Night 65: X-Ray Room

[damned_intercom]

Once again, a couple of bursts of static greeted Link as he entered the room, but there was no audio message waiting for him. Strangely, the drawing from last night remained largely intact, as if it had been impossible for their captors to remove. The only thing different was that the vibrant glow from before had diminished, and the image was mostly reduced to a faint, green outline.

But more than that, a companion clue had apparently been set up for whoever entered here. This one required a flashlight to fully examine, but a well-aimed beam would illuminate a framed oil painting hanging from the wall. Beneath that were words written in the same green, glowing paint from last night:

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

If that wasn't odd enough, though, whoever had arranged the clues also left a small pile of dried leaves beneath the painting. The leaves themselves were unremarkable, and were likely pulled from a common tree. Was it another message, perhaps?

Despite the cryptic clue, though, the person who had come before did not want the patients' troubles to go unrewarded. A first aid kit with these items was perched on the table in the center of the room.

Comments

[his_legacy]

[From here]

Link whipped around as he entered the X-Ray room, startled by the burst from the intercom. But it said nothing.

Turning his magic torch to the rest of the room, he saw the drawing from last night, intact but fading. There was something new on the table, though- a container of sorts. Pulling it open, Link grinned triumphantly. It was filled with what seemed to be bandages and various labeled ointments. It was a bittersweet victory, though. He now knew that surgery was the solution. All he needed now was one of those small knives Sora had mentioned.

Those weren't to be found in here, though. Putting the kit in his pillow case and grabbing his knife and light, Link moved to leave.

As he turned, though, his light caught something else on the wall. It definitely hadn't been there, last night... The Hylian frowned as he approached the gruesome painting. The words meant nothing to him. He couldn't remember seeing or reading anything like this... Maybe it would make more sense later? He sifted through the leaves on the ground, but was disappointed to find nothing.

There was no time to waste puzzling over the strange message. Link ran back to the main hall, knowing he had seen "operating" on at least one of the doors in this area.

[To here]

[madeinthehrl]

[from here]

She wasn't sure what she was expecting when she stepped inside. The neon green stomach had thrown her off enough last night. And it was still there, Soma noted, scanning the room with her flashlight before she shut the door behind her. The lines were faded, either because the paint didn't last much longer than a few hours, or because someone had tried to scrub it off, but its message was still clear. Her lips pressed together at the grim reminder before she tried to turn her attention elsewhere.

The old drawing aside, there didn't seem to be anything else unusual in the room, although there was a small pile of dried leaves on the floor. Soma dropped to her knees to examine them, but could find nothing out of the ordinary. If there had been anything there, whoever had been here first must have taken it.

She stayed seated on the floor for a moment, more to catch her breath than to ponder the unhelpful clue, and happened to glance up.

Her breath caught for a moment. Slowly, she got to her feet, scanning the painting and the glowing words below it. Salome with the Head of John the Baptist. The title held no meaning for her, but...

It's an ancient story, said Marie, unfolding quietly in her head. About a woman who pleased a king with her dancing and requested the head of a prophet in return.

Soma's expression hardened slightly. Useful as the information was--and she couldn't deny that--the idea of having some repository of information in her head she didn't have access to normally was jarring. And a little terrifying, if she was going to be honest with herself. "If they're saying I have to cut my own head off, too--" she began aloud.

Probably not, said Marie. I hope not. Maybe it has something to do with the leaves?

"You'd know better than I would," muttered Soma, for all that the words stuck in her throat. She took a single leaf and dropped it in her pillowcase, then slowly got to her feet. "If you figure it out, let me know. I think we've spent enough time here."

[to here]

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

The signs did make it a little obvious. The door was already open, the lock smashed apart. There was the drawing she'd seen repeated on the bulletin, in glowing paint. The butterfly was beautifully detailed; the stomach a mess of lines. It reminded her of Cetaganda, though she wasn't sure why. Except that if someone convinced them that butterflies under the skin was fashionable, they might try that, too. Perhaps the face paint was a colorful blessing in disguise.

There was a second message, though, and it made even less sense. Salome with the Head of John the Baptist. The Baptists were a religion, she knew that, but she was kind of fuzzy on the details. She turned her flashlight on it, and it caught the edge of something hanging above it. That was, um, literal. Were they implying people were going to eat each other? That they should eat each other?

She looked at Goku, not hoping for much.

[monkeyboy]

Goku followed the line of Taura's flashlight as it illuminated the strange drawing. At first, Goku thought it was real and was preparing to strike, but then he saw that none of the people had legs. One guy only had a head. The scene wasn't moving either, so it wasn't television... The boy had no idea what to make of it.

He did sense his friend's gaze on him and he gradually turned his head in her direction. It looked like she wanted him to say something or was waiting for him to do something foolish. Instead, he simply smiled and said, "Hi."

[ninelivesonce]

"Howdy," Taura answered. She stared back at him, her golden eyes almost glowing in the dark. A quiet Son Goku was unexpected. She glanced back at the picture, unease ruffling her stomach in a way that was rather inspired.

Wait, what was that? There were leaves on the ground. She grabbed one, and held it out. "Don't recognize the picture either, do you? What about this?"

[monkeyboy]

"Oh, leaves!" Now that was something Goku understood. He took the leaf out of her large hand gently and squatted down beside the rest of them. The lone green soldier was dropped back onto its pile of friends before he, too, squatted low on all fours so he could be level with the debris. Then, in proper Goku fashion, he stuck his face in the leaves and gave them a good sniff like a curious blood hound.

They held a familiar scent underneath the monstrous hands (Goku really couldn't call them human) that had touched them in the first place. The dry, wrinkled foliage had lost a lot of its essence, but the monkey boy knew where they had come from. If only he remembered what the place was called. "They're from uhm that uhh thing. That thing outside with the plants and flowers and stuff."

[ninelivesonce]

"Then, uh, what are we waiting for?" She stepped out from between Goku and the door, and gave a bow and flourish that was blatantly copied from Miles. He was good at making it earnest -- Taura wondered about that, sometimes, but everything Miles did was earnest. He didn't lie, much, and generally when he did, the first person he'd convinced was himself. So who had taught him how to bow? The last thing he'd ever want to do was be shorter. Though when he straightened up he did look a little bit...less tiny.

"Lead the way," she added. That thing was possibly as specific as she could get -- there were too many planets, all with different plants, for her to identify one. Unless he meant the entire outdoors, but she'd take his word that he recognized them.

[monkeyboy]

"'Kay!" Eager to do something he was actually good at, Goku took a fist full of leaves (just in case he needed a little extra sniffing reference) on his way past Taura. The girl was more than twice his size, but he waddled along without preamble as if she was simply part of the architecture, like a tree in a forest. Except that this tree talked and could kick him in the crotch.

It took some effort, but eventually the little boy reached up to grab the doorhandle and pull it back open so they could get to the good part of this mystery!

[To here]

[sixth_attack]

[From here and time skipping ahead of the first group.]

Panting quietly in the darkness, Sechs cautiously pushed the door open and entered the room with his axe posed ready for any sudden attacks. His heavy boots softly thumped against the sterile floor while the creaking and shifting of his uniform seemed sharper against the silence of the room. The place appeared empty, but Sechs knew better than to let his guard down so soon. He paused for a moment to scan the room with his flashlight. His breathing grew increasingly loud in his ears. What sort of clue was waiting for him here?

It wasn't long before a picture pinned to the wall was revealed beneath the bright beam of Sechs' flashlight. He immediately recognized it as the first clue that was mentioned to him by Aigis and Link. An image of a bug in someone's stomach...

Hearing about the disgusting picture was one thing, but seeing it for himself in this foreboding room was another. Sechs tensed up and scowled with disgust at the picture, snorting at the idea of disemboweling oneself to be cured. He had already been through self-disembowelment before during his fight at the Z.O.T Tournament with that deranged hypnotist, and back then he didn't have organic organs spilling out to worry about! He wasn't keen on trying what that clue could have been suggesting any time soon!

The next clue had to be someone else in this room then... Sechs turned his flashlight away to another wall. It was then that the light caught the corner of an old ornate picture frame. Sechs blinked. What the heck was that doing in an ultra plain and modern hospital room? Once the light fully revealed what the frame held, Sechs froze on the spot and stared wide eyed at what he saw.

It was an old painting of a woman holding a plate with a man's decapitated head... That unexpected image sent a wave of shivers cascading over Sechs' entire body. It was like the woman had suddenly emerged through the wall itself, her haunting eyes nearly glowing against her face, her skin pale in comparison to the darkened head in her possession. Sechs' lips curled up to reveal his teeth with a soft snarl. He could almost imagine the unnerving image spring to life before him. Tightening his grip upon his axe and flashlight, Sechs approached the painting with narrowed eyes.

What was this painting supposed to mean? He had never seen art like this; he doubted anything of its kind even existed back at the Scrapyard. Sechs understood the art of battle, but not the art of paintings!

Frowning, Sechs' eyes fell to a set of words written beneath the disturbing artwork: Salome with the Head of John the Baptist. The Replica's puzzled scowl worsened at this. "The hell is THAT supposed to mean?!" he pondered to himself. The only thing he could recognize was the depiction of decapitation; Bounty Hunters bringing in the heads of criminals for payment were common back at the Scrapyard. Was Salome a Bounty Hunter and John a wanted (and now dead) man? Was that what was going on here? What the heck was a Baptist anyways?

Unfortunately for Sechs, the living drug in his spine didn't let him off without any spiteful jeering. "You're nothing more than two year old copy without enough brains to know about Fine Arts or History!" it viciously spat in his ear, "Don't waste what's left of your meager brain cells over it!"

Ignoring the awful voice, Sechs spotted another piece of the clue: a pile of dried leaves sitting beneath the painting. The Replica eagerly stooped over to grab a few of the leaves and observed them closely under his flashlight. Were these leaves some sort of message, or herbs to help cure him of the virus? Yet they seemed unremarkable. Again, Sechs had little knowledge of plants, as they were also a rare novelty back at the Scrapyard. Was he supposed to do something with them...?

For now, all he could do was carefully stow the leaves away into one of his pockets. They had to come in handy sooner or later. He appraised the First Aid kit that had been left behind, but decided that someone else would make better use of it. Again he was reminded of Ritsuka, making him anxious to leave the wing. With nothing else to find, he left the room, wondering what his next course of action could be.

[To here.]

[nobleman]

[From here. Timeskipping Goku and Taura!]

The room looked the same as it had last night, although it was much less crowded this time around. Guy wondered if that was because unlike last night, there hadn't been a guard, which meant that patients had been able to arrive, look at the clue, and then move on. If so, that was a good sign.

The first thing he noticed was the drawing from last night, which was strangely still there. Guy wouldn't have expected that, but maybe the paint that was used was made up of a substance that the institute somehow couldn't remove. Either way, it was interesting to see proof that sometimes things wouldn't revert come morning.

Guy then moved his flashlight around and caught the next clue, which was a more traditional painting. It also happened to be morbid, with a woman holding the decapitated head of a man. Guy frowned, not liking the immediate message there, although he realized there could be a lot more to it. There was a written note along with a pile of leaves, which made it seem as if there was further information to be garnered from this clue.

"What do you make of it?" Guy asked Claude after a pause, using a hushed tone.

[earthling]

To be honest, Claude wasn't sure what he expected to find. But when their lights swept across the room and revealed the few clues that were left for them, his heart sank. Even if he didn't consider himself dumb, he had to admit that he was having a hard time understanding how these cryptic hints were supposed to help them.

Okay, Claude, he thought to himself as he read over the note beneath the painting. Think!

"The head of John the Baptist, huh," he sighed as he turned the words over in his mind. "Well, I know it's another reference to Christianity. According to the story, he was actually related to Jesus, and he was revered as a saint by some religious sects. He's called 'John the Baptist' because he baptized Jesus in a river. The Romans mentioned killing him in that movie you and I watched the other day."

Religion had little relevance in Claude's own time, but the impact it had on Earth's history was hard to dispute. Still, he never would have guessed he'd have to use what he learned in class for something serious like this.

[nobleman]

So this was yet another connection to Jesus? Guy thought that was strange, and had to wonder if this particular clue had been picked precisely because that movie had been shown. Still, even though Guy had paid attention through the entire film, he couldn't say that it gave him any insight on the painting.

"A baptist... I wonder if that means that water's involved in the curing process somehow." Guy knew that he was grasping at straws, but he didn't want to assume that decapitation was the answer. This wouldn't be a very helpful clue if that was the case.

"If he was revered, then why did he end up like... that?" Guy asked, motioning toward the painting. "Is it because he was related to Jesus?" It seemed that despite being a good man, Jesus had gotten into more trouble than anything else. Guy knew how people could resist even good things sometimes, and react with hostility instead of acceptance. None of that was foreign to him.

He wasn't just asking because he was curious, either. Maybe answering the questions would help Claude piece together what this all meant.

[earthling]

When Guy mentioned water, Claude's eyebrows rose. "Oh, hey, that's an idea!" he brightly said. "At the very least, it's gotta have something to do with nature, right? I mean, these leaves have to mean something, too."

Well, probably. He didn't think anyone would have to go through this kind of effort to trip them up, anyway, so it seemed like anything left behind would have to be significant.

As for John the Baptist, Claude paused as he looked at the painting again. "Well, you have to remember the political climate. The Romans didn't like people challenging their authority, and this was how they handled it."

[nobleman]

Leaves and water... It honestly didn't mean that much to Guy, and he let out a sigh as he tried to put the pieces together. The only thing it told him was that it probably had something to do with the surrounding area, but that didn't exactly narrow it down. What was out there that could get the device out of Claude and Anise's stomachs?

When Claude explained about John the Baptist, Guy nodded along, staring at the picture for a few more long seconds. "Challenging their authority... I wonder if there was any rhyme or reason to who was picked."

But that wasn't what mattered most at the moment. They needed to get to the bottom of this, and it made him nervous that they hadn't figured this out even with two clues to work from. "How would surgery be made any easier by doing it near leaves and water?" he asked as he frowned in concentration.

[earthling]

Well, that was all assuming the story was historical fact. Claude didn't know enough on the subject to offer anymore insight, so he left it at that.

While he was glad to focus on the issue at hand, Claude couldn't help but cringe. "Well, I'm hoping this will give us some ideas outside of surgery." Cutting himself open, much less cutting other people open, was the last thing he wanted. Unfortunately, though, Guy had a point. What on earth could they possibly do with leaves and water?

Unless...

Crouching down, Claude lifted up one of the leaves and examined it. "I wonder if this is some kind of herb."

[nobleman]

It was true that something that wasn't surgery would be the most ideal, although Guy didn't know what else would be capable of removing a device from someone's stomach. When Claude moved forward to examine the leaves, Guy followed after him, grabbing a leaf for himself.

Honestly, it didn't look that remarkable to him, but he also wasn't familiar with Earth's foliage. Then again, Claude probably wasn't either. "It's too bad we don't have a journal with us. Then we could draw what it looks like and ask someone tomorrow."

Herbs were capable of a whole lot of things and could have all sorts of curative effects. Guy wondered if they could just take a handful of the leaves with them to examine later. "We might just be able to stash them in one of our rooms, though."

[earthling]

Frowning to himself in thought, Claude brought the leaf to his nose and tried to detect any telling aroma. Unfortunately, it just smelled like a plain old leaf to him.

"I became pretty good at identifying herbs on Expel, but I'm not too confident about herbs here," Claude admitted. "Maybe we should take some with us."

Of course, he didn't want to take all of them in case someone had the same idea. "Let's take two. That way, if this does help with a cure, we'll have one for me and one for Anise, and there will be enough for other people to grab tonight too."

[nobleman]

So they had a similar problem, which was that they couldn't speak with any confidence about Earth plants. Still, taking two of the leaves with them made sense to Guy, and it seemed like a fair compromise, so he nodded and then very carefully put the piece of plant life into his pocket.

"We can always let people know what we saw, too. Hopefully someone else will get more out of it than we did." Someone who knew more about this religion, maybe. Or more about artwork. Or more about plants. There was a lot going on here, and Guy felt lost about all of it. Seeing how he'd been pretty well-read back home, it was a frustrating feeling.

Still, best to focus on the next task. Anise and Luke would be counting on them, after all. "So, did you want to try out the X-ray machine again? If you show me how to use it, I should be able to scan you." Guy could understand why Claude might be nervous to see what was inside his own body, but it seemed important that they look just the same.

[earthling]

Claude, too, tucked the leaf into his jacket. "I'll bet you're right," he said with a nod. There were a lot of people from different backgrounds trapped here with them. Someone had to have some ideas.

When his friend reminded him of the X-Ray machine, Claude looked up at the device positioned on the room's ceiling. "Um, yeah, okay."

Guy was pretty proficient with machinery, so he had no doubt that he'd get the hang of it. To be perfectly honest, though, part of him was a bit apprehensive about taking a look for themselves. At least no one was in here. If they found anything troublesome, he and Guy could potentially keep it to themselves without any issue.

"Come on," he added as he motioned toward the operational room. "It shouldn't take long."

With that, he stood up from his crouch and began to walk toward their destination.

((To here.))

[fourstonewalls]

[from here]

Lana pulled her pistol out as she stepped into the room, and swung both hands, locked together, across the scene, keeping both flashlight and gun barrel pointed away from the door and her companions.

Nothing. At least nothing alive, and nothing dead except a smile pile of leaves on the ground.

[Timeskipped to after the other groups]

[ryuuzaki]

If L had chills, they had more to do with the low-grade fever he'd been suffering for the previous four days. He felt tired, he ached, but his wariness wasn't exactly the same thing as fear. As they moved, he also addressed Nina's question.

"I tried once. If I had equipment of my own I might be able to do more. As it is, I haven't heard of anyone being able to get into them. That doesn't mean that no one has, but in this place, I would have expected word to get around."

They made the left turn in the corridor and found the door to the X-Ray Room, and Lana produced a pistol and took the lead yet again. Clearing a room... it was more comfortable to have someone else do it in the same way that it was more comfortable to have anyone else take on a task that was dangerous, necessary, and not specialized enough to require L's personal attention. He found himself appreciating her initiative, even if he questioned her ability to fully carry through on it.

When it was established that the room was clear, he followed Lana into it.

It would have been impossible to miss the message under any conditions. The glowing letters drew his attention immediately, and he focused the beam of his flashlight on the painting, then on the area around it, settling on the pile of leaves on the floor beneath it. The stomach drawing from the previous night was still there, and it was as reported, but faded in comparison to the painting's caption.

The painting was incongruous in a clinical setting, no one had mentioned it on the bulletin board earlier in the day, and the glowing letters beneath it were clearly fresh: all of it suggested that this was the new clue. He moved close to the painting and peered at it, then bent and picked up one of the leaves and held it up in the beam of his flashlight: nothing special. He began to consider what it all might mean.

Beheading... that was the second reference to cutting in the Harrington clues. Could it be a metaphor? Nip it in the bud, cut it off at the root... no, that interpretation would only make sense if it involved cutting off someone's feet.

"SHJB" meant nothing to him, and if the words were an anagram, the three of them would be there all night trying to suss out a meaningful phrase.

If it was a phrase, why use a painting at all? Why hadn't Harrington just told them what he knew to begin with? Why the cryptic clues--why send sick people on a chase, or leave a clue that insinuated that they needed to butcher themselves as carefully as they could manage? Was he playing games with the patients, or... could it be that whoever was physically leaving these clues was under the same kind of injunction that Marc had been under the first time he and L had met, the one that also seemed to affect patients who had been in the Coliseum? If so, using something pictorial, a metaphor, would make sense.

He frowned, staring at the painting. It would be possible to overanalyze it... under these circumstances, it seemed unlikely that examining paint chips under a microscope would yield anything worth his time.

L himself had never possessed much religious faith, but knowledge of the history of art and the meaning of some of the most common subjects was necessary in his work. If you were recovering a stolen object, understanding its value on several levels was useful--this was, he thought, an Italian Baroque piece, one by a master. But the caption emphasized the subject, not the painting's origins.

As to its subject... Salome had danced and John had been executed. But before that, John had lived in the wilderness, and he had baptized Jesus, his cousin, in the Jordan.

Which element seemed the most pertinent? Salome and John were just names; which actions were indicated? What might they say? You could dance in the ballroom, but no one did, and it didn't seem to fit. Baptism, though... consecration, purification... that seemed more likely to be connected to healing. Where would you baptize someone at Landel's?

There was a fountain upstairs in the chapel. However, almost as soon as it came to mind, L began to doubt it was the place indicated by the message.

While a fountain in a church could certainly be assumed to be a baptismal font, the chapel at Landel's seemed not just nondenominational but irreligious. Past that, there should have been little need for a baptismal font in a psychiatric hospital: were patients there often pregnant, and would their newborn children have been kept there for baptism? Adults could be baptized too, but it was less common; there was also the possibility that the building itself had a more complicated history, but there wasn't much about this particular scenario that indicated that a background of that nature was relevant to what Harrington was trying to tell them, and there were less convoluted ways to tell them to go upstairs. But to L, the most convincing problem with the assumption that the clue might indicate the chapel fountain was that it didn't take the leaves into account.

So, considering the leaves... were they supposed to go make a beverage of them with the water from a given location? There was nothing in the painting to indicate doing anything with the leaves at all. Baptism and leaves....

Where was a body of water near trees?

L could think of two places. The first was the courtyard, which wasn't far away. But if that was the intended location, why hadn't Harrington's announcement just directed people there? If he could say to go to the X-Ray Room, it stood to reason that he could say to go to the Courtyard. Furthermore, what could they do in the Courtyard that would help them that they couldn't do in the X-Ray Room and that had something to do with a foreign object in their stomachs?

The river near the ruins, the one he had heard when he was there in the past, was the other location that came to mind, and as soon as it did, several ideas began to coalesce. John the Baptist had done his most famous baptism in a river, not a fountain. And Marc had helped L and Lunge in the ruins about a week and a half ago, meaning that it was probably one of the more accessible areas to anyone who wanted to assist a patient.

In that respect, directing patients to the river made sense. If the reason the clues had been so cryptic as to be questionable or useless was that Harrington or his agent was physically unable to leave a more explicit message on the grounds of the Institute, it might be possible that someone was able to talk freely further afield.

Less than a minute had passed since L had picked up the leaf. Now, his expression shifted, the perplexed frown replaced by determination. He spoke in a low, calm voice.

"I think I know where to go, although I have to admit that I don't yet understand what we're meant to be doing there. If you'll trust me, I'll explain on the way... it's going to be a long walk, and we'll need to move as fast as we can. I don't know how much more time we have tonight."

His usual route to the ruined town would be impossible tonight: he didn't think he'd be able to get over the back wall with this shoulder injury even if he were otherwise healthy. It would take at least another day of healing, and even then, it would be painful.

However, if they were very lucky, they should be able to use the front door out of the Institute. It depended now on whether or not something was guarding it. The walk itself would be long and uncomfortable, but he thought he could manage it, especially in the face of some of the alternatives.

He moved back towards the door.

[mirrorimage]

Nina nodded in response to Ryuuzaki's answer. "Mmm. I see," was all she said out loud, but if anyone glanced at her in the dark, they'd see her pursing her lips thoughtfully. The institute was a small, confined place, and news seemed to travel fast. That meant it was probably safe to assume that nobody had gotten in after all, right? Maybe not. Maybe it was never safe to assume anything at all.

Nina felt mildly guilty that a sick woman had to be the one to clear the room. She was well, after all. It should have been her. But Nina had no weapon that would be effective at such a thing, so she reluctantly acknowledged to herself that perhaps Lana was best for that task after all.

When the light from Ryuuzaki's flashlight hit the painting and then the area around it, Nina frowned and wandered over to get a closer look. It seemed like the leaves had been arranged there, so that must have meant they were part of the clue. But what could leaves mean? And the letters?

Nina stared at them next. "SHJB". Her mind raced, comping up with a few acronyms in German, English and Czech, but none of them made any sense in context. She frowned, frustrated, stumped. She hoped one of other two, more familiar with the institute and the surrounding grounds than she was, might know something more or be able to come up with something.

She was lost in her own thoughts until Ryuuzaki spoke. Then she turned to him. She bit her lip uncertainly, but her eyes lit up and her voice was laced with hope. "You do?" she said, when he said he would know where to go.

There was always a chance that he might be wrong, even though he was clearly intelligent, but Nina herself had no ideas, and even going to a wrong location was better than doing nothing all night. She looked over at Lana, searching the other woman's face for something, when he moved back towards the door. "What do you think?" Nina asked her. It was possible Lana might have an idea of her own, after all. But if she didn't, then letting Ryuuzaki lead the way was their only option.

[fourstonewalls]

Lana's fingers itched for a camera. Or, failing that, at least something to put the evidence in rather than Ryuuzaki's bare hands. Amateurs, she thought.

None of it added up. She wanted quiet, and precise diagrams, and a night or two to think about it; being the Chief did have some benefits when it came to scheduling. Basically, she could leave it up to Ryuuzaki, who was dangling the fact that he had a theory in front of them like a particularly informative carrot, or she could try to come up with something right now. Even if she hadn't been ill, she might have been hard-pressed to do so.

She answered, not with words, but with action. She stepped over and pushed open the door, holding it for Ryuuzaki to lead them through. Then she followed close on his heels.

[back to here]

[oyaji]

[From here; Time skippery]

"Hello~?" Wild Tiger cooed as he pulled his head into the room. Surprisingly, no one was in here. It had been a real scene last night. He guessed after that crucible you had to get through just to make it here, many of the civilians had opted out of a second helping. Or they were just late to the party, who knew.

What he did know was that giant painting on the opposite wall hadn't been there last night. Pushing the door all the way open so his partner could get through, the former Hero brought his flashlight across the canvas to piece together just what exactly it meant.

"... Salami... with the... head of... John the Baptist. What?!" He had absolutely no clue.

[baniichan]

Barnaby was just as surprised to find the room considerably more calm than last night. On one hand, it should have been a welcome change. On the other, it also made him more suspicious of a trap lying in wait.

"Salome," he promptly corrected his partner. "At any rate, this appears to be the 'hint' we're supposed to use to find a cure." It was even less straightforward than the odd painting from last night. Needless to say, he wasn't terribly thrilled by their finding. That didn't mean he was going to turn back after coming all this way, though.

After wheeling himself around the X-ray table, Barnaby lifted his flashlight and spotted some dried leaves underneath the oil painting. "It looks like there's something else," he observed.

[oyaji]

"So, what, they dragged this painting out of a forest?" That made absolutely no sense. A painting couldn't just be hanging outside amongst nature! Maybe there was a storage shed it came from that sat outside, but why only leaves? The older man would expect there to be dirt trails or something equally outsidey to go along with the "random" pile of leaves.

"Augh, why is this so needlessly complicated?!" Wild Tiger hoped the Head Doctor was getting a good laugh out of all this, because he swore he would shove every chuckle back down his throat after he was done with this enigmatic crap. "What're we supposed to get out of a weird picture and some stupid leaves?"

[baniichan]

"I doubt they left these here by accident," Barnaby pointed out. What it actually meant, however, was a different story. While Kotetsu vented his frustrations, though, he kept silence as he tried to mull over the possibilities.

Why the clue was complicated wasn't so difficult to figure out. After all, if they were given an easy riddle, then it stood to reason that their captors could sabotage their chances for a cure. On the other hand, that was assuming they hadn't sabotaged it already...

As he opened his mouth to add more, though, the room began to spin. Blinking rapidly, he gripped onto the edge of his wheelchair until his knuckles turned white.

[oyaji]

"Okay, so what do we--" Wild Tiger stopped talking when he turned around and found that Barnaby wasn't paying attention to him. In fact, he was intensely focused on staring at his lap it looked like. Bemused, his partner moved closer and then he realized something was definitely wrong. An unnerving shiver set a course up his spine as he placed his hand over the blond's. It felt like Barnaby was holding onto that chair for dear life.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, trying to keep his voice even despite the sudden anxiety attack that threatened to take over. "Bunny?"

[baniichan]

Pain lanced through his abdomen so sharply that Barnaby almost thought he'd been stabbed by a knife, and he suddenly clutched his stomach with his free hand. His chest tightened to the point that it felt like is lungs were pushing the air out of him. Kotetsu would also find that his skin was starting to grow clammy.

As his ears began to ring, he became aware of his partner's voice. Are you okay? Swallowing hard, he shook his head no. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew that it was bad.

After leaning forward in his chair, Barnaby tried to tuck his head between his knees so he could ward off the disorienting dizzy spell. He was practically curled in on himself, but that was all he could do until this passed.

[oyaji]

"Bunny? Are... Are you gonna throw up?" He really didn't know what else to think. Wild Tiger gave the young man some room, moving out of his partner's way so he could do... Whatever it was he needed to do.

"It's okay, just take your time..." Too bad there wasn't some kind of bag or trash can in here. The former Hero was pretty sure Barnaby wouldn't be too happy if he hurled on his expensive red boots. As he waited in trepidation, Wild Tiger placed his hand on his partner's back, rubbing gently to keep him calm, and to keep himself calm.

[baniichan]

Barnaby shook his head again. This wasn't nausea so much as the feeling that his internal organs were waging a war. "It hurts--" he ground out between clenched teeth. The pain was so intense that he could barely think about anything else.

To make matters worse, a sheen of sweat had started to form across his forehead, and an unpleasant chill settled into his bones. His body began to quiver beneath Kotetsu's palm.

The Head Doctor had said five people would change tonight, Barnaby faintly recalled with a jolt of horror. This had to have been related to that awful thing they had found inside of him yesterday. With that thought blaring through his mind like an alarm bell, it was by sheer willpower that he began to push himself up again.

"Get it out," he rasped with eyes squeezed shut.

[oyaji]

"It hurts...?" Whatever was holding his anxiety crumbled broke like a defective dam, leaving his heart rattling against his chest and his palms sweating. He remained frozen for a moment, too overwhelmed to make any kind of decision, until Barnaby's determination could no longer be ignored or he could hurt himself--Well, more than he already was.

"W-Wait--Bunny!" Moving to the front of the wheelchair, he grabbed the blond under his arms and hauled him bodily out of his seat. "It's okay, you're okay, Bunny..." Tiger reassured, though he was sure it sounded like white noise to Barnaby the same way it did to him. He had nothing else to give at this moment. He wasn't sure everything was going to be okay. They were all alone without support once again. Stifling bleeding was one thing, but abdominal pain was quite another. He was no doctor or surgeon.

Laying him out on the floor, Tiger held him up by his shoulders as he struggled to unzip the blond's jacket quickly. Just how exactly did Barnaby think he was going to get that thing out of him? His bare hands were useless and there was nothing in this room that would change that!

[baniichan]

With the way the room kept spinning, Barnaby only fully realized that Kotetsu had moved him to the floor once he felt the cold tile beneath him. His partner was no doubt doing whatever he could to make him more comfortable, yet there was just one pressing need on his mind.

"Get it out," he breathed again, this time more insistent. Every nerve in Barnaby's body screamed to stop whatever was happening to him. At this point, he didn't even care if they had to tear him apart to do it.

Without thinking, he balled his hand up into a fist and brought it down into his abdominal muscles with all of his might. The force knocked both the wind and a wet-sounding choke out of him. He couldn't breathe, but that didn't stop him from raising his arm to do it again.

[oyaji]

"Bunny!" What in the hell was he thinking?! He immediately grabbed the blond's hand out of reflex so he couldn't hit himself again. Barnaby was beyond desperate and Wild Tiger was the only one left with any kind of sense left; he needed to come up with something better than this futile violence. At this angle, all he was going to accomplish was suffocating himself.

"Wait, wait! Turn--If you're gonna do this, turn over!" Getting back up on his feet, Wild Tiger turned his partner over on his knees so he could throw up safely. God almighty, this was what they were reduced to: Barnaby punching himself in the stomach while he supervised. In a dark recess of his mind that was generally reserved for shoving the unwanted truth into, he realized this would be more effective if he did it. From the angle of the blond's fist, it wasn't going to work as well.

[baniichan]

Although he had Kotetsu's help in sitting back up, Barnaby wobbled as he tried to maintain his balance. He knew that his partner was right, but that didn't mean it was necessarily more effective this way.

Yet his stomach was being eaten from the inside. Everything burned. He aimed another fist at his abdomen, gasped from the impact, and...nothing. Barnaby shook his head, his chest heaving.

The muscles in his legs visibly twitched, which was abruptly followed by an involuntary jerk of his shoulder. The panic began to well up once again, and it showed in Barnaby's wide green eyes. "Get it out of me!"

[oyaji]

"Alright, alright!" Damnit, this was not supposed to happen! Sci-fi shit like this was reserved for horrors movies! And then when it got too scary all you had to do was turn the lights back on or cover your eyes. You weren't supposed to watch your partner suffer from something alien eating him inside out and be unable to stop it!

"Stop, I'll do it!" It wasn't often he had a leg up on Barnaby's broad spectrum of knowledge and it soured his mouth knowing he had to use it against his partner. He'd practiced enough martial arts and watched enough boxing to know the most effective places to make someone bring their lunch back up. He didn't have padding, though, but he figured a broken hand was a sufficient penance for hurting Barnaby. God, he hoped it was worth it. He hoped he wasn't making a mistake, trying to finish this as quickly as possible. All it would take was the right amount of pressure at the right angle and he could break the man's ribs or tear his internal organs.

Saying one last silent prayer, Wild Tiger placed his left hand on Barnaby's shoulder to steady him. He balled up his his fist and aimed the punch below his sternum where the network of cartilage connecting his ribs was a bit more forgiving than solid bone. A good liver blow could clean out someone's stomach in one hit, if they were lucky, but he had his doubts tonight.

[baniichan]

Look at them, Barnaby hazily thought as Kotetsu's hand tightened on his shoulder. Reduced to this, with nothing left to do except try to make him vomit the horrid thing stuck inside of him. With the room spinning, he barely registered the throbbing pain in his wounded thighs, much less the fist hurling straight into his stomach. As soon as Kotetsu's fist made impact, the pain rocked his ailing body, and managed to push a choked gag from the back of his throat.

Instead of bringing the relief he desperately needed, though, his muscles began to tense so much that it almost felt like they were going to shatter his bones.

"Kote...tsu," he manage to gurgle. Tears stung his eyes as a million questions rushed through him at once. If he died, who would help his partner? Who would find his parents' killer and put them to justice? What was his life even good for if it was going to end like this?

An awful noise pierced the room -- a low, guttural cry that sounded like a dying animal. With a jolt of horror, he realized it was coming from him. And though he wasn't wholly aware of it, streaks of red began to spread across his body like spiderwebs.

His pale skin was cracking and splitting apart, as if he were turning into a rotting corpse.

[oyaji]

"B-Bunny--!" The inhuman noise shook Wild Tiger, freezing the blood in his veins. His tremoring hands pulled Barnaby's head up to tell if that sound had truly come from his partner, but what he saw on the young man's face was far worse than any howl. The skins between his dark hands was sloughing off like it was made out of paint and the blond had gotten caught in a rainstorm. Blood began to pool and dribble down the back of his hands and it was suddenly too much to take.

The hysteria Wild Tiger had kept at bay behind a thin veil of denial and desperate hope broke and he began to cry. "Bunny!" he sobbed, unable to form any other words. "Bunny, Bunny, I'm sorry!" It all came out before he could stop himself or even understand why he had needed to say it. Perhaps he was sorry for not being a better partner. If he had been more serious or if his powers hadn't been in recession he may have been able to stop this before the infection destroyed Barnaby from the inside out. Maybe it was for the fact that now his partner would die without ever knowing who killed his parents and that was his fault. He should have told him immediately! He knew he was being an ass, but he was too selfish and cowardly to tarnish their friendship now that they had been reunited.

[knightspirit]

[ from here, time skippin' and stuff]

The first thing that caught Kyousuke's notice was the part he already knew: the drawing of a stomach containing a butterfly, drawn in an oozing green paint. Next was the words in green, brighter and glowing faintly. Above that was a painting, which made him stop in his tracks. Just as the caption said... a girl with a decapitated head. It wasn't painted in a gruesome way, but it was still unsettling, especially since he couldn't even begin to place the meaning.

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist... Were those the names? 'John the Baptist' sounded like something he may have heard once, but he couldn't figure out where or when, or if he was just imagining the familiarity because he wanted to figure this out. But there was something brown on the floor he couldn't make out... He edged closer to find a pile of leaves. He crouched down as carefully as he could to pick one up, rubbing it to dust between his fingers.

"And this is supposed to help?" He voiced to himself indignantly. It wasn't even that he couldn't understand, he just couldn't see the point to this. What good was something so cryptic when people's lives were in danger? It certainly wasn't doing them any favors. He wouldn't dismiss it right away but, he was frustrated, and beginning to wonder if they weren't wasting their time.

[timedork]

The Doctor was faintly surprised to see that last night's clue was still present, but the fading depiction of the butterfly in the stomach was nothing compared to what was—what must be—the newer clue. When the light of the Doctor's torch found the painting, he stopped looking around, transfixed.

It was a good painting, all things considered; it didn't look a thing like either John or Salome, but it was well-done all the same. But as a clue went, it was even more baffling than the butterfly. If the butterfly had been meant literally as something within the stomach, was this meant to be taken the same way? Beheading couldn't be part of the solution; it was a touchy subject to start with—one that people would often, well... lose their heads over—and by the end, it was (usually) quite permanent. Beheading might end the sickness, but it would also end lives.

Something less literal, then—or an analogy? Were Salome and John representing someone (or something!) else entirely? Was the painting simply pointing to the event of the beheading, or the reasons for it, or the lessons the story could be used to teach?

While the Doctor had been studying the painting, Tsurugi had moved closer to it, crouching down to check something else.

"Did you find something?" he asked, taking a few steps closer and finally moving his light off the painting in order to see what Tsurugi was inspecting.

[knightspirit]

"... Dried leaves," Kyousuke replied, lifting himself back onto his feet as casually as he could manage with all the strain it put on him. "They must be part of the clue."

He did another sweep around the room with his flashlight, half hoping for something he might have missed, or that would tie this all together, but there wasn't anything else to be found, from the looks of it. A butterfly, a beheading, and leaves... Where did that put him? ... No, he probably couldn't even start to piece it together yet. He didn't understand the context of the painting, and that could change a lot of things. He wondered if there was a way to look this up. Somehow, he doubted it, but for something like this, he wasn't willing to assume someone else would understand and lay it out for the rest of them. It was possible, but he wasn't willing to bet lives on it.

"This painting... Do you know anything about it?" he asked carefully, lost in thought. He usually preferred working things out on his own, but in this case, even vague conjecture might help.

[timedork]

"Leaves?" the Doctor echoed, sweeping over to the pile as Tsurugi pulled himself back to his feet. The leaves had to be part of the clue—otherwise, why would they be here at all? The x-ray room wasn't exactly near any of the doors that led outside... No, they were definitely intentional.

But why?

He inspected the pile, picking up one leaf to get a better look at the type. It wasn't anything unusual—anything notable, or more importantly with medicinal properties—so perhaps the pile was to represent trees in general opposed to a particular kind? Or even more generally: the outdoors? The idea of moving the search for a clue outside did make sense, but the connection between the leaves and the beheading of John—or between these new clues and the butterfly...

"John the Baptist," the Doctor answered, still hunched over the pile of leaves. After a moment's thought, he pocketed the leaf in his hand and then tilted his head up to see the painting again. "He was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, and later beheaded by the request of his daughter—Salome there. It's a standard subject in Christian art, but... I can't really think of what connection it would have with curing that illness." Beyond death.

He stood, sliding his hands into his trouser pockets. "Unless it's to do with the subjects and not the story. Her part in John's beheading is all Salome's really remembered for; John on the other hand, well..." He tilted his head to the side with a shrug of his shoulders. "Where to start with John?"

[knightspirit]

Beheaded by request... That made Kyousuke stare at the painting a little more intently. He wondered what would drive someone to request someone's death, or why the man had been imprisoned to begin with. Or how much that mattered in the scheme of things.

Christianity did explain why he wasn't familiar with the story—most of what he knew about it were just general, broad things he'd picked up without realizing or thinking on. He frowned for a moment, as he thought about what to ask about. John the Baptist, huh...

... Baptist? Wait a minute.

"Isn't baptism some kind of purification rite?" he thought aloud. ... Maybe that was the key. They were trying to do the same thing, in a sense, by getting rid of that illness. But that still didn't answer anything. It wasn't as simple as just washing everything away... Unless it was, but... He shook his head. No, that was probably too easy.