damned_institute | Nightshift 38: West Wing, South Hall 2-B

The question took him a little by surprise. Armand genuinely thought that he was made of bunnies and rainbows, didn't he? Usually, he wasn't in the habit of telling people his life story, but he had to tell Armand something. Or he could be the Cat Who Walked By Himself and refuse, and leave.

He wasn't stupid - he knew that going it alone in this place was a recipe for disaster. Why not go the whole hog? Everyone knew his name here already. "I stole a superweapon with the sole intent to destroy Britain's economy, which would in turn destroy the world's economy, because those bastards killed my parents." An oversimplification, perhaps, but also a minor lie. "And I've killed I don't know how many people in cold blood, and on the tenuous justification of 'because my bosses said so'. If that doesn't taint me, I don't know what does." He crossed his arms. "Is soul-baring time over? Can I go back to being a bastard now?"

TK kept walking, his face a very practiced blank. He was getting better at being practical, not ideological in this place, but... This didn't make things any easier. All that stuff put together immediately said 'Rebel' to him. He just gritted his teeth and tried to ignore it.

What was it with the patients these days? Were they no longer afraid of the things that went bump in the night? It was silly of them not to be wary when it came to the night here. The night was dangerous regardless of what they'd heard. The night was deadly, no matter their skills.

From ahead in the hall came the creaking of a door, even though no door was open. And then from behind, the same sound - as if someone unseen had just passed them.

For a long time, no other noises were heard and then - she giggled right next to Armand's ear. There was no outline to be seen, nothing but her voice as she laughed and began to pull the air from around him.

[Kaze]

Citan listned carefully, his expression turning to a thoughtful frown. How interesting. He'd known men like this - he supposed he was one, in a way. He had certainly killed many people, though not simply because the Emperor ordered him to.

"Soldiers cannot question or go against their commands," he finally said, lightly. This man could well be dangerous man, but he could also be a useful man. Citan was going to say more on the subject when the noise caught his attention.

"What in the world...?" he managed, glancing about but seeing nothing.

The giggling distracted Armand. It sounded as if it were right next to him. He brushed a hand against his ear. He wanted to respond to the whole of Alec's statement not just the questions, so he was grateful for Citan's cogent summation. It was obvious that TK was unhappy. The faster he answered the damn questions, the faster he'd get control of his tongue back. Armand tried to take a breath before speaking.

When he couldn't get any air, he tried again, vaguely panicked. To rid himself of the compulsion to answer, he used what little breath he had to whisper, "If you insist, Alec. You're not a bastard."

He let his legs fold in the vague hope there would be air closer to the floor, like in a fire. He couldn't keep his panic from showing now, but he hadn't the breath to speak now.

Alec frowned - the questions had been rhetorical - before he noticed that Armand seemed to have trouble breathing. He decided that asking if the Frenchman was all right would be a bad idea, since he might asphyxiate himself in an attempt to answer. His first suspicion was a panic attack, but that immediately changed when Armand collapsed.

Trevelyan's mind immediately jumped to the idea that there was some sort of gas in the hallway - he'd seen fits like this before. He made his breathing more shallow and spoke quickly. "We should go," he said, trying to help Armand to his feet. "I think there's gas in the corridor. We need to move."

TK picked up Armand, realizing for the first time that they'd gone down the wrong corridor. Idiot. He should have realized it before.

Not wasting any more time or breath, TK started moving as fast as he could manage while supporting his friend.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/552690.html?view=45485042#t45485042)]

Itachi turned down the same hallway from a few nights ago. The one where he had accomplished nothing useful.

"I've tried those two doors on the left; they don't lead anywhere of use." His voice betrayed the slightest hint of irritation. "We'll have to try further up." He couldn't see any other doors yet, just a bare stretch of hallway fading into darkness. He could hear a couple people in front of them, but they seemed just to be talking. And laughing. Why would someone be doing such things as laughing when they should be focused on a mission? It was no concern of his, however; they would simply pass the others.

He heard the laughter too, though it wasn't until they were further down the hall that he saw a group of men. Strange laughter for men to have, but who was he to judge? There was a door on the left they hadn't tried yet and a door up ahead. He hadn't been down this way personally, so the rooms were just as much a mystery to him.

The nearest one was first, the door to the left rather than the one straight ahead, and Yuuhi reached over to open it, but the doorknob wouldn't budge. "Locked," he reported.

From the other side of the door, the sound of nails scraping down the surface was heard. Something was in there and it knew Itachi and Fai were there. It couldn't reach them though, not yet, and soon the sound faded along with a scurry of inhuman footsteps into the darkness.

[Kaze - feel free to continue, nothing is happening beyond this]

From the sounds that issued from inside the room, or whatever it was on the other side of the door, it was probably a good thing the door was locked tight. MOMO edged closer to the two men and looked warily at the door, before turning to try and see further down the hall.

"The last time I went this way, we had to break down the doors in order to get anywhere," she said. "I'm not sure which door we need to go through, but chances are we'll have to force our way through."

Itachi frowned. "There's something in there," he pointed out needlessly. "There's no point in going in there unless necessary. Perhaps we should try some other areas first."

He reached out to try the second door, then paused. "This one has already been broken down for us, apparently." Not hearing anything adverse behind this one, he swung open the door to reveal another hallway.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/552690.html?thread=45186802#t45186802)]

"...But," she continued, her tone getting noticeably more peeved as she spoke. "They never keep 'em in labs in the buildin'. Not healthy, they guess."

This hallway was very long. It went all the way down beyond her flashlight's range. However, she knew all they had to do was keep walking down this hallway until they reached a door all the way at the end. The rest of the doors here... She couldn't remember what was in them. She hadn't gone as far as to memorize the map. It probably wasn't anything important for the moment.

Harley hesitated for a second before continuing. "Actually, I asked someone 'bout the lab here. They said somethin' about lots of people gettin' their pets taken to the lab. Told me some might even be used as hostages."

The thought of anyone holding her darling little babies as hostages, keeping them in cages, probably no food... ARGH! It made her blood boil!

"I suppose there are many things in this place that are not healthy." Scar answered dryly.

Their pets, hmmm? He had heard some things here and there about humans keeping animals as a pet, but he really didn't see why Landel would keep said pets here. Unless it was indeed for taking hostages, but that didn't quite make sense. Why keep hostages without telling the patients? Keeping them in secret defeated their purpose.

Most of the monsters he had read about were an animal in one way or another. The king wondered if this 'testing lab' had something to do with the monsters. It'd be interesting to look into, at the very least.

"This is the first time I hear something about animals kept in this facility, however." he commented. Of course, there was no saying how reliable Harley's sources actually were. "But we'll need to reach it first."

The idea turned Endrance's stomach a bit. The idea of Mia - the small, fragile one, or the one who had been his dear, dear friend - being kept in a place like this was enough to spark some anger in his normally placid facade. He moved a few steps in front of Harley, darting his light sideways before moving toward the door at the end of the hallway.

"Such a thing as that...it's far too cruel." There was that cold tone to his voice again. "They're meant to be our friends...or barring that, in their natural worlds...a place like this isn't meant for them."

He strode forward quickly, without bothering to ask whether this was the correct way to go or not, and tried to push open the door. It didn't open at first. He let out a small, frustrated sigh, then aimed his flashlight and swung it hard at the lock. It broke apart enough so that he could remove it, then motioned to the others to follow.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/558708.html)]

Edited 2009-01-30 19:02 (UTC)

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/552690.html?thread=45563890)]

Tonight, Wesker was glad that other patients had preceded him to the lab. It would mean he wouldn't have to slow down long enough to bust the locks himself. That sort of delay would be very costly right now. It was just a shame there was nothing he could use to jam the door and delay Leon.

However, he wasn't going to be picky about whatever fortune lady luck offered him tonight. Wesker continued his sprint down the hallway. While this little run hadn't been enough to exhaust him, a sprint like this just before a fight wasn't ideal. Very little about this situation was ideal, though. He thought he could feel the wounds on his chest closing. The sprint and accompanying increase in heart rate was not helpful in preventing blood loss, but it looked as though the bleeding on his arm had slowed.

Leon briefly lost sight of Wesker, and he slowed, looking around. He drew in a few deep breaths, apparently smelling the air. The tentacles on his back continued to writhe and lengthen, each one approaching three feet. Suddenly Leon looked down the hall, and broke into a run. The labs. Of course.

Wesker didn't bother to look back to check to see if Leon was following. The sounds of pursuit were a good enough indication in the otherwise quiet halls.

However, the sound of Leon chasing him really didn't tell him much about how the mutation was progressing while they ran. Wesker would just have to wait till they reached their destination to see.

[Going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/558708.html?thread=45716340#t45716340)]

[from here]

The locked door at the end of the hall had already been opened. It was somewhat of a relief. Rebreaking the same locks every night had a tendency to bruise. And other than that? Was highly irritating. If she wanted an example of not making progress, that was it.

Jiraiya merely raised an eyebrow back at Renamon and grinned. He was focused on doing his part of the mission, although "his part" would probably change as needed. Renamon didn't seem like the one for small talk while she was focused, so Jiraiya didn't bother with attempting to initiate it. The silence between them was comfortable, or so it felt to him.

They came to a door already opened, its lock broken. While that made it easier for them, it also meant that it could be an effort to get them to let down their guard, even just slightly. Jiraiya tense a little, fairly certain that Renamon could read what he was thinking by movement alone.

So what if he was being a bit paranoid? It was better paranoid than dead.

She sighed obviously and shook her head, teasing the man slightly. He was indeed like a child sometimes. Though his obvious caution was amusing. She herself, was completely on alert, but the man being watchful in an empty hall was interesting.

She moved on.

[to here]

This time stuff was a huge headache. Peter wasn't sure how Hiro handled it, and he didn't know if it was an ability he'd ever get the hang of. Not that he could really practice something like that while stuck in this place.

"Sorry," he added as the hallway stretched in front of them, still dotted with blood. "It's kind of hard to explain." He took some time to glance around the area, since this was his first time up here, but it was pretty similar to the first floor. He was curious about what was behind some of the doors they were passing, but he knew they were focused on getting to a particular place right now. Maybe another night.

The fact that the hallway was empty didn't make him feel any better about the "cookie crumbs" they were following, but he gave no outward sign of it. He still had his shovel, after all. If something was waiting for them at their destination, he'd hopefully be able to do something about it.

Huh. Well. That was a little different than looping a day over and over again, though come to think of it, it probably...worked the same way. However it was supposed to work in the first place.

"No, it's okay," Sam replied. "I think I got the gist of it."

It wasn't so much the notion itself that he was having a problem with, even if it did seem pretty far out there at first. All the lore they relied on didn't even have a third of the science involved in backing up theories of time and black holes and whatnot; this was no more impossible than using silver bullets to kill werewolves. But Peter sounded like he was suggesting some kind of parallel universe theory, and that changed everything. Finding the amulet hadn't meshed well with the possibility of Dean being here because Sam had had it, so how could Dean have it, too? But if Peter was right, if what he was saying was true, then--

This was all happening too fast. The ever-growing trail of blood wasn't helping, either. He didn't know what might've caused such a heavy wound and he didn't care; he just wanted to find the source. It'd be all kinds of ironic if he somehow got his brother only to stumble over his dead body again.

And he knew he shouldn't be letting himself believe even that much, that this probably wasn't nowhere near what he thought it might be, but...there was still a chance. That was enough. It wasn't like he had anything to lose.

Edited 2009-02-11 09:09 (UTC)

Thankful that Sam didn't need any further information, Peter let out a barely audible sigh. This night had ended up being more hectic than he'd expected - he really hadn't thought he'd be running all over the institute on what might be a wild goose chase. He wasn't sure if he would prefer it if this did actually lead to something, though. It depended on what it was.

Either way, Sam now knew that his brother might be here, and it was up to him whether he wanted to believe that or not. Peter didn't know for sure himself, of course, but the fact that the man's belongings were hanging around made it somewhat likely. If the guy was here, then hopefully Sam would run into him sooner rather than later.

Even if Nathan was gone, it would be nice to know that Sam had found his brother again, especially considering that he'd really lost him.

Realizing that it was becoming uncomfortably silent once again, Peter carefully moved around the blood (his slippers didn't need to get any more dirty) and then looked over at his roommate. "So, what are you expecting to find?" he asked, wondering if Sam really had any clue.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/552690.html?thread=46051058#t46051058)]

Blood on the floor here again. Indy's shoes were already uncomfortably red (and was he imagining that squeak from the soles?) and he skirted the stains, keeping to one side of the hallway. The map said to keep moving north into the next hall. Then they could enter the labs through the decontamination room. Or through the morgue, he realized grimly.

"Think there's likely to be anything we can use?" he asked.

"I was asking if you were looking for files or equipment, mostly," Methos replied. "I've got the feeling very few sane minds could make a good enough guess as to what they might be trying to pull in there." It was seeming more and more like the people who should be the inmates were actually the ones running the asylum.

He frowned at the puddle of blood on the floor, then looked up sharply to search the area nearby. It seemed quiet. Either whatever had happened was well over with, or someone had simply come through while injured enough to leave traces. "We might find something, if they're not too careful about locking their equipment up." He took another glance at the blood, smiling grimly. "I still want to check the morgue while we're down here, if we've got a chance."

Indy shook his head. "I'm not banking on their keeping files in the lab. They could be in one of those rooms downstairs, but I'm starting to get the feeling that they keep anything that might actually help us well out of our reach. They're too smart to leave the evidence lying around." As for equipment, that'd depend on what they had. He didn't have a lot of use for surgical tools, though.

The door into the next hallway had already been broken and the lock taken off, so he went on.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/558708.html?view=46055540#t46055540)]

Nightshift 38: West Wing, South Hall 2-B

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