damned_institute | Nightshift 33: M1-M10 Hallway

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Nightshift 33: M1-M10 Hallway

Considering the mood Roy had been in when he had been brought back for dinner, he had been glad to find that his roommate was still in a deep sleep. He would have made for horrible conversation when he could only think about Kimbley's words, the look on his face, and the feel of him.

It wasn't like he hadn't been forced to endure that countless times before, but it had been a while since they'd had a talk like that. It was hard to stop thinking about, even with the prospect of nightshift ahead of him. It also kept him away from his food -- thinking about the possibility of having to burn someone to death (or tear them apart with claws, since that was a viable option now) wasn't very good for the appetite.

The announcement before nightshift came on as normal, and Roy was busy zoning it out until the doors suddenly opened long before they were supposed to. His head snapped up to the intercom, and as a strange recording started to play, he placed his full attention on it.

Things certainly seemed to be going wrong for the Head Doctor tonight, and that was almost enough to get Roy's mind off of Kimbley. He made sure to grab his radio this time, and while he had a few guesses about what was going on, he would rather stick to the original plan.

Granted, he had to make Reno his weapon first, but he might as well find Hughes and let him know about that while he waited for the redhead to show up. Roy stepped out into the hall and moved down to M6.

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Sora could only hope that his information about the visitors ended up being of some help to Zuko. It would probably make it harder for him if he ever did get visited to know how it all worked, but there wasn't much that could be done about that. Hopefully he would just get lucky and not get one in the first place.

The Keyblade Master was finishing up his cake when the intercom came on. The Head Doctor was saying all the same boring stuff, but then the doors clicked open and suddenly that act was dropped. This had never happened before!

Sora set down his plate and sat up in his chair, listening as an odd recording came on. What was this all about? Why would the Head Doctor do this? Unless it was one of those radio people playing a trick...

Something was definitely going on, and since the announcement was playing on the radio also, it might be something he should pay attention to. That weird noise that sounded like it was coming from outside was worth taking note of. Maybe Kairi would have some idea about it! Either way, there was no time to waste. He had told her he wouldn't keep her waiting.

"Good luck tonight!" he said to his roommate, springing from his seat to grab his radio and flashlight. It was going to be hard juggling both of them, but he would manage somehow.

With no further delay, he headed out of his room and down the hall.

[To here.]

He hadn't been here long, but it was still fairly obvious something wasn't quite right tonight. Actually, it seemed like a lot was happening out of the norm since he'd arrived, starting with the riot the very first day here.

Angel bounced the radio absently in his hand for a moment or two, debating whether or not to take it with him considering they'd at least have Willow's, as well.

In the end, he decided to take it with him, shutting the door as he slipped out of the room. Wherever they'd moved him to, at least it was still equally close to the female block.

[going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/393089.html?thread=31850369#t31850369)]

Hughes made his preparations - tucking his remaining knives into their hiding spots and sliding the gun into his pants - and headed into the hallway.

Despite the crazy sounding announcements over the intercom, he was feeling good. And unless Roy suddenly decided to go chasing after whatever was promised by that jumbled broadcast - if anything - then they were going to make good progress on the basement.

He closed his door behind him and trained his flashlight down the hall. And there was Roy, right on time.

"Evening," he called, waving to the other man.

Glad he hadn't had to wait long, Roy closed the distance between himself and his friend in a few steps, nodding to him in greeting.

A few other patients were already making their way down the hall, but it was still fairly empty. He could only hope that Reno was one of those people who moved quickly.

"We're going to have to wait for Reno to show up. I promised to make him a knife tonight." It could be a pain to have to wait each and every night for someone to make their way over here, but he would have felt even worse if he had skipped a night and left those on his list waiting even longer.

In the meantime, he looked over Hughes, trying to get an idea of where he had that gun stored. Part of him wanted to ask to see it, but that probably wasn't a good idea when another patient could be wandering out of their room at any moment.

"He gonna be here soon?" Hughes asked, trying to not sound irritated. He knew Roy had a long list of people to transmute for, but damn it, he wanted to get down there and get going as soon as possible.

"And are you sure you want to be doing alchemy before we even get down there?" He hated to bring it up, but was it really smart to be even a little bit drained before heading into such a dangerous place?

"I hope so," Roy said with a frown as he glanced down the hall. He knew he couldn't expect the man to get here too quickly depending on where his room was, but they were on a time crunch here. Still, from what little he knew of Reno, the redhead was reliable.

He wasn't surprised that Hughes was questioning his choice to even perform any alchemy tonight, but he knew he couldn't adjust his schedule even the slightest bit. "I'm used to it by now," he responded, waving the man off. "Besides, with the sort of firepower we have, it should be fine." They just had to make sure they didn't get tangled up in any huge fights before they got down there. With the amount of patients that were around these days, it shouldn't be too hard to do.

"Roy..."

Hughes didn't quite agree with that assessment. "Look, we don't know what the hell is down there. We don't know what we're gonna have to do. One night off isn't going to kill you, or anybody else."

Maybe it wouldn't kill anyone, but it would certainly hamper people's plans and put them in a position where they might be killed. Not having a weapon or some sort of offensive power here was equivalent to a death wish as far as Roy could tell.

"Well, it's not like I can cancel now," he said with a shrug, not wanting to make a big deal out of it, even if Hughes seemed to be taking it rather seriously. "I've already committed, so I can't go back on my word."

"Alright." Hughes held up his hands. "I'll trust you on this." He just hoped they weren't making a mistake. He hated questioning Roy at all, but he didn't want to take any risks. Even with a gun....

"So do we have any notes on what's down there, or are we going in blind?"

Roy could only hope that his friend's trust was well-placed. If his weakened state ended up getting him severely injured when they made it down there, he would feel guilty. And if it kept him from making sure Hughes didn't get hurt -- well, he wasn't going to consider that an option. He would rather take a hit than see the other man injured as a result of his stupidity.

At Hughes' question, the colonel nodded. "I have a very rough map that another patient gave me last night, in fact. It's in my room - I figured I'd grab it once the transmutation was done with." Since they were killing time at the moment, though, he wouldn't be surprised if Hughes wanted to look over it now.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/392840.html?thread=32179848#t32179848)]

Reno had expected to have to walk all the way (well, okay, maybe not all the way; it was just a couple of steps) to Roy's room, but instead found the guy hanging outside in the middle of the hallway, talking with...what was his name. Hughes. Something.

He stepped closer, oblivious to the fact that he might be interrupting their conversation. "Yo."

Hughes nodded in a friendly manner as Reno approached, glad to see the man. Hopefully this wouldn't take very long.

"I'll let you two get to it, then," he said, stepping away to let Roy and Reno discuss whatever it was that was being transmuted tonight.

That hadn't taken too long, and Hughes seemed willing to wait as they took care of the matter, so Roy nodded to the redhead and started to motion him down the hall toward his room, which happened to be right at the end of it.

"This way," he said as he started to walk, sending Hughes a look that more or less said that it wouldn't take long. Then he glanced back to Reno, looking the man over. It had been a while since they'd talked, and it wasn't like they knew each other that well in the first place. "So you wanted a knife, right?" That was a little different from a sword, at the very least.

Reno shrugged a shoulder, shifting the pipes in his arms as he followed along besides Roy.

"Something like that," he replied. "Dunno if it'll even end up with me. Might just hand it off to my partner."

Not that a knife wouldn't be useful, but he was still more comfortable with a pipe and Rude might find it handy. Unless the guy kept friggin' flaking on him like he did tonight.

At the sound of clanking metal, Roy noticed what the other man was carrying and nodded to himself. At least Reno had known better than to show up empty-handed. It had certainly happened that way in the past, after all. Roy always kept some extra metal around just in case, but he preferred not to use it unless it was some sort of emergency (or he got whoever's word that he would be reimbursed).

It was a little more troublesome to hear that Reno wasn't all that keen on using the weapon for himself. Still, it sounded like it would go to good use regardless, so Roy chose not to dwell on it.

Reaching his room again, Roy held the door open and gestured for the other man to enter. "This shouldn't take long, then." Making a knife would be even easier than making a sword, and would tire him out less, hopefully.

"Cool."

Reno stepped inside the room and dumped the pipes on the nearest bed. Several of the shorter variety, but considering he was just looking for a knife, there was probably enough.

He leaned against the wall. He had no idea if Roy needed anything else from him, but didn't ask, figuring Roy would let him know if there was.

"I don't know how much you'll end up using, but." He waved a hand at the pipes. "Keep whatever's left over. If there's any."

It wasn't like he needed a bunch of extra pipes for anything. Roy might have better use for them.

It was helpful that Reno was letting him have the leftover metal. That was usually the case, since there wasn't much use for it beyond getting something made, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

"Thank you," he said, looking the pipes over. There probably would be a little left once he was done with it, since there wasn't much needed to make a knife.

Moving over to his desk, Roy flipped open his journal and started drawing out an array. It didn't have to be altered too much from the one he used for swords, so it was done within seconds.

Paper ripped out and in hand, Roy moved over to the bed to grab the metal and then move it down to the floor, sliding the paper underneath the pile.

"It's going to be bright," he warned, figuring he should give the man a moment to brace himself.

It took less than thirty seconds, but in that amount of time, Reno grew bored enough to start drumming his fingers while Roy sketched something out. Pattern of some kind, from what he could see. Weird.

Rude might be interested to know, though. For whatever reason.

"'Kay," was all he said at the warning. As long as it didn't blind him or something, he wouldn't be too bothered, although he did avert his gaze from looking at Roy directly.

The drumming was enough to set him on edge slightly (this was a favor he was doing for the man, after all - he shouldn't be rushed), but he showed no outward sign of it, instead getting to work so that they could both get this over with as soon as possible.

As expected, the light shot up and made most of the room far more visible than it usually ever was during the nightshift, though it wasn't quite as overpowering as if he had been making a larger weapon. It also didn't take as much time, but Roy was still left gasping for breath by the end of it.

The newly-made knife was laying on the floor once the light died down, with the leftover metal neatly placed next to it.

Roy stayed where he was for the moment, on his hands and knees, wanting to recover before he made any effort to move.

Reno's hand went up automatically to shield his eyes from the flash of light. Man. This was like watching Rude tinker with his wacky explosives, but with less colour.

His gaze went back and forth between the knife and Roy for a second or two. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but Roy basically pulling the thing out of an explosion of light really wasn't it.

The guy didn't look too healthy, though.

"You okay?"

Sweat was starting to drip down his face, so Roy pushed himself up and back so that he was seated on the floor. It probably looked pretty pathetic, but he was used to it by now. He wiped his hand over his face and took a few more breaths before actually answering the other man.

"I'll be fine." Just a brief question like that didn't bother him too much, at least -- it was when people started really getting concerned that he got annoyed.

"Do me a favor and move that leftover metal into the closet?" He lifted one hand to point out which one he meant. He knew that Hughes was waiting, but he needed a little longer to recover before he tried to stand.

Reno eyed Roy like he didn't quite believe him, but he didn't say anything else on it. Not really his business—or his style.

"Yessir," he replied casually, but without his typical mocking edge. He scooped up what remained of the metal and dumped it into the closet, catching one when it almost fell to the floor. He hastily shut the door before any more pipes could spill out.

"You need anything else?"

"That's all," Roy responded, straining to reach the closest bed and then use it to get to his feet. It wasn't as bad as normal since he hadn't made a very large weapon, but he still felt kind of shaky. He pulled up a hand to his head in hopes of stopping it from spinning.

He glanced to Reno and motioned to the knife, indicating that he could take it. "Anyway, I'm sure you have things to do..." The implication was that he also did, but Roy wasn't sure if that was communicated very well considering how out of it he was at the moment.

"Yup." It wasn't too clear either way whether Reno caught the message or not, but in any case, he was obviously ready to get gone himself. He reached down and picked up the knife, toying idly with it as he headed for the door. There wasn't enough time to tell how well it handled, but it felt decent enough.

"Owe you one," he called over his shoulder, slipping out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

Now, where the hell to find Rude.

[going...somewhere else. Will link later. :3]

The man did owe him one, but Roy figured they could work out the details of that later. Now wasn't the time for idle chatting or negotiation, and he let out a sigh of relief when the redhead left. This gave him the chance to recover and catch his breath.

Hughes was likely going to see Reno leaving the room and heading down the hallway, which meant that he would be expecting him to be emerging as well. He didn't have much time, then, as he didn't want his friend to think that he couldn't handle the trip they were making tonight.

So after just a moment or two, he exited his room (with his set of maps in hand this time) and moved back down the hall toward his friend, trying not to let his fatigue show in his body language.

Hughes had been leaning against the wall, arms crossed in a relaxed stance, waiting for the two to be done. He watched as Reno left and shifted, waiting for Roy to follow. He figured the other man would probably need a minute or two, and that was fine.

Right on time, Roy joined him in the hall. Hughes stood up, adjusted his glasses, and nodded.

"All set?"

Relieved that Hughes didn't have any concerned questions or admonishing looks for him, Roy simply nodded in response to his inquiry. "Of course," he said, hardly one to pass up the opportunity for a little arrogance, especially when it was with someone who wouldn't be bothered by it.

"I brought the map as well. It's hardly complete, but it should give us some reference points to work from once we're down there." But getting there was the hard part, wasn't it?

"Which route were we going to take? Through the Sun Room or outside?"

"Uh...." Hughes ran a hand through his hair as he followed after Roy. Good question.

"Either one's probably gonna give us problems," he pointed out. At least if previous nights were anything to go by.

"What do you think?"

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/393089.html?thread=32553089#t32553345)]

Mello waited several minutes before leaving his room. Since he'd be traveling alone, he knew it was safest to wait for others to clear the hallways of monsters, but waiting too long meant his destinations might be cleared of useful supplies as well. He was annoyed to find that the short knife he'd used the night before had disappeared, leaving him unarmed except for his flashlight.

He had a bad feeling about this, but he couldn't just sit on his ass all night. As long as he could run, he'd be fine.

The first stop would be research library on the second floor. Though he didn't expect much from the computers someone had reported seeing there, he wanted to know if they'd boot up without electricity. Scanning the medical journals would be useful too...an institute like this would keep current subscriptions, so he'd be able to find the exact year and month.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/394104.html?thread=32016760#t32016760)]

Edited 2008-07-11 06:07 (UTC)

Whatever the radios and intercom had been on about did sound very interesting to Kadaj, but at the same time, he wasn't stupid enough to want to try to investigate it on his own. Meeting with Leon and trying to cajole him into going with him was a much better option, if one that would likely end in failure. Leon's magic was impressive, yes, but if the monsters blocking the way to their goal were anything like that thing they'd encountered in the laundry room...

Sighing, he strapped his gladius to his back and fetched his bag and radio, deciding to leave the flashlight behind tonight. Leon would probably have his after all, and if not, well, Kadaj was reasonably sure he'd be able to see in the rooms they'd be exploring tonight. He briefly considered dragging along some of the things he'd retrieved last night to deliver to Roy along the way, but after deeming that too much of a pain, he decided to leave that for later. It was too much of a pain to have to do that again when it was likely he'd need to do so again once he finished his assignment tonight, and besides which, he wanted to get to the rooms he was supposed to be exploring before anyone else did.

Preparations made, he stepped outside and headed down the hall, giving Roy and Hughes a jaunty wave as he passed.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/392840.html?thread=32051592#t32051592).]

Ion was a very patient boy. Extremely patient. Angelically patient.

Which was why he sat on his bed, pillow cover full of maps clutched in his hand, waiting. He was sure his guardian would come right over - he should have thought to left her a message, to double check - but after last night, the Fon Master assumed she would meet him here. After her promise, it seemed the most logical path.

He still wished he had left a note, especially when a time passed - his roommate's trail long gone - and there was no knocking on his door.

Losing count of how many times he'd smoothed the folds out of his Fon Master uniform, the replica took a small peek outside, sliding his flashlight from one end of the hall to the other.

Nothing.

Was she not coming? He didn't fault her for possibly planning a previous engagement with someone else - Guy was here, wasn't he? And Luke... somewhere. Maybe she was with one of them?

Should he look? Should he stay here?

...maybe five more minutes.

Too soon, the boy couldn't wait anymore. Hopping off the bed, he slung the light bag of maps over his shoulder after adding the journal and pen into the mix. He held tightly onto his flashlight; he didn't have anything else to depend on to guide him through the hallways, and in the worst case scenario... as a weapon.

Taking the first floor's map out, Ion kept his eyes glued to it, walking out to the next hallway.

Zuko didn't have time to dwell on the short conversation with his roommate, so he shoved his flashlight and map into his pillowcase and exited their room.

The two people he was working with should be waiting for him in the M-C hallways according to the map, which couldn't be farther away. One of them had no idea where he was going, this was probably going to be another slow night. With his leg feeling better he felt more comfortable leaving them behind if he had to...

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/393089.html?thread=32117121#t32117121).]

Daemon slipped out of his room, a frown still on his face. He was still feeling rather volatile, his temper skittering to dangerous levels before he forcefully stepped back from the Killing Edge yet again. The disappearance of both Jaenelle and his father had him worried now. Why were they gone? What did this mean?

He mulled it over as he turned down the corridor, heading for the hallway where he'd arranged to meet the boy earlier that afternoon.

[Going here.]

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Nightshift 33: M1-M10 Hallway

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