Night 74: West Wing, South Hall 3-B

[redcladidealist]

[From here.]

"I know, I know," Lloyd grumbled. Sheesh, couldn't he just be glad that they might not have to face those traps ever again? Although, it was weird how the door had changed like that, but he wasn't going to bother questioning it. If it worked and brought them closer to their goal, that was good enough for him.

The hall beyond was a lot like the other halls in the institute, dark and foreboding, an air of disrepair making everything seem a little more grim. The only thing that looked shiny and new was the lock on the door to the right of where they stood. In sharp contrast, a door on the left had a lock that looked rusted and weak. Lloyd thought they could probably break through if they wanted. The hall continued on until the dark swallowed everything beyond the edge of their light.

Left through the door, or right...? Lloyd frowned. Which way did they want to go? The door was right there, but what if the door they were looking for was just down the hall? "I think we should look around before we go through any more doors," he said. "We can always come back if there's nothing."

Comments

[freewill]

There were a few doors immediately around them that they could try, though Castiel took a moment to illuminate the signs that were mounted next to them with his flashlight. One said "Security Checkpoint 3," and the other "Environmental Laboratory."

No sign of an archive, then. He let out a small sigh, but with this long hall stretching out ahead of them, it looked like they might have a while to go before they found the right room.

He didn't have any objections with looking around some more before they started fighting with the doors. Making a lot of noise in an open hallway like this could easily attract the attention of monsters, and the less violent encounters they had, the better.

"That should be fine," he said with a nod, looking for Kratos for a silent confirmation before he started down the hall, blade drawn and held tightly in front of him.

[redcladidealist]

A short stretch of hall passed without another door, then the light from their flashlights and lamp glinted off the metal of a shiny, new knob. Lloyd frowned at it - another one it would be difficult to break - then glanced at the plate next to the door. Environmental Test Chambers. He wasn't sure what that implied that was different from "Environmental Laboratory." It was clear that wasn't the door they were looking for, though, so when Kratos tested the knob and it refused to give, Lloyd shrugged it off and kept going.

Up ahead, the walls on either side abruptly turned into corners. It looked like they were about to intercept another hall. As they drew closer, Kratos cautiously swung his flashlight left to right, obviously trying to get as good a look as he could before they actually stepped into the hall. Lloyd did his best to soften his footsteps, but he still felt like they were too loud. Maybe his boots hadn't been the best thing to wear after all. It was either that, or his hearing was getting better.

He didn't particularly want to think about what that would mean, though, so he just focused on following the two other men as they stepped into the next hallway.

[To here.]

[fourstonewalls]

[from here]

They were, in fact, in the same hallway as they'd been last night, and by the looks of it, it was the one on the east end of the building. Assuming, of course, that the parts of the third floor they hadn't seen continued to parallel the other floors fairly closely, and that they were still on that floor to begin with.

"Well, there's only one way to find out what's next, right?" She set off down the hallway. "Try all the doors, or do a quick once-over first?" Normally, she'd advocate the latter -- the methodical approach worked better for larger teams, but there was nothing normal about things at the Institute. "There's likely another team ahead of us, but I'm not relying on them to solve anything."

[ryuuzaki]

Lana went first and didn't seem to have problems, which meant the hallway was clear. He could follow her; it didn't seem like he'd have to defend her. He found it easier to be nervous up here now, where they would most likely be visiting places where they were even more unwanted than usual, and where they hadn't been before. He'd be on his guard, but his nerves were steady.

The questions continued to pile up in his mind. Why build the hidden door at all? For staff? Why leave it undefended? Have we merely managed to kill most of the remaining guardians? When resistance had eventually come the previous night, it had come in a weird form. Was it a staff member? The nurses went through ghastly changes at night, too.

There was one door behind them, two on the right, not including the one they'd come through. That made it very unlikely that they could be trapped in this hall, unless something came from the open end or two doors opened at once.

"If we try doors at random, our success depends on getting lucky. These cards aren't like the doors that the others broke last night... assuming the door locks behind everyone who uses them, we might not necessarily be able to find much of a trail. Unless they're making more noise than they should be." His own voice was hushed, even if the extreme stillness of the corridor amplified it.

"Landel or someone working directly under him is almost certainly aware of our presence. Trying the card in different locks probably won't alert anyone any more than they're already alerted by what we've already done, and it won't take much longer than passing through the hall would take to begin with." The systematic approach seemed most likely to be successful.

[fourstonewalls]

Lana didn't sigh. She didn't even think about sighing -- she knew how to control her expression, and disappointment wasn't going to help. Nor did she roll her eyes. Ryuuzaki was probably correct, but it didn't make it more pleasant to be scurrying around, leaving themselves open to attack.

If he hadn't seen the conversation on the bulletin, though, his distrust made more sense -- and her uncertainty less, although his arrogance had probably made that seem normal. At least they both seemed to come from world with card readers and similar technology.

She stepped up to the door diagonally to her left, and looked for a card reader. What her flashlight picked out, though, was a nameplate. Security Checkpoint #3, it read, and she cleared her throat. "Or we could believe the signs. Any of them sound useful?" She didn't see a card reader, either, even though a security checkpoint would be exactly the place to secure with one.

[ryuuzaki]

"Nothing will be useful if we can't get into the room," he replied, shrugging.

As they moved towards the open end of the hall, they tried what there was to try, without any success.

He stopped at the turn in the corridor, checked to the left, checked to the right. Nothing to be worried about. Yet.

[To here.]

[his_legacy]

[From here]

It was like stepping out into the hall for the first time in the evening. Doors lined the long hallway, and there was nothing particularly special that made this hall stand out from any other in the Institute.

"It seems clear..."

[lighthearted]

Sora took a look around, but Link was right. Things were calm out here, and it was just as Lloyd had described. They just had to take a few turns and they'd be at the archive.

"Let's keep going. Lloyd told me where we're headed."

He was about to get on the move, but that was when Lloyd responded over the radio, this time ready with the coordinates for Link's world. Once again, Sora brought the radio close to Link so that he could copy all the numbers down. He thanked Lloyd and then tucked his radio back in his pants pocket.

"C'mon." He continued down the hall and made a left.

[To here.]