damned_institute | Night 59: West Wing, North Hall 1-B

"Not really sick as much..." Shiina paused, giving Shou a distracted frown. Perhaps the one godsend from having dealt with rotten food all day was she didn't even notice the rat corpses they left behind them. "You really didn't notice how disgusting the food was today?"

Tear hadn't seemed to notice the thin sheen of mold over her bowl either, but at least she had been warned off by a friend before she just dove right in. Shiina suddenly tensed. "You didn't actually eat any of that stuff, did you?"

If he had.... Okay, Shiina wasn't going to think about it. She would just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other.

[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1190586.html?thread=80984250#t80984250)]

"Yeah, what is that Code Red thing about anyway? And that... light?" Shiina didn't know if they would have answers, but it didn't hurt to ask.

The hall was about the same as they had left it... except now there was a huge horde of hissing cockroaches everywhere! The sight would be disgusting if they weren't so freakishly huge. And... oh god, where they coming after them???

She grabbed Niikura's arm, tugging at the sleeve of his uniform. They needed to start moving. Now. "Sh-shou!"

"Sure, I'll do it all by myself too," Niikura shot back, returning Mike's smirk with one of his own. He couldn't really do it by himself, but friendly boasting was allowed. The bad pun, however, went completely over his head; normally, he might have gotten it, but tonight, he was a little preoccupied...

"In movies and stuff, ain't Code Red usually reserved for emergencies?" he remarked as they walked into the next hall. "So somethin' must've gone down, and the pink stuff is like the--ah, shit." He took one look at the cockroaches and made a swift executive decision. They really only had two options: bash all of the damn things to death and then move on, or just run down the hall like mad and only bash the ones that got in their way. Easier said than done, but time was money, and Niikura felt like being cheap.

So running it was. Less chance of getting attacked that way too, probably.

"RUN FOR IT!" Without thinking, Niikura did what any sensible Shou would do when accompanied by a civilian, particularly when said civilian was another Shou's unofficial girlfriend: he swooped her up in his arms princess-style and shot off down the hall, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!"

Actually, the screaming was unnecessary, but it made things more awesome, so he did it anyway.

It was a force field or something similar, but Mike hadn't of explored it much. Mike was just the stealth and muscle, not the genius. That was Donny's sort of thing. He had no doubt that Donatello would've wanted to theorize about it in detail and experiment with the effects, but Donatello wasn't here. In fact, none of his brothers were.

Mike didn't want any of them there. He'd rather them be safe back home, celebrating their defeat of the Shredder and mourning over his death. Sad to think that place could be safer than here. They'd hold it together without him now that Donatello was back.

Actually, it was a really good thing that Raphael wasn't there. His brother hated insects, and he'd especially hate these giant cockroaches. Mike stopped dead in his tracks when he saw them, only to have to stomp one that got too close, grimacing at his boot as he lifted it up. A weapon. He definitely needed a weapon.

When Niikura picked up Shiina and shot down the hall screaming, Mike followed. Good plan, but a bit too noisy for his tastes. He'd rather not die, so Mike was all for it.

As they approached the door, Mike used a burst of speed to run ahead of Niikura.

[To here.]

[returning from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1191699.html?thread=81221651#t81221651)]

Niikura slammed the door shut behind all three of them, and instantly, the world seemed to sharpen. With the rain no longer pounding in his ears, he could hear how loud his breathing was, all of theirs was. They'd come that close to death or serious injury. Thrilling, but he could've done without.

And with the adrenalin swiftly fading from his system, suddenly, he realized just how much he was bleeding.

"Oh..." The shirt was ruined anyway, so he tore the sleeve off and rotated his arm enough so that he could see the wound. It was a clean, straight slash--deep, though, which was the problem. "Heh, my bad." Niikura laughed as he tore the sleeve into strips and wrapped the still-clean ones around his shoulder, holding one end with his teeth as he tied it off.

"I'll be fine. Nothin' serious." He looked expectantly at Mike and Shiina. "We should keep goin', y'know."

Mike had seen Niikura get hit, but he didn't get a chance to see how bad until after they were safely inside the building. One look let him know it was bad, and another few moments of watching made him realize just how bad. He cursed under his breath, walking up to Niikura to inspect the wound better.

"Not until I've got a chance to look at that," Mike pulled out his own flashlight, turning it onto the wound. "I'm not gonna carry your dumbass if you faint if you're bleedin' out."

The shove came unexpectedly. Shiina pitched forward just as a huge gust whipped past her. She heard the gasp of pain and her heartbeat stalled for a few chilling seconds... Then Shou was yanking on her hand again and speeding them towards the door. They were almost there...

... and they made it in before the giant bird could attack again. Shiina leaned back against the door next to Shou. She could feel her grip trembling around the cold metal bat. If it wasn't in her deathgrip she would have lost that weapon out on the field tonight.

"Shou-kun, you're--" Her words ended in a gasp. He was bleeding profusely from his arm. It was a testament to his grit that he had managed to keep moving even with the loss of blood. Shiina had been surrounded by blood a few times in the past month, so one wound shouldn't have shook her quite like this. But this was Shou. The last Shou. His existence was precious and couldn't be taken for granted as it once had been.

"Let Mike-san see it, Shou-kun," she urged him. Her free hand clenched at her pant leg uselessly. She couldn't do anything to help with this.

In the fuss over his arm, Niikura hardly noticed that Shiina had once again started calling him "Shou". Actually, he never noticed it, mostly because the times she did forget and lapse into referring to him by his given (shared) name were the times when he wouldn't think about the distinction.

"Ah, you guys are so insistent," he whined, but that was as far as his resistance would go: he was stubborn, but Mike and Shiina combined probably defeated him, and he definitely didn't want to suffer the indignity of having to be carried around in the off chance that he did faint.

He held out his arm with a sigh for Mike to inspect. "Make it fast, alright? Time's flyin' by."

Mike noticed the name change, too, but didn't pay it much heed. A change in name wasn't exactly as important as making sure your partner in crime didn't bleed out and need to be dragged places. That would really put a damper on their night. So, needless to say, it was a relief that Niikura wasn't going to argue about it other than a token whine.

"I'll go what speed is necessary," Mike replied a bit gruffly. "Just hold still."

He shifted the flashlight and trapped it under the armpit of his half-arm, angling it properly so that it was shining on the wound. Mike's reached out with his good arm to inspect it. Surprisingly, it wasn't deep enough that he was in danger of bleeding out. Well, once they got a few more bandages on it, anyways.

Mike paused for a moment, then held his good arm and its sleeve out to Niikura. "Rip up my sleeve. I'll help you tie off the bandages properly. M'used to one arm. It'll be good to go then."

"More?" Niikura's eyebrows raised. "Geez, don't turn me into a mummy here." But it was true that the wound sort of necessitated it, especially since Mike had taken off his hasty patch job to get a better look--incidentally, the outcome he had been hoping to avoid by said hasty patch job.

He ripped the sleeve off and tied it securely over the wound with the other man's help. "Alright! Good as new, eh?" He patted the bandage and hid a wince. "Let's go!" He wasn't going to give them any more time to fuss over him, that was for sure.

[skipping to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1189937.html?thread=81256241#t81256241)]

As Brook headed from hallway to hallway, the pink walls were not the only thing that drew his attention as being somewhat "off". He also felt a bit different, and had since the intercom had blared with its alarm. There was nothing strange about how he felt thankfully, but... he didn't usually feel this way here. He was more used to feeling like this back home, where he was just bones. That energy he'd grown so accustomed to in fifty years seemed to have come back, though he really hadn't noticed its absence in the first place. Maybe that was because of the whole having skin thing.

Brook held a hand up as he took the usual left for the Field. "How strange..." he started, only to stop his train of thought was he heard something.

Grrrrrrrr

Eyes drew up from the hand and stared a moment into the dark before settling on a figure. It wasn't human by any stretch and just as Brook started to realize that the thing was probably canine in origin, it let out a yelp - what might have passed for a bark in some far off land - and darted straight for him!

"Wait, no!" Brook held his hands up, waving them fiercely, "I'm just bon-- oh, no I'm not. But I don't have much skin either and-- aaaaahhhh!!!" Whether he was skin or bones wouldn't have mattered since, he realized, dogs liked both, so the oncoming creature caused Brook to spin and start running like crazy for the opposite hallway. He did not want to be eaten tonight!

[From here.]

Compared to the rest of the place, this hall was relatively clean. It looked like whatever monster plague that was haunting the rest of the place was strangely absent in this -

Or that pack of scuttling, gigantic mutant fricking cockroaches was just waiting for the next warm body to come through. He nearly tumbled trying to stop because they were huge he was not stomping on them, ew. Peter's face made a U turn from boyish glee to abject horror. "Oh god, this is every New York alleyway nightmare I've ever had!!"

Did they just unleash everything they had upon everyone tonight because they had their powers? Or something? Come on now, there were never this many attacks in a row.

They were running through the hallways at top speed. Since she had gotten here, she hadn't seen Peter in a mood like this so it was a bit strange to say the least. (Actually, she couldn't recall seeing Peter in a mood like this at all that wasn't in her memories.) He was excited.

And to be honest, she was a little excited too.

She didn't say anything when they almost bowled over the two men, Peter waving frantically to them. She didn't say anything as they made their way into the next deserted corridor, only coming to a stop after nearly running into him too. Cockroaches. Giant cockroaches.

Of course.

"Oh, jeez." She managed to hiss, skittering back as they skittered forward. They were huge. (Okay, not as big as that spider, sure, but definitely an impressive size for a roach. Or... anything.) She started to make her way to the wall, using one hand to pull herself up it, climbing upwards along the wall before gesturing for Peter to follow. "Come on."

Cockroaches couldn't climb, right?

Jessica had the right idea. Peter was a little ashamed to admit that he wasn't thinking as fast as her - maybe because he had mocked the idea of giant cockroaches several times throughout his stay here and now they were here to exact their revenge. Or maybe it was that he was rusty with using his powers.

Whatever. Spider sense was blaring and onto the ceiling he had to go. Peter followed Jess' lead, but being closer to the roaches he opted to skip the wall and jump straight onto the roof itself.

"AAAH-haah...okay, still have stitches. Good to remember." Peter made a face and rubbed at his side. It wasn't the worst boo-boo, but it was still a boo-boo. This stank. He shouldn't have to take it careful when his freaking powers were back.

Well, if he got in a fight, he wasn't going to. Simple as that. He needed out. Jess needed out, and so did Brainy and Claire and Indy and Scott. Everybody. He couldn't be whining and cringing the whole way through the night and still get something done about this crap.

Once he was satisfied with Jess' roofliness and his own, he scuttled towards the door. The cast of Joe's Apartment chased after from the ground, clicking and hissing in roachly anger. (Oh god, it would be even worse if they were the roaches from Joe's Apartment. That movie was hideous and the world should be ashamed for making it.)

The exit was all but punched open when they reached it.

[To here.]

[from here]

There was a part of Riku that didn't want to admit it, but even walking so casually made him feel powerful. The same boy who made that promise with Terra to the one who gallantly claimed that he wasn't afraid of Darkness—not that that meant much anymore—still existed here. He knew, somewhere in his consciousness, that this was a bad thing. That was the only thing keeping him from showing off. In fact, he just tried to cling to relief.

"Less people have been here," he managed as they hit the midway point in the hall. "Wonder why." He figured the obvious thing would be to go out—so why weren't they? Was something stopping them? After all, he figured blood was a sure enough sign that something had happened.

Riku brought up a good point. Would there still be patients who had been brainwashed tonight and set out as guards? Then again, it was the experiments that were supposed to be going on this time, though that usually didn't stop the institute from putting something in their way. Still, whatever it was, Sora was sure that he and Riku could handle it.

As they continued down the hall Sora made the same observation that his friend had, which was that this area wasn't as messy. There were a few monster corpses scattered around, but compared to what they had just come from it was nothing.

"Not sure," he admitted. "Maybe people are trying for the basement instead." Sora thought that it made way more sense to head outside and see how far they could get, but he couldn't expect all the other patients to think the same way.

It wasn't going to deter him either way, and so when he reached the end of the hall he led them out onto the field.

[To here.]

Keep moving, keep moving, keep moving. Kairi's eyes stared straight ahead, at the open doors ahead of them, a crack of light spilling through the center. They just had to get there and be able to breathe in the fresh air and get the thoughts out of their head. Blood splatters and bodies and -

Kairi shook her head, turning to look at Sonia behind her, a concerned look crossing her pale face. "Are you okay? Do you want to stop for a moment?"

By the time they got to the next hallway, Sonia couldn't stop coughing. Flashes of what she'd seen back there wouldn't leave her mind, not even to give her a chance to think about what might have happened to cause such a mess. But after seeing all that, she knew that keeping her wits about her right now was more important than anything else! If she couldn't defend herself, she wouldn't be able to help Kairi, and--!

It didn't change the fact she couldn't get rid of the smell all over her.

Sonia gripped her weapon harder, as if to steady herself. "What--" She let out a shuddering cough and struggled to keep her eyes open. Realizing it was a lost cause at the moment, she focused on pushing herself forward as fast as she could. "What could have done that!?" she cried out to the girl in front of her.

At the cry from behind her, Kairi stopped, turning to look at the clearly distressed Sonia. What could have done that?

She knew the answer to that question. It could go two ways, she wanted to tell the girl. It could be a monster, like the ones we've seen here, or ... or it could have been another prisoner. Someone just like us. But she couldn't. She couldn't say that out loud. She hoped ... well, hoped was the wrong word to use. She wanted the death that was behind them to have been caused by a monster, because she didn't want to think that there was yet another person wandering the hallways harming others just for sport, or just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. She didn't want anyone else to become like she had, bruised and bleeding and left to die.

"I - I don't know," Kairi said instead, expression pained. "But whatever it was, we can only hope that ... that it's gone, right?"

She wouldn't let anyone else get hurt like she had. She didn't want anyone else to become weak and scared and forced into a corner like she had. She promised to fight, and she would. She would.

"We're almost out," she told her with a soft voice. "Just hold on a bit longer."

Night 59: West Wing, North Hall 1-B

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I AM SO LATE I AM SORRY ;ALKSJFLAKJG school hates me

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