The intercom jingle sounded throughout the Institute, but it took a few moments for anyone to speak.

"Hello, everyone." The Head Doctor's breathing seemed slightly labored, his voice somewhat hoarse. There was a kind of weariness to it that hadn't been present before. "I... just wanted to let you all know that I'm doing quite fine."

He paused, then took a deep breath and continued.

"However, the recent events here at the Institute have made us realize that our current protection is not quite so fine. So, in order to protect the welfare of our patients and staff, we will be implementing some new security measures to make sure that none of these mishaps occur ever again.

"While most of these reforms will be at the staff and technology level, research into the habits of our patients has forced us to conclude that, while we have put our best faith in you, we simply cannot allow the nonsense on the bulletin board to continue. Much of the spread of nighttime rumors, we fear, originates from just a few of you who seem insistent on alarming everyone else through constant misinformation.

"Well," said the Head Doctor, and now his voice sounded a little more normal, "that's not going to go on any longer! From tomorrow onward, nurses will be diligently monitoring all activity on the bulletin for inappropriate messages and will take them down if need be! Also, we will be quite more diligent about completely clearing the bulletin every night so as to facilitate better, more proper communication. After all–"

He coughed, suddenly. After a deep breath, he finished with:

"In... any case, I am sure that even this small change will have a profound impact on the recovery of our more willing patients. I look forward to seeing it, but at the moment, I must leave our CM-US Trials and Special Counseling in the hands of our experienced doctors and bid you all goodnight."

The intercom clicked off.

The intercom speakers came on with a familiar hiss and crackling static, which continued on for what seemed to be a full minute. Finally, the Head Doctor spoke, his voice somber again:

"I'm not feeling too well either," he said, strangely quiet. The sound of someone scratching through their hair could be heard. "Kind of awful, actually."

He took a deep breath.

"I am truly sorry for the last two nights. I had no part in any of them, and what I said was true. We need better security, and better protection for all of you."

The crackling increased in volume, but just under it, barely audible, the Head Doctor added:

"Which is why we need to take your training to the next level..."

Slowly, all the sound faded out. Then, the doors unlocked.

"Take care," Sheena called to her new roommate as she slipped into the hallway.

The girl seemed nice and she wouldn't have minded talking to her more, but the ninja had stuff she needed to do. The more important one being the reaquisition of her ribbon. Now, if only the youkai had it and wasn't going to hold it over her head or something. Sheena had some time to spare since she wasn't meeting up with anyone, but that didn't mean she wanted to be caught up more than fifteen minutes with Yukari. That damn youkai was distracting and... stuff.

Obi ribbons fluttering behind her, the ninja moved quickly down the hallway. Yukari's room had been a few hallways over. She just needed to get there relatively quickly.

[M88]

Was it just him, or did it sound like the Head Doctor was trying to play the part of the the good guy in this scenario?

Leon had already pulled out his materials for the night. He sat on the edge of his bed, staring up at the now silent intercom as though it might provide answers to all his new questions at any moment. If the man on the radio really was responsible for what had happened to everyone over the past couple nights, then that removed his good guy status, didn't it? However, that didn't make Landel any better. As far as the patients were concerned, it was just one unfortunate position over another.

Protection? He doubted it.

The only real protection anyone could receive here right now was the type he was hoping to help provide, if indirectly. That's what those who'd signed up on the board had wanted, wasn't it - to be able to protect others? They'd be able to do that better with a weapon than he would with a couple of weak spells.

He'd wait for Cissnei now, and hope he wasn't getting in over his head. The last thing he needed was Dias' I-told-you-so.

It was now or never.

Sync immediately began to prepare for the night the moment his nurse closed the door. Tearing off a portion of his bed sheet, the God-General carefully wrapped the cloth around the blade of the short sword, sliding the ornate weapon into the waistband of his pants while hiding the handle with the bottom of his shirt. It didn't really matter to him if his roommate saw or not; after all, it wasn’t like he knew what it was used for.

Dinner itself was rather quiet, but the replica could hardly complain. It gave him time to go over his plans a final time while eating at a moderate pace, knowing that he’d probably be burning off most of his energy, especially when he was still enduring the injuries he received. Yet soldiers were designed to trudge along despite these odds, and so Sync was planning to do just that.

He didn’t forget the fact that he'd left his flashlight in the basement, and while it may slightly delay his actions, Sync knew that he’d have no problem once he caught up with Dahlia and Anise.

However, the intercom's words were enough to pull him from his thoughts, glancing up at the ceiling with an amused expression.

Since when did the Head Doctor ever care about their well-being?

Giving his supplies one last look over, the God-General casually waved to his roommate before slipping out into the hall.

With no flashlight in his possession, Sync had to rely on everything else to lead him through the hallway. He kept his hand against the wall, sliding his fingertips over the surface and using that as a guide to make his way down the hall. He kept his gaze forward, impatiently waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness in order to pick up his pace.

It didn't take long to reach the end, and so the God-General wasted no time pushing through to the next area.

[To here.]

[From here.]

As expected, the next hall was just as dark as the last, but Sync didn't bother to waste any time just loitering around. Following the same idea as last time, the God-General kept close to the wall, using his memory to lead himself across with little effort.

He found what he was looking for in no time, pushing open the door and sliding through the crack into the larger hallway.

[To here.]

[From here.]

By the time Sync made it out of his block his eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness. This meant that he was less inclined to keep close to the wall and instead moved briskly down the hallway. Yet despite his speedy pace, the God-General made sure to listen in for any noises from anything that could be lingering nearby. The last thing he needed was to get ambushed by some kind of monster before getting out of the patient blocks.

[To here.]

[From here]

Hime peered out into the hallway. It was mostly empty; it seemed she was one of the first to come out of their cells. While this presented the problem of wandering alone without the cover of the herd, this also gave her a chance to scout out the population as they left their rooms. While Hime had confidence in her fighting abilities, she had no delusions about taking on whatever horrors lurked here by herself. Besides, she needed to find people who could fight; the basement did not sound like the kind of place one explored on their own, or even with just one other.

Recalling that all the patient rooms filtered out into the main hallway, Hime headed that way.

[To here]

It was time. Once the nighttime announcements began, Anise grabbed her flashlight, flicked it on, and...

Huh. It wouldn't turn on. She pushed the switch up and down and shook the device, but it didn't so much as flicker. Was it broken? She'd noticed its light seemed a little weaker than usual the previous night... but she wasn't really sure what that meant. Not knowing what else to do with it, she shoved it into a drawer. A flashlight that couldn't light up wasn't worth carrying around, and she didn't have time to ponder how to fix it.

When she opened the drawer, a glint of something sharp and shiny caught her eye. The shard of glass she picked up two weeks ago, during the ambush on the buses. Anise had grabbed it just to have something that could potentially be used as a weapon, but thankfully it never came to that. Now, though...

Anise pulled Tokunaga off of her back and stuck the long, triangular shard into the pouch on the doll's back. It didn't completely fit, and one point stuck out a little, but that was fine. It wasn't likely that anyone would be looking at it, and it was clear anyway. Plus, it would be easier to pull it out if it wasn't enclosed completely.

It wasn't much of a weapon, and Anise doubted she'd have a chance to retrieve it if she ended up in a struggle with Sync, but it was better than nothing.

The doll went back over her shoulders, and the girl picked up her main weapon: a meat tenderizer. Before she had time to calm her nerves and collect her thoughts, the Head Doctor finished his creepy announcements and the door unlocked. The instant she heard the click, Anise bolted out of the room and down the hallway.

[to here]

Indy dressed and left quickly after the doors unlocked, ready to make an early start. He seemed to be the first one out in the hallway, which was fine with him. The fewer people around, the faster he could move--assuming being the first one out in the hall didn't also mean being the first course of King Kong's dinner.

He shifted his shoulder, felt the weight of the whip looped over it. The injury was fading. Right now, at least, Indy wasn't too concerned about taking that chance.

[skipping ahead to here]

[from here]

Lockdown scanned the hallway with his flashlight before entering. Axe poised, the bounty hunter stepped into the long and wide hallway. After taking a brief klik to review his map, Lockdown continued on his way.

Well, at least his optics and processor weren't playing tricks on him like the last night. Although apparently people had suffered much worse that night than he had. Due to his habit of checking the board every chance he got, he'd seen the notices and questions about 'dying' last night. With slag like that going down, Lockdown was more anxious than ever to get out of this Pithole and back in his real body and world.

[From here, after a certain lady general has passed through the hall.]

The flashbulb came on with a click, illuminating the area. The hallway was empty, as far as he could tell, allowing the light to flood where it could reach. Edgar shined his light one way, then the other. They'd taken stairs in a later hallway, hadn't they? He remembered meeting Kuukaku there- she'd certainly been lovely, even if she was a bit hot-tempered- then traveled upstairs to the enchanted hallway.

Maybe heading up the same set of stairs wasn't such a good idea after all, since there was a chance that hallway was still enchanted. On the other hand, he wasn't seeing extra hallways and doors this night- perhaps the enchantments changed nightly. That could be a pain to deal with.

First things first- he needed to get to the hallway with the stairs, then he could see if there was another way around.

[From here]

Yuffie kept close to the wall, footsteps swift and near silent. Her flashlight felt awkward and bulky in her left hand. It'd be totally useless to her until she hit the File Room, since she had absolutely no intention of turning it on unless she had to.

The darkness was as comforting as it was nerve-wracking. After that… After that thing with Nero, deep down in the depths of Mako Reactor 0, a simple absence of light felt like a really dumb thing to be scared of. Yuffie prided herself on being fearless, and no jerkass bondage boy with a brother complex was gonna change that. … Not that she'd ever been afraid of the dark! She was a master ninja, and ninja didn't do nightlights.

[To here]

Well, tonight wasn't going to get itself done. Girl-Next-Door wisely kept her mouth shut, meaning Dahlia was nice and refreshed by the time the intercom rolled around to mouth at her with nothing relevant to her interests. What a bore.

She shoved her little prize back into her knife bag and pulled herself out of bed, placing the strap of the bag around her shoulder and flipping her flashlight on. This was stupid. Why should she let Sync drag her around into the night like she was the one being used? Because, she plainly reminded herself with a cheery smile, Sync thought that she was the one being used. Sync was a moron who thought he had the power in this relationship and, so long as he did, he was eating out of the palm of her hand like she wanted him to. She was going along tonight because tomorrow? He was hers.

If he didn't die tonight. Either way, she was getting a show.

Hm... Peering through the door told her nothing was out there so far. If she was quick, they could avoid everything like they couldn't last night. Tch. Time to head out.

[To here]

"Stop calling me Greg, it's weird!" Raz protested, but predictably his words were ignored, and the nurse left with his roommate without a sound. The door closed shut, and he was alone once again.

The events that occurred this dinner shift played through his mind over and over again, though he very much didn't want them to. It was bad enough that he got trapped here in the first place, but couldn't he have at least got a friendlier roommate? Really? Was that so much to ask for?

As he contemplated how to deal with this problem, it seemed that all he did was blink, and then the room was dark. The lock unclicked, and Raz knew what that meant.

"Time to get to work," he said to himself, as he grabbed his flashlight and headed out the door.

[to here]

[From here]

There didn't seem to be any of the typical night-time traffic. It was a little weird, but then again, she had practically thrown herself out of the door this time. No wonder she'd managed to beat the rush.

After everything that'd happened in the past few days, Yuffie couldn't shake herself back into her old mindset; the trek through the corridors was still mind-numbingly boring, but horrifying potential pricked constantly at the back of her neck. Any minute now, something crazy could happen—mutant zombies, grotesque ghosts, and super (annoyingly) psychotic Remnants crawling out of the woodwork sprang immediately to mind—and there was no way she was gonna get caught with her pants down, no way, no thank you.

[To here]

[From here]

Ugh, she was really gonna have to figure out a good way to strap the shuriken to her back. Keeping it constantly in hand was kind of reassuring, but it was also hella impractical. Practicality came before comfort, especially in a place like this. A whole bunch of her techniques had the shuriken starting out on her back; if that wasn't an incentive to do something about it, nothing was.

Yuffie peered around the hallway she'd just stepped into. Deserted. Again. Sheesh, what was everybody doing? Hiding in their rooms and hoping the Big Bad didn't sneak in to get them? Or… Well, okay, it wasn't like Yuffie hadn't loitered in her room before, so maybe she could understand. Maybe.

Shaking her head, she trekked onward.

[To here]

Huh. So the head doctor actually cared about their well-being? Yeah, right. Though he guessed a game would be pretty boring if all of them had kicked the bucket.

But whatever, night had arrived hadn't it? When Tyki heard the click of the door unlocking, his skin had already turned into a shade of gray and the cross-shaped markings had appeared on his forehead. He removed his glasses from his nose and left them on his desk. He couldn't be really bothered to tie his hair back right now, though. It wasn't like anyone important was going to see him or whatever, so the Noah simply left it as it was.

Ignoring the pain from his burns as best as he could, Tyki slipped out into the still-deserted hallway. Was he early again tonight? Jeez, he was going to break a personal record again at this rate.

He guessed he would need to take it at least a little easy tonight. He guessed keeping it entertaining nonetheless was part of the challenge.

[To here]

[f25, specifically]

Alkaid finished her supper without a damn thing happening. No nurses coming to snatch her away for crazy torture sessions, no roommate coming to make awkward conversation with, no nothing. Kind of boring. She knew that no news should be good news, or whatever... but somehow she just felt unfulfilled. What was she going to do tonight? It hadn't been quite decided yet, but she was going to meet that exceptional dork, at least, and they could go adventuring just like old times... At least that'd be fun.

She gathered what had become the usual stuff - her bat, her flashlight, and the vial of acid that Badou had given her, which she popped right into her cleavage. Hey! Bazooms like this were good for something!!

Then she looked down at the cast on her arm, tapping it with the bat. Okay, yeah, this thing wasn't gonna come off tonight by any stretch of the imagination, but if the arm was healed under it then the cast itself wouldn't be a problem. The bad thing was that she felt the old zombie rot start to spread just where it had last night and the night before. Well, damn.

She was almost done getting ready when she heard the intercom go off. Huh... Was the Head Doctor trying to make himself out to be the hero of the day? Apologizing for stuff? Geez, things sure had changed in the week she'd been stuck in that coma. Weird as hell.

Oh! One more thing! She emptied a pillowcase and held it in the hand with the flashlight. It could end up useful. So now that she was all geared up, she headed out!

[to here]

[From here]

After Tyki rounded the corner and headed into the block's main hallway, he paused to lit himself a cigarette. It pretty much sucked that the only time he could actually smoke was during the night thanks to the bothersome staff.

Not to mention they weren't easily to come by, either. Why did Cheating Boy go and disappear before giving him his seven packages? He could've at least waited until after delivering those. Or even after the Noah could got around to finish the job. At least this place had people like Sylar and Miss Shinigami to keep his black side occupied. But with his those bothersome burns, it probably wasn't very smart to pick a fight. Not that he was one of those impulsive warrior-types, but he liked his fun. The thrill of the kill and all that.

At least for now, he had a couple of boring hallways to travel through.

[For Demyx]

This was a really, really bad idea.

Of course, Demyx wasn't the type to have very many good ideas, or at least ones that didn't pertain to music or ducking out of work. He knew he wasn't the brightest guy - something that had always been thrown into sharp relief in the Organization, full of scientists and people with no emotions or, in most cases, any senses of humor whatsoever to get in the way of them thinking way too hard about things - but when it came to sitars and survival instinct, he knew his intellect was, like, Mensa-level at least.

Which completely failed to explain why he was venturing out of his room, alone and unarmed and with some pretty weak powers to fall back on. But he kept seeing phantom blood on his sheets, and it was starting to really creep him out; he didn't think he could stay in his room tonight.

Maybe he could find Sora, or Xigbar, or even Luxord; he knew he wasn't exactly on the best of terms with the other Nobodies at the moment, but he still considered them friends, even if he got the feeling that had become kind of a one-way street these days.

[To here.]

Oh gods, it was back. He was going to end up trying to eat someone. Junpei just knew it. last night he managed to avoid that by not leaving his room, mostly because he was waiting for Ryouji who never showed, but that didn't matter. What mattered was Junpei couldn't stay put in his room this night. He needed to blow off some steam. He needed to get some armor for tomorrow's training. He needed to go meet Evangeline before she decided to turn him into a newt.

Being a newt would suck.

At least he had jeans, a t-shirt that didn't have a stupid smiley face on it and a hat to wear. That made him feel moderately better, even if he was the walking dead with a taste for human flesh. At least he still looked like himself, the rotting flesh only visible on his ankle, which was covered up by his pants. With a pair of heavy boots on, walking didn't hurt much. Oh, it still hurt, but he wasn't limping about. It seemed Trismegistos still had some regenerating punch in this damned place.

Grabbing his baseball bat, Junpei gave a pathetic sigh before he left his room. Time to get the evoker.

[to here]

_[M39]

When the first intercom sounded, it shook Hart at a mid-line level. It was propaganda and suppression of information flow that the institution wanted now, obviously. They'd all have to be much more careful now with the bulletins, especially if the little pet idea of the 'Evil Club' were to ever get off the ground into anything serious. For the sake of the other patients, they'd have to do more than step up and

They.
Recluse. Oh god, the man was going to go for Hart's old room wasn't he? This was horrible! He didn't even know where the other was and HARDLY knew where he himself was in relation to his old room.

"Oh no, oh no." he murmured. Hart hopped off his bed just as the second intercom message began to go off, skidding over to his closet. The static coming through raised the hairs on the back of his neck and made the man shiver. And unable to find any socks, he simply grabbed the boots out from the closet and tugged them on. The coat would come along as well, even if it were too warm to wear it comfortably. Comfort wouldn't be a matter if everything his new friends had spoken of were true.

With a swipe for his flashlight and a root through his desk, he grabbed a few pens and jammed them into his coat pocket, barely remembering to take along with the 'present' for the captain.

"SorryIcan'ttalkgottaseeamanabouta--"

The door closed behind him before he could get the last part out.

_{[to here]}

[From here]

Unsurprisingly, the stairwell appeared to be empty.

There was, however, no excuse to allow himself to be caught off guard. Now that he had gone further away from the patient blocks, the chances of an ambush would naturally only increase. Not that such a thing would stop one of the Ten Chosen Iga, of course.

His eyes peered into the darkness above, concluding there was nothing of note, before silently ascending the staircase.

[To here]

[To here]

After reaching the top of the stairs, Tenzen slipped into the next hallway. This time, the hallway consisted out of a normal floor, ceiling and walls, as opposed to the pulsing flesh from last night.

Sliding his hand along the wall, the ninja kept his flashlight switched off as he headed East.

[To here]

[From here]

By now, Tenzen had to switch on his flashlight to see where he was, considering he had never visited this area before. The beam of light, though small, would be more obvious than the ninja would like, but he'd choose that over traversing these halls aimlessly. After all, there were many directions upon the second floor.

He easily spotted the railing a small distance away, which meant his current location was above the sun room.

[Unknowingly 'waiting' for Lockdown]

[M30]

So the doors really did unlock, huh? That was something. And look, he even got a convenient flashlight. Well wasn't that something.

It was only as Haine reached for the door that he realized he had no idea what room that idiot partner of his was in. He'd been too busy growling at Giovanni to think of asking anything useful. Then came dinner, and now there was some crap about monitoring the bulletin board. Haine hadn't even looked at a bulletin board all day, so whatever, as far as he was concerned. There was some weird shit going on here, though, that was for sure.

He was really beginning to think that this might not be the Underground, but what other explanation was there? He hadn't exactly spoken to anyone who'd disillusioned him of that thought, so he'd stick with it until he had a better explanation.

The back of his neck suddenly felt funny, and he put his hand back there...wait. How was it possible that the metal collar was suddenly there? He was sure it had been gone! He'd been losing his fucking mind about it earlier! He was sure he hadn't been hallucinating that...

Fuck this. He was going to find that worthless partner and figure shit out while the doors were still unlocked.

[going down to here]

[from here]

It looked like they were the first ones in the Sun Room this night. There weren't any monsters in plain sight, which was a good sign.

Or was it? Getting held up by a monster actually sounded kind of nice, for once. If it was strong enough, it could keep Sync busy - maybe even enough to derail his plans. Of course, it would also put their lives in danger, but they were in tons of danger anyway. Whoever said "better the devil you know than the devil you don't" obviously didn't know Sync the Tempest.

So even though Anise walked into the Sun Room with soft, cautious steps like she usually would, the girl inwardly found herself praying for someone or something to intercept them.