Nighshift 23: Entry Room

[gun-fire.livejournal.com]

[ from here ]

While her commander opened the door into unchartered territory for her, she listened for his reaction, knowing he would see whatever was inside first.  In the meantime, her attention swept the wide hall behind them, not wanting to give up her guard prematurely.

He wasn't wasting any time, it seemed (though caution was never wasted time to her), and she followed him in, almost back-to-back with him. Trusting his reaction in place of her own, she didn't turn around until the door was shut in their wake.

Comments

[heavens-too-far.livejournal.com]

Dias noted the change of atmosphere in the room as well and relaxed somewhat; apparently whatever had been attacking the people within was gone, which absolved him of any responsibility he might have to step in. He didn't allow himself to get too comfortable, however; after all, whatever their attacker had been, they didn't know where he'd gone.

In all honesty, Dias didn't need much reason to give up on the file room. Between his being convinced that the files wouldn't do them much good and his increasingly-difficult-to-deny concern for Ashton, he was aware that he was practically looking for an excuse to disengage from this mess before it got any worse. He could only hope that wherever Edgeworth was, the man was all right and his inability to find him hadn't cost Edgeworth anything.

It was actually a little unsettling how concerned Dias was about Ashton; granted, Ashton was the only other person from Expel in the institute - his one link back to a past and to his sanity that he'd actually been beginning to question - and he'd known the man was walking into a potentially dangerous situation. But Ashton was a good enough fighter to defend himself, and people who knew the danger and went in anyway...he'd left such fighters to their own devices before without a second thought. And how quickly he'd become attached to, and concerned for, someone he'd barely known the name of a few days ago...

He wasn't sure whether it was because Ashton was almost as innocent and gentle as Rena - while simultaneously being as tough and determined as Claude - or because Ashton's being the only other Expellian elevated the empathy between them. Whatever the case, he was getting more and more uneasy worrying about him and, in his opinion, checking on him would be far more productive than staying here.

"I'm not interested in the files," he murmured to the other two men, keeping his voice low in case the enemy they'd heard was still lurking nearby. "And since the man I was supposed to meet isn't here, I'm going to get out of here. Be careful; whatever that thing was, it could still be around."

And with that, Dias pulled away from the wall and, after a cautious look around, loped off down the hallway back the way they'd came.

[Off to here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/105623.html?view=6300311#t6300311).]

[somber-secret.livejournal.com]

Hisoka merely nodded in return to Dias' departure, letting the other man go without a word of protest in the least. It wasn't as if the other man had been obligated to join them... He had only joined them for the sake of protecting a man who didn't even show, so what reason would the other man have to stay?

The boy shook his head and shifted his attention back to the entry room, not blind to Tsuzuki's disposition. But what could he do? He only made things worse whenever he involved himself in the idiots business...

"I believe so."

[shiki-master.livejournal.com]

Tsuzuki frowned a bit at Dias's departure, but called after him quietly nonetheless. "You be careful, too." This wasn't the only dangerous room in the building...Tsuzuki was quite sure of that.

Looking back to Hisoka, Tsuzuki pulled his focus back to the task at hand. The files that Hisoka wanted. He could tell that Hisoka wasn't going to stop, and the other two seemed a little better than 'fine' right now, so Tsuzuki was much less worried. Not that he would have deserted Hisoka, either way.

"So, which one is it?"

[somber-secret.livejournal.com]

Hisoka narrowed his eyes, glancing from one room to the other as if he could decide from sight alone. Ultimately, Hisoka just shook his head, he had no idea which one to choose from... He hadn't even known there was more than one of them!

He held back a sigh and shrugged. "Pick one."

[shiki-master.livejournal.com]

Was Hisoka telling him to pick? "Umm..." Tsuzuki paused, not quite sure which one he should go with. It wasn't as if he had any better idea than Hisoka would.

In the end, he shrugged as well and pointed to the one to his right. "That one, I guess."

[somber-secret.livejournal.com]

The boy nodded, fixing his eyes on the room as he silently measured the distance it would take to get there. Regardless of the other two's sudden calm, Hisoka still felt the skin-prickling uneasiness that permeated the room as strong as ever and he didn't like it.

The quicker they were out of the line of fire-- regardless of whatever the hell was shooting-- the better.

Gathering his courage and ignoring the idea of following Dias' advice and forgetting about the files. Not happening. Hisoka tightened his grip on the metal bar and slipped inside the room before breaking into a steady run for his destination.

[shiki-master.livejournal.com]

Something still seemed to have Hisoka on edge, but Tsuzuki wasn't sure what it was. He couldn't feel anything, but that didn't mean there wasn't something there that was bothering his partner.

When Hisoka took off, Tsuzuki was hot on his heels. His biggest fear was that his partner was going to get himself into some kind of trouble, so even if he had wanted to leave, he couldn't exactly do that.

He owed it to Hisoka, after all.

[somber-secret.livejournal.com]

Hisoka reached the door to the file room with little trouble at all. Whatever was still in the room was distracted by the other two occupants which suited the shinigami just fine. With a small glance to make sure Tsuzuki was still there, the boy reached out to turn the door knob.

It didn't budge.

Hisoka scowled, glancing around in the vain hopes of finding a key. And perhaps a map to the Head Doctor's secret location while he was at it ah, the sarcasm.

[shiki-master.livejournal.com]

Apparently, the door seemed to be locked, or at least that's what Tsuzuki gathered from the scowl on his partner's face. That was usually a look that Hisoka reserved for when he'd done something stupid, but this time, the door was on the receiving end and not him.

"Here, let me," Tsuzuki whispered, trying to keep it down so they wouldn't be noticed. Not that the silence was going to last for long... It really couldn't be helped, though.

Taking the door handle from Hisoka and motioning for him to step away, Tsuzuki positioned himself in front of the door, grasping the knob tightly. Putting his shoulder to the surface, he turned the knob and rammed the door in an attempt to break the lock.

Tsuzuki winced a bit from the collision, the pain running down through his arm, but he'd felt the door budge just a bit. It wasn't as sturdy as it appeared. Pulling back, he rammed it once, twice again in quick succession. This time, the door gave way on the second shove, and he stumbled through into the room.

[shiki-master.livejournal.com]