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

[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.

[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.