Nightshift 44: Main Hall, 2-East

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

[from here]

The dim patch of light was beginning to flicker now, serving more as punctuation to the darkness surrounding him than illumination. Brainiac 5 almost didn't realise he was nearing the end of the hall until he was on the verge of slipping and falling down the stairs there, and even then it was a near thing. He couldn't even tell exactly if the area was empty, which wasn't helping the crawling sensation between his shoulder blades at all. But all the same he couldn't simply give up his missi- his task. It was too important for that.

But it wouldn't ever be a mission. Legionnaires went on missions and no Legionnaire would ever consider doing what he was. It went against their code and what they believed in. What he'd believed in.

Legionnaires didn't kill.

His flashlight was mostly for show at this point, and Brainiac 5 felt his way along the wall, angling towards where he hoped the hallway was. Legionnaires didn't kill, but he had no other options. Grell was a danger to everyone around him, and, to a lesser extent, so was Luxord. Even if he could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt exactly the kind of people they were, how could he hope to stop them here? He had none of his abilities or his technology, only his mind.

For whatever that was worth, as Sangamon had pointed out.

So his only option was to do the one thing they'd all been sworn not to, that would be an instant revocation of his membership at the very least...

"But there isn't a Legion here. There isn't anyone but me. Brainiac 5. Alone," he reminded himself, his voice a nearly expressionless whisper. And he'd do whatever was necessary to protect others and those he cared about.

Besides, a darker thought reminded him. He'd already killed once. A second time wouldn't matter now.

He frowned, feeling along the wall still in spite of the painful tug to his injured shoulder. There had to be another hallway here somewhere...

Comments

[an-empty-child.livejournal.com]

The intercom crackled, but the voice that sounded from it wasn't any of the usual ones. "Mummy?" The voice was a child's, though slightly muffled. "Mummy, where are you?"

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

Brainiac 5 stopped, staring upwards in confusion at the new voice on the intercom. It obviously wasn't Landel, the nurse, or the computer system... But considering everything else these past few nights, it couldn't mean anything good.

All the more reason to keep moving, before whatever it was happened.

[an-empty-child.livejournal.com]

"Mummy?" This time the voice came not only from the intercom, but somewhere in the shadows. "Are you my mummy?"

The Child was standing actually not that far behind Brainiac; he couldn't see very well either, but in his case, he didn't need to. He knew that there was someone there with him, and he wanted to find out who.

[number-crunch.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/738956.html?thread=60308620#t60308620)]

Coming down the hall from the stairs at the end, Sho wheeled his way along, wary of enemies. It hadn't been far from here that he'd fought that temperature-raising tetrahedral on his first night.

[irishpirational.livejournal.com]

Lockon followed, picking up on Sho's wary attitude as he went. "Expecting unfriendly company?" he wondered.

[an-empty-child.livejournal.com]

This time, the Child zeroed in on the newcomers--he was more alert than he'd been, if only because he'd been awake for a while. Instead of calling out over the intercom, he simply came right up to them. He couldn't truly teleport, but in the dark it was very hard to see him coming.

"Mummy--?"

[high-prosecutor.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/730364.html?view=60420348#t60420348)]

Miles coughed again, but quickly regained composure. "As I was saying before being so rudely interrupted: I had theorized before that this might have some kind of military purpose, but if it was as simple as studying reactions to fear, what they would do under pressure, or what the outcome of the experiments would be, then I would think they would have more than enough data by now. The question I want to have answered is whether we can really believe the Head Doctor when he says he had no involvement in the past two nights. I find it hard to believe that someone with that level of power would give it up willingly to someone else for even one night, much less two."

[pleading-ngri.livejournal.com]

"I don't think-" Phoenix rasped in response, then stopped to clear his throat heavily, trying to get over whatever it was that had hit him a few seconds after he'd followed Edgeworth out of the stairwell. Not wanting to attract attention, he'd tried to stay quiet, but he realized now that that might not have been the best move. He knew for sure it wasn't the most comfortable one.

"-geez, that's like icewater," he griped half-audibly, finally giving in and coughing. It felt a little less like he'd been kicked in the chest, finally, and besides, it seemed like the only people around to hear him were that kid in the mask, the guy talking to him, and-

Yep, the shouting confirmed it. His crazy roommate. Well, at least he's yelling at kids and not trying to kill people. Hooray for little victories. Phoenix waited until they'd passed by to continue, voice still rough. "Who says he gave it up willingly? Just because we can't touch him, that doesn't mean he's a god."

[sixtyeighth.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/733950.html)]

After finding the cigarettes, Giovanni took a glance around the room and decided that there was nothing else of interest in this room. He slid the pack of smokes into his pocket and then backtracked out of the room. There were two options, then: go back downstairs, or keep pressing on and explore more of the second floor. At this point, it was a better idea to learn the basic layout of the institution. He'd have plenty of time during later nights to dig deeper into the areas he's already been through.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/740459.html?thread=60521323#t60521323)]

[ryuuzaki]

[From here.]

L reached the top of the stairs just behind Dr. Jones, panting. The hall seemed quiet; after a look around, his pace slowed. He flicked his flashlight along a wall, then approached it. The drawer made a clank as he set it on the floor. He stood with his back to the wall and his hands just above his knees, trying to catch his breath.

As he bent, he angled his head to the side. There was a slice through his sweatpants, and a trail of blood soaking through them from under the cut, but all in all... It probably isn't so bad.

[its-the-mileage.livejournal.com]

This stretch of hall was also empty, but at least by now Indy was satisfied that they weren't being followed. He put the drawer down and flashed the light around: nothing, and not a lot of places to hide. High-pitched screeching noises were coming from the center of the hallway, but whatever was making them wasn't long for this world. Indy didn't particularly care what happened to the lab rats, as long as he didn't have to deal with them. He turned his attention to Ryuuzaki.

"How's the leg?" he asked. Bleeding; that much was obvious. He tucked the light into his armpit and stretched out the pillowcase, trying to cut several inches of the outer edge off with the scalpel. It was slow going, but after a few tries the fabric began to split and fray apart.

[ryuuzaki]

L gave a gentle tug to the right leg of his sweatpants, which were inclined to cling to the back of his calf. The scrape of the fabric against the wound annoyed him, without being truly painful. He looked at the lesion for the first time in the few minutes since he'd received it, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the caking blood.

It was a few inches long, but more a nasty scratch than a deep cut; the fact that he'd already been moving had probably saved him from a more severe injury. Blood still seeped from it, but the flow wasn't as free as it had initially been. If we have enough time to allow it to form a bond, it may not bleed much more at all.

He looked up at Indy, frowning. "To be honest, it could be much worse. It is... messy. Distracting. The pants and slippers are ruined." The last words were spoken in a spiteful, satisfied tone.

[ruthless-hunter.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/730364.html?thread=60034300#t60034300)]

Lockdown didn't face forward again until he was well into the hallway. At least Tenzen hadn't followed him.

Now to just keep heading forward until he found himself some medical supplies. He continued onward, limping slightly the whole time.

[ruthless-hunter.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/739477.html?thread=60691349#t60691349)]

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/735489.html?thread=60689921#t60689921)]]

So far, so good. They made it up the stairs without any troubles and continued on to the next hallway. This one, however, was a lot quieter than the others had been. Maybe there was just something about the second floor that made people avoid it. She could definitely understand something like that.

"Which way was it?" she asked in a nervous whisper, hoping Bridget was a bit more confident than she was. Even if he didn't know, it helped to ask aloud as she thought about it.

[roger-hug.livejournal.com]

Bridget frowned and tried to remember.

"I think... I think it's this way." He hesitantly tugged Kagura in the direction he thought was corrent, feeling a bit more confident as he moved.

(to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/739477.html?view=60692885#t60692885))

[bprd-fishman.livejournal.com]

[From here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/738956.html?thread=60644748#t60644748)]

Pears in the...Abe was starting to think his companion was a few incisors short of a tooth fairy. "More that I don't think I'd like to disappear myself and never be seen again to get the full experience of the thing."

The upstairs looked disappointingly like the first floor of the institute. No strange symbols scrawled on the walls, no low chanting, just a normal hallway. Abe made another ceiling check then waved his flashlight across the hallways. "And if my guess is correct, that way goes to the balcony above the sun room." Flashlight to the right. "Down there, I have no idea."

[timedork]

"Oh. Yes. Finding out by being one of the ones to disappear could be a bad idea; a bad... bad idea," the Doctor replied. He stopped walking for a moment, pulling a hand out of his pockets to rub the back of his neck as he looked around. He could still hear that song, but where was it coming from...?

After listening for a moment and being unable to draw any conclusions about its direction, the Doctor returned his attention to Abe. "Unless," he continued suddenly, "there was a way--or time--to stop the disappearance before it happened. It really all depends on the how: how they've brought everyone here, and how they'll return us, if they're the ones that will do the returning."

He shone his flashlight towards the right, as well, and smiled. "'No idea', is it?" he said with a grin. "Oh, I like the sound of that... Allons-y!"

[To here!]

[fuzzy-diablo.livejournal.com]

[From here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/742180.html?thread=60699684#t60699684)]

Kurt poked his head out from behind the doorframe, checking the hallway. Empty. Lucky him! The trip to the closet should be without much incident, he hoped.

Flicking his tail excitedly, Kurt bounced out into the hallway and resumed his upright stance again, pointing down the hallway to the closet. "It's this way, right?"

[gothamsfuture.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, pretty sure." Terry almost stopped to check his map again, just to be positive, but he didn't want to risk needing to have his eyes adjust to the dark again. Besides, Kurt had just looked at a map before they left, so it probably was the right way to go. And what was the worst that could happen if they did make a wrong turn?

...Okay, so that wasn't something Terry wanted to think about so much, given everything he'd heard about the little hospital of horrors. Better to focus on how Kurt's tail-wagging almost made him look like a puppy, or something. Best to just keep moving forward and find the closet already.

To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/739477.html?thread=60724885#t60724885)]

[4lulzngiggles.livejournal.com]

((From here.)) (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/742180.html?thread=60562980#t60562980)

Despite himself, Joshua had to wonder about his team mates. Mr. H. was a reliable person as always, but he didn't have the powers that he should have by rights. Nor could he grant more like he should; the Psyches that they had both relied on were practically useless, and that meant both of them were weaker now. And the person with them, 'Alvin'... he was so relaxed now. If anything, he seemed more at his ease now than at any other point Joshua had seen him. Why could that be?

Ah, there were so many challenges and questions... and yet, as Joshua moved up the stairs, he found himself smiling just a bit. The Institute had been so boring as of late, frustrating in its lack of opportunities and interesting people. Now there were enough to get Joshua's attention, and the young man found himself honestly hoping that things would continue just the way they were. Well, perhaps not 'just' the way they were... he had every intention of winning this Game, though that little tidbit he was keeping between himself and his most trusted advisor. Who else could he trust with such information?

[catstreetblues.livejournal.com]

Ah, hadn't they tried to watch a show last night as well? It was a little early, in Sanae's opinion, for some deja vu, but tonight was drastically different from the strange going-ons of the night before. He was probably just being excessively paranoid at the moment.

"The cat, huh?" Sanae enjoyed another bit of laughter as they began walking down the second floor hallway, this time for probably about the same reasons that Joshua had cringed. "Well, you know what they say about cats...takes more than one occasion to kill 'em."

Speaking of which, maybe CAT was ready for his third life--although, it wouldn't do much if all his work ended up censored by the staff. But art could be relatively benign; it was just a matter of adapting properly.

[number-crunch.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/739477.html?thread=60722069#t60722069)]

As Sho came trundling back out into the East hall with his hand truck full of ill-gotten goods, he noticed one factor he hadn't calculated into his equations for the night.

"Joshua," he hissed. How he wanted to just run over and end the Composer's functions with his own two hands. But the boy was accompanied by two others, not the least of which was Hanekoma. And considering his own condition, this wasn't adding up to a positive result. Plus if Lockon's child-helping tendencies were any indication, he could probably count on the man to stop him rather than help him.

Gritting his teeth, he turned in the opposite direction and headed back towards the stairs they'd come up, hopefully escaping the Composer's notice and keeping Lockon from noticing either.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/738956.html?thread=60748172#t60748172)]

[pleading-ngri.livejournal.com]

The hall still seemed quiet, and Phoenix released a breath he hadn't been holding, finishing a brief scan and quickening his steps again.

"It's better than it was last night," he continued, because even if he was watching the shadows more than Edgeworth's face, he knew when he'd done something that would elicit one of those doubtful frowns. "I don't know if it's the medicine S.T. gave me, or if it's just wearing off on it's own, but . . ." He trailed off, though his thought was more or less complete - he didn't need to finish the thought with words that only reinforced the relief that had been implicit in his first sentence, along with the nature of 'it.'

[high-prosecutor.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad," Miles replied, breathing out a relieved sigh of his own. "It doesn't matter what's making you feel better, just as long as you are." Those words were just as succinct as Phoenix's, but no less sincere. He wasn't going to borrow trouble by asking him about the details; they weren't important in the grand scheme of things.

"Anyway, there was something here before. We should leave before it comes back," he added, pushing open the stairwell door and motioning for Phoenix to go ahead.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/738956.html?view=60787596#t60787596)]