damned_institute | Day 27: Intercom, Evening

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Day 27: Intercom, Evening

The intercom gave its cheery jingle just before the Head Doctor's equally buoyant voice rang through the halls.

"Ah, and finally, our day is coming to a close! Rooms and roommates have been reassigned with care, though what great partnership can start without a good meal? Ah, yes, after the nurses escort all of our patients, new and old, back to their proper rooms, everyone will have the chance to enjoy a savory chicken pot pie, full of peas, carrots, potatoes, and of course, chicken. On the side, we'll have buttery corn on the cob and green beans, and to drink, you may choose from the regular slew of water, milk, or assorted juices, which your nurse will bring to you.

"I believe that's all for now! Phew, long day, huh? I know I'll be happy to get some sleep, and thank you to all our vigilant doctors and nurses, although Dr. House seems to have gone AWOL... Hmm... Well, in any case, have a good dinner, everyone!"

The intercom clicked off again as the nurses began organizing the patients for the small trek back to their rooms.

[ OOC: Remember, room threads go in response to THIS post, and please put your respective room number in the subject line of your first post. Thanks! ]

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The conversation with Sheska had been an interesting one. That girl could be extremely useful to L. And she seemed so desperate for a friend... it would be easy enough to encourage that. Naomi could be perfectly friendly when she wanted to. It just wasn't her default setting.

She was a bit disappointed when her nurse pulled her away to take her to dinner. And she mentioned something about meeting her roommate. A roommate? She wasn't even going to be able to retire to her room and process all the information that had been dumped on her throughout the day? She needed time to compile her report for L! How was she supposed to do that with some strange woman in her room?

How could things possibly get worse?

The nurse opened her door and ushered Naomi inside, chattering on about chicken pie....

"... such a nutritious dinner choice tonight, Noriko," the nurse informed Naomi as the door shut behind her and she set the tray on the woman's desk and another on the opposite desk. She glanced at the bed and patted Naomi on the shoulder. "It looks like Jessica is still asleep, but I'm sure you two will get along."

Beatrix's arms shook a little at the strain and she cursed herself for not swinging down and through the door as soon as it opened. She'd been surprised to see the carefree nurse usher a dark-haired woman into the room that she'd hesitated and the door shut before she'd had the chance to move.

The Bride was annoyingly caught off-guard as the nurse obviously was referring to the blonde, but called her Jessica. Jessica? She'd gone by many aliases in her life, but never... Jessica.

And again, she'd missed her chance as the nurse quickly left, shutting the door securely behind her with an audible click as the lock engaged. DAMNIT! It had to be the drugs they'd put into her. At least she had some~~victim~~one to interrogate and her eyes focused completely on the dark-haired woman as she felt her fury rise.

This woman had to know where BB was.

Once the woman had turned her back, Beatrix silently dropped to the ground and and then struck as quick as the black mamba she'd been codenamed. She reached out to grab the woman's arm as she swept at her feet, aiming to drop the woman hard and face-first into the desk before her.

"Where's BB?!?" She demanded to know as soon as she made contact with the woman, her voice harsh, furious and unrelenting.

It was rare that Naomi was caught off her guard. She certainly hadn't been on high alert as she was ushered into her room by the chattering nurse. These were safe places, she'd been told. And the news that the woman who would be sharing her space with her was sleeping had eased her even further. She could work on her report for L.

When someone was suddenly grabbing her arm and kicking at her, Naomi's instincts kicked in. Literally. She dropped forwards with her free arm outstretched, one leg going up and out with a dancer's fluidity to strike back at her attacker. Her reflexes were at least as quick as they should be here. She hoped to catch the woman between her legs and perhaps knock her back in the process.

As she moved, what the woman said hit her.

Where's BB. No. No, no, no. Her eyes narrowed as her mind worked out what could only be happening. This woman knew who she was. This woman - for whatever reason - was after her because she'd put that freakish killer behind bars. She didn't question the odds of being placed in the same room as some woman who had a connection to the case she was most known for. After the day she'd had, she was done questioning the unbelievable.

But the only person in this place who knew she was really Misora Naomi was L. And she couldn't risk that. It would be risking him at this point, too. She had sworn to preserve his anonymity and true identity, and she would do so to the end.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" she snapped angrily as she kicked.

This woman was quick, but the Bride wasn't deterred. She was no stranger to pain and she'd proven to the world she could take anything thrown at her. Even this woman's skilled kick.

Beatrix stepped to the side so the kicks hit her on the hip, grunting a little at the solidity of the blow. She did not stop her momentum, though, and tried to force the woman's stomach into the desk since she obviously wasn't going to go down easily.

"Like hell you don't, bitch!" Beatrix exclaimed as she steeled her grip on Naomi's arm. "Where's BB?!?"

Rotting in jail, where he belongs, Naomi thought to herself. She fought to keep herself braced on her arm, grabbing the desk and tensing every muscle to keep from being slammed into it. If she could get enough momentum to push off the desk....

"I don't know! I'm a prisoner here!" Damn, the woman was strong! And with her hand on Naomi's arm, she couldn't do much. Time for dirty fighting. She gathered her strength and pushed off from the desk, twisting to face her attacker and bringing her leg up in another sweeping kick - this time, aiming for the woman's breasts.

She supposed she could go limp and try and end the fight, but Naomi wasn't one to back down when someone else had attacked her.

Besides, this woman didn't seem the type to ease up just because she'd won.

Had Beatrix not been in psycho-mode, she may have realized that this woman's reaction despite the counterattacks, would have been similar to Buck's when she'd beat him senseless in the head with the hospital door after he refused to tell her where Bill was. Unfortunately for Naomi, Beatrix was not thinking about little details like that.

The Bride almost didn't see the roundhouse kick coming when the woman pushed off the desk. Almost. The woman was twisting around toward the arm she had a hold of, so Beatrix tightened her grip on the arm with one hand while she removed the other one. Keeping a hold, she dropped to a crouch, her hand curling into a fist with two knuckles slightly sticking out, and punched the woman hard upon the inside of the thigh of the leg she was using to support her weight.

Naomi's kick clipped the top of her head as her target had moved, but the Bride didn't feel it. Kick to the head... bullet to the head... The kick was practically nothing.

"Last chance, bitch," Beatrix said in an angry low voice. "Where is she?"

She? What the hell was going on?

"I don't know!" Naomi repeated. "Fuck!" She tripped when the punch hit her thigh and began to topple, grabbing the desk that was now behind her to keep herself on her feet. It had been a while since she was in a knock down, drag out fight like this. She got both feet under her and tried to wrench her arm out of the woman's grasp.

This was crazy! She had things to do, she was on the verge of losing her tenuous grip of reality, and she was trying to end this without a broken limb. How the hell had she ended up in this situation?!?

"This is a prison! We're all here against our will! We don't know how we got here.... Stop fighting me, you crazy bitch, I'm not your enemy! I don't even know who you are!"

Desperate, she lunged down, biting at the hand the woman was holding her with.

"You have no idea what insanity it," Beatrix said darkly as she returned to a standing position.

Obviously they were in a prison. Obviously she was here against her will. Obviously this woman was lying to her. How could someone take to being held captive so complacently that she didn't attempt escape when there was nothing but an overweight aging nurse as a guard?

The Bride had decided to use the same technique Pai Mei had first used on her to get submission, twisting the arm so much that even the lightest hit would shatter it. The pain the hold alone would get her the answers she needed. She'd started to twist when the woman lunged forward and bit her hand!

"Arrgh!" Beatrix called out in pain as the woman's teeth cut into her hand. She let go, jerking her hand away, and grabbed Naomi's head. She head-butted the woman hard, her own head turned to the right just enough for the impact to be on the metal plate in her head.

"You will tell me where my daughter is."

"Ow! Fuck!"

Naomi's hand went to her head, her ears ringing and spots in her eyes. God, that hurt! It was like slamming into a metal pole!

"I told you! I don't know! I just woke up here this morning and I've had a really bad day!" Her daughter. This woman was looking for her daughter. Who most likely wasn't here. Hell, maybe she was. Naomi didn't know and she didn't care. This woman was crazy and was going to hurt her so badly she wouldn't be any use tonight!

"If you'd calm the hell down I could tell you where you are!"

[posting with Fey's permission]

Beatrix pressed her advantage and grabbed Naomi around the throat, her nails digging into the skin as she pushed the woman backwards.

"You've had a bad day?" Beatrix laughed sharply and narrowed her eyes. She raised her other hand up, fingers hooked like claws, as she readied a strike.

She paused, though, when something in the woman's eyes caught her attention. Maybe it was fear she saw, the realization that Beatrix outclassed her, or maybe it was desperation - perhaps a little of both. The Bride's face suddenly went from furious to deadly calm. She did not release her grip on the woman's throat not did she lower her readied strike. She did ease up just enough so she wasn't cutting off the woman's air supply.

"Then tell me," she said, her voice very, very calm.

And now she was held by her throat, with the insane woman threating to gouge at her face or some other horrible act.

Naomi took as deep as breath as she could and tried to get her thoughts in order.

"Yes," she said, her voice as calm as she could make it. "I've had a bad day. This place is a prison that fronts as a mental institution. Every patient here was kidnapped, without their knowledge, and brought to this place. There has been no discovery of why or how. To my knowledge, no one has yet escaped. We're cut off completely from the outside world and attempts are made to brainwash us through careful conditioning - repetition, isolation, drugs, positive and negative reinforcement, application of negative stimuli for rule breaking or inappropriate behavior." She hoped that would get the woman to release her. She just wanted to be left alone, unmolested, and allowed to compose her report in peace.

She didn't want to be arguing with an irrational and crazed violent mother.

Beatrix forced herself to listen carefully to the woman's words, remaining still and steady in her readiness to kill this woman if she decided to. A mental institute front? Unexplainable kidnappings... brainwashing... It really wasn't Elle's style. It was Bill's.

She'd killed Bill.

Though this woman did confirm the usage of drugs. But it didn't explain the complacency this woman had with the nurse earlier.

"Are there children here?"

"There are teenagers," Naomi said, wishing this damn woman would just let go of her. "I haven't seen any children. I haven't been here long, I just woke up here today. I can't answer your questions."

There wasn't anything else she could tell her.

"She's almost five, with an angelic face - long dark brown hair, skin tone like mine and her father's eyes, deep and brown. She has a smile that warms the coldest of hearts," Beatrix said. "And her name is BB."

She wasn't going to get anything more from this woman and she didn't seem like she was part of this new conspiracy to keep her separated from her daughter. So, she lowered her arm and released her grip on the woman's neck. A moment later and she stepped back.

"If you see her, or know anything of her whereabouts now, or in the future, it is in the best interest of your survival to tell me," she said as she picked the napkin up off of Naomi's tray and wrapped it around her bleeding hand.

"There people are fools if they believe separating me from my daughter will make me compliant."

"I haven't seen any children that young here," Naomi said, her hand going to her throat. There was going to be a bruise there, wasn't there?

"They'll use drugs to make you compliant." She may as well warn the woman now. She pulled out her chair and sat down, not hungry at all despite the tantalizing smell of dinner. She wasn't going to be looking for this woman's daughter. She supposed it had to be horrible, but there was no empathy there. Naomi wasn't a maternal person.

"The doors unlock at night. I've been told that monsters come out as well, but I haven't been here at night so I can't verify that."

"Monsters... right..." Beatrix said snidely as she moved away from Naomi, examining her injured hand. "The only monsters in this world are the ones like me. Anything else are drug induced hallucinations."

She stopped in front of her own desk and stared down at the potpie and corn. Southern style cooking. It obviously wasn't safe to eat.

"Why would they unlock the doors? Anyone skilled in abduction knows better than to let the captive move freely at any time."

"I don't know. Maybe because the monsters keep us from moving freely."

Honestly, Naomi had spoken with people who claimed they were Death Gods, had been told it was a year after she had supposedly disappeared, and that she wasn't even in her own dimension anymore. Oh, and L had tried to tell her they might just be the figments of someone's imagination. She was at the point where she was numb to it all.

She needed to be sarcastic, it helped.

Beatrix looked over at Naomi with a bit of a smirk at the sarcasm.

"Maybe this really is a mental institute if there are others claiming to see monsters at night," she said as she washed her hand with the water from her supposed dinner.

"Lucid dreams are a bitch." She'd had them a lot while in her coma.

"Except no one I've met is actually suffering any form of mental disorder that would manifest with hallucinations," Naomi said, evenly. "Any abnormal mental states I've observed have been benign and wouldn't interfere with daily living, therefor wouldn't require imprisonment in a mental instituion." There had been people who had seemed somewhat off, but Naomi knew her mental disorders and diseases. She had to.

"And your name isn't Jessica. Just like mine isn't Noriko. They give us new names and act as though those have been our names all of our lives."

Another conditioning technique. Kidnappers used it on victims to try and erase their 'old life'.

"And you are an authority on psychological disorders?"

Beatrix knew there were enough drugs out there that caused hallucinations. There didn't necessarily need to be a mental disorder to have such things. "Perhaps drugs, as you've mentioned; they do prepare and bring us our food," she said with a gesture to her untouched plate.

Now that the wound on her hand was clean and no longer bleeding, she examined it closely. It would heal and possibly not even leave a mark.

"How do you know my name isn't Jessica?"

"I studied psychology extensively in college," Naomi admitted. Which wasn't entirely a lie. She had taken the whole run of courses, in preparation for an FBI career. And had received further training in at the academy.

"The food at breakfast and lunch is clean. They feed us three times a day. They inject us with drugs when they want to drug us but the possibility of drugs at dinner can't be ruled out." She had amassed quite an amount of information in her short time at the institute. It paid to be trained in getting information out of people without letting on that was what you were doing.

"Because the nurses call everyone here by a fake name. So if a nurse says that's your name, I know it isn't. I'm Shouko Maki - they call me Yoshida Noriko."

"So you aren't an authority," Beatrix said dismissively and then reconsidered. "But it does give a base for knowledge, I will grant you."

"What kind of drugs do they inject?" Most likely a sedative which wouldn't account for the nighttime hallucinations. Maybe they put something into the air at night...

Beatrix looked over at Naomi for a long moment. "Arlene... Arlene Plinkton." She may have put her assassination days behind her but she wasn't about to offer up her real name to anyone here. Those that did know would seal their own coffin.

"I'm not a psychologist," Naomi said with a shrug. "But I have enough of an education that it's a career option." Not one she had any interest in, though. She didn't want to be a psychologist. She wanted to go back to the FBI - but that was out of the question.

"Sedatives during the day. I don't know about the air. This is my first night in this place."

She didn't have enough information to say whether or not the things everyone saw at night were hallucinations or not. L hadn't broached that possibility, and if he had dismissed it, there was probably good reason.

Beatrix would just have to see for herself what the deal with these so-called monsters were at night. She hoped they were just delusions of the people that were supposed t be in a mental hospital and not hallucinations brought upon by drugs.

She found it interesting that Naomi had enough of an education in psychology for it to open up job opportunities. It made her wonder what the woman thought of her and her tendencies to take a hard line when it came to getting information. And to think she'd once been such a sweet, little naive farm girl...

The Bride sat down on her bed, and pulled the pillows out from under the bed, tossing the one she'd taken from Naomi's bed back to where it belonged. She glanced down at her injured hand and thought back over the fight they'd had.

"You are skilled. The average person doesn't know how to fight like that," she said nonchalantly, watching her roommate. "What do you do for a living if psychology isn't you cup of tea?"

"Oh." Naomi ducked her head and forced a flush to come to her cheeks, looking almost embarrassed. "I don't work. I'm just a homemaker. After I graduated college... my family is very traditional. I take martial arts just to get out of the house."

None of that was exactly a lie. Her family was traditional, and they had been pestering since college to settle down and raise a family. And she'd channeled all the frustration at feeling like she couldn't run her own life into first dance and then martial arts.

Day 27: Intercom, Evening

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