damned_institute | Night 70: Disciplinary Therapy Corridor

Entry tags:

lloyd,
tsurugi

Night 70: Disciplinary Therapy Corridor

[from here]

Kyousuke was beginning to get pretty used to breaking locks like this... He was almost starting to feel like some kind of criminal. But it was good that they rusted over like that; it would be pretty hard to get around if everything was locked down too tightly.

Once through the door, it opened up into another small hallway, which was lined with several more doors. Kyousuke made his way to the far end and peered into one of the smaller doors—it was looked, but there was a little grate he could still see through. It turned out to be a row of tiny cells that could barely hold a single person, let alone some kind of horrible experiment, so those were definitely not what they were looking for. ... Still, he wondered if these actually saw any use. He'd hate to be shoved into one of these for an extended period of time.

On the other hand, the doors on the the other side gave no hint as to what was inside, and unlike the door they'd just passed through, they were still in pretty good condition, which meant they'd have to find a way inside them that didn't involve smashing the lock. ... Maybe they could just break one of the actual doors. He was confident enough in his own strength for that much.

"What do you think?" he asked, turning to Lloyd. He knew his memory was vague at best, but it was still possible he'd think this place was completely wrong, and in that case, they may be better off backtracking to it later on.

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Lloyd gave Tsurugi a look that was a mixture of surprised and impressed before following him through the door. Not that the younger boy looked like he was weak, but busting open the lock on a door just wasn't something Lloyd had expected to see from him. Still, he of all people should know that looks weren't always everything.

"It could make a difference..." he said, then trailed off, his eyes tracing the walls with the cell doors. He didn't remember touching that many doors. The other wall, though... One, two, three...

Six doors. Was that right? He hadn't been thinking about trying to trace his steps back at the time, had just wanted to get as far away as he could as fast as he could manage. Maybe it was. Maybe this was the right hall. "Let's..." A tremor of nervousness ran up his spine. He swallowed, forcing it back. "Let's try the last door first. The one on this side. I..." His fingers touched the frame of the first door on the right. Was that one he'd felt? "I touched four or five doors, I think. I'm not sure."

It was hard moving in that direction, though. If this was it, they might almost be there. What would be in that room if they made it? Would they find his Key Crest?

Or would the doctor be waiting for them there?

... What was that look for? Kyousuke thought everyone got around like this at night. At least, he wasn't the only one he'd seen break a lock, and he'd encountered a few similarly smashed ones during previous nights. ... But he guessed it did look a little bad, someone his age knowing how to do that, even if he'd never actually done things like that before he came here (putting aside the time he'd blown down the old clubroom's door—that was different, malicious intent notwithstanding). He turned away sharply, suddenly feeling oddly self-conscious.

But only for a moment. They needed to focus, especially now that they were trying to retrace Lloyd's steps. ... It was time to be more serious. He glanced over in concern, but the other boy seemed to be holding his ground pretty well. Or at least, if it was too much, it didn't show. But he was sure it must be hard. It would probably be too presumptuous to say he understood, but he could at least empathize with the feeling of returning to a place you'd much rather forget about. That meant he wasn't going to force Lloyd inside if he wasn't prepared for it.

"If it's locked, I don't think we'll be able to get in the same way. That handle outside was practically already broken to begin with," he said, reiterating his thoughts from when he'd first entered the hall. He nodded Lloyd forward, but remained on the other side of the hall. He'd let him try to open it on his own, unless he'd really rather not.

One door. Two doors. Lloyd gritted his teeth and let his fingers touch the third door. Memories of a knife catching the glare of the light shining in his eyes flashed through his mind, and his hand, which he'd been almost able to ignore most of the day, seemed to throb with every step forward he took. Or maybe it throbbed in time with the thudding of his heart. Either way, he had to steel his resolve to pass the fourth door, then the fifth.

I can do this. The doctor's probably not even there, and it's two against one this time. I'm not alone. I'm armed and not tied down. I can do this. His fingers touched the cold steel of the last knob, grasped hold, turned, and twisted.

Locked. No sign of rust, nothing to show that it was weak. Lloyd tried again, to no avail. With a frustrated noise, he let go of the knob. "I have lock picks. I might be able to pick it, but I'll need both of my hands. Can you shine your light on the knob for me?"

Kyousuke looked on carefully as Lloyd tried the handle, but the result was more or less what he was expecting. Locked. That would make things a little more difficult. ... But it seemed Lloyd came up with a solution before he did.

"... You know how?" he asked in surprise. Suddenly, he was feeling significantly less like a delinquent; anybody could use brute force if they were strong enough. Picking them, however, was an actual skill. Where had he learned to do something like that...?

But whatever. There was no use questioning something that was about to help them. He approached the door in question, standing a little off to the side to shine the light on it so he wouldn't get in the way. ... And also to watch. He had to admit, he was a little curious.

"Is that okay?" he asked. He didn't want to move in too close, or put the light at a bad angle.

Tsurugi might not have been intending to press the issue, but Lloyd had no problem with answering the question he'd started to ask. "Yeah, my Dad taught me," he said, his mood lightening just a bit. He crouched down and peered at the lock, trying to judge which pick he'd need. "When I was a kid, he'd get hired sometimes to make locks for other people. I wanted to know how they worked, so he taught me." He hadn't ever really thought about the fact that being able to pick locks was a suspect skill to have. To him, it was just something cool he'd learned from his Dad. "It's a pretty useful skill to have. Maybe sometime I could teach you." Considering Tsurugi might be risking his life helping him, even just being near him, it felt like a reasonable thing to offer if they ever got the chance.

Turning his flashlight off, he tucked it into a loop in his tool belt before fishing his bag of lock picks out. He'd probably want... this pick. The slot for the key was really thin. "Can you move the light a little to the left?"

Curiosity, huh... That made sense. A lot of kids entered stages like that, where they wanted take everything apart. Kyousuke had personally been more concerned about outdoing his brother with a soccer ball when he was a little kid, but he could still relate to a certain extent. "So he's some kind of craftsman?" he asked conversationally. That was pretty rare, where he came from—locks and the like were usually mass produced by machines.

"I guess it'd come in handy in a place like this," he commented noncommittally. It would be a lot quieter than any method he'd use, which would be good in a situation they didn't want to attract any attention, especially with the sort of things that were lurking the corners here. But anywhere else, and he'd probably just get arrested.

Meanwhile, he adjusted the light as Lloyd directed, peering over as he pulled out a strangely shaped length of metal.

"He's a smith," Lloyd answered, pulling out a small torque wrench with his other hand now. Let's see... Which way does this lock turn...? A tug one way met with hard resistance, but the other way had just a little give. That had to be it. Once the light was at the right angle, he gave a nod to Tsurugi. "There. That's good. Just keep holding it like that."

Inserting the pick, he let the tip scrape lightly, trying to confirm what he already suspected. He made a pleased noise when he felt the tip of the pick hit the pins. "This is a pin and tumbler lock," he explained, taking the younger boy's noncommittal answer as a yes. "There's little pins inside all in a row that have to be pushed up before the lock will turn. Each one's a different height. That's why keys have that funny jagged edge on the side. But if you have a wrench like this one and turn it just a little while you push the pins up with your pick, they'll hold in place once you get them up. It takes some practice to get the hang of it, but it isn't really that hard." To illustrate his point, he tried to lift the first pin.

Only to be met with hard resistance. Frowning, Lloyd eased up on the torque wrench. Tap, tap. The pins slid up and down too easily now. "You've gotta have the pressure on the wrench just right, though, or it won't work. Too much and the pins won't slide, not enough and they'll slide but they won't hold." Adjusting the wrench again, Lloyd tried again. Tap. Tap. Still stiff, but maybe that was a hint of give? Catching his tongue between his teeth in concentration, Lloyd pushed with the pick a little harder Tap-

schink!

Lloyd swore and pulled the pick out. Broken. "Dammit!"

It wasn't as if Kyousuke had requested an explanation of the process, but he quietly listened to it as he looked on anyway. It wasn't like it would hurt anything, and it was an interesting enough demonstration. It sounded like this took a certain amount of patience, which considering their earlier conversation, Kyousuke was honestly a little surprised Lloyd had. ... Who could have guessed?

... Or maybe he thought that too soon. It certainly didn't take very long before the tool simply snapped off in the lock. That was problematic... Now they couldn't pick it or go find a key somewhere. He guessed they'd just have to break the door down, then, but luckily, he had the right sort of weapon for the job.

"Move off to the side," he said, motioning Lloyd away from the door. "I have an idea."

Lloyd blew out a breath, still frustrated at what just happened, but pulled back and threw Tsurugi a questioning look. "What kind of idea?" he asked, fingering the broken pick. He had a few others in his set, but that one would have worked best for any locks like the one on this door. Without a forge or any of his Dad's tools, he probably couldn't fix it, either, but he hated to throw it away. Unhappily, he tucked it into his tool belt. He'd have to see what he could do with it later. At least the torque wrench was still okay.

For now, he made sure to give Tsurugi plenty of room for... whatever he was going to do. "Is it anything I can help with?"

"I can handle it," Kyousuke responded simply. As for what he was about to do, it would be easier to let Lloyd stand back and watch for himself than try to explain it.

He made his way back to the other side of the room to give himself some distance from the door, and shuffled the ball he'd been carrying from the net and placed it on the ground. ... One kick would be enough. He'd broken a door like this before, not to mention completely warped the metal frame, without so much as a hissatsu technique, and he'd gotten considerably stronger since that time, so forcing it down should be easy. In a single quick motion, he nudged the ball up onto his ankle with his toe and sent it flying into the door with the force of his explosive kick power. His aim was perfect, so it hit just under the door handle.

... Except nothing happened. Kyousuke stared at it, dumbfounded. It was true, it wasn't a display of his full strength, but that still should have been more than enough. Not just that, but he hadn't even damaged it. Not a budge, or a dent, or even just a scratch. ... That didn't make sense. It had to be some kind of fluke. "... Tch." He grit his teeth and tried again, even harder this time.

Still nothing.

"What's with this thing!?" he ground out, frustrated. Putting aside the fact the door was still standing, the fact that it was unscathed just didn't seem possible with that kind of force. But though the door remained uninjured, Kyousuke couldn't say as much about his pride.

Having friends who could inflict massive damage to enemies with only a child's toy or even their bare hands - and for that matter using a paper fan as a weapon himself with better results than he had any right to expect - the idea of someone using a ball as a weapon wasn't really beyond the realm of belief. Using it to try to break down a door, though? Needless to say, that wasn't Lloyd's first thought.

"...aren't balls supposed to bounce back?" Because Tsurugi had done a really good job of that. Even Lloyd's untrained eye couldn't deny that he'd moved the ball with a lot of skill! He'd even gotten it to balance on his foot for a moment before he'd kicked it at the door, and without even using his hands! "You looked like you did pretty good to me."

Although, why Tsurugi was kicking a ball right now was another question entirely. It seemed more like something they should do during the day, like when he and Guy had kicked a soccer ball on the field.

"I don't think you can pick a lock with that, though..."

... That wasn't exactly making feel Kyousuke feel any better about what had just transpired. He wasn't sure where to begin with what Lloyd told him, but he supposed he'd better let most of it slide—Lloyd seemed to mean well. Although being told he 'did pretty good' even though he didn't accomplish anything, and by someone who probably didn't even have soccer in their world (most of the people he'd talked to didn't), was somehow extremely annoying.

"... No. Breaking down a door at my level should be easy. I've done it before," he responded, clearly irritated by this outcome. "This door isn't normal. It looks like they really don't want us inside." As far as he was concerned, that could be the only explanation. Even if he was a little weaker here, it was still only a door. If it wasn't reinforced somehow, it should have taken some kind of damage from that.

So then what? Have Lancelot strike it down for him? But every time he'd tried to use it here, he'd only get a slight surge, and then his spiritual aura would exhaust itself, like he was trying to poweer something on a dead battery. He didn't necessarily need to bring out his Avatar—the slight surge in power might be enough—but if he exhausted his aura and something attacked him, he'd be in a lot of trouble. ... He'd learned that the hard way. But maybe he'd just have to take that risk.

"I might have another way, but it's risky," Kyousuke told Lloyd. "It's a little complicated to explain, but there's a certain ability I can use to boost my power. It doesn't work the way it's supposed to here, and it ends up draining all my energy. It might be enough, but then I probably won't be of any more use for the night. ... What do you want to do?"

It was only fair to warn him and let him make his own decision about it. If it did come down to that, Lloyd would be the one who would have to deal with him on the verge of collapsing, after all.

An ability to boost his power? Did Tsurugi know how to draw on his mana to make his techniques stronger, too? That's what it sounded like to Lloyd, which put this in a context he was familiar with. Lloyd frowned, remembering what had happened to him the first night he'd been in this place. He'd used all his mana breaking down the front door with Flora and Lee, and had been nearly useless when that monster had attacked them farther down the road. They weren't outside right now, but Lloyd had seen for himself that monsters could be inside the building, too. He, Ed, and Al had barely escaped with their lives, and they hadn't been exhausted that time. What would happen if he and Tsurugi ran into that monster tonight, but Tsurugi couldn't defend himself because he was too drained from breaking down this door? He glanced down the hall, feeling suddenly paranoid.

Nothing. At least, nothing he could see or hear.

"I don't know how much time I have," he said slowly. "But if this isn't even the right room, or if the Key Crest isn't there, it'll be bad if we run into any problems tonight. Maybe... Maybe we should keep looking. If the doctor was smart, he'd keep it someplace else anyway. He left me alone in there when he was done." Another shudder ran up his spine, the memory of the dark and the pain too close. "If he'd left it there, he'd have left it where I could get it. He wouldn't do that... right?"

"... I doubt it," Kyousuke agreed. If they went out of their way to take Lloyd and Kratos' Key Crests, there wouldn't be any point in leaving them laying around where they could easily take them back. In fact... "I asked around a little, and apparently nobody's ever found things that belong to us on this floor. It sounds like we probably want the third, since nobody's really explored it yet."

It seemed like the best bet. And they might even be able restore everyone to full power while they were at it, if only they could find a way in. ... But that didn't necessarily mean they could afford to ignore this place, either. "But even if it's not there, there might be some kind of clue." Some kind of notes left behind, or something like that, but could his bet his own safety on that? Then again, not checking held the reverse question: could he bet Kratos and Lloyd's safety on that?

... Of course not. But it was still Lloyd's decision. If he wanted to save the room for later, it was his call. Kyousuke didn't have any room to argue with him in a case like this.

The third floor. Not only was it something no one seemed to have explored, it was something Lloyd had rarely even heard being mentioned. Frowning in thought, he put his lock picks back into his tool belt and pulled his map of the Institute out. The first floor was pretty well drawn out and labeled, but the second floor had only the sketchiest detail that he wasn't even sure was accurate. Including tonight, he'd only been to the second floor two times, and the first time was the night he'd been taken by the doctors to have his Exsphere carved out. He hadn't had any chance to look for stairs to another floor.

It would make sense, though, wouldn't it? To hide something that valuable someplace where no one in the Institute had been.

But if there was something here and they left it...

Lloyd bit his lip, torn. How was he supposed to make a decision like this?

"Do you have any idea where the third floor is?" he asked, stalling for time. "I mean, where the stairs that go to it are?" He showed Tsurugi his sketchy second floor map, hoping the other boy might have something to add.

Kyousuke peered over the map Lloyd pulled out in curiosity, but apart from the stairs, and some place he didn't recognize, the entirety of the second floor was blank. He wasn't sure where he'd gotten this, but it was obvious enough he'd only explored this floor about as much as Kyousuke had.

"... Sorry, but I don't know anything. Apparently it's hidden somewhere, and I haven't talked to anyone who knows where it is. I'd have to ask around more," he answered. "But it's definitely not there," he said, indicating the upper left corner of the map. "... That's the morgue."

And completely empty, though as far as Kyousuke was concerned, that was a good thing. He recalled the uncomfortable night he'd spent in there with Kratos, and repressed the urge to cringe. It may have turned out well enough, but he was never forcing himself into something like that again.

Edited 2013-05-24 18:38 (UTC)

"The morgue?" Lloyd echoed, and this time the shiver that ran up his spine had nothing to do with his memories from last night. "Isn't that a place where they put people who died?" Ghost stories from the nights they'd spent traveling through Gaoracchia Forest crept into his mind, all too easy to connect to a place where people put dead bodies.

Beyond that, though, was the disturbing implications of what it meant that this place even had a place like that. "So they expect some of us to die in this place? What kind of place-?" He cut off with a sound of frustration. They already knew that this place wasn't really trying to help them. The question was pointless to ask. He shook his head, then pointed to the part of his map that was tentatively labeled as "Sleep Studies."

"I think... If I'm right, I think we're right here. Since we don't know where we want to go, let's pick someplace they don't want us to go. What about... over here?" He pointed to the righthand side of the map that was labeled "Staff Only." Conveniently (and completely coincidentally) as far away from the morgue as they could go. "I think it would make more sense to look someplace else. This probably isn't where it is."

Kyousuke couldn't blame Lloyd for the face he made when he mentioned it, really. He wasn't one for ghost stories, himself, but that didn't make the existence of the place any better. Although as things stood, it seemed to be more of a freezer than a morgue. "... Yeah. It's completely empty, though." He'd just quietly forgo mentioning how he knew that, exactly.

He fell completely silent as Lloyd speculated on this place expecting people to die, somehow managing only to frown a little despite the knot that formed in his stomach. Obviously, he didn't need to tell him the situation was serious, but the reality that you did lose people here was one lesson Kyousuke could never unlearn. ... Not after seeing it for himself.

Thankfully, Lloyd kept talking, so he decided to keep on his focus that instead, quickly shoving his thoughts back down before he could give himself too much of a chance to linger on them. "That's fine with me," he nodded. Part of him thought they weren't being nearly thorough enough, but he could hardly complain about not having to expend all of his energy. He didn't mind that in or of itself, but being left completely vulnerable he couldn't say the same for.

"Empty? Good, that's good." If Tsurugi didn't mention it, Lloyd wasn't going to ask. Hey, the other boy might just as easily have found out by word of mouth. Either way, Lloyd didn't particularly feel like inviting a ghost story right now. Already tense and paranoid, now really wasn't the time for gruesome or terrifying details of a place whose name was bad enough.

Thinking some of those same thoughts himself about abandoning this plan too early, Lloyd's eyes lingered on some of the other doors before he shook his head. "Maybe we can ask people later if they know how to open these doors without us draining all our mana. We can't be the only ones to try to get through them. We could come back another night."

But tonight they weren't prepared for it. They should try something else. It wasn't giving up if they were just putting it off until they had a better chance.

"Come on," he said, straightening up. "Let's go see what we can find."

[To here.]

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Night 70: Disciplinary Therapy Corridor

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