Clearing the last stretch of hallway, Link arrived at the door to the medical wing. Taking a steadying breath for whatever might be waiting for him, the Hylian gave the lock a good bashing with his light before pushing it open.
Several groups and individuals had found each other while Lana had been waiting; Dent had vanished into thin air, which didn't suggest he'd come down this way, but it was possible.
She tried to imagine prosecuting a case in a world where people could vanish into thin air and it seemed completely normal. It boggled the mind. She was used to ridiculous theories, sometimes from her own detectives, but this would have half the force quitting. And not the half she'd prefer to see in...less critical occupations.
"I'm not surprised. Larger groups move more slowly, and none of us are exactly athletes." Well, Nina could be, but she hadn't shown any abnormal abilities yet. "We won't be the first ones in there, which is both good and bad. If there's an ambush, we might be able to hear it soon enough to avoid it. If a--" she began, and then started coughing. Best to get it out of her system now. "A reward, then it's already gone. But we're here for information, so that shouldn't bother us."
L's misgivings about the entire enterprise rose to the surface again. The previous night's clue had been real, but it had also been given in such a way that it had caused a number of patients to make plans that were, in his opinion, too risky. In that respect, he felt some relief in seeing that the door to the Medical Wing was open. It could mean that others were also skeptical of the idea that they needed to perform amateur abdominal surgery, or it could mean that they had come to the medical wing to do the surgery... but either way, it spared him and Lana the effort of having to open the door in their current condition.
The aspect of the clues that troubled him was that they had to take on faith both the idea that the messages truly came from Harrington, and the idea that that was a good thing. This clue they were chasing might turn out to be as vague or as discomfiting as the first one. Even if it wasn't, even if what had been left was truly helpful, Lana's words reminded him that someone might already have come and altered it. That idea tempered any relief.
He hated feeling like he was out of good options, and like any or all of it might have been largely illusory, like this could be the latest in the series of hoops to jump through. It rankled to give Landel or Aguilar or anyone else the satisfaction of seeing him do it, yet without knowing for sure, he didn't have any choice--not if it seemed that death was on the table. That increased the frustration and annoyance that he already felt at being ill.
He moved along quietly, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder and how much he would have preferred to be in bed with a pot of hot tea.
At least they had made it most of the way to their destination with no incident. Even with Nina at his back, he continued to glance behind, partly to keep an eye on her. She didn't seem as if she was about to hit him with the bat; instead, she seemed as alert to their surroundings as he could have wished.
He glanced out into the corridor, letting someone else take the lead. It seemed clear, although two shorter halls were to their right and a stairwell to their left: ambushes could come from either of those. The door to the front room wasn't far off.
"There's a question of why the clues have been so cryptic as to be almost useless... but it's been proved over and over that Landel has the ability to make it physically impossible to talk about certain topics. What if Harrington is unable to give us more explicit information?"
Nina passed him as he spoke, into the lead this time. She at least knew the way to the front door, although she knew that she would have to let someone else head up the front once they were outside.
She had been listening to him the entire time, of course. To both of them. She had pondered over Lana's words about this being atypical from the moment the other woman uttered them. if this was unusual, why? What did that mean?
Not that she was given time to ruminate on it. Walking along she received even more disturbing information. She checked the stairwell and the shorter halls carefully before moving forward.
"You think this is as close as Harrington can get to telling us anything?" she said as she did, sounding obviously disturbed.
"Okay. The coast is clear."
With that, she moved into the main hallway, no waiting for them to follow. She knew that they would.
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no subject
As the little group entered the hallway, Nina gasped. She had already seen the door to the medical wing.
"It's open!" she said. Someone had gotten there first. But who?
no subject
She tried to imagine prosecuting a case in a world where people could vanish into thin air and it seemed completely normal. It boggled the mind. She was used to ridiculous theories, sometimes from her own detectives, but this would have half the force quitting. And not the half she'd prefer to see in...less critical occupations.
"I'm not surprised. Larger groups move more slowly, and none of us are exactly athletes." Well, Nina could be, but she hadn't shown any abnormal abilities yet. "We won't be the first ones in there, which is both good and bad. If there's an ambush, we might be able to hear it soon enough to avoid it. If a--" she began, and then started coughing. Best to get it out of her system now. "A reward, then it's already gone. But we're here for information, so that shouldn't bother us."
no subject
The aspect of the clues that troubled him was that they had to take on faith both the idea that the messages truly came from Harrington, and the idea that that was a good thing. This clue they were chasing might turn out to be as vague or as discomfiting as the first one. Even if it wasn't, even if what had been left was truly helpful, Lana's words reminded him that someone might already have come and altered it. That idea tempered any relief.
He hated feeling like he was out of good options, and like any or all of it might have been largely illusory, like this could be the latest in the series of hoops to jump through. It rankled to give Landel or Aguilar or anyone else the satisfaction of seeing him do it, yet without knowing for sure, he didn't have any choice--not if it seemed that death was on the table. That increased the frustration and annoyance that he already felt at being ill.
He moved along quietly, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder and how much he would have preferred to be in bed with a pot of hot tea.
At least they had made it most of the way to their destination with no incident. Even with Nina at his back, he continued to glance behind, partly to keep an eye on her. She didn't seem as if she was about to hit him with the bat; instead, she seemed as alert to their surroundings as he could have wished.
[To here.]
no subject
He glanced out into the corridor, letting someone else take the lead. It seemed clear, although two shorter halls were to their right and a stairwell to their left: ambushes could come from either of those. The door to the front room wasn't far off.
"There's a question of why the clues have been so cryptic as to be almost useless... but it's been proved over and over that Landel has the ability to make it physically impossible to talk about certain topics. What if Harrington is unable to give us more explicit information?"
no subject
She had been listening to him the entire time, of course. To both of them. She had pondered over Lana's words about this being atypical from the moment the other woman uttered them. if this was unusual, why? What did that mean?
Not that she was given time to ruminate on it. Walking along she received even more disturbing information. She checked the stairwell and the shorter halls carefully before moving forward.
"You think this is as close as Harrington can get to telling us anything?" she said as she did, sounding obviously disturbed.
"Okay. The coast is clear."
With that, she moved into the main hallway, no waiting for them to follow. She knew that they would.
[To here.]