damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M31-M40 Hallway

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Nightshift 30: M31-M40 Hallway

[M39]

Being dragged away from ZEX mid-conversation was something of a mixed blessing. On the upside, it meant that Zelnick would have at least few minutes to regain emotional balance before spending the whole night with the guy....

Well, perhaps it was more of a mixed curse. Normally Zelnick didn't begrudge allies their oddities, but ZEX had this amazing ability to jump straight from normal conversation to oh-god-awkward innuendo-laden flirting, and Zelnick couldn't do much but hope that he'd keep away from the latter.

In any case, he paid closer attention to where they took him, this time, not just his room number, and he realized he was actually really close to Yuber's room. Wasn't that convenient?

Once he was in his room, he started to get ready for the night; skillet, knife, pestle, all loaded into the apple basket that had wound up in his closet, along with a couple pens and the radio (hadn't Yuber said it spilled hints at night?). This meant he couldn't take all the apples with him, so Zelnick wrapped them in one of the extra shirts and left them in the corner of the closet. All that was left was to get the flashlight, which he found under his pillow like he did last night.

Then the intercom clicked on.

So that was their lord and master, in this place? After spending the first night confused and the first day hearing the voice of the Head Nurse, he found that the guy sounded pretty sane, until he admitted to killing someone. "The man on the radio--" did he mean whoever was on the other side of the little antique, sending out hints? And the method of death sounded... frighteningly personal.

He unloaded the skillet from the basket and held on to it as the doors unlocked, and sat at his desk to wait for ZEX.

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Usopp's distracted mind had finally come to a rest when he was jerked awake again by a loud thump. He jumped up in the bed, pulling the covers up to his chin as though protectively, and stared around the room. Whatever dreams he'd been having were forgotten in the momentary panic.

"Sai! What's going on?! Who is it?!" Peering through the darkness, it didn't look like anyone he knew, but... he'd talked too much earlier, had someone else come on rumors of treasure? Despite his initial defensive posture, Usopp started to climb out of the bed, still holding onto the sheets for a moment before the tug of their weight reminded him to let go. It was a small person, but that didn't mean anything. Sai needed backup, in case this became violent.

Where had he left his weapons?! Ah, the closet! But he couldn't open that while this guy was standing here. Torn, he stood in the center of the room, watching and waiting to see what happened next.

"What--"

Mello's reflexes were fast, but this person's were far faster. Before he'd even processed the opening of the door, he hit the wall and heard himself gasp in surprise, and something prevented his instinctive recoil. It took a dizzy second for the disorientation of impact to pass, then he blinked hard to take in his attacker: an unnervingly stoic looking teenager.

Why was everyone in this place so goddamn young and so goddamn good at everything?

He recovered his wits quickly, and although he didn't fight back, he grabbed the boy's wrist to make it clear that he didn't appreciate being held in place. The kid wasn't wearing the same clothes as everyone else here...in fact, if he'd been a little less pinned to the wall, Mello might have actually approved.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" he demanded as he tried to use his other hand to push the kid away.

"This is M33," Sai replied. "We've been here all night and this room belongs to the man behind me. You're not his roommate." He didn't release his hold on the blond, and in fact drew out a trowel with his free hand as the man began to squirm, holding it under his chin. "Please explain yourself better."

The man was scarred badly along one side of his face - further, it seemed, once he got a better look. Perhaps on the shoulder and/or back as well. It appeared to be burn related. A fire, then, or explosion. As he noted earlier, however, he didn't seem like much of a fighter. So it might have been from an accident.

Sai hadn't seen him before. If he wasn't straight out trying to fool them, he couldn't have been there long to not even properly remember his own room number.

"Yeah, I just saw Sousuke leave at the start of night," Usopp agreed, standing back and out of the way for now. The idea of having a new roommate, despite the relief it would give Usopp from his pretense, was terrible in an odd way. He still felt as though he owed something to Sousuke. Then again, there was no way of knowing when or if Sousuke might just vanish, and no way to prevent it.

But in the middle of the night? How would this guy know this was his new room if he had just shown up? No, no, even in Usopp's confused state it didn't add up.

"Did someone tell you to come here?" Their new allies could generously leave stuff behind if they thought they'd get it back soon, couldn't they? Paranoia rose again. "He's a ninja, he can tell if you're lying!"

Now that there was something metal and most likely sharp against his throat, Mello decided that it might be in his best interest to stop struggling. He remained tense, though, watching the kid through narrowed eyes and trying to size him up. He was creepy. In a bad way. Something about him made Mello inexplicably annoyed, and it wasn't the fact that he was holding a weapon to his neck.

"That's the only explanation I have," he snapped, his voice angry enough to compensate for the lack of emotion in the kid's. "Are you going to kill me?" It sounded like more of a challenge than an inquiry.

His eyes didn't leave the pale boy opponent, but he heard the second voice and raised his eyebrows in disbelief. A ninja? Right. And the other one was probably a pirate.

"No one told me to come here."

"Say nothing else, Usopp," Sai snapped without looking around. The pirate had already given this man his name and occupation. As someone who had carried out one successful mission in the shadows after another, he was well familiar with interrogation. One shouldn't begin with the captive knowing more about his captors than the other way around. He really shouldn't have used Usopp's name either, but he didn't believe the message would have gotten across as quickly if he hadn't.

Sai pulled the trowel away again and stepped back, still holding Mello in place with the other hand. "I'm not going to kill you, but chances are high that you're a thief. What's your name and your room number?" It was possible that this man lived in the same hall and had simply gotten confused. Or perhaps it was the right door in the wrong hall.

And here he smiled the fakest smile. "I apologize for this. We're a little cautious."

Usopp's hands flew to his mouth as soon as Sai snapped, to cover it in Sai's stead since the ninja was a little busy at the moment. He'd said something wrong, again. Worse, this time he really didn't know what it was. As soon as his trail of ingredients had started to run down he'd known he'd screwed up, but this time?

Then again, Sai was a ninja. Ninja probably learned things like torture and interrogation on top of how to stab people really well. Usopp should really stay out of it altogether. Maybe it was possible the man just stumbled in, but Usopp didn't think so. Sai obviously didn't think so either. Was Sai going to torture him?

Usopp really, really didn't want to see that, but kept his hands over his mouth still, staring at Mello with a mixture of curiosity, alarm and chagrin.

Though the anger didn't leave his face, there was a flicker of calculation as Mello cross-referenced the names with the information from the message board. He couldn't recall any details about Sai, but he'd made a point to remember Usopp's claimed access to to gunpowder and saltpeter. Unfortunately, that knowledge wouldn't help him now...he'd already claimed to be lost, and anything except ignorance would look suspicious.

Although Mello would have preferred to keep his room number to himself, this situation overruled his natural suspicion and he didn't want to be caught in more than one lie at a time. "Room M3," he said, but his voice was stubborn and nothing in his face revealed that it had been a compromise. "And my name's Mello. This is my first night here, so you'll understand if I'm a little cautious too."

He wouldn't do anything to worsen the situation, but wasn't going to apologize. Even if he hadn't been too proud for groveling, acting like he'd done something wrong would only lead them to agree.

"Are you seeing double?" Sai asked with no hint of sarcasm in his voice. If this man had been drugged or was in a similar state to Usopp, it could not only explain things but help him get more information on what had happened in that regard. He could understand this place feeling like a maze at night, and at least they were in the same block, but...

"I'm going to release you now. If you run, I'm going to assume that your motives were ill intended." Letting go of Mello's shirt slowly, Sai then slid into a position where he was leaning with his back to the door. If the blond really was dangerous, then it wouldn't be smart to keep him in the same room, but this didn't appear to be the case so far.

He glanced back to Usopp, smiling as he saw the pirate's hands over his mouth. "That's not completely necessary, Usopp. Just be careful."

Usopp slowly lowered his hands, anxiety written obviously on his face still. He didn't know if letting this man go was a good idea. Something about the guy didn't feel right. His attitude was all angry, and Sai had slung him against the wall when the man entered. How had he entered? Usopp wanted to know but was afraid to ask, too worried to speak. And that story. This wasn't someone who'd asked to meet Usopp on the board.

Even seeing double shouldn't be right. It was lots of halls away from here to get to M3. Lots of halls. Usopp was fairly sure he'd know if he went to M33 instead of M3. Maybe he could go to... to... whatever the M33 spot was on another block, but on the same block? He'd go by counting hallways. Maybe this guy went differently, though. Maybe he figured out direction some other way. Usopp clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides, still staring at the newcomer. If he could just think straight...

"I don't trust him," Usopp blurted out, and cut himself off before he could elaborate. He wasn't sure he'd be able to, anyway.

Once he'd been released, Mello allowed himself few glances around the room before returning his attention to Sai. "No," he answered, raising his eyebrows. Despite the the boy's lack of intonation, it was the type of question that could only be sarcastic. "It's dark. I was distracted."

He reached into his pocket, his movements careful to make it clear that he wasn't going for a weapon, but not slow enough to seem suspicious. An instant later he pulled out his pen and the map, which he unfolded and squinted at in false concentration. His memory had been accurate, but he was glad he'd brought a backup. It was more convincing, this way. "Yeah, it looks like I went down the wrong hall," he added as he tapped the end of his pen against the paper. A confused expression would have been going overboard, so he kept his demeanor slightly frustrated as he looked over to Usopp.

"I don't blame you," he said. "I wouldn't trust me either. But that doesn't mean I would do something as stupid as steal from the other prisoners. If you have anything worth stealing, you must have gotten it from the institute. I'd take it from them, not you." He refolded the map and returned it to his pocket, then gave both of them a pointed look. "I was under the impression we were all in this together. It we waste our time robbing each other and fighting like starving rats, we're doing exactly what they want, aren't we?"

He even managed to say it with a straight face.

"That's true." The fact that he calmed so easily after being released, and the way he gave his story, kept Mello suspicious in Sai's eyes. There was, however, no apparent danger physically where he was involved. He also appeared to be alone, which would lay testament to his statement of this being his first night. Usually more experienced patients knew better.

Unless this also made him suspicious. "Are you by yourself? Traveling without company at night is dangerous, even in the hallways around the patient quarters." Certain overgrown leeches came to mind, even if that had been the bathrooms and not the hall itself.

Sai hadn't protested his words. But he still had the feeling he shouldn't talk, a very uncomfortable feeling considering how it interfered with the urge to say things, a variety of thoughts tumbling around with occasionally something surfacing...

"Or patients," he said, more emphatically than he'd intended. "There's patients who'd just stab you in the back and leave you to die. Not even think twice about it. I'm..." He put his hand over his mouth again, obedient, realizing he was about to start babbling. Robbing others or the potential to be robbed wasn't exactly out of the pirate's line of thought, and the man standing before them didn't look naive even if he was new.

"Yeah, I'm alone," Mello said. "And I've been alone. I told you, I just showed up here. I don't know anyone yet."

No one that he'd want to travel with, anyways. His feelings for Artemis were just slightly below the threshold of violence, though Tamaki had seemed useful enough.

"The patients?" he asked incredulously, turning to Usopp. "Why? I thought there were monsters to worry about." He started chewing on the the pen, which he hadn't returned to his pocket with the map. The end was misshapen almost beyond recognition. Mello had never realized that gnawing on something was so conducive to thinking clearly, but now that he considered it, it made perfect sense.

Usopp's tendency to cut himself off by covering his mouth with his hand was odd, and Mello wondered if he might have been sedated. After a couple analytical seconds his expression turned concerned, though he didn't actually ask. Unfortunately, as long as Sai was present, he couldn't use the fact to his advantage.

"Every other night, some of the patients are taken against their will and brainwashed against the rest of us." There was no reason not to tell Mello this. Unsavory character or not, it was something everyone should eventually learn. If they didn't tell him then someone else would. What Sai did leave out was the fact that he himself had gone through this only the night before last. "They can't be convinced not to attack you if you enter the area they guard."

The ninja shrugged lightly. "If you leave here, we won't be responsible for any dangers you run into. We may, however, be able to arm you if we see reason to." He cocked his head to one side, the gesture looking odd with the fake half-smile. "What are your skills in, Mello-san?"

"Not just brainwashed," Usopp said, frowning at Sai, confused and not sure where Sai was going with this. Were they going to be charitable now? Usopp usually was too generous if anything, but this guy had tried to break in. Or tried to sneak in. Or something.

Well, he didn't believe him, that was the important thing, and giving him stuff seemed like a bad idea. But Sai was the one in his right mind, so Usopp should follow his lead. Only something about what Sai said was incomplete, and Usopp was fairly sure he'd started to comment on it. It took a moment of thought to add, "Some patients are just jerks."

Temporary control of a person's behavior would involve a lot of drugs and suggestibility, and Mello imagined that once someone's reasoning was blunted to that point, they wouldn't be much use in a fight. However, it was also impossible to selectively sedate people without contact, so he was open to whatever information these two could provide. He could always sort through it later.

Any suspicion about the situation that had faded from his mind was brought back in force by the last thing Sai said. He'd claimed to be a new arrival, so they couldn't think he had anything worth trading. He'd intended to make himself valuable with knowledge and resourcefulness, but these two had no reason to assume he was brighter than the other patients.

And skills? He didn't even know where to start. "I'm not great at hand to hand combat," Mello admitted. "But we've already established that." In a place without guns, he had only his wits to protect him, but they should be all he needed. "Aside from that, my skills are whatever they have to be." He spoke with confidence, though he knew the statement would be taken as empty arrogance. Fortunately, he knew he could back it up. "What kind of reason are you looking for?"

Sai wasn't the best when it came to reading people. This had a lot to do with his own lack of emotions. He did best when reading those who were nearly as stoic as he was. He simply followed his orders down to the finest detail, that was all. When he lead a mission it was usually with others from ROOT, and they all had their goal as well as he did. Weaknesses weren't tolerated.

But there was always his brother, and Naruto, and others that he'd met outside of ROOT that had certain characteristics about them. Certain ways, and a certain innocence to them. Usopp had this. Mello did not. At least not what he'd seen so far. The way the man acted - he didn't seem frightened by him, even though he'd been pinned to the wall moments before. He wasn't nervous and he was already showing how confident of himself he was. He was ready to do business already. Sai was ready to regard him as he would opposition in a mission, but he shouldn't do that. Not here, where alliances were more important. He couldn't be so quick to judge.

"Usopp here likes to help others," he said, motioning to the pirate with a short gesture. "As his friend and ally, I help him. He is a craftsman. You are alone without allies. Usopp, weren't you looking for others willing to work with us?"

Mello didn't appear entirely trustworthy, no. But he had a hardness that his pirate friend lacked, and that could be useful.

Usopp kept staring at Mello's face. He'd noticed the visible edge of the scar, of course, but after enough time traveling with pirates it took more damage than that to really startle him. Instead he was looking at Mello's eyes, uncertain. He wished Luffy were here, Luffy was usually a good judge of character.

Except for when he was being an idiot. How good a judge of character was Sai? Well, they'd all gone charging into death slugs together, and that had turned out well. But maybe that was just luck. Usopp couldn't judge anything right now, he was... his brain was too weird. And besides...

But Mello was still standing there, and Sai had asked him. Usopp swallowed hard. "I have a lot of friends and allies," Usopp said first, and he realized it was true. It was almost as hard to list in his mind as the materials in the closet, but he cut himself short. "New ones are good too, though. Uh..." Mello was sneaking around and they just let him in and made friends? Was this a good idea?

It seemed like something Luffy'd do, but that really didn't help Usopp with 'good idea or not.' "Um. Most of my allies bring stuff if they want weapons... so I can make better stuff out of it."

Although Mello thought he'd done a decent job explaining away his unexpected arrival, he didn't understand why these two would be so trusting. Either he'd intended to rob them or he'd been stupid enough to go to the wrong door, and working with an idiot was even worse than working with a thief. At least a thief knew what he was doing.

Sai had said that helping people was their ultimate goal, so they might just be naturally kind people, but no one who could throw him against a wall and hold a shovel to his neck with such a calm expression was naturally kind. Usopp, maybe, though he still suspected that Usopp had been drugged. If he was in charge of everything, it didn't make sense for Sai to be the one cutting deals.

Agreeing to make weapons was...risky. He knew modern weaponry inside and out, but he doubted these two wanted him to design missiles. Usopp had mentioned gunpowder on the message board, and he was confident about his abilities there, but when it came to swords and knives, he was helpless outside of theory. Swords were extremely difficult to balance, if he remembered right, and even if he'd had the equipment he couldn't make anything more than a kitchen knife.

"It depends on what people bring," Mello finally said, then paused as he debated listing his abilities. Too many would make him sound like someone who spent all their time killing, but too few might make him sound incompetent. "I can work with chemical weapons and explosives," he compromised. "Some other stuff, if I have the right equipment, but I doubt I could get it here."

Chemicals and explosives? Wasn't that the sort of thing Usopp had been planning with the men who'd come by earlier? Sai had to keep his eyes from straying towards the basket they'd left behind. It seemed a bit coincidental, all told.

"Are you agreeing to work with us?" the ninja asked, expression neutral. "I admit the question was rather sudden." Well, that was one way of putting it. If Mello thought Sai trusted him, he was wrong. Sai didn't trust him at all, and he knew Usopp didn't either. But there were things to be said about choosing one's enemies. Should Mello betray them, there wasn't exactly anywhere he could escape to.

Oh god not another one!

The more people he met who had similar skills in the area of chemicals and explosives, the worse he felt. It was hard enough to put words to his nerves over being discovered when he was fully himself. And being discovered as what? It wasn't as though he were lying. Or he wasn't lying about that. But it seemed as though everyone was expecting so much of him and he knew he could make gunpowder in his sleep but people from the future or from other worlds probably knew all kinds of better stuff to make. Why had he wound up with the closet full of goodies and the people bringing him new things? Why had he been the one with the treasure?

They're expecting you to participate, it's your call too, isn't it? He wasn't sure. Was it? Sai had addressed him earlier, asked him directly.

"We have a lot of people who can work with explosives. We're not..." But he shouldn't turn the man away either if Sai wanted--what did Sai want? Usopp couldn't concentrate. Were they playing good cop bad cop? He made a really awful bad cop if they were, he couldn't do that role, Sai had to know that, he wasn't ready for anything subtle or... "We might work with you if you're good. And bring stuff too."

The more people bring you stuff the guiltier you feel, why are you asking for more stuff?! "But not bleach. Or eggs. We have those." Then he put his hand over his mouth in case his brain started wanting to go off on other things they had.

"I wasn't expecting it," Mello said with a nod, "but I'd like to make myself useful, and there's a lot I can do that most people here can't." Judging from the posts on the bulletin board, it didn't seem like chemistry was common knowledge. Distantly, he wondered why Artemis didn't do this stuff, and was extremely annoyed by the thought.

"Explosives are great, but there's a lot of use for things that eat away at something rather than explode," he continued. "Less deadly but more precise. And if there's some kind of lab here, I'm sure you could see the value of smoke bombs and toxic gases." There had to be something, if they'd found the ingredients for explosives. Mello looked thoughtful for a few seconds. If they had a well-stocked lab the possibilities were endless, and even if most of his knowledge was theoretical rather than practical, he was certain he had the skills to avoid accidents.

"I don't see how I have anything to lose by working with you," he added. "It's not like using what I know depletes my supply of brain power." Which reminded him. "I can't bring anything material," he said, "but I can tell people what we need."

"Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you if there is a lab. I know the janitor's closet on the second floor contains all variety of chemicals, but I haven't explored enough of the facility yet." It was a shame too, Sai realized. He'd have to perform some more missions simply involving reconnaissance. "The fact that there are 'doctors' here that perform experiments on the patients would lead one to assume that such equipment might exist, but I haven't seen it for myself."

Now that he thought about it, the large scar on Mello's face probably had something to do with his knowledge on explosives. It could be proof of his use of it, at least. Or misuse - the thought of which wasn't particularly promising.

Was Usopp nervous? He knew the pirate was struggling with coherent thought right now. Perhaps this was all too much for him to deal with. it was probably wise that he'd shut himself up before listing the contents of the closet again, but Sai wasn't too worried about Mello trying to sneak off with bleach and eggs.

Mello said he couldn't bring anything material. Most likely that meant he wasn't willing to journey off on his own into the night to find supplies when he wasn't very capable of handling himself physically. Another excuse would be that he already had plans, but that shouldn't be the case if he was actually alone as he'd said...

"You say you aren't any good at hand to hand combat, but are there any types of weapons you can use?" Usopp used a slingshot. Perhaps this man would be able to make do with something ranged as well.

"Upstairs." Usopp answered the lab question a bit belatedly. On his maps, there were things that he thought would have a lab. At least, "The chemicals're there. We could use glass beakers!" He'd forgotten about that, it was lucky the word 'lab' brought it up. "Or you can go to the kitchen." He'd done some of his best chemical mixing with kitchen supplies, back home. Sometimes on the Going Merry too, although if he got caught by Sanji it meant serious punishment.

Mello's statement about not having anything seemed obvious, unless he meant he wouldn't go get things. Now that wasn't a good attitude at all. Sai and Usopp and Luffy and Sasuke now and also a bunch of other people that Usopp couldn't remember had gotten hurt getting these things. Mello had to pitch in too. But maybe he didn't want to go without a weapon? Well, Usopp hadn't had a weapon at first either.

"The kitchen's good but don't go by the Sun Room, that's bad." Usopp adjusted his statement. "You can get frying pans too." Anybody could use a frying pan as a weapon, no matter who they were. He needed more frying pans...

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