damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M11-M20 Hallway

[Specifically M12]

"… Wait, really?" Axel asked, mainly to himself, as he listened to the intercom and the head doctor’s sudden confession. It hadn’t been long since he was escorted back to his room after his dinner, feeling rather content after spending a shift to himself. It was fun and all to chill with a couple of people beforehand, but a guy needed a break every once in a while.

His plans were relatively simple at the time. He was going to run off to Kairi’s room, swing her body over his shoulders and haul her back over to his own. He’d forgotten to write a note down for Roy in the bulletin saying he couldn’t make it, but he was sure the colonel could make the right assumptions.

He had been in the middle of rummaging under his mattress for his chakram when the intercom came to life again, and with that he couldn’t help but stop and look up at the ceiling with a mix of curiosity and disbelief. At this point it almost felt like a tradition for the man behind the radio to pop up every evening, so a change this big earned a bit of attention. Axel’s gaze remained on the ceiling for at least half a minute before he glanced over at his roommate on the other side.

"You know, I almost don’t believe it." But this was technically a battlefield, and one side had to give in one way or another. He had to remind himself that tradition didn’t exactly last forever.

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Dias' throat closed briefly when Edgeworth reported being attacked by a monster that had taken the form of a little girl Gumshoe had known; he had thought it bad enough to be attacked by such a shapeshifter while it looked like River, but the realization that it could have been even more personal than that - that his shapeshifter could have been a little girl, could have been Cecille - made him feel physically ill. Actually, he hadn't felt all that great since nightshift began, but that thought - that potentiality; after all, he might well run into shapeshifters again - made it far worse.

"You're not alone in that," he said finally, a hand going to his neck to touch the mostly-healed jagged wound there. If that scarred, he'd look like he'd gotten the world's biggest hickey from a shark for the rest of his life. "I was nearly killed by a similar monster, one that took the form of one of my friends here. I'm not sure that there are many ways to avoid being caught off-guard by those things."

He eyed the maps Edgeworth was offering. "You could give them to the friend of mine that just left," he replied. "He's the one compiling a map of this place, more than me." Dias tended to make his own maps in his head, where he didn't need to be referencing back to some outside source.

With a glance between Gumshoe and Edgeworth, he said, "Edgeworth's suggestions are probably the best possible places to look. Whichever you two would prefer is where we'll go - it probably doesn't matter which we try first."

Edgeworth had been frowning through most of the conversation, and that didn't change when Dias said he had been attacked by a similar monster. "We were lucky that night ended when it did, in our case. I think we would have both been killed otherwise."

He took a moment to put the maps back in his journal, which he then tucked into the pocket of his overcoat. "I'll do that in the morning, then. Leaving a note on the bulletin board for him would probably be the best way to catch up with him."

Edgeworth looked over at Gumshoe, the look on the detective's face almost reminding him of his dog, Pess, when he was too eager to go out for a walk. "There's a stairway in the southwest corner that leads to the second floor. I think we should take that and see where we come out."

Gumshoe zoned out for a minute as memories of the previous night arose. Mr. Edgeworth was absolutely right! He- he couldn't begin to imagine how on earth they'd have escaped. The notion of carrying the man away had hardly been a great option at the time – the detective had had trouble staying on his own feet. And Pearl- or- or the thing that looked like Pearl would've probably latched on to them again if he'd tried slinging the unconscious man over his shoulder. And he'd only one shoulder to throw him over.

He would give anything to not have to go through a situation as dangerous again.

"Y- Yessir!" He stammered in agreement. "I- I'll try to watch we don't have anything tailing us!"

Dias nodded slightly at Gumshoe. He wasn't sure how much use the man would be, but if he was a detective, then he was hopefully at least observant and had some experience dealing with criminals; between that and his size, he was a slightly better choice than Edgeworth to be guarding the rear, even unarmed. "I'll lead." This was the obvious choice, of course; he was the only one of them armed and skilled in combat. Edgeworth, in between them, could navigate.

He did wonder, though, why Edgeworth had put the maps back, unless the man had them memorized. "You can tell us the way," he stated more than suggested, although there was an implication that Edgeworth could start right now. Dias knew his way around the institute, but the only two times he'd ever even seen the stairs in this place had both involved stressful situations - in fact, both had involved that pyramid-headed monstrosity. Once he'd been going to fight it, and once he'd been fleeing it.

Edgeworth nodded, taking the hint and pulling the maps back out. "We'll head down the hallway and hang a right," he said.

Edited 2008-03-13 18:16 (UTC)

Nightshift 30: M11-M20 Hallway

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