Night 75: Fitness/Wellness Center (third floor)

[thecamellia]

_{[from here]}

Like each time before, crossing onto the third floor resulted in some minor nausea. Tsubaki had readied herself for it, and in a second the wave of discomfort was no more than a fading memory as she adjusted to the darkness. And like each time they'd stepped off the warp pad and into the Fitness Room, the room itself was empty aside from the two of them.

Being alone for so long was strange, wasn't it...

She looked around, half-expecting something after Landel's ominous warning, but her senses picked up very little. "We're okay for now..." she said aloud, both for Korra's sake and her own, a means of breaking up the third floor's stillness a little. "Do you want to head the same way as last time?"

They hadn't gotten very far to exactly decide on a route, but each night they got a little closer. A little progress counted for something.

Comments

[sixth_attack]

[Time skipping after first group from here.]

The moment Sechs stepped through the door close behind Taura, he had expected all hell to break loose upon them. Gun drawn and crowbar tightly gripped in his hand, Sechs was unnerved by the lack of targets to defend against.

Once he got a good look around, he was perturbed to only find what appeared to be basic gym equipment. He had been envisioning something much more high-tech and sinister for the third floor...

The only attributes to the room which had Sechs' attention was the other door (which likely lead outside of the gym) and what appeared to be some sort of pad in the corner. He wondered over towards the latter, unsure if it was just another piece of exercise equipment or something else. He looked over his shoulder at Taura. "So what now? You still have that map of this floor, right?"

[ninelivesonce]

"Yeah," she said, and pulled out a piece of paper. She spread it out on one of the pieces of exercise equipment, so they could all look at it.

Not everything was labeled, but a lot of it was; there was a large room directly over the chapel marked Office, with Landels? written in smaller print underneath.

"I think," Taura started, and then they would never know what she thought, because the radios came to life. A man's voice, asking if anyone knew their way around the third floor, because they had something such a group should take with them.

It seemed too good to be true. The one, missing piece -- a way to do something about Landel, just when they didn't know what to do next. But, on the other hand, dying horribly was already the likely outcome of tonight; she wasn't sure they could afford not to listen. Slowly, giving her companions time to stop her if they wanted, she pushed down the send button on her radio and answered. The group she was talking to didn't know how to get up here; she didn't know how to get back down, so she gave a brief explanation. The growls and howls of loose creatures were increasing, on both ends of the transmission; waiting for them was going to be as dangerous as getting up here would be, if not worse.

The conversation ended, and her gold eyes gleamed in the gloom as she turned to look at Aigis and Sechs. "It'll be a few minutes; we need to keep this area secure."

[Handwaved conversation has approval of all involved.]

[no_dont_go]

Aigis followed along with little else to say. She didn't trust there wouldn't be a monster awaiting them somewhere in the dark, but so far they seemed secure. Perhaps the ruckus downstairs had drawn the attention of most of the deadly creatures. In that case, tonight was perhaps the closest any of them would ever have to taking down Martin Landel.

The android remained quiet as Taura answered a call. The woman really did seem to have a better grasp on things tonight than Aigis and Sechs, though perhaps that was because she was a better leader. Aigis had always been a follower and Sechs, well, he often took a rode of all action with little direction. It was a boon to have someone focused in their group.

"Understood," Aigis said, dropping her pillowcase full of snacks and keepsakes. There was still something in there she had for Sechs but she didn't believe now was the time to get sentimental. Instead, she ensured her Evoker was easy to reach in her pocket as well as her claws, then she found the package of crackers she had been eating out of before.

Taking a few small rounds, she presented the package to Sechs and Taura. "I am not sure if you have had little appetite lately, but if you are in need of sustenance now might also be the time."

If a monster appeared before them while they waited for the hand-off then who knew when their next break would come. Perhaps it never would.

[sixth_attack]

So far the night had been akin to a roller coaster of emotional scrambling towards a goal with partial directions to follow. One step things seemed to be going according to plan, but then the next step ahead would throw it all out the proverbial window. Sechs had felt his confidence rise and fall with each moment, his blood turn from hot to cold and back again with each realization. It was like being in some deranged obstacle course, where each jump had to be improvised at the very last second in order to survive. Even though a single gunshot had not even been made yet, this mission felt nothing short of an intense battle to the death.

And now another platform in this metaphorical course had appeared before them, another death-defying jump for them to make, another step closer to Landel.

"The device? They're coming up here with it?" Sechs muttered, unable to believe their luck. It was amazing enough that the security system failed and that they had made it to the third floor alive in the first place! Now the device to put an end to Landel's tyranny was on the way! It was as though the pieces to their plan were falling into place. Was this some sort of fate? If so, was it really on their side?

Standing guard by the door, Sechs gratefully accepted some crackers from Aigis. With all the adrenaline and pain and uncertainty he experienced since he stepped foot through the ballroom's marble door, Sechs hadn't noticed just how hungry he was. The food rations back at the rebel base weren't exactly as fulfilling as the institute's meals he had grown so accustomed to. "Thanks, every bit helps," he said, trying not to think of the crackers as his Last Meal.

Too intense and focused to scarf down on his snack, Sechs kept his crunching to a minimum as he listened for any approaching danger from the other side of the door. It wasn't long before a disturbing sound reverberated its way through the door and into Sechs' ear. A strange sort of roar... Sechs frowned, straining to decode the sound as he readied his pistol for a last second attack. The roar didn't sound organic like other monsters... It was almost elemental, reminding him of the sandstorms he used to endure back home. What sort of monster made that kind of noise, Sechs wondered. Then the sound was cut in by a strident voice.

"Stop. I order you."

Sechs froze, his blood suddenly draining from his face as his emotional memory reacted to the voice faster than his brain could even process what he had just heard. Everything in Sechs' body seemed to weaken and twist themselves into nauseating knots. He couldn't tell if he would crumble to the floor or retch all over it first!

That voice...! Why was it making him feel so... so sick?! When was the last time he heard it...?

The answer to Sechs' fervid question came in a memory of agonizing lights, of being strapped to chair with his bare back exposed to a doctor's cruel selection of needles. "AR-6, designation Sechs, isn't it? Time to play your part, clone."

Sechs forgot the crackers, the device, Aigis and Taura, their job to secure the room. Everything in his mind had now pinpointed themselves to the voice from the other side of the door. He knew that voice. He could never forget it. Even when the voice's tone lost its cold confidence and began to pitch with panic...

"It's... It's him!" came a beastly growl from Sechs. The Replica had visibly changed, his posture stooped and heaving like a great starving predator, his face blushed with hot pounding blood, his eyes wide with a maddening urge for revenge. Panting with rage, Sechs was beside himself, knowing full well that the doctor responsible for his M-U was just a few feet away from him. Even what was left of the poison in Sechs' spine seemed to recognize the presence of its creator. "That BASTARD!" Revenge for all the torture he suffered was just on the other side of that door and all he had to do was cross it; a reckless action which he acted upon with a sudden vicious grab for the doorknob. "I'LL KILL HIM!"

[To here.]

[no_dont_go]

Aigis was focused on her snack, just barely noticing the dull roar from outside when Sechs dropped his snack and alerted her. His angry voice shook her to the core and she froze, watching a full gamut of emotions play across his face. His posture was rigid like a spring ready to snap.

And then he was yelling and racing away after some foe real or imagined. Hesitating only a moment, Aigis dropped her crackers and grabbed at her Evoker, calling over her shoulder to Taura. "I must check on him! Please wait for the device!"

She pursued.

[to here]

[ninelivesonce]

Taura was always hungry; she thanked Aigis as well and took her fair share of the crackers. She ate them slowly, savoring them; at least she did, until a roar echoed down the hallway. She crammed the rest in her mouth and took up a position hidden behind a piece of exercise equipment.

She was about to try to drag the others into the shadows with her when Sechs shouted and ran out of the room; she was too slow to stop Aigis, either. Oh, hell, she thought, and slipped as close to the door as she dared. She didn't want to let them race to their deaths, but she didn't want to join them either. There had been a voice out there -- it hadn't been Landel, though, and she wasn't sure who else Sechs could be so angry at.

She'd been that angry, once, at the scientists who'd poked and prodded her past all of the patience her genome had included. Oh, of course. One of the doctors. The bits of the conversation she could hear from her hiding place confirmed it; they didn't seem to be leaving, and Aigis was better suited to soothing Sechs' anger than she was. She'd be happy to jump down and make sure the bastard was dead on his behalf, if they could have spared the time.

As if in answer to her thoughts,the teleportation pad in the corner hummed to life, disgorging a small group. She hurried over, and addressed them in a whisper; whatever was attacking doctors was unlikely to discriminate. Unless that had been a fellow prisoner; either way, she had no pity for the victim, and no time for any of it.

The handover went smoothly; now all they needed to do was find a way to Landel's office.

[to here]