NIGHTSHIFT 34: M91-M100 HALLWAY

[wing-head.livejournal.com]

[M95]

Before he was even entirely awake, Steve was aware that he wasn't in his own bed. The mattress and the pillows and the comforter and sheets weren't his. It only took him a split second to go from being asleep to being fully awake. He waited a few moments, pretending to be still asleep and listening for the sounds of anyone else in the room. He could barely hear the faint, rhythmic sounds of someone else breathing from across the room.

After a moment, Steve opened his eyes and stared across the room at the other bed. It was occupied with a large man in plain gray clothing, and the room itself wasn't particularly interesting.

Sitting up, Steve glanced down at himself. Gray hospital scrubs with a smiley face on the chest. This was a bit strange, even by his standards. Steve had been banged up by the Argonaut pretty badly, but his body could handle a lot more than most people. Most of his injuries had healed by the time he'd gone to bed, and as he stretched now he couldn't feel any lingering pain or soreness.

Steve got out of bed and wondered how long he'd been unconscious, there were no windows to give a time of day or night. He didn't remember having any dreams, so he couldn't have been asleep too long. And this wasn't at all like Steve's usual dreams, so he probably wasn't still asleep. With dreams mostly ruled out, Steve was at a loss for how he'd gotten here. It was extremely unlikely that he'd been abducted somehow from the Avengers tower; he would have woken up if someone had entered his room. And even if they had managed to get into his room and drug him without waking him up, there was still the fact that the rest of the security in the Avengers tower was tight.

Sneaking in and then sneaking out with him without anyone noticing would've been almost impossible. That left psychics and magic as potential causes, though he couldn't imagine why anyone would kidnap him just to put him in a room like this. Steve searched the room carefully, locating nothing more interesting than a flashlight and a radio. While it wasn't as old as the type he'd used during World War II, it certainly wasn't very modern looking, and the presence of the flashlight was odd as well.

There were a bunch of pens, and hwile those might've made good weapons for someone like Bullseye or Taskmaster, Steve didn't see much point in carrying them. Satisfied that he hadn't missed anything that might be useful or a clue to what was going on, Steve tried the door knob. Surprisingly, it was unlocked.

Whatever this was, so far it didn't make much sense, and was a bit more concerning than waking up in less than perfect condition in a cell somewhere. At least then, it was quite obvious what his captor's intentions were, and he could work on breaking out.

Steve paused and glanced at his room mate before deciding to let the man keep sleeping. The hallway outside his room was dark, and there was no sign of anyone in it. Steve grabbed the flashlight, eyed the radio for a moment before taking it, and cautiously edged out into the hall. He wasn't entirely sure what he would find out there, so he remained quiet and alert.

Comments

[wing-head.livejournal.com]

The hallway contained ten identical doors, each presumably with a room exactly like the one he had woken up in. Confirming that was less interesting and probably less rewarding than exploring the rest of the facility.

Steve made his way down the quiet, empty hallway until he came to an intersection. It was very dark, but Steve didn't turn the flash light on yet, instead making his way cautiously into the new hallway.

[wing-head.livejournal.com]

[Going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/427602.html)]

M100

[loyal-soldier.livejournal.com]

TK sat down on his bed, trying to find a comfortable position for his shoulder. He hoped he'd be cogent enough to give Armand some tips on self defence if nothing else, but he certainly wasn't going to be doing much practical demonstration. He waited, staring at the opposite wall, slipping into the sort of empty-headed idleness that he'd learned from keeping watch for a twelve-plus hour shift.

Re: M100

[secret-orchard.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/422758.html?thread=34637670#t34637670)]

This was the door. Armand took a few breaths to calm himself and knocked. "Morrison?" he called.

[runner-up-robot.livejournal.com]

Forte awoke confused, and somewhat groggy. He didn't even "wake up" like this unless Wily shut him down for upgrades, but... actually, he didn't remember clearly whether he did or didn't shut down. All this muddled thinking was highly unusual for the robot, and all he could think was that Dr. Wily had been messing with his core systems. Forte didn't know how his brain worked, but it was definitely not working correctly.

He cursed under his breath, "stupid, senile old man..." while he got off of his "bed", and noticed that his sensors were also off. Instead of the hard, metal-on-metal feeling of Wily's workbench, everything felt soft. The floor even felt soft on his feet, though he could almost swear it was the other way around. He couldn't even see in the dark. He'd just have to hope his subconscious systems could adjust, or find his maker and force him to finish what he was doing, or fix what he'd broken.

Feeling his way to a door, he opened it and stumbled out into a hall. This was very strange... not like Wily's workshop at all. Had the old man finally tried to scrap him? Cripple or disable his systems, and shove him in a dark warehouse? "Dammit, Wily! Where are you!? What did you do to me?" On the other hand, it might have been Light and his cronies... in particular... "Rock, are you here? If I find out this is your fault, I'm going to fucking KILL YOU!"

Now he reached the end of the hallway, with no reply. He could hear other sounds, muffled in the distance. It could be voices or footsteps, or his own muted (again, the floor must be soft under his feet) footsteps echoing in the hall, or his own malfunctioning sensors, but he continued into another hallway, hoping they indicated a way out.

[runner-up-robot.livejournal.com]

[because I can't seem to be able to make a post for M-C Block]

As Forte continued to move along, he did see, or at least hear humans. This made it unlikely he was in a warehouse, especially since Wily always worked with his robots alone - or the occasional stooge - but never hired help. A prison, perhaps? Foolish, but the door had been unlocked anyway. He decided to ignore them, and keep searching for an exit.

In the meantime, he felt something flopping on his face, and realized it was partly to blame for night-blindness. Had they draped a cloth or a towel over his head? He brushed it away, and it didn't feel like a solid cloth. But then, he had already determined that his tactile sensors probably weren't working right.

[in M94]

[manhattan-red.livejournal.com]

It was a bit unexpected for his roommate to be sleeping around this time of night, but Brooklyn wasn't going to be the one to wake him. He retrieved his shovel from the closet, as well as the fist weapons Skuld had made him the night before. The problem was going to be carrying them. It would be beneficial to keep the shovel around because sometimes the best option for breaking things was a large blunt object - not to mention it could be used as a lever if need be.

He needed a belt and something to shield the blades in. He also needed some way of strapping the shovel to his back so that his hands could be free.

Perhaps it was too much to bother with after all...

Re: [in M94]

[4lulzngiggles.livejournal.com]

Mm... where was he? Joshua had remembered one last thing, and then white, white washing over him and taking him... well, to wherever this was, he supposed. The boy slowly stirred on his bed, finally sitting up with a rather confused expression. Several things hit him in rapid succession.

1. There was a strange man in his room.
2. This was not his room.
3. These were not his clothes.
4. His cellphone was missing.
5. Strange man in room. With shovel. And other things.

Joshua slid to his feet, gazing at Brooklyn with a curious, almost piercing gaze. He was dressed in the same way, and he had a bed as well... so not an enemy, probably. A room mate? Uniforms... some sort of prison? No, no prison had a smiley face. A foster home? ...no, whoever that man was, he was far too old for that. Which meant an asylum or some other holding facility. And they'd taken his cellphone. Well, that just wouldn't do at all.

"...mind telling me where I am? And why you have a shovel inside?"

[godforsaken]

Even though breakfast itself had been met with reasonable company, Sync had decided to spend the rest of the day by himself, idly reading over the bulletin board while everyone else chatted amongst themselves. He had no desire jumping over the wall tonight, or at least, not without a clearer picture of what was out there. The last thing he needed was to die in the middle of the woods without having the chance to take someone else down with him. While it may have seemed crude, the replica never understood the value of a human life anyway.

The God-General ignored his roommate as usual, not entirely in the mood to deal with someone so aloof and boring and instead prepared for the night. The folders he had plucked from the File Room a few days go still lay unopened under his bed, but he also wasn't in the mood to face the 'reality' of this Institute. In fact, he wasn't in the mood to do anything, but Sync forced himself to work anyway for the sake of his own sanity. As long as he was kept busy then he didn't have to think about anything else, and that was good enough for him.

Sync didn't bother to say goodbye to his roommate, already making his way out into the hallway by the time he heard the unmistakable sound of the door unlocking. He paid no mind to anyone else that was wandering about, instead focused on what was ahead of him as he strode forward.

[4lulzngiggles.livejournal.com]

((From the previous thread))

Hm... as Joshua well knew, proceeding alone was a bit of a problem. The Noise ate pretty much anyone who didn't have a partner, and Joshua always worked better when he had someone to stand between him and his enemies. Granted, Neku hadn't usually been the best person for that job, but the fact remained. He needed someone to go with, and Brooklyn simply wouldn't cut it. Therefore, he'd need someone else. Someone with a problem, someone alone, someone who moved-

-no, someone with spiky hair and a body that nearly announced, 'I am physically fit.' And wouldn't it just be funny coincidence that someone matching that description was walking down the hallway at precisely that moment? Joshua snerked, then raised his hands, starting the process of forming a pact with his partner... then blinked, baffled, as absolutely nothing happened. No light, no flashes, no connection, nothing. Had the rules changed so fundamentally?

Whatever. Joshua started jogging after Sync, that shovel balanced on his shoulders, and as he got close he announced, "Hello there, partner."

[osakapwnzu.livejournal.com]

Heiji frowned when the announcement came on, but there was no sign of Tyler. The detective was worried, but he needed to meet Adel ASAP. Gathering up his gear, he quickly left the room, bound for the M-A block bathroom. No big deal.

[osakapwnzu.livejournal.com]

(To here! (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/429430.html))

M100

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

[takes place before Armand's arrival at M100]

Some night soon Subaru was going to have to just stay in his room and make a supply of ofuda that would last him a little while. He didn't like the idea of spending a whole night in his room--it felt like cheating, somehow, or running away--but making the ofuda took as much energy as using them, and it was very draining to have to do both every night. At least having showered just a short while before dinner had made things a touch easier for Subaru tonight--he didn't need to purify himself any further before getting started on the magic.

Subaru's roommate didn't seem to be doing well, but unfortunately working the spells and drawing the kanji took all of Subaru's concentration, so he wasn't able to ask after TK or find out what had happened to him. The man hadn't seemed interested in talking during dinner, in any case, so it was probably wise to leave him alone.

Finally the little pile of ofuda were complete and Subaru got them wrapped up and tucked safely into the waistband of his trousers. The ritual knife was similarly gathered up and tucked away, then Subaru made a brief bow to his roomie before leaving for the night.

Re: M100

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/420935.html?thread=34753351#t34753351)]

M95

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

Teisel drifted into something like wakefulness at the sound of a door closing. Squeezing his eyes shut tighter, he rolled over to go back to sleep and was nearly there when he noticed how quiet it was.

Well, of course the Flutter's engines would cut out in the middle of the friggin' night. And of course he'd have to stumble all the way down to the engine room in the dark to bludgeon them into working order again.

"Stupid piece of crap ship." Why anyone would choose to fly in this decrepit rust-bucket was beyond him. Maybe the Casketts were just bored with being alive. With something between a grumble and a whine, Teisel stretched and reached a hand out to grab the back of the chesterfield to pull himself up.

...And awkwardly flopped over when the back of the chesterfield failed to exist. Something oddly heavy-sounding hit the floor.

"What the hell?!" A...bed? Had Bon moved him? Teisel glanced around, looking for his little brother. Not only was Bon not around (and he was very hard to miss in even a dark room), but Teisel was pretty sure this room wasn't anywhere in the Flutter, unless the Casketts had done some late-night redecorating.

"What the hell?" he repeated, lurching out of the bed while his sleepy brain gamely tried to catch up with the rest of him. He hadn't made it one step when Teisel made his first two discoveries: first, that he was standing on whatever he'd knocked off the bed earlier; and second, that it rolled. Landing hard on his backside, he didn't even try to muffle the string of curses that followed. At this point, he honestly hoped he'd woken someone, if only to have Tron or Barrel, or even Roll come in and tell him to stop acting like a freak so they could rest. The minutes ticked by, and no one walked through the door.

Teisel glared at the flashlight that had tripped him as if it were the mastermind behind the entire ordeal, then picked it up and flicked it on. He didn't actually need its light to see the room, but he didn't trust shadowy corners in a strange place. The room looked almost like a college dormitory, with two of everything save for a lone dresser in the center of the wall. Disconcerting. Even more disconcerting was the fact that the other bed was unmade, which meant someone had been using it fairly recently.

Hoisting himself off the floor, Teisel crossed the room and gave the other bed a tentative poke. The sheets were still warm. That settled it. Teisel didn't know who had just left the room, but he wasn't going to hang around until the weirdo came back.

He tried the door handle. Unlocked. He hadn't quite been expecting that, but then he hadn't expected anything else that had happened so far. Opening the door just wide enough, Teisel slipped outside, nearly snagging his hair as he pulled the door closed again.

Re: M95

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

Teisel clapped his hand over the beam of his flashlight and startled back into the door. He regretted closing it behind him without getting a good look at the hallway first. It was crawling with people; he only hoped no one had noticed him yet.

Huddled in the doorway and thinking invisible thoughts, Teisel scanned the corridor. Nine other doors lined the wall, with one more larger door at one end of the hall. One man was leaning against the wall messing with a folded up piece of paper, but everyone else seemed to be aiming for that large door. That looked as much like an exit as anything.

Trying to project an air of nonchalance, Teisel uncovered his flashlight and moseyed toward the door. As long as he acted like he was supposed to be here, he might just make it all the way outside. After that, it was just a matter of finding a pay phone and calling the Flutter. He could be home by morning.

[vintagebrit]

Mason was skulking against a wall, playing with his worn-out map and drinking the last of his whiskey before going to meet Zel.

He got the feeling this was gonna be a good night.

[hellmunchkin.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/427927.html?thread=34710167#t34710167)-- Thread hopping because I have limited internet time]

Phibrizzo made quick time on his trek to the reaper's room, sinisterly delighted to find his target friend in an obvious location. His plastered a bright smile on his face and exclaimed, "Uncle Mason!"

M98

[littlegoblinjr.livejournal.com]

Harry had dozed off after he'd finished dinner, until he jerked awake suddenly, some fragment of a dream making him bolt upright, gasping and searching for something. Nothing. Just a bad dream. One that was thankfully fading already, leaving nothing but the memory of familiar, crazed laughter.

Swallowing shakily, he looked around the empty room, realising that it was already night, though he couldn't tell how long he'd been asleep. He was supposed to be meeting Peter and his friends again too. Hopefully he hadn't kept them waiting so long they'd gone ahead without him. Quickly fishing under the bed he retrieved the knife Peter had loaned him last night and slipped out the door, moving towards the main hall.

Re: M98

[littlegoblinjr.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/427602.html?thread=34873682#t34873682)]

M99

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

Yuuhi didn't waste much time after the doors unlocked. He said a brief goodbye to Allie before he hurried out the door. He didn't want to get caught again, not by anyone he knew at least.

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/422758.html)]]

[tender-cruelty.livejournal.com]

Allelujah sat in the room for a short while after Fai had left, lost in thought. It was difficult trying to work alone when he'd become so used to having Celestial Being backing him up. Maybe he'd become too reliant on them but right now he still needed allies.

You have me Hallelujah said, amusement clear in his voice. There was a feeling like phantom arms wrapping around him and Allelujah scowled slightly wondering how crazy he'd sound if someone overheard him telling Hallelujah to stop messing with his brain waves again.

Yeah, that sounded pretty crazy, even to him. Damn.

He stood, stretching and wishing once again that he had some clothes that didn't look like they belonged to a laboratory, and stepped out into the corridor. He would just wander again tonight probably. Maybe he'd get something done. He slipped the box of cigarettes into his pocket. Who knew, maybe he could use them as a bribe.

[tender-cruelty.livejournal.com]

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/422758.html?view=35058278#t35058278)]

[multiweapon.livejournal.com]

Plans to meet for the night were kind of vague, but Haseo couldn't complain if he got out of the room and on his way. There were a number of times that he'd been roped into seemingly pointless escapades that ended up being pretty pivotal to finding information, so maybe this excursion could prove to be one of those occasions. Getting his map and flashlight Haseo exited the room, not wanting to hope for anything too big. They'd probably just wind up at some door that didn't want to open anyway.

[multiweapon.livejournal.com]

[ To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/422758.html?thread=35231590#t35231590) ]

M92

[yourtravelagent]

Manny smirked in spite of the shrill laughter. He had just learned he was only going to be stuck here for as long as it took to bump this guy, after all.

"What a relief," he murmured to himself, drumming his fingers on the desk – still a little surprised by the lack of clicks and clacks his hand made – as he reflected on the latest announcement. There was so much he didn't know about this place, and yet he couldn't help but relish a sense of reassurance. They could escape if they tried. That was a key piece of information to have.

This was supposed to be a game, wasn't it? Well, he could stay here, choose to sit it out for the sake of getting his ducks in a row, but he didn't want to disappoint their host. Who was he to turn down an invitation?

Re: M92

[yourtravelagent]

[ to here ]

[pleading-ngri.livejournal.com]

Phoenix flicked on his flashlight and looked up and down the hall, a little surprised to find nothing but people walking around. He'd expected monsters right off the bat. But this? This was . . . pretty calm, actually.

He walked briskly down the hall, eyes flitting, trying to breathe steadily and slow his pulse at least a little. No need to be so paranoid. From the way people talked, he had a feeling that he'd know a monster if he saw one.

[pleading-ngri.livejournal.com]