damned_institute | Day 30: Staff, Morning

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Day 30: Staff, Morning

Burly orderlies and agile Calm Effect nurses flooded the cafeteria from the Courtyard while regular hall nurses filed in from the Sun Room and ushered out those not involved in the rebellion. It indeed seemed as if Landel was sending out all the cavalry, and an effective cavalry they were: The riot didn't continue for much longer after the alarm sounded, though it seemed strange just how quickly all of the mutinous patients fell, even the ones who hadn't been injected with anything.

The hall nurses were quick to escort their well-behaved charges back to their rooms, praising those who hadn't joined in and chiding those who muttered under their breath in response. There were some exceptions, of course: One nice young man had even defended one of the nurses from the violent patients! Now, wasn't that exemplary behavior? Dr. Landel would be so proud to hear about it...

Within half an hour, all of the so-called "loyal" patients had been safely deposited in their rooms, and it was then that the alarm finally stopped and the true difficulty of the situation was tackled. There certainly weren't enough rooms in solitary to accommodate such rampant disobedience, and yet measures would have to be taken to ensure proper consequences for each and every patient involved. After all, something like this couldn't be allowed to happen again!

Different options were considered. Perhaps they should make an example out of the girl who had sparked the riot, but then again, perhaps not. This certainly wasn't the first case of patients attacking nurses or their peers in a crowded area, but what had been different this time was the sheer support that the other patients had shown for her. Should the staff then make examples of all those who had tried to "protect" her from the well-meaning nurses? No, there were too many for that...

In the end, it was decided that the best immediate solution would be to treat the rebellious patients in the Medical Wing while they were unconscious and then move them back to their rooms to await punishment. To ensure the safety of both their roommates and the patients themselves, however, the staff decided to securely fasten their limbs to their beds and keep them heavily drugged. Such a sad sight they were to see, but... it was necessary.

Finally, when each and every patient had been escorted back to their respective rooms, the staff hurried off to an emergency meeting upstairs. Strangely, Head Nurse Lydia was the one taking care of the proceedings in the Head Doctor's stead. She calmly told them that he was preoccupied with more urgent matters, and as she began to speak to the crowd, the staff could only wonder what could possibly be more important than an unprecedented patient riot...

[ Comment to this post with separate threads for each patient room, and please put your character's room number in the subject line. Thank you! ]

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"I wasn't... in control when I should have been," he told Sasuke, feeling the tears start again, but immediately pushing them away. "We could have saved him."

He wasn't quite sure how to describe all the things they'd done to Komui. "N-no... it wasn't like that. Komui was... he didn't really have any abilities before." Not physical ones at least. He'd been a brilliant scientist, a valuable asset to the Order... "Everything... was warped. His... his teeth were jagged... and there were way... way too many. One of his arms was gone... replaced with... some... armored claw. Like... a crab or a... scorpion. There were... too many legs and..." He shuddered involuntarily.

"It was... just terrible."

Not in control when he should have been: it was something Sasuke knew. Perhaps in a different sense, in a different place, but it was. And probably because he did recognise the feeling, it annoyed him.

"Then you've learned for next time." Sasuke's tone was terse, but his arms were tense, folded tightly. There was a reason he'd learned so quickly in Sound.

Moving on to facts was easier: Sasuke's frown deepened as Allen catalogued the alterations. It seemed much more like a typical Institute monster than anything they would do with the patients. What was the point of collecting people and fiddling with their bodies if not for some ability? Fighting, thinking, whatever it was.

"It doesn't tally," he muttered, annoyed with how little sense this place made. "It sounds like a useless experiment. Even if he'd lived, the human body doesn't sustain that kind of modification well. The survival rate would've been extremely low."

Allen shook his head, "that's not... good enough. Even if it happens again, I don't... I don't think I could stop it." Whatever had happened, he still didn't remember, but he hadn't had control; it'd been his Innocence or... that strange other voice. The one that'd brought back his black and white world when Rhode had nearly taken it away. Until he'd arrived here, he knew it'd been getting stronger. Now... now he wasn't sure of anything.

"Nothing here makes any sense!" Allen countered, pushing himself up from the bed. He was shaky, but he managed it. "They hurt us... they do terrible things... try to kill us... and for what? What could it possibly be for?!" His eyes focused on the floor, but he was staring past it, trying to get hold of his mixed up thoughts and feelings. "Even if there was only a tiny chance... it was still a chance. But now... we'll never know."

"Are you or aren't you a fighter?" Sasuke's tone was sharp and annoyed. He'd almost said ninja, and was irritated with both his almost-slip and Allen's fatalism. "You don't think you can stop it. You stop it."

Well, maybe that was harsh for someone who hadn't undergone the same kind of training, but if Allen wanted to call himself someone who could fight, Sasuke would treat him as such. He'd been dubious the first few nights, but the kid had survived, after all, so he must have been worth something.

"We're experiments," he said, in a way that implied that it should have been obvious. "Even if we're not part of a larger test of some sort, we're part of Landel's and Doyle's game. Any game has a premise, and part of this one is messing around with us. You've heard them arguing, haven't you?"

And they were damn good at messing around with them, whatever this place was. With both the patients and -- if the people outside the Institute were real -- the others in this world.

Sasuke's words bit into him as sharply as any knife. He was being reprimanded, almost like a child, but he couldn't deny anything Sasuke said either. He had to control that power or others would get hurt too. There were no ifs or buts or maybes about that. But how to go about that... he hadn't a clue.

"You think they'd make such... such an elaborate fake just to... just to hurt us?" saying it aloud, it sounded even more ridiculous, but he wanted to believe it was true, that it wasn't Rinali's older brother that he'd killed. "I've heard... some of it. I don't really... pay much attention." Other things usually took priority. He was a soldier, there to fight and take orders. Figuring out puzzles and riddles wasn't really something he was any good at.

"It's possible," Sasuke shrugged. "More likely, there's a purpose to the experiments. There's been a bit of talk about some kind of military on the intercom, but no elaboration past that. Some of us have theorised that they're weeding us out or otherwise testing us in preparation for something."

Although Mark wasn't so sure, and not everything was similar in function to Orochimaru's experiments. Still, Sasuke had to believe there was a purpose. If there was a methodology, then there was some way out through the inevitable cracks.

Some of which seemed to be showing up last night, for example.

Allen shook his head, "I don't understand." If it was a game, perhaps, but what point could there be in the things they'd done to Komui? If it was just to hurt them, hadn't he done that already when he'd visited Rinali and made her think she was someone else? Why go so much further? Nothing was adding up in his mind and he didn't want to make excuses for what he'd done. Komui deserved that much at least. He could own up to his actions, even if it was at a heavy cost.

Sasuke frowned. Had Allen really not discussed the possible motivations at play here?

"You already know how this place tests physical endurance," he said, starting an explanation he wasn't completely sure of himself. "Being put in a false world by day and forced to fight all night is a test of mental endurance, along with the experiments they've done on individual patients." He didn't mention how close he'd come to failing that test. "Telling us we aren't who we think we are could either be to brainwash us in some way, although it makes no sense if they already have effective brainwashing techniques, or to add to the mental stress.

"Either way, the stronger patients stand out. If they're looking for useful abilities or powers, this is a good way to pick out the ones they want most."

Is that what it was? Tests? Allen certainly felt exhausted, but he hadn't thought of it as a test before. But Sasuke was probably a lot smarter than he was. And he'd already been the subject of this place's cruel experiments, having his sight taken away. So wouldn't he know?

Though, if what Sasuke said was true, wasn't it better not to stand out at all? If it was only going to cause more pain and suffering, maybe it was better to keep his head down and take the easy route. "I guess... that does make sense," he admitted.

"It's only a theory," Sasuke shrugged. "But it's the one that makes the most sense. And some of the things here are similar to a place I was in, in my own world, that had a purpose like that."

Not exactly the same, but Landel had his eerie likenesses to Orochimaru.

Allen's brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend all of it. In a way it did make sense, but it all seemed so impossible! He wasn't anyone special. He had Innocence, but there were others who were much stronger than he was. Could it be that this was also where Cross had disappeared to? Sasuke's answers only seemed to give him more questions.

"How did you... escape that place?"

Allen's next question was probably to be expected, and Sasuke sort of wanted to hit himself for mentioning it again. Mark's reaction hadn't been positive, and Mark was a reasonable man. But substantiating what he said was important, and ...

"I didn't," he said. He hadn't yet, and he hadn't really been an experiment there anyway. Or at least if he had been, he'd been the prize. "My ... teacher was the one who was in charge of it."

Allen's eyes widened in surprise. Sasuke... had really helped someone else run a place like this? In his home world?

"W-why would you do something like that?!" he exclaimed, unable to stop his own sudden outburst. Sasuke seemed like such a nice person, surely there was a good reason, some explanation!

"I wasn't involved personally," Sasuke said, but it sounded like a weak defence even to himself. Although -- he didn't need a defence; he was there for a reason and he'd cast off any scruples when he'd gone, but -- in light of being here -- and in light of actually seeing some of the experiments ...

"I went to the man for power," he said finally. "I was going to free all of them once I was through with my teacher."

Wasn't involved personally? What did that mean exactly? That... that he could tolerate what was going on behind the scenes, so long as it didn't affect him? That he didn't do the experiments himself, but still worked for the man who did?

"I... I see," he replied, hesitating for a moment in light of this new information. He was relieved to hear that Sasuke was planning to free them, but... even so...

There was a long pause, and then Sasuke spoke again, voice very slightly more strained than its usual coldness.

"Most of them were various prototypes," he said. He didn't have to justify himself -- he didn't -- but these were facts that related. Definitely. "For ... something I am now. I'm a finished product. My teacher was a scientist, of a kind, and his assistant had his own interests. Their methods bear a resemblance to this setup; a low survival rate and an interest in singling out the powerful."

Allen could feel goosebumps prickling his flesh as he heard Sasuke speak. He couldn't help but be reminded of the experiments the Order had done as well. Rinali had told him some of it, that they'd forced Innocence on people who were relatives of accomodators, trying to find more compatible Exorcists. The result, however, he'd seen for himself. When someone was incompatible... they became one of the Fallen and the Innocence consumed them, body and soul.

Sasuke wanted to become stronger by working for these people, hadn't that been Allen's aim as well? "The place I work for... used to be like that too. I joined... some time after, but..." He shook his head, "They wanted to create more Exorcists. There so few of us, but... it just... doesn't work that way."

And there were crazy sort-of scientists in every world, not just every corner of any one. Somehow it wasn't much of a relief to hear, but at least Allen sounded like he had a frame of reference for Sasuke's point, now. He sort of wondered why Allen had wanted power, but if Allen held true to type, it would have been 'to protect people' or something.

"That arm of yours. You fight with it, right?" Hadn't the boy said something along the lines when they'd first met? And the way Allen had described how he'd killed his friend -- if nothing else, control was something Sasuke knew well. "My teacher's experiments involved power augmentation. I have some experience with controlling a dangerous power."

Although the curse seal was still dormant, as far as Sasuke could tell. Even putting his hand over the place where it lay on his shoulder didn't register any heat, any telltale tenfuuin chakra -- nothing at all. Still, he could remember that first rush of power, spiraling out of his control, and Sakura ... "It comes down to force of will."

"Yes, but... it's not that... I..." he wasn't sure himself how to explain it. When that level 3 had attacked the China branch, it wasn't just that he'd wanted to fight it. It was more than that, his body craved it, the Innocence wanted more than anything to erase the presence of that Akuma. Sometimes it seemed like his body was simply a weapon and most times he had control, but in the end, a weapon was just a weapon, and good for only one thing.

"Last night... It happened while I was unconscious," his hands fidgeted in his lap, "at least... I think so. That's the only... explanation that makes sense."

"It's separate from your consciousness?" A little more sentient than the average juuin, then, though letting the heaven seal take over felt less like conscious action than being sort of intoxicated with power. Irrational power. "How did you control it in the past, then?"

"I... guess?" Allen said, a bit confused himself. He hadn't thought about it much, he was usually too busy on this assignment or that for any sort of serious contemplation.

"I couldn't... when I was a child," he told the other boy. "But I learned to. It... it usually happens if... my life is in danger. It's not always so... violent, but... I just don't know."

"Do you think it's something they did here, then?" Sasuke frowned. This was a little beyond the realm of his immediate experience, but then again, Juugo the original had been born with the madness. Juugo had never learned to control it, though. "Something that makes you no longer able to control your power?"

"No... I don't... really think so," he said quietly. As far as he knew his powers had been suppressed, not enhanced. But Sasuke didn't seem to understand.

"I think it was because... that... Komui was trying to... to hurt me and... I blacked out. But when I woke up... it... it was definitely my power that did it."

Sasuke was silent for a moment, processing the idea. If it had been him ... if it had been Fugaku, and somehow the heaven seal had been released and beyond his control -- no, there was no way to manage this without being forced to assume that non-patients in the Institute at night were one of the monsters. There was no way and no point in pulling people out of different worlds for the express purpose of killing them; it furthered no goals at all.

"It was a defence mechanism, then," Sasuke said, contemplative. "This friend of yours, would he ever have tried to truly hurt you in your world?"

That wasn't the easiest question. Komui had been... asinine and cruel to him for reasons he didn't understand right from the start. Back at the Order, the first time they'd met, he'd used those giant drills and frightening equipment just to 'fix' his anti-akuma weapon. In the end, it'd helped, but the sedative that came with it left him too weak to do anything when Hevlaska was studying his Innocence later. Komui had known it would be frightening, but he hadn't said a word before hand to warn him!

It'd been a lucky thing they'd had a doctor so close in the rewinding town as well, but again, Komui had carried around those gigantic pointy instruments and other things all for his own 'good.' Still...

"No... he wouldn't have..." he gave a resigned sigh. Not intentionally, not like last night. It still gave him chills just thinking about it.

Day 30: Staff, Morning

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