Night 64: X-Ray Room

[damned_intercom]

As soon as the patients entered the dark room, the first thing they might have noticed were a couple of short bursts of static from the intercom. But no voices or cryptic messages greeted them.

Instead, their eyes would undoubtedly be drawn toward the strange picture of a human stomach carefully painted onto the southern wall, its paint casting an eerie green glow that cut into the darkness.

Although the artist had done their best to make the picture as clear as possible, they had apparently decided to leave a sharp kitchen knife perched on X-Ray table to compensate the patients for their troubles. Hopefully whoever picked it up would be able to make good use of it and the clue created for them.

Comments

[madeinthehrl]

"I trust Kratos to take care of things, but Castiel was sick yesterday. In a group that large, he might be a liability." She frowned a little at the thought; that meant Kratos would have to cover for both Castiel and Rapunzel. It wasn't an ideal situation, to say the least.

(Rapunzel had to be okay. Lingormr hadn't tried to kill them, had he? It was difficult to tell. As long as the other group tried to head back...)

"I'll be fine," she added. "I was only really cut once, and with no bandages here, there isn't too much you can do. I'll keep pressure on it. That has to be enough."

More importantly, there was the question of why they were here in the first place--and there was really only one clue she could see from her position on the floor. "Did either of you two have a chance to check this room? Is that strange graffiti normally there, or is that new tonight?"

[lighthearted]

"Maybe he's switching off between who he attacks and who he leaves alone?" Sora suggested as the stranger posed the question of why he and Link had been spared. It really was strange, because the Special Counseling patients were normally pretty ruthless. Maybe it was Landel's doing, because he actually wanted them to see this clue? But the intercom system had been hacked, hadn't it? None of this made any sense!

"And don't worry," he said, addressing the stranger once more. "I have a trick up my sleeve!" More like locked away in his chest, but he didn't need to go into that right now. "Let's get you guys wrapped up a little bit, and then I'll go help Kratos." Sora trusted in the man to take care of things for a little while longer, at least.

Taking the knife from Link, Sora started cutting into his undershirt first. It was quick work, and he soon had a few red and blue strips that should be long enough to wrap around a wound. Since Link already seemed to be working on the stranger, Sora scooted over to Soma.

"Just let me help, all right? Where'd you get cut? And... the drawing is the clue, I think." But they could talk more about that later, too. Right now there were too many other problems to deal with.

[his_legacy]

Link nodded, lip curling slightly as he looked down at the gash on the Once-ler's leg. He began wrapping it gently but snugly. There had been plenty of times he himself had been scraped up, ambushed by moblins in a valley in Hyrule Field or caught off guard by something more sinister. It was too bad they didn't have water or alcohol to wash the wounds, but... This was a hospital, right? Maybe they would be tended to? It was an optimistic, if not unrealistic sentiment.

"I don't know. But he will get his. I swear it to Farore," Link murmured in response to the Once-ler's comment on keeping children locked up here. The Hylian didn't consider himself a child. He had seen the world, saved the world, and had grown up in the process. There was a seriousness about him now. He had changed. He wasn't a farm boy anymore.

Link wasn't sure how he thought about it just yet, though.

Finishing with the Once-ler's leg, he started on the wound across his torso. He agreed with Sora. The implied "cure" could come later. Right now, they needed to keep these two, and potentially others, from bleeding out.

[oyaji]

[From here]

Whatever the hell was wrong with that door was forcefully pushed aside, revealing a few shocked looks from a group of patients already in the room. Wild Tiger was not expecting that... Which was dumb, because the whole point of coming here was to help protect these civilians! Bang up job, Tiger, he thought bitterly. So far he had "helped" Barnaby go into shock from blood loss, lost to a criminal, and found plenty of wearied individuals that he hadn't saved.

Tonight was such a nightmare and he was powerless to change that. Holding his partner a bit higher in arms so he didn't get hit and his long legs didn't hit anyone else, he moved past the group of patients. "Ah--Uh, excuse me, everyone! I need to--Excuse me--Get through here!" Hopefully he didn't coat anyone in blood while he frantically wiggled through to set the blond on the table. Grabbing the small pillow, the older man made sure to angle it behind Barnaby's head before he put the young man down. The last thing they needed was for his partner to skull himself and add a concussion to his list of injuries.

[fallenbeanpole]

“If you’re sure…” the Once-ler trailed off. There wasn’t anything he could do to stop the boy; it was impressive enough that he’d managed to get Soma here before collapsing.

He winced as Link wrapped up his leg. Normally he would have asked what a Farore was, but right now he really didn’t care. He simply hurt too much. He also had no idea who was helping him now. Soma was familiar with the other boy, but the Once-ler was completely in the dark. The boy had just finished up his leg and was moving on to the next injury; now was probably as good a time as ever to ask.

“So, who are you two anyway? I met Somaaaaauuugh!” Something impacted the door he was sitting against, and the Once-ler was knocked over when someone came barreling through. The newcomer was spouting off ‘excuse mes’ as he carried another man, but the Once-ler hardly noticed. He groaned from his new position on the floor and rolled onto his back so as to not lie on his injured side. Staring up at the ceiling, the man announced his thoughts to the room.

“I really don’t like it here.”

[baniichan]

After what felt like an eternity, Barnaby became aware of being lowered down onto a hard surface, his head cushioned by a pillow. Kotetsu's body felt like a furnace compared to the cold table, and he grimaced at how chilled he'd become since this whole mess began.

If he realized there were other patients in the room, he didn't show it. Instead, he cracked his eyes open, only to see Kotetsu anxiously peering at him. His partner had managed to get them both out of harm's way without much assistance, and now he was putting any thoughts of their original mission aside in favor of tending to his wounds.

"That was careless," he mumbled as he struggled to control his heavy breathing. Balling his hands into weak fists, he turned his head away. "I'm sorry."

[freewill]

[From here.]

Perhaps it was for the best that someone had already pushed that man out of the way, because the pair that had just rushed in was about to be followed by two more. While Rapunzel was the one who had been leading him first, it was Castiel who ended up taking the lead as he opened the door and stumbled into the X-Ray room.

Maybe he should have expected it to be crowded, but the fact that there were six other people here -- along with a copious amount of blood -- still took him by surprise. It seemed that Lingormr hadn't just targeted his party.

Castiel released Rapunzel's hand, taking in the scene and trying to determine what deserved his attention first. Soma and Kobayashi were the only two patients who he actually knew, and Soma seemed more injured out of the two. Still, those who were hurt all looked as if they were being tended already, and it wasn't as if he could heal at the moment anyway.

He didn't miss the drawing on the wall, either. Castiel moved further into the room, making sure to give the others space as he approached the wall that had been drawn on. "If any of you are in need of further assistance, Rapunzel and I are relatively unharmed," he said to the group at large, with a somewhat awkward hint to his voice. He wasn't used to addressing so many humans. He wasn't completely telling the truth, as Lingormr's hard grip had started his shoulder wound bleeding again, but that wasn't much compared to the injuries some of these other patients were sporting.

Spoilers in the last paragraph

[oyaji]

"Sorry? What are you apologizing for? How were we supposed to know there was an axe-crazy NEXT with invisibility and illusions and knives that kept being hurled all over the place?!" His anxiety was turning simple words into rants to let off his pent-up anger and fear. This was not how it was supposed to be. They were trained Heroes and they were bested so royally by one criminal.

And all this blood... It would have been one thing to have personnel standing around like always, ready to assist if someone was gravely injured, but they were all by themselves now. There wasn't any back up and if Wild Tiger wanted to save his partner, he needed to stop fretting and start doing.

"Uh, okay I need to ehh--Stop the bleeding, hang on!" The older man flung himself toward cabinets and counters, pulling things left and right out onto the floor to find what he needed. There were disinfectant wipes, which he put on the table beside Barnaby while he searched for--

"Aha!" They had gowns! Of course, they were full of lead, but that was rectified by frantic, adrenaline-fueled ripping that separated seams until all he had was cloth. Clean cloth. Staggering back up on his feet, he grabbed the wipes and loomed over the blond, his face a portrait of concern even as he tried to hide it so Barnaby didn't grow nervous.

"Okay, now I just need to--" Kotetsu couldn't even finish his thoughts his mind was racing so fast, trying to do everything as calmly and logically as possible. First things first, he needed to get the fabric away from the wound. Lifting up his leg as far as dared, Wild Tiger took hold of the ripped seams and, in one experienced stroke, ripped it apart, and the blood... The blood just flowed onto the table, no longer constrained by his pants. Nervously, he used the gown to soak it up while he ripped apart his right pants leg. What it revealed was about as jarring as the wound.

His partner's thigh held no jagged scar any longer from the incident with Maverick. It was completely gone and there were no signs of it having ever existed in the first place. Bewildered, he ran a rough hand across the smooth skin, looking for any trace, any clue.

Re: Spoilers in the last paragraph

[baniichan]

As a Hero, he was supposed to be prepared for any situation. The prevalence of NEXT criminals demanded it, and yet Barnaby had been utterly defeated before he'd even had much of a chance to fight. Now look at him. Although his abilities had allowed Barnaby to move freely after taking such an injury, the human body still wasn't designed for that kind of punishment. The limitations this place put on him didn't help matters, either.

There was no excuse for what happened. But then, they weren't exactly Heroes anymore, either.

They were still partners, though, and he hazily watched as Kotetsu set to work, relying on years of experience as he tore apart the room in an effort to find something useful. If there was one thing the man was good at, it was saving people while leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. To think that just a few days ago they would have had the best resources in Stern Bild. Now they were huddled together in this god-forsaken place, doing what they could to scrape by while they mopped up his blood with a spare hospital gown. Kotetsu may have had some grand hopes of saving other people, but in the end they could barely take care of themselves.

Even if the man tried to act like everything was under control, Barnaby could sense his anxiety. When his partner ran a rough hand against the pale skin of his thigh, he tried to lift his head enough to get a better look. "What is it?" he rasped.

[gald_digger]

[from here]

Well, they definitely weren't the first ones here.

Actually, there were a ton of people. Not clones, either, but distinctly different, normal-looking people. Several of them appeared to be injured, but none of them appeared to be turning into monsters at the moment. That was a plus, right?

"This is it," Anise breathed, relieved to be in what appeared to be a safe space, even if that could change at any moment. She took a moment to look over the room and the people inside, but her attention was quickly drawn to the conspicuous greenish drawing scrawled on one of the walls. "What's that? Could it be the clue?" She'd been hoping for something a lot more detailed, like a journal or a note at the very least. Maybe one of the other patients found something before they arrived, like that creep by the entrance said.

[oyaji]

"Oh, uh, you're--I mean, nothing! I was just looking for any other cuts, that's all!" Four savaged gowns later, Wild Tiger had to start the worst part of this because it was going to hurt and the last thing the blond probably wanted was more of that. "Okay, this is gonna sting, sorry..."

He took a few wipes, cleaned off his own bloodied hands, before he very quickly cleaned the skin around the cut to disinfect anything lethal. All the while, the older man mumbled apologies one after another to compensate for the abuse. He then wadded up some clean cloth and used another strip to bind the cloth around the wound and hopefully stifled the blood flow. It was a bit hard to tie it while his hands shook terribly, but eventually he got it secured as tight as he could without completely cutting off circulation.

The second leg was a bit easier since he had found his rhythm (Hopefully they wouldn't be making a habit out of this just to keep his basic first aid training sharp).

[earthling]

Like Anise, Claude was surprised to find the room so crowded. But more importantly, several of them looked like they hadn't gotten off as lucky as the three of them. He wondered if they'd been attacked by that monster back there, or if something else had happened. The thought that there could be other victims like that poor woman made Claude's stomach turn.

Before he could dwell on the gory details for too long, his attention was drawn toward the glowing picture etched onto the wall, some of the iridescent green paint dripping downward. Narrowing his eyes, he tried to make heads or tails out of it. Was this supposed to be another riddle? Or were they supposed to take the message literally?

"I...guess," he muttered as he studied the picture. "Is it just me, or does it look like a butterfly inside of a human stomach?"

[baniichan]

The warning wasn't really necessary, since Barnaby figured a lot of this was going to hurt regardless. Still, he braced himself, and managed to stay silent outside of the quick, shallow breaths he couldn't control.

Though he became aware of some other voices in the room with them, Barnaby couldn't find the energy to worry about how many people may have been watching this sad spectacle. Instead, his head remained propped against the pillow as it slowly lolled toward the side. Maybe it was his imagination, but there was a strange green light emitting from the southern part of the room. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why. He just knew that he was cold, and his heart was beating far too fast for his liking.

"Where are we?" he suddenly asked, his voice tight.

[hairraising]

Somehow Rapunzel's crazy gambit had paid off. They made it through the illusions, and the Ram Man didn't follow them. Though, Rapunzel's heart sped even faster when she realized that probably meant he was going straight for Kratos and Eugene. The worry seized her mind so strongly that she almost missed the hall that Kratos had directed them to before, until Castiel stopped her and changed their course.

She followed the man into the X-Ray Room, moving past him after releasing his hand. "Soma?" Her racing heart stopped when she found that head of white hair on the floor, being tended to by Sora. She was bleeding bad, as was another young man she didn't recognize. Rapunzel's stomach lurched; she didn't know how much more blood she could take tonight.

Her eyes darted around the room until they landed on the picture on the wall. What was that? It looked sort of like something out of an anatomy book Gothel had brought home for her at one point (probably to freak her out, she thought in hindsight). Was that supposed to be some sort of clue? She looked to Castiel, wondering if he made anything of it.

It was all too much to take in at once. Rapunzel shut her eyes shut her eyes for a moment, shaking off as much nausea and panic as she could, before re-opening them and making her way over to the two fallen patients. "Here, let me help. I don't know how much more healing I can do tonight, but I'll do as much as I can," she said to Soma and Sora as steadily as she could, still woozy from healing Eugene and dashing down the hall. She set down her dagger and split her hair lengthwise. "Wrap this around her wound when you're done," she told Sora, handing him one half of the hair while taking the other half over to the injured young man.

"May I?" said Rapunzel, looking down at the stranger and Sora's friend, holding out the end of her hair. "Trust me, this will help."

[madeinthehrl]

Soma knew the type. There would be no arguing with Sora when he was like this. Wincing slightly, she rolled up the hem of her shirt, pulling back the soaked fabric to reveal the cut across her side. The bleeding had slowed slightly by now, and she was convinced it looked worse than it actually was. The sooner Sora looked at it, the sooner he could be out there helping Rapunzel.

"He didn't hit anything vital," she said. "I don't think he was aiming to. It really only needs to be bound up."

If the drawing on the wall was the only clue, then...Soma frowned a little at it, tilting her head. Was that a stomach? With a butterfly inside? Wasn't that a figure of speech? Her thoughts were interrupted by the Once-ler's yelp, which heralded the arrival of Castiel, who seemed to be mostly unscathed, and--

Rapunzel. Soma gaped; she couldn't help it. Rapunzel, who looked a little bit unsteady, but, aside from her hair, looked relatively blood-free.

"You're not dead," she said stupidly, before it clicked.

Lingormr. He'd already proven himself capable of making illusions; conjuring up voices was probably child's play for him. Soma's jaw tightened. They were going to have words in the morning.

Rapunzel was already passing her hair around, and Soma knew where this was going. She shook her head. "It's not serious, I promise. It's not worth the energy. You should save it for something life-threatening."

Her protests would probably fall on deaf ears, but it was the principle of the thing.

[nobleman]

What they ended up running into was a mess. Guy came to a quick stop when he realized that the small room was practically filled to the brim by now, with not much in the way of breathing room. On top of it all, half of the people here seemed to be injured.

Oddly enough, Guy didn't actually recognize any of the other people here, though some of them had familiar faces. It seemed that for now, though, they were going to focus on staying out of everyone else's way. None of them had healing powers as far as he was aware, so what could they do?

When Anise and Claude both drew their attention to the drawing on the wall, made with some sort of paint that showed perfectly even in the dark, Guy also set about examining it. Claude was quick to make a conjecture about it, and Guy moved to his side, tilting his head as he realized that was exactly what it looked like. "No," he said after a pause, "it's not just you."

[lighthearted]

It was a good thing that Soma ended up relenting, since Sora wasn't the sort of person to budge. When she showed him the wound, he was quick to take the strips of his clothing and wrap them around, but he'd only just started with that when something unexpected happened.

Well, it probably shouldn't have been such a huge shock, seeing how the stranger had been sitting against the door, but the man was shoved out of the way by another patient who was carrying someone, which really couldn't be good for someone who was already wounded. Startled, Sora watched as the man dragged the downed patient to the X-Ray table and then glanced over to the Once-ler. He seemed all right, if a bit worn down.

Before Sora had even a second to breathe, though, two more patients came in, and one was a sight for sore eyes. "Rapunzel!" Sora greeted, taking in her long hair with a relieved smile. He knew what it was capable of, after all, and so he quickly finished his own bandaging and then grabbed for a strand of it to place against Soma's wound.

"Is Kratos still out there?" he asked the girl, because he still wasn't giving up the idea of running out to help. He would probably be better off out there, since he couldn't heal or anything, and this place was getting pretty crowded.

There was still the issue of the clue, though, which most everyone had forgotten about due to there being so many wounded. He glanced back at the wall and realized that he should probably fill everyone in. "Oh, and uhh, Link and I got here first, and all we saw was that picture and a knife." The one he had earlier used to cut up his outfit, so he grabbed it off the floor and held it up for everyone to see. "Make what you will of that, I guess."

He didn't like the implications at all, but he was still holding onto the hope that he and Link and misinterpreted it somehow.

[his_legacy]

Link jumped when the door suddenly open, pulling the Once-ler away from the impact as best as he could. He glanced over at the two men who had just charged in here. The older of the two seemed to be handling things, so he paid them no mind, turning back to the Once-ler.

"As Sora said, my name is Link." He tied off the bandage at the older man's leg as he spoke. The Hylian hardly had time to do that before another group of two charged in. He frowned, slightly, as the girl began fiddling with her (impressively long) hair. Was there a magic to it? He stood back, giving Rapunzel room.

He frowned as Sora mentioned the clue. The sudden pouring in of more patients had thrown Link slightly off kilter. He wasn't used to dealing with this many people.

[oyaji]

"We're in the X-Ray Room. I told you I'd get us here!" Though whether it had been the better course of action instead of running Barnaby back to his room, he would never know. At the mention of the room, however, he was reminded of the whole point as to why they were even here. His amber eyes were finally torn off Barnaby as he glanced around the large room. Wild Tiger was immediately drawn to the same thing his partner had been. There, on the other wall, was a eerie green glow that reminded him of neon, even if the subject was a bit avant garde. It was the shape of a stomach with a butterfly in it. It didn't register immediately, but his eyes eventually grew wide when the implication set in.

"B-Bunny, there's, uh, well... There's this picture on the wall and it's uhh sort of... Well, kind of a... stomach... With a bug--A butterfly... in it." Wild Tiger wondered just how literal this was supposed to be taken.

[baniichan]

Barnaby squinted as he tried to process this new piece of information. That sounded more like a sick joke than some kind of clue. Still, his mind raced to piece together the riddle. If someone had indeed painted something inside a human organ in the X-Ray room, and they were supposed to use that somehow, then...

Gritting his teeth, Barnaby pressed his palms into the table and began to push himself up into a sitting position with a strained grunt. "If we could get to the equipment--"

Before he realized it, he gave into the strange weight pressing down on his bones, and his head fell back against the pillow. Blinking rapidly, he did his best to fight against the darkness that fogged his vision, but it was starting to be come difficult to tell whether his eyes were open or not. In the end, letting them slide shut was far too easy.

[gald_digger]

A stomach? Anise wasn't sure at first, but... it sort of did look like a diagram she saw in a book before. Butterflies in the stomach... with all the anxiety Anise was having over her illness, she understood the feeling well, but she wasn't so sure what the image was actually conveying.

"What do you think it means?" she asked, looking to each of her friends. The more she thought about it, the worse ideas came to mind. "... Is something wrong with our stomachs?"

[fallenbeanpole]

And just like that the number of people in the room had nearly tripled. There were a lot of people now; it was slightly overwhelming for the man who had been in self-exile for a year. “One at a time,” he muttered to himself.

“ Link, hm?” Odd name, although the Once-ler wasn’t one to comment. “I’m the Once-ler. The ‘the’ isn’t really necessary, though.” Introductions were cut short as one of the newcomers came over to him and addressed him, offering aid and presenting him with her hair.

The girl’s voice seemed familiar; hadn’t she been screaming for Soma in the hall? But she looked relatively fine, aside from the blood in her very… very long hair. The Once-ler found himself staring. With a groan, he raised himself slowly into a sitting position to better reach the offered lock. He hesitated slightly before taking it; having a stranger offer her hair to him was very strange. But she said it would help, and though he couldn’t see how the Once-ler was in no position to reject any offers.

The girl’s hair was extremely silky; such a familiar feeling, yet so very distant. A brief flash of regret and sorrow crossed his face. Not now, he thought. He swallowed sharply and quashed the memories quickly. It was hardly an appropriate time for reminiscing.

To keep his mind off the silky texture in his hand, the Once-ler turned his head up to face the girl. “You seem to be alright,” he stated flatly. Making casual conversation was a skill that had gotten rusty. It was easy enough to ask important questions or make remarks on situations; he’d done a lot of that before even arriving at Landel’s, talking to his reflection or asking the barren wilderness for a hint, in some vain hope of getting some kind of response.

But holding a conversation with someone else? He hadn’t done that in ages.

[freewill]

Rapunzel quickly got to work with healing Soma and the other injured patient, which spurred Castiel to move out of the way, seeing how yet another group was entering in after them.

The painting on the wall took some contemplation, but he recognized a human stomach, seeing how he'd once rebuilt a human body from the ground up. The butterfly in it made less sense, although he was certain he'd heard a phrase along those lines. This was their clue -- and if the words of one of the patients were to be believed, then a knife had also factored into the equation.

Which meant that whatever this illness was, the root of it was their stomach. Castiel pressed his hand against his torso for a moment. He hadn't felt any particular pain there; instead, it had been more widespread, or just a headache. Still, this was what they had to go on...

Seeing how Kobayashi was also inspecting the image, Castiel decided to go discuss it with his roommate, in the less crowded part of the room. Perhaps they could work out what to do with the information that had been given to them.

[To here.]

[freewill]

[From here.]

Castiel stepped up next to Kobayashi, uncertain if the man had even noticed his earlier entrance. Chances were that he hadn't, seeing how he'd been preoccupied with an injured friend. Castiel saw that his roommate had managed to bandage both of Barnaby's legs, which made it clear that he was at least somewhat experienced with life or death situations like this.

Not that he had truly believed most of what Kobayashi had told him about his life even before now.

That wasn't important at the moment, though, and so Castiel didn't focus on it, instead nodding up to the wall. All of them had been given the chance to take it in by now. "What do you make of it?" he asked after a pause.

[oyaji]

"Ahh--!" Wild Tiger flinched at the sudden voice that came up beside him. "Wh--Cas?!" Where the hell had he come from? The older man thought he had been sitting in with a friend tonight. A bit more aware of his surroundings now that he wasn't focused on Barnaby, he realized there were a few more new faces that had entered the room. All of them seemed much more well adjusted than the two Heroes sworn to protect them. It was a bitter pill to swallow as he looked back down at his injured partner sullenly.

"Make of what? What're you--?" Eventually, he stopped fussing over the blond and looked up at Cas who was staring at the wall covered in toxic green paint. His amber eyes came back to lock on Castiel with the most scandalized and offended face he could muster under these conditions. "Are you being serious?! Yeah, I'll give you an opinion once I'm sure my partner here sitting in his own blood isn't gonna die from shock! In fact," Kotetsu paused to give his roommate a once over. "Give me your coat!"