damned_institute | Day 63: Bus 3 (Evening)

Sora had to admit, that soup had definitely hit the spot even if he'd had to force the first few bites down. His stomach was full and warm and while the fever was definitely still there, it felt more manageable now that he had some fuel in his system. It was too bad he couldn't carry a water bottle around or something, since that would have also been a help with cooling him down.

Then again, the wind seemed to be doing a fine job of that on its own. A nurse made sure to walk with him as they moved back toward the buses, doing her best to shield him from the wind with her body. It was something that Sora actually appreciated; she didn't have to do that, after all, and with how weak he felt right now fighting the wind was pretty tough.

Still, they made it back safe and sound, and Sora boarded the bus, realizing at a delay that he hadn't even bought anything on the trip. It was a waste, but he wasn't going to dwell on it too much. He already had enough on his mind as it was. Like the fact that he hadn't seen Riku and Kairi all day and couldn't have told them about his illness even if he wanted to. He'd at least had the chance to make plans with Tsubaki, but still, where were his friends? If there was a time when they should have been around, it was now.

Sora leaned against the window, keeping an eye on the other patients that were approaching. He wiped his hand over his forehead and found that it was still covered with a thin sheen of sweat. Not much he could do about that unless he found some medicine or Dr. Facilier worked out a cure. One step at a time, right? He could beat this.

[For Albedo and Nigredo.]

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"It doesn't even have to be encrypted. Maybe if we phrase it like it's a story, it will be enough for the nurses to leave it alone." She paused, thought back. "That's sort of a code, isn't it? I'm not much of a writer, but maybe..."

The information about an unknown planet seemed solid enough, and she trusted Rapunzel's memory, so it couldn't hurt to tell Castiel about that, at least. "Someone I know got taken on another mission a while ago. They managed to steal some kind of information disk and got one of the computers in the institute working. According to them, the data on the disk mentioned something about rebel factions on a Planet 48-71. Apparently this project--this institute, I think--is meant to be used against those factions."

She would have continued, but a tall blond man up near the front of the bus stood up and began to shout. Soma's lips pressed together in annoyance. He wasn't new--she'd definitely seen him before--so why was he yelling now? Judging from how much he was talking now, he probably hadn't told anyone else on the bus about his intent before. Not when it would have been a lot more efficient to organize a riot beforehand and kick things off with a more subtle signal. No plans, no weapons. Nothing but a stupid speech that was supposed to get people going. Didn't he know their powers didn't work during the day?

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered, her head sliding forward until it hit the back of the seat in front of them.

Castiel wasn't much of a writer, either, but he felt that he could at least put together something passable. He couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't get taken down, but it was worth a try if nothing else. "I'll see what I can do. We can at least give the basic facts and then if someone is curious to learn more, they can arrange to meet with us in person."

As Soma went on to explain the information that two others had salvaged from some sort of disc (it sounded like the something that Sam would have been able to do), Castiel found himself frowning when the name of a planet was offered. That implied that there were many other planets, which was something Castiel had already started to accept. Having proof of that was still useful, however.

Rebel factions, she said. Castiel had to wonder what these people were fighting for. Was it only for their freedom, or was there more to it? The politics of war was something he'd been coming to understand well, and he had to assume that there was more at stake here than their lives; some conflict that they weren't aware of.

Before he could say anything in response or ask any questions, however, another patient stood up near the front of the bus and started throwing out a rallying cry. Castiel straightened in his seat, leaning up slightly to watch, but his reaction was similar to Soma's. Just what did the man think he was going to accomplish? Any attempt to offer resistance in the day ended badly for them, so why was he dragging the rest of them into this -- and when they were on a vehicle, no less?

Castiel now knew from experience how bad things could get if a bus crashed, and he was not looking to repeat the process. He'd have to heal from those wounds all over again. "Someone should stop him," he said harshly.

Soma nodded once, her movements tight and jerky. She knew all too well the desire to fight back, to take her anger out on her captors. But there was a time and a place for this, and right before nightfall on a creaky bus, when all the nurses were more than capable of turning into giant monsters, wasn't the time to do it. Not unless the man had something prepared--which, if she had to guess, he hadn't.

"Even if we got control of the bus, we wouldn't make it far enough before we ran out of gas!" She pitched her voice a little louder than usual, hoping it would carry. She doubted the man would listen to sense, but her headache had worsened and she knew she wasn't in any position to take him down. If anything, that thought only made her angrier.

It seemed like things were only getting worse. Some patients were calling out encouragement to the blond man, and one was even trying to start up some chant. Castiel wasn't interested in participating in any of it, though he didn't begrudge the way that Soma called out and tried to speak some sense. She had a point about the gasoline, although it was possible that the instigator's plan was to drive as far as they could and then walk the rest of the way.

If Castiel had stilled possessed his powers, he could have stopped this all easily -- but then again, if he'd still had them, he wouldn't have been here in the first place. As things were, he had no choice but to sit and wait to see how it all unfolded.

"If things get particularly bad, we might want to look into jumping off," he told Soma seriously, as if he hadn't just brought up the idea of leaping from a moving bus. "The injuries sustained from that would likely be less severe than if we're inside when it crashes." He was assuming the worst, but he hadn't done that when he and Dean had hijacked one of these buses and he had paid for it. He wasn't about to make the same mistake.

It was just as well jumping from a moving vehicle sounded perfectly reasonable to Soma. It was already difficult for her not to think of this bus as an archaic, rattling deathtrap powered by fossil fuels that hadn't been used in decades. Being onboard when it crashed didn't seem like a very good idea.

"I agree," she returned, glancing back at the surrounding windows. "There's an emergency exit two seats back. If we've got time, we should go for it instead of trying to get out this window."

And then the big loud patient punched his nurse in the stomach, and Soma actually hid her face in her hands. As if tonight wasn't going badly enough already.

When the other exit was mentioned, Castiel glanced over his shoulder, taking note of where they would need to go. It would have helped if he'd realized that existed when he'd been on the bus with Dean, but there wasn't much point in dwelling on that now. It wouldn't be difficult for them to reach the door if things went downhill, at least.

The moment that he turned his attention forward, Castiel watched as the instigator at the front outright attacked one of the nurses, and felt his shoulders stiffen as a result. Exactly what did he think this was going to accomplish? Castiel clenched his jaw and looked over at Soma, who was either scared or embarrassed -- his guess was the latter.

It seemed like things were only going to move from bad to worse, but Castiel's hope was that the staff would be able to bring the man down before a crash took place. It was odd to be on their side for once, but this was beyond ridiculous.

All she could do at this point was memorize the instigator's appearance. If they made it out of this alive, she was going to have words with him. Or someone was, judging from the reactions of a few of the patients around them.

"Do you think we should do anything?" Soma murmured, transferring her hands to the seat in front of her. "Or would that only be interpreted as an aggressive action?"

Night was falling, and the last thing she wanted to do was be trapped between the Institute and Doyleton when the sun went down. She'd heard stories of the last time this had happened, and she was certain she didn't want to know what it was like.

While Castiel could understand Soma's urge to take some sort of action, as that was his instinct as well, he knew that wouldn't be the right path to take at the moment. An example of that surfaced almost right after Soma asked her question, as one of the other patients had worked her way up to the front of the bus to try and stop the tall blond man.

The staff didn't seem to think much of the help, and the blond himself started yelling and trying to flail his way out of her grasp. The more people that got involved, the more chaotic this would become, and the greater chance that the bus would end up spinning out of control.

"No," he said with a shake of his head. "We need to stay as calm as possible. Things have deteriorated enough as is -- we don't need to add to that." Despite the calming words, Castiel was sitting on the edge of his seat, tense and ready to make a move the second that things got too bad.

Day 63: Bus 3 (Evening)

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