damned_institute | NIGHTSHIFT 34: Mine

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NIGHTSHIFT 34: Mine - Main Shaft, Level 1

(From here.)

And this, Artemis thought. Is why I would get down on my knees and thank the powers that be that I was rich. If I actually put stock in that sort of thing.

Not only was the mine dark, decrepit, and in danger of cave-in, it smelled. Freud's mother did it smell. The combination of standing water and abandoned camp sites was enough to overpower Artemis' nose and make him cough and snort to try to expel the stench.

The path sloped downwards into the main shaft, where he found himself at the head of several branches to different areas. This was, indeed, a good place to hide something. It would take hours to search all of the routes. Not to mention any levels the tunnels could lead to.

Well, best get to it.

"Let's search the tunnels. It will take a while, considering that splitting up isn't an option--" Like hell he was going to go down an abandoned mineshaft alone. "--but if we're going to find something, it will be in one of these shafts."

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Nothing with spirit threads? So either the place was empty, or it housed some of the soulless monsters he'd been warned of. Either way, it probably wouldn't be a very pleasant place to visit, though hopefully the other two in the party would be able to protect him from whatever was inside.

The healer started a little when the radio turned on, blinking at it in mild surprise. The woman's voice - that must be one of the "resistance" people the captain had mentioned, though what she said only baffled him even more. Hanatarou only shook his head a little, clenched the neck of his bag to hide the fact that his hands were shaking, and cautiously entered the mine with the others.

As he glanced around, for a second he thought that it was almost like being in the sewers under Seireitei - if those tunnels had been abandoned for years, allowed to deteriorate, and potentially housed unseen monsters. Suddenly the comparison wasn't quite so comforting.

He glanced at Artemis for a moment in concern when the other coughed, but decided he wasn't suddenly injured or sick. Probably just dust. "Um. What should I, um, be looking f-for?"

Hitsugaya turned his light back on glanced around briefly, his face as dour as ever. "Anything useful," he replied to Hanatarou. "Clues, weapon, other equipment...anything out of the ordinary down here. It might be easy to get lost, so we'll need to be careful and map out everything we pass. Fowl, you're on that duty. Let's start by heading straight back and see how far across this mine goes...."

"Roger that, Captain," Artemis said, pulling out his journal. Oh yes. Yet another asset he could ~~exploit~~ bargain with other patients for. He made a few notes on the tunnel, the direction of the entrance, et cetera, then walked carefully down the shaft. As he walked, he made notes, stepped very precisely, and drew out the sides of the cavern.

Once he reached the back, he shined his light on what seemed to be a lift. But whether or not it was still in operating order, Artemis couldn't tell on first glance. Everything was so musty and broken down...

"Captain!" The boy shined his light as best he could on all of the lift. "It's a way down. Though I'm not sure if it will bear weight or not."

Anything...out of the ordinary. Hanatarou blinked at his surroundings, wondering just what was considered "ordinary" for an abandoned mine shaft, anyway. Well, there was dirt, and dripping water, beams shoring up the ceiling, the remains of a track that he carefully avoided lest it turn into a trap for the stumble-prone. Nothing that he would consider interesting, really.

When Artemis called, the healer turned quickly toward him, startled, then winced as he accidentally kicked a fallen lantern with enough force that it smacked the side of the tunnel. It could've been worse, he could've knocked himself over, but the noise of the impact was still startlingly loud to his ears.

He sheepishly moved to join the others, trying to be quieter now, and eyed the lift Artemis had found. After considering for a second, he was about to volunteer to test it out - but then looked again at the people he was with and realized that he wasn't the smallest and lightest (as was usually the case) and quickly closed his mouth before he made an observation to that effect.

Hitsugaya snapped to attention, lifting his blade and scanning the hall for the source of the commotion. Were they under attack?!?!

And then he noticed Hanatarou, sheepishly joining the group, and the captain let out a mildly irritated sigh. Klutz.

"There's only one way to test it," Hitsugaya commented, handing his sword again to Artemis. "I'll go down first. If anyone stands a chance of reacting quickly enough to jump back here should something go wrong, it would be me."

Artemis nearly jumped out of his skin as well when Hanatarou's foot met with the lantern. He cast his light about wildly, looking to see if the noise had caught the attention of any unknown adversaries. None that he could see... Still. Best to move forward as quickly as possible, before something advanced on them.

"All right Captain," Artemis said, pointing his light at the lift again. "Go ahead. We're right behind you."

Hanatarou's shoulders hunched a little as he unconsciously tried to hide from the looks his teammates were giving him, his gaze dropping to the ground again. He was miserably certain by now that any assignments in the future would likely involve staying far, far away from any breakable objects - including Hitsugaya-taichou's temper.

The healer nodded a little in response to Artemis's statement, trying to look as confident as he didn't feel. Right behind him. Yes. Of course. Though hopefully...Hanatarou gave the lift a somewhat dubious look, and hoped that he wouldn't be following because his skills were needed after using that thing.

The ground sloped downward abruptly, but Heat was ready for it this time. The stench was even worse than outside; rot, mold, old, standing water. It was damp, too.

After of a lifetime of a world always drenched in rain, he had really come to hate anything damp.

He ceased his exploration any deeper to investigate the timber beams that lined the tunnel, wrenching a broken lamp from a nail. He shook it, expecting a reaction - nothing but a loud clanking of broken parts and shards of glass.

Wasn't anything around here not a useless, broken piece of shit?

Ugh. Argilla shuddered when they went inside the mine, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the stink of it. Stagnant water and rain and she'd had enough of both to last her a lifetime or two. She much preferred the dry earth she'd found here to the endless wet of the Junkyard.

She narrowed her eyes when she heard the metal and glass clank and clatter, but it was only Heat breaking something in a fit of anger. As if that was any kind of surprise really.

...well great. As soon as Roland picked his way through the boards, as soon as he felt the damp air and the musty scent, he knew Heat was going to be upset. That was confirmed by the growl and the clank of metal and glass. Not that Roland had expected much of anything to work around here, but the lack of light was going to be a problem.

So, he started replacing the batteries from his hand into his flashlight, glancing up as he did so. When Heat was riled he could snap at anyone, and the uneventful walk had done nothing to diminish Roland's demonic hunger. Heat had to be even worse off, then.

"If there's anything useful, it's going to be further on, past areas where other people wouldn't want to go. I don't imagine you could make a light, can you?" It'd be too much to hope for a torch, but even if it was there, the chance of a draft or a damp leaving them in darkness was too much to risk.

He tossed the seemingly useless lamp against a wall, listening to it shatter appropriately. Hunger, destruction, anger. It all went hand in hand.

Heat moved on to the next closest lamp, ripping it down from its own nail violently. This one he didn't shake so roughly, merely swirling it in a wide arc, listening for a liquid sound - and there it was, a merrily sloshing noise. Sticking his nose closer to the broken lamp confirmed his curiousity.

"Give me a second," he grumbled, stomping his way back through the darkness to disappear around the mine's entrance, a crack following his disappearance soon after. When he curled back around the corner, the AI had one hand wrapped around a stick as long as his own forearm, the tip wet with the oil he'd found residing in the lamp. The offending broken object had been thrown into a bush, abandoned.

Though he wasn't going to admit it, he hadn't actually tried this before. Using something like Agi while still in a human form, at least. One could only eat so much singed flesh...

Holding the stick at arm's length, Heat glared daggers at the stick, looking all like he was willing it to burst into flame - before he cradled his hand near the oil.

Luckily, calling his element wasn't as hard as he'd imagine it to be. As his Atma grew a dark red, a tiny flicker of flame leapt from his fingers, igniting the wood almost immediately.

The only downside to his success was that he felt a wave of fatigue come over his left arm, making the slightly-warm hand fall uselessly to his side.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/434524.html?thread=35421020#t35421020)]

Having spent a good portion of his time navigating the sewers, the smell was nothing jarring. Though Angel did have the option of not breathing altogether.

"Watch your step," he said automatically. He brushed a finger over a broken lamp as he walked forward, sidestepping an overturned cart. Hm.

This place was unquestionably abandoned. There didn't appear to be a single thing that wasn't broken down. That aside, not much else could be gathered. That the place was so old gave them a ballpark figure as to what time period it might be, but that wasn't anything he couldn't have guessed on his own.

He could hear the faint echo of dripping water below. Going deeper might turn up something more.

Anya followed Angel, weaving through all the broken bits of mining paraphernalia. There was pretty much everything you'd expect in a mine, except hearty, cheerful workers singing about how they were working.

"So what do we think is down here?" she asked, shining her flashlight beam around to take in all the broken glass and broken wood and, well, broken everything. "A secret cult that rips the still-beating hearts out of virgins? Sometimes they have those in mines. Alternatively, there might be talking birds."

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NIGHTSHIFT 34: Mine - Main Shaft, Level 1

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