Dinner with Bella had been not only informative, as far as catching up went, but relaxing. In fact, most of the second half of her day, save for the awkward group showers, had been pretty relaxing, which was good, considering how much stress was being put on what she and Peter were planning on accomplishing during the course of the night.

Claire was rather grim, thinking forward to what they'd planned. She wasn't sure she wanted to see what was going on in those experimentation rooms -- sometimes, ignorance was bliss. But, she knew she'd rather know than get driven mad wondering, letting it be this looming, unknown evil that acted to intimidate. Besides. They'd be able to help those who came stumbling out the doors, ideally and she'd have Peter there. If things got too bad, at least she'd have that support system.

With a final goodbye to her roommate, she grabbed her bat, her flashlight and the map and headed out the door of their room. The hallway was painfully empty and silent as the grave. Spooky.

Luckily, getting to the stairs wouldn't be much further than she'd gone on her own the previous night. She could only hope that no one worse than Elle jumped her on the way there. One eye in front of her, the other skimming the map that she was holding awkwardly between her fingers so she could still keep her bat readied in her hand, she proceeded down the dark hallway, flashlight casually scanning the darkness ahead of her.

[ to here ]

Dammit. He was hungry again.

Not that he ever stopped being hungry, but it could be ignored for a while after he'd had a chance to devour something. Though Heat had managed to get that meal the night before, the animal hadn't been all that large. The Institute seemed capable of curbing his hunger to some degree (he didn't think he could have gone for three or four days without proper food in the Junkyard without going mad) but it was still there, forever gnawing at him.

Since he actually had his mind to himself that night, he might as well take some time to see if he couldn't find bigger prey. He really hated thinking in those terms, but there was no way around the fact that Landel had the ability to make him think the way he wanted whenever he pleased. It was infuriating.

He left his radio. It hadn't done him any good before and he needed both hands for his weapons anyway. The man that spoke on it had only empty words for them as far as he was concerned. The stuffed doll, however, he decided to bring along - just in case he ran into, well, a certain someone.

[to here]

[from here]

And another room opened up, smaller, with five doors to add to the one he came through. Two seemed to lead to other rooms inside this one. One, would open into the hallway he was in previously. The one across would continue unknown, and on his right there was one. Further from the sun room, as he sought.

The doors were thick and doubled, ones that made sense if they were an outward door made to brace from intrusion and the elements. After scanning the room, Gaara moved cautiously to his right, touching wood and metal, and turning the knob in his hand to click open.

[to here, to return]

[from here]

It had led outside. There was a brief, quiet moment of relief. The simple fact of something working out when nothing else had made sense. The sensation was allowed, then just as simply stifled. He could feel relief once he had proven that he was still himself, restrained and bound or no. At another point, once he had taken further stock of the situation and knew explicitly the whereabouts of his sister and Naruto, he would test to see how far one could go before being pulled back. But currently, he held one goal, and stepped off the walkway into earth.

( A hand traced the building as he moved some feet from the door. )

[and back to here]

[From here.]

With the door shut behind, Sechs took in a few cautious glances around his darkened surroundings. The corridor of the second floor was eerily quiet and unnervingly empty; he must have been one of the first prisoners to arrive here so far. For the first time that night Sechs noticed just how hard his heart was pounding inside his chest. He didn't think it could have been because of the stairs, he didn't have as much trouble climbing them like last time. No, it must have been his body reacting to the memories of this place. He took a moment to allow his burdened body to relax a little as he scanned the hall with his flashlight. Nothing out of the ordinary so far... except for that nightmarish patch of darkness to his left...

( More under cut )

It was inhuman of him, maybe, but he didn't even have a mind to spare for that woman's intake of breath over the intercom.

No, protecting one woman was more than enough of a trial for him, which was why he was so quick and silent in preparing for the night. He shoved the three full bottles of blood in the back of the closet, as far as they would go (they didn't make any noise, which made the vampire wary of how utterly congealed the stuff was, if not altogether rotting at its core), picking the fourth up and settling it onto his mattress.

He was going to need something for tonight - especially if they were monster hunting - but Edward was not looking forward to twisting the cap off and examining the contents. Even rotting blood would be enough to sustain him, and it wouldn't poison him, it was just... utterly disgusting.

It could wait. He placed it back on the floor and shoved it in the closet. He knew Venom would be coming to his room, so all of his item collecting could wait until Bella was safely not wandering the hallways anymore, as he knew she would be doing.

A quick return trip. Nothing to be worried about.

[To here.]

[From here]

...

By day, the restroom had seemed unappealing enough. Though clean, its rustic appearance and meager amenities made the men's room in the county courthouse appear luxurious. There wasn't even a single window in this cramped little washroom!

But now at night, there was an atmosphere of gloom pervading the lavatory. Though it seemed von Karma was the only entity in here, he didn't want to stay in here for longer than necessary. Thus, as quickly as possible, he took care of the matter that had sent him here, then turned on the tap at the sink to wash his hands. To his dismay, the liquid that gushed from the faucet was anything but pristine. Rather, it looked more like the wastewater that sometimes emerged from a clogged drain.

Grimacing in disgust, he let the water run for a minute in the hopes that it would clear itself, as it sometimes did. In the meantime, he examined the pipes underneath the sink. Pure metal, from what it looked like. And the number of sinks in this restroom would likely provide more than sufficient metal for Mr. Geeste's work. He would definitely need Ms. Taura's assistance to help carry some of it, however. Though von Karma morally objected to the idea of bringing a woman into a bathroom designated for men, he would still keep it under consideration should no better alternative for a source of metal present itself.

Ugh. The "water" issuing from the tap was still murky. Disgusting. He was not about to run his hands under that sludge. No, he would just have to use the hand wipes that he had stored in the closet of his room once he returned there. Curse it! Of all the items to leave behind, it had to be those. He shook his head to himself as he turned the tap off.

Now finished in here, von Karma walked near the door, glancing all around him for signs of potential trouble, before setting his hand against the doorknob.

[From here.]

By the time Sechs had reached the center hall which opened up to the space that overlooked the sun room bellow, he was still feeling a bit winded from his inner battle with his living dark psyche. He hadn't expected his energy to be drained like that! It had taken more than just mental concentration to push his unwanted passenger out of his awareness; it seemed to have strained his physical body in the process as well. His fight wasn't as effective as Kibitoshin's ki energy, but it was still enough to ease the worst of the drug's side-effects for the time being. Not to mention, his little personal victory made Sechs a tad too cocky for his own good...

"Where the HELL are you Alita?!" Sechs barked as he strolled down the hall, his big boots thundering against the floor as he marched through the shadows, "If you're really here, I'm gonna find ya! I've hunted you down before, Alita! I can do it again!"

According to the copies he made of the institute maps, there was another section of the second floor that had been left unmarked. In the southern center of the building, right across the balcony that overlooked the first floor, was a central unmarked room with a sturdy-looking door, a pretty important-looking one too if you'd ask Sechs! Maybe the door led to a storage room containing the stolen bodies and possessions of the institute's prisoners? Or perhaps a way to the third floor and possibly even Landel himself?

"And how 'bout you, you sick, slimy excuse for a doctor?!" the Replica went on, not bothering to lower his voice. He couldn't help but grin viciously in spite of himself and the dangerous situation at hand, "That stupid drug of yours isn't working as well as you thought it would! Well, tough! I'm NO ONE'S rat!"

The Replica stopped before the center door. No knobs or any panels to open it could be seen. Oh well. Sechs had his axe and a giant boost to his confidence to give it a shot. He had all night.

"Either way!" he growled, a hunger for destruction flashing in his amber eyes, "I'm gonna find somebody I want tonight! Nothing can stop me!"

Leaving his flashlight switched on, Sechs stuffed it into his pocket, allowing the bright head to stick out and illuminate some of the Replica's surroundings. With both hands free, Sechs gripped his double bit axe, lifted it over his shoulder, and then swung it against the door.

Ah! Solving his problems with nothing but destructive brute force, just the way Sechs liked it!

[From here.]

Still empty. Maybe he was just moving faster than usual? Though it seemed the patients poured out in droves at around the same time. Edward imagined the unlocking mechanism worked on all the doors simultaneously, especially since it always occurred immediately after that final intercom announcement.

It was amazing how the human mind adapted to the strangest situations with time.

The vampire ground his tongue against his teeth as his fingers searched the walls in the darkness. The thirst was coming back, and even the disgust of tasting the jell-o equivalent of blood wasn't going to stop him. Otherwise, he could be just as dangerous as whatever they were hunting would be.