damned_institute | Nightshift 31: East Wing, North Hall 1-B

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Nightshift 31: East Wing, North Hall 1-B

[Coming from here.]

The halls were dark and quiet as Tyler slipped out into an even larger corridor. Trying to remember where he'd met Reid the night before, he searched up the hall to his left and right, hesitating, uncertain which direction to go. Debating a moment later, he finally turned right and started down the long corridor.

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"61," Tyler repeated with a nod, committing the number to memory. "I'll remember. Thanks. And I wasn't sure... if you'd come find me or not," he admitted sheepishly, feeling Reid's gaze on him. Casting a surreptitious glance of his own at the blond, he tried to judge Reid's mood.

Then he heaved an internal sigh at the command, almost regretting the effort to reach for the Power that hadn't been there for days. It's absence was like a gaping hole, but he obeyed, lifting his hand and concentrating with all his might on the flashlight Reid held, trying to draw it to his hand, even while part of his mind resigned itself to nothing happening.

To his shock and delight, Reid's flashlight slammed into his palm with enough force to hurt and momentarily send the light dim before it bounced crazily against the ceiling.

"Shit, it worked!"

Reid blinked a bit, trying to find some way of stopping this from turning into an afternoon special. He didn't have anything to say. Yeah, he would've come to collect Tyler... but there was no way for baby boy to know exactly what was tap-dancing on Reid's nerves, the thing with Clark Kent aside. And Reid would rather not say. It had just been a bad mistake, the kind of mistake a guy made when they spent talking to a nutter far longer than they should.

In the end, he was saved from having to say anything about any of that when his flashlight was forcibly wrenched from his hand. Same trick he'd used last night, only this time it was Tyler's doing, and Reid's relieved breath came out in a whoosh. He never thought he'd be so glad to see a basic little move like that. "Still got it. I knew it."

"You knew it, huh?" It was all Tyler could do not to do a goofy little dance of joy in the middle of the corridor as he felt a faint flicker of the Power that had been absent within him for so many days. He felt a hundred times better and more prepared now, even if what he could feel was not even a fraction of what he could normally pull from. Still, it was something.

To resist embarrassing them both, he settled for giving Reid a playful punch in the arm. "Holy cow, that's a relief. I can stop panicking now. Screw Pyramid Head, we're going home."

Then he laughed at himself, ducking his head in embarrassed amusement, though it still did little to dim the grin that was stretching across his face. "Maybe after we find something to use as a weapon in the meantime, though."

He was a little too hard-headed to ever believe their Power could just be gone, and although being downgraded to a trickle was beyond scary, 'panic' was not a word that existed in Reid's vocabulary. At least not in regards to himself. But seeing, for the first time since coming here, that Tyler was stuck at the same level and not worse off was relieving.

There were a lot of things he wanted to say. Though out of all possibilities, Reid just took the punch good-naturedly and said, "Yeah, I knew." It might've the spot where he'd normally scoff and inform Tyler that there was no way his puny skills would turn the tables one way or the other, but he didn't. "Know any good places, then?"

Tyler shone his flashlight beam down on the map so both he and Reid could see the rooms that Heiji had marked out.

"There's doctors offices on this floor, at the far end, near where we were last night, we ran down the wrong hall away from the giggling thing, it looks like. We might be able to break into those and find something of interest. As for weapons or places to find something like that, there's a janitor's closet and some storage rooms on the second floor on the far end of the building, above the doc offices, it looks like. There's also some nurse offices or something up there it looks like. Should we check out the doc ones first maybe, then head up the far stairs?"

Another map, now? Just how many different copies and layouts of this goddamn place were floating around? Reid ran an exasperated hand through his hair, causing a few areas to stick up slightly. "Give," was how Reid responded, the only warning he gave before reaching out for both his flashlight and the map. He held the flashlight at shoulder level, clicking it on to glower at the crumpled piece of paper.

To be honest, the most eloquent thought circling his head were the fun old pop culture jokes. What would you want if you were trapped on a desert island, what would you do if trapped in a B horror movie, etc. The layout of the place--if Reid trusted the source--was a little weird. When he thought of a doctor's office, he thought of movies like Girl, Interrupted and people breaking into them to steal their files... but there was a "file room" for that shit, wasn't there? Like he had ever really thought about weapons before; wasn't like he normally needed them.

"And what's wrong with the front door again?"

Tyler sighed and pointed it out where it was scribbled on the map. "Sealed, somehow, it looks like. Not that I'm surprised. Like this place would want it to be easy. The back doors are unlocked, but there's still fences out there, not to mention things big enough to intimidate most people out of attempting that route."

"I told you that I was outside already," Reid said. He shoved the map back at Tyler, absently watching where Tyler put his hands. Half-conscious of if, or when, he was going to touch Reid, and ready to pull back if it happened. "With the she-male, but neither of us got far." And he still had the bat bite to prove it, which was already the less concerning injury. Couldn't say he was amused that he seemed to be racking them up.

"Like a barricaded door ever stopped one of us before." Even if we're like this. "I want to check it out."

"Alright," Tyler easily agreed, thinking that a reasonable place to start. "Although I'd like to find something to use as a weapon or a blunt object along the way, at least. If we can get out the front door, we still don't know what's out there and I'd prefer to have something other than my two hands and what's left of my Power."

Reid was acting... odd. Ty;er wasn't sure what it was exactly, but he seemed edgy. Well, more so than normal, anyway. He opened his mouth to question the blond, but then closed it again. Reid was easily distracted enough as it was. Better to figure out a plan first. He'd ask him what was bothering him once they got on their way.

A dull pain behind his temple was about the only bodily response Reid gave to talk about... whatever. Weapons and the like. The last time Reid had gotten too happy with a baseball bat and a schoolmate's windshield, Tyler hadn't been very enthused, so frankly it was hard for Reid to imagine him swinging anything around.

Still. Beating down someone or something before it got them was good.

Like that guy from the showers and the library. Yeah, that'd be a worthwhile venture...

"Great," breathed Reid, running his tongue along the inside of his mouth. "Then let's do something instead of stand around." Or talk. Or anything else that didn't involve getting their full Power back and getting the hell out.

"Alright," Tyler agreed again, nodding, shooting Reid a puzzled look before motioning him to follow. "Come on, then. It's this way."

[Going here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/332245.html?thread=27386581#t27386581)]

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Nightshift 31: East Wing, North Hall 1-B

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