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

[earthling]

Wrinkling his nose, Claude patted his belly with a gloved hand as he considered the possibilities. He'd felt nauseated before, sure, but it hadn't been severe or painful -- just kind of unpleasant, like he'd had too much junk food or eaten something that was a tad past its expiration date.

Still, there were only so many ways they could interpret a clue like that. He looked back at the other patients in the room, wondering if they had similar thoughts about the painting. Then again, with the way some of them looked, they probably had other things on their minds...

"Well, I'm not sure why else they'd draw a stomach," he said as he tried to piece things together out loud. "Didn't the intercom message say we could use this somehow? I wonder if the X-Ray machines could pick up on something like that."

[baniichan]

Kotetsu could be awfully loud sometimes.

As obnoxious as it was, though, this wasn't always a bad thing. Barnaby focused on the man's rumbling voice as he complained at the unfortunate soul who had managed to wander over to them while Kotetsu was operating on Hero mode. It gave Barnaby something to concentrate on, at least.

Still, he hated that he had to stay confined to this cold table when he'd originally come here to scour for clues. Even worse, he doubted Kotetsu would tear himself from his side as long as he could barely sit up without getting slammed with another bout of dizziness. Honestly, it was hard to tell how much of it was just from blood loss, and how much of it was that on top of feeling weak from that illness and using his power. But as long as there was any doubt, Barnaby knew his partner wouldn't leave him.

What a waste of time for everyone involved, he hazily thought to himself. Turning his head toward the voices, Barnaby swallowed hard between shallow breaths, and tried to identify the newcomer.

[nobleman]

The moment that Claude made that point, it was as if everything had clicked into place. Not that something like an X-Ray was common back on Auldrant, but Guy had heard of it before and he knew what the technology was capable of. It could basically see into a person's body and reveal certain things, and it couldn't have been coincidence that the clue had been placed in this room.

Of course, only scientists that were well-trained would have known how to work a machine like this, and chances were that the technology that went into it on Earth was completely different from Auldrant. Which meant that Guy was basically useless in this situation.

He sighed to himself, but now wasn't the time to be dwelling on his own shortcomings, so he turned to Claude. "Do you have any idea of how to work something like this? If we can get a look at what's going on inside you two, maybe we can figure out how to stop it." There were some obvious solutions that came to mind, but none of them were acceptable in his opinion.

[gald_digger]

Anise was just about convinced they'd run into a dead end when Claude mentioned the machines. She didn't really know anything about x-rays, but from following the conversation, she could at least understand that they could help with identifying the problem.

"We can do that!?" Though her motivation had been steadily waning over the last while, there was a renewed flicker of hope in her eyes. "Even if we don't know how to use it, it's worth a try, right?" It couldn't hurt to try. With their lives on the line, Anise was more than willing to take her chances with some mystery machine.

Of course, there was a chance that the machines just wouldn't work to begin with. But with Claude, who was familiar with Earth technology, and Guy, who was big on machines in general, Anise really wanted to believe they could figure something out.

[hairraising]

"He is. So is Flynn," Rapunzel answered Sora, very nearly slipping on Eugene's name. It occurred to her that she had slipped up out in the hall, but she couldn't blame herself. Protecting Eugene's secret identity had been the least of her concerns out there. At least here, it was a little more calm, if not less tense. "They insisted we come here to find the cure and help people..."

Speaking of the cure, Castiel had gone over to ask some of the other men in the room about the picture on the wall. Here was hoping they could figure it out while she was busy healing, she thought. As much as she was glad to be helping out her fellow patients, she would be disappointed if she (and everyone else, for that matter) had come all this way only to leave empty-handed. Sounded like Sora and Link had some idea of what the knife's inclusion in the puzzle meant, but... Rapunzel shuddered faintly. She really hoped that didn't mean what she thought it did.

She let the injured man (the Once-ler? Interesting title, she thought) take the hair and told him to put it against the wounded area once Link was finished with it. As she found a place to sit between Soma and the Once-ler, the latter spoke to her. "Yeah, thankfully. There are others out there that haven't been so lucky," said Rapunzel with no small amount of guilt in her voice.

After a short pause to settle and force herself to breathe, she started the healing incantation. The glow from her scalp was fainter than usual, but it spread all the same, flowing from roots to tips and making the injuries grow warm as they started the healing process. It was slow going; with two people being treated at once, Rapunzel felt the strain, and had to put a palm on the ground to steady herself as she worked her magic. Here was hoping that she could at least get those wounds closed before she had to stop.

[freewill]

It was the first time in a long time that he'd been called "Cas" in a genuine way. While he hadn't known what to make of the nickname at first, it had become something familiar at this point, and that was enough to take him by surprise.

Not that the feeling lasted long, because soon he was being lambasted by Kobayashi for trying to focus on the subject at hand when his friend was in a bad state. Castiel glanced down at Barnaby, who seemed to only be vaguely aware of his surroundings, and frowned. "My apologies. From what I was able to determine, I thought you'd stabilized him."

The fact of the matter was that this would all be pointless if they didn't get to the bottom of this clue, so they couldn't let injuries get in the way. Castiel could feel some blood from his reopened wound dripping down his arm, and the pain in his shoulder was throbbing and insistent, but that didn't meant that he'd lost the ability to think rationally.

Still, he didn't mind handing over his coat if it would help Kobayashi to calm down, and so with some pained effort he got the garment off his shoulders and then handed it over. With only the standard-issue shirt on under the coat, his own injury was clear from the blood that had soaked through the gray fabric, not to mention the slivers of it sliding down his bare skin toward his elbow. "If we don't determine what that image is telling us, then he'll have endured this wounds for nothing," he said pointedly.

[earthling]

"I'm no expert, but I might be able to figure it out," Claude with a scratch of his cheek. Technology was one of his strong points, and it wasn't like it could be anymore sophisticated than the things he had seen at home or on Energy Nede.

"I guess that's the table people getting X-rayed are supposed to lie on," he observed as he turned his attention over at the small group gathered there. Once he took in the full scene, his mouth pulled into a worried frown. "Looks like someone who got injured is using it, though. I feel bad asking them to move the guy."

Besides, the beam from his hat revealed crimson-stained cloth close at hand. If he was bleeding on the table, then they'd need to wipe it down pretty thoroughly before sitting on it. That was especially important since so many of them were dealing with this strange illness.

[oyaji]

Wild Tiger simply huffed at Castiel's excuse, not really wanting to put anymore energy into yelling. It wasn't really doing much to help anyone except himself and he needed to be a little more concerned with Barnaby than taking his frustration out on his roommate. The man had given him his coat hadn't he?

"Thanks," he mumbled as he laid it over his partner, doing what he could to help the young man stay warm. So close to him, the former Hero realized just how much Barnaby was struggling to keep his eyes open. "Hey!" he called to him, grabbing him by his jaw and rolling his head back over to where he could see. "You need to stay awake, okay? If you're in shock--" Which Wild Tiger knew from his temperature alone. "--sleeping is not gonna help! Bunny, open yer eyes!"

Tapping his face helped a bit to keep him a bit more lucid, but Castiel's comment left a bitter taste in his mouth as he stared down at the blond. It was hard to think about the long-term when the short-term was a chaotic mess. "I know, but..." Sighing, the older man eventually played along and looked back up at the wall.

"Okay, obviously that damn doctor bugged people with something." The more he stared at it, the more he thought he could feel something actually fluttering inside his stomach. It just nerves, he told himself. Tired muscles twitched and adrenaline made the stomach flutter, that was all! "So that cold or whatever's spreading around's gotta be the butterfly, right?" A bug, a cold, they were synonyms after all. "But why in the stomach? Is it a stomach flu?" Well, if that was right, it certainly made sense after all the nastiness he had been throwing up lately.

[baniichan]

Barnaby felt the added weight of someone's coat being draped over him. It took a few moments, but he realized he'd seen it before during their outing with Castiel a couple of nights ago. The person standing with them must have been Kotetsu's roommate, and he'd donated his coat to help keep him warm.

It was easy to just sink into the table and let Kotetsu handle things, especially with how much effort it took to keep track of the chaos going on around them. Thankfully, he felt his partner's calloused fingers grip onto jaw as the man tapped at his face to keep him alert. Barnaby knew perfectly well why it was foolish to let himself relax too much, so he gave a sudden nod to let Kotetsu he was listening.

As he did his best to stay informed of what was happening around him, Barnaby caught bits of and pieces of the discussion at hand. They were talking about the clue, but none of them seemed to know what to make of it. "The X-ray machine," he managed to say, as if it might help tie everything together.

[nobleman]

At this point, it seemed like they had no other option but to try and figure this out. There was just one problem, though, which was that apparently the place where the person being tested had to sit was already occupied, and by someone who was hurt and didn't look like he'd be standing any time soon.

With that in mind, though, there was one possible solution. "I wonder if he's feeling sick too," Guy said after a pause. "I mean, I know he's hurt, but they came here for information too, right? Since he's already there, maybe he'll let us run the test on him."

In theory, whatever they saw inside that man would be inside Anise and Claude as well. The symptoms that everyone was suffering from seemed similar enough, although he was only guessing there. All of them had the same rash, if nothing else. Of course, this meant that they were going to have to approach the group of strangers...

Guy looked to Anise and smiled briefly. "Think you can work some of your charm and ask them?"

[gald_digger]

So they needed to use that table. Anise shared Claude's apprehension about asking an injured guy to move, but Guy's suggestion seemed like a fair compromise. Even if it was kind of rude to ask, getting a test done on even one person was going to benefit every sick person in the room. They all had the same sickness, after all - or so she assumed.

When Guy asked her to be the one to approach them, a smile finally returned to Anise's face. "Ooh, so you think I'm charming?" she teased. It was nice to know he noticed her cuteness, though. Girls needed to hear that once in a while! "I guess I can give it a try. Leave it to me!" Suddenly energetic again, Anise made her way over to the strangers standing around the table.

[to here]

[gald_digger]

[from here]

All she had to do was start up a conversation with those men and convince them to work together. For someone as cute and sociable as Anise, it was a piece of cake. Probably.

When she neared the table, however, Anise realized she knew the man lying on it. They'd met just earlier that day, even! What a coincidence. He looked seriously hurt, though the men with him seemed to have provided first aid.

Well, this was one way to break the ice. With a loud, somewhat dramatic gasp, Anise rushed to the blond's side. "Barnaby! Oh no, what happened?" Up close, he looked pretty bad. How much blood did he lose already? Even if his state had created an opportunity for her, Anise hoped he wasn't in serious trouble, especially when he was already sick on top of being hurt.

Once she had gotten a good look at Barnaby, Anise looked up from the table to the two standing nearby. "Sorry, um... I'm a friend," she offered by way of explanation for them. She made a bit of a show of being timid around the larger men, fidgeting a little before continuing. "Were you just talking about the X-ray machine? We kind of wanted to use it too. Do you think we could work together?" They wouldn't say no to a (cute) friend of a friend, right?

[oyaji]

Wild Tiger couldn't tell if this little girl was simply a delusional fan or if the two of them had actually met in the institute, though the latter still didn't exclude the possibility she was delusional (this was a mental hospital after all). Still, there was a comfort in knowing some people knew of them--Well, knew of Barnaby. They weren't completely isolated here, even if they still had a different burden to bear as Heroes--Speaking of which! How had she gotten here without so much as a scratch?!

His head swiveled to the left to catch the other patients who had just come in. The older man couldn't believe they would lead a girl into danger like that, even if they had been protecting her at every turn.

"Uh, well..." Wild Tiger looked down at his partner who was thankfully lucid enough to be looking too. He didn't want to move him, but both Castiel and this little girl had a point. They were all already here, so they might as well get what they all came for. It was going to benefit everyone, not just a few. "Alright, but does anyone know how to use the machine?" He didn't want them to accidentally fry Barnaby, especially after he just got the blood clotting.

[freewill]

Having someone to ponder over the clue with was a help, and Castiel continued to examine the drawing as he considered Kobayashi's words. A stomach flu... But he knew for a fact that more than his stomach had been affected. Still, maybe it was something that originated there, but spread throughout the whole body? Humans could be very susceptible to certain viruses, and some of those viruses were very deadly and very clever.

Barnaby spoke up, clearly only half-conscious, and yet he was obviously following along well enough to add to the conversation. Of course, the X-Ray machine. It was used to see inside a human's body, so it would be best if they could get a look for themselves.

Almost as if in response to that, a girl ran forward, apparently worried on Barnaby's behalf. Castiel didn't know her, so he remained quiet for a moment, listening to her request. He certainly wouldn't mind some help, seeing how he had no idea how to use one of these machines. Apparently, neither did Kobayashi.

"I wouldn't mind," he added after a moment, "provided that someone knows what they're doing." This was not his area of expertise, so he had no choice but to rely on someone else in this case. Luckily, an offer had been made, which took away the humiliation of having to outright ask someone for help.