Night 52: West Wing, South Hall 2-B

[dual-worlds.livejournal.com]

((From here.))

This corridor was empty as well, which was not surprising when one took into account the lack of activity in the previous area. They passed a door to their left, one that lacked a clear label on the maps Spock had seen. While there were several possibilities of what it entailed, Spock knew he would need to make some inquiries from patients who had been here longer than himself. He certainly could have attempted to open it now, but it was better to start further north and work their way down. There would be less time wasted backtracking through previously explored territory that way.

"If the maps are correct," and so far that appeared to be the case, "then we should find a morgue and two autopsy rooms in at the end of the hall ahead."

After a few moments of walking, though, they reached a closed door. Spock adjusted his items long enough to free one of his hands. Grasping onto the knob, he only need to try opening it once to realize it was locked. However, the door did not feel particularly strong, not unlike the one that led into the pharmacy.

Spock leaned down and propped some of his possessions against the wall. "It seems we will have to force our way through."

Comments

[teabastard.livejournal.com]

Despite himself, England's face fell at the news. He'd hoped that maybe he'd spoken to someone, given some sign. As it was, all that he had to go on was the word of the nurses that he was even... no, he was alive. Nations didn't die easily, even when they weren't really nations anymore. "Oh I... I just wondered," he replied a little awkwardly. "He... they said he was released," he added in an undertone.

He still didn't know how that could be. He didn't even know why he was telling Minako, except that she had helped them and he was grateful for that. Ah, he was all muddled. Things used to be much much easier. Another thing to curse this place for.

The sudden sound of glass made England whip round, immediately on guard, eyes narrowed as the man approached. He was very well dressed for a prisoner which suggested he either wasn't one, or was getting some rather drastic perks.

And that accent. Oh joy. It was like looking at the bastard child of France and Wales and neither of them had ever been his favourite people.

England scowled, folding his arms over his chest and looking entirely unimpressed. "If I wanted advice from a Welshman I'd- I never want advice from a Welshman so piss off."

[ai-no-minako.livejournal.com]

Released? Minako's eyes narrowed at that; she'd been here long enough to know that "released" was code for "brainwashed" and sent off to... wherever people went when they were brainwashed. Outside of the Institute, at least, which was the important part here. So, what, Alfred didn't think he was a country anymore? It was probably an improvement, but it seemed to have disturbed Arthur and he was friend enough by now that that annoyed her on his behalf.

"I hadn't seen him, so...." And there she paused, alerted to the arrival of another -- and one kind of familiar. Except he looked a lot nicer now than he had the last time they'd spoken, and he'd managed to get some new clothes, too. How did he get so lucky? And why was he trying to get them to leave? Was there something down this hallway that he was trying to protect?

Minako tilted her head to one side a little, giving the man a curious look and completely ignoring Arthur's own annoyance. "Howl-san? What's down there?"

[slipperymagic.livejournal.com]

Howl greatly desired to focus on the lovely young woman that knew his name and yet was not spitting venom at him or crying, but his eyes were still set on the man. The dark corners of the room, as few as they were, seemed to deepen, and the glass on the floor trembled. Howl opened and closed his hands, feeling the magic that built up in his veins and fingertips. He could almost hear Calcifer in his ears, roaring and ready, egging him on. Where Howl expected to hear a voice and some acerbic commentary though, there was only the fire in his head. It didn't bother him much when there were other annoyances occupying his mind.

The energy in the room built swiftly as Howl filled it. He no longer had to ask, it just came to him. He recalled the years of pleading and coercing the magic to do as he willed, but now he only needed to focus on his anger and they joined hands naturally. Howl lifted his arm across his body, pulling as though there was a great weight behind it. He still smiled, but it had grown overtly false and dangerous. Not a bit of it reached his eyes. The Witch's involvement in his life could be blamed on no one but himself, but Howl's terror sometimes felt like anger or desperation. If he thought about it in the right way, it became something manageable. At the moment, the insult was more than he was willing to bear.

"None of your concern, my dear," he said distractedly to the lady, with only a slight strain in his voice. His mind swiftly went over the calculations, feeling the energy he had gathered and stopping short of anything that would cause irreparable damage. The tension was perfect, as was his intuition for this sort of thing.

"But I must teach your companion a lesson that's been a long time coming, I believe. He'll think twice next time he opens that unsightly mouth and inflicts us all with his stupidity," and in time with that final word, Howl threw his arm outwards against the magic, projecting it, throwing it. A wave of forced rippled through the hall, focused and precise, sweeping past the girl and right towards the man beside her.

[teabastard.livejournal.com]

Minako knew this bloody ponce? England raised one eyebrow incredulously, his lips tightening into a harsh line as the man approached. So he was someone that Minako knew which did rather suggest that he was a patient. Or potentially that Minako was some kind of spy who was very very bad at pretending not to know people. No-one could be that bad a spy, could they? He'd give her the benefit of the doubt for now perhaps. No sense alienating someone over uncertainties. Not yet at least.

He shifted his stance as the man drew just a little closer, an almost unconscious movement honed by centuries of warfare. He didn't have a weapon, which was a plus, but neither did England which... well, he'd rather have a weapon in most situations.

His scowl only deepened at the insulting imperious words from the brat standing in front of him, acting like he owned the fucking world. He opened his mouth to reply only for the blast of force to hit him, sending him sharply backwards to hit the wall. He struck it hard, gasping as the impact knocked the breath from his body. He hadn't seen that coming which meant...

He painfully pushed himself back up to his feet, licking the blood away from his lip where he'd bitten through it, a morbid smile on his lips. "Two thousand years Wales has been trying to teach me the same lesson and it hasn't taken yet. He used to send armies and the greatest of sorcerers after me, and this is all he has left? One little wizard?" He might possibly regret those comments later when he checked the damage, but really, he'd never been one to keep his mouth shut.

[ai-no-minako.livejournal.com]

Okay, now this was different. Kind of familiar, too, in a disturbing way, and not something she'd expected from Howl. There'd been no sense of anything evil or nasty about him when she'd met the man, and there still wasn't now. Maybe her ability to notice an enemy was as much on the fritz as her ability to transform? What she wouldn't give to have Rei there right now -- or, well, any of the senshi would be pretty welcome. Even Artemis would be good.

Still, no time to think about that. Minako had automatically lifted her arms to protect herself as the blast of force headed her direction, but when it passed her by and knocked back her companion instead it alarmed her all the more. In but a moment she'd shrugged the chain off her shoulder and stretched it between both hands, taking up a defensive stance that placed her directly in front of Arthur. He was injured and she wasn't, even though he sounded quite determined to take down the... wizard? himself.

"You can't just go picking on someone for no good reason!" she declared, thoroughly wishing that she had the real and not broken version of her chain right about now. "I can't stand by for that kind of thing! In the name of love and justice and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, I will punish you!" Maybe he wouldn't attack. Sometimes they didn't. But if he did, she was ready to fight as best as she could.

[slipperymagic.livejournal.com]

"You two are both so quick to judge others," Howl complained, looking up from straightening his suit. Some dust had gotten on it, kicked up by the magic, but as soon as Howl realized it was there it was gone again. "One runs about making insults and boasts, and the other comes to defend him when he gets what he deserves. Quite a pair."

Howl was quite determined to show that their attitudes would get them nowhere, but he was equally interested in comforting his bruised ego. The man was still spitting insults at him, and while Howl felt his home had never been terribly kind to him, he couldn't resist the defensiveness boiling inside him. Meanwhile, this young lady rushed to her unsavory companion's aid despite the verbal abuse being slung at Howl! Verbal abuse that contained some bizarre references, he realized.

Regardless, Howl needed to demonstrate that he was not merely some garden variety kitchen wizard. "Now, both of you, leave," he commanded. The lines between his body and the magic blurred, and when Howl lunged forward toward them, he had dissolved into a coiling cloud of black smoke aimed right for the pair. Ideally, they would run, and Howl could put them out of his mind.

[teabastard.livejournal.com]

A scowl crossed England's face when Minako came to stand in front of him, defending him like he were some defenceless child. She'd saved him once, admittedly, but that was when he had been unprepared. Now it just rankled on his sense of pride. To be defended from a childish magician by a teenager of all things. It was intolerable! Despite the pain, he drew himself up to stand straight and tall, and moved to stand next to Minako, expression dark and angry. He wasn't about to let himself be humiliated by this man, no matter what power he wielded.

And, well, the mention of the Anglo-Japanese alliance made him feel rather nostalgic. He had to hold up his end if this slip of a girl was going to be fighting too.

In the corner of his eyes, the shadows danced, a guttural whisper reaching him. He pushed his discomfort away though, focussing on their assailant.

"I don't boast," England snapped. "Not when it comes to talk of subjugating my brothers." He was entirely truthful then because he liked talking about how honestly he'd dragged them down.

He blinked, trying to summon some of his oft-ill used magic to his fingertips, determined to show this brat exactly who he was dealing with and make him regret his words, only for nothing to come. There was nothing there, no crackle or burn and the cursed man was changing, shifting to something intangible and it was really hard to kick the arse of smoke.

Without thinking, he turned, putting himself between Minako and the approaching cloud with roiled with power. He might survive. He wasn't about to take the risk that she would too.

[ai-no-minako.livejournal.com]

Considering that Arthur was injured and all Minako wasn't terribly pleased when he moved up to stand beside her, but she didn't argue the point. It was partially because she realized that he probably didn't want to look weak, whether in front of her or Howl (if it really was Howl; she wasn't quite positive about that) and partially because she found herself distracted for a moment by the way the shadows slid and shifted against the wall nearby. That looked almost like -- but that had to be impossible, she was just imagining things. And imagining things at a really bad time, too.

She frowned, grip tightening on the chain she held as she cast a sidelong glance toward Arthur. There he was not making sense again, but... whatever. Crazy or not, he didn't seem like there was any harm to it. And besides, there were more important things to worry about. Things like Howl attacking them, maybe.

"Maybe we should go, Arthur-san," she hissed, but anything else she might have said was choked off in a soft gasp as Howl started to change. This was something she couldn't face as just herself with a broken chain -- she couldn't even figure out what she should try to hit, much less how hitting smoke would do anything anyway. It was almost an automatic reaction to danger by now: she lifted one hand in the air, releasing that end of the chain, and called out, "Venus Crystal Power, MAKE UP!"

She felt the Venus Crystal throb once like a second heartbeat, warm and full of power, and then... nothing. Once again she could do nothing, and she only stared at the oncoming darkness, eyes wide as Arthur stepped in front of her.