damned_institute | Dayshift 42: Bus 2

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Dayshift 42: Bus 2

Before anyone could come to any decisions for their next move, the room suddenly filled with a thick fog. Faster than he could realize what was happening, it had filled up the entire room and swallowed every single one of his friends. Then there was that undeniable stench of iron, blood and... he last remembered taking a step back and feeling that slippery skid and the realization of what that was. By the time he yelled, he was sitting straight up in his bed like he'd bolted awake. Like it'd been nothing more than a bad dream. ...What the hell just happened?!

"Oh! Good morning!" The nearby voice made him yelp with a half squeak-like noise. Oh, for hell's sake. It was one of those freaking nurses again. She was beaming at him like nothing had happened at all. Before he could so much as ask one question, the hag started blathering real fast about some field trip and buses and getting changed and hurrying up before everyone left without him and... OH MY GOD, WHAT WAS SHE DOING?! She was grabbing at his shirt like she was about to start helping him get dressed (or undressed in this case).

He flailed in a desperate attempt to get away from her and yelled his consent to go along if she would get out and let him change HIMSELF. What was the matter with her?! Thankfully, she left but told him to hurry. Hell if he knew what she'd do if he took too long. So for the sake of not getting freaking stripped, he quickly changed into the clothes she'd left on the bed. Clothes being the ugliest looking white-and-black track pants he'd ever seen and a bright blue sweatshirt with a cute little penguin design on the front. This was some kind of joke, right? ...Not to say the penguin wasn't cute or anything but there was no way, no way, he was wearing something like this in public.

But the nurse had burst right in again, and before Kanji could offer much protest, he was being pulled down the hallways and through the doors of the bus. He'd yelled some things her way, but she totally wasn't listening at all. By the time they stopped, he was standing at the front of the bus with a paper bag and the nurse had run off to cart another poor sap along. Frickin' PERFECT. For the sake of not standing up there like some kind of zoo animal for everyone to stare at, he plopped himself into one of the seats by the front and sighed in complete exasperation.

[Free. No limit.]

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Tenzen wasn't quite certain what to make of the way the night had ended. One moment he had been scolding Brook, the next he was blinking at the sudden appearance of both fog and blood. Only to wake in his room all of a sudden. From the halls back into his cell again, as if he had never left it. As if he had been dreaming it, but the burns on his back proved him otherwise.

He still had not healed, either.

Nothing had been accomplished tonight, however. Aside from confirming the mad stories from the bulletin, perhaps. The ninja set up, but before he could do anything else the nurse arrived in his room, carrying a bunch of strange clothing. Apparently, he was to wear it. After changing into the unfamiliar clothing quickly he was herded outside towards -

- things that resembled the metal beast from tonight when he had first encountered it. Only bigger, and clearly yellow. Tenzen was about to demand an explanation before the nurse told him to go inside it.

First they make something similar attack him during the night, and now he was supposed to go inside it? The nurse noticed his hesitation, however: "Oh come on, Mr. Hayami. It's only a bus, it won't bite you."

He glared at her, but as he was forced into the large, metal thing he noticed that it actually was some sort of vehicle as opposed to a beast. With a scoff he sat down on one of the seats, which prompted the nurse to leave him to his own devices.

A trip, hmm? Tenzen had no idea what to expect, but perhaps it'd shed more light on the situation. Or at least tell him more of this institute's location.

[Free! Limit: any]

Well, that had been a little unusual. Not the first time he'd seen blood appear in odd places here, but that didn't make it any less startling when it happened. What caused that? It did lend more credence to the theory that these were all hallucinations...

Well, if nothing else, at least he'd finally given his Captain his gift, although that did leave him without a convenient excuse to ask him to come to his room at night. ZEX was resourceful though; he'd find a new reason soon enough.

As it was, he wasn't entirely enthused to go on another trip into town. He still remembered what had happened the first time on the way back, and he wasn't looking forward to being forced into a situation like that again. Not that there was much he could do about it... he'd just have to keep his wits about him and adapt as things happened. Hopefully his Captain would likewise be alert, but who could say with him. He needed to find Fwiffo at some point...

Either way, ZEX got dressed and boarded the vehicle as directed. The thought crossed his mind about whether or not the clothes he was wearing had belonged to Max before he'd "taken him over", but he dismissed it. No sense in worrying about something with no answer for now, particularly when he had such a wide variety of humans here to occupy his interest.

This one looked intriguing. ZEX sat down beside him, attempting a smile without as much success as he would have liked. "I don't believe we've met, have we?"

Tenzen briefly glanced at the man who sat down beside him and attempted conversation. The man had a curious hair color - or at least curious compared to the people of his home place, in here people had hair of every color of the rainbow - and looked a little worn, but otherwise there was nothing to note of interest.

"We haven't," Tenzen said simply. He had only been here for a short while; keeping track of who he had or hadn't spoken to wasn't a difficult task.

"I am Yakushiji Tenzen," he continued. "And you are?" The ninja wasn't particularly interested in outsiders, but in a situation such as this it might actually be useful. This man might be able to inform him of this 'trip', as he had no idea what to expect.

"Yakushiji Tenzen..." That had to be one of the longest names he'd heard here yet. Humans really didn't seem inclined to speak succinctly. Or maybe Human didn't allow for both brevity and depth as VUK ZIX did. "Interesting. I'm Admiral ZEX, formerly of the VUX military." Please do not be frightened following mentally afterwards as usual.

The human didn't seem very friendly for the moment, but it was hard for him to tell. They did have a lot of behaviors that didn't make sense, and he'd only learned to read a fraction of them while he was here. He could at least stick with what he knew though, and he kept trying to smile at him. "Are you new here?" Come to think of it, it was possible that this human was not human at all. Now that'd be convenient... he needed to speak to more non-humans anyway.

"Interesting, hmm?" Tenzen echoed, wondering what had been so interesting about his introduction. He hadn't added his clan for practical reasons, so all he had said was a name.

"You were in the military?" He continued, as he couldn't help but think that 'ZEX' here didn't look like a warrior or a soldier from what he could see. How surprising. Perhaps there was more to this man.

"Yes, I have arrived yesterday," he answered to the question. "How about you?" The answer would determine how useful this person was in answering his questions.

"Yes, I'm not used to names being so... long." ZEX brushed some hair away from his face. Human hair got so bothersome over time... "But most of the names here seem to be somewhat lengthy."

ZEX smiled a bit more honestly when he stopped thinking about it. "Hee! Hee! Hee! Yes, I was for quite some time. That was a while ago though... my services aren't needed as much nowadays." That was one way of putting it, anyway. "Unfortunately, it seems my field of expertise is not much use here..." If only he had his Intruder! Things would certainly be different then.

ZEX took a moment to count. "Let's see... I believe it's been eighteen days now, give or take." A bit of a tired smile. "It gets very tiresome, as you can imagine. While distractions can be, hmm... rewarding," while giving him a look up and down, "they're too infrequent for my tastes."

ZEX was a rather short name compared to most, his own name included.

"I see," he answered to ZEX' explanation of his apparent military status. The man had been retired then, which was perhaps enough of an explanation. But Ogen-sama, that old woman, had been fighting until her death. Having fought Danjou of Kouga, he believed Ogen of Iga had died without any regrets. "What had been your field of expertise?" he eventually asked.

"Distractions," he echoed. There were various distractions the ninja could think of, in any case. Pleasant ones, at that.

But there were matters of more importance right now.

Eighteen days. A little more over two weeks than, which should be enough to answer his questions. "Are these trips common?" Tenzen asked, glancing at the other man. After a second or two he added an explanation: "As I'm new here I hardly know what to expect of this 'trip'."

"Mmm, I had some talent for interstellar warfare, mostly. Primarily on the tactical front, although I could handle myself in battle quite well. At least, so I've heard." ZEX couldn't help smiling. He really had such an aptitude for war, and if it didn't involve slaughtering so many humans, he'd almost say he missed it. It came to him so easily.

"Yes, distractions..." Leering at him a bit more openly. "Although one usually has to wait until night to really have a chance to... explore your options."

ZEX waved a hand. "They seem to happen every seven days or so, if I recall correctly. I've been on two so far. Generally they allow us to wander about the town as we desire, although always under supervision. I'd be more concerned about our return, myself. On the first trip, everyone was trapped inside these vehicles while the staff transformed into these gorgeous monstrosities." A bit of inappropriate interests in his last few words, then he blinked. "Oh, you do know about the monsters by now, don't you?" If he'd been here for at least a day, then...

Tenzen was beginning to get the idea of what ZEX meant by 'distractions'. Though he certainly didn't mind such activities himself, he'd rather wait for more appropriate ~~women~~ occasions. He chose not to comment on it, and for now ignored the look ZEX gave him.

The inappropriate use of words to describe the staff's transformation didn't escape Tenzen's notice. It was a rather odd choice of words, after all. "I would not call the metal creature from last night gorgeous." he said simply, also answering the question. He had yet to lay eyes upon any of the other monsters, however.

"For what purpose do they have us explore this town?" he asked. It was rather strange for something that could easily be called a prison to let their patients roam free. Risks of escape were most likely higher than within this building, after all, which begged the question why this was being done.

"Did anything happen on the second trip?" If ZEX' story about the first trip had been true; he might have to try and acquire a weapon of sorts in this town.

Tenzen wasn't telling him to stop, so ZEX took it as encouragement to keep ogling him. Not that he ever really needed encouragement to do so.

"A metal creature?" ZEX blinked curiously. There were so many monsters here that he unfortunately had yet to see and admire, although he hoped to change that in the future. "Hmm, I don't believe I've seen any metal creatures so far... but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some. There are so many strange creatures here! It's delightful." Somewhat enraptured by the thought. "If only they were a little more friendly..."

The town was a topic of less interest to him, but the human HAD asked, so... "If there is a purpose, they haven't made it clear. To my knowledge, no one has managed to escape during these trips and I don't think the stores here offer much in the way of weaponry. I suppose it's part of the psychological warfare aspect." He waved a hand. "Offer freedom and then take it away again. I can't say I understand their methods, but I know they go to somewhat illogical extremes to torment us... this could just be another way to do so."

ZEX leaned in a bit closer to him, happy to invade his personal space as long as something didn't make him stop. "And that actually relates quite well to your other question... on the second trip, nothing happened. We were returned to our rooms without any trouble. My guess is that they're trying to be deliberately unpredictable so they can keep us off our guard. I would be very surprised if something doesn't happen to us on the trip back tonight."

Tenzen raised an eyebrow. Delightful, hmm? Last night he ended up with a person who had wanted to sing, now he was sitting in a strange vehicle with a man that apparently found monsters attractive. And judging by his actions, men as well. There were strange individuals in this place, that much was certain.

Tenzen noticed ZEX leaning closer, but coldly ignored the man's actions. He had dealt with much worse, after all. He had endured clingy infants asking questions about his hair in the middle of meetings, so some horny man was not going to throw him off. Even if the ninja didn't plan on returning such things. He much rather preferred women.

Not to say Tenzen would let ZEX do as he pleased, however. Trained eyes kept good watch on ZEX' movements.

"I see," he merely said, crossing his arms. "You mean to say that the sole purpose of this prison is just to torment us?"

He was moving those strips of hair above his eyes! What did that mean, anyway? Humans seemed to move them fairly often, but it never seemed connected to anything they were saying. Or at least, not connected in a sensible way.

At least his interest was returned, if Tenzen's eye on him was any indication, and to ZEX of course it was. Hmm.

"As far as I've gathered, yes." Smiling in spite of what he was talking about. "Perhaps trying to drive us to suicide if their monsters fail to kill us first. I haven't been able to discern a motivation for this torture so far," since ZEX certainly didn't deserve it, "but if nothing else, they seem very determined to make our time here as unpleasant as possible."

Still leering at him. "Not to say that we don't get some time to ourselves to do with as we wish at night..."

Tenzen decided he wasn't interested in how ZEX would spend such time, even if he could guess what activities the man enjoyed doing. Not that it was necessarily a bad activity, but once again, Tenzen preferred women.

"Are there many cases of suicide?" Tenzen asked, still ignoring ZEX' leering and focusing on the matter at hand instead.

"There are people who completely vanish without warning, and are treated afterwards like they never existed. Whether or not that was the Institute trying to hide their deaths is unclear." ZEX waved a hand. "Although I doubt that if someone DID commit suicide we'd hear about it. I imagine it'd go against the pretense of a hospital."

A moment, and he brushed his hair from his face. "I wish there was some kind of motive outside of sadism. This is too subtle for the sadists that I know. I don't understand what they have to gain. I've heard some theories that this may be some form of the afterlife..." Looking off in a different direction for a second. "There doesn't seem to be anything that confirms that hypothesis however."

"I see," Tenzen said. The disappearances were strange, but it didn't seem like ZEX knew any more than what he had just heard. The afterlife seemed like a ridiculous theory, in any case. It would require to die, something the ninja couldn't do. Or at least not very easily.

"If there is a motive, I doubt they'll inform the ones they hold captive."

"No, they would not." ZEX laughed a little. "I've seen many people threaten the head doctor with violence or revenge with little apparent success... he's not very inclined to tell us much of anything regardless of what we do. Solid information is very difficult to come by."

It seemed that the vehicle they were traveling in was slowing... ZEX leered at his companion some more before standing. "As I've mentioned before, there are other things one can do at night... do let me know if you need something to occupy your time." Still smiling. "I'm sure I can oblige you."

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Dayshift 42: Bus 2

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