Night 58: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

[dual-worlds.livejournal.com]

((From here.))

As he stealthily moved through the hall, Spock noted that it was quiet and dark. He didn't detect other patients, nor any hostile lifeforms. Perhaps the rest of the way leading to Dr. McCoy's quarters was in a similar state.

Regardless, it was best to move as quickly as possible. The early portions of the shift tended to be the quietest, which meant Spock needed to take advantage of the still hallways while he could. He hadn't forgotten about the military's cryptic message, or the unusual silence toward the end of their meal period. It was possible something would interrupt their plans later, which made time of the essence. If they were caught in the middle of a meld, the results could be disastrous.

Walking at a brisk pace, Spock allowed his light to illuminate his immediate path and continued ahead.

((To here.))

Comments

[spandexorgtfo.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1158200.html?thread=79904824#t79904824)]

Everything was going as usual until he reached the hall just short of where he was supposed to be. It started innocuously, merely his name being whispered softly in his ear: Kratos...

And even though he could never forget the voice that spoke that single word, Kratos still swung around anyway, turning on his flashlight as he did so, seeking to find the source of that mysterious voice because he had already concluded that it had been someone other than her calling him, that she could not possibly be here in any form. And so, when his light came up with nothing, he merely shrugged and continued, writing off the voice as imagined.

Of course, he took no more than five steps before it called again, this time louder: Kill me.

And that he could not deny.

Where he had turned casually before, he now whirled around as if ambushed, flashlight beam darting here and there, looking, waiting for that flickering specter that had haunted him that night two weeks ago- her with eyes wide and pleading, arms outstretched, dress stained red- and on cue his chest burned as it had where the ghost of the Flamberge had buried itself to the hilt...

But he found nothing. Kratos panted for breath as he turned back shakily, free hand pressed against his heart as the pain slowly faded away. Nothing. There had been nothing save two words, and yet that had been all that he'd needed to assume that it was happening again, that he would die her death again and be forced to listen for the third time to Kvar's mocking laughter as his lifeblood slowly pooled around him.

Damn it all. His words to Tolten rose up again in his mind: There is nothing more to be done. He was helpless; all he could do was press forward and try his best to push the voice out of his head and the shameful, cowardly terror out of his heart.

And hopefully fool Soma in the process.

[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162614.html?thread=79910006#t79910006)]

[princeofthemoon.livejournal.com]

[ from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1158538.html?thread=79905930#t79905930) ]

The third hallway of the night, and it was finally here that Sesshoumaru stopped. There were places he might look into to his left as well as his right this time, and he had already gone down the night before. He wondered where the hallway would lead in the other direction, and took time to consider it. There was a possibility that something useful lay in that direction, but an equal possibility that he would become lost and waste the night. For the moment his primary objective was the murder of those who thought to imprison him in any case. And, as he considered the number of locked doors he had encountered last night - even if none had seemed to hold anything particularly useful, at least to his mind (there was no information, and no one to kill) the fact that it was evidently a place of security meant that it was, at the least, a place to start.

Sesshoumaru turned and padded quietly down the hall.

[princeofthemoon.livejournal.com]

[ to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162614.html) ]

[train-tracer.livejournal.com]

[skipping from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1161241.html?thread=79907097#t79907097)]

Again, just as the previous night, Vino moved quickly. He wouldn't need to consult the map to know where the Sun Room is and which hallway was closest to its entrance. He was already out the door to his section of rooms, noticing that several people had already started out before him. Looked like he'd wasted some precious time in scrawling out a short list then.

He might have recognized one of the people ahead of him (red hair?) or glanced twice at some of the stranger ones (did that person really have that whole mass of white hair right there?) but mostly, Vino kept on his own course. If anyone gave him weird looks for the bathroom railing that he was still keeping slung across his shoulder, he paid them no heed, maybe grinned and gave a little nod of the head to some of the ones that made their staring most obvious, and continued onward.

[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162907.html)]

[believein0.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162099.html?thread=79908979#t79908979).]

And in this hallway, Zero felt slight relief to see a few other humans wandering around. Finally. The number of them was much less than the previous night, however. Guess he really was just early getting out or something.

Seeing one of the humans carrying a metal railing(?) reminded him that he was still defenseless, other people around or not. It didn't matter what it was; as long as it was useful in some way, whether for beating or throwing at an enemy, he needed it. And he needed to find it as soon as possible...before a giant organic spider decided to drop in front of his face again.

Plan in mind, the Reploid-now-human continued on his way, still being cautious despite the sight of others nearby.

[To here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162614.html?thread=79927670#t79927670).]

[lighthearted]

[From here.]

Normally at this point in his nighttime journey Sora would take a right and head straight for the stairs to wait. He was so used to it that he almost did so on instinct, until he remembered where they were all meeting. Seeing how they were going to have to climb that wall, it made the most sense to meet at the doors right before the recreational field. He knew it was further for Kairi to walk, but it made the most sense in the end. It wasn't like the hallways around here were generally dangerous.

To the left, then. Sora glanced down at his radio and then up toward the ceiling, still finding it troublesome that no one was talking to them. He wanted to enjoy the fact that they didn't have to deal with Aguilar or any of his minions, but what if it meant something bad?

As for Marc, there was the slight chance that they would be finding him tonight, and then they could get the real story. And maybe take out Landel while they were at it! Sora knew that he was dreaming big, but he didn't think that was necessarily a bad thing. He wasn't expecting all of that to happen, but it would sure be cool if it did.

[To here.]

[inherited]

[from here]

Sora's idea to not waste their time lingering was a good one. They usually got stalled out in that hallway, and he liked the idea that they were continuing forward like this. To him, it was just another sign that Sora was getting better and better at figuring this stuff out. He really was the hero, wasn't he?

He bowed his head and snorted out, but it was soft enough to not get any attention. Or that was what he hoped. The last thing he needed was one of these strangers to think he was laughing at them, albeit quietly. And he definitely didn't need them to think he was crazy or something. That was the last distraction he needed at night.

So he set on forward with strong steps toward the next door and right through it.

[to here]

[dualistic]

[From here.]

Almost to the main hall. Harvey couldn't even think of it as a meeting point the way he had the past few nights. He didn't have Sangamon's special ring to rely on, nor was it even useful at this point. He wanted to stay as far away from the basement as possible for the moment, which meant -- if he wanted to be literal about it -- that he should head up to the second floor.

Still, maybe one of the others would find themselves drawn back to that spot where they'd met before. Harvey didn't even know if he wanted that to be the case or if he'd be better off just moving around on his own, but he decided that he'd figure that out once he got there.

As he reached the end of the hall, he sighed and took a right.

[dualistic]

[To here.]

[heroesdontshave]

[from here]

Running. Snow was only focused on running, on moving forward. Standing still wasn't really much of an option here anyway. Not unless you wanted to go and get yourself shot.

Gunfire was pretty much the only thing he could hear. Guns and explosions. Sometimes close, sometimes far away. If you really wanted to pay attention and if you tried hard, you could pick out screams. It was amazing how it just took over everything. Filled his mind until it was all just a loud background buzz. Noise. The lovely sounds of the Sanctum's Purge initiative to migrate the residents of Bodum down to Pulse. ... "Migration" his freaking ass. It was a damn battle zone!

...No, this wasn't even a battle. It was a straight out massacre. Military versus civilian. Trained soldiers armed to the teeth against unarmed men who'd never so much as thought about holding a gun before today. Against moms and kids. Against everyone they'd once claimed to protect. And why not, right? They were all "disposable" now. Tainted. Filthy. So let's just shoot them all, right?! Just get rid of them!! What'll anyone else care?!

Shit. These were all people he'd grown up with, people he'd lived alongside. Maybe he didn't know or even recognize most of them, but they were still from his hometown. And they were still people, dammit! And yet the Sanctum didn't care at all. They hadn't hesitated for a moment, had they? They weren't holding back even an inch. And as he rushed through this war zone that had once been the Hanging Edge, through the rubble and smouldering debris, he could see the full extent of it. The bodies... were everywhere. Some had been crushed, partially exposed under a pile of concrete. Most had been shot through more times than he could possibly count. And others... had been ripped apart. The Sanctum had pulled out domesticated Bioweapons by this point, it looked like. Like they even needed this much firepower against regular civilians. These people... none of them had even stood a chance.

But Snow didn't linger to stare at them. He tried not to. He only rushed forward with a twisting in his chest he figured was outrage. He wasn't looking. Even when he had to make an effort to avoid stepping on them, he didn't look. Just run. Just move. Just don't look.

....

"Wh--?!" Snow stopped dead in his tracks. He stared straight ahead at the pitch black corridor in front of him, eyes wide and mouth slightly gaped. He blinked rapidly for a second or two as he tried to regain his bearings. His eyes moved down to the ground, then back up and around him again. To anyone else, he might have looked lost. But he sure as hell wasn't.

He'd.... Had he been...? What did he just...? Why had he suddenly remembered that? Why was he thinking about The Purge out of nowhere like that? ...No, it wasn't really that. It was almost like a... bad nightmare. Only he'd been awake.

He was suddenly aware of his heart pounding in his chest, double speed.

Snow shook his head suddenly, almost like he was trying to clear the memory away physically. What was the matter with him? There was no time to be thinking about things like that. He could worry about it later. Right now... Right now he had to focus. Just focus on what was happening now. That was all that mattered.

[to here]

[terriblehaiku]

[From here.]

He could hear footsteps up ahead as he stepped through the doorway... someone running, but running away, not towards. He dropped his free hand to the sword's hilt, regardless. He had no way of knowing what might be going on up ahead and had no desire to draw attention to himself by switching on the lantern. He continued on ahead, more cautious now, towards the junction with the main hallway.

[To here.]

[ippo]

[From here]

Upon his return, Ippo found that the hallway was just as empty as he had left it. That didn't bode well. Holding onto the edge of the door like a life preserver in a choppy ocean, he eyed the quiet darkness with caution. The last thing he needed was to get assaulted by a deadly cat drive-by, especially since he didn't have the Doctor with him. Without that man, the boxer probably would have drowned under the weight of all that fur and claws.

For as effective as the boxer's fists were, Ippo couldn't save himself out of the ring even if his life depended on it, which unfortunately it did in this institute! He would have been a goner if he didn't have a constant night companion. That's what made this hallway transfer so difficult. No patients, no distracting fodder to use while he ran for it if something sneaked up on him. Ippo would have to do this one all by himself.

Taking a deep breath, he slammed the door open and sprinted out into the hallway with a grim expression.

[Woody~!]

[pullstrung.livejournal.com]

((From here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162099.html?thread=79940979#t79940979).))

So far, so good -- but Woody hadn't forgotten the way "monsters" could just pop up out of nowhere here. For all he knew, some animal...creature-thing was stalking him, waiting for the right moment to pounce. Wouldn't that be a wonderful way start to the evening. As if waking up with a huge gap in his memory wasn't exciting enough...

Biting his lower lip, Woody glanced over his shoulder and briefly shined his light behind himself. He only saw a few human-shaped figures, but that did little to put him at ease. Landel's Institute wasn't exactly a bastion of sanity, after all. With his luck, some raving lunatic was bound to charge after him, and--

Woody didn't get to finish that thought. Before he could register what happened, something short and wide plowed right into him. Heart jumping into his throat, Woody stumbled back, violently flailing his arms in an attempt to thwart whatever had ambushed him. "AHHH!!"

[toxicspiderman]

[from here]

Harvey was cooling his heels in the hallway. S.T. pretended not to see him. He made a shitty shoulder to cry on. Besides, this was Two-Face. Did the guy even have human emotions programmed in there, or was he just running on badass and comic-book coincidence.

Maybe next arts & crafts period S.T. would hack together a perpetual motion machine. It would make more sense than most of the people here. Present company included, of course.

[to here]

[oneman-onekill.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1164591.html)]

Niikura sprinted down the hall, flashlight clutched in one hand, not even bothering to see who was in the hall or how many people were out and about. He had someone to meet, and someone else to not keep waiting. Time, therefore, was of the essence. He couldn't slow down, only move forward toward Shiina and toward her room and probably toward one of the most awkward conversations of his life. He was never good at that welcoming speech business.

[oneman-onekill.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162614.html?thread=79929974#t79929974)]

[revolutionise]

[From here]

As expected, the halls were still virtually deserted as Utena made her way down them. And for this she was grateful, because she had no idea how she might have kept the flashlight steady on its perch if she'd had to worry about weaving around a bunch of people, too. Now, moving toward the M-A Block, she was running into a few more men making their way out for the night, but not so many as to make things crowded.

Utena fumbled with the door for a moment, pushing it open with her shoulder once she'd gotten the handle to open. Not an easy task when she had a heavy box held in both hands. True, she could have simply set the box down and picked it back up, but where was the fun in that?

[To here]

[revolutionise]

[Back from here]

The hall back looked pretty clear so far, Utena thought as she exited the patient block. What was Renamon planning for them again? She couldn't quite remember if the other girl had said. Whatever it was, Utena hoped she would find her in better condition than when last they had met. It had been a while since then; that was plenty of time to heal in. That didn't mean Renamon might not have run into something bad again, though. 

Here's hoping that didn't happen, Utena thought as she moved out. 

[To here]

[gald_digger]

[from here]

The men's block was just nearby. There weren't a lot of people loitering around, but there were enough people passing through that Anise could clearly see the doorway from the light of their flashlights. Walking quickly, she made her way into the M-A Block.

[gald_digger]

[to here]

[corvus-veritas.livejournal.com]

[Running in from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1158200.html?thread=79937336#t79937336).]

Byrne was running, paying little attention to his surroundings and just running. He wasn't the only one out, but he didn't give a damn about that. He didn't give a damn if he was attracting attention, he didn't give a damn if the gun in his hand was in plain sight, he didn't give a damn.

They'd taken Badd like they'd taken him a night ago. They were going to torture him. Where did they take him? What kind of sick experiment were they going to do to him? If they dare, oh, if they dare to do a single thing to his partner, Byrne was gonna--he was gonna--ohhh, damn them! Damn every single one of them, damn this place, damn everything! He was so angry that he couldn't think straight.

Was that dangerous? Maybe. But he? He had a gun. And he was pissed. Smart people didn't mess with someone who was pissed off with a gun.

[Running along to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162614.html?thread=79937910#t79937910).]

[promisedawhale.livejournal.com]

Again, there were more patients out, yet that didn't keep Brook from returning to his humming as he continued through the next hallway on his route. One dead end wasn't enough to dampen his spirits, nor was it enough to keep him from letting music be his comfort. He needed it to keep moving forward. And, he hoped, some others who heard him might feel a little encouraged themselves. He shouldn't be the only one to keep his hope.

[promisedawhale.livejournal.com]

[freewill]

[From here.]

This was all still very familiar, and more than that, Michael knew where the branching paths from here would lead them. He had some idea, at least; it was hard to know how much he could trust his own memories when they were tainted with delusion, but...

For a moment he was distracted by the only other pair of patients in the immediate area, who seemed to be panicking over a monster that was clearly not there. Michael frowned. It was one thing to hear people talking nonsense during the day, but to now see their insanity so clearly was a troubling sight.

He pushed that away, looking back to Noah and then pointing to the left. "If we head that way we'll reach the field. If we turn right and then left, we can get to the front door... I believe." That he wasn't so clear on, since he'd never been there during the day. "We'll probably run into some locked doors, though. Where do you want to do?" Or did Noah already have some misguided plan in mind?

[affictitious]

Someone was getting their panties in a twist. Big surprise; even being someone else, Castiel was still pretty much himself. He could have gotten so much more interesting. He could have been, like... a European swimsuit model in another life. Or a pirate.

"The front door?" He hadn't really meant it as a question, but Gabriel hadn't considered actually trying to go through the front door. It wasn't worth his time to ponder. Even if it was unlocked - which, who knew? This place was stupid enough as it was - wouldn't get them anywhere. He already knew from personal experience that he could walk a few miles out and fall into that damn lake again and he would still wake up in the same bed, albeit with a cold. He'd like to avoid that, thank you very much.

He had a definitive plan, anyway. He pushed past his brother to take the lead, moving into the larger, main hallway.

[To here.]

[tightsofmight]

[From here.]

Peter didn't try to look anyone in the eye anymore. The red-headed girl had soured him on the idea of company. The people he wanted to be around weren't the ones here, and the people who wanted to be around him were the ones he wanted to get away from the most.

Seriously. There was not another word coming out of him on the subject of approximately everything, and he was sick to death of puppy eyes and hushed voices. Neither being alone nor having some teary-eyed two week friend tell him that it would all be okay had done him any good, so why not just give up on finding shoulders to cry on and just deal with it? These people - when you thought about it, they didn't even know him. He didn't know them. At all. Frick, he didn't even know Claire's last name. Even Brainy, arguably the closest friend he'd made here, was largely a mystery to him.

About the only exception to this rule (since Matt and Kitty and everyone else he ever knew had up and frigging vanished) was Jessica. And Peter...he didn't know if he wanted to see her either. He should be more worried about her seeing Uncle Ben flicker in and out of view, but the very idea of it put a bitter taste in his mouth.

His jaw creaked as he set it stiff. Yeah. There was something seriously wrong if that was his biggest issue with Jessica. Considering what kind of side effects seeing ghosts had brought before.

There was too much. Too much at once to deal with. Horrible, freaky things happened every damn day and every damn night and you never, ever got a chance to lie in bed and think. Mourn the dead. Somebody had asked about a funeral for Indy on the board, and all Peter could think of was when? How? Doing anything like that would be impossible here, and nobody wanted to dwell on crap because they were all too busy with their own little adventures and dramas and just.

Fuck. This.

Uncaring if he couldn't see with palms in his eyes (sight was a moot point without his frigging flashlight anyway), Peter tugged at his hair until his scalp shrieked. He wanted to punch a wall, but he wasn't that stupid. Not at night, when the noise would attract all the wrong kinds of attention.

There were far too many rules in this place.

[To here.]

[sainted]

[from here]

On and on. The hallways weren't empty but Stefan barely spared a glance for the others he passed. By now, he'd gone this way enough times to know how to navigate the route out of the patient rooms with his eyes closed; to anyone watching him run through the halls without a flashlight, he might as well have been.

Vampire night-vision. It wasn't half as good as it had been before, but Stefan didn't need a lot indoors. He continued on.

[to here]

[nobleman]

[From here.]

There were a few more people in this hallway, but Guy didn't give them any attention beyond a cursory glance. He didn't have the energy to do so when most of his thoughts were on Okita and now Claude. It was hard to even divide his concern between the two. Claude was standing right here, clearly fine, but some of the things he was saying were more than enough cause for alarm.

Which was why Guy continued to question the other man as they headed for the stairs. "So how are you so sure about this device, anyway? Did someone tell you about it?" Who could have told him about such a thing to the point that he'd be that sure? Was it possible that someone had actually located the device, and if so, why hadn't it been destroyed yet?

[full-score.livejournal.com]

With several questions at once, Claude found himself a little overwhelmed. He didn't want to break his promise to Guy by hiding the fact he'd been injected (in fact, if their positions were reversed, he'd probably be upset if Guy tried to sweep it under the rug), but he wasn't sure how to explain that on top of everything else, either. It all happened so fast, and now Okita was missing...

To make matters worse, he couldn't give a solid explanation about the device either. Putting the first question aside for now, Claude struggled to articulate his answer. "I-I don't...think anyone told me," he finally confessed, growing more confused by his own admission. "I don't know. The moment I got some of my powers back, I wondered if it was related to that device, and it was like...like I just knew it existed. Like how you and I both know the sky is blue. But..."

His pace faltered a moment, and he ran a bruised hand through his hair, growing more unsettled by his jumbled thoughts. Claude suddenly realized that he didn't remember ever knowing that crucial tidbit before, much less where he'd first heard it. What the hell did that mean?

Regardless, he hadn't lost his focus enough to completely stop. After the brief dip in his walking speed, Claude continued ahead into the next area.

((To here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162614.html?thread=79990646#t79990646).))

[stlg13bomber.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1160277.html?view=80022101#t80022101)]

Maybe he should take a partner along. He could go himself, in theory, but there were scars on his shoulder from the last time he went outside alone. Even normal woods had bears and moose and horrible things like that, the Institute probably had...giant bear-moose hybrids. With laser eyes. Carter stood in the hallway and dithered over the matter.

[scarefaux]

[High-tailing it from here. Apologies for the wait! Let me know if this isn't okay.]

Leaving the main hallway and the lights within it behind, the Scarecrow was left to his own devices in the darkness. In good news, he was a little better at seeing in the dark than most- or at least he liked to think so. The bad news was that no matter how well he could see, the fact was that he had neither a light nor a way to defend himself if absolutely necessary. That, when combined with the mounting stress of the day and the worries he was now carrying over his missing roommate's status, added up for minor disaster.

He looked over his shoulder as he ran- nothing there. Perhaps he was just being paranoia, like Lion. There was, however, someone in front of him, and said minor disaster came as the former strawman barreled right into him.

[zanuff]

[ here ]

When Chipp felt his hand connect with another doorknob, the ninja grinned like it was his birthday and he just got put on the ballot as a present. That grin quickly faded away when the knob failed to yield to his attempts to turn it, leaving Chipp rattling the doorknob rather loudly in frustration before finally cursing.

"Shit! What the hell, they went out of their way to lock this stupid door and not mine?" He asked himself aloud, as if this was a bad thing. If this door was locked, then it obviously had to be important, so Chipp made a note of it (... as best as he could) and decided to keep looking. Maybe there was a key somewhere nearby, or if he really had to, he could just break the door down.

He thought about it, but making a ton of noise like that was gonna defeat the purpose of trying to keep a low profile, wasn't it? So, he sighed and continued to go upwards, eventually finding yet another door. This time, unlocked.

"Alright, let's see what's here..."

[ to here ]

[forgot-it-all.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1159735.html?thread=80041015#t80041015)]

For the number of times he'd walked these halls, he could have done it blind by now. One corridor blended into the next which melted into the one after it. All of them dark save for the barest of lights from other patients. All of them with discolored walls and cracked surfaces, stains and smudges. Ritsuka could never understand how a place could become so decrepit in the span of an hour or so. One moment everything was clean and sterile and the next, it was like some sort of abandoned asylum up on a hill.

...Which, he supposed, it technically was.

Ritsuka paused as he came close to the end of the hallway and stared at the ground.

"...Wow, that a stupid comparison," he muttered to himself. Shaking his head, he started forward again - and then it started.

As the beam of his flashlight moved across the floor, a smooth featureless face pulsing with a glow that gave off no light pushed its way through the floor. Bladed hands reached for him and Ritsuka jumped back, flinching. When his eyes opened again, the mirage was gone and he frowned. So whatever had caused those vision this morning was still with him and getting worse. That hadn't been a brief flash or a shadow seen from the corner of his eye. That thing had been very real and Ritsuka's pounding heart stood testament to that.

"...Tonight is going to suck," he said to himself, edging around the area where the apparition had been. He had to keep going.

[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162907.html?thread=80097179#t80097179)]

[madeinthehrl]

[from here]

Soma broke into a run as she neared the men's block, not entirely caring whether or not she ran into anyone. She'd made promises tonight, and she intended to keep them. Hopefully Peter wouldn't have been waiting too long.

[madeinthehrl]

[to here]

[touchedgod.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1158538.html?thread=80050826#t80050826).]

Billy's heartbeat had slowed just in time to pick up again when the radio responded to his jumbled thoughts. It had been some time since he had felt this shaken and disorganized, but he forced himself to listen to the tired American man on the other side of the radio. It was an odd transmission to intercept, and it got worse as it went on. The speaker was accusing some unknown group of murder. Billy noted the names, Landel and Aguilar. They meant nothing to him.

The relative emptiness of the larger hallway smoothed Billy's advance. The silence of the radio urged him on.

[touchedgod.livejournal.com]

[To here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1162099.html?thread=80092531#t80092531).]