Nightshift 24: Entry Room

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

(coming from here.)

The hall was dark and quiet as Max led the way deeper into the building and away from the dorms. She could hear the faint murmur of voices coming from... somewhere, but couldn't quite pinpoint a location.

Pausing when the corridor widened, Max glanced towards a partially open door on her left and a closed one on her right. Suspicious of anything that seemed too inviting in this place, she opted for the one on the right. Moving forward, she tested it and found it unlocked.

Glancing back to make sure Susan was still with her, she hesitated a moment before slipping through the doorway into the dark room beyond.

Comments

[is-god.livejournal.com]

Susan followed Max as quietly as she could, through the now open door. After a moment of consideration, she pulled it mostly shut behind them. It would still open with just a push, but it wasn't obviously open, so hopefully it wouldn't attract attention.

She used her flashlight to survey what was in the immediate area. So far, it wasn't too promising, but she hadn't expected this to be easy.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

"It looks like a dead end," Max spoke, her voice sounding much louder than she'd intended in the not-so-large room. There were two large desks to either side and what looked like a door ahead of them, though she couldn't see through it to the other side.

Her gaze narrowing, she scanned the room intently, spotting the two doors leading off in opposite directions, then paused as she noted the tow small closet-sized rooms that were positioned behind each desk. Were they closets? Why two? And why there?

Curious, she moved towards one and tried the door, only to find it locked.

[is-god.livejournal.com]

Susan moved to the other small room; its door was locked as well. When she let go of the door handle, her hand came away red with rust. She grimaced, wiping it on her pants, then knelt to give the handle a closer inspection. It looked rather decrepit, as locks and handles went, furry with rust. She gave it an experimental, light tap with her flashlight; it wasn't as weak as that, but she thought maybe it gave, just a little.

"I think..." Oh, hell with it. This was a hallucination, after all. She brought the flashlight down on the handle, hard, and was rewarded by the sound of it breaking.

The door would open now.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

Max, who'd been wondering if she would have to start looking for something to use as a lockpick, heard the sharp sound and laughed, moving away from her door to join Susan in front of hers. "I like you. No quibbling about breaking and entering. How's your flashlight?"

[is-god.livejournal.com]

Susan inspected her flashlight. It was scratched, there was a little dent, but it still worked fine. "Just fine," she said, though she added in a smile. "Multi-use." Normally, she would have had problems with breaking and entering. But not if she was being held prisoner. "Prisoners have a right to escape, after all..."

She pulled the door open. And immediately sneezed at the wave of dust that wafted out.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

Max held her sleeve up over her face, wrinkling her nose at the dust. "What the hell. What happened to medical institutions needing to meet health regulations? Don't they have janitors here?"

As the dust settled, she peered into the small, cramped room, she spotted a neat row of filing cabinets, though they were all coated in a thick coat of dust. She trailed a finger down their surfaces, noting the letters listed on the front. "Well. We've found something at least."

Giving an experimental tug, the drawer proved to be locked, but Max wasn't letting that stop her, now that they might be finding some real information. Her expression melding into one of concentration, she gave a second, determined yank, much stronger this time - more stronger than any normal human could manage - and yanked the drawer all the way out, stopping it from crashing off the runners at the last moment.

Inside were neatly filed folders with names on each of them. Plucking one out, she skimmed through what was obviously patient records and grinned. "Bingo. Looks like they're organised by name. What's your last name?"

[is-god.livejournal.com]

"Ivanova," Susan said. She straightened and joined Max in the small room, yanking on another draw until it came open. It took several tries.

She pulled out a file at random. If these people weren't completely insane - if she wasn't completely insane - they'd be in alphabetical order. "Corwin Piers," she read. "Anywhere close to your last name?"

[is-god.livejournal.com]

[from above]

Susan walked over to the door for - unbeknownst to her - the first waiting room. She grabbed the handle and opened the door; it flew open far faster than it should have, startling her.

She jumped back, flashlight at the ready to bludgeon.

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

((From here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/132893.html)))

Momo's eyes narrowed as the door opened much, much faster than she'd expected. The shinigami dropped into a defensive stance, low to the ground, ready to attack if necessary.

What met her eyes was a tall woman brandishing a flashlight as if it were a club. Momo quickly took in the grey clothing and that she wasn't armed any further. A further narrowing of her eyes, and the shinigami put forthe the effort to check the woman's spirit threads. It was brief, and increased the shinigami's headache some, but enough to tell this woman was human.

That eased Momo's mind slightly (not her body), but this woman's posture and stance indicated some kind of military training. Just because Momo knew the woman wasn't a monster didn't mean the woman knew the same thing of her.

"Name, rank, division," the shinigami stated in her vice-captain voice.

[is-god.livejournal.com]

Susan's eyes narrowed. It was an authoratative voice coming from... a munchkin. Someone very short, and very much younger than her.

But hey, if it was talking, it was probably not a monster. Or rather, it was a figment of her mind that looked like a fluffy bunny, as opposed to a face hugger.

"Commander Susan Ivanova, Earthforce," she said, her tone taking on the hint of dryness that said she was humoring this request. She straightened, easing the flashlight down, though she was ready to go in bashing if necessary. "Name and rank, soldier."

Two could play at this game.

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

Earthforce? Momo had never heard of such a military group, but she'd never heard of the Hellsing organization either. And the odds were Commander Susan Ivanova would not have heard of the Gotei 13.

This shinigami shifted her stance so she was no longer crouching and bowed slightly to Susan. "Vice-captain Hinamori Momo, acting captain of the 5th Division in the Gotei 13," she replied calmly, not phased by the tone Susan was using.

"Well met," Momo continued with a small smile, her tone softening back to normal. "I have not heard of your division before, Commander. And I doubt you've heard of mine, but that is beside the point."

She gestured to the rest of the entryway that Susan was effectively blocking. "May me and mine pass by?"

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

Hearing the sound of new voices, Max broke off from the other door she'd been heading for to come up behind Susan. "Found something, I take it?" she asked, eyeing the younger girl on the other side of her roommate with a curious expression. "Hiya."

[is-god.livejournal.com]

"Somehow I'm not surprised," she said. Considering Max was claiming to be from quite some time in the past, it was likely this girl was as well. "It's not easy, being from the future." Her tone retained its dryness. She was starting to see the humor in this situation - sort of. Either way, it wasn't any skin off her nose to play along.

Susan glanced at Max, then shrugged. She half wanted to say 'Another figment of my imagination' but refrained. It was quite possible that figments of her imagination had feelings, too, or some crap like that.

"Help yourself," she said, moving to the side. "There isn't anything terribly useful here."

[youthfulrocklee.livejournal.com]

Came running down from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/118925.html?thread=8471949#t8471949)

Quietly, Lee entered the entry room. He noticed that there were other occupants, but at the moment, he ignored them. Now was not the time to socialize with strangers. He would leave that for the light of day. Still, he kept one eye open in case the others decided that it was a good time to fight.

Frankly, he hoped it wouldn't come to that. The last thing he wanted at the moment was to wake up again in his room, empty handed. No, he owed it to Takaya to at least get something of value this night.

"This is as far as we got before night became day," he said softly, not bothering to see if Naruto was there or not. He knew that the blonde would be able to keep up with him, but it was not that important that Naruto knew about his first night. He prayed that Sakura, Usagi, and Relena were well. He also hoped that Takaya was all right. He had been through enough. If it were possible, Lee would willingly take Takaya's place if the demons here wished to harm him more.

He entered further into the room.

[tte-bayo.livejournal.com]

What other kinds of things went down at Landel's? There was a panging guilt in the back of him mind that continually reminded him of Sasuke, but he didn't have the heart to abandon this group. At least Sasuke was safe locked away somewhere, probably safer than he would be roaming around and letting his great big fat ego get him into trouble.

Not that Naruto was projecting, or anything like that.

Fortunately, keeping up was easy, since he had quick reactions and good stamina to make up for what he lacked. It was good to move with someone who moved as quickly as he did. They entered a room that was unfamiliar to him; large with two, big desks on either side.

He also kept note of the other people occupying the room, gathered at the other end to the right. Poised for a fight in case anyone was feeling like they wanted to pick one, Naruto slowed to a walk at Lee's side. There were various doors in this room, it looked like there were - five exits in total, including the entrance they just came through.

"Looks like we'll be able to pick up where you left off. Might as well have a look around while we're waiting for the others." His head swiveled around at the possibilities as he meandered to the left, toward one of the desks. What was in those small lookin' rooms? Unwittingly he chose the file room that hadn't already been broken into - which meant he was greeted with a rusty lock.

Naruto made a face and kicked at the door loudly, sending small clouds of rust flying off the handle. Wearing only thin slippers, it was a choice that kind of hurt, he noted with a small amount of irritation as he stepped gingerly on said foot. After a good, strong whack with the blunt end of his flashlight, the old lock broke off easily.

"If they keep it locked, something good has to be in here." He flashed Lee a cocky grin before entering the small closet-type space.

[youthfulrocklee.livejournal.com]

"Naruto, it is best to work together on such things," chided Lee. "It would not do if you were to be injured. But do not lose hope. Even if this horrid place tries to break us by weakening our powers, we are still strong as long as we believe in our inner strength."

He walked into the room, studying it. It was rather...cosy. Fighting would be difficult in such an enclosed place, though not entirely impossible. In some ways, such a crowded room was good to fight in, due to the many ways of attacking, but this also became a drawback.

"A fight here would certainly be an interesting experience," he said. It was actually an exciting idea. However, Lee did not hesitate as he broke a lock of one of the files near him with a swift and powerful kick. His body protested, and he noted this in the back of his mind. He certainly would not be able to perform that kick as often as he would like. Later, he would train to strengthen some more.

Approaching the broken file, struggling with it for a few minutes due to it being stuck, and after a few sneezes, Lee opened the drawer. Names...these were the names of the patients, he assumed. Bloody hell...they had all the information about them.

"These names...this is...terrible. What are the beings here after? Why would they bring us here, and strip us of our powers?"

[tte-bayo.livejournal.com]

Waving away Lee's worrying, Naruto chuckled lightly as the other Konoha-nin joined him in the small space. "We're both damn tough, no matter what they take away from us," he agreed confidently.

"Say stuff like that and monsters will definitely show up," grinning despite the statement. The grin faded when he remembered the shed with Gaara. He hadn't been able to protect his friend very well then - would he be of any use to Lee if something like that happened again?

Yes, he mentally checked himself and narrowed his eyebrows in determination. I won't let anything happen to him. I won't let anyone get hurt again. The other boy displayed his strength aptly by kicking away one of the locks on the file cabinets, so Naruto chose another one nearby and less graciously made more use of his flashlight. The blunt end was hard enough, though decidedly more scratched up now, and another cabinet got freed up after some applied effort.

Naruto struggled at first with the old handle, then yanked with his might, sending it flying open with a good amount of harsh squeaking. He flipped through more files in sync with Lee, turning his head when the other spoke.

"More of the same over here. Names of all the patients. Information about all of them..." The blond frowned as he perused files on all the unfamiliar sounding people. "Shit, how did they even get all of this information? There's so many different kinds of people here. This must have taken so much work."

[youthfulrocklee.livejournal.com]

Lee frowned at the question. It was truly startling to see all of the different names here. All the information of their lives...everything was written here, locked up as if they would never see that old life again.

"We are pawns in their sick game. The lives we hold so precious has been reduced to these files in this room."

It was rare for Lee to allow his anger to show, but this time, he did not mask it as is passed over his face. He had enough control not to take it out on any more files, but the very idea that they were so weakened here and were being harmed made him clench his fists tight.

"People are still coming here...what is the purpose of this place? Are they stealing our powers, or are they simply waiting to see how long it will take to make us break?"

The room was filled with files, and how many more would appear here? It was daunting, and Lee could feel the weight of dread fill him as he stood in that dusty file room.

"The names are in alphabetical order. It will take many nights for us to review everything. Perhaps we should see if we can take back the files of as many of our friends as possible? Or we can take as many as possible and inform others. I fear that there is little hope of us taking all of them."

He looked at the ceiling. There were too many places to go, but they would have to explore the building, a little bit over the nights.

"We will find a way to be free...we must."

[tte-bayo.livejournal.com]

Naruto, previously, was holding his flashing under his arm while he flipped through the papers. He had since switched to gripping it like a bone with his teeth, sharp canines clenched around plastic. Hands free, he pulled out a few sheets and examined them at eye-level with a furrowed, inquisitive brow.

Alphabetical order, and late in the alphabet, from the looks of things. There was a lot of dust floating around and Naruto waved a hand in the air before he rifled through the end of the cabinet. Looking up again when Lee spoke, he found that the look of anger did surprise him. It was rare to see the other ninja truly angry, even having witnessed him fight.

Naruto mirrored it, looking both determined and pissed off, but mostly ridiculous with the flashlight in his mouth. He shifted papers over to one hand and spat it out, catching it. "It looks like this is late in the alphabet, but the names look like the fake ones they keep giving people. I wonder if we can even trust this information."

For a moment, he had hoped to rifle through the 'U' drawer and find both his own file and Sasuke's first, until he remembered that they were now Frank and - and - Sean. He grimaced. Remembering his nurse, he grimaced harder. "But it couldn't hurt to try," he nodded. "We can at least get the files of people we know. What's your fake name? Ah, damn, I don't really know anyone's except my own."

Even Sasuke was just Sean as far as he knew, and only because his stupid nurse sometimes didn't shut up about Sean. No, she couldn't have been helpful and provided a fake last name at some point. Not that he'd ever asked-- Naruto decided anyway that he was going to murder his nurse one of these days. Displacing that irritation, he gave his friend an encouraging smile.

"Hey, don't worry, Lee. We'll come back if we have to, and there's still lots of other places to look through. They can't keep these many people locked up without someone finding a way out. It's only a matter of time."

[muted-flame.livejournal.com]

As usual, the Entry Room was crowded... And yet it looked like no one had actually gotten through the main door. He was one of the only people that had the key to it, then, though he was fairly certain another copy was floating around. Hopefully, he would be the first one to open the door and figure out where it led - for no other reason than he would have an advantage over the other patients, along with some bragging rights.

Then again, everyone in the room was going to see him open the door and would be able to follow them out, but there wasn't much he could do about that. He slowly trudged inside, glancing around cautiously. Was there no antagonist here? That was odd - usually there was something guarding the Entry Room.

Well, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Glancing back at the three who had come with him (would it turn out their help would not be needed?), he started toward the other side of the room where the door in question was located, ignoring the other patients there.

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

Rukia nodded at the Colonel's answer, staying close to him as they went into the entry room. She had never been in here before, but it almost seemed too easy that they could simply walk out the front door. She would have to be extra cautious.

Glancing around, she noted the other patients, then froze. Was that Vice Captain Hinamori??? She simply stared for a long moment before calling out softly, "Vice Captain Hinamori?"

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

Momo slowly approached and stopped when she could easily see the details of Rukia's face, but did not get too close. The shinigami glanced briefly at the other three with Rukia, but paid them little attention.

"Kuchiki-san... So the Sokyoku got its blood after all," Momo said quietly. "I had hoped the ryoka would..." She bowed her head as she fought the tears again, refusing to cry.

"I am sorry, Rukia."

[broken-exorcist.livejournal.com]

Allen nodded, but said nothing at the Colonel's refusal. It wasn't his place after all. It wasn't, but-

Allen's gaze darted through the dark room as Rukia called out a name. Another one. His jaw tightened, but he said nothing about the new "shinigami." If Rukia knew her, she was one of those, right? Though he couldn't help the glow from his left eye at the sight of them. But he'd keep his word. Even if it wasn't easy.

He glanced around the room, torn between unease and skepticism. This was the way out? All they'd needed was a key to the front door? It all seemed terribly simple. He kept a careful watch on the shinigami, though he managed to watch the way they'd come in as well. Just in case some awful monsters had decided to follow. Or better than that, if Ravi had decided to tag along. He was probably out looking for his Innocence. They'd still have to find that before entertaining any thoughts of return, he knew.

[notmyfather.livejournal.com]

It seemed tat Renji hadn't been exaggerating when he said there were a good many of his people around. Or so Valyn assumed, when Rukia started calling out to someone else.

He just cleared his throat, quietly, rather tan show any disapproval of her actions. It was clear to him that Mustang wanted to be on the move.

[muted-flame.livejournal.com]

While Roy could understand what it was like to run into a person from your world, he didn't have the time for it. He needed to get that door unlocked before something that wanted them dead did show up. As long as Allen and Valyn kept an eye on him, it probably wouldn't matter that Rukia was busy with other things.

So he didn't hesitate in moving across the room and stopping at the large, reinforced door he had gotten to and failed to open so many times before. He started searching through his pockets for his keys, making sure to send a few glances around as he did so. This was usually right when something decided to attack, after all.