damned_institute | Night 59: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

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Night 59: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

[Coming from here.]

Daemon glided out into the wider corridor and paused for a moment, letting Renji join him, taking a moment to probe the shadows with his senses, looking for anything out of the norm. There was a tingle down his spine, the sensation of being watched, though he couldn't find its exact location, just the knowledge that it was there. He paused, debating on whether it was worth the effort of searching out, or leaving it to others while he and Renji kept heading for the stairs. He could see them from here, the door illuminated by his witchlight just off to his right.

He waited for Renji to join him, figuring the Shinigami would want a say.

"There are things moving in the shadows," he murmured to the redhead as the male moved out from the corridor behind him. Daemon didn't look at all disturbed by this statement, floating a few inches above the ground with a relaxed grace that was utterly foreign for their situation. Looking almost bored, he studied his black-tinted nails with a sleepy, hooded gaze.

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The monster that appeared wasn't one that Sora was familiar with, but that didn't mean that he was planning to hold back. Riku rushed forward first, but he ended up leaving that solitary one behind in order to deal with whatever was following it. Just how many monsters were heading their way?

Either way, Sora had been entrusted to deal with the fiery one, and he was more than ready to do that. He was getting ready to shoot an Ice spell at it and then rush in after the blast of magic, but his plan was undone when Kratos beat him to it.

At first Sora just heard the man speak the word, but the lightning itself followed soon after, taking out the fire creature in one hit. Sora stared at the monster's corpse and realized that it wasn't even twitching.

Well, it looked like he'd been right about Kratos being strong, but that meant that Sora had lost his opportunity to show off himself. He frowned, staring after Riku who had moved further up the hall. Kratos had a point -- they needed to keep moving -- but Sora didn't want to drag Riku away from this either.

"Just one sec'!" he called back to Kratos before racing up to Riku and sending his friend a cocky smirk. "We'll take these out really quick and then we'll find Kairi!" Because with their powers back, it really was as simple as that.

It was nice being like this with Sora. Somehow, this was more relaxed than it was back home. Obviously, the guy in charge of this place saw what was going to happen; he thought that these monsters could keep them from getting out. Riku knew there might be more barriers than just these things, but he didn't feel that worried. The monsters wouldn't be the problem. No, just looking at the three of them, he was right: the real problem lied with the people themselves.

The closer he and Sora crept to the thing waiting for them, the more vivid its outline seemed. A giant squirrel. Riku, though cautious about other problems here, didn't see what there was to worry about this one. In fact, he even took a cocky step back and looked at Sora. "You can handle this one."

The gore didn't really have an affect on her, truth be told. All things considered, it caught her by surprise that it even had an effect on Dean. Surely he'd seen worse in his time down-- Oh. Right. This shade of Winchester hadn't gotten the tour yet. There was some mental grumbling at that fact. How nice that he got to avoid it.

Still. Lack of torture chic was kind of endearing. She'd forgotten what the regular flavor looked like. So, his grimaced commentary earned a kind of half-chuckle out of her. Probably not helping the demon image, but hey, she wasn't gonna sit around pretending like they didn't both know just what she was anymore.

"Guess now we know where they've been getting their cafeteria food from." An eyebrow arched, lips curling into a smirk of amusement at her own joke as she followed after him. If he was up for managing some civility, she could do the same. Though, it did have her really starting to wonder just what he and the angel had been talking about with Sam if he didn't seem to have a single damn issue with her tagging along for the night.

Her train of thought's cut short by the sound of low growling, and Ruby whipped around in time with Dean. Just in time to get a good look at the dogs -- if you could even call them that. They were bigger. Uglier. A whole lotta bad news. Not exactly hellhounds, but close enough for chills. Her hand went for her knife, pulling it from the waistband of her pants. She tried to keep it slow, but then the leader of the pack bolted for her.

"Motherf--" She grunted as it knocked her to the ground and she used one hand to hold its gnashing muzzle away from her by gripping its throat and extending her arm, then she looked at the other three and up at Dean.

"Get outta here, dumbass! I can handle these things. I get a piece taken outta me, no big deal. You get Cujo on your ass, and Sam's never gonna let me hear the end of it. So," she grunts as she raises her knife to slit the dog's throat, blood spilling out over her clothes as he yowls and then slowly sinks, a whole lot of dead weight on her all at once. She shoves him off, distracted by the animal and getting out from under it, then looks up at Dean again.

"I'll catch up with you outside." A beat, then earnestly. "Go!" The other two dogs were now yapping and running for them. Ruby moved to get to her feet, the blood from the first canine causing her to slip and slide on the institute's slicked floors. She got her bearings on the wall and put herself between the animals and Dean.

[barging in from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1184855.html?view=81008471#t81008471)]

It still felt strange to be wearing only his white military jacket over the black uniform pants, but the entire outfit held mixed connotations for him and the other nations. If he could hear and feel his people again, then so could they (or so he hoped) and the last thing he wanted them to see was him in his full imperialistic regalia. As Japan walked, he tugged absently on the hem of the jacket, hoping it would be enough to identify him to the rest of the Institute.

Little did he know that he'd be running into someone who would recognize it so soon. As Japan turned the corner into the main patient hallways, his flashlight beam washed over a very familiar group for several reasons. To his bottom left came a helpful dialogue box explaining his encounter and Japan nodded to it, mimicking the press of a button with his right hand to dismiss it. Yes, he knew Guy and Claude well; and Luke, too, although not here. Perhaps tonight would be a good chance to clear the air.

Moving forward, Japan pulled his sword in tight toward his side and mustered his courage to approach the trio. When he was close enough, he bowed his head and called out to them. "Ah...pardon me for the intrusion. I will attempt to make this brief." And quick because if he didn't get it all out at once, he wasn't sure if he'd have the guts to do it later. "Guy-san, Claude-san, I apologize for my actions the previous night. It was not of my own will and I shall endeavor not to do it again. However, tonight, as you can see, is an important event and I must do things that other patients may not understand in order to protect my people. So if you should see me later, please do not shoot me in the head again. It's rather unpleasant and distracting. Thank you."

Yes, that was all he needed to say. Japan looked to Luke and bowed his head again as if in apology for his strange behavior. "Now, please be safe on your journey. I must be on my way to annex the Sun Room." He took a step back and bowed deeply from the waist, then turned to move on.

It looked like the sword was going to work just fine for Luke. Granted, they couldn't afford to be picky, but it was still nice to see Luke felt satisfied with it. With how important it was for them to defend themselves, letting that blade collect dust in his closet felt like a crime.

"No problem," he said to Luke with a bright expression. "A-and, uh...nice to meet you, too." To be honest, Claude was pretty much used to awkward, one-sided reunions with Luke, but he couldn't help but feel a tad self-conscious just the same.

As for where he got the sword, Claude's expression grew somber for a moment. Just as he opened his mouth to explain, though, a familiar-looking person passed them in the hallway. When the fellow addressed him and Guy by name, and he got a better look at his attire, though, the pieces suddenly fell into place. This was the person they'd fought on the recreational field a few nights ago, right?

Eyebrows shooting up to his bangs, he rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, hey, don't worry about it!" Claude assured him. "We understand it wasn't your fault." He did wince a bit when reminded about the phase gun incident, though. If the Federation brass caught wind of it, they'd have his head for sure (and not just for that, either). But, considering the fact he'd had Anise and Guy's safety to consider, what else could he have done? "And, yeah...sorry about that. I, uh...won't shoot you again."

It felt impolite not to return the bow, and Claude did so without a second thought. "Thanks. You take care, too!" Although, as the man turned to go on his way, Claude couldn't quite hide the quizzical expression on his face.

Glancing toward his friends, he quietly murmured, "...Wait, did he just say something about annexing the Sun Room?"

Spock crouched down beside Goku, examining the wounded creature. As he suspected, it was too wounded to move much. He hadn't intended to deliver such painful injuries, but the Vulcan hadn't realized the full extent of his returned strength until it was too late. It had been a careless mistake.

The boy was understandably unsettled by the creature's suffering. Despite his violent problem-solving methods, Goku was still apparently capable of respecting life. That was not a weakness, but when clouded by emotions it could bring a person to prolong unnecessary suffering.

"It is in pain," Spock agreed, his voice calm and even. "If you leave, I will see to it."

Edited 2011-11-03 01:22 (UTC)

"See to it?" Goku wasn't sure what that implied exactly. Spock was smart, though. A lot smarter than him. The monkey boy's expertise lay only in eating and fighting. This was neither one of those things. If the strange, pointy-eared man said to leave it up to him, Goku saw no reason to say no. He'd fix the problem the right way!

After one last look at the poor creature, the young boy turned around and waddled off, away from Spock and the corpses that had fallen all around them. He bid his friend farewell with a "Peace!" and quickly scooted down the hallway on little bare legs, his tail twitching back and forth without a care.

It wasn't long before his voice could be heard howling and beating at some new and unlucky monster that landed between him and his destination.

[To here]

...or, he could just underestimate teenage exuberance. That seemed to happen often anyway. Kratos sighed quietly and merely crossed his arms again as Sora dashed off to handle, among other things, a giant squirrel alongside his friend. They were certainly close, weren't they? It made him feel a bit like a third wheel, but to be honest, he was accustomed to feeling that way, first with Yuan and Martel, and then with Colette and Lloyd. And Genis. And Raine. And that entire group, actually. With emotions just a shade fainter tonight, though, he ended up not really thinking much of it at all.

Hopefully, Sora's definition of "really quick" would coincide with his own; otherwise, he would be forced to incinerate everything within a five meter radius with a spell, and then they would have to continue. He had never been fond of fighting for fighting's sake, especially not when the opponents were so...weak.

That voice. He had heard it before. Billy scoured his memory, even while the rest of his brain was taking in the segmented bodies rounding the corner. It was no one from work, was it? The scorpions were massive, about on par with anything he might have expected to be thrown on him, but no less horrifying. Perhaps the man was one of the Londonmancers he had been working so hard not to remember, so it was less difficult when they didn't show up to the next meeting. This one might fall to those scorpions.

"Christ," he gasped, and wasted no more time. Someone tells you to run, you run, no questions. Deal with that later. Right now, you survive. It doesn't matter what side they're on, it doesn't matter that they're... that they're...

Billy had taken a fraction of a second and an ounce of concentration to take a peek at the face of the man he was going to be escaping (or dying) with. His heart stopped, metaphorically if not literally, and if he had been in a better state, Billy would have made fun of himself for being shocked. Right now, all he could do was weakly laugh somewhere deep inside, because when the fucking Doctor tells you to run, you run. You run until your lungs burst, and then you figure out if you're a victim of the week or if you're going for a spin in a time machine. Billy's blood rushed in his ears, caught somewhere between reality and childish dreams of hitting a big reset button in the form of a quirky pop icon. It was so disconnected from his life, but so right in line with it at the same time. God, they could have used a heroic alien about a week ago, and Billy couldn't even say better late than never anymore.

The sword had been passed over and Luke now knew that he could use his Sword Artes to his heart's content. (Well, unless he overdid it, in which case he'd have to build up energy again, but Guy was hoping that his friend knew how to balance all of that out by now.) This meant that Guy could finally breathe a little more easily, especially since he knew his friend would be going to meet Tear. He was sure that the girl had given Luke a meeting spot that he would be able to find with little trouble.

Just as he was about to suggest that they get moving (Anise had to be waiting by now, after all), something rather unexpected happened. A man stepped up to them, and while it took Guy a second to place his face, he quickly remembered him from that fight on the recreational field a few nights ago. While he was wearing the same uniform that he had been then, it was clear that he was no longer brainwashed.

Though the calm way that he asked Claude not to shoot him again did seem pretty strange. Before Guy could say much of anything, however, the odd man had moved on, leaving the rest of them in a stunned silence. Guy glanced to Claude, mouth slightly open. "Yeah, I... think he did. And how did he know our names?" Something about that guy was pretty off, that was for sure.

It wasn't something they could worry about at the moment, though. Guy quickly turned to Luke again. "Okay, you're all set so that means we have to get going. I'll tell Anise you said hi and you can do the same for me and Tear, all right?" Guy liked that they were all sticking together, although he couldn't help but think of Natalia and wonder at what she was doing on a night like this. She would have her healing spells, so she would probably be fine.

"C'mon, Claude," he said next, realizing that Anise had to be somewhere a little further down the hall. He made sure to wave at Luke as one last farewell as he moved away from his friend. It felt strange to be splitting up this way, but it had to be done.

[To here.]

Luke looked at Guy and Claude with big eyes as some nameless man came up to them and began to spout nonsense, or what seemed like nonsense to him. And as quickly as he came, the man left. He even bowed to Luke. How strange, he thought. Then again, this whole place was strange, he needed to just accept strangeness and move on. Guy certainly seemed to have the pattern down.

"Yeah, sure, I'll tell her..." the redhead affirmed quietly as Claude and Guy began to leave. When his friend turned back around to wave, Luke followed suit. "Thanks again!" He said and the hallway was once again quiet. Standing there, alone, he felt uncomfortable. Guy, Luke, Anise, Tear... They had all stuck together like glue (well, when he wasn't being an ass) and now they were all off doing their own thing. He couldn't understand why it felt so strange. This wasn't like when they had all left him in Baticul to live lives clear across Auldrant. No, they were a few rooms down! It wasn't a big deal!

"Sheesh..." Getting a grip, Luke began sprinting down the hallway toward the Sun Room (hopefully, he didn't run into that crazy man again).

[To here]

What Mikado had learned in the past two days was simply this:

Look where you are going. Very clearly. And if that doesn't work, just stay still. And never move. Ever.

This, of course, was not what he was thinking as he flew backwards. There had been the brief thought of if that tall person was Snow or someone else when the aforementioned literally lifted Mikado by his jacket and, with seemingly little effort, practically tossed him across the hall. There hadn't been time to cry out or plea forgiveness for whatever he had done--only to realize, as the air whipped past him, that he was going to be in a lot of pain, very soon. Either the wall or the the floor would catch him, and he didn't think either would be too forgiving.

...Except what he collided with was relatively soft and gave under the pressure. Mikado landed in a jumble atop of it before he realized it was a person. Winded and disorientated, the boy still moved shakily to extract himself from the person, murmuring apologies. "Sorry, I...." There wasn't really any excuse for it, but it hadn't been his fault, not... really. "...Are you all right?"

He groped for the flashlight he had dropped when he had hit the other, finding it amid a mass of something wet. He grabbed it without thinking, and paused for a moment, wincing at the act. The beam clarified exactly what it had been in, and who-- Mikado's eyes widened at his victim. This had probably not endeared him to the man at all. The boy took a step backward and nearly slid in something; he caught himself but winced further, parts of his body aching lightly from being tossed into another person. "I, um." Mikado cast a glance at Snow warily, both explanation and warning. Would the larger man continue whatever he had started? Mikado really, really hoped not.

It didn't take long for the monster to show itself, and when it did Sora couldn't completely hold back his shock. A squirrel? He'd seen these in the institute before and knew that they were way stronger than they looked. Usually this would have been the signal to run the other direction if at all possible, but the boy was sure that he could handle it now. What surprised him more was that the squirrel was inside, since they were usually only spotted out in the open. It looked like the monsters were acting out of the ordinary in general tonight, though.

Riku's words came as a shock. What was that about? Sora had been all ready for them to fight it together, though he couldn't say that he was against taking it on alone. Maybe Riku was just doing it as a favor, because he could tell how excited Sora was to be back to normal.

He wasn't going to question it either way. Instead, he just nodded at Riku, sending his friend a wide grin before he started running at the squirrel at full speed. The first thing he did was slash out at the monster with the teeth of his Keyblade. He was used to it being little more than a blunt instrument by now, but this time it sliced through the monster like it had when he'd fought the Heartless, except that this squirrel wasn't one. That meant that a gash opened up in the creature's side instead and blood came flowing out. It screeched in pain, but Sora had fought enough Heartless that he could ignore that. The blood was something he'd only gotten used to which stuck here, but now that he was in the moment he wasn't going to let that stop him.

When the squirrel lunged for him Sora jumped up in the air and clear over the beast, landing behind it and then spinning himself around to attack again. He was shocked at how much easier it was for him to move, how much lighter he felt in the air. This was all going to be a breeze now.

And he couldn't help but show off with some magic of his own. "Fire!" he yelled out next, extending his hand forward. A fireball burst out from his palm and hit the squirrel dead-on. The creature started to flail and backed itself against a well as it caught on fire. Sora couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the smell of singed fur, but he knew that at this point the best thing to do was put it out of its misery. With that in mind, he darted forward again, jabbing the end of his Keyblade into the monster's chest, and then watched as it slumped to the ground lifelessly. The fire died out soon after and Sora stepped back as he realized that he'd managed to take it down flawlessly.

"That's how it's done!" he remarked to himself as he flipped his Keyblade around in his hand and then settled it against his shoulder. "All right, guys, let's go!" He realized that they'd already wasted too much time and he wanted to get out of this area before something else showed up, so he jogged back to the other two and then past them into the main hall, knowing that both of them would follow.

[Hope it's okay to move them, guys! To here.]

Spock returned the goodbye with a small nod and watched Goku disappear further down the hallway. Once the boy was out of sight, he returned his attention to the injured creature. In all likelihood, it would suffer here until either another life form devoured it, a patient decided to kill it, or the military disposed of it once the night ended. It was unfortunate, but Spock knew what needed to be done.

Although he would have liked to have been more familiar with the creature's anatomy in order to better provide for a painless death, Spock would, unfortunately, have to make his best estimate. He set down his equipment. Mouth faintly tightening, Spock reached down with pale hands and held the crying being in place. Then, with a swift movement and a faint crunch, he twisted its neck. It grew silent and fell still.

He waited a moment to make certain it had breathed its last.

When he was satisfied that the creature was no longer suffering, Spock reached for his equipment and stood. With the current danger, remaining in place any longer could prove dangerous -- not just for himself, but for the crew waiting for him.

((To here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1189937.html?thread=80863281#t80863281).))

[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1189937.html?thread=81038385#t81038385)]

If the hall behind was gory, this one was even worse! Sechs dashed past the carnage, the blood from his past kills still dripping profusely off his axe and machete, leaving a trail to add to the growing mass of dead monsters.

The stench from all the death and destruction burned Sechs' nostrils, but he was too high in his empowered state to care. He was no longer weak, and he wasn't the only one. To him, the institute was finally being overthrown, and he didn't want to miss a second of it. If he was going to help with this bloody revolution, he was going to the center of it all. The loudest and brightest signs of a big fight were just up ahead in the main hall...

Something huge and black suddenly pounced into the far corner of Sechs' sight. An enormous cat had made a leap for him but missed, yet it kept its chase behind, its claws skidding on the stained floor.

Smirking, Sechs slowed his pace down until the giant feline was close enough to make a strike. Yet before the cat could reach out a paw, the Replica jumped back, his back arched in the air as he flew over his pursuer. In those few seconds, Sechs' machete flew out and slashed the air with blinding speed. Once he had flipped over and landed not far from behind the feline, it seemed nothing had happened. While Sechs straightened up from his landing, the cat had frozen on the spot, it seemed unharmed yet its glowing eyes had gone dead. Then, a multitude of lines grew all over the feline's body, trickling out blood before bursting out in a cascade of entrails and chopped flesh. The Replica's supersonic attack had cut through the cat's entire form like it was nothing more than processed lunch meat.

The android gave out another cackle of victory. Having only just warmed up, Sechs continued his violent rampage towards the heat of the night's uprising, leaving the cat in thick, bloody pieces in his wake.

Edited 2011-11-14 05:28 (UTC)

[From here.]

As Edgar neared the main hallway that he found his need for haste was not without grounding: the southern corridor was caked in blood, the pink glow on the walls bathing the hall in a more crimson light than that in the rooms. He was stunned for a moment: though violence was nothing new for him, it was certainly a first to see such a sight in Landel's. Emergency, indeed- but what had caused it?

With his flashlight, Edgar knelt to inspect a corpse that sat along one of the walls- one of the creatures that roamed the halls at night had met with an unfortunate end. Had a patient done this, then? He hadn't seen enough of the monsters to know if they'd attack one another, but given the amount of control over them and the patients, it didn't seem likely. He'd heard that the brainwashed patients who were taken for "special counseling" were pitted against their friends at night, sometimes given their abilities back- perhaps one regained their memories and was running amok. He had yet to witness such a thing for himself, but there had to be some validity to the claim, as it was made again and again over the board and through word-of-mouth.

He wiped sweat from his brow as he stood, putting a hand to his chest- there was that discomfort again, the feeling all too familiar. He had to keep moving, and hopefully find Terra before she wandered off. Curiosity killed the cat, after all.

[To here.]

[from here]

Gumshoe kept his head down, hurrying around the corner and into the first Men's Block. M14... M14... M14...

[to here]

Hey, as much as he didn't like Ruby, she did have a point - she could probably truck through a ripped jugular since she was amped up on Hell juice. Him? Yeah, Dean figured he could look forward to that six months from now, but until then, he didn't have any plans to try a maiming on for size if he had any say about.

The first dog yelped and gurgled on its blood before it collapsed on Ruby, all guts and rotten flesh that had no right moving as fast as it did. Dean didn't stick around. Wasn't that gentleman enough and he certainly wasn't gonna hold the door open for someone like Ruby. He scrambled away, years of this stuff making it so he actually reached the door before one of the dogs knocked him down. Dean had about a split second of animal fear before instincts kicked in, his arm coming up to try to cover his throat as his other slashed out with the bowie knife. At this angle, he couldn't get in enough to kill the damn thing, the dog rearing back and deciding hell, if it couldn't get his throat, it was going for his friggen leg like it thought he'd make the world's biggest chewtoy.

The teeth cut through his boot and bit into his ankle, Dean biting back a grunt as he tried to kick the thing in the face. Snarling, the dog worried his leg and despite the exposed bits of muscle, it was way stronger than it looked.

The only thing that saved him was Ruby. Suddenly she was on the dog out of nowhere, the freak letting go of Dean's leg long enough to let him scramble to the door as it decided it rather try the taste of demon than another human. The remaining dogs were gunning for Ruby last he saw of her as the door slammed shut behind him.

[Dean retreats here]

[from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1189014.html?thread=81062550#t81062550)]

Why was this place glowing like this? ZEX couldn't shake a vague feeling of unease, in spite of his new weaponry. Something was afoot, and he wasn't sure he cared for it. The sooner he found someone willing to act as a meatshield for him, the better. Again he found himself thinking longingly of Teisel. Such a perfect bodyguard! All too willing to put himself in danger for his benefit. Whatever had happened to him?

No use thinking about it now, he supposed. Staying in one place too long tended to attract... attention.

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Page 4 of 5

Night 59: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

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LOL DARK GRIM

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sorry typo

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