damned_institute | M1-M10 Hall, Outside M5, Nightshift 22

Roy was pleased that the conversation he had with his roommate had actually been interesting and enjoyable. The fact that he had been placed with someone who he could have engaging talks with was good - it meant that dinner wouldn't be quite so boring anymore.

There was much more he would have liked to ask Otacon about, such as how his stay at Landel's had been thus far, but that was the sort of thing he reserved for the daytime hours.

Upon entering the hallway, Roy was somewhat shocked to see that Hughes wasn't waiting for him like he usually was. He stepped toward the room and was preparing to knock on it when his eyes caught on the silver sheen of Kadaj's unnatural hair color.

Oh, right.

Letting the fist he had been planning to knock with fall to his side, he stepped over to the boy. "I assume you still want my help?"

Good, he hadn't needed to wait too long. Smirking slightly at Roy (for no particular reason), he nodded and said, "Yes, that's right. I don't know who else I'd be able to ask after all-- a shame, don't you think? There should be an easier way to keep track of people with your abilities." Maybe an armband or something. Wasn't that the way it worked with medics on the battle field? It was something like that, wasn't it? He wasn't entirely certain of the details himself, but it was nothing asking Sephiroth wouldn't solve. Not that he wanted to, but it was something to think about.

Shrugging, he brought his thoughts back to the present. "Yazoo isn't here yet, unfortunately, but he should be soon. He has all the materials with him, so..." He trailed off, peering down the hallway with a small frown. It seemed unlikely that Yazoo could have been attacked by Landel's creatures so early on, but it wasn't a possibility he should dismiss entirely. "He can't be too far off," he added, half to himself.

"There are others," Roy remarked. Fullmetal would probably be the best alchemist to go to after him, but apparently Alphonse was here as well now, and considering how kindhearted the boy was, he would most likely do any favor asked of him to the best of his ability. If he had the "advertise your being an alchemist" idea pitched to him, he probably wouldn't have thought much of it. He got bothered enough already.

At the mention that he'd have to wait around for the other brother to show up, Roy merely nodded. He didn't feel as strapped for time this night, mainly because he knew exactly where he needed to go. Besides, the fact that Hughes wasn't out of his room yet meant he was probably busy with something. He needed to kill time, anyway.

Not that he had any idea of what to talk about. From what he knew, Kadaj was fairly talkative. Hopefully the boy would strike up some form of conversation.

Others wasn't too terribly specific, and Kadaj shot him a brief glare for that incredibly unhelpful response. Was Roy trying to hide them from him or something? He hadn't asked who they were directly, sure, but that answer had seemed altogether too evasive. It wasn't like he was going to abuse the information or something-- okay, fine, maybe a little-- but really...

Oh well, it didn't matter. It could just be his imagination anyway, because for whatever reason, talking to Roy reminded him of talking to the president. Strange, but probably meaningless.

As far as conversation was concerned, Kadaj did have quite a few things in mind to talk about, and they for once weren't entirely concerned with things no one really wanted to listen to. Mostly he had questions, and after a brief pause, he asked the first few of them. "How did all of that alchemy stuff start, anyway? I think the only thing we have on Gaia that comes close to it is the Morph materia, and even then, it's not the same. It would come in useful here, though-- imagine, changing oncoming enemies into items or weapons we can use instead of having to hunt them down separately! More materia in general would be ideal, but we'd have to wait for someone from Gaia to get special counseling again, right? And even then, it'd probably just disappear in the morning." Bitter, him? Impossible.

The only reason that Roy hadn't provided any specific names was for the exact reason Kadaj had considered. He hadn't been asked for him directly. He was certain that Edward, at least, was already busy with favors for other patients, so he wasn't going to go around advertising him unless he was prompted.

Either way, the glare was ignored. When it came down to it, this boy's opinion didn't matter very much to him. They barely knew each other, for one thing, and he'd heard a few rumors flitting around about him, for another. He, of course, knew rumors couldn't always be trusted, but... They were usually at least partly right.

"Start?" Roy frowned. That was a strange way to phrase the question. "It didn't start. My world is just made for it, I suppose. It's our main science, as opposed to the sort of technology other worlds supposedly have." He had heard of Materia from Elena and the others and had a vague idea of how it worked, but when Kadaj mentioned turning monsters into items, his eyes widened. "Alchemy doesn't work like that." Much more thought had to be put into it!

When the doors had unlocked, a sound she was not quite familiar with yet, Riza resolved to make up for the distinct uneventfulness that had seemed to dog her steps for the past twenty-four hours. Last night she had completely forfeited anything she might have done or learned or received during the few hours of costly freedom the night-time was supposed to be.

She had no real purpose for venturing out, or for anything she'd been doing during her stay. And though it revealed something of a flaw in her present nature, she decided she could only be put to the best use under another's command, especially while she lacked experience here. And that meant finding her commander. This early in the night was her best chance of locating him; she had made no plans to meet any of them. She resolved to correct that, too.

She took the flashlight and the radio--the only two items she had--and gave one last glance to the other woman in the room. She seemed to be suffering from the same doggedness as Riza, and they had not yet spoken. She hoped she would be safe.

Once in the hallway, she made her way through the block, taking the route she took with the nurse in the morning, but turning sooner than usual to pass through the door she'd often seen the men exiting. The lights along the way were dim, but sufficient. Inside, the floor plan was duplicated. Passing each hallway, and listening carefully, she turned out to be lucky. She could easily have come too late or too soon. His voice was low, but the acoustics along the bare walls did little to hide it.

He was conversing with a man she didn't recognize as she came closer. Rather than surprise them (though they probably sensed her approach) or eavesdrop, she spoke when she was close enough.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, sir," she began, and for a moment she couldn't think of what should follow. Perhaps she had no business here, now that they were so far from home. But if she could not be helpful, she may as well be honest. "I'm glad I found you," she finished.

Kadaj gave a loud sigh. "I know it doesn't work like that, Roy-- that's just the closest thing we have to it on Gaia. Weren't you paying attention?" He shrugged, then went on without waiting for an answer. "It's interesting that you say it's a science, though-- no offense, but you really don't seem like the sort who'd be involved that field. Seems like it has a wider application than the science on our world does, but then ours seems more interested in making completely innocent people into lab experiments. They don't do that where you live, do they?"

He started laughing at that, not because he found it funny (quite the opposite, really, after what they'd done to Mother), but because... just because? That was reason enough.

Unfortunately, whatever undoubtedly off color remark he was thinking up next would have to wait because that was when the blond woman arrived. Kadaj fought back his immediate frown (he just knew she was going to be trouble later) and stayed silent, more from curiosity than anything resembling politeness. The two of them obviously knew each other, but beyond that.. well, he'd just have to wait and see.

Gaia, right. Roy actually hadn't been paying as much attention as he probably should have been, but when the other patients started talking about things on their world that he had no reason to know about, it was hard to stay focused. Especially when he was eager to get this sword-making business over with so he could get back to the Entry Room.

When Kadaj said that he didn't seem like the type to be involved with science, Roy couldn't help but take offense. (No matter that he had been told not to be offended.) "What do you mean by that?" he asked. It was hard to hear something like that when he'd dedicated so much of his time to learning what he'd needed to know to be a skilled alchemist.

"They do, actually," he said in response to that final question, remembering the details of Laboratory 5 far too well. The following laughter bothered him, but he could tell that Kadaj didn't actually find it very funny.

When Hawkeye of all people drew forward after that, with her frank statement which somehow seemed to fit perfectly, Roy couldn't keep the relief from his face. It had been too long since they'd seen each other. "As am I," he responded. "Where have you been?" There was no accusation there - just plain curiosity. She usually didn't stray, though it was hard to keep track of each other here.

"Hard to say, sir." She had seen him only a handful of times since they'd last spoken, and there hadn't been much opportunity to approach him. But more often, she just hadn't seemed altogether there, herself. And there was the incident of the first night. "I'm afraid I've nothing helpful to report."

She glanced briefly to the unfamiliar man, eyes lingering only a fraction of a second longer on his hair than they might have otherwise. She wasn't ignoring him, but she knew her place, and would make no introductions on her own. But at least the colonel hadn't seemed dismayed at her unplanned arrival. She couldn't be certain what the other thought about it.

Aww, he was offended? How cute. Kadaj snickered at him but didn't answer, choosing instead to give him an infuriatingly condescending smile and very slight shake of his head. It was easy to fill in the taunting I'm not going to tell you, though, even if he didn't say it. Sure, pissing Roy off when he still needed his help was more than slightly counter-productive, but so what? He was bored. If the man got horribly upset and refused to help over something as minor as that, then he obviously wasn't worth Kadaj's time. He'd just hunt down another alchemist, if that was the case.

He sobered immediately after that, though, his mind unwillingly drawn into further contemplation of the whole human experimentation thing-- well, experimentation in general, since he didn't much care for humans. Thinking about it so soon after Mother's visit, and especially after the horrible things both the Head Doctor and the man on the radio had said. Did that mean the version of Mother he had seen really was her, or...? He preferred the idea that she was with Sephiroth, quite frankly, even if that meant he was still the one that had her favor. He almost wanted to talk with the man about the subject, but what an awful conversation that would be. Hello, big brother. I was just thinking about what you'd said about Mother, and there just might be a chance that you were wrong...

He jerked himself back into the present, forcing himself to focus on the exchange between the two... what, coworkers? He honestly didn't know much about Roy aside from the fact that he was an alchemist, but judging by the formal way this woman addressed him and mentioned having "nothing to report," he was probably in some kind of military or law enforcement on his world. He certainly seemed the type, now that Kadaj thought about it. That just gave him all the more reason to dislike him, frankly, because all of this was reminding him even more of Shin-Ra. He had said they experimented on people there after all.

He just hoped Yazoo arrived soon. He was feeling distinctly uncomfortable now and his brother's reassuring presence was exactly what he needed. Hell, he'd even settle for Sephiroth showing up at this rate. He wanted to talk to someone about Mother, not think about what they might have done to her. The very idea nauseated him, and again, he tried to distract himself by observing the two of them. It wouldn't work forever, but he could at least try.

It was probably for the best that Hawkeye showed up when she did. If Roy had continued the conversation with Kadaj, there may have been a chance of them getting into touchy territory. The fact of the matter was that the silver-haired one was still a child, which meant that he didn't know how to conduct himself. It was similar to Fullmetal, in a way, but he didn't have anything to tease Kadaj about.

Well, there was the mother issue, but he got a feeling he shouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole.

Either way, seeing the Kadaj side-by-side with Hawkeye made his behavior even more obvious; her rigid demeanor made for a sharp contrast. It was safe to say that he was grateful for the lieutenant's presence.

"I'm going to make a weapon for this boy and his brother," he explained. It was then that he remembered what politeness dictated and he got to the introductions. "Kadaj, this is my first lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye. Hawkeye, this is Kadaj, one of the other patients here." What else was there to say about the boy, after all? All Roy knew what that he hoped Yazoo showed up soon.

"A pleasure," she responded, inclining her head to him briefly. The truth of it, however, was that few qualities sank her opinion of others more quickly than disrespect, and disrespect for the colonel was nigh unforgivable to her.

Mentioning this, however, was out of the question. The colonel was more than capable of defending himself if required, and she kept herself tightly in rein.

That he was tolerating the exchange at all told her he couldn't complete the task at hand for one reason or another, and from a brief glance over the two of them, she suspected the reason was lack of supplies. This reminded her that she still had no weapon herself.

She was curious as to the type of weapon, but she decided not to ask. She had other questions as well, but she didn't trust quite everyone in the immediate vicinity.

Instead, she turned a bit away from the two to survey the long stretch of hallway towards the exit. Her posture was enough to signal that she was keeping guard of some sort. There were a few others in the corridor, but nothing threatening. Still, she watched.

Coming out of his room, Maes was somewhat surprised to see Roy and Riza right in the hallway. And... that guy from the night before, the one that wanted a sword.

"Hey," he said, nodding to the two other soldiers. "How long have you been out here?" That was directed mostly to Roy. Though this explained why the other man hadn't shown up as Maes had expected.

Alfons followed shortly thereafter, slipping out of Maes's room with knife in hand, and his eyes widened a little. Roy he knew, but the other two he did not, and for some reason there seemed to be a little bit of tension in the atmosphere. Especially from the woman; she looked like one of the soldiers on parade, watchful and restrained.

...it made him a little homesick, actually.

Just like last night, Alfons was quiet and let the others have their says in the matter. He felt very young at that point, so unless there was something constructive he could add, it would be better to just remain quiet and to see what would happen.

What, so he was being forced to follow stupid human pleasantries now, too? Fine. "Nice to meet you too," he said quietly to Riza, sounding polite enough but having an unpleasant little quirk to the corner of his mouth that betrayed his insincerity. Why should he be respectful, anyway? Roy's introduction of the woman had confirmed some of his suspicions about them, so he honestly wouldn't be surprised if the rest were true. Seemed like he had even more enemies here than he'd originally thought.

He merely raised an eyebrow when two more of Roy's friends arrived, recognizing them from last night. He hadn't gotten their names then, had he? Oh well. Chances were that they'd be more military personnel and he'd have to kill them all anyway. At the very least they were human, and that was more than enough of an offense to earn the same treatment.

This was a little upsetting, though. Four of them and still no sign of Yazoo. Had he been attacked? Or was he just... delayed? Kadaj glanced down the hall again, a faint crease appearing in his brow. He wasn't worried, but still...

[[Coming from here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/74155.html?thread=4248747#t4248747)]]

Oh, well. So he was missing out on all of the fun that came with fighting the monsters at Nightshift. Yazoo wasn’t too disappointed, thought, considering the fact that he did need to be armed before he tried to take any of the creepy crawlies on. And when it came to getting a weapon, well, that was where the alchemist came in.

Flicking on his flashlight, he shined it down the hall and made his way toward the very first set of rooms. He was pleased to see that Kadaj was indeed waiting for him, along with the others he had met last night and a woman he didn’t recognize. He strolled up to them and greeted everyone with a small nod of his head. He then turned to look at his brother and gave him a small apologetic glance.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” He gestured in the direction of the outside hallway. “Some monsters decided that they wanted to come out and play.”

There was Hughes... with Heiderich in tow. Roy hadn't been prepared for that. It was surprising that the boy had managed to make his way here before he had even left his room, but then again, the chat he'd been having with Otacon had delayed him slightly. He nodded to both of them in greeting. "A few minutes. I figured you were... busy in there." He couldn't help thinking about what they'd discussed over the bulletin board.

The way Kadaj responded to Hawkeye did not sit well with him. There was no reason to be so obviously unpleasant, and the look on the teenager's face made him tempted to smack him. He had to remind himself that this was not headquarters and he could not simply get upset with people for disrespect.

It wasn't as if his subordinates were all the most well-behaved, in any case. There was just something about Kadaj's attitude in particular that got under his skin. Or maybe it was the fact that he was acting so badly to one of his own... He did get protective when it came to that.

Luckily, Kadaj's brother chose to show up then. Good, he could get this over with and get on his way - if perhaps with more people than he'd expected. Himself, Hughes, Hawkeye, and Heiderich... Well, four wasn't too much, he supposed.

"Shall we get on with this, then?" he asked, his impatience bleeding into his tone just slightly.

She didn't have to wonder who the last person to join their small group was, and she was relieved, though she did not show it. And though she didn't know if it would be done in front of her, she was somewhat curious to see the colonel using alchemy in a more standard practice.

As she remained out of the way, however, her attention moved to the blond boy who had exited the brigadier general's room with him. She'd seen him before, in the library, but knew nothing about him, just that there'd been some upset concerning him and Edward. She expected to find out soon, though now wasn't a good time for it.

"Glad you weren't waiting long." Maes nodded. "I was just giving Alfons here a couple of tips on the finer points of knife wielding." He gave the teen a wink. "I didn't want him going out unarmed tonight. And I was waiting for Ed, who is probably trying to be wherever I'm not right now." he rolled his eyes.

"You take care of whatever you need to. I know you mentioned earlier that you had some stuff to talk to me about - and Elena filled me in somewhat on what happened last night, so I can make a few guesses as to what that would be." Okay, so he was bullshitting some. But what else was he gonna do in front of such a large audience?

"Oh, Alfons, this is Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. Riza, this is Alfons Hiedrich." The other two, well, they'd run into them last night and didn't exactly need introductions.

The boy listened carefully to everything that was being said, trying to remember everything so that, if it was needed, he would be able to recall what had happened. Roy certainly seemed impatient to go, anyway, and so Heiderich would keep as quiet as possible in the hopes of not making anything more difficult. Alchemy and then exploration, right? He could manage that.

At the introduction from Hughes, the boy simply smiled. It wasn't the 'finer' points, sure, but the wink made him feel just a little more confident about himself. Maybe he'd be fine after all!

In any case, he offered a slight bow to Hawkeye, wanting to be polite. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Hawkeye." He, being a civilian, wasn't sure if he should call her by title or not... and he didn't dare go on first-name basis until she said it was okay. She was just too... professional, to be familiar too quickly.

Ah, there he was! Kadaj grinned once his brother came into view, quickly checking him over as he approached to be sure that he was unharmed. When this seemed to be the case, he said, "As long as you made sure they regret making you late, you're forgiven." As long as they didn't follow Yazoo, too, but he knew his brother was smarter than that. Maybe he'd set them on some other unsuspecting patient instead? That would've been fun to watch, but now wasn't the time to ask about that.

He laughed at Roy's impatient tone, giving the man a sly smile and asking, "That eager to get rid of us? I'm hurt, Roy. I thought you liked us! Are your other friends really that much more important to you?"

He looked around at them all with an obviously feigned pout on his face before dropping it and smirking again. "All right, Yazoo, you heard the man: tell him what kind of weapon you want, and we'll be off. We have a very important appointment tonight that we simply can't miss." He refrained from saying more than that, though, just to keep everyone in suspense. Besides, it wasn't really their business anyway; this was a family matter.

Returning the grin, Yazoo came to a stop beside Kadaj and fought back the urge to roll his eyes when he noticed his brother looking him over. It wasn’t like he didn’t do the same thing when it came to Kadaj and Loz, so he simply ignored it and nodded his head. “Oh, don’t worry. They’re paying for it alright,” he said with a small smirk. “I left them out there to fight those things on they’re own. I hate that I’m missing all the fun, though.”

His eyes went to Roy at the other man’s words and fought back a snort. After all, it wasn’t his fault those monsters decided to target him rather than some other unsuspecting patient out roaming the halls. However, he wasn’t about to make some snide remark at the alchemist’s tone. No, he’d get a weapon first, then snark off… maybe.

There was a sound of metal clinking against metal as he handed over the makeshift bag full of scalpels, at the same time explaining what kind of weapon he wanted. “Perhaps some type of blade for now; maybe a dagger or two,” he explained in an offhand manner. “I’d ask for a firearm, but ammunition would be nonexistent until I gather more materials and find an alchemist to make some for me.” Looks like his time spent in the game room mulling over a good weapon had been well spent. Even though he’d have to get used to using a blade, he’d rather be armed now as opposed to having to wait on bullets for a gun.

It was hard not to double-take when Heiderich called Hawkeye "Miss." Roy wasn't sure he had heard anyone call her that, though he realized he mainly interacted with her in a military setting. For Alfons, it must have seemed like the best thing to call her. He doubted she would mind - and if she did, she'd correct him.

At the moment, he was more focused on the work that was to be done. "I've known my other friends for much longer," he told Kadaj. He knew the boy was merely pulling his leg, but it wasn't like he'd acknowledged him or his brother as friends in the first place. He doubted they considered him as much, either.

Taking the bag, he jostled it to get an idea of how much was in there. It sounded promising - and the weight let him know that he wouldn't be short of material. "Twin daggers," he murmured to himself. That would probably be the best choice. "Even if you had a gun and ammunition," he warned as an afterthought, "you'd still need some sort of gunpowder." He doubted there was anything resembling that just lying around in the building - unless it was strategically placed to be found.

"Someone keep watch," he ordered, pointing out across the hall. He was certain Hawkeye would be the one most willing to listen, which was what he'd prefer, anyway. He knelt down on the floor and dumped out the contents of the bag, sorting through what he'd need and beginning to pile the scalpels together.

It had been a long time since she'd been called "miss," though on second thought it was possible another of the patients she had met had used the title. It caught her a little off-guard, but she still responded with a "pleasure to meet you,"--genuine this time--with a slight hint of a smile.

As the colonel took his material, giving his light warning, she sighed inwardly. It was only too ironic that she should only be at her full potential when fighting against her allies, and not the institution or its living weapons.

"Sir," she said, acknowledging the order. Though it was directed to no one, she was the only subordinate in the area. She turned towards the long expanse of hallway again, flashlight in hand, but still turned off. The dim lights were sufficient enough at the moment. From this perspective she wouldn't be able to watch the colonel's alchemy, but she suspected there would be other chances during their stay here, which promised to be long.

A couple of daggers probably wouldn't take too long for Roy to make. He watched as Hawkeye immediately took up position, rigid and professional, and just shook his head.

"I'll stand lookout," he told her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I couldn't care less about alchemy, and I've got my knives." If anything came at them, he was armed and ready to deal with it.

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