damned_institute | Night 49: Head Doctor's Office

Entry tags:

Night 49: Head Doctor's Office - 3rd Floor

The room was almost cozy at first glance. A large oak table sat in the center of the comfortably-sized room, framed by two corner bookcases that seemed to be filled with thick texts and various legal binders. On the wall directly behind the desk, placed between the two bookcases, was a large head-on portrait of the Institute itself, framed in dark, polished wood that matched the rest of the furniture and complemented the forest-green of the thin carpet.

Although some knickknacks – generic awards, staff photographs, a golfing figure made of business cards – dotted the bookcases, the centerpiece of the room was clearly the desk itself. Its glass-paned top was tidy, though not necessarily pristine: the inbox and outbox were chock-full of looseleaf paper and manilla envelopes, and several folders were piled neatly on the far side of the desk's surface, as if they'd been only recently put aside. A keyboard and two flat screen monitors were the only immediate indication that the office wasn't pulled straight out of the mid-twentieth century, though some sections of paneling on the ceiling and walls seemed suspiciously rectangular.

Three chairs in front of the desk and a door off to their right were the last inanimate objects of note, and even those might have been completely missed due to the figure sitting in the desk's high-backed, leather chair. He was currently relaxed, paging quietly through the file currently open in front of him. A pair of oval-rimmed glasses didn't do much to mask his face from those who'd seen it before, and to someone who hadn't, the small microphone sitting just inches away from him was more than enough to reveal his identity.

After a moment, the man glanced up and smiled at the patients in a strangely non-malicious fashion. He slowly closed the folder and placed his hand over it as he leaned back in his seat.

"I was wondering when you three would get out of the hallways." He raised his hand and slowly slid the glasses off his nose, then nodded at each person in turn. "Fai, Kurogane, pleasure to see you again. Tsubaki, good of you to join us. I... wouldn't bring you all here if I didn't want to talk civilly, so can I assume you realize how stupid it'd be to try anything... or will the barrier have to stay?"

As if to illuminate his point, he tapped the glasses against his desk and a brief flash of a force field appeared in front of the patients. The Head Doctor raised a brow questioningly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kurogane's attention split a moment when he heard Tsubaki correct the Doctor. Black☆Star, probably the right name for the partner mentioned earlier. Though the ninja was still unfamiliar with the girl behind him, he could hear enough in her tone to understand. This could be the first she'd heard information from the files. And if so...

"It doesn't matter what you know about us," he spoke suddenly, and much more calmly, as though he wasn't addressing just the Doctor anymore, "We are nothing like you, you bastard."

Fancy words or not, Kurogane could understand what the Doctor was getting at. He was trying to compare them, everyone there, with himself. And just because of being able to travel from world to world? Che! If that was all it took to make people see eye-to-eye, then he'd never have gone after Seishirou that time in Oto, and wouldn't have as many problems as he did with the magician. Thinking that it was was wishful at best, and flat out stupid since the man seemed to think it could lead to cooperation.

"I don't take orders from you," he hissed, anger from before returning to his words. He then shot a glare at the magician once more, "And I'll stop him if he tries to." The girl behind him he couldn't answer for. Still, she should understand things before speaking again. "No matter what you say, we can't trust it."

Even if the doctor kept his tone even, it was hard not to feel like a child being lectured by an adult. True, there were a lot of things that were difficult to comprehend, but it was more than that. The man's presence itself was intimidating, to say nothing of his demeanor or the subject. Yuuhi glanced away briefly; there was no need to answer the man's question, he'd done that himself. The situation itself though, was eerily familiar.

-and become my chess piece.

There were still many secrets he'd left alone in his travels with Kurogane, Mokona, Syaoran, and Sakura. He'd been so sure as a child that he would do anything it took to bring his brother back to life. That he could kill if he had to, or hurt others. But when he saw Sakura's clear and trusting eyes, or Syaoran's dedication, Kurogane's loyalty... the thought of someday betraying them was one he tried to keep far from mind. To think he might have to make another deal here, just to keep going, to keep the things that were dear to him, it was more than a little overwhelming.

But even if he did accept the offer, Kurogane's open defiance and promise to keep the decision out of Yuuhi's hands was enough to create problems. Kurogane and likely Tsubaki too, would be likely to tell the others to distrust him if he agreed to the proposition. It put him in a difficult spot and whether or not he agreed with the doctor or his methods, there wasn't a lot he could say without Kurogane putting a stop to it. His gaze met the doctor's for a moment, then fell to his lap once more, not refusing the offer, but not siding with Kurogane either.

[Sorry for the wait guys! Just got back! ^^;]

Quiet. It was the quiet Tsubaki pulled to her, surrounded herself with. Despite the sounds, and the voices, and the grating of personalities at work, there was a pregnant silence filling her, as though she were in part an objective observer to events happening beyond her.

She felt the pressure of her upper lip on her lower one. Of course Kurogane was right.

Knowing doesn’t mean understanding.

And yet… and yet… Tsubaki’s attention was drawn to the video feed, some of it from within the building, the rest from impossible places that made her shiver. She lingered on each face, only looking back once the man behind the desk began to talk about his humanity. No, no normal human would do what he did and call himself a caretaker--no healthy, whole human. And yet it was too early to know exactly what he was. Or how much what Landel said did matter.

It was too early for a lot of things.

Words aside, it was his smile that Tsubaki both distrusted and disliked. He was looking down on them. What was less clear was the reason behind their being in his office. What kind of person would the Head Doctor consider an enemy, an enemy he would want his captives to deal with? And how would doing so be for the greater good? Again, Tsubaki voiced the question. “Why would you want us to do that?” Underneath her words was the other important question: Why would he think any of the prisoners would do what he asked of their own volition? The unspoken offer sat like a weight on the conversation. So did the utter obscurity surrounding Landel and his intentions.

"You can think what you want, Mr. Kuro," the Head Doctor replied mildly, moving his eyes yet again, this time to one of computer monitors. He briefly frowned, moving his hand to click something with his mouse. He absentmindedly muttered something that sounded like "bookworm" under his breath, then glanced back to his audience. His eyes had momentarily gone cold. "And to you, Ms. Tsubaki, I would like to point out that a tool needs to know only its use, not its purpose."

But then his face seemed to soften again. He sighed, bringing his palm to his face and pressing the heel of his hand over one of his eyes. "But I do suppose some limited information is required before a soldier proceeds with a mission."

He paused deliberately on that term, then nodded and finally stood up from his seat.

"You see," he began, "this facility is very important, more than you know or can probably comprehend. I don't expect you to believe me when I say it, but much of our society relies on what goes on here, as barbaric as it may seem on the ground floor. As little as my assurance might mean to you, you have my word that the theatrics are all a crucial part of the process. Otherwise, I would not use them.

"But on to your question." He pressed his hands against the top of the table and leaned on them, thinking for a moment before looking back up at the patients. His voice went low; serious, but not quite dangerous. "We've had our first period of peace for some time now, but that's currently being threatened by a certain... group. This group has currently been dealt a large blow with the–" he paused, "–death of their previous leader, Alec Doyle, known more commonly as 'Jack.' However, there's a new kid keen on taking his place, and that, along with some other... unforeseen circumstances that caused us to lose his trail, has allowed me to conclude that perhaps a new plan of attack would be most prudent.

"And that's where you come in."

Kurogane would think what he wanted to. In a situation like this, that was about the only thing he could do to keep anyone there from making a mistake. He knew they could not trust this man, no matter how sincere he was attempting to sound. The Doctor had done too much and had damaged more than just their pride for him to be requesting trust.

Despite all that though, Kurogane was not about to turn his back to anything that happened. Leaving the office had been removed the moment he'd spotted Landel and had further been taken as an option with Fai's idiotic move to sit. This was the closest he or possibly anyone had gotten to the one behind everything, and hostages or not Kurogane could not leave the room. Not without knowing Landel had been dealt with one way or another.

So he listened, intent though passive, to everything that was said to them, bracing for a potential attack when the doctor rose from his seat. Speaking to them from behind his desk was one matter, but moving around could easily turn conversation into violence. The Doctor should know by now that Kurogane was analyzing not only his words, but every move he made.

"The hell's this 'we'?" Kurogane sneered when talk of peace was mentioned. The patients had hardly had any kind of peace here, "And what makes you think we'd help you?"

Kurogane had already made his stand on taking orders, so the Doctor could make his own guesses as to what that would mean for 'favors'. That said, Kurogane could not keep his eyes from again looking to the magician. There were ways, he knew, that enemies attempted to get what they wanted. He'd dealt with many in not only his travels, but in protecting Princess Tomoyo. As stood, Fai had already given the Doctor one, and with the images showing at the door and desk, Kurogane could just imagine the others available to the Doctor.

A tool needs to know only its use, not its purpose. Something about the easy way he said it was enough to give Yuuhi the chills. Not that he hadn't thought it himself often enough, but hearing it aloud was enough to bring the message home once more. Even if he didn't understand what was going on with the facility or what its true purpose might be, if doing what the head doctor wished would bring him closer to his own goals, then maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe.

"And if we do this," he said finally, "find out more about them, stall them, hurt them, or whatever it is you want of us, what exactly is our incentive?" It might benefit him to threaten their lives, but Yuuhi wasn't one to place much value in his own. The screens were enough to suggest he might hurt others, but wouldn't that happen regardless? He supposed it would be just as easy for the doctor to offer to simply not hurt their friends as it would be to offer them a reward. But if that was the case, why not choose others who might know more about the resistance group?

As amenable as the Head Doctor was trying to be on the surface, Tsubaki was well aware of the potential danger the three of them were in. But she didn’t flinch at being warned of her place in his eyes. She was well past that, now.

It all came down to knowledge.

Knowledge was one of the most important things to have facing an enemy, as well as in life. She had to watch, listen, and try to make the connections on her own. The Head Doctor’s feelings of superiority had been coloring his behavior from the beginning, allowing her to see that talking civilly wouldn’t include talking about what they, as prisoners, most wanted to know: what Landel was doing, what was behind the hospital, what form the overarching pattern drawing them all in was supposed to take. The purpose, in other words. From what Tsubaki had gathered in the minutes she’d been in Landel’s presence, pressing the issue of tools and soldiers wasn’t going to lead anywhere.

She pressed her lips together a little harder when the doctor stood, intent on what move they could make next. The same questions Kurogane and Fai had were circling her thoughts, but Landel had already shot down her asking once. What could they do? What could she do?

Trying to digest what Landel had chosen to reveal, Tsubaki waited for more. She just didn’t understand enough yet.

The Head Doctor smiled slightly, almost sadly, in response to the similar questions that Kurogane and Fai had asked. He glanced to Kurogane, arching a brow.

"For a man who's seen as many different worlds as yourself, I'm surprised you wouldn't consider that perhaps this altverse, too, has a whole population of innocent civilians. That is who this whole show is for, not myself personally. I am sure you must find that difficult to believe after everything that you've seen from me, but..."

He trailed off, as if lost in thought for a moment before he looked back to the patients. He chuckled quietly, though there was little mirth in it. "I suppose that there'd be no use in explaining myself, though, would there? Incentive is what interests you, I realize."

He paused, tapping one palm against the table before standing up from it and shifting his weight back to his feet. "As a show of good faith..." he moved his eyes from Tsubaki, to Kurogane, then to Fai, "perhaps I should ask... you what you feel a fair reward would be from me. I can't promise a deal, but I can... consider one."

Almost as an afterthought, he sighed and added: "I would certainly prefer rewarding you to the alternative."

[Switching posting order with Kurogane with permission!]

If the people they'd seen in town were the innocent civilians in this world, they did indeed have a more problems than any of them had a chance of overcoming. Especially if whatever strange happenings in town were common every night. And if it went even beyond this institution, then maybe there was some truth to what he was saying.

At the mention of their incentive, Yuuhi glanced cautiously from the doctor to the others, though his gaze didn't linger before the doctor's found him. He shifted slightly in his seat, heels of his boots quietly scuffing the floor. Once again, the man didn't seem to be lying. As bitter as many of his truths had been, they were still truths. And Yuuhi had yet to see otherwise. At least, not up close.

He knew he should be jumping at this chance; the doctor had everything he needed to make things better, to finally fix all that had gone wrong. But just as it'd been as a child and when he met the time witch, a price had to be paid. Betrayal, pure and simple. Before he'd said it didn't matter who he hurt as long as he could bring Fai back, but that was long before he'd come to know each of the people he traveled with. And it wasn't just them either. There were new friends, new people he cared about here. Could he cast them aside? If the doctor was telling the truth, it would save the innocents of this world, but...

"There's someone I want to bring back," he said quietly, wringing his hands in his lap as he glanced down at the floor. "You did it before, for me after that..." he trailed off, not wishing to think on it. They both knew what he was referring to, and what the implication was.

"If that's too much, just tell me how it's done, that's enough." There was Ashura too, of course, but his brother came first. If he had Fai back, even that wouldn't seem so impossible. A life here, difficult as it might be, had to be better than death, and infinitely better than waiting out their days in that cold, frozen tower. Kurogane and the other could hate him if they liked, judge him, try to make him change his mind, but he'd made his choice a long time ago.

Of course Kurogane knew there were others in this world. He'd seen them on the outings, and then with that visitor... He still questioned that to an extent, but he wouldn't deny that there had to be more than Landel himself living in this world. Terming those other people as "innocent civilians" however, that left Kurogane a better understanding of the Head Doctor's intentions. The man saw this as a war, which in a way was good.

Because so did Kurogane.

"That's not an answer," he snorted, angry for the Doctor's side-stepping. When the man had spoken of "we" it hadn't been in reference to some kind of naive populace, it had been in terms of a war. That meant groups, or factions. Something that "innocent civilians" had no business claiming to be a part of, especially if they had no knowledge of it.

When the Doctor continued, Kurogane knew that pressuring for more of an answer would be pointless. The bastard was too obsessed with getting them to do his bidding. More talk of rewarding them and attempts at good faith. Kurogane would have thought their captor to have been smarter. Could he really not understand that no matter what words he spoke, not a one of them could be trusted as truth?

There's someone I want to bring back

The silence in the room broke and Kurogane's glare shot to the source. He had ignored the magician before, letting his questions go only because they had been helpful in getting information, but this last time had not been a question. He was responding, and to the Doctor. Not only responding, but setting terms!

"What the hell, magician?!" Kurogane barked, advancing a step only to feel the barrier's rejection keep him from moving any further. "Have you been listening to anything?! You can't trust this bastard! None of us can!"

To Kurogane, the move to compromise with the Doctor wasn't one of betrayal, it was one of idiocy. Fai had his flaws, but he was smarter than that. He should have known better! And in more ways than just thinking he could trust another, especially this man, at his word. "No matter what you're thinking in that empty skull, you can't bring back the dead!" he added suddenly, back teeth grinding hard as his eyes returned to the Doctor, harder than ever.

There was hypocrisy in his words, he knew, but only in as far as this place went. They'd been made to experience death before. All of them had. Some more than just once. But only in this place. Only here. That was enough to question things. With what he was facing now, he was beginning to doubt that anyone who was still in the hallways had ever really died. Kurogane was no magician, but knew enough. Tomoyo's barriers, the witches time-travel, and Fai's own magic... the hell was to say someone could not have the ability to make them face some kind of falsified death with magic? Or that that person was the one taunting them from behind the desk? Because the last thing Kurogane would believe of Landel was that he was some miracle worker who could raise the dead on a whim.

"No one can."

Innocents. For someone who had a vested interest in protecting just such people, the dropped hint rang like a bell in Tsubaki’s head. What he meant, what she thought, and what the reality was could all very well be different things, however. She sucked in a silent breath, denying in her heart the rest of what he said before any words made it to her lips. Incentive and rewards weren’t what she wanted, not at all. Neither was punishment for the people around her. Nor the suffering of innocent people.

Fai, though, might have had a different idea, for he seemed to be making a serious answer. He wanted a part in the deal? To… bring back someone?

The calm before the storm, the wait just before the first strike, felt like it was coming closer to breaking.

"You mean your brother," the Head Doctor said bluntly in response to Fai's request, just in time for Kurogane to start his tirade. Someone watching him closely would have been able to see him rolling his eyes just slightly and giving out a small sigh, but Kurogane, at least, seemed a little too preoccupied at the moment to notice.

"Just because you feel I cannot be trusted doesn't mean you should deprive others of what they could have." As if in implication, his gaze wandered to settle on Tsubaki as he began walking away from his desk and toward the door to the side of it. "For example, your Institute-met companion here. Perhaps there is something she might be willing to work for – of course, she has ample time to think it over, if she wishes, but as for Mr. Flourite..."

He looked once again at Fai with a somber understanding and dead seriousness. He nodded. "Yes, I can give you your brother, and I can prove it to you if you doubt me, after which I know your loyalty to me will be unquestionable. However..."

He arrived at the door and pulled a set of small keys from his pocket, using one to unlock the panel next to the doorframe. "I know that you, Mr. Kuro, will be the hardest to win over. I was hoping to convince you of the validity of my cause, but I can see now that that notion was... well, in a word: ill-conceived."

He opened the panel and began to punch in a long series of numbers, then pressed his hand against it. The panel gave a loud BEEP that signaled the door unlocking; the doctor then turned the handle, pulled it open, and glanced back at the patients.

"Don't be shy," he said, sounding genuinely encouraging in a way that the context only made more sinister. "It's just a hallway."

And it was: a short stretch of hallway, dark and windowless.

He'd expected a laugh, or even to be told that it was impossible, but when the doctor knew exactly who he was talking about and even left the offer to bring him back so casually sitting on the table, how could he refuse it? His first instinct was doubt, of course, but the doctor promised to prove it. Yuuhi was surprised he couldn't hear his heart hammering noisily in his chest. If the offer was real, he had to take it. No matter what the doctor needed or wanted of him, if it meant bringing Fai back, he'd take it in an instant.

Still, it was hard to escape feeling like he was selling his soul. Was it his imagination? Or was he just so shocked to finally have his goal in sight, not just an impossible dream anymore, that he was hesitating? What if the doctor really was trying to help people? Logic told him it wasn't the case, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd put sense aside.

When the doctor opened the door into a murky hallway, offering them their heart's desire, he stood abruptly. No matter the cost, he reminded himself. He'd promised that it wouldn't matter what happened, so long as he could be with Fai again. Even if it meant living in a world consisting of only the two of them while the rest crumbled away, nothing else mattered. Though he already knew he'd pay it, the price this time was steep. Letting himself be pulled deeper into darkness and branded a traitor among his fellow patients. It was easier to ignore the reminders, the faces of those he'd lost already, of those who still called him a friend and pretend he didn't care. Gathering what remained of his courage, he walked forward, head bowed slightly to keep from catching a glimpse of either of his companions' faces.

He ignored all warnings; there was doubt enough in him already, but he couldn't turn back now. If that made him a fool, so be it. The doctor had spoken nothing but the truth. If the doctor could prove he was good to his word, Fai would be his pawn, for he knew that if the man had the power to give back life, he need only threaten to take it away to keep him in check.

Yuuhi didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until he reached the doctor and lowered his head, bowing once, stiffly, but the message, acceptance of the offer, was made clear. He brushed on by, waiting a moment or two for further instruction or to see if the others might follow.

Family, was it? A brother? That revelation made Kurogane only angrier to hear. He knew the magician was weak-willed, but if that had been his goal from the beginning, then he was more of a coward than Kurogane had first realized. The idiot wasn't running from his past, he was trying to find a way to fix it, or else die trying! Letting something that could never be changed control everything!

"There's nothing to have!" Kurogane roared when the Doctor addressed him again. It wasn't just that Kurogane refused to believe someone could bring back the dead, but that he would never be able to trust the Doctor at his word. Nothing the man said, did, or showed would be enough for that.

But when the Doctor opened the doorway, Kurogane took a step forward, feeling that the barrier had rescinded. "I am not letting you out of my sight." The Doctor or the magician. Even if it meant following both into the hallway while unarmed.

Kurogane's eyes were fixed onto Fai's back as he watched the man head to the doorway and enter. It was a good thing that neither of the kids or Mokona was there to see how easily he'd gone along with the Doctor, however there was someone there. The girl who he should have just let go about her business for the night. Maybe then she wouldn't have had to deal with any of this.

"You don't have to come," he told her simply and took more steps for the door, "But you'd better have made up your mind if you do." Because right now they were seeing what happened temptation overruled uncertainty. When he got closer to the doorway he felt the barrier's force pushing against him once more and waited with his ever-present glare for the Doctor to lead the damn way to whatever he was hiding.

Tsubaki’s brow knit. Brother. Fai wanted to bring back a brother. She knew what losing one was like, but…

She hadn’t felt entangled in her thoughts, yet when the Head Doctor looked at her again, his gaze landed like a jolt; she jerked to full alertness at his movement, watching him. Anger, resentment, they were the feelings Tsubaki drew the least on. At the moment, she wasn’t sure what to feel at being referred to in the third person. It was insulting to an extent, but was eclipsed by the out of control train they all seemed to be riding. She couldn’t put it past the man not to be feeding the atmosphere on purpose.

Tensed for what would happen next, it was through her peripheral vision that Tsubaki saw Fai rise. So sudden! Nothing was coming together to make sense, and an unknown passage provided to them by Landel himself was just another jumbled part. “Wait!” she exclaimed, lunging forward two steps. It was mostly for the doctor, but she felt, too, that if she could delay Fai’s decision before more of the situation revealed itself, it would be for the better. She spread her hands, appealing. “Your cause,” said Tsubaki. “You say there’s no use in trying to make us believe or explain to us, but I’d like to hear it, if you told us. The truth is worth hearing. So…” What was important wasn’t what Tsubaki believed, but the explanation that Landel kept saying would be automatically rejected. Incentives weren’t worth half as much to her.

If Landel meant what he said about the greater good and the validity of his cause, then surely…? She wanted to know.

Her eyes flickered briefly to Kurogane at his words, and back to Landel. Her mind was already made up. But did they have to be paid to be cooperative?

Edited 2010-06-09 08:26 (UTC)

The Head Doctor seemed either unaffected or unimpressed by Kurogane's threats toward Fai, simply standing in the doorway with a neutral expression as if waiting for the patients to sort themselves out before he involved himself directly. In fact, it was only when Tsubaki began to speak that the Head Doctor glanced away from empty space, a strangely sad smile spreading across his features as she asked about what was truly at stake.

"The truth is always worth hearing, my dear," he said in nearly a murmur before he raised his head and spoke louder: "And I greatly appreciate you showing interest in circumstances that... well. They're more pertinent to all of you than you probably would like to know."

After a moment of pause, he nodded his head and turned to walk into the hall, gesturing at the patients to follow.

"I will be glad to explain those circumstances, but I'm afraid my words would be wasted on Mr. Kuro in particular unless he is given a more... personal incentive. But please – come. I can assure you that this is a display, not a pact. You will not be bound to my service by any means unless you specifically agree to it."

The hallway's surfaces all looked to be a solid black metal, and the Head Doctor's polished shoes clicked eerily in the small space as he made his way to the end of it. The hallway itself wasn't very large – probably only a bit longer than the office attached to it, but wide enough to comfortably fit the four of them. As he waited for them to slowly file in, he said: "What I can tell you is that if you think my methods are inhumane..." he gave a short chuckle, raising a brow sardonically, "you should see the opposition."

Knowing whether or not the doctor's cause was a just one might alleviate some portion of the guilt he knew was sure to follow, but hearing that the opposition was worse was of little comfort. Still, he was glad Tsubaki had asked, small hope as it might be to cling to, or defense for his decision. He'd known right off that Kurogane wouldn't understand, but the man already hated him, couldn't he be relieved instead, that at least Yuuhi had some small reason to hang on and want to keep living? If Fai was this close, he had to at least try.

And what exactly did the doctor mean, bound to his service? No doubt it was much like any other wish he'd seen granted. A deal had to be made and both parties made to abide by the rules. He followed quietly, uncertain in his alliances, but resolute in his decision.

"The opposition. What are they trying to do?" he asked, echoing the question Tsubaki had tried. If he wouldn't say his own reasons or explain things for them, maybe he would be more willing to tell them about what they'd be up against.

The truth was worth hearing. Kurogane agreed with that in his own way, but there had to be circumstances for hearing that truth - specifically being able to hear it from someone they could trust. Someone who hadn't been putting them through hell over the last few weeks, others longer.

With Fai already going along with the man and Tsubaki attempting to understand, that left Kurogane as the only one who would not be temped by pretty words and promises. The ninja became even more grounded in his decision when he heard Landel speak of being "bound" to his service. Kurogane already served under someone, and the last thing he would do was make some deal that had him serving another.

Entering the hallway a few feet behind Fai and the Doctor, Kurogane was forced to keep his distance by the barrier Landel seemed to be keeping in place. Despite that, Kurogane kept as close as possible, silent while the others there spoke. The Doctor had finally been right about one thing: anything he said would not be trusted by the ninja. There was the only understanding the two were likely to find between themselves.

The situation was becoming more unsettling by the minute. Every time Landel hinted at what may or may not be happening behind the scenes, Tsubaki had to bite back a brush of agitation.

What were the circumstances he spoke of?

At any rate, Tsubaki didn’t have much of a choice in staying behind. After shooting a look at Kurogane--no one could fault him for not being totally willing to fall into a polite discourse with the doctor--she quickly ducked in behind everyone. She could only hope this was actually a demonstration, and not another figurative hand on their back, pushing them deeper into Landel’s designs without giving them a chance to turn back.

But even the thought of the display didn’t reassure her. Was the Head Doctor somehow going to convince Fai that he could reunite him with his brother?

The mounting tension only deepened her unease.

"What do people always do?" The Head Doctor continued to chuckle mirthlessly in response to Fai's question, shaking his head as he stepped toward the opposite wall and began punching codes into yet another control panel. "When a threat rears its head, when something new appears where there was once thought to be nothing... the nearly universal – pardon the term – reaction is fear and suspicion. I'm sure that you all have seen this firsthand, and I am afraid that I have as well, from... more than one side."

He gave one last confirmation and the wall in front of them came to life with a thud and whirr. The Head Doctor stepped back as a block of the wall began to slowly slide up, revealing a the first inch of a long, vertical window that seemed to span most of the hallway.

"Identity confirmed. Welcome, Doctor Martin Landel, and guests, " an artificial voice spoke, sounding like an advanced sister synthesizer to the I.R.I.S. program. "Access encryption detected. Opening A-1 observation station... Opening... Status: no abnormalities detected."

The voice continued to give a verbal account of its processes, along with indecipherable strings of numbers and coded data. The wall continued to raise at a snail's pace, and the doctor kept his eyes on it all the while even as he began to speak.

"If you haven't guessed yet, we are currently in a world where a state of constant war has only begun to become past tense," he said, just loud enough to carry over the program. "People here have good reason to be distrustful of the other and to take desperate measures to secure their own livelihood. It's only the luckiest who manage government contracts like the ones you see here – the ones who sign up for the privilege of a worry-free existence."

He glanced briefly and somberly toward the patients.

"They choose to forget."

He looked back to the wall. About half of the window had been uncovered, revealing a poorly-lit room with a large, ceiling-length cylinder at the middle, glowing faintly blue from its top and bottom. Around it were spidery lengths of cords and black, box-like objects. "Scanning for contaminants... none detected. All processes functioning within normal parameters. ID number 000281936478, region number 1226701, sub-region 7283..."

"But I can tell that all of you are very set in the ways of your past," he continued somberly, crossing his arms over his chest, "and it is because of this that I'm forced to... dig into that past in order to force you to help us now. You, Ms. Tsubaki, will discover your reward tomorrow, but as for you, Kurogane... I'm afraid your gift must be a bit more underhanded."

The Head Doctor raised one of his hands and snapped his fingers. The window, now fully open, was illuminated by a blue-hued glow from the inside of the cylinder – a tank. In that tank, faintly outlined by the light, was the figure of a girl familiar to at least two of the figures in the room.

"This one... would be yours, gentleman," the Head Doctor murmured. "The one you've traveled with, and become... so close to. She is my captive unless you do as I ask – and I'll have you know she's quite more interesting a catch than either of you two can imagine. I can't even begin to think of the tests we might have to run on her."

He turned back toward the group, smiling faintly, almost sadly.

"Find me the man on the radio – the new one, the impostor. Your investigation begins tomorrow night, as will my orders."

Slowly, the scene faded to darkness.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Night 49: Head Doctor's Office - 3rd Floor

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject