Night 62: F21-F30 Hallway

[no_dont_go]

[Room F21]

A shiver ran up Aigis' spine as she listened to the Head Doctor ramble on in his demented way about old partners and symptoms. Symptoms. Her heart accelerated a few beats then calmed again. This was not normal. She was one of them he spoke of.

Tonight had already been rather dark. Returning to the room to find Ema was no longer here. Once again, Aigis felt her resistance to this place was slowly becoming futile. Eventually they would drag her into that darkness as well, locking her into their delusions or worse. Turn her into a vicious beast that wanted nothing more than to attack and devour the rest of the patient body. That was all she was ever good for; to be bent to the will of her oppressors until she lost herself.

Aigis' initial plan was to remain where she was. If she left for the night, who would know what she would do? What if the Head Doctor decided to push his plan forward instead of waiting for the next day? Others would be in danger...

... Then again, often times others would be in greater danger if she didn't go out and act. Perhaps she could turn this around; use the possibility of her changing to a monster against the monsters already housed here. The only regret would be if they themselves were patients before, but she couldn't afford to think like that. Likely, they were beyond even her help if that had happened.

At last, Aigis gave her stuffed cat plushie one last hug then headed out into the hallway. She hadn't taken but a few steps when a new intercom message filled the halls. She stopped to listen, perplexed by the odd message said in the voice of the I.R.I.S. But then, something altogether strange happened. A series of zeros and ones filled the hallways, completely arresting Aigis' attention. The numbers translated immediately as her gaze ran over them.

Her heart beats sped up another few beats, then slowed again.

[For Aidou]

Comments

[idolism]

_{[from here]}

If anything, the night’s intercom messages only pissed him off. He skidded to a stop in the mouth of the hallway, burning with determination to get something--anything--done that might stick it to Landel. Step one was finding his little amateur vampire hunter and clearing the air when it came to others of his kind…

In that regard, it seemed luck was on his side.

Aigis was standing stationary right there in the middle of the hallway, in stark contrast to prisoners’ usual hustle and bustle as they hurried off to meet others. For someone who had snuck up on him and followed him all the way to the morgue, she sure didn’t seem to move very fast. But it was to his advantage that she was still wandering around by her cell so he couldn’t complain.

“Found you,” he announced.

[no_dont_go]

Aidou's presence did not startle her. Like before, she was able to detect him approaching before he made himself known. She had not detected any source of hostility, at least not directed towards her, from him, so she had not reacted as she may have at the beginning of a fight. Instead, she only looked at him with unblinking eyes.

So she was found. But for what purpose?

Aigis opened her mouth to greet him. She expected a normal greeting to fall into place, but instead there was nothing. At first.

She licked her dry lips and tried again. This time the words just spilled out. "Peter Parker and Jessica Drew are dead." The I.R.I.S. system did not sound 100 percent like Aigis, but their cadence matched almost perfectly. The words felt hallow, but the hallowness seemed to soak into Aigis and left her feeling cold. And lonely. She didn't know these people, but that their deaths had happened seemed to cement her recent feelings of hopelessness.

"They are dead," she muttered again, this time sounding a bit more like herself. She took another shaky breath, her gaze dropping to the dark floor. "They are dead."

[idolism]

Some kind of reaction was normally warranted in these moments, but her gaze seemed to pass right through him. He frowned at her. Considering that not long ago she’d spent much of her time getting in his face and doing her utmost to annoy him, her recent behavior toward him was strange at best. Ah, but Aidou was not so egotistical to believe that everything in her world revolved around him. The Institute had gotten under her skin more than his attacks on other prisoners had--if something was on her mind, it was likely more to do with the former than the latter.

Then she spoke, and his frown eased. Aidou couldn’t say his mind was quite as robotic as Aigis’, but it was machine-like in his own way; binary code was one of the many things he had learned and mastered over the years. He had decoded the same message from I.R.I.S.’ intercom announcement, but the names (and likewise, the alleged deaths) meant nothing to him.

He crossed over to her, slower this time, letting his footfalls sound against the floor. “Friends of yours?”

[no_dont_go]

Aidou's words seemed almost kind. For him to assume a kinship between Aigis and the deceased was natural, but her interest in them had little to do with the bonds of friendship.

"No, they are not. However, I recognize the names from the bulletin board." Both had written quite a few notes to one another. Their styles were also remarkably similar, which was unusual for humans. Even for siblings.

"Peter Parker. That one has been around for a long time." Always, as far as Aigis could remember. He was a constant in the institute. And now, he was gone, if the I.R.I.S. system was to be believed. She had little reason to doubt. It was just like this place, to hold the death of a prominent member of the patient body over their heads, as if to say there was no way out, even for the experienced.

Her heart raced irregularly a few beats, then returned to normal again. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her claws, holding both in one hand for now. She returned her gaze to Aidou, her eyes serious. "We are not safe. Something greater is going on tonight."

[idolism]

“Friends” was a rather slapdash term for Aidou, but it covered most of the possibilities. To be bothered by such news, they couldn’t have been less than personal acquaintances, after all…

Or so one would think. Aigis seemed to feel differently.

The frown returned to his brow. For Aidou, names on the bulletin board were just that--names. He had never paid much mind to the personalities behind the scribbled messages. There were too many people, too many to care about. And most didn’t even deserve concern.

“Not that long,” he countered when she mentioned Peter Parker. Yes, he knew who she meant, but like most prisoners the kid had been but a momentary blip. There and gone. “If you don’t know them, why does it matter?” His tone clearly said ‘who cares?’ The ramblings of a malfunctioning machine were only worth so much cosnideration, especially know how easily the Institute could manipulate life and death. The Coliseum had proven that death was a mutable state of being here.

He crossed his arms impatiently, though his impatience was not totally directed at her. “Yes, I’ve noticed. When isn’t there something going on? Between the mysterious illness and the gas in the air, there’s likely to be some kind of obstacle tonight, so I’ll make this quick--” Ah, but speaking of the illness going around… He paused for a second, Aigis’ commentary over the dead having distracted him. Before anything, it was better to broach that subject first and explain his presence second, so instead he asked, “You’re not sick, are you?”

[no_dont_go]

"Long enough." Longer than her own stay, she was certain of that. As for her feelings... It was difficult to explain, but Aigis supposed she could try.

"I believe my feelings are double-motivated. One half is a direct link from my previous programming, my wish to protect all of humankind. And the other half is..." Simply empathy? It didn't seem possible, even for a android-turned-human, to have such humanistic responses. But there was no better explanation. She shook her head. "I do not expect you to understand, or anyone to understand. I do not fully understand it myself."

Aigis let Aidou talk but when he reached his last question she hesitated. If there was anyone she could tell who would take her seriously, it was probably Aidou. He was a survivor. He would not ignore her if she requested his help in a matter that might help him survive in the long run.

"Please, come with me." And without waiting for him to answer, she moved down the hall and headed for the bathroom.

[To here]

F26

[ultimagi]

Night came, and she was awake. Still, somehow; the darkness of sleep, of blacked-out time and fogged-over memories, only seemed to be consuming more and more of her life as the days wore on. With so little life left to her name -- whichever name it was she had, anyway -- she could not know if this was normal. It didn't feel normal, no matter what Edgar said about other patients. He said a lot of things she wasn't sure she could believe.

But now wasn't quite the time to dwell on that, was it?

The girl dressed quickly for night. The sweats were traded for the thicker material of the old military uniform: black trousers, the blue top with longer sleeves, the combat boots. With the belt she slipped on those makeshift satchels, the carefully-cut plastic zippered bags from her excursion to the second floor. The beret she considered for a long moment before finally adjusting the position of her ponytail to accommodate the otherwise too-tight band. She knew it would get exceptionally warm wearing a coat indoors, but the thick insulation meant at least some padding between herself and any creature that might attack her this time.

The girl wasn't frightened of being hurt. She simply hated the fatigue that came with healing herself, and the less blood she lost, the better.

A debate between the gardening gloves and the military gloves had her opting for the latter; the former were just too big for her hands. But the former were thick enough that it served as something of a sheath for the smaller of her two kitchen knives, folded into a coat pocket. The larger one she'd just have to carry by hand.

A few other small additions to her pockets: the church key, the weeding claw. Nothing that took too much room.

Flashlight was the last. And when the door finally opened, the girl hesitated on the threshold, taking a breath.

"Please," she murmured, speaking only to herself, "I don't want to forget anything else."

She would not black out tonight. She would not.

With that, she ventured forth into the night.

[ultimagi]

[⇒]