damned_institute | [NIGHTSHIFT 35] M31-M40 HALLWAY

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[NIGHTSHIFT 35] M31-M40 HALLWAY

[from here]

Still no one. Although he could hear muffled voices through a few doors, the corridors were so black that if it hadn't been for his flashlight, he wouldn't have been able to see where the walls met the floor. The circle of yellow light bobbed with his footsteps, periodically swinging towards the walls. He'd been caught off guard before, and he wouldn't let it happen again.

He counted the room numbers: M34. Easier than last night, that much was certain, but the design of the institute still infuriated him. Landel had gone to great lengths to make their stay difficult, with the monsters and sedative-armed nurses. Something like bad architecture just seemed petty. He gave the door a solid knock then leaned against the wall beside it, the beam of his light still darting around the shadowy space.

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Artemis scrambled back away from the chair, deeper into the enclave of the desk. Being a genius in this place certainly was dangerous. First he was stabbed in the chest, and now he was cowering under a desk hiding from flying chairs. What a night this had been already...

The boy leaned back in the shelter, holding his chest and breathing deeply. Damn, would he be in any condition to do anything tonight? His lung was still damaged, but not in peril. Deep breaths, just take deep breaths. Let Schuldig take care of things.

That was just what Schuldig had been waiting for. The idea of breaking Mello's wrist had occurred to him earlier; now it seemed all the more appealing, not to mention an excellent way to cause agonizing pain. He did have the knife, but for one thing, Schuldig wanted Mello to survive the night - when it came to dragging out torture, the Mastermind was even more vicious than the Berserker, even if he worked with minds rather than flesh - and for another, he wasn't as good (or as interested) as Farfarello was at bloodplay.

Besides, the man holding a hand attached to a shattered wrist had all the power in the world...not to mention the ability to cause screaming pain with the smallest twist.

He did drop the knife, but it wouldn't do Mello any good; with both his hands free, Schuldig promptly grabbed the blond's outstretched wrist and turned it, bending Mello's hand back over itself -

It really didn't need much pressure at all.

[Almost forgot to make an OOC note - Rose decided not to bring Farfarello into the thread, so all mentions of his impending arrival previously should be discounted.]

He wasn't sure if he heard the snap or felt it, but there was an instant of comprehension and dread before his mind flooded with white heat. "Fuck!" he hissed loudly, using his full weight to try to yank his hand from Schuldig's grip. The movement intensified the pain more than he would have thought possible and although he bit his lip, he was unable to suppress the sharp sound that accompanied his intake of breath.

Mello had dealt with this kind of thing before, but it never got any easier. If anything it always caught him freshly unaware, as memory never seemed to preserve the full extent of sensation. With most of his willpower he resisted the urge to drop to his knees, which was surely what Schuldig hoped for based on the angle of his hand.

"Let go of me," he said, voice tight and eyes clenched shut. He was dizzy with pain, but nothing Schuldig could do would warrant a 'please.'

Artemis winced at the sound of some bone or other breaking in, assumedly, Mello's body. Considering he was the one who swore instead of Schuldig, the victim and attacker were clear.

But he didn't dare look out yet. Partially because he was afraid of being attacked again, partially because he didn't want to see what had just happened. Schuldig was going to torture Mello for Artemis' benefit. As much as Artemis was against using such a crude method, it would remind Mello that Artemis was not a person to be treated so lightly. He would attack Artemis again on pain of death, most likely.

So the boy sat under the desk, eyes glazed over as he tried not to listen to what was transpiring.

Schuldig simply laughed, which was perhaps the most vicious thing he could do under the circumstances. His amusement was usually dark, but when he had full power over an opponent - when he had an enemy completely at his mercy - the sound took on an insane, manic edge.

"I think," he said lazily, focusing himself more on Artemis' mind to block out the waves of pain in Mello's as he casually twisted the blond's hand on the broken wrist, "that this is the point where you run off with your tail between your legs. I'd say that I'll make you regret it if you don't, or if you ever come anywhere near Artemis again, but...hell, one would imagine that you're regretting it now." A sudden sharp twist in the opposite direction on Mello's wrist followed; he could almost hear bones grinding together. "So I'll make it very simple - if you try anything so idiotic as attacking Arty again, I won't be nearly nice enough to kill you. If you picture the absolute worst things I could possibly do to you, keep in mind that's not just idle thoughts on your part - for me, that's an open invitation. I won't have to kill you because by the time I finished with you, you would kill yourself."

Maintaining his hold on Mello's wrist with one hand, he stooped quickly to pick up the knife. "If you need a sense of perspective, mull over the fact that I consider this a friendly warning." And with that, he released Mello's hand and stepped back, knife poised to fend off any attacks if the blond were really that stupid. He doubted it, but...well, even a telepath only got a few instants' extra warning in regards to snap decisions.

Anger and pain fought for control of Mello's mind, both refusing to compromise. Despite everything, Schuldig's words were perfectly clear and perfectly reasonable: anything Mello could imagine, this man could perform. A few terrible images flashed through his mind the way one can never resist thinking of a forbidden object, and if he'd had the words to think clearly, he would have chastised himself.

As it was, eloquent thought was impossible. He wanted one thing and one thing only: to get his hand away from Schuldig before it could be moved again. The man knew what he was doing...was he really so experienced, or was he reading Mello's mind to know which angle or sudden twist he dreaded most?

How was Schuldig not feeling this?

He opened his eyes briefly, fighting off darkness, but the sight of his hand sent a surge of nausea through his stomach.

He was not going to give in. He couldn't. Not with Schuldig telling him what to do, giving orders as if he were the one in charge. But he couldn't fight any more either--christ, he could barely think. As much as he tried to control his mind, the words continued.

Let go. Let go. Let go. And then, despite overwhelming effort and his promise to himself, a single word: please.

When Schuldig released his arm it was immediately drawn to his body, the fingers of his other hand clenched so tightly around his wrist that they turned pale. The pain lessened but only slightly...what mattered most was that Schuldig couldn't do anything more.

Mello kept his balance and opened his eyes slowly, blinking in the dim glow cast by the nearby flashlight. He didn't leave but he didn't make any movement to attack the man in front of him. The occasion was impossibly rare...he was actually unsure about what to do.

Artemis heard silence, and imagined that both parties had entered a standoff. He tilted his head lightly so he could see what was going on. In the dim light, he saw Mello clutching his hand to his body and Schuldig ready to attack if Mello decided that one broken wrist wasn't enough.

"I think we're finished here," Artemis said, his tone quiet and final. "Let him go, Schuldig. You've made your point beautifully." Artemis coughed again and wheezed a little. After a few breaths, he continued.

"I suggest you leave now, Mello, before Schuldig decides that you haven't learned your lesson properly." He, however, stayed firmly under the desk.

Schuldig smirked at Mello. He hadn't actually expected to get begging out of the man, but oh, how sweet it was that he had. "See?" he purred. "Things go so much more smoothly when you behave."

He didn't take his gaze from Mello when Artemis spoke, but he did take another step backwards, away from him, and straightened slightly into a less threatening posture - although he kept the knife pointed at Mello. "Go," he told the blond, almost pleasantly. "Once you leave, you can justify to yourself that you're giving yourself time to think of what to do next, time to plan, time to heal, and you can start to convince yourself that there must be a logical explanation for all this. By the time you see me again, you'll be absolutely sure that you're in control of your own destiny - not some author, and certainly not some telepath who might know exactly what you're going to do next because he's giving your brain instructions." That was a complete bluff, of course - outside Landel's, certainly he could have done such a thing, but inside it was completely beyond his capabilities - but instilling just a little more horrified paranoia in Mello was completely worth it. "And won't that be nice?"

"No," Mello said immediately. Despite his compromised ability to reason, the bluff would have been obvious to anyone. "You heard Artemis calling for help. If you'd been able to control me, you would have stopped me from almost killing him."

His voice was still pained and his breathing somewhat unsteady as his gaze moved from Schuldig to Artemis and back again. Schuldig was right about his thought process. He couldn't do anything, not like this, but actually saying it to Mello was almost enough to force him to do the opposite. It was more a sign of exhaustion than restraint when he finally took a step back.

This was far from over, he thought, but as soon as the words took form in his mind it was too late to keep them from the reach of the telepath. Knowing that, there was no reason to keep them from Artemis as well. "Don't get comfortable," he said. He released his grip on his wrist just long enough to grab the doorknob, turning to hide his grimace. "Just because you see something coming doesn't mean you can prevent it." As a skilled chess player, Artemis would understand that much.

He shoved the door open then kicked it shut behind him, taking a deep breath and fighting against nature to remain calm enough not to think rashly and not to begin planning. Schuldig couldn't be listening to everyone all the time, but he was certainly listening now. Instead Mello concentrated on sensation. If he let it, was more than enough to block thought.

Artemis waited a moment or two before crawling out from under the desk. The boy was still winded, and was beginning to think that his lungs wouldn't recover completely tonight. He wouldn't be running any marathons anytime soon, but at least he was alive.

Once he was up again he moved towards Schuldig with a tired smile. "Thank you. I'm sorry I had to drag you into this mess."

Schuldig watched Mello until he was well out of the room before turning to look at Artemis, one eyebrow raised. "I was on my way to see you anyway. Besides, I wouldn't have let you die whether you'd called me or not." He absentmindedly rubbed his side where Mello's arms had struck him; he'd probably have bruises, but all in all he'd come out of the encounter relatively unscathed. Not a bad night's work, considering he didn't have his berserker bodyguard with him.

"Still, I thought it polite to at least express some sort of gratitude," Artemis put a hand to his chest and inhaled slowly and deeply. "I'm grateful to be able to apologize."

The boy paused and thought for a moment, "I don't think it would be wise to tell Farfarello about this. Now that Mello has made an attempt on my life, he is more useful alive than dead. He is trying to get the patients to trust him by using a pseudonym on the bulletin, but you probably already knew that. If it comes out that he tried to kill me, more than just you and Farfarello will be upset." He looked up at Schuldig. "I trust you understand where I'm going with this."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks all around," Schuldig muttered, feeling more uncomfortable by the moment. Of the various emotions he'd had directed at him, gratitude wasn't one he knew how to handle very well. "Don't get too used to it."

The Mastermind tilted his head, eyebrows raising. "If you know where you're going with it, so do I," he pointed out. "Anyway, Farfarello would kill me if I told him for not getting to you faster, so don't worry about it."

Artemis smiled up at Schuldig. Farfarello had been the same--rather uncomfortable with Artemis' sudden display of emotion. He would back off for now, but Schuldig probably already knew about the types of thoughts flitting through his mind.

He really almost died there. Artemis had already realized that this place was too dangerous to withhold any feeling, but what he hadn't realized was how dangerous and close to imminent death he was at all times. He never wanted to feel regret concerning a friend ever again. Tomorrow, he had to visit everyone--all of his friends--and let them know. Immediately.

"You have a point," Artemis agreed. "He would be rather cross with everyone involved. Best keep it to ourselves."

The boy took out the CD player from his coat pocket and examined it again. "How did you get this anyway? I haven't seen one like this in the music room."

Gratitude might be an unfamiliar emotion to Schuldig, but preening with justified pride was comfortably familiar and he accepted Artemis' invitation to do so without hesitation. "I spent most of today betting at the casino in town to earn enough money to buy that," he informed the boy, smirking. "I'd been planning on giving it to you before the bus ride back, but I didn't get the chance - and you don't want to know how difficult it was to get that thing on the bus when it was still wrapped in plastic. Or how fucking difficult it was to open." He held out a hand, displaying a scabbed-over cut along the length of one finger where the packaging had been particularly vicious. "I didn't exactly have scissors. Oh, and before I forget," he added, "the batteries are rechargeable. But it was enough of a pain carrying that thing around by itself, so that's still in my room. You shouldn't need it for awhile, anyway."

"Excellent," Artemis said with a grin. "Haku will love this, I know it. Thank you so much. I'll be careful not to get it confiscated. Perhaps I can liberate a few more CDs from the music room as well," he smirked up at Schuldig.

The boy tucked the player safely into his coat, gave another small cough and took a moment to right himself. "The Captain is waiting for me, so I should be off before he becomes concerned." He looked down at his front, which was covered with blood. "He's going to be a little surprised I think."

"No kidding," Schuldig replied with a snort. "Want a bodyguard for the trip? Mello's still out there." He nodded at the door. "Not that he's exactly lurking on your account, but that doesn't mean he'll necessarily decide to let you pass unmolested, either. Especially since he's got a friend with him now." And oh, wasn't Schuldig tempted to have an excuse to pass the two of them and make some terrifyingly insightful comment to Matt, and leave Mello to explain it...

After all, if Matt was Mello's ally, it paid to have him cowed, too.

Artemis balked a moment when he heard that Mello was still outside the room. And with a friend? Artemis didn't know this friend, but if he was anything like Mello, he could jump Artemis the second he walked by.

"Yes, I would appreciate that. Once I'm with the Captain, he won't try anything. He is, after all, trying to make the patients trust him. An even stupider move would be attacking me in front of the leader of the largest group here," Artemis gave a small, appreciative smirk concerning that image. He saw Mello running at him with another knife, but Hitsugaya stepped in and blew the man away with the trick he used on the bus a week ago. It was amusing to watch again and again.

He moved closer to the door, "Shall we?"

"Lead the way," Schuldig replied with a smirk. That mental image was rather pleasant for him, too, although he could think of so many more interesting ways to handle the problem. He made sure to scoop up Mello's flashlight, flicking it off and tucking it into the waistband of his pants(where else could he keep it? The fucking uniforms needed some sort of belt, or at least pockets). It might be useful later.

And now he had a knife. Still not a patch on a gun with bullets, but it was more than he'd had before...although he suspected he'd wind up having to give it to Farfarello. He could almost see his partner's eye lighting up.

"As you wish," Artemis said with a small smirk. He turned and opened the door.

(To here! (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/457725.html?thread=37801725#t37801725))

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[NIGHTSHIFT 35] M31-M40 HALLWAY

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