damned_institute | Day 35: Bus 1

Sanji woke up groggily to find his nurse already in his room. He gave a sleepy and half-hearted "Buh?" before realizing that nurse meant dayshift, and he'd fallen asleep after dinner.

"Shit!" He sat up abruptly, which gave his nurse a start. "Nami-swan!" How had he allowed himself to sleep through an entire night? What if she'd tried to return to the basement? What if she'd been waiting for him to appear and protect her? He'd let her down!

"There, there. Calm down." His nurse set a familiar flannel shirt down on the bed and Sanji eyed it with confusion. The last time he'd worn that had been... "Sorry I didn't knock or anything, but I was so excited~!" A pair of jeans followed the shirt. "Today is the field trip into town! Aren't you looking forward to it?"

The chef had to admit, the town had been an interesting enough place the last time he'd been. If he could find Nami early on he might even be able to lead her around... So he didn't complain too much as he changed into the other outfit (which he really wished they'd let him keep - anything was better than the regular gray) and was led out to the first of the buses.

He took a seat near the front, hopefully easily visible to any of his crew - especially to a certain member of his crew.

[for Usopp!]

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Haku continued to smile. "I'm afraid I'm not familair with the name," he said, shaking his head slightly.

"I am sorry you were witness to such ... unpleasentness so soon in your stay here. My first few days were rather uneventful." He said nothing of the scars that crossed his eye or the events of his first night...

"Ah, Valkyries are goddesses of battle from Norse mythology," Artemis explained. "Skuld happens to be one of those goddesses. Makes one wonder about just how strong these ties are that bind us to this place. If you can't break them Skuld, certainly there must be some sort of powerful device to be found and destroyed."

He thought for a moment. "I've been outside the walls twice, and yet I've been unable to stay there. It's very strange indeed..."

"Yeah, and I've done just that before," Skuld groaned. "I think I know how most of this is being done, but I can't do anything directly. I can guess it's not what I'm here for, and it's good that I can help, but still."

All she needed was her item synthesis back, just long enough to make a certain kind of wire and weave it into special ribbons. Not enough for everyone, just whoever they thought their best fighters and magic-users were. Plus one for Landel. Find the limiter and destroy it, put the extra ribbon on Landel to end any protections he might have on him, and...

"Obliterate" wasn't a strong enough word for what would happen to him and the Institute.

Haku thought about that for a moment

"Have you shared with anyone else your ideas concerning what you think is keeping us here? We all know it's something technological, he's all but admitted that, but I doubt anyone would have a clue as to what it is."

"I haven't thought on that in quite a while," Artemis said honestly. "My original theory was an implant of some sort, but I haven't detected any scars that I didn't have previously. So something else must keep us tethered here. Any theories, Skuld?"

"Lots," she said. "You don't need implants to control people. Just about everything here looks like the work of a demon; the only question is if Landel himself is, or he's in a contract with one. This looks like it might be Hild's work, too." Skuld grimaced; if she was involved, they were in even worse trouble than anyone knew. "On her own I don't know why she'd do this, but if she or someone else is working with Landel, it makes sense.

"As for our limiters, my sister Belldandy has one normally, and I've helped her take it off before, so I know something about those, too. The big problem is that limiters are really complex, and sometime it's virtually impossible to break a spell without... help." Some magics were so complicated that even Heaven, the ultimate magic institution, could do nothing without the one who cast it--but she wasn't about to say as much. Besides, those spells were rare.

Haku took in the new information. "That sounds plausable," he said hesitantly. "However, are they the sort of thing that can be put on pause,so to speak? During the nights they brainwash us, we have our abilities back, if not our sense."

If the magic was as complex as implied, then that made it less likely to be used.... or it simply meant their captors were far stronger than Miss Skuld knew.

"That is a valid point," Artemis said, staring down at the floor and pointing at Haku. "If these seals can be broken and reforged at will, Landel may be a bigger problem than we originally anticipated.

"But what do you make of his promise to see some of us on the buses? Is he really traveling to Doyleton with us? Would he really take that sort of chance if he didn't have some sort of failsafe in place.

"If I were him," Artemis said, steepling his fingers and raising his gaze to the back of the seat in front of him. "I wouldn't show my face if I knew that a patient uprising would kill me--because no doubt another one will happen soon. Dare I say it, he is more powerful than both you," he pointed to Skuld, and then Haku. "And you, combined."

Well duh. Skuld's power wasn't all that impressive at the moment and she knew it. If Landel was more powerful than her normally... she still wouldn't be very surprised, but she remained convinced that the power they saw wasn't all his own.

"It doesn't take all that long to put on or take off a limiter, either," she admitted. "With Belldandy we had to do some setup--but it would have taken a lot less time if we had it all ready in advance."

Thank you. ^^;;;

Haku smiled. "Well, certainly he is stronger or we wouldn't be here. Though, I doubt he is acting alone and the person or persons behind him are the actual threat. This is certainly growing into a much larger situation than many believe."

He frowned, thinking. "Or, it's really quite simple and we are making things needlessly complicated."

"There really is no way to tell for certain until we find him," Artemis said with a sigh. "By the way, both of you, I made it to a mine at the north of the Institute, but the Captain and our third member weren't able to find anything of note. However it was clear that something was down in the second floor of the mine--something that set my teeth on edge. It wouldn't be a good idea to go down there, I believe."

Skuld could name a lot of possible explanations for whatever had made Artemis so scared--knowing the thing's location wasn't much information to go on, but it was still something. He could have a point about the area being good to avoid... but on the other hand, if she was protecting something she didn't want found, any of the creatures she was thinking of would be very, very good guardians.

"It sounds too risky," she agreed, unhappily. "I might be familiar with a lot of the monsters here, but the problem is doing alchemy is so exhausting. If I could get a toolkit, though, robot scouts are easy to build." If they were going to feel like they were in a giant game of chess, then... it was only fair that they get some pawns too.

Day 35: Bus 1

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