to keep that true was to be running more than one scheme at a time. Maybe this disease plan was new, but Rapunzel would not have been surprised if missions were still going so that time needed to move information and assassinate enemies wouldn't be wasted.

It always made Rapunzel so uncomfortable to think of things in terms like that. She awkwardly shifted her bundle slightly again as they walked. Thankfully, Tsubaki had a question for her not long after they made it to the main hall, which helped to distract her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Still got everything," she answered, offering her roommate a small, reassuring smile. "Still in one piece." One of the most important things to keep checking, she was sure.

[monkeyboy]

[From here]

Goku ran--waddled was more accurate--through the intersecting hallway like the devil himself was on his heels. Truthfully, he was just really excited! It had been awhile since they had been in a knock-down, drag-out fight and tonight held many possibilities.

Even with all this excessive heat that made his mind a bit addled, the monkey boy was more than ready to start something. The sooner he got to Taura and Birdy, the sooner they could get to the fun part. That was why he ran as fast as he could on his stubby little legs until he finally bumped into his really tall friend.

She was alone, but at least the fighting hadn't started without him! That was important. "Hey, hey!" He called up to her with a quick wave and flash of his big white teeth. "I'm ready!"

[overlimit]

[from here, skipping some halls]

Upon entering the hallway, it wasn't long before Rita located her two companions. She approached without delay. "Good--you're both here." That meant they could get moving quickly.

Or she thought they could, but her statement was immediately followed by a burst of static from the intercom, and then some incomprehensible ramblings from the mechanical voice of IRIS. The words stopped, but the voice continued, rambling off numbers.

Eyebrows furrowed, she looked from the speakers to her companions' faces. "What was that?"

[tender_cruelty]

[From here]

The hall seemed to be awfully long tonight, much longer than he was used to. Perhaps that was why he kept walking rather than heading for the stairs, or perhaps he was just distracted making sure that no nicotine addicated redheads were coming after him.

[tender_cruelty]

[To here]

[ichangedforgood]

[From here]

It was practically a congregation - there were too many conversations for Robin to keep track of. She tried, certainly - unfortunately she found herself still incapable of manifesting an ear anywhere, let alone more than one.

Her eyes passed over so many things that she started to lose focus, so she shut her eyes and tried to concentrate, first deciding what exactly she was after...

[For Brook]

[somesoulsearching]

Brook had waited a bit before heading out of his room, long enough for the intercom's second announcement to have faded away. The night messages were always strange, but this night was even more disconcerting than most. He was able to understand that Landel was doing something to them by making them sick, but then for the woman's voice to go on like that...? He could only wonder if things were about to mess up for Landel as they had before. The military likely wasn't the only threat a man like him had.

But still, why make them sick?

Regardless of how he was feeling, Brook knew there would be no answers for him should he remain in. He was the only one there from his world, so it was up to him to head out and find his way back. Or so he had believed until he was once again entering the larger hallway he always hit before the night's end. There were the usual patients out, going about their business, but as he skimmed them over one nearby silhouette caught his attention. Brook found himself looking back to the woman a moment to take in her figure before eventually blinking away some disbelief.

"Robin... -san...?"

[savagestray]

[here][from here]

Heine was downright glad he hadn't touched his dinner. He was pretty sure that at this point, he would've left it behind in the last hall. He'd tried to write off the ominous radio messages as more of this place's bullshit, but as he leaned on a wall for support, he could see there was more and more truth to the story.

He despised the weak feeling in his legs, the weary muscles that just shouldn't be. Still, he would rather carry on doggedly than let the bastards here know they were getting to him.

[savagestray]

[to here]

[ultimagi]

... Would they really come to pass?

She'd tried tuning it out while she'd gotten changed, but the words lingered in her ears, and left a heavy coldness in her heart. Losing volition and conscious thought... masticating your beloved friends ... homegrown monsters...

The girl slipped through the small clusters of other patients, her eyes turned away from them. Her flashlight carved her path in darkness, and even a long hallway was short for the worry beginning to simmer in the back of her mind.

Somehow, it was the laughter that stuck with her, rattling around inside her like so much metal and so many bones; helmets and teeth.

[ultimagi]

[⇐ // ⇒]

[fourstonewalls]

[from here]

Lana covered ground in the long strides of a woman used to keeping up with men a foot taller than her. Several familiar faces were among those waiting in groups in what passed for a main lobby for the patient block; she gave none of them more than the brief glance she gave everyone in the area.

The fact that they were heading into an area that had killed the last person she'd accompanied there hadn't been lost on her. She kept her expression completely blank, and didn't turn back to Gumshoe. "If we run into anything we can't handle, get close enough to touch me. I have one of the rings, and it should take us back to my room." She held up her left hand, ring glinting on her index finger. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but it worked last time."

[ham_fisted]

[to here]

[firewhichrefines]

[[from here]]

And into the hallway that was the main artery of the Institute. Day and night there was movement here (in the night, sometimes less human, sometimes --), but tonight there was something uneasy in the susurrus. More so than usual: had it been Landel's announcement? The man had claimed monsters in the future, but it was hardly the first time the Institute had changed some of them for its own purposes.

Even on a wider scale -- but then again, how much control did the Institute have over what creatures roamed the village? That had ended itself (had taught Sasuke more than he'd ever known) as mysteriously as it had began, and Sasuke had been too preoccupied to submit the case to Sakura for examination.

For the first time since the beginning, he wondered if it might not have been useful to have Sound-nin on hand: more specifically, Kabuto, who knew this kind of bodily manipulation more closely than any other Sasuke knew.

But if wishes were fishes in this place, Sasuke would have dined daily on fresh tuna. There was no point hoping for those that were not here, even if they deserved to be. Sasuke forged on.

[firewhichrefines]

[[to here]]

[osoreirimasu]

[from here following this person]

Oh! Oh no! Japan had been lost in thought, contemplating how best to ask Uchiha Sasuke for his autograph and the boy had already moved on. By the time the nation had his wits about him, his flashlight off, and got himself moving in a way that didn't seem like he was going to jump Sasuke from the dark, the ninja had already disappeared into the next hallway. Japan rounded the corner and searched the hallway, curious as to where he'd gone. For him to be so determined in his movements, he definitely had to have a mission in mind.

A mission...

Japan paused, putting a hand to his chin. Uchiha Sasuke on a mission was indeed a rare sight. It was something he possibly would not have the opportunity to see in person ever again. Perhaps rather than ask for his autograph, Japan should simply follow along and observe. Autographs could come later, during the day when the possibility of being eaten by giant crabs or massive snakes didn't come into the equation.

Yes, it was decided. Japan's mission had now changed from Operation Autograph to Operation Follow That Ninja.

[to here]