Night 72: Security Checkpoint 2 (Third Floor)

[forsworn]

[from here]

This time, Kratos was a little more prepared for the disorienting sensation of being suddenly teleported, so he was able to exit the pad a little more cleanly than before. What he wasn't expecting was to find himself in the room with the metal arch as opposed to the gym they had first entered the previous night.

"...interesting." Somehow, the keys had retained the memory of the room they had last visited. It didn't make sense in his mind, but the mechanics were irrelevant; they'd saved some time, and he wasn't about to question that.

He looked at the arch. It stood there, just as innocuous as it had seemed the first time around, although now they knew its secret, as well as the purpose of the curious conveyor belt next to it. There was no need to waste any more time considering it, then; the night's end was swiftly approaching, and they needed to make some kind of progress.

"Time to see if he was right," Kratos muttered as he walked over the belt, undoing some of the buckles on his uniform as he did so. After so many years of taking it on and off, he knew exactly which ones, when loosened, would allow him to slide the outer shell off without having to go through each and every strap, but it still took some time to work his way through. He glanced back at Castiel. "Go on before me."

Comments

[freewill]

Castiel might have asked about this other procedure out of pure curiosity, but between their need to use the keys and then the dizzying trip through the door, his thought process was effectively derailed.

He was also surprised to find that they'd been taken not to that first room, but to the one that they'd ended the night in yesterday. It meant that progress might actually be possible, and Castiel raised his eyebrows at the key in his hand, quietly impressed, before he placed it back in his pocket.

It was pure luck that Lloyd had told them about the way this room worked before they'd been separated, and they needed to make the most of that knowledge now. Castiel also had some metal to unload. He moved up behind Kratos and dumped his sword, his flashlight, his radio, and even the key on the conveyor belt before he glanced down at his waist and unbuckled his belt, sliding it out from his pants and setting it down as the last item.

He nodded to Kratos and then stepped up to the arch, holding his breath as he stepped through. But there was no beep, there was nothing, and he crossed the threshold with no incident, relaxing slightly as he made it to the other side. "That settles it."

[forsworn]

Kratos paused to watch Castiel walk through the arch, and exhaled as the angel made it through without consequence; it seemed Lloyd's information had been correct. "Good." He finished unbuckling the appropriate belts and then, now wearing just the navy undersuit, loaded his uniform plus all of his metal items onto the conveyor belt.

Time to make the leap of faith, so to speak. Kratos sized up the arch and then walked through it as quickly as he could, some part of his mind still anticipating the electric shock from the previous night. As with Castiel, though, the arch remained dormant, having been appeased.

He made his way over to the other side of the conveyor belt to retrieve his things and begin the process of putting on his uniform again, making a note to wear something else the next time they came to the third floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the next teleportation pad, now glowing in anticipation of use. "Let's continue."

[to here]