Night 67: West Wing, North Hall 1-A

[complicatedliar]

[From here]

Loki slipped out the door into the larger hall. Here, he was cautious enough to burn one illusion to make himself invisible. The distance he needed to cover was small enough that he'd only need to use one in this fashion.

Hopefully he'd be able to find his target quickly enough in the other M-block. The annoying part was that he still didn't know what room was Scar's so he'd have to lie in wait potentially, but he was fairly certain the man was in M-A; Loki had never seen him departing from M-B.

Loki didn't think of himself as sadistic, and didn't take particular pleasure in killing.

Most of the time.

This, he was looking forward to, as a service to at least temporarily make the institute less stupid.

[To here]

Comments

[dividedby]

Of course he would want an explanation. Of course X wouldn't just take a simple order without wondering why. Zero let out a small, impatient sigh. Not that he blamed his friend for being concerned - he would be too if the roles were reversed - but his eagerness to split away from everyone with a pulse was growing by the second, along with the pains in his leg and his hunger for some reason. The longer they stood here talking...no. They had to hurry. They didn't have all night.

"Something might happen and if it does, it won't be good for anyone near me." His words came out somewhat hastier than usual, another outward sign that he wanted to minimize the chitchat and get going already. But regardless, he would give X a fuller explanation if that would make him understand. "Landel wasn't kidding when he said he was going to give some of us that 'extra help'. Now something's happening to me, and whatever it is might just get you killed. So it's safer if I go on alone."

And that should be that. That was all X needed to know. And to prove how serious he was about this, Zero was going to turn away from X and start walking towards the Recreational Field door now. (...Trying his best to ignore his physical pain in the meantime.)

[maverickhunterx]

X's blood ran cold, icicles piercing through ripe flesh--

Something was happening to Zero. Landel had done something to him (that phrase...'extra help' had put X on edge when he'd first heard it, too), and he was trying to go alone in order to prevent harm from coming to X and Harpuia.

Something was happening to him...

--then hot, boiling within his veins.

Something was happening to him. And he wanted to go alone and suffer through whatever it was by himself?!

X had only two words to describe his sentiments towards Zero's game plan:

Hell and No.

If Zero thought X was the kind of man who ran away from his friends when they were suffering, then he had another thing coming. He'd let Zero fall once; he wasn't going to do that again, never again.

Leaving him alone was not an option.

X said nothing, following behind Zero.

He didn't need words: his actions were loud enough.

[dividedby]

Unfortunately for X, Zero wasn't about to let any following happen so easily. He didn't have to look back to know how his friend was reacting to the news; he could hear those footsteps well enough, thank you very much. Was he deaf? Did he not just hear Zero specifically say that he was going on alone? (Of course he did. It was X. What else would he do?)

But instead of saying anything immediately, Zero waited until he was a step away from the Recreational Field door before he swiftly turned around and directed all of his negative emotions at his friend, an obvious glare on his face to go with them. "Don't follow me," he snapped, as if he were a military officer ordering around a stubborn younger subordinate.

Before he could give any lectures, however, he hesitated...and the glare on his face let up a little. A strange, unknown feeling suddenly overcame him as he stared at X. Something about him... He couldn't put a finger on the feeling, but...what was...

His shoulder... He just wanted to reach out, and...

The once-Reploid shook his head, trying to snap out of...whatever that feeling was, ignoring another protest from his stomach in the meantime. Great...so what, staring at X triggered his body to change faster, then? In other words, it was something else he was going to be avoiding from now on. Will do. Zero turned back to the door and reached for the handle - but not without continuing his lecture in the meantime. "I told you it isn't safe. And I'm not gonna let you risk your life trying to protect me."

He was going through this door, whether X liked it or not. Where he would go from there, he had no clue yet. Over the wall? Sounded like a good idea. He'd decide for certain momentarily.

[To here.]